Cling! Cling! Cling! Cling! Cling! Cling!
Two bullets that had been carved with complicated stripes, leaving two streaks of brilliance behind, one red and the other white, were chasing and colliding with each other. They were now gathering and now splitting, drawing the most sophisticated maze in the midair.
When one of the white bullets was losing and about to be blown off by the red bullet, another two white bullets flew close out of nowhere and joined the battle, making the red and white lines and curves even more complicated.
If one were to observe it more carefully, they would discover that it was not four bullets, but a hundred of them in red and white respectively, which were flying randomly as if they were on a 3D chessboard. It was also like the most astounding and magnificent battle of space fleets.
Every bullet was a chess piece and a starship. The collision of bullets was exactly like the capturing of chess pieces and the mutual destruction of starships.
The spiritual energy around the red bullets was obviously more abundant, giving them a higher speed and a greater strength. In the one-versus-one competitions, the white bullets were almost crushed.
However, the deployment of the white bullets entailed the most erudite arts of fleet commanding. Now that they had been gathered, there were thousands of variations. When the battle formations blossomed one after another, the red bullets were often separated from each other and attacked both sides.
The two parties moved faster and faster with their respective advantages until the only things that could be seen were two fuzzy mists of light. The mists of light crashed and infiltrated each other, almost passing each other’s “defense line” at the same time and darting at the enemy’s commander behind the scene.
The two commanders took action at the same time. Performing the skill of remote manipulation to the maximum, they cut the enemy’s force field at first before they captured all the bullets within their own field. The bullets were condensed inside their palms into four scorching and explosive metal balls and tossed at the center of the battlefield. Two deafening explosions immediately echoed, and the blast almost destroyed the entire training room.
When the blast and the smoke gradually dispersed, Li Yao and Boss Bai, the two commanders, laughed at the same time.
“A hundred years ago, when I first saw you, I thought that you were just a cunning, sleazy, and fearless thief. I never expected that you would achieve what you have achieved today!”
Shaking the metal scraps on his hands off, Boss Bai looked at the ground that was riddled with holes by the shrapnel and said with mixed feelings.
“I never thought that I would be able to meet Boss Bai again, or that you would have such… wonderful experiences,” Li Yao said sincerely.
His comment was not just for Boss Bai but also for Yan Xinjian, the other soul that had been melted into Boss Bai’s body.
Deep below the ground of Spider Den, Li Yao had tried to break into a new level under the help of the training log that Yan Xinjian left behind. It took him five years before he finally broke out of seclusion and completed the first major leap of his life.
Therefore, Yan Xinjian could almost be called a half master for him.
Because of such a connection, his relationship with Boss Bai was naturally highly unusual.
One and a half months had already passed since they occupied the Blue Sky Market. The construction of the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs had been preliminarily finished. The battle missions had been issued. The tactical deception and the intelligence collection work regarding the outside world were being carried out in order too.
The war outside of the Blue Sky Space Zone had already begun. The edge of the Imperium was on fire. The four families had asked the “National Protection Army” that had been resting in the Blue Sky Market to join the war many times. It was time to march out and teach the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium a lesson about the awesomeness of “pyromaniacs”!
Li Yao was going to the “Seven Seas Grand Market”, the nest of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the next day. That was why he had the time to have the final practice with Boss Bai in the training room today.
“Li Yao, I have a bad memory right now.”
Looking at Li Yao, Boss Bai said, “Remind me. Did I ever thank you for saving Bai Kaixin?
“Forget it. I can never thank you enough for that thing. Thank you, Li Yao. Also… It’s great to see you again. Really.”
When he mentioned his son, the head of space pirates who craved to rage and dominate the multiverse looked and sounded much more gentle. His eyes were particularly sincere when he looked at Li Yao.
“I’m happy to fight side by side with Boss Bai again!”
Greatly moved, Li Yao couldn’t help but propose, “Why don’t we go to the Seven Seas Grand Market together tomorrow? After all, the Fist King, Xiaoming, and Wenwen are already capable of simulating the basic fleet tactics. There shouldn’t be a problem as long as the battle is not too erratic. There will be a better chance to convince Jin Yuyan if you come with me, Boss Bai!”
Boss Bai was also rather moved. “No can do!”
Li Yao: “…”
Boss Bai patted Li Yao’s shoulder and said solemnly, “Li Yao, your stealth skills and your silver tongue are famous all over the universe. The victory will certainly be ours even if you go there by yourself, not to mention that you have tricked—no, persuaded Li Jialing to go with you, right? If I go with you, wouldn’t it be an insulting gesture that implies I don’t trust you at all?”
Li Yao was rather suspicious. “Is that so?”
“Of course. Alright, enough talking. We have a guest waiting outside of the training room!”
