Chapter 953: The Imperial Way (3)
A little stretched!
The fleets brought by Peony Lord and Rose Lord spread out from the periphery of this star field. Forbidden spells surged in the void, and each warship was accurately assigned a target to attack by the accompanying generals.
There are nearly 100,000 stars inhabited by intelligent creatures, thousands of large and small floating lands, tens of thousands of floating cities floating in the stardust, and various markets, strongholds, mountain strongholds, nests, etc.
Several huge mirrors floated in the air, and invisible waves enveloped the star field, accurately marking the exact location of every intelligent creature settlement. According to the total number of intelligent creatures above these settlements, and even the number and realm of powerful monks surveyed, each star, each continent, each floating city, mountain stronghold, etc., has been assigned a varying number of warships running at full speed.
However, the total number of these targets added up to more than 150,000.
There are tens of millions of warships pouring in here, but on average only sixty to seventy warships can be assigned to each target.
However, the star field ahead was obviously not a very powerful force. When the fleets of Peony Lord and Rose Lord had already begun to deploy and encircle the surrounding areas, no one in the huge star field noticed the unusual movements of these warships.
Moreover, Lu Yi noticed that there were only two star gate passages leading to the outside world in this star field.
This proves that this star region is probably a remote and impoverished place or a corner of the countryside.
Why would the 'father' of Peony and Rose be interested in such a place? Even to the point of issuing a massacre order?
"Boom, boom!"
Two loud noises were heard, and the two star gates suspended at both ends of the star field exploded. More than a dozen rays of light shot up into the sky, rushing towards the direction of the fleet's flagship. Behind these rays of light, there were dozens of warships of all sizes, and masters who drove the rays of light were chasing them angrily.
The flagship where Lu Yi was located suddenly accelerated, and with thousands of warships, it rushed towards the dozen or so fleeing lights.
In the void, the warships, which had powerful power and strong defense, could resist various void energy tides and various terrible void disasters and could accelerate recklessly and ram violently. Soon, the speed of the warships exceeded the speed of the escaping light in front, and the distance between the two sides was rapidly shortened. After just a quarter of an hour, more than a dozen escaping light rays landed directly on the warships.
"Bang!"
The flagship, which had raised all its defenses and opened all its defense formations, crashed into the small warship that was chasing it from behind. The small warship, which was only two or three miles long, was easily smashed to pieces by the thousand-mile-long flagship.
A mixture of fear and anger were heard from the pursuing warships and escaping lights behind, roughly inquiring about the identities of Lu Yi and others.
The heavy decks on both sides of the warship opened, and crystal cannons flashing dazzling light protruded out. Lightning pillars several feet thick shot out with deafening roars, hitting the warships and escape lights with precise point shots, turning the pursuers into a wisp of smoke in the void in an instant.
"The main target is Hei Ze Star." Among the dozen or so fleeing lights, the leader was a middle-aged man with an ordinary face, wearing a brocade robe with a lot of copper coin patterns embroidered on it, dressed like a merchant. He bowed to Shaoyao Jun and Yueji Jun, and said in a deep voice: "The only two star gates here have been destroyed by us, and they have no way to escape. However, this kind of action should be done as quickly as possible!"
The flagship accelerated, spewing smoke and fire all the way, and flew towards the core position of this star field. A star was slowly rotating around a scorching sun. Seen from outer space, the whole body was generally light black in color, dotted with a large number of green land masses, and covered with a thick layer of water mist. The star was flying at full speed.
Along the way, a large number of warships have been dispersed, surrounding one star after another from the void, or floating land masses, and even cities and strongholds suspended in the stardust.
These warships, which are hundreds of miles long, have the emblem of the Five Military Office flying above them.
On the besieged stars and strongholds, scattered monks took to the air and cautiously asked the people on the warships about their purpose.
On the battleship, a general wearing heavy armor appeared and responded according to the unified instructions in advance - 'The five military forces of the Heavenly Court are hunting down the evil demons and rebels. All the people should cooperate carefully. If there are any unusual movements, they will be regarded as accomplices and will be killed'!
The rules of heaven are very strict, and the name of the Five Military Office is very useful.
The leading monks of the stars and strongholds surrounded by warships believed the words of the generals and returned to their homes and restrained their subordinates. It was seen that all the ships that were originally shuttling back and forth in the air around the stars and strongholds fell back to the ground, and all the defense restrictions above the towns and villages were closed, showing a "full cooperation with the Five Military Office".
