Chapter 1551: Ferocious Beasts... on a Chopping Block?

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fire was covered Weary Tooth, inside and out, as it was devoured by countless explosions and blasts.

It was in the most vulnerable state after having just broken out of the four-dimensional universe. Even the spiritual shield was not entirely opened yet.

Every attack from the enemy would bite a piece of 'meat' off the crystal shell of the warship. The metal components and the oil were spraying into space like broken flesh and blood!

Before Weary Tooth was entirely blown up, the enemy seemed to have no interest in communicating with Weary Tooth at all.

In front of every swordfish-like warship, dozens of colorful pillars of light were spurting out at the same time. Like the sharpest scalpels, they were cutting and savaging Weary Tooth's shell!

On the back of the warships, almost a hundred helical metal thorns were standing like the fins of the swordfish. Pushed by the power rune arrays, they had also taken off from the warships and rushed over while they were rotating at a high speed, darting into the shell of Weary Tooth deeply like tusks that were penetrating deep into the body of the prey!

Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

Those helical metal thorns entailed the most powerful attack units and crystals of the thunder class. After they pierced into Weary Tooth so deeply, they immediately released hundreds of high-voltage electric arcs, which swept across every pathway and every cabin like boas, seriously destroying most of the units on Weary Tooth and half-paralyzing Weary Tooth.

Weary Tooth was unable to fight back at all because nobody was at the attack posts!

Even the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were not real deities. It was already a miracle that they had familiarized themselves with the usage of their crystal suits and Colossi in just half a year. Where did they have the time to learn the battle skills of a starship?

Heiye Lan and Long Yangjun were the only two who had mastered starship piloting skills to a certain extent on Weary Tooth. It was already good enough that they were able to maneuver Weary Tooth to cruise stably in the sea of stars and reach the destination precisely. Due to the serious shortage of personnel, they could not perform counterattacks against the hostile warships at all!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

Inside the cockpit of Weary Tooth, fireballs and electric arcs were dancing crazily, too. All kinds of components and pieces were flying in midair in a mess. Long Yangjun and Heiye Lan's hair was standing on end under the electric shock, making them look like crazy devils.

Gnashing her teeth, Long Yangjun shouted, "Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, we need emergent maintenance here. Come and give me a hand!"

Hardly had Li Yao staggered into the cockpit against the fireballs and electric arcs on the way when Long Yangjun snatched him and dragged him to a corner.

"Hey, what's going on here? Didn't you say that this place is safe and could serve as a buffer area between us and the federation?" Long Yangjun was so angry that flames of fury seemed to be shooting out of her mouth. "Why are we under such violent attack the moment we jumped over? You are not hoping that we should just part here on bad terms, are you?"

"How on earth would I know?" Li Yao was dizzy, too. He replied, not in a good mood himself, "This place is obviously far away from the territory of the federation, and the environment around this red giant is not particularly favorable. There's no reason a federal fleet should be here! Also, their target was clearly not us in the beginning but the calabash-shaped carrier. We were just a passer-by that somehow got involved!"

He thought carefully about the appearance of the strange starships collected through the probe magical equipment. Both the calabash-shaped carrier that had been blown up in the space and the three swordfish-like warships behind it were in vastly different styles from the starships of the federation.

Besides, there was not the paint of the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag on their shell, or the emblems of the Patriots Partnership, Skyfire, the Glorious Sunlight Group, and the major sects in the federation. The shell of the strange starships was bare from head to toe.

They did not look like the starships of the federation.

But that was highly unlikely. It had been a while since the Heavenly Path Plan, the federation's project to explore the universe, began. Ding Lingdang's fleet was already capable of cruising to the nearby of the dark nebula, which was even further away.

If there was a force independent from the federation in this place, it could not have avoided the federation's detection!

Therefore, what was happening there?

"There's something that you have always been reluctant to tell me, but with everything coming to this point, you have to tell me now!" Long Yangjun said sullenly. "You swore that this place was not within the territory of the federation and was a no-man's land that was absolutely safe. Let's say you were speaking the truth, but you've been away from the Star Glory Federation for at least a decade, haven't you? Is it possible that the federation has undergone drastic changes when you were not around? Just tell me the truth. How outdated is your intelligence? Ten years? Twenty? Thirty? Don't tell me that it is from fifty years ago and you wandered in the universe for fifty years!"

"I wouldn't say that."

Long Yangjun was greatly relieved. "That's good. Then tell me now. How far behind is your intelligence from reality?"

"A hundred years."

"..."

Boom! Boom! Boom, Boom, Boom!

The explosions were still going on. Even the dazzling electric arcs and fireballs could not eclipse the wrath in Long Yangjun's eyes as she glared at Li Yao.

"Could it be," Li Yao pondered, "that my curse has taken effect again?"

