Chapter 99: The Assassinated Demon Prodigy: Ambush (Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year)

Inside the spaceship’s rest room, nine figures of varying appearances sat quietly.

Five of these figures looked as if forged from alloy, resembling the alloy mechanical puppets used by mechanical race warriors—utterly unlike living beings.

In truth, these five figures were all puppets controlled by demonic race warriors, forged from alloy and containing consciousness receivers that allowed control via thought.

After all, many demonic race warriors’ true bodies were too massive; even with secret techniques to shrink them, they still could not fit aboard normal starships.

Thus, many demonic race warriors hid their true bodies within World Rings, then sent their puppet bodies to board starships carrying the World Rings containing themselves—should battle or danger arise, their true bodies could burst forth from the World Rings.

The World Rings they hid in had long been subjugated, and their material was relatively weak; even if they could not actively open them during battle, they could simply shatter the entire World Ring to emerge.

Of course, this combat method was undeniably wasteful of World Rings, so only the strongest among the demonic race could afford it.

“Captain!”

One figure with a human body and serpent head suddenly spoke: “We just received news from our clan—Spencer, the peerless genius of the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage, has been assassinated by a human spy!”

“Spencer?”

Another man, with a human body and scaled wolf head, exclaimed in surprise: “The one from the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage who, in just a thousand years, gained recognition from the three fundamental principles of Light, Lightning, and Flame?”

The Time-Space Nightmare Beast was one of the sixteen imperial clans of the demonic race, capable of reaching Domain Lord rank upon maturity!

Moreover, the Time-Space Nightmare Beast reaching Domain Lord rank upon maturity was entirely different from the Man Ka Star race reaching Domain Lord rank upon maturity!

The Man Ka Star race reached Domain Lord rank upon maturity because their ancestors continuously elevated their own realms, gradually enhancing their bloodline until it became one of the most supreme bloodlines in the human race today;

But the Time-Space Nightmare Beast reached Domain Lord rank upon maturity purely from innate talent, a result of their life gene layer surpassing that of most ordinary lifeforms in the universe!

The Time-Space Nightmare Beast clan possessed two heads—one with a golden eye, one with a silver eye; the golden eye could influence space, the silver eye could influence time, and when both were used together, they could exert immense control over surrounding spacetime.

Thus, the Time-Space Nightmare Beast clan naturally possessed exceptional talent in comprehending the fundamental principles of time and space!

Even so, a Time-Space Nightmare Beast warrior who gained recognition from any single lower-tier fundamental principle within ten thousand years was already considered a peerless genius.

To gain recognition from three lower-tier fundamental principles within a thousand years was an unprecedented prodigy, appearing only once in the endless history of the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage!

“I recall many in our clan saying Spencer would become the new Cosmic Sovereign of the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage; some even claimed he might become the second Cosmic Master in their lineage!”

The scaled wolf-headed man continued: “How could he suddenly be assassinated by a human spy? Are the Time-Space Nightmare Beast elders all fools?”

“The human spy was simply too cunning!”

The serpent-headed man continued: “According to reports from our clan’s elders, the human spy enslaved an Immortal Spirit from our Kujinjiu lineage, then had that Immortal Spirit defect to Spencer!”

“Although Spencer was a peerless genius of the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage, he had only just entered Domain Lord rank—he naturally could not refuse the defection of a royal Immortal!”

“And at the critical moment of Spencer’s cultivation, the Immortal Spirit, enslaved by human warriors, detonated right where Spencer was cultivating—even consuming an extremely rare special elixir that pushed Spencer to the absolute limit of his Domain Lord lifespan, rendering even the Time-Space Nightmare Beast clan’s leader unable to resurrect him by reversing time!”

“Filth! Humans are all damned filth!”

Upon hearing this, the leader, the scaled humanoid, erupted in fury: “Those human scum dared to enslave our noble Kujinjiu lineage—and used them to scheme against the Time-Space Nightmare Beast’s peerless genius! They deserve to die!”

“But… Price, since Spencer was killed, did the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage come after our Kujinjiu lineage?”

“I can’t find out that much!”

The serpent-headed man shook his head: “But now both the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage and the Kujinjiu lineage have jointly issued a bounty—within the next one hundred thousand eons, anyone who kills a human warrior will receive double military merit and contribution points!”

Hearing this, the scaled wolf-headed man cursed even louder: “Damn human scum!”

Clearly, the Kujinjiu lineage could only jointly issue this bounty because the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage had confronted them.