Lu Yi looked on helplessly and shook his head.
At this time, if the natives of this star field knew the purpose of Peony Lord and Rose Lord, although the two external star gates were blown up, they only needed to set up warships and flee in all directions. With the number of warships brought by Peony Lord and Rose Lord, it would be impossible to effectively blockade the starry sky.
As long as these natives could get on the warships, there was a high chance that they could escape into the vast starry sky in all directions.
Although without the star gate, it might take hundreds of years, or even tens of thousands of years, to travel from this star field to the adjacent star field. However, it is not easy for the fleets of Lord Peony and Lord Rose to search for them in that vast star field.
Not to mention, they were pretending to be the Five Military Prefecture troops...it was impossible for them to search around for the escaped warships in a high-profile manner.
However, they believed the identity of this foreign fleet.
They lay down, gave up resistance, and did not escape. Their only way of survival was cut off.
Warships surrounded stars, land masses, cities, strongholds, markets, etc. from outer space. The heavy outer decks of the warships were opened at a leisurely pace, and waist-thick chains were ejected from the cabins with a harsh thundering sound, linking the warships and forming a large net that completely enveloped these strongholds.
The copycat version of the dragnet is gradually taking shape.
Large groups of soldiers formed a military formation, slowly rose into the air, left the warships, and formed a military formation in the void.
Lu Yi followed the flagships of Peony-kun and Rose-kun and sped towards the Heize star in the center. It took several days along the way... During these few days, communication activities in the entire star field completely ceased. The fleet gradually dismembered and cut the originally integrated star field from the outside like peeling an onion, cutting it into pieces bit by bit.
In this way, the flagship where Lu Yi was located, along with more than a thousand warships, slowly arrived in the outer space of Heize Star.
The Hei Ze star is not big. Even in the Supreme Taichu Heaven, this star can be considered slender and delicate. The diameter of the star is less than 100,000 miles. More than a thousand warships are scattered around, easily wrapping the entire star in the center.
Teams of armored soldiers stepped on the thick clouds, rose into the air from the warships, and lined up in the void.
Between the warships, chains crisscrossed and formed a dense net, covering the stars. Huge forbidden divine runes flickered on the chains, sweeping away the clouds above the stars. Powerful electric currents turned into thunder dragons flowing back and forth on the chains. The terrifying electricity struck the atmosphere, and the entire surface of the stars was filled with thick ozone.
On the Black Lake Star, it was very rare that there were no high mountains on the entire star. The highest was just a small hill the size of a steamed bun. The terrain was mostly swamps and wetlands, with many lakes and streams. The most densely populated area on the entire star was a large swamp with a radius of more than 10,000 miles.
At the core of this vast marsh, above the thousand-mile-wide lake, marsh gas rose, and the miasma turned into wisps of colorful smoke under the sun. A brilliantly colorful light, but too bright and intense, like the colorful patterns on poisonous snakes and insects, rose from below the lake, and after a few flashes, it broke through the atmosphere and arrived in front of the flagship.
In the escaping light, there was a middle-aged man with long hair, wearing coarse linen clothes, with a burly figure, and a faint dark aura on his face. It was obvious that the martial arts he practiced were evil.
The man held a wooden stick in his left hand, and on the top of the stick sat a green-skinned toad the size of a human head. The big toad rolled its eyes and spit out wisps of colorful poisonous gas from the corner of its mouth.
The green snake in Lu Yi's sleeve moved violently, and a strand of crystal clear tears slid lightly from the corner of its mouth.
Lu Yi tapped the guy's head gently, and the green snake rolled over in his sleeves coquettishly - this toad was very much to his taste, and he was going to swallow it today no matter what.
The middle-aged man bowed respectfully to Shaoyao Jun and Yueji Jun, who were standing at the bow and were obviously the leaders. "May I ask what business you are on this trip, sirs? We are all good citizens on Hei Ze Star, and there are absolutely no bandits hiding..."
Shaoyao Jun coughed lightly, then took two steps forward slowly and pretentiously, putting on the face of a true celestial official, with his hands behind his back, and said proudly: "I am following the order of the Great Emperor..."
