Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Logically, faced with the crystal suits that boasted high speed and agility, such a human-shaped machine two hundred meters tall was of little actual significance despite the astonishing sound and visual effect. It could even prove to be very clumsy.

However, the iron troll made of iron caltrops and magnetic field had a swiftness that was utterly disproportionate to its size. There was not any mechanical structure on its ‘arms’ and ‘legs’ at all, which were purely attracted by the magnetic field. Therefore, the limbs could be extended, retracted, or turned as it wished. They could even launch the enormous iron caltrops like cannonballs!

Before the real attacks were performed, the giant would release intense mental attacks first to shock the brain nerves of the Exos of the federal army, casting them into a momentary daze.

When the soldiers of the federal army came back to themselves from dizziness, the iron drops several meters in diameter surrounded by electric arcs were already smashed into their faces.

In terms of body size, it was a battle of an elephant versus mice.

However, the elephant was actually as agile as a mouse, and the ‘mice’ were as clumsy as regular elephants.

The iron troll swept everything on its way invincibly. Wherever it reached, crystal suits collapsed, and blood and bodies were sent flying. Almost a hundred valiant soldiers shed their blood in the cold space before they had the chance to grunt!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The iron troll could do more than just melee combat. Its body was made of a thousand iron caltrops. Therefore, its body could freely be twisted and changed. Attracted by the force field, the limbs of the giant were growing and shrinking. They even became four enormous cylinders from which countless iron caltrops spurted out toward where the soldiers of the federal army were densest. It was not until the caltrops reached the center of the enemy’s battle formation that they exploded abruptly into a fiery ocean of death!

The situation on the battlefield was immediately reversed.

The federal army, which had been pushing forward quickly just now, was blocked by the inhuman force.

The army of ghosts that were more or less disordered previously, on the other hand, regrouped under the cover of the giant and were ready to launch a counterattack at any time!

The soldiers of the federal army, who came from various troops and lacked effective organization and leadership, were charging forward purely with their courage and determination under the summon of the Horn of Charge.

Such an army might be sharp enough, but it was short of tenacity. They could fight a winning battle, not a losing one!

If the situation on the battlefield was promising, they could push forward with a high morale and fight crazier and crazier as they moved forward, offering a performance that was almost close to that of an elite troop. But if there were signs of failure, they would immediately be crushed and blown back to their real appearance that was disorganized loose sand. It was utterly impossible for them to be regrouped.

The tenacity to fight a losing battle was perhaps the biggest difference between a common troop and an ace troop!

“What the heck is that?”

Even Li Yao, as an experienced refiner, had never seen such a weird… what seemed to be a war puppet before.

The iron caltrops that made up its torso and limbs seemed to be space torpedoes that were even larger in size, but the spiritual and magnetic field that constructed the veins and nerves around its body was the key. How was that created? And how was such an enormous giant controlled in such a fluent and flawless way?

“It’s—it’s the ‘Super Deviant Spirit’ that Professor Mo Xuan produced, the most awesome artificial intelligence in war!”

A light space shuttle flew close under the protection of more than ten soldiers of the federal army. Li Yao observed carefully, only to discover that the two-seated cockpit of the space shuttle had been simply modified. The pilot was sitting in the front seat, but a huge cluster of shivering ‘jelly’ was on the seat behind. Inside the ‘jelly’ was a weird super crystal processor.

It was Liu Wenshan, the refiner who was trapped in the Spiriters’ Realm and forced to join Professor Mo Xuan’s research project. Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and the federal army had rescued him just now.

The field that he was most adept at was exactly crystal processor automation. Artificial intelligence was his strong suit!

“Do you still remember what I said? I overheard from some members of the research team that Professor Mo Xuan produced nineteen super artificial intelligences after decades of hard work. Other than the two failed products that were eventually obliterated due to logic mistakes and data overflow, seventeen were successful!”

Telepathic thoughts were spreading out of the weird metal brain as Liu Wenshan said in a hurry, “The seventeen super artificial intelligences are different from the other Deviant Spirits that run real-time calculations with the support of big data. Their computational ability is at least a hundred times higher than that of the common Deviant Spirits and very close to the way of thinking of real humans. They have also been endowed with marvelous techniques by Professor Mo Xuan or maybe the extraterrestrial devils!

“According to the seasoned specialists in our research team, such super artificial intelligences even have a special code name in the army of ghosts. They are known as ‘Hyper Spirits’!

“Most of the Hyper Spirits are designed to hack and control planetary-level defense arrays, flagship-level warships, and mainframe crystal processors that control an entire space zone. But to ensure security, Professor Mo Xuan seems to have refined one or two Hyper Spirits for single combat purposes. The monster in front of our eyes must be one of them!”

Hyper Spirits…

There was no telling how many Deviant Spirits Professor Mo Xuan had produced in the past few decades, but only nineteen of them were qualified to be known as ‘Hyper Spirits’. Two of them had even failed during the experiments!

Even Professor Mo Xuan had failed despite the technical support of the extraterrestrial devils. It was not hard to imagine the complexity and magnificence of the Hyper Spirits.