The Kujinjiu lineage’s leader was a top-tier Cosmic Overlord, placing them among the highest-ranked royal clans of the demonic race—but compared to imperial clans like the Time-Space Nightmare Beast, which possessed Cosmic Masters, they were clearly at a disadvantage!

Now that the Time-Space Nightmare Beast’s peerless genius had been killed by a Kujinjiu Immortal—even if that Immortal had been enslaved by an alien soul—the Kujinjiu lineage still faced trouble.

Issuing such a bounty clearly required both the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage and the Kujinjiu lineage to contribute their own resources.

The Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage could release the bounty to vent their rage over their peerless genius’s death—but why must the Kujinjiu lineage do the same?

“Damn human race! And damn the Time-Space Nightmare Beast lineage!”

The scaled wolf-headed man thought bitterly: “If one day I ever reach the Cosmic Master realm, I will make you pay for this humiliation of the Kujinjiu lineage!”

As the scaled wolf-headed man’s thoughts raced…

“Huh?”

Another member of the demonic squad, a man with a human body and bull head, suddenly looked down at the screen on his forearm.

Hearing his exclamation, the other members turned to look.

The scaled wolf-headed man immediately asked: “Wu Ci, what is it?”

“Captain, we’ve detected a starship—human warriors!”

The bull-headed man quickly said: “Eight of them. They’re flying toward our position, and they don’t seem to have noticed us—if they had, they’d already be hunting us.”

“They probably haven’t noticed us.”

The serpent-headed man quickly said: “Captain’s detector cost a full hundred billion military merit to acquire—exactly to gain an advantage in detection! Besides, this human squad has only eight members; the chance they include a King-tier Immortal is negligible!”

Remember, King-tier warriors were the peak combat force on Yanji Continent—they usually operated alone or with a few followers, never forming squads larger than five.

“Besides, with Captain’s strength and massive divine body, even if they did encounter a King-tier Immortal, they’d dare not fight us to the death!”

“Exactly! Captain is at the peak of King-tier, with a divine body over ten kilometers long—how would those tiny human King-tier Immortals dare trouble us?”

“Then let’s slightly alter our course and see how they react!”

The scaled wolf-headed leader ordered: “If they haven’t noticed us, get closer and use the detector to eavesdrop on their conversation. If their strength isn’t too high, give them a surprise.”

“Yes, Captain!”

As soon as the scaled wolf-headed man spoke, the other demonic warriors nodded in agreement.

Whoosh!

The biological spaceship quickly adjusted its course slightly.

Moments later, after confirming Lu Qingshan’s group had not noticed them, the spaceship changed direction again and headed toward Lu Qingshan’s path.

…

As the demonic squad’s spaceship drew near Lu Qingshan’s group, Lu Qingshan and his team remained completely unaware, continuing to chat inside their ship.

“Since leaving our base, we’ve fought many battles, and everyone has burned some Immortal energy—time to return and rest!”

Captain Xuan Kong smiled: “Let’s head back to base now. If we find a good opportunity along the way, strike; if not, return directly.”

Since Lu Qingshan joined, the Xuan Kong squad’s accumulation of military merit and wealth hadn’t increased much—but their survival rate had improved significantly.

After all, Lu Qingshan’s presence added another King-tier Immortal, making other demonic squads far more cautious.

As for the “base” Xuan Kong mentioned, it wasn’t the distant Base 026—it was a rest point the Xuan Kong squad maintained on the main continent of Yanji Continent.

Near that rest point lived a King-tier peak human warrior: Saint Light King!

Saint Light King was a King-tier peak alien Immortal capable of teleportation; with his power, even if his residence’s coordinates were known to many demonic races, no one dared trouble him.

Thus, many human warriors gathered near Saint Light King’s residence, for mutual support.

Of course, on Yanji Continent, other major factions also had warriors like Saint Light King.

All of them possessed King-tier peak strength, standing at the absolute pinnacle on Yanji Continent—so their usual residences naturally attracted warriors from their own faction.

“Hahaha! This time was a bit risky, but we gained plenty—we really should rest for a few days!”

“This time it was mainly because that low-tier King-tier Kujinjiu didn’t want to fight to the death—if he had, we’d have been in serious trouble!”

“True! Kujinjiu is one of the demonic royal clans—after becoming Immortal, their divine body can reach over ten kilometers. Even if we burned our entire Immortal bodies, we couldn’t kill them!”

…

While Lu Qingshan and his team chatted, their appearances and conversation were all detected and transmitted to the demonic squad millions of kilometers away.

“Low-tier King-tier Kujinjiu?”

The scaled wolf-headed leader exclaimed: “Could this human squad be referring to Lennard? It seems Lennard’s subordinates were killed by this human squad!”