Before Shaoyao Jun could finish his words, Yueji Jun had already pointed his finger, and a ray of sparkling pink and white sword light tore through the void, and with a "puff" sound, it pierced the middle-aged man's heart. A large amount of dark blue blood splattered, and the middle-aged man looked at Yueji Jun in disbelief. Large pieces of flesh and blood on the wound continued to collapse and fall off, and were turned into a mess by the sword energy remaining on the wound.
"We are here to exterminate your entire clan, why are you talking so much nonsense?" Yue Jijun said coldly, "Hurry up and kill! Make a quick decision, don't really attract people from the Heavenly Court."
The bow decks of more than a thousand giant ships were opened, and one after another huge weapons of war revealed their ferocious claws.
More than a thousand lightning bolts with a diameter of several miles fell from the sky, bearing the brunt of the attack, hitting the area around the large swamp where the most creatures lived. In a blink of an eye, each warship could fire hundreds of lightning bolts at a high frequency. With the support of the warship's huge formation, the power of each lightning bolt was equivalent to the full force of a general-level master, and could easily destroy hundreds of miles.
A large amount of dense swamp mist mixed with colorful poisonous smoke rose slowly and turned into an air cover with a diameter of ten thousand miles, enveloping the entire swamp.
Lightning flashed all over the sky, causing the air shield to vibrate slightly. The lightning flashed and exploded, causing huge ripples above the air shield and the swamp below to be shaken into waves several feet high. The lightning flash failed to break through the air shield, nor did it cause any substantial harm to the swamp or the hundreds of millions of lives living near it.
The middle-aged man in the middle of the chest fell from a high altitude. The originally thin wound on his chest had turned into a transparent hole the size of a human head under the crazy strangulation of the sword energy.
He held the wooden stick tightly in his hand. The green-skinned toad sat cross-legged on the stick, looking at its falling master at a loss.
The green snake poked its head out from Lu Yi's sleeve and opened its mouth to devour the green-skinned toad. Lu Yi grabbed the green snake by the waist and stuffed it back into his sleeve.
He came to someone's house for no apparent reason and murdered the whole family without any reason... It was bad enough to be in the middle of this kind of thing but unable to stop it. He even took advantage of the situation and swallowed up someone's pet... Lu Yu was not a saint and would not hold back on his enemies. But was this middle-aged man his enemy? No, so Lu Yu would not do anything to take advantage of someone's misfortune!
The green snake looked at Lu Yi aggrievedly.
Lu Yi shook his head gently, and the green snake obediently slipped back into his sleeve, tears continued to fall from the corners of his mouth. He didn't have a strong sense of good and evil in his heart... He just had a strong appetite for the green-skinned toad purely out of nature.
"Attack with all your strength!" Lord Yueji bypassed Lord Shaoyao and gave orders to the more than a thousand giant ships surrounding the Hei Ze Star.
The giant ship's extremely high-frequency bombardment suddenly stopped.
Hundreds and thousands of high-frequency attacks in the blink of an eye, the lethality of the giant ships was only equivalent to the full force of a powerful heavenly general... At this moment, following the order of Yue Jijun, these giant ships began to charge and attack. The giant offensive weapons were shaking slightly, and in the cabin, the huge energy furnace was burning fiercely. The mountains of imperial coins turned into ashes in an instant, and the majestic Dao rhyme and spiritual energy continued to fill these war weapons.
One charge, ten breaths.
Dazzling light burst out from the bows of more than a thousand warships, accompanied by sharp sounds of breaking through the air. Bolts of lightning with a diameter of several miles tore through the void and slammed heavily into the gas shield covering the swamp.
Charging attacks, the attack power unleashed by these warships has reached the level of a Star Lord's full-strength attack.
A series of blinding lightning pillars stood between heaven and earth, and the light pillars violently impacted the colorful gas shield, creating deep dents on the gas shield. The gas shield slammed into the ground, shaking and splashing countless dust and mud. Near the big swamp, small settlements were shattered, and some villages and towns with thousands or tens of thousands of people were directly vaporized and disappeared in the lightning.
Around the great lake, only eighteen large cities had blinding flames rising from above them, and colorful clouds and mists swirled up into the sky. The city defense formation was activated, isolating the lightning pillars that were bombarding them.
