Chapter 528: Fengyu Zhong's Senses
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
Battles in the sea of stars were not like the wars on the oceans in ancient times, where thousands of cannons were shooting at the same time and smoke and fire were soaring.
The two parties engaged in battle were more like two hunters lurking in the corners of a dark abyss.
They held their breath and skulked about cautiously. They trod lightly, without letting out any sound. They treasured every bit of their strength as if it were their life. They considered every opportunity of attack carefully and wouldn't act at full strength unless they were absolutely certain.
It was because the sea of stars was too vast a place. A battlefield could easily be thousands of square kilometers. If the two parties were a few hundred kilometers away from each other, it could almost be called a head-on battle.
In such a large battlefield, the damage of any attack launched by the warships would be greatly diminished because of the long distance in between. The enemy could calculate the trajectory of the attack without any trouble, too.
As the spiritual shield technology and the technology of magnetic interference developed, the defense ability of crystal warships became higher than the attack ability. The 'shield' was stronger than the 'spear'.
For an intense bombardment, if it were attack of pure spiritual energy, it could be offset by the spiritual shield of the warship easily, and if it were a real-entity attack like cannonballs, its trajectory could be altered by twisting the magnetic field so that it would only brush past the warship.
In such a battlefield, ten units of resources to launch an attack could be resolved by one unit of resources.
If the crystal warships of the two parties were on a par, the resources they carried would be roughly the same. Those who attacked would only be wasting their resources and committing suicide.
The enemy warships could maximize their spiritual shields and magnetic interference system and wait until the attackers ran out of spiritual energy, ammunitions, and other resources before they launched their deadly counterattack.
Crystal warships in the sea of stars were like herbivores that had extremely solid shells but blunt, clumsy claws.
Only one thing could breach the solid defense of the 'herbivores'—crystal suits.
Compared to crystal warships, crystal suits were smaller in size and higher in agility. They consumed fewer resources, too.
Invading the enemy's defensive perimeter with a large number of crystal suits was a game-changer for the attacker.
Crystal warships were usually equipped with air defense cannons. But dealing with crystal suits with air defense cannons was like shooting mosquitoes with snipers. It would often take forty units of resources to hit one crystal suit, which would have merely consumed one unit of recourses.
Even though the crystal suit was damaged, as long as the Exo was not killed instantly, they could be pulled back to their motherships. The Exos could be treated in the med bays, and the crystal suits could be repaired in the workshops. Within ten hours, they could be sent to the frontline again.
The defender had only two endings when faced with such a situation.
If the defender chose not to bother about the large batches of crystal suits attacking them, they would tear open the defense time and time again and sneak into the warships to sabotage the internal systems. When the shell of the warship was destroyed and the activity of the warship was limited, the main gun on the attacker's warship would bare its fangs and launch its deadliest attack.
If the defender sent most of their resources to the air defense cannons to clear the attacker's crystal suits, they would still be at the mercy of the attacker when they ran out of their resources in the end.
In the vast sea of stars, when a crystal warship was engaged with crystal suits, these were its only possible endings.
The only exception was that the defender carried a lot of crystal suits, too.
Crystal suits versus crystal suits. They were the critical factors for the wars in the sea of stars.
Crystal suits were the kings in a battle of the cosmic level!
The crystal warships equipped with magnificent cannons were nothing but the supply centers for crystal suits, the bases of rest for Exos, and the vehicles that could perform a long space jump with a great number of crystal suits!
This was a world where crystal suits mattered most.
This was a world where the strongest could rage and roar in the universe with equally strong crystal suits!
Fengyu Zhong was standing inside the cockpit of Blood Rain, the flagship of the fleet. The glass on three sides of the cockpit was translucent, making him seem to be in the middle of the bleeding stars.
The other four crystal warships of Storm Prison and the three hostile crystal warships were all more than a thousand kilometers away from each other. They seemed somewhat lonely, surrounded by bright spiritual shields that looked like dense, solid armor. The main guns of the crystal warships were silent, as if they were bystanders of the battle nearby.
In the middle of the bystanders, with the sea of stars as the battlefield, almost a thousand crystal suits were fighting brutally.
Through the special crystal cameras for cosmic wars with super-high resolutions, the picture of the center of the battlefield was magnified and displayed on the light beam. Flowers of flames blossomed silently one after another, each consuming countless Exos and turning them into dust.
Although the light beam was quiet, Fengyu Zhong seemed able to hear the desperate screams, the crazy roars, and the noise of metal and fists colliding.
The sounds made him flush in excitement. He suddenly experienced a shortness of breath.
Although he had witnessed the black tide of death sweeping across the sea of stars countless times, Fengyu Zhong still felt that he was back to when he stabbed a rusty knife into someone else's heart when he was eleven. The thrill of murder was swirling around in his mind and didn't die down until a long time later.
This were the seventh large-scale clash over the past three days between the two parties.
The Cultivators finally couldn't bear it any longer and showed signs of failure. Before they beat the Exos of Storm Prison back, some of them had already retreated into the defenses of the starship.
