Chapter 182: Star Constellation battle
Ice cold, trembling!
[Main Mission: Star Constellation Struggle]
[One of the Western Seven Mansions, deposited into the Star Realm Bank through unknown means. This intelligence was accidentally leaked and learned by evil forces. Buddhist evil forces are planning to hijack it. Mission content: correct history, maintain the sacred timeline, seize back the Seven Mansions and return it to the Ocean Faction.]
[Timeline sealed, countdown 3:00:00.]
[Side Mission, trigger it yourself.]
As a segment of information abruptly appeared in their minds, the four veterans simultaneously opened their eyes, exchanged a glance with each other, and began to look around.
They then discovered that their side was in a bank’s vault, with four unconscious newcomers lying at their feet.
“Western Seven Mansions, what is that?”
A Western face who was 1.8 meters tall, with well-developed yet streamlined muscles that weren’t bulky, mildly exaggerated chest muscles, a full red beard, and red long hair coiled into a bun on top of his head, looked at the other three teammates and asked in confusion.
At this time, standing to his right, a black giant man with dark skin, 2.1 meters tall, with super exaggerated black muscles, sharp protruding brow bones around his eye sockets, shook his head and said dully: “Don’t know.”
Immediately after, the red-haired ghost dressed in Eastern classical style looked at the other two teammates.
One had a head in the shape of an orange-yellow pumpkin, but beneath the plant skin of the pumpkin, vascular protrusions were clearly visible; at the same time, on the front of the Pumpkin Head, there was a pair of human-like flesh eyes, a pair of hole-like nostrils, and a smiling big mouth full of sharp tusks.
Opposite the Pumpkin Head was a short figure only 1.6 meters tall whose head was completely covered by a metal helmet, wearing a cloak that shrouded the entire body.
Seeing everyone looking at him, a voice came from under the metal helmet: “[Western Seven Mansions] is the supreme crystallization on Du Ling Star from the [Alchemy] flowing out of the [Industrial Universe]. Designed and dominated single-handedly by the [Red Dragon Empire], planned to cover the entire Du Ling Star, it is a ‘man-made root’ comparable to the [Mechanics Magic Net], known as the [Four Symbols Cycle Plan].”
“[Four Symbols Plan] took shape at the end of the Second Epoch and was completed in the mid-Third Epoch. It was then expanded into the derivative [Four Directions Twenty-Eight Mansions], further increasing the influence range of the [Four Symbols Cycle], and expanding toward the [Star Realm Layer]. The timeline we are in now is the stage of ‘Four Symbols initially formed, Seven Mansions budding’.”
“According to historical records, the historical content regarding the [Western Seven Mansions] has always been in a shielded state, interfered with by great power, vague and unclear. It was only after the ‘Ocean Faction’ raised the first [Seven Mansions] in the near seas of Taixi that the advancement plan of the [Twenty-Eight Mansions] was completely exposed.”
“According to the main mission prompt, an anomaly has occurred in our timeline. The seed of [one of the Seven Mansions] appeared in this bank and was targeted in advance by the ‘Buddhist forces’ for hijacking. And from the judgment of later historical records, there is no trace of [Buddhism] in the Western Seven Mansions, or even in the Four Directions Twenty-Eight Mansions.”
The red-haired ghost said: “So, this mission is to take out the ‘monks’ entrenched in this bank, grab that so-called [Star Constellation], and then return it to the Ocean Faction? Three hours, I’m afraid it’s not enough.”
The Pumpkin Head in the squad spoke: “No problem, this is the [Star Realm Bank], there are many Plant Race descendants, I can control a batch of them to deliver the item to the ocean.”
The huge black exaggerated flesh mountain spoke: “Time is limited, let’s start acting!”
“There are still four newcomers here, I’ll wake them up first.”
……
In the entrance passage at the other end of the [Star Realm Bank], although Meng Xiyue expressed the idea of delving deep into the bank, she still untied the ‘Mouse ornament’ from her backpack, controlling the tower to rush toward the fog outside the passage.
A Miao glanced at this grotesque Mouse covered in insect limbs and praised: “Very cute Mouse, where did you buy it?”
Yuan Zhu: “A senior gave it to me, not for sale.”
“Eh?”
Meng Xiyue looked toward the fog outside the passage and frowned: “I suddenly lost connection with the Mouse, can’t perceive it anymore. There’s something strange outside this passage, everyone be very careful.”
At this time, Yuan Zhu also released his own, exploring toward the bank interior in the opposite direction. Along the way, no customers or service personnel were encountered.
The entire tunnel was empty until the Mouse reached the end of the passage and entered a business hall. At this point, he saw through the Mouse’s perspective several figures like walking dead, swaying unsteadily, slowly moving in the hall.
Then, Yuan Zhu saw through the Mouse’s eyes corpses lying motionless on the ground one after another.
Yuan Zhu: “In the business hall ahead, there are only a few active bodies, the rest are all dead!”
A Miao immediately perked up and said expectantly: “Could it really be the bank robbery?!”
Meng Xiyue: “Let’s go, check it out.”
