Chapter 601: Start a War!
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
"Here's my suggestion—"
Li Yao pulled out the weapons packed inside the holes on the wall, laid them on the ground, and picked his favorite ones, while he remarked, "It's a mess outside right now. For three space residents such as yourselves, it's not safe to stay here. Somebody might become suspicious of me because of my mysterious background, too.
"Chief Xiong, I want you to run away through the tunnel together with Sister Sha and Wu Mayan. But you need to make some noise during your escape to attract the six tribes' attention. It will be best if they send a large batch of warriors to stop you so that I have one to two extra days to do my business. Can you do that?"
Xiong Wuji chuckled. "Not just one or two days. Who in the six tribes can really stop me if I'm determined to go? However, why am I going to do that?"
Li Yao said, "Everything I said just now is only my personal assumption. Such a carefully weaved plot is the most vulnerable of all. As long as a single link is broken, the entire plot will be wasted.
"For example, right now, although the six tribes of Iron Plateau have burst into fury, there are not hundreds of Cultivators in front of them that they can kill. So, it is impossible that an unresolvable conflict will break out.
"But something must be happening in the Oasis Tribe that can raise such a conflict between the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents!
"I believe that, when the main troops of the six tribes arrive in the Oasis Tribe, an incident will trigger said conflict!
"It will require a lot of ammunition and supplies for the six tribes' trip deep into the Dark Continent, even if they are merely summoning the rapid response troops made of the elite soldiers. Besides, they'll have to march toward the destination in True Qi tanks and stay in battle formations. All things considered, it will take them five to six days. If you can stall them for a day or two, they will not appear in the hotspot for a week or so.
"If I rush to the Oasis Tribe by myself, I will definitely be much faster than the main troops. It is quite possible that I will reach the Oasis Tribe four to five days earlier than them!
"I will seize the opportunity and investigate whether or not this is part of the scheme of the Immortal Cultivators!"
Xiong Wuji pondered for a moment and promised, "I will buy you three days!"
Li Yao nodded. "There's more. Do you have a pen and paper here? I want you to write letters to Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng. I will deliver them later.
"Since this is an emergency operation, the six tribes will only send out the best squads for now. The Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team are definitely on the list. I want you to write down all our speculations in detail.
"I wonder, how good is your relationship?"
Xiong Wuji said, "I brought them up. They are to me like children to a father. But right now—"
Li Yao said, "That will be enough. Right now, of course they are still suspicious, but I'm not forcing them to make a choice right now. I'm merely planting seeds of doubt in their hearts.
"You must ask them to be more active and bring more warriors as if they are trying to prove the innocence of the Furious Bears Tribe.
"Furious Bears City is our territory in the first place. Since this is the base of the operation, it is only reasonable that the Furious Bears Tribe sends out the most men. Besides, all the supplies and logistical service will be provided by the Furious Bears Tribe. That's a perfect excuse to deploy more hands, too.
"Other people will not notice anything wrong because they will think that the Furious Bears Tribe is trying to make up for the previous mistake.
"If Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng grow suspicious because of your letters at this moment, they will definitely believe me when I present the solid evidence to them at the Oasis Tribe.
"Moreover, you'd better write two letters to the chiefs of the Heaven Wolves Tribe and the Silver Moon Tribe and another two to the chiefs of the Giant Axe Tribe and the Feathered Snakes Tribe. You can let Xiong Zhenzhen and Shi Meng keep them first and deliver the letters at the critical moment later!
"By then, as long as the other five tribes hesitate, the Burning Sun Tribe alone won't be able to stir much trouble. On the contrary, their radicalness will only make people question them!"
Xiong Wuji nodded. "Alright. Let me see how I should phrase the letters."
Li Yao added, "However, although you may mention a guy named 'Li Yao', don't point out that it is me. I would prefer to be 'Sand Scorpion' in the days to come."
Xiong Wuji frowned. "Are you underestimating the wisdom of the Iron Plateau natives? With everything coming this far, as 'Sand Scorpion' with a mysterious background, you are very likely to be associated with the space resident Li Yao. If your identity is revealed at crucial moments like mine was today, you will find yourself in an awkward situation."
Li Yao smiled casually. He suddenly asked a strange question, "Chief Xiong, if you had passed the test of the Truth Cabinet today, other people wouldn't have pursued the issue further or doubted your identity, would they?"
Xiong Wuji replied, "Of course! Integrity is highly valued on Iron Plateau. Asking an Iron Plateau native to go to the Truth Cabinet is the biggest insult for them. It means that other people do not believe what the person says and have to resort to magical equipment to test its validity.
"If the magical equipment shows that the person did not lie in the end, it will be a very serious slander. Other people will definitely hurry to make apologies. They won't have the courage to doubt the person again!
"Throughout history, there are even cases where the accuser killed themselves on the spot in front of everyone when the accused passed the test of the Truth Cabinet and proved their honesty!"
Li Yao concluded, "So, as long as I pass the test of the Truth Cabinet, everybody will believe that I am not a space resident."
