Chapter 2597: Houyi Shooting the Sun!

　　Behind Wuying Qi, nine out of the ten suns had all dimmed and died out, and only the last one, which seemed to be steady and unattractive in the prime years, was magnified nonstop, revealing the crazily-dancing fire and the swirls that were enough to swallow planets on the surface. Lei Chenghu couldn’t help but feel that it could burn everything.

　　As a contrast, some insignificant glass pebbles were scattered around the glittering sun. They were all the planets that were moving around the sun.

　　Around those planets, on the other hand, were clusters of dust. Even though Lei Chenghu had fully activated his spiritual energy in the Divinity Transformation Stage, he could only vaguely see the black spots that made up the dust.

　　The black spots that were no larger than dust were exactly the super warships that human beings were proud of, thinking that they could conquer the sea of stars with them.

　　Suddenly, the sun sneezed.

　　Or rather, a certain scorching swirl that only took up less than one percent of the surface of the sun had a minor sneeze.

　　Immediately, countless flames millions of kilometers long spurted out, snatching at the cosmos like the arms of gods that had been extended out of the sun.

　　Although the arms did not grasp any specific matter, they were like hands churning a lake and soon raised overwhelming, destructive waves.

　　The arms split, spread, and exploded. The crimson waves swept across all the planets like a cosmic storm.

　　Even the planets protected by the atmosphere sensed the intense shock. It was needless to say the fleets that were no more than dust. They were all blown apart or even shattered into smithereens.

　　“I am not a man who underestimates myself. However, how small and weak is the civilization of mankind compared to the formidable universe? The starships we are proud of, the Colossi that we consider as ‘ultimate weapons’, and our marvelous spiritual energy and techniques… All of these are nothing when faced with the wrath of the universe. They can’t stop anything.”

　　Wuying Qi heaved a deep sigh. “Since ancient times, the classic battle cases where the weak defeated the strong couldn’t have been achieved without favorable circumstances. In some cases, the magnificence power of nature was the key to victory. Too many overwhelming armies were lost in the boundless deserts or destroyed by the surging tides in an ocean.

　　“It is not going to be an exception this time.

　　“I have never considered winning the war with only the Imperial Guards, the Deep Sea Fleet, or Marquis Liaohai’s Astounding Thunder Fleet. Faced with enemies who are a hundred times more than us, any courage, determination, or schemes would be useless.

　　“However, even if the four Kurfürst families were ten times, a hundred times, or a thousand times stronger, they would still be dead for sure in front of the roars of the sun!”

　　Lei Chenghu’s eyes were so deeply attracted by the exasperated sun that a minor volcano eruption seemed to have taken place inside his pupils. Staring at the virtual picture for a long time, he couldn’t help but ask, “Does Your Majesty have a way… to make the sun sneeze?”

　　“Yes.”

　　Wuying Qi smiled. “Like I said just now, I would never underestimate myself. However insignificant human beings and however vast and formidable the universe is, human beings will completely conquer and utilize the universe someday!

　　“While stars are among the most important celestial bodies in the universe, their structures and state of operation are relatively simple, even simpler than many planets. The stars in the prime years can run stably mainly because of the subtle balance when the power of fusion offsets gravity. You can imagine them to be extremely sensitive scales. As a matter of fact, as long as a tiny force is imposed on them, it will be possible to break the balance and make them plummet toward chaos and destruction.

　　“However, the scales are too enormous for the knowledge and technology of mankind. Precise calculations must be run, and all the features of the scales have to be grasped, in order to find the point to impose force upon.

　　“As long as the point is found, it will be possible to trigger a series of chain reactions. We can make the sun sneeze without the least trouble.

　　“There’s no need to doubt our abilities. In fact, the whole thing is like a naïve child playing on a dry, windy hill. He accidentally caused a sparkle, which led to a forest fire that burnt down dozens of mountains and killed countless creatures. With the child’s own heart, wisdom, and strength, was he capable of burning dozens of mountains and killing countless people? Of course not! However, when all the conditions were miraculously met at the right moment in the right place, one child and one sparkle would be enough for that.

　　“It’s the same for us right now. All we need to do is to project a tiny sparkle toward the sun.”

　　Lei Chenghu was silent for a long time, as if he were assessing the veracity of the matter. He asked cautiously, “How did Your Majesty learn the specific features of the star in the Empyreal Terminus Sector, how would you grasp the subtle balance point, and how are you going to send the ‘sparkle’ to the sun, Your Majesty?”

　　“This is exactly why I have named the plan ‘Sun Shooting’, from the tale ‘Houyi shooting the sun’. Marquis Liaohai is not wrong at all. It hasn’t been long since I woke up from a thousand years of dormancy. I do not control any study institutions or specialists in the Imperium. Naturally, I don’t have enough time to understand the features of the sun. However, the Houyi Clan, part of the Pangu civilizations’ alliance in the past, was capable of it.”