The three cooperated tacitly, Yuan Zhu charging at the forefront; Meng Xiyue in the middle, just slapping her backpack to activate the [Skull Server], ready for battle; A Miao at the rear, holding dual pistols with muzzles pointed down, and applying [Stealth] blessings to her two teammates.
…
The three dashed through the empty corridor, pushed open the door, and entered the spacious hall. The lighting equipment above was still operating normally, illuminating the interior as bright as daytime.
At this time, dozens of bodies were lying haphazardly on the hall floor. But unlike the ‘corpses’ reported by Yuan Zhu, they were alive, these bodies maintaining faint breathing.
In contrast, the few still struggling to stand had their bodies wrapped and entwined by green wooden armor, with mad expressions and eyes full of bloodshot veins.
After Yuan Zhu’s trio entered, they immediately twisted their heads to look toward the three under [Stealth]. At this moment, there were 9 monsters wearing plant armor in the hall, all having lost their sanity, eyes murky, pupils spinning chaotically, completely unfocused.
But the nine heads all ‘looked’ toward the three in a eerie and precise manner.
Meng Xiyue: “Huh, are they looking at us?”
Yuan Zhu turned to A Miao: “Is your ‘hiding technology’ ineffective?”
A Miao’s expression unchanged, calmly said: “These are the bank’s security, their armor should be contract-bound to the hall, able to automatically lock onto ‘enemies’. It’s not that my technology is poor, but we triggered some anti-theft mechanism.”
“Roar!”
Before A Miao finished speaking, one of the plant armor security roared like a tiger and charged toward them.
During the charge, the security’s head shook uncontrollably, pupils idiotically rolling back and forth, clearly the body not controlled by consciousness, fully dominated by the armor.
At the same time as charging, a wooden spear condensed in the opponent’s palm, with the spear tip wrapped in a layer of weak starlight, looking somewhat similar to the ‘Qie Tou Tribe’ from before.
Pa!
Before the armor security could get close, its head exploded out of thin air, red, white, and green splashing everywhere. Besides human blood and brain tissue, there was also a kind of ‘green’ juice.
At this time, A Miao’s pistol disdainfully evaluated: “Garbage!”
Ao ao ao!
More security stimulated, successively condensed bows, sabers and swords…… and other weapons in their hands, charging to kill the three. Then easily resolved by ‘Mechanics Model. Spell’, Holy Light Barrier, gun grenades……
Yuan Zhu: “So weak!”
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Suddenly, three afterimages shot out from the distant passage.
Three even more exquisite ‘Emerald Spears’ engraved with hollow patterns, carrying sharp and terrifying momentum, shot out from the darkness.
One of them vanished into thin air from the air in front of A Miao. The next second, the Emerald Spear reappeared, emitting a terrifying explosion sound, splashing rubble behind her, deeply embedding into the thick wall.
This Emerald Spear, somehow, suddenly disappeared from in front of her, then teleported behind. A Miao didn’t move, dodge, or elementalize throughout, yet the Emerald Spear ‘spatially hid’ itself, bypassing her straight into the wall behind, then fell silent.
At the same time, the other two spears respectively aimed at Yuan Zhu and Meng Xiyue’s heads and hearts, shooting electrically.
…
Pink Haired Head facing the attack fast as afterimages, only had time for a delicate shout, one layer after another of [Mechanics Model. Spell] around her triggered in chain passively. Pure kinetic fields, palm prints, fist prints…… continuously struck outward.
Colliding needle-to-wheat with that Emerald Spear, then the ‘mechanics spells’ in front of her were successively pierced, shattered, crushed…… emitting continuous cracking sounds, successively breaking and dissipating.
The spear also under layers of ‘mechanics spells’ blocking, weakened its attack power and inertia, speed slowing rapidly, while being deflected in direction, stabbing from bottom to top into the roof.
Immediately after, this spear seemed to receive an invisible summons, shooting back inverted from the roof, disappearing into the darkness, not launching a second attack.
The last one straight for Yuan Zhu’s headshot, also triggered the [Soul Crystal]’s early warning system just before the attack landed.
No need to even switch to Tiger Demon Form to hard tank, the Holy Marks on his wrists burned with intense pain on their own, [Holy Light] surging out from within his body.
Forming a phone booth-sized small shrine on his body surface, heavily protecting [Yuan Tianzun]. Immovable as a mountain, hard tanking the starlight spear.
Bang!
A muffled sound, the Emerald Spear deeply pierced into the periphery of the [Sanctuary], on the automatically popped triple [Holy Light Force Field].
The spearhead carrying extreme sharp kinetic cutting attack, easily tore through the first Holy Light Force Field, then pierced the second layer, ultimately fully penetrating the third layer.
Every layer the spearhead penetrated, it couldn’t completely shatter the [Holy Light Barrier], instead being greatly slowed and kinetic energy weakened, locked firmly by the octagonal Holy Light effect force field.
After the spear tore through the triple force field, it was finally completely blocked upon impacting the [Sanctuary]. At the same time, the Emerald Spear’s body was also confined in the air by the triple Holy Light Barriers, unable to move an inch.