The computational ability and databases of the Hyper Spirits were powerful enough to hack the mainframe crystal processors of the planetary-level defense arrays and flagships. No wonder they were able to build and control such a complicated force field model!

“Those things are not easy to deal with,” Luo Qisheng also said solemnly. “I don’t know much about the so-called Hyper Spirits, but I know that the torso and limbs of the giant are made of the most advanced space torpedoes of the federation known as ‘Abyss Jellyfish’!

“Those space torpedoes are different from the regular goods just now. Their explosive units have been embedded with high-pressure, artificial marrow crystals. Their surfaces are also carved with ten times more power rune arrays than common space torpedoes. Their speed, agility, and blast are dozens of times greater than common space torpedoes!

“Do you see the crazily flying chains around them? They are the magnetic attraction devices that guide them to fly to the target with the most intense spiritual waves automatically. If the target is not powerful enough, it may even be attracted to them before it is surrounded and blown into pieces!

“The Abyss Jellyfish, as super space torpedoes, are very expensive. It is not worthwhile to deal with regular targets with them. They are specially designed to deal with Colossi!”

“The Colossi?” Li Yao’s eyes flickered abruptly.

Luo Qisheng nodded. “Correct. More strictly speaking, it is designed to hinder and block the operation of the Colossi in order to buy more time for the cannons, troops, and Colossi on our side to gather!”

“Is that so?” Li Yao sneered. “Can it stop a Colossus?”

“No magical equipment can really stop a Colossus except for another Colossus.” Luo Qisheng smiled bitterly. “But right now, so many ‘Abyss Jellyfish’ have been turned into such a magnificent structure after Professor Mo Xuan’s crazy modification under the enhancement of the ‘Hyper Spirits’! There are no Colossi in Hundred Flowers City. The dozens of Colossi that the federation has are all deployed at the capital, the factories of warships, and the major mining bases!

“There’s nothing we can do about the monster!”

Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao stared at the ravaging iron troll. He absorbed the spiritual energy and the nutrition materials at a much higher speed. The deep green gel was turning transparent at a visible rate.

He and Long Yangjun looked at each other, both noticing the hunger in each other’s eyes.

“We… have failed. We didn’t expect that there would be something like this Hyper Spirit.” Looking at the soldiers in the front line which were on the brink of collapse, Luo Qisheng sounded hopeless. “The army of ghosts are regrouping. After they finish regrouping and launch a counterattack, our army will completely collapse. Even the bravest soldier will only end up as a target for the army of ghosts. After the collapse, it will be impossible for us to gather an army of such a scale and morale!”

“Then, I guess we don’t have a choice now.” Li Yao widened his eyes. Every muscle on his body was vibrating like a high-frequency dagger, breaking the medical gel apart immediately and turning it into vague green mist that covered his body.

Long Yangjun broke out of the medical gel, too. Staring at the iron troll, which was on a rampage far away, she calculated the combat pattern and movement of the enemy while turning a Cosmos Ring on her thumb that was from the primeval age unhurriedly in the meantime.

“This must be Professor Mo Xuan’s trump card,” said Li Yao. “I assume that he must be very annoyed right now, because he has to show all his trump cards when the game just got started!”

“I suppose he is,” Long Yangjun said. “Even if Professor Mo Xuan has indeed produced nineteen Hyper Spirits, most of them are certainly prepared to hack strategic mainframe crystal processors instead of fighting solo battles.”

“Let’s just hope so,” Li Yao mumbled. “We will run out of cards after we play the jokers!”

“If I may ask, what are you going to do?” Luo Qisheng was slightly dazed. Realizing what the two of them were trying to do, he was both excited and embarrassed. “Don’t go there! You have done enough for the federation! Your physical strength and spiritual energy have not recovered yet. Your crystal suits and Ares Extensions have been blown apart! Even though you are experts in the Nascent Soul Stage, you will be no match for it. It is a terrible weapon designed to slow down the Colossi!

“This is our war. There’s no reason why you should be sacrificed. Just retreat. We will cover you! Two high-level Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators shouldn’t die for nothing. We only have the hope of the final victory if the available forces are preserved!”

“You… will cover us?” Li Yao felt his eyes turn hot. He recalled the day in the Heaven’s Origin Sector a hundred years ago when he was covered, protected, and supported by a million people under the flying flags.

He patted Luo Qisheng’s shoulder so hard that he almost broke the guy’s armor.

He could not help but grin. With glamorous brilliance beaming out of his eyes, he said, one word after another, “Colonel Luo, thank you for your kind offer. However, there are two things that I must tell you—

“Firstly, you will soon know that this is not just your war. This is also… a war of mine.

“Secondly, we will not retreat or die for nothing!

“Abyss Jellyfish, Iron Troll, weapons born to stop the Colossi? We shall see if you are capable of stopping the Colossi!”

Before he finished the sentence, Li Yao and Long Yangjun accelerated into two streaks of dazzling brilliance and marched back into the heated battlefield!