Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

All the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, including Li Yao, narrowed their eyes.

They were all aware of the consequences if the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium discovered the relic of the Pangu civilization.

In the competition between the federation and the Imperium, the Imperium boasted a vast territory, tremendous resources, and a long history of development, while the federation was merely at the edge of the universe. Even if it could find more Sectors in the future, they would likely be barren lands with equally little resources!

The territory, the resources, and the reserves were all the federation’s disadvantages. To secure the final victory, they had to secure a technological edge in certain fields!

Developing on their own was definitely the correct path, but the relic of the Pangu civilization was also one of the New Federation’s most important trump cards to achieve the ‘corner overtaking’!

If the trump card was stolen by the Imperium, the New Federation would not even be able to struggle!

On the other hand, the Imperium of True Human Beings was unaware of their details yet and probably considered them bumpkins or barbarians. The expedition army had only been sent there to plunder resources. Therefore, the performance of the army might not be too high.

However, after the news of a relic of the Pangu civilization was sent to the Imperium, chances were that the best legions in the Imperium would be marching toward the federation without caring about the cost!

A thunderous strike from the center of the universe was definitely not something that the federation could defend against at this moment!

“We cannot allow the Immortal Cultivators to steal Kunlun!”

Iron God Yan Ba, ruthless enough, slapped the chair hard, and rose up. “If we set off right now, can we arrive at Kunlun before the Immortal Cultivators?”

Jiang Hailiu spoke with the astronomers for a moment and nodded. “Theoretically, yes.

“The ‘minor apocalypse’ couldn’t have carried too much fuel in the first place, and most of the fuel was already consumed for the super long-distance space jump that crossed thousands of space zones. After the adjustment of direction, it will barely have any fuel left!

“Besides, the ‘minor apocalypse’ does not know the specific coordinates of Kunlun. It has to search while it flies. The crab nebula is full of perils. The electromagnetic environment is very complicated. Its cruising speed cannot be very high.

“According to the specialists, it will take a week or so for the minor apocalypse to reach Kunlun in the best-case scenario!

“We have the Star Map of Kunlun and sufficient fuel. Theoretically, we can beat it to Kunlun!”

“Then, let’s gather all the elites and set off immediately!” Iron God Yan Ba gnashed his teeth. “We must destroy the ‘minor apocalypse’ on Kunlun at any cost. We cannot allow it to excavate the relic of the Pangu civilization or send its findings back to the Imperium!

“If news is sent back to the Imperium, and it uses the resources in Kunlun to establish a ‘space gate’ by creating enough large-scale star beacons, the expedition army of the Imperium will be able to jump over immediately with the perfect guide. We will be doomed!”

All the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and demon emperors nodded heavily.

At a moment of life and death, they had no time to care about the friction between human beings and demons anymore.

They were all clear that, once the minor apocalypse rooted in Kunlun, established an enormous space gate, and summoned the army of the Imperium, it would certainly be the doom of the three Sectors that nobody was going to get away from.

The magnificent plans that everybody had proposed a moment ago would also be jokes!

“Fellow Cultivator Luo Xingzi, how is Burning Prairie’s situation?” Jiang Hailiu asked gravely. “When is the earliest time we can set off to Kunlun?”

At such a perilous moment, Burning Prairie, the strongest warship of the three Sectors, was their last hope!

Everybody focused on Luo Xingzi. The leader of the Cultivators from the Flying Star Sector, however, was rather hesitant. He looked at Si Koulie, the specialist of starships from the Flying Star Sector, and faltered. “It’s very difficult, bordering on unrealistic, to ask Burning Prairie to jump over directly!”

“How so?” Jiang Hailiu frowned. “Kunlun is very close to the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector. The distance is much shorter than that between the Flying Star Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Now that Burning Prairie can jump from the Flying Star Sector to the Heaven’s Origin Sector, why can’t it jump from the Heaven’s Origin Sector to Kunlun?”

“The space jump technology that breaks the barrier of the four-dimensional space has a lot of prerequisites.” Si Koulie helped Luo Xingzi to explain. “It is especially so for a super warship of Burning Prairie’s tonnage with so many top experts in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Core Formation Stage on board!

“More than half a year ago, we jumped from the Flying Star Sector to the Heaven’s Origin Sector on three premises.

“Firstly, the Flying Star Sector boasted a ‘Cosmic Slingshot’, which was an enormous launch platform modified from the space jump rune arrays of the Star Ocean Imperium. It was with the joint efforts of the Cosmic Slingshot and the space jump system of Burning Prairie that such an incredible journey was made possible!

“Secondly, the communication between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector was already frequent back then, and you’d established a large array of star beacons in the orbit of the planet. When more than eight hundred star beacons shone together, they were a brilliant lighthouse that guided the way for Burning Prairie!