　　Wuying Qi said, “I don’t know how much you know about the Houyi Clan, Marquis Liaohai. They were a carbon-based life born on the planets very close to the sun. The planets suitable for the survival of mankind were usually the third or the fourth planet in a stellar system. However, the Houyi Clan mainly lived on the second planet of a stellar system.

　　“The Houyi Clan at the beginning were insignificant bugs that were covered in black shells that looked like solar panels. They were strongly resistant to heat. However, their living environment was too rough. The star granted them too much light, heat, and destructive radiations. They had to observe the star all the time and adjust the elements and internal structures of their black shells according to the radiations to absorb energy as much as possible and to block radiations so that they could survive in such an extreme environment.

　　“In the Pangu civilizations’ alliance, there was also the Kuafu Clan, whose people were also star specialists born in similar ways. They pursued the sun to obtain energy. However, the Kuafu Clan’s specialty was the stable utilization of the energy from the stars. They established abundant energy-absorbing panels on the orbit of the star, trying to enshroud the whole star with a piece of magical equipment named ‘Kuafu’s Sphere’, thereby achieving a 100% utilization rate of energy.

　　“The Houyi Clan differed from the Kuafu Clan who were relatively mild and peace-loving in that they were tougher and better at breaking the subtle balance in stars to unleash the most formidable power instantly for war and destruction purposes.

　　“It is said that millions of years ago, before the Pangu civilizations’ alliance was established, the Kuafu Clan and the Houyi Clan, two interstellar civilizations both good at making use of stars, once had a protracted, magnificent war.

　　“At that time, the Kuafu Clan was developed earlier. They stepped out of their mother planet almost ten thousand years earlier than the Houyi Clan did, colonizing the dozens of neighboring Sectors. They found ten stars in those Sectors that were very stable and suitable for energy collection.

　　“Around the ten stars, the Kuafu Clan set up ‘Kuafu’s Spheres’ and established a glorious and powerful interstellar civilization with the energy of the ten suns. They suppressed all the developing civilizations within their range of exploration, not giving the latecomers a chance to surpass themselves.

　　“The Houyi Clan that was born in similar ways and equally good at making use of stars was their main target.

　　“At first, the Houyi Clan was absolutely no match for the Kuafu Clan. They suffered a losing streak because of the energy that the enemy collected from the ten suns. The whole civilization was almost obliterated.

　　“Everybody in the Houyi Clan said that the enemy was about to roast them with the ten suns.

　　“In the end, the Houyi Clan gathered all their elites and ambushed the stars with dozens of daring teams, finally detonating nine out of the ten stable stars under the Kuafu Clan’s control.

　　“The nine stars had drastic changes and unleashed destructive flames and radiations, almost wiping out all the Kuafu’s Spheres and the Kuafu Clan’s fleets.

　　“The Kuafu Clan was covered in the infinite darkness. The fleets wailed at the dim, messy cosmos after the solar storms. They jumped from one Sector to another, but the tragedy was the same. Most fleets died of insufficient resources before they reached the last sun that was still steady and peaceful.

　　“The battle completely reversed the comparison of the Kuafu Clan and the Houyi Clan. Having achieved a strategic advantage, the Houyi Clan was determined to pursue further and shoot down the Kuafu Clan’s last sun. Such an action would not bring them much good. After all, they were a species that depended on stars too. However, their strong hatred and their fear that the Kuafu Clan might rise again prompted them to obliterate the Kuafu Clan even though they would also suffer heavy losses in the process.

　　“At this moment, the Pangu Clan showed up.

　　“Or rather, the intense transformations of the nine suns made the Pangu Clan discover the Kuafu Clan and the Houyi Clan. They learned that the Pangu Clan was not the only intelligent carbon-based life in this vast universe.

　　“At that time, the Pangu Clan already boasted a civilization and war ability that was far beyond the Kuafu Clan and the Houyi Clan. However, they were still amazed at how the two carbon-based lives utilized stars—either in the peaceful way or in the violent way.

　　“The Pangu Clan realized that the carbon-based intelligent lives had been developed to such an appalling level that their war was very likely to destroy the whole universe or even jeopardize the civilizations that were not related to the war. The war among the carbon-based intelligent lives had to be stopped in order to maintain the peace of the universe. Therefore, the Pangu Clan intermediated in the war between the Kuafu Clan and the Houyi Clan, secretly supporting the Kuafu Clan and preventing the Houyi Clan from destroying the Kuafu Clan’s last sun. Then, an agreement between the three parties was reached. That was perhaps the prototype of the Pangu civilizations’ alliance later.

　　“I’m telling this not to waste your time but to let Marquess Liaohai know that the Houyi Clan mastered the ability to ‘make the sun sneeze’ a long time ago, and it almost resulted in the complete destruction of an interstellar civilization after it was devoted to a real battle!”