“Good! We haven’t even come after you—you’ve already targeted our Kujinjiu lineage!”

Although the Kujinjiu lineage had many warriors, only three roamed the Seventh Outer War Zone and Yanji Continent.

One was merely a High Military Lord; the only low-tier King-tier left was Lennard!

“Captain!”

The serpent-headed man quickly said: “This human squad seems to be the Xuan Kong Squad mentioned by other allies! Their captain, Xuan Kong Hou, is high-tier King-tier, and they have three low-tier King-tiers—taking them down will be difficult. Should we still attack?”

“Attack!”

The scaled wolf-headed leader immediately replied: “We have nine members—more than them by one, and we have one more King-tier Immortal. Our strength completely crushes theirs! This time, we must kill at least a few of them!”

“What if they burn their Immortal energy to fight to the death?” the serpent-headed man asked.

“Then we burn our Immortal energy too—finish them off completely!”

The scaled wolf-headed leader’s face darkened as he coldly said: “They’re just weak human Immortals with pitifully small divine bodies—if they burn their energy to fight, we’ll lose less than one percent of our divine bodies and still wipe them out!”

“I think it’s feasible!”

The serpent-headed man nodded quickly: “But be careful of their divine body explosions. The Military Lords are fine—but if those King-tiers explode, many of us won’t survive!”

“Have them keep their distance from those King-tiers during battle!”

The scaled wolf-headed leader said immediately: “As long as they’re far enough, even the human high-tier King-tier’s explosion won’t threaten you much. And if you face mortal danger, I’ll block it for you!”

This scaled wolf-headed man was the squad’s captain, at the peak of King-tier.

If he chose to burn vast amounts of divine energy to block an enemy’s explosion, he could fully absorb it.

But divine body explosion differed from mutual annihilation—if we annihilated a human high-tier King-tier Immortal in battle, his ten-kilometer divine body would lose almost nothing even if he burned his own energy.

Yet to fully absorb the full force of a human high-tier King-tier Immortal’s explosion, even while burning energy, he’d lose massive amounts of divine energy—that was the true terror of a divine body explosion!

“No problem!”

“Captain, we’re counting on you!”

The demonic warriors all nodded.

“Then let’s go!”

The scaled wolf-headed leader said: “Move in quietly—don’t alert them yet. Then give them a surprise.”

The distance is closing: 10 million kilometers, 8 million kilometers, 6 million kilometers…

“Slow down and stop! Everyone get off the ship—we’ll fly the rest of the way!”

…

On the other side, Lu Qingshan and the others remained unaware of the impending danger, still chatting in the rest area of their F9-grade metal ship.

“Captain!”

Deputy Captain Ironblood Marquis smiled and said, “We’ve been away from the military base for over a thousand years now. Once we return to the safe point, should we pay a visit back to the base?”

“Yes, Captain!”

Tall Thunderwave Marquis added, “I’ve already gathered loot worth over three hundred thousand. Combined with my previous military merits, I should be able to try pushing my Cloud-Scaling Vine to the Immortal realm!”

“Once Cloud-Scaling truly breaks through to the Immortal realm, my survivability will improve dramatically!”

“I want to return to the base to restock on potions!”

The mentalist “Coldheart” quickly said, “To quickly kill that alien high-ranking military lord, I used up a lot of my special potions!”

“Alright!”

After hearing everyone’s words, Xuankong Marquis immediately said, “Since everyone wants to return to the base for rest, once we get back to our nest, we’ll inform our allies and then head to the cosmic transit point to return to the base!”

And just then…

BOOM!

Several terrifying light spheres, formed from compressed Immortal divine power, instantly crossed over a hundred thousand kilometers and slammed directly into the E-grade ship carrying Lu Qingshan and the others.

BOOM!

With a deafening roar, the E-grade ship was instantly shredded by the spheres’ devastating power, exploding violently. The cosmic space itself was torn open, sending countless fragments of space and vast amounts of alloy debris hurtling in all directions—only the central rest area, crafted from F9-grade metal, remained barely intact, though now cracked and deeply dented.

Though Lu Qingshan and the others had detected the attack the moment it appeared via their sensors, the attack was far too fast—they had no time to react.

Even with the protection of the F9-grade metal rest area, each of them spat blood.

Lu Qingshan and the others with Immortal bodies recovered quickly, but Giant Elephant, Nightmare, and the rest suffered varying degrees of injury—Nightmare, with the weakest defense, was worst hit; his divine body, once at 98%, had dropped to 89%!

After losing over ten percent of his divine body, Nightmare’s strength was noticeably impaired.

(End of Chapter)