“Thirdly, the environment of the Heaven’s Origin Sector was very stable, without complicated cosmic storms or stone belts. Besides, during the communication beforehand, you also provided a lot of parameters of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Therefore, we knew every detail of the environment we were getting into!

“Even so, we still spent an unbelievable number of resources on the space jump, and the preparation took more than a month. After Burning Prairie was sent away, the Cosmic Slingshot had to undergo maintenance for two weeks before it supported the next jump!

“But right now, we have none of the three premises.

“Firstly, both the Heaven’s Artillery and the Eye of Blood Demon are now being upgraded and reconstructed. They are nowhere near as good as the Cosmic Slingshot of the Flying Star Sector. For them to produce enough impetus, they’ll have to be strengthened quickly, which will take at least ten days!

“Secondly, although we do have the Star Map of Kunlun, the environment there has completely changed in the past forty thousand years. Without the star beacons to guide the way, how can we jump to Kunlun precisely?

“Thirdly, the crab nebula that surrounds Kunlun is too complicated, and we don’t know the first thing about its parameters. How many stone belts are there exactly inside? How strong are the cosmic storms? Will the pulse stars affect the starship? How can we jump when we don’t know any of the information?

“It’s like a heavy ship that is moving in an unknown water area that is full of reefs and swirls on a dark night, with a great storm waiting for it ahead. That is not an adventure but suicide!”

Si Koulie had spent his entire life studying starships. He was an out-and-out old sea wolf, and his reasoning did make sense. Many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who had some knowledge could not help but nod.

“Leader Si, we admit that the difficulties you described are all real.” Jiang Hailiu’s face was so gloomy that a waterfall might pour out at any moment. “But the three Sectors are in peril now. The difficulties, however big they are, must be addressed one way or another. We cannot sit and watch the Immortal Cultivators take over Kunlun, can we?”

Si Koulie pondered for a moment and then calculated crazily with Luo Xingzi. In the end, he raised his head and said, “If Burning Prairie must jump to Kunlun, we can make a desperate attempt, but only on one condition!

“A smaller starship, with a limited number of elites, must jump over first!

“The mission of the starship is to record the astronomical parameters of Kunlun, explore the surroundings, and establish a star beacon near Kunlun.

“With the astronomical parameters and the guidance of the star beacon, the odds of a successful space jump will be greatly improved. Otherwise, our determination will not mean anything, and we will be killed ten times even if we jump ten times!”

“Let me go!”

Hardly had Si Koulie concluded when Li Yao rose up and said, “I will collect parameters and establish a star beacon for Burning Prairie on Sparkle!”

Li Yao had spent quite a few years in the Flying Star Sector. He was also among the first batch to jump back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector from the Flying Star Sector. His space jump experience was much more abundant than regular Cultivators. Therefore, he knew that Si Koulie was not exaggerating

Just an ancient star map, no star beacons, and unfamiliar with the environment of the destination. A space jump on such conditions would certainly be a dead end.

Also, Sparkle was a multipurpose exploration starship of the Star Ocean Imperium in the first place. One of its designing purposes was to lead the way for super starships!

Li Yao had another identity, which was the captain of Sparkle. Right now, Sparkle had been fully restored with even more remarkable functions than before. He could not wait to explore the secrets of Kunlun with his old friend!

“Me, too!”

“And me!”

“Fellow Cultivator Li, let’s fight together!”

Many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and demon emperors volunteered.

Whatever their stance to each other was, at a time like this, valiance and desire for the relic of the Pangu civilization were the last things that they were short of.

Due to the emergency, the point of order had to be put aside for now. After all, the super experts of the three Sectors were all there. The Meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage immediately turned into a meeting of strategical analysis.

A few space jump specialists and starship specialists from the Flying Star Sector analyzed and precisely calculated the maximum load when the Heaven’s Artillery and the space jump system on Sparkle were working together.

Subtracting the load with the weight of the necessary facilities that Sparkle had to carry, they concluded the maximum number of persons that could be teleported once.

Generally speaking, three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, twenty Core Formation Stage Cultivators, or ten times more Building Foundation Stage Cultivators could be teleported.

“Let’s teleport three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!” Li Yao said. “The electromagnetic environment in Kunlun is too complicated. Danger will be lurking everywhere. We are also likely to be engaged in head-on clashes with the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium. If the crew are too weak, they may be burdens, and the Immortal Cultivators might dig out tremendous intelligence about the federation from their heads should they be caught!

“Also, the more people who are teleported, the more resources will be consumed. The load of Sparkle will be unnecessarily occupied, too!”

Storing the magical equipment, facilities, and crystals inside Cosmos Rings could indeed save space and weight, but Cosmos Rings, as special storage magical equipment, were particularly ‘heavy’ during a space jump. They would also release weird waves that would affect the space jump. Eventually, the starship might deviate from the course and got lost in the four-dimensional space!

Therefore, the seasoned sea wolves did not like to keep too many Cosmos Rings on a starship. The control of assets and fuel was still very important.