Including Gold Horn, the crystal warships of the Cultivators barraged crazily and managed to maintain their formation.
However, in the eyes of an experienced hunter such as Fengyu Zhong, such a decision was merely a waste of resources, indicating that they had no better choices.
As long as the war of attrition continued, the enemy's resources would run out very soon, and barely any crystal suits would be able to be deployed.
By that time, when the final attack was launched, the three starships would be swallowed from skin to bones. There wouldn't be the slightest trace of them left.
"Finally—"
Taking a deep breath, Fengyu Zhong felt that his growing ambition had puffed up his body, giving him unparalleled pleasure.
Annihilating the Great Horn Exo Society would be a perfect full stop for the battle that marked the rise of the Temple of Immortals from darkness.
Although the Great Horn Exo Society was unimportant per se, the symbolic significance of destroying them could not be underestimated.
Half a month ago, crystal warships from dozens of Cultivation sects, a handful of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and abundant Core Formation Stage Cultivators had surrounded the Great Horn Exo Society, partly hoping to ambush Storm Prison and partly to protect the Great Horn Exo Society so that the Exo Society, which had just completed a legendary crusade, was not reprised.
But right now, by the deceptive plans and careful arrangements of the Temple of Immortals, many Cultivation sects had found their homes on fire and had to return to resolve the crisis immediately.
If the Great Horn Exo Society was eventually demolished, the entire world of Cultivators would be disgraced. More Cultivators would inevitably doubt themselves.
"Even three Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and dozens of Core Formation Stage Cultivators failed to protect the Great Horn Exo Society. Are Cultivators as strong as we thought it to be?"
The self-suspicion was exactly what the Temple of Immortals needed.
On the other hand, Fengyu Zhong needed to establish his authority on Spider Den.
Not all the space pirates on Spider Den were Immortal Cultivators.
Some of the space pirates were better than the rest. But most of them were simply mobs.
The Temple of Immortals had been lurking in darkness for hundreds of years and knew the importance of confidentiality better than anything else. If everybody on Spider Den knew about the existence of such an organization, some of them were definitely going to leak it to the public when they were captured and interrogated by Cultivators.
The Temple of Immortals was not ready to walk in broad daylight yet.
Therefore, the Temple of Immortals were even more prudent when recruiting Immortal Cultivators on Spider Den than converting normal Cultivators.
Only the really brutal, experienced space pirates who had bloody grudges against Cultivators would be in the Temple of Immortals' eyesight after they were thoroughly investigated in secret.
Most space pirates, including most of the middle- and low-level space pirates of Storm Prison, did not know about the Temple of Immortals at all.
In the foreseeable future, Spider Den would still be the representative that fought against Cultivators on the surface.
Fengyu Zhong had gathered so many space pirates for the mission under the pretext of avenging his only son.
If he went back in disgrace, it would be a great strike to his prestige. He would find it harder to expand his forces on Spider Den in the future.
Therefore, the Great Horn Exo Society had to be destroyed!
Right then, a slender, pale young man walked up to Fengyu Zhong quickly and said in a low voice, "Behemoth-19 has arrived!"
The young man, who looked innocent but was in fact cold-hearted, was his advisor and also a member of the Temple of Immortals.
Fengyu Zhong was refreshed.
After three days of fierce battles, many crystal suits of Storm Prison had been seriously damaged. Behemoth-19, which carried a master of refining and an expert of assassination, had finally arrived to reinforce them. It would be a great help to finish the enemy sooner.
But the advisor had a weird expression. "But Behemoth-19 seems to have had an accident. Their telepathic thought transmission chamber is down, and they can only communicate with us through semaphore. They claim that they suffered tremendous internal explosions in which several important figures, including Huangpu Shiyi, were seriously wounded. They are hoping to dock to Blood Rain and deliver the wounded for better treatment ASAP."
"Explosions? Huangpu Shiyi was seriously wounded? What happened?" Fengyu Zhong's eyes immediately narrowed, his nose flapping like that of an old dog that had smelt something wrong.
"Semaphore is just for emergency communication. Detailed information cannot be transferred. They want to be docked first and talk about it later," replied the advisor.
Deep in thought, Fengyu Zhong looked at the battlefield and said a moment later, "Tell them that Red Lightning has just been upgraded with the most advanced med bays and maintenance equipment. Ask them to dock at Red Lightning! In the meantime, prepare all the main guns and lock onto Behemoth-19. If Behemoth-19 remains on its current trajectory toward us in three minutes, accept its dock request and, when it reaches the best distance for attack, blow it up!"
Red Lightning was the furthest crystal warship away from Blood Rain, the flagship, on the battlefield.
The advisor was dumbfounded. He stammered, "General Feng. But Huangpu Shiyi is still on Behemoth-19!"
Fengyu Zhong smiled vaguely. "If they don't change their route in three minutes, Huangpu Shiyi is no longer on Behemoth-19!"