Discovering the [Sanctuary] only took less than 30% of the attack, Yuan Zhu raised his hand to cancel the [Holy Seal], then extended his palm, grabbing the spearhead of the Emerald Spear.
No matter how this spear trembled and struggled, it couldn’t escape wholly like the one that attacked Meng Xiyue.
At this moment, he looked down and observed that the spear’s own material should be some unknown wood, but its surface reflected metallic sheen, with complex, intricate, gorgeous hollow patterns, like naturally grown, not carved.
More like a gorgeous expensive handicraft than a weapon.
Besides this struggling ‘Emerald Spear’ in his hand, the one that attacked A Miao was now like a disconnected line, quietly stuck in the wall motionless.
A Miao didn’t turn back to pick up the trophy, instead looking at the violently trembling spear in Yuan Zhu’s palm, suddenly realizing: “Oh? So it’s a Flying Sword! No wonder it’s so fast and sharp.”
“This thing is a Flying Sword?!”
Yuan Zhu also was stunned at the two-meter-long handicraft ‘Jade Spear’. He thought it was some super centaur’s remote spear throw attack, but didn’t expect it was actually a ‘Flying Sword’?
The only Flying Sword in his memory was a ‘pipe wrench’ wrapped in an ordinary cloth bag, worlds apart from this handicraft!
Sure enough, after A Miao’s reminder, he then noticed that his palm gripping the spear was suffering a dense sharp ‘Sword Qi’ cutting counterattack.
However, his [Holy Light] on the palm surface constructed a layer of [Holy Light Force Field membrane], innately with pseudo-space effect, effectively isolating and protecting the palm. At the same time, the [Sanctuary]’s inherent confinement, suppression, purification effects were confronting and offsetting the spear (Flying Sword) surface’s Sword Qi.
Hearing the words ‘Flying Sword’, Meng Xiyue immediately ran to the wall front, pulling out that ‘silently still’ Jade Spear.
It neither wanted to escape like the one that fled, nor struggle like the one in Yuan Zhu’s hand, more like ‘shut down’. Meng Xiyue knocked the floor with the spear, emitting a crisp metal-wood striking sound.
Then she scanned the hall, analyzing: “Something has indeed happened here! These out-of-control ones wearing wooden armor should be the bank’s ordinary security, responsible for suppressing and bullying ordinary people, no combat power. And the ones launching Flying Sword spears should be elite security, sufficient to deal with general trouble-making ability users, just don’t know why they haven’t shown themselves? They seem to have problems too, indiscriminately attacking passersby like us.”
Yuan Zhu: “Hey, are you anxiously explaining to cover up your inner embarrassment? After all, both me and A Miao grabbed trophies, only you got single-sidedly beaten, utterly lame! This Yueyue is just weak!”
Then, Yuan Zhu looked at the young lady beside: “Miao Miao, can this thing be sold for money?”
The young lady rolled her eyes at him, holstered her pistol, took her trophy from Meng Xiyue’s hand: “Have some boundaries, okay? Call me Sister Miao!”
Then she said: “This kind of [Flying Sword] are excellent equipment repeatedly tempered by ‘Sword Qi’, the deeper the sacrifice refinement, the better the quality and higher the price. These two Flying Swords are of very good quality, at least nurtured for years. Besides the most basic Sword Qi nurturing, they also additionally incorporate ‘starlight power’, having formed passive attributes, specific effects unknown, the previous user failed to bring them out.”
“For Sword Cultivators in need, these two spears are little top-grade items. Additionally, any Sword Cultivator getting this kind of long-nurtured Flying Sword, even if not 100% compatible to tame, can simply refine it and use as a one-time supernatural bomb to detonate, very powerful, your [Holy Seal] couldn’t block it at all.”
Yuan Zhu disbelieving: “Sword Cultivators are that terrifying?!”
A Miao: “[Sword Cultivators] pursue exactly the ultimate damage effect. Especially the [Self-Destruction Strike] that abandons everything, is among the top powerful in various supernatural systems.”
Different supernatural systems all have their respective underlying logic.
[Law System] pursues ‘grand unification + man-made Heavenly Dao’, constraining and commanding all pollution systems. [Anti-Law] pursues ‘capital appreciation, supernatural lending’. [Holy Light] focuses more on burning life and souls, releasing [Holy Light] to reject and purify heresy pollution.
Combat or damage is just byproducts bred when different [Pollution Roots] pursue their respective goals.
However, the fundamental goal of [Sword Cultivators] from beginning to end is simple and crude ultimate damage, harming others and self. Especially to maximize ‘damage’, they even developed [Self-Exploding Flying Sword]. Exploding others and also self.
Thus [Sword Cultivators] almost truly achieved, invincible combat power in same tier, one for one.
Yuan Zhu: “So, this thing is actually a [Sword Qi. Missile]?”
A Miao thumbs up, nodded vigorously: “Well said! Very apt. Sword Immortal is a very tragic profession, now mass brainwashed and batch-cultivated by the military, long forgotten their original intent, treating themselves as ‘humanoid supernatural missile launchers’, relying on numbers for military deterrence against enemies.”