Boss Bai stopped talking and waved his hands, turning off the defensive shield and the sound-blocking system around the training room. His eyes suddenly grew sharp as he stared at the “guest” waiting outside before he said coldly, “Marquess Yongchun, you are truly a trustworthy man, and you have indeed returned to report again. You must’ve been troubled!”
The person observing Li Yao and Boss Bai’s exercise from the outside was exactly Li Wuji, Marquess Yongchun, who was previously loyal to the four families.
Li Yao did not hide himself before Li Wuji.
It was because he chopped off the head of the flagship of the Flying Rainbow Fleet under the watch of everyone, which was impossible to be kept a secret.
As long as they were not going to kill Li Wuji, the guy would learn the matter sooner or later. So, it might be a better option to show himself in public and further intimidate Li Wuji!
Li Yao’s deterrence had proved to be rather effective because it was not the first time that Li Wuji had heard the name of “Vulture Li Yao”.
Back when the reformists rose unstoppably and barged into the capital, the name of “Vulture Li Yao” had already soared. Everybody in the four families knew that “Vulture Li Yao”, driving the Colossus “Gold Vulture”, was one of the best warriors of the reformists.
Of course, Li Wuji, who was better informed, also knew that the remarkable warrior of the reformists and the super expert who miraculously rose from nobody knew where had already become the most wanted criminal of the reformists.
The reason why the reformists wanted Li Yao was rather hilarious. It was said that he had betrayed them and went to the four Kurfürst families’ side.
That was rather perplexing for Li Wuji, who found it impossible to figure out the stance of Li Yao, Boss Bai, and the rest of them, or the current situation.
While the four families were in cooperation, they were still different interest groups. It was possible that some other family talked this “Vulture Li Yao” into defection without informing the Li family because of their own plan.
All in all, for Li Wuji who had run to a dead end, it was not a bad thing that Li Yao, a “traitor” of the reformists, had appeared. At the very least, it suggested that Boss Bai was not lying, and they were truly not on the reformists’ side. So, there was still a great room for cooperation.
Stubbornness was the most untreatable disease. Once one could think it through, there would be nothing they wouldn’t do.
When Li Wuji contemplated above the septic tank, he had already thought everything through. He had lost all his troops and run into such a brutal man like “Vulture Li Yao”. He could not defeat the man, and he did not want to die. What choice did he have except to cooperate with the guy?
Getting to the bottom of it, this was just a civil war of the Imperium. Whoever won in the end, the stew would still be in the pot. As long as it was guaranteed that he could have a bowl of it and an intact head to eat it in the end, nothing else seemed to matter.
All in all, after negotiating with Boss Bai and Li Yao for a whole night and settling all the terms, Li Wuji returned to the territory of the four families with the “bodyguards” that Boss Bai selected for him. He actively spoke for the “National Protection Army” and helped them collect the latest intelligence. He had even come back to the Blue Sky Market to report in person a month later.
Li Wuji had been working hard for the “National Protection Army” without any second thought. Considering his weakness, it was impossible for him to play any trick too.
The moment he returned to the Blue Sky Market, he had witnessed the advanced competition between Li Yao and Boss Bai. It was both deterrence and a pacifier. For a standard Immortal Cultivator like Li Wuji, it was their natural instinct to submit to the strong. The stronger Li Yao and Boss Bai were, the more loyal he would be.
“I’m never troubled to serve Fellow Cultivator Li and Commander Bai.”
Li Wuji bowed at them humbly and said sycophantically, “Fortunately, I have accomplished the task that you entrusted to me. The route of the four families’ army, the distribution of the army, and the time of their gathering have all been collected!”
According to Li Wuji, the battle at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium had long begun, but it would not be a quick battle of fleets, but a protracted war of attrition.
On the four families’ side, they had just lost the capital and the emperor. They were also scared that the reformists in the capital would ambush their territory. So, they were unwilling to mobilize their elite troops to attack the rebels at the edge of the Imperium.
The reformists in the capital seemed to have a bright future, but they simply had too few troops, and they could not afford any failure or attrition. So, they were unwilling to attack easily either.
On the other hand, the Imperium still had tremendous elites in the “newly-recovered territory” that was just taken back from the Covenant Alliance. They were known as the expedition army.
The expedition army was a complicated, gargantuan group, and the branch fleets came from various places. They did not have a leader, but a lot of young officers in the expedition army respected Lei Chenghu, the highest commander of the Astounding Thunder Fleet, as their commander.
Theoretically, Lei Chenghu was a great general of the reformists, who had entered into the heartland of the Li family like a nail brutally. But in the half a year that followed, he did nothing at all, as if he had completely vanished.
The whole thing couldn’t be more interesting.