Beneath the bright colorful haze, one can see monks with a sinister aura rising into the air, with their brows raised and their eyes wide open, emitting vast and floating rays of light that penetrate through the thick atmosphere and angrily lock onto the warships that are frantically bombarding.
Around the Great Lake, eighteen cities withstood the bombardment of warships.
However, more than a thousand warships surrounded the entire planet from all directions. Other places on the Black Ze Star did not have a city defense formation of the same scale as these eighteen cities.
Pillars of lightning fell on the land of Hei Ze Star, and each strike shook the area for thousands of miles. Huge mushroom clouds exploded, and thick land masses were lifted up. In the flames, thick rock layers were shattered, and countless lives were wiped out in the explosion.
The Hei Ze Star with a diameter of 100,000 miles was like an apple that was bitten by a greedy baby. Except for the large swamp with a radius of more than 10,000 miles, the rest of the star was smashed to pieces in an instant... In the raging fire, most of the body of Hei Ze Star was broken apart, and in the end only a piece of colorful smoke and cloud remained. The circular swamp with a diameter of about 12,000 miles and a thickness of 3,000 miles was quietly suspended in the void.
At this time, it can be seen that a large-scale formation has long been arranged under the ground of this circular swamp.
Thousands of battle flags floated in the air, stirring up the sky full of smoke and haze.
The array devices flashed with dazzling light, and lotus Buddha seals appeared in the light, melting the foundation of the entire lake into an immortal diamond, which was extremely hard and solid.
There were also 360 five-colored smoke swords that were about a mile long, made of unknown materials, and between reality and illusion, circling and slashing rapidly. With a shout from the 18 big cities, 360 giant swords flew into the air, and in the flashing sword light, more than a dozen encircling warships had been slashed thousands of times by these giant swords.
With a loud "clang", the battleship's defense formation was broken layer by layer, and the outer restrictions of some battleships were torn apart by the sword light. The sword light directly cut the hull, and deep cracks were cut on the hull and deck, which were dozens of feet thick. Wisps of five-colored poisonous gas entangled in the cracks, corroding the hull and deck madly. Layers of spiritual gold decks could be seen falling off with the naked eye.
Yue Jijun's eyes widened, and he yelled, "What's going on? The attack power of this sword formation is only at the level of a beginner Heavenly Monarch... Our warship's defense formation is customized to withstand the full-strength bombardment of a peak Heavenly Monarch... Why can an attack from a beginner Heavenly Monarch damage a warship?"
Mr. Rose was so furious that Mr. Peony's face twitched a little.
He said in a cold voice: "Why are you making such a fuss? With so many warships, isn't it normal for some of them to have different qualities and slight flaws? Even if they are the most skilled craftsmen, can you guarantee that the warships they refine will not have any flaws?"
Mr. Rose suddenly turned back and stared at Mr. Peony.
Lu Yu, standing by, felt his face flushed with shame because of Shaoyaojun's awkward and forced explanation - how could he say such embarrassing words?
Warships are not small gadgets like swords, spears, and halberds.
The engravings of formations, prohibitions, Taoist patterns, talismans, etc. inside swords, spears, and halberds are too delicate and exquisite, and there may be a probability of defects during casting. But a warship is such a huge size and has such a streamlined manufacturing process... As long as there is a slightly skilled shipbuilder, there is no possibility of failure!
How many times greater is the error tolerance of a giant ship that is a hundred miles long than that of a three-foot long sword?
flaw?
Mistake?
Are you sure that it wasn't you who manipulated the situation and embezzled too much money, causing the warship's rank to decline?
Yue Jijun's face was slightly red, and his lips were faintly white, but deep in his eyes, besides disgust, there was a hint of ecstasy - even if you, Shaoyaojun, are the son that father values and dotes on the most, so what? You dared to tamper with father's private army's weapons... You simply deserve to die!
Lu Yi looked at the sky in silence.
This...how do I explain this?
It is just like in the secular world, a royal relative was preparing to rebel, and he was full of confidence and gave the funds he had raised with great effort to his son to build weapons and train private soldiers. As a result, his beloved son tampered with the weapons needed for the rebellion...
What a freak, what a talent!
But now is obviously not the time to talk about such things.
The enemy's sword array attacked and killed, and several warships were damaged. The damaged hull was soon completely pierced, detonating the important components inside. Fireworks rose, explosions continued to sound, and several warships tilted and gradually drifted away. However, the chains between the warships were tightened, restraining them in place and unable to move.
