Li Yao pondered for a long time and asked, “How exactly does he want to fight?”

　　“The location will be decided by the federation,” Heiye Lan said. “For example, an anonymous space zone far away from the Heaven’s Origin Sector. The specific arena can be a forsaken starship or a place of the Burning Prairie Fleet’s choosing. They will only enter the arena at the last moment, which will ensure that they will not be able to play any tricks.

　　“The two parties will compete in crystal suits without using Colossi because the number of Colossi on General Di Feiwen’s side have been reduced too much, and they cannot suffer any more losses. Besides, the battles where the Colossi are involved can be highly uncontrollable. It’s inevitable that both parties will be heavily wounded or killed.

　　“The Immortal Cultivators with the highest personal combat ability from the fleet near the brown dwarf will enter the arena that the federation has prepared in their crystal suits. The number of crystal suits that they can carry is not limited. After all, ‘air change’ is also a very important technique. But the federation can examine all the Cosmos Rings that they bring with them to make sure that they do not carry explosives that are too dangerous for single warriors.

　　“The competition will have three rounds. As long as you defeat two of the strongest Immortal Cultivators from the fleet near the brown dwarf, they will be willing to surrender to the federation. Naturally, the more dominant you appear in the competition, the more reasons General Di Feiwen will have to convince the disobedient Immortal Cultivators to make the surrender and regroup.

　　“General Di Feiwen said that Master Li and the Star Glory Federation have great goals. If you truly mean to march to the center of the cosmos, there are a lot of places where the Black Wind Fleet will come in handy. It will be an ‘important asset’ of the federation. Only by showing the demeanor of an unparalleled expert will the Immortal Cultivators be wholeheartedly convinced.”

　　Li Yao sniffed. “He has indeed made a thorough plan, but how do I know that it’s not a trap?”

　　“General Di Feiwen is willing to jump to somewhere near the arena in a starship whose turrets have been removed with part of the leadership of the fleet near the brown dwarf,” Heiye Lan said. “Then, it will lower its own spiritual shield to the minimum and invite the federation to lock onto it and send somebody to check their identities on the starship.

　　“Master Li, you can wait until it is verified that General Di Feiwen has been locked onto by the firepower of the federation. If you are not reassured despite such precautions, there will be nothing more he can do. Just let the fire begin, and they will fight until the last soldier dies!”

　　Li Yao was secretly amazed. The Immortal Cultivators were indeed quite capable to have established an enormous Imperium that governed the center of the cosmos. He did not expect that even a vice commander of the expedition army would have such valor and wisdom.

　　It seemed that the war between the Star Glory Federation and the Black Wind Fleet would have been more troublesome had it not been for the interruption of the extraterrestrial devils.

　　While raising his thumb for ‘General Di Feiwen’ in his heart, Li Yao showed absolutely no feeling on his face. He still coldly said, “He is rather audacious. Is he not scared that I will directly tear his starship into shreds without even showing up?”

　　“General Di Feiwen said that you are an extraordinary person, the likes of which he has never seen before,” Heiye Lan replied dutifully. “A great hero who considers the entire sea of stars as his goal such as yourself will not play such tricks. So, he has absolute trust in your promise. As long as you agree to his conditions, he will be willing to place himself on a chopping block at your mercy.

　　“Besides, if the negotiation does fall apart, their strategy will be to split up into smaller groups, transforming from a regular army to ruthless, unlawful space pirates who will do the most terrible things in the universe.

　　“The harassment, sabotage, and killing will not require the instructions of a vice commander.”

　　Li Yao came to an abrupt halt and stared at Heiye Lan.

　　Heiye Lan felt as if her legs were both frozen, and the freezing coldness went all the way up to her skull. Her entire spine became a cold viper.

　　It was too dreadful. The guy was practically getting stronger with each day. Vulture Li Yao had made significant breakthroughs compared to half a year ago. He was almost like a totally different person now.

　　Heiye Lan even sensed that, from certain perspectives, Li Yao was even stronger than her father when her father was at his peak!

　　“Please forward my reply to General Di Feiwen. Logically, I shouldn’t agree to such a preposterous request.”

　　Staring at Heiye Lan for a long time, Li Yao finally said slowly, “However, he is rather lucky. I’m now trying to break into a new level, and I’m in dire need of some experts to try my moves.

　　“I have practiced a lot of new techniques. It’s very difficult for me to control my strength right now. If he is not scared that the three experts will be killed, bring it!”

　　Li Yao did not lie.

　　Both the enormous database from Professor Mo Xuan and the ‘tenebrum energy’ that the extraterrestrial devils had stuffed deep into his brain by brute force were not so easy to be digested and absorbed.

　　In the past six months, Li Yao had wasted no time purging the ‘tenebrum energy’.

