Chapter 681: How Did You Know?
The debate between two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators came to an end.
Too much information had been presented to all the Cultivators in the morning. They would have to consider for a long while and sort it out despite their extraordinary computational ability.
Therefore, no meetings were arranged for the afternoon.
All the Cultivators frowned and contemplated in their own meeting rooms.
Collapsing in the depths of the soft seat, Li Yao was like an animal that hid itself in its nest when it sensed an incoming danger.
It was a debate without any suspense. Si Koulie was totally outshone.
Compared to the Ice God Project, the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project had overwhelming advantages. The whole project was perfect, to the point that it was too perfect!
Li Yao could not see any loopholes in the project for now, but he intuitively did not like the plan.
Narrowing his eyes and biting his fingernails, Li Yao pondered for a while. Sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead again.
Deep in thought for a long time, he suddenly widened his eyes so much that the corners of his eyes were almost torn apart. Taking a deep breath, he gazed at the two renowned crystal suit designers and said solemnly, "Master Xue, Master Huangpu, what I'm about to say might be too ungrounded and appalling. You may think that I'm being paranoid, but still, I have to say—"
"Wait." Xue Yuanxin raised his hands and interrupted him. Patting his own big head, he said, "Let me take a guess first. Are you worrying that the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is vulnerable to the invasion of the Temple of Immortals even though it looks immaculate? If the Temple of Immortals hacks into the star brain after thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers are produced, we will be trapped by our own scheme."
"More than that," Huangpu Bo added. "Xiao Xuance, as the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group, has offered a solution to such an emergency. However, if Xiao Xuance has other intentions and the Grand Illusionary Group has been infiltrated by the Temple of Immortals since the very beginning, they can easily set up deceptions in the project such as telepathic thoughts that can hibernate for several years. When the timing is appropriate, the telepathic thoughts will be triggered, and the Temple of Immortals will take control of the Grand Illusionary Soldiers and the Flying Star Sector without any trouble!"
"Huh?"
Li Yao was dumbfounded and almost fell off from his seat. He stammered, "How—how did you know?"
Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu Bo looked at each other and could not help but laugh at the same time.
"Little Sand, although we are both more than a hundred years old right now, we were once teenagers and at an age to dwell in fantasies, too," Xue Yuanxin said.
"I remember when I was in junior high school," Huangpu Bo remarked," magazines such as 'Fiction World' were always my favorite. Literary works in which the Spiritual Nexus was compromised, the crystal processors lost control, and the beast puppets rebelled were already a cliché back then."
"Yes. I recall that there was a classic movie called 'War of Deities and Devils'. Right now, dozens of prequels and sequels have been produced. You can find a lot of similar plots in the movies.
"Many refiners were attracted by such fictions and movies and grew interested in magical equipment and the Spiritual Nexus, so they set off on the path of refining in the end. Do you think that we cannot think of your concerns?"
"Is that so?" Li Yao scratched his hair and blushed. He said, somewhat in embarrassment, "Please do excuse me, masters. I've never seen such movies on Iron Plateau. Perhaps I was being too paranoid."
"No. No. No. Your concerns are perfectly normal and necessary," Xue Yuanxin said solemnly. "A piece of stellar-level magical equipment can change the fate of a Sector. It is simplely prudence to imagine the most extreme conditions!
"Suppose we select the Grand Illusionary Project in the end, the Temple of Immortals will definitely try its best to gain control over it once it is fully implemented.
"But again, any kind of stellar-level magical equipment is possible to be infiltrated.
"Right now, you are worried that the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project might be taken advantage of by the Temple of Immortals in the end. But won't Ice King be likely to be seized by the Temple of Immortals after it is transformed into an invincible warship? Or rather, is there any kind of stellar-level magical equipment that will absolutely be never infiltrated by the enemy. We cannot stand by and do nothing just because we fear that the Temple of Immortals might intrude and manipulate our products."
Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense."
"Make bold assumptions, and run careful verifications," Huangpu Bo said. "Naturally, we won't initiate the Grand Illusionary Project recklessly just because of a few words of Xiao Xuance.
"The technological investigations will take at least a year and a half. The project won't be carried out until we are totally sure that there were no loopholes.
"If there are any problems, the project will be postponed indefinitely.
"Moreover, we will investigate and monitor the actual supervisor of the stellar-level magical equipment, or in this case, the Grand Illusionary Group and Xiao Xuance.
"It's not that we don't believe in Xiao Xuance, but the matter is too important. Any Cultivator, even you, will be thoroughly vetted and traced back to your great, great grandparents for complete scrutinization if they become the supervisor of the stellar-level magical equipment."
Li Yao was greatly relieved. "Technological investigations for an entire year? Very good and very necessary. We can do two years if one year is not enough, or three if two are not. I would rather endure the harassment of the Temple of Immortals for several more years than have such a big project carried out hastily!"
"Of course. Considering the strength of space pirates and the Temple of Immortals right now, it won't be a problem for the world of Cultivators in the next couple of years," Xue Yuanxin and Huangpu Bo said at the same time.
Li Yao could not sit any longer now that he had received so much information.
He wanted to go back to his residence and reach out to Professor Mo Xuan and the other Star Spirits in the Cross Wind Space Zone.