On the warship, a general in heavy armor rose into the air, holding a spear and a heavy halberd, and rushed towards the flying sword formation.
Loud "clang" noises were heard continuously. These generals who had reached the Heavenly Sovereign realm were full of rage and supernatural power. Sword lights came one after another, but were constantly blasted away by the weapons in their hands. For a while, the fight was evenly matched.
But it was obvious that the warship attack that had been charged for ten breaths could no longer threaten the opponent's defense revealed at this moment.
Pillars of lightning fell one after another, and the opponent was surrounded by colorful smoke and haze, and these star-lord-level attacks were easily dissolved into nothingness.
Mr. Rose no longer cared about arguing with Mr. Peony. He looked up to the sky and howled, continuously giving orders.
For a moment, the thunder and fire attacks of thousands of warships suddenly came to a halt.
Inside the cabin, the huge furnace began to tremble, and the mountains of imperial coins were constantly burned... Inside the hull, huge array prohibitions began to light up, and these warships began to attack at full strength.
At the bow, strangely shaped crystal-like thunder and fire cannon barrels changed their shapes, becoming longer, thicker, and brighter. They began to frantically draw the Dao rhyme and spiritual energy from the furnace, accumulating energy for a longer time...
The attack that had just been launched after ten breaths of accumulation of energy had reached the level of a full-strength attack from a Star Lord at his peak.
At this moment, accompanied by a dull roar, these warships were shaking slightly all over, and their charging time was thirty times longer than before!
The blazing lightning accumulated at the bow, jumping and rapidly collapsing and compressing inwards, with a faint sign of turning into substance.
After such a long period of confusion, the hulls of more than a thousand warships shook violently, accompanied by terrible thunder. Lightning pillars, each only a hundred feet thick and as if carved from crystal and real, tore through the void and slammed heavily on the small land mass shrouded in mist.
The full-strength attack of more than a thousand Hundred-Li Warships surprisingly reached the level of Heavenly Sovereign Great Perfection.
The attack of the thousand-mile-long flagship where Lu Yi was located had reached the middle level of the Great Heavenly Lord.
At the same time, the millions of soldiers arrayed in the void also used the formation to connect their own cultivation and injected it into the body of the leading general. Layer upon layer of mana was piled up, and in the end, several generals whose own cultivation had reached the level of great heavenly monarchs, their weapons burst out with strong light that could not be seen directly by the naked eye, and split out a terrifying edge that was enough to shatter the stars.
The attacks unleashed by these generals have reached the peak and perfect level of the Great Heavenly Lord, and are even more powerful than the attacks unleashed by this thousand-mile giant warship.
The defensive formation formed by colorful smoke and haze was broken with a sound, and the landmass that was covered with lotus Buddha seals and shone with golden light like an immortal diamond was hit. With a terrible shattering sound, this small landmass that was melted into one piece by secret method was blown into pieces, and there were potholes everywhere, and magma splashed everywhere after the melted landmass. Hundreds of large and small cracks extended wantonly in the landmass, and a sharp shattering sound broke out.
The warships were roaring, the troops were shouting, and waves of crazy attacks fell on the landmass, which continued to crack and fall off.
In the eighteen cities shining with bright lights, someone finally roared out: "What crime have we committed? Heaven, why do you punish us without teaching?"
Mr. Yueji didn't say anything, but just kept giving orders and deploying troops to increase the intensity of the attack.
Peony-kun glanced at Rose-kun, jumped to the bow with great interest, and laughed loudly at the eighteen cities that were shaking from the explosion: "You know very well what crime you have committed... Some of you have colluded with the evil demons and rebels... When we, the Five Military Office, act, we would rather kill the wrong person than let him go!"
"If you don't want to die with me... then shut down the city defense formation, and all cultivators must restrain their cultivation and come out to cooperate with the Five Military Office... If you are truly innocent... I can clear your name!"
The smoke and haze flickered, and human figures could be seen swaying in the sky above the eighteen cities.
A very thin wisp of smoke emerged from a city. It was an old man wearing a coarse cloth gown, holding a wooden stick, and a large green gourd hanging from his waist. He had a graceful figure, moving freely in the sky full of lightning and lightning, avoiding the terrifying attacks and moving briskly in front of the flagship.