Long Yangjun was greatly alarmed. "What curse? How many more secrets have you kept away from me?"

"I'll explain it to you," Li Yao said. "I seem to be born with an uncanny curse. Whenever I feel that everything is under my control and nothing can possibly go wrong, something unexpected always happens! Is it possible that my curse has taken effect again and even infected the whole team?"

"..."

When the last illumination rune array in the cockpit died down in the explosions, and few units were catching their last breath in darkness, the stormy attacks finally came to a halt.

According to the blurred surveillance interface, Weary Tooth had completely lost the spiritual shield and the power source. It could neither run away nor withstand another barrage from the enemy.

Besides, from the back of the helical thorns that deeply pierced into Weary Tooth, cables were shooting out to the three swordfish-like warships, shortening the distance between the two parties.

They were essentially pulling Weary Tooth hard from three different directions, making it possible for the prey to escape.

That was possibly why they had stopped attacking.

From the enemy's perspective, Weary Tooth had lost all its combat ability. It was no better than a lamb waiting to be butchered.

Shua!

A stream of powerful signals crashed into the mainframe crystal processor of Weary Tooth and hummed in hideous laughter.

Silently, Long Yangjun parsed the signals and projected them to the light beams in front of everyone on-board.

What appeared on the light beam was a middle-aged man who was slim and dark and carried the air of both elegance and brutality.

Li Yao was slightly dazed.

The man had two bright gold horns as adornments embedded on his forehead, which were probably directly fixated to the skull through secret techniques. Around his neck was a circle of long, narrow tattoos. The agile and soft style of armor on his body was vastly different from the traditions of the federation, too, giving an exotic feeling.

Li Yao could guarantee that no people in the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, or the Blood Demon Sector dressed in such a style.

"Whoever you are..." The elegant, brutal, dark-skinned man laughed proudly. In a voice that was hollow and unpredictable, he casually said, "Deactivate all your magical equipment and give up resistance. We will board your starship for inspection!

"Otherwise, hehehe... I believe that you must've heard the name of 'Seven Kill Space Pirate Gang' before! If anyone acts recklessly, what happened to the starship just now will happen to you!"

A tiny window appeared next to the dark-skinned man, displaying the tragic outcome of the prey that they had attacked previously. As the aftershock of the explosions quickly died down in the cold, dark universe, all that was left was a bunch of broken remnants that were a blend of corpses and components.

"Space pirate..."

Li Yao was at a loss for a while.

It had been such a long time since he last heard the familiar and yet strange name.

"Space pirates are pirates in the sea of stars," Heiye Lan explained to the two seniors dutifully, still trying to leave a good impression on them. "They are best known for their mysteriousness, cruelty, and persistence. At least, they are so in the Imperium."

It was a one-way message. They could see and hear the enemy, but their enemy could not see or hear them. Therefore, they could communicate freely.

"No." Long Yangjun shook her head. "This guy is lying. Whatever 'Seven Kill Space Pirate Gang' is, he can't be a member of that."

"Exactly," Li Yao analyzed. "When he informed us of who he was, his eyeball was rolling slightly faster, and it was turning to the top right corner. It was clearly a sign that he was recalling the list of pirate gangs in his head before he picked a random one to fool us.

"However, since this 'Seven Kill Space Pirate Gang' is infamous enough to be used to intimidate the prey, there must be a lot of pirate gangs in this place, and they must be very powerful. Even the local government here has no way to tame them!"

Looking at the parameters on the operation interface that were rising and falling, Long Yangjun sighed. "Weary Tooth has been completely paralyzed. We cannot restore cruising abilities without major maintenance. We can only 'borrow' their starship now. Are you fine with it, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture?"

After pondering for a moment, Li Yao nodded. "Fine by me. Let's release a few fellow Cultivators to warm themselves up. However, do ask them to be gentle. They can blow up two warships first but must keep one for our own use. Also, don't kill everybody on the warships yet. Save a few for interrogation, especially this guy who has horns on his head."

"Hey!"

Not receiving any response after a long time, the horned, dark-skinned man on the light beam shouted impatiently, "Did you hear what I said or not? If you did, stop hiding yourselves. Just get out of your starship and surrender as quickly as possible!

"Hehehehe. If you are still crouching inside, too reluctant to come out, you will not end so well after the members of our 'Seven Kill Space Pirate Gang' board!"

Long Yangjun and Li Yao looked at each other.

Li Yao scratched his hair rather helplessly, finding it hard to understand why some people did not cherish their life at all and sought death in such a hurry.

He nodded at Long Yangjun and made a beheading gesture.

Turning on the communication channel between the two parties, Long Yangjun said with a smile, "If the lords of the 'Seven Kill Space Pirate Gang' could wait just one moment, we will come out right now."