Xiong Wuji narrowed his eyes and said, "Li Yao, I know you are a magical equipment expert, but the Truth Cabinet is the most ancient treasure on Iron Plateau whose core components can be dated back to the era of the Star Ocean Imperium. It can make judgements by examining one's soul directly. You are not going to fool it!"
Li Yao blinked his eyes and replied, "Rest assured, Chief Xiong. I absolutely trust the accuracy of the Truth Cabinet. In fact, I was rather worried that it was not accurate enough. But according to your description, I think my concerns were unnecessary."
Xiong Wuji stopped talking and focused on considering the content of the letters.
Click! Click!
The only sound left in the room was Li Yao's examination with the guns and blades.
Suddenly, Li Yao came to an abrupt halt.
He was holding a super-heavy gun that was black on the surface but emitting bluish colors in the middle.
At first look, it was six iron tubes the width of the arms of an adult locked together roughly by a bone ring made of the ribs of demon beasts that could spin by the gears and chains on the body of the gun.
Every time the trigger was pulled, the gears would utter clicking sounds, and the chains would drag the barrel toward the next slot.
If the trigger was held down, the barrels would start revolving rapidly.
Li Yao squinted and drew close to the gun to observe it, only to find that the bullets that such a 'gun' employed were even larger than his fist.
"What is this?" Li Yao was secretly surprised.
Xiong Wuji raised his head and was dazed, too. "Why are you examining that? It was the special weapon of Lei Hou, captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team more than a hundred years ago. It is a mix between a gun and a Wolf Fang launcher. By the mechanism of high-pressure spiritual gas, it can spray Wolf Fangs out like bullets! Its damage can be extremely shocking!
"However, the shortcomings of the weapon are obvious, too.
"Firstly, the recoil is too strong. Every shoot is like punching the shooter heavily right in the chest. Even the strongest warrior wouldn't persist for long.
"Secondly, its consumption of Wolf Fangs is too huge. Look. In burst mode, this monster can blow out more than two hundred Wolf Fangs within one minute! But how many Wolf Fangs can a member of the Iron Bears Detonation Team bring in total?
"Lei Hou, who had been naturally endowed with unparalleled strength, was the only one that could manage to use this weapon in his prime years. But after he passed away, nobody was willing to use it anymore, until it was discovered by me.
"I appreciated its fierce firepower and thought that I might be fighting all by myself if my identity was revealed someday. In such a situation, I would be in desperate need of such heavy magical equipment. So, I kept the weapon to myself.
"But later, I thought it through. If my identity was revealed, I would definitely have to run away immediately. How many Wolf Fangs would I be able to bring if I was on the run? Such a deadly weapon would only be a burden for me!
"The name of the weapon is 'Thunderous Roar'!"
"That explains a lot!"
Touching the gun, Li Yao added, "Chief Xiong, I want to take away two thirds of the high-purity crystals and refine them into bullets and crystal bombs. Also, I need the detailed maps of the warehouse that stores the trophies of the battle of the apocalypse, as well as the deactivation methods for the traps inside the warehouse. I believe you should know all of them."
Xiong Wuji raised his eyebrow. "You want the trophies?"
Li Yao licked his lips and said, "You were in the 99th level of the Refinement Stage. But now that you are wounded, you are basically equal to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. I am now around the 80th level of the Refinement Stage. Together with the battle experience when I was in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage, I am equal to the high level of the Building Foundation Stage!
"If everything has been the scheme of the Temple of Immortals, there must be an expert on Iron Plateau supervising the development of their evil plan. He should be at least in the Core Formation Stage and have a lot of accomplices with him.
"It's impossible for us to improve our capability quickly within a couple of days. Therefore, we have to drown them with the tide of magical equipment!
"Therefore, I will need the best Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, the purest crystals, and the most solid shells of apocalyptic beasts to craft the strongest magical equipment!
"Chief Xiong, is there any place nearby other than Furious Bears City that boasts basic refining facilities?"
Xiong Wuji considered for a long time. He finally gritted his teeth and said, "Alright. I will draw the maps of the warehouse for you, and I will give you the structural designs and the deactivation methods of the seven traps in them. Besides, among the trophies, there are several cores of the apocalyptic beasts that are extremely unsteady but boast tremendous spiritual energy. They've been locked in the most confidential safe in the warehouse whose password I 'forgot' to tell the three elders just now. You must deliver it for me!
"There's a 'Red River Mine' 260 kilometers west of Furious Bears City. Three years ago, it was abandoned because the mother lodes were emptied. However, a lot of refining facilities were left there. I remember there was a maintenance workshop that had a full set of tools for repair work.
"The Red River Mine is in a rather desolate area. Whatever you do, nobody will notice."
"Excellent!"
Li Yao rubbed his hands and carried 'Thunderous Roar' on his back immediately. He then picked almost ten True Qi guns of fierce firepower and also various kinds of sabers and swords.
The two of them talked very fast. Sha Yulan was at a loss, listening to them. Finally, she couldn't help but ask, "What are you planning to do?"
Li Yao smiled and waved the guns in his hand. "To start a war."