Chapter 2354 - Superstition!
They walked into the uneven tunnel that was brimming with the Fire Flowers and the shimmering mosses. Now and then, when they stepped on the soft spores by accident, countless glowing, colorful dust would spread out. Such a mysterious and amazing environment seemed to be leading the two of them into an unprecedented alien world.
The deeper they went, the more they could hear hums that were inaudible for the ears. Even the air, which was vaguely flowing, was filled with tiny waves and ripples, a sign that countless thoughts were colliding, entangling, and spreading.
What was known as “thoughts” were known as “information streams” by the moderners. Countless information streams rolled inside every intelligent life naturally and could be released by way of brainwaves after training.
General thoughts were only fuzzy, incomplete, and inaccurate information streams. For example, the thought of “I’m going to dinner” failed to describe time, location, and food. So, little information could be transferred.
However, when the trainers combined thousands of thoughts with spiritual energy into a “telepathic thought”, they would become an amalgamation of information that had been highly restructured and compressed. The same telepathic thought of “I’m going to dinner” could entail the time, location, and even the flavors of the cuisines and be transferred to the target in a highly-oriented way so that the target would actually sense the taste of the food, which, after all, was just the stimulation on nerve endings that could be simulated by the information transmission of brain cells.
Right now, what was wandering in the midair was exactly a certain special information stream between “thought” and “telepathic thought”.
Although not much information was contained in each wave, thousands of them were flowing from the deepest part of the tunnel incessantly, as if an ancient and mysterious ocean were rolling nonstop.
The target was so clear that Long Yangjun’s localization was unneeded. Li Yao and Li Jialing accelerated and soon passed three magnificent but broken airtight gates from ancient times, reaching a splendid, boundless underground cave.
Such a cave, which was as huge as a space fortress in size, was generally developed in the middle and upper parts of the crust. But this place was the border of the crust and the mantle, if not already deep into the mantle. By logic, such a huge room that was as grand as a palace couldn’t have come into being naturally.
The only possibility was that it was an artificial room created by an intelligent life.
Also, judging from the scale, it was not a product of human beings who were only around two meters tall, but probably one made by the giants of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan who were more than ten meters tall.
As he expected, when Li Yao focused his spiritual energy on his eyes, he saw the countless square, flawless characters on the wall, which were identical to the primeval characters he saw in the Kunlun relic, the Nuwa warship, and the Pangu’s underground laboratory.
Those primeval words had been engraved on the rocky wall by force with spiritual energy. Because of the abundance of spiritual energy, countless Fire Flowers and glowing mosses were attracted to them. As time went by, even the runes became iridescent, bringing vague light to the profound, bottomless cave.
With the light, Li Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at the bottom of the cave, where thousands of thoughts were rolling, only to be slightly surprised.
He saw a whole horde of wildlings, at least a thousand people.
It was an astonishing number in the underground world where the resources and the air were thin. Quite a few tribes must’ve come here.
What surprised him was not just the number of the wildlings but also their races. The Red Rings, the Black Armors, and the Night Wings; the three tribes that should be fighting each other relentlessly in grudge were all sitting cross-legged with their hands on their knees obediently. There was nothing but tranquility and expectation on their hideous and abnormal faces as they stared at the center of the crowd piously.
The thousand wildlings were sitting in a circle. At the center of the circle were dozens of highly-rising stalagmites whose tops had been cut, turning them into stone seats and high podiums. Dozens of Nepenthe believers in gray capes were sitting cross-legged on the stone. In a certain meditation state, they were moving their heads while enchanting weird spells as they guided all the wildlings to release and receive thoughts.
Surrounded by the dozens of Nepenthe believers, on the top of the highest column, Long Yangjun was in exactly the same posture. She couldn’t have looked more graceful, solemn, and divine.
This guy…
Li Yao’s eyelids were cramping nonstop. Had he not known Long Yangjun’s true appearance a long time ago, he would’ve likely been fooled by her deceptive style!
She was also wearing a white, flawless cape, but it seemed to be made of a certain fluorescent material and enshrouded her in an ivory halo, both making her look sacred and lofty and stopping people from seeing her face. The only things that could be seen were the astonishingly long and black hair that dangled like a waterfall and her bare feet that were as immaculate as if made of jade.
What Li Yao found most hilarious was a glowing ring that hovered slowly half a feet above her head. After every lap, it would release gentle ripples. Li Yao estimated that it was some kind of magical equipment for mental attacks with the function of pacifying the soul, but it did give her a sense of mysteriousness as if she were an angel walking on earth.
