Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
The No.17 space port had been bombarded into smithereens. All the airtight doors and the docking rune arrays had turned into the melted slag. The air inside the tenth space ring leaked out through the damage, raising minor swirls along with the debris on the ground.
The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were crowding toward the port from various direction like locusts. Xiao Xuance seemed to have discovered the aim of the experts and wanted to drown them in an ocean of iron with all the forces available. At least, he wanted to drain their spiritual energy and damage their crystal suits.
"Where is the crystal warship of the Glorious Sunlight Group right now?" Si Koulie asked, breathing heavily.
He was not good at fighting. Persisting in the storm for so long had hit his limits.
"The crystal warship has broken through the ninth space ring smoothly and will be arriving soon. However, it cannot be docked here. We'll just fly out of the space port to board it!"
Li Yao and the Cultivators fought and moved out of the space port.
The situation in space was even more chaotic than the tenth space ring. The Grand Illusionary Soldiers that looked like red-headed flies were everywhere. Crystal warships were colliding and exploding as far as one's eyes could reach. The ever-surging fireballs looked like fireworks and showed absolutely no sign of dwindling.
"We have suffered heavy casualties. There's no time to look for a second starship!" Si Koulie scanned the status of all the Cultivators in the system. He said worriedly, "The crystal warship of the Glorious Sunlight Group is our only hope. Is it capable enough of bring us through nine space rings to somewhere near Heavenly Phantom?
"We must know that Heavenly Phantom is a super warship co-produced by the Star Fighters' Alliance and the Grand Illusionary Group. At that time, we did not know that Xiao Xuance was an Immortal Cultivator. It was designed to be the flagship of the coalition army in the final battle. Therefore, it was refined with the most marvelous techniques. The main guns and the defense rune arrays have never even been used before in any main force warships of the Star Fighters' Alliance!
"If a regular starship shows up in front Heavenly Phantom, it might be blown into oblivion after one shot!"
"Rest assured!" Li Yao licked his lips and said, "This crystal warship is the Glorious Sunlight Group's secret weapon. Its firepower might not be as impressive as that of Heavenly Phantom, but it is definitely the fastest, the most inconspicuous, and the most distinguished in interference and anti-interference starship of the Flying Star Sector—It is here!"
All the Cultivators were overjoyed. Thousands of crystal cameras scanned the surroundings far and wide.
But as far as their eyes could reach, there were nothing but broken starships on the burning battlefield. There was not the slightest sign of a super starship.
Right then, a ragged starship crawled out of an area of debris.
It was a carrier no longer than two kilometers. It was round and looked like a fat buffalo. The anti-collision plates on the surface were mottled, dented, and rusted. On the shell of the starship, the heat-resistance and defensive patches were a mess. It was like a twelfth-hand antique that somebody had bought from a bankrupt ship factory and did not even bother to paint the anti-rust lacquer.
All the Cultivators were rendered speechless.
Their skeptical eyes pierced through their crystal suits and toward Li Yao without any disguise.
Si Koulie was dumbfounded, too. He failed to come up with any comment and could only gasp.
Thousands of Grand Illusionary Soldiers condensed into dozens of tornadoes and swept toward them and the old-aged carrier.
All the Cultivators believed that the carrier was doomed, because they did not detect any cannons or even a glimmering spiritual shield on the surface of the carrier.
When the Grand Illusionary Soldiers invaded the carrier, its only outcome would be destruction!
However, when hundreds of Grand Illusionary Soldiers moved to a hundred meters from the carrier, they came to a weird standstill in glittering sparks at first, before their limbs and spines were twisted into screws amid cracking noises.
In a moment, the hundreds of Grand Illusionary Soldiers were completely destroyed.
"This is the latest magnetic defense rune array that can deploy a very powerful, controllable magnetic field outside the starship. With sufficient spiritual energy, all the metal within range can be manipulated!" Li Yao explained to the bewildered Cultivators.
Si Koulie was the first to come back to himself. He flew toward Sparkle without any hesitation. "We don't have any choice now. Get on board!"
The five gates on the right side of Sparkle were opened. More than a hundred Cultivators boarded the starship at the same time. More Grand Illusionary Soldiers followed them, only to be shredded into pieces by the special magnetic field when they entered Sparkle's defenses' range!
Sparkle turned around and marched toward the central area of Heavenly Saints City!
"Welcome aboard, fellow Cultivators." Professor Mo Xuan greeted the hundred Cultivators gracefully in an artificial body. "Powerful medical and recovery magical equipment has been installed on Sparkle. Please make the best use of the facilities to recover your strength and restore spiritual energy for the fierce battle to come."