Behind Shaoyao Jun, the group of independent cultivators he had gathered were eager to make achievements, and immediately seven or eight of the most powerful ones flew into the air and stood in front of Shaoyao Jun.
The old man stopped and looked at Shaoyao Jun with a stern look. He looked Shaoyao Jun up and down and said coldly: "If there are people in the city who collude with evil spirits and rebel... my nephew has never left Hei Ze Star since he was born... What mistakes did he make that deserve you gentlemen to kill him on the spot?"
Shaoyao-Jun was stunned. The old man's nephew? The one that Yueji-Jun had attacked without giving him any time to speak and had his heart pierced by a sword?
Shaoyao Jun smiled and said, "Suspicion, suspicion... We wanted him to surrender, but he didn't want to, so we used a little more force... But, old sir, if you are willing to let the people in the city cooperate, my Heavenly Palace is not an unreasonable place!"
"If you are innocent, then I will clear your name."
"Of course, if you are guilty, then you must plead guilty." Shaoyao Jun put on a sincere look and took out a genuine token of the Grand Marshal of the Five Military Offices of Heaven.
"You can rest assured about the Five Military Mansion's golden signboard, right? You may be imprisoned and unable to move freely while cooperating with the investigation... But as long as it is found that you have nothing to do with the evil demons and rebels, then you will be cleared of all charges!"
Shaoyao Jun persuaded him earnestly: "To be honest, your nephew is too stubborn... If he was willing to cooperate, we wouldn't be so nervous and would just attack him... The truth is, that evil demon is so terrifying and is a wanted criminal in the Heavenly Court. We dare not make the slightest mistake... The Heavenly Court has strict rules, so we can only kill him by mistake rather than let him go!"
The old man looked at Shaoyaojun with a dim gaze.
He opened his mouth and was about to speak when a faint roar sounded from the small land mass, right in the middle of the lake. A large cloud of light water vapor and haze rose straight into the sky, and an erratic voice sounded faintly: "This is a battle to seize the Dao... Are you really from the Heavenly Court?"
“If you are really from the Five Armies of Heaven… Hehe, the people of Hei Ze Star have lived in seclusion for many years and have never had the opportunity to collude with outsiders… In the void, the Dao that I have cultivated is shaking… My people have been slaughtered, and their Dao is being rapidly refined…”
"Who are you, anyway?"
"The Heavenly Court, look down upon the insignificant path I occupy ... You, you..."
Mr. Peony, Mr. Rose, and the old man, all three of them changed their expressions at the same time.
The old man quickly flew back to the crumbling land mass, but the independent cultivators gathered by Shaoyao Jun shouted, and all kinds of secret attacking methods, magical skills, sword lights and magic lights surged out like a tide, drowning the old man in an instant.
The gourd on the old man's waist suddenly spurted out a bright colorful light, and wisps of strange smell that made people feel faintly nauseous filled the air. Immediately, three or four independent cultivators whose cultivation was much stronger than the old man groaned, and a large number of poisonous sores and blisters began to appear on their bodies. Wisps of dirty blood mixed with white mucus and foam spurted out of their seven orifices, and they looked like they were severely poisoned.
The colorful light instantly enveloped the entire airspace where the Hei Ze Star was originally located. In the void, hundreds of millions of soldiers in formation roared in unison. They were inexplicably poisoned by the gas. Many of them suffered from vomiting and diarrhea, and all they spewed out was blood, foam, and even rotten flesh and pus formed by the decay and melting of their internal organs.
The poison had silently penetrated into the soldiers' internal organs at some point in time.
In just a few breaths, at least tens of millions of the weakest soldiers twitched and fell directly into the void, and their bodies turned into a pool of pus in an instant.
The poison was so contagious... This old man was blasted into ashes by a few independent cultivators in one blow, without even a piece of ash left.
The dark green gourd was obviously a rare treasure. The old man had been killed, but the gourd was not damaged at all. Instead, it was spewing out colorful poisonous mist at a faster speed. The dense light was wriggling, and the defense formations of more than a thousand warships were shaking. With the sound of corrosion, tiny bubbles appeared on the hulls of most of the warships, and holes of various sizes were corroded.
"You all deserve to die!"
The erratic voice came faintly: "Children, today, you must fight to the death!"