The sexless person indeed deserved to be a deceptive charmer from the Ancient Sages Sector. Her style and her vibe were truly professional!
What are they doing exactly?
Li Yao vaguely felt that what he was watching looked familiar. It was certainly not as simple as brainwashing the wildlings and removing their feelings and wild hatred.
After thinking for a moment, Li Yao immediately bulged his eyes. He knew what it was now!
What he was seeing was so similar to the scene of the riot of the captives from the Covenant Alliance in the Godly Might Prison!
When Li Yao snuck into the Godly Might Prison, ready to rescue Lei Chenghu, he happened upon a riot of the captives of the Covenant Alliance. The communication among the captives was not necessarily conducted through language but done in a way similar to “thought reverberation”. As a result, the thousands of captives were as united as one person!
Li Jialing and Li Linghai both told Li Yao that the Covenant Alliance boasted very special techniques. Even the ordinary people had the uncanny abilities that were similar to telepathic thought transmission, which made their unity and organization much better than the ordinary soldiers of the Imperium. It significantly made up for the Covenant Alliance’s shortage of high-level warriors.
Li Yao did not expect that Long Yangjun was capable of that!
In other words, she was not just “harmlessly” teaching the underground locals the ways to suppress their feelings and desires; she was also issuing certain clandestine instructions to the people who had been brainwashed through “thought reverberation”!
Well, wait, since Long Yangjun voluntarily invited him to come to this place, it was not exactly “clandestine”. But all in all… there must be something sleazy and dangerous going on!
In fury, Li Yao focused his telepathic thoughts and slashed them on Long Yangjun’s forehead on the podium. “You should’ve been more careful with your costume. Why didn’t you carry a few chicken wings on your back?”
The profound and mysterious hums stopped.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but even the overwhelming, gleaming primeval runes on the wall dimmed a lot.
The brutal, disobedient wildlings all stood up. They did not howl or look at Li Yao at all. Instead, they simply disappeared into the darkness without a sound, crawling into the deeper cracks.
Even the dozens of Nepenthe believers in grey robes hid stealthily.
Long Yangjun glanced at Li Yao casually. Touching her white, flawless, and glistening robe, she stepped on nonexistent stairs and walked down from the top of the stone column in midair.
“Why bother? You could’ve just jumped off!”
Li Yao threw another telepathic thought over. “I don’t believe your legs will be broken if you jump from only dozens of meters high!”
Long Yangjun stared at Li Yao and replied coldly, “Cut the crap. Follow me.”
Li Yao pondered for a moment. He had a lot of secrets that he did not want Li Jialing to know yet, not because he did not trust the little lion, but because if Li Jialing was unfortunately captured and possessed by Wuying Qi, all his memories would likely be absorbed by Wuying Qi.
Then, everything about the Star Glory Federation that Li Yao told Li Jialing right now would probably be learned by Blackstar the Great.
Therefore, it would be safer to keep it a secret from Li Jialing for now.
Li Yao asked Li Jialing to wait outside for a moment. He also gave the young man some prospection magical equipment, asking him to measure the edge and structure of the artificial cave. Then, he followed Long Yangjun to go to the deepest part of the cave.
In the rocks of the deepest part of the cave, a gigantic artificial carrier had been stabbed in abruptly. However, after a long time of being melted by the high temperatures and high pressures, and because of the corrosion of minerals, it had long become a fossil and could not be compared to the Kunlun relic or the Nuwa warship. It was barely of any value to be excavated.
Li Yao wondered why there was a huge warship deep below the ground. It was not until he observed carefully for a long time that he realized it was not a warship but an enormous excavator that could shatter rocks and build tunnels.
The general structure of the vehicle was similar to the “earthly dragon” adopted by Starlight in the underground world of the Martial Meritocrats Sector but, of course, significantly larger in size. It must’ve been the drilling machine that the giants of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan used.
At this moment, the most advanced drilling magical equipment in the old days had turned into a lifeless, collapsed palace that served as a perfect temple for the wildlings.
Following Long Yangjun, Li Yao walked into the primeval excavator and did find a lot of giant corpses that had been highly dehydrated and fossilized. Some of them had human heads and snake bodies, some had three heads and six arms, and some had green faces and bulging tusks like fiends.
It was not the first time that Li Yao had seen similar corpses of the “primeval gods”. He had seen too many of them in the Kunlun relic and the Nuwa warship and therefore was not surprised.
However, he could totally imagine how panicked and astounded the underground locals were when they saw the “primeval gods” for the first time. Perhaps Long Yangjun used exactly those corpses to deceive them and mislead them into thinking that she was an envoy of the gods, didn’t she?