The five of them had once been living in the form of 'Phantom Entities', and they were reincarnated in liquid metals combined with the mainframe crystal processor of Sparkle in the destructive cosmic storm.
After the accident, they were all granted a certain ability to control crystal processors and boost their computational ability.
Li Yao meant to discuss the Grand Illusionary Project with them and see whether they could find any loopholes in it or he was simply being hysterical.
However, an unexpected message disrupted his plan.
Xiao Xuance invited me to a secret meeting?
Li Yao narrowed his eyes, not knowing what was on the mind of the CEO of the Grand Illusionary Group.
Maybe, he wanted to talk Li Yao into supporting the Grand Illusionary Project in the secret meeting?
After all, the Glorious Sunlight Group and the entire Iron Plateau backing Li Yao could provide tremendous resources.
The flames of suspicion that just died down in Li Yao's heart start bouncing again.
He decided that something must be wrong with Xiao Xuance if the man was too enthusiastic about the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project and wanted to have it fully carried out no matter what.
Thinking through that, Li Yao gladly accepted the invitation and planned to get in touch with Xiao Xuance at a short distance.
...
Half an hour later, Li Yao began to suspect his previous suspicions.
He was in a spacious meeting room three hundred meters below the main hall of the Millennium Meeting.
Illuminated by the glittering crystal processors and ever-changing light beams, it was more like a command center.
When Li Yao arrived, almost a hundred Cultivators were already sitting in the command center.
Li Yao had seen most of their photos before in various Cultivation magazines.
Their resounding names had been chanted time and time again on the Spiritual Nexus, sometimes in shock, sometimes in fear, and sometimes in admiration.
Five Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and more than sixty Core Formation Stage Cultivators. All pure battle-type Cultivators!
This was essentially a gathering of the peak warriors of the entire Flying Star Sector!
With so many super experts crowding at the same place, although everybody was cautious enough to suppress their capability to below 1%, the dominating aura from them still make the underground command center as solemn as a grave.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Core Formation Stage Cultivators glanced at him and quickly moved their eyes away.
Li Yao's eyelids twitched violently. He felt that his back was soaked in cold sweat.
Several experts there were from Flying Star University and had communicated with Li Yao before. They nodded at each other in acknowledgement.
It seemed that the meeting had nothing to do with the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project.
If the Grand Illusionary Soldiers were the focus of the meeting, research-type and creation-type Cultivators should have been invited instead of the murderous fighters here.
Xiao Xuance in reality was even taller and stronger than in the Grand Illusionary Land. The black cloak on his body was like a black shadow of high mountains in a dark night. But he did not carry any feeling of aggressiveness at all.
He appeared more like a veteran who was full of hot blood and passion, willing to sacrifice first for his creeds, than a high and mighty leader.
Although Li Yao was still suspicious, he had to admit that Xian Xuance was a charismatic man when he was faced with him.
"Senior Xiao, I thought you invited me to ask me to support the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project," remarked Li Yao.
Cultivation aside, Xiao Xuance was ten times as old as him. It was only appropriate that he address Xiao Xuance as a 'senior'.
Xiao Xuance smiled casually. "My young friend Sand, you are a representative of the Glorious Sunlight Group and Iron Plateau. Your support will, of course, be necessary when we carry out the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project.
"However, I don't want any organization to express their support easily before they figure out the situation clearly.
"If you are really willing to support the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, I'm hoping that the refiners of the Glorious Sunlight Group can locate the loopholes in the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project with your wisdom instead of carrying out the project right now."
"Oh?" Li Yao blinked his eyes. "I didn't know Senior Xiao was so prudent."
"We can't be prudent enough when we are faced with a planetary-level magical equipment system that can change the fate of the Flying Star Sector." Xiao Xuance sighed and said, "Although the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is safe and secure according to our calculations and there is no way that the star brain will be compromised, the wisdom of everyone in the Grand Illusionary Group is still too limited. We need every Cultivator of the Flying Star Sector to give us a hand!
"Moreover," Xiao Xuance smiled bitterly and said, "different from the traditional Demonic Cultivators, Immortal Cultivators are barely distinguishable in daily life. I cannot guarantee that the Grand Illusionary Group is devoid of spies sent by the Immortal Cultivators.
"Therefore, even if the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project is to be implemented, every Cultivator must keep an eye on it closely!
"We welcome you to supervise us in the strictest standard, my young friend Sand. If you suspect that one of the workers here is an Immortal Cultivator, you can tell us first even if you don't have any proof. We'll definitely look into the matter.
"In regard to the safety issue, it's better to wrong a thousand innocent people than to let one suspect get away."
Li Yao opened his mouth and yet did not know what to say. He could only frown and nodded. "Alright."
"But it's still a future far away from now. Even if everybody agrees to implement the Grand Illusionary Soldier Project, it will still take one to two years to start. We can discuss and make sure there are no loopholes in the project during that time," Xiao Xuance said.
"We invited my young friend Sand and other fellow Cultivators above the Core Formation Stage because we have something urgent to tell you.
"Now that everybody is here, allow me to introduce to you the assault the Temple of Immortals is going to launch in the main area of the Edge Sharpeners' Meeting at the center of Heavenly Saints City.
"Inside the Temple of Immortals, the deadly assault that has been planned for more than half a year is known as the Mist Plan!