The environment inside Sparkle was totally different from the shabby appearance on the outside.
Overall, every place was built with silver liquid metal. There was not the slightest gap on a single cabin door, much less traces of forging or riveting. It seemed to be made of an intact silver block.
It would not be exaggerating to say that it was flawless.
Even the experienced Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City were awed by the internal structure of Sparkle after they were aboard and did not know what to say for a long time.
Si Koulie, as an expert in starships, was glowing with interest. He scratched every corner of Sparkle and seemed to be willing to melt into it!
Si Koulie was the most skilled expert in the production of starships in the Flying Star Sector. Although Professor Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators had turned into unique 'star spirits' by accident, their main specialty was crystal suits. In regard to starships, they were not as knowledgeable as Si Koulie.
However, the life forms of Professor Mo Xuan and the other star spirits were the souls of human beings combined with the mustard-seed-level liquid metal on the starship.
One might say that they were part of Sparkle, and Sparkle was their 'body'!
The modifications that they did to their 'body' naturally far exceeded Si Koulie's expectations.
"I didn't know that the Glorious Sunlight Group had such a high expertise in the refining of starships. Even the Star Fighters' Alliance might not be able to produce such a strong starship!" Si Koulie complimented sincerely.
Professor Mo Xuan smiled and waved his hands. The silver walls around immediately rippled as if they were water in a pond. Soon, they became almost transparent.
The whole of space was before them.
In front, a few other light beams displayed Sparkle's form and the situation of dozens of battlefields captured from different perspectives.
At this moment, Sparkle had left the tenth space ring for the central area of Heavenly Saints City, but their trouble had not ended yet. Many Grand Illusionary Soldiers had captured the scene where the experts entered Sparkle.
A great number of Grand Illusionary Soldiers and starships that were controlled by the Immortal Cultivators marched toward Sparkle quickly, planning to block the starship on its way.
Faced with the overwhelming enemies, Professor Mo Xuan did not intend to fight the hard way. Instead, he piloted Sparkle into a battlefield that was packed by the debris of more than ten starships.
Si Koulie was dazed for a moment. He was an expert in starships and naturally knew a lot about the tactics of the starships.
Entering a zone of debris could allow the starship to get away from the enemy's searching. However, it would also mean that the starship would be trapped in the zone forever and completely lose its mobility. Therefore, it was quite a passive tactic.
However, what happened next made him feel stunned even though he had been dealing with starships all his life!
When Sparkle flew into the debris zone, it had been a fat carrier.
However, after the ragged plate was shaken off inside the debris zone, it changed into a slender assault warship.
After a quick look, Si Koulie recognized that it was a 'Red Shark'-level assault warship that the Star Fighters' Alliance devised more than a hundred and thirty years ago. Since it was simple in structure and reliable in performance, it was very popular among the middle and small sects. Today, it was still many small sects' favorite.
The Red Shark assault warship was also rusted and riddled with holes. Large clusters of fireballs were popping up everywhere, as if a large batch of Grand Illusionary Soldiers were raging inside the starship and the Cultivators on-board would lose control at any moment.
Si Koulie blinked and realized that it was a very smart camouflage.
The Grand Illusionary Soldiers were looking for a ragged carrier instead of a Red Shark assault warship.
Besides, judging from the appearance, the shaking and collapsing assault warship would not catch the Grand Illusionary Soldiers' attention at all!
With such a disguise, Sparkle passed through the ninth and the eighth space rings easily. Such light assault warships boasted plain firepower and were not threats to Heavenly Phantom. On the priority rank of the Immortal Cultivators, they were in a very low position.
However, after analyzing the data in the battlefields carefully, Xiao Xuance did cast his suspicious eyes to the weird assault warship in the end.
At this moment, Professor Mo Xuan played the same move. Sparkle entered another packed battlefield and took off another 'shell', pretending to be a 'Light' rapid starship that was much smaller in size!
"The surface of Sparkle is adorned with both mechanical structures and the camouflage of mystic rays. It can pretend to be fourteen different models of crystal warships according to our demand in a battle. Moreover, it can also fake six forms, including 'slightly damaged', 'heavily damaged', 'loss of momentum' and 'total loss', in order to bait the enemy!" Professor Mo Xuan declared proudly.
Later, they changed into six different disguises, from a rapid starship, to a maintenance starship, to a medical starship, and to debris that had completely lost all impetus. Finally, in the storm of bullets and cannon fire, it reached the central area of Heavenly Saints City without being damaged at all!
However, in the central area, the disguises would not work anymore!