　　But it was a highly unsteady and violent form of energy that had been contaminated with too many negative feelings. Normal people would have gone crazy if they touched the slightest bit of it.

　　Despite the assistance of the mental devil and the tiny proportion he had each day, Li Yao was caught by extreme emotions now and then.

　　Also, the mysterious sand drawings that he had discovered in the Virtual Spirits Sector, the missing ‘statue’ that contained the information of his brain, and the absurd theories about ‘high-dimensional virus’ had planted a lot of seeds of suspicion in Li Yao’s heart.

　　In short, after absorbing tremendous tenebrum energy, his Cultivation had soared once again, allowing him to touch the boundary of the Divinity Transformation Stage.

　　However, his control of his Cultivation had not been polished yet.

　　It was like a warrior who could wave a saber weighing eight kilograms being given a marvelous weapon of two hundred kilograms. It was inevitable that the warrior would be lightheaded upon using the new weapon and might hurt himself or those around him while practicing.

　　If the situation remained unchanged, even if he did advance into the Divinity Transformation Stage successfully, his Cultivation would still be deeply flawed.

　　Sensing the unsteadiness of his mind, Li Yao did not dare stay in the Heaven’s Origin Sector or Hundred Flowers City for training anymore. Instead, he went deep into the space battlefield and vented his brand-new strength and killing intent on the relentless Immortal Cultivators.

　　But most of the Immortal Cultivators were just small fries. However many enemies he killed, it was of little use for him to improve his level.

　　For the experts at his level, the most troublesome thing was always finding an appropriate opponent.

　　The victory and failure of a competition between two experts could be very close. If they were both at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, should they let go all of their concerns and fight without reserve, it was very possible that both of them would heavily wound or even kill each other after one moment of carelessness.

　　But if they did not fight with their best, the training would have zero effect.

　　Li Yao did not dare practice with top-tier experts such as Ding Lingdang or Yan Liren because both parties would be unable to control themselves in a battle.

　　If Yan Liren drew out his sword of ten thousand kilometers and Li Yao counterattacked with the strongest techniques that he had recently perceived, one of them would surely be killed.

　　He had practiced with Long Yangjun before. It was not gratifying at all because both of them had to restrain themselves.

　　Now that three of the strongest Immortal Cultivators had fed themselves to him, it could not have been better. He was finally given a chance to carry out the strongest techniques that he had grasped in the recent half year.

　　Li Yao had a vague feeling.

　　As long as he defeated the strongest Immortal Cultivators in the fleet near the brown dwarf, the gate to the Divinity Transformation Stage would be before him!

　　…

　　A week later, in a desolate space zone far away from the Heaven’s Origin Sector and devoid of any resources was a broken, forsaken space station, which had been moved there three days prior. It was stabilized and installed with dozens of gravity control units, which generated feeble gravity and transformed the space station into a shabby ‘arena’.

　　In the coordinates five light seconds away from the arena, twenty arsenal starships of the Burning Prairie Fleet were stationed. All their weapons were locked onto the nearby arena.

　　Ten Colossi were also ready to go. The pilots of the Colossi included Long Yangjun, Yan Liren, Meng Chixin, Wu Suiyun, Fiend Blade Peng Hai, the Fire Ant King, and other top-tier experts.

　　The space had been strewn with torpedoes in case the enemy suddenly teleported an enormous troop for a sudden assault.

　　Crystal cameras filled the arena, too, to capture every detail from every angle.

　　Super remote communication magical equipment that looked like artificial satellites was scattered outside the arena, sending the sound and picture back to the flagship of the Burning Prairie Fleet and the highest command center of the Defense Counsel in the Heaven’s Origin Sector in real time.

　　Including Ding Lingdang, the Speaker of the Federation, the leaders of the federation were all watching the important competition.

　　Although the proposal of General Di Feiwen was somewhat ridiculous, it was true that the federation was still far away from a final victory. The Imperium and the Covenant Alliance were like two mountains on the federation’s head that were yet to be completely removed.

　　The defeated soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, especially the fleet near the brown dwarf that was still intact, were too important for the Star Glory Federation. Any possibility of gaining the fleet was worth a try.

　　On the other side of the arena, the space began to twist, but the scale was quite small. It could be clearly seen through scanning that only one starship had jumped over.

　　“The Immortal Cultivators are here!”

　　Inside the arena modified from a forsaken space station, Li Yao was sitting cross-legged in a plain version of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, as if he were confident of his victory.

　　But his voice was echoing in the communication channel nonstop.

　　“Did they really send one starship that has removed all the turrets and deactivated the spiritual shield?”

　　“Yes,” Long Yangjun replied. “As we have analyzed more than a hundred times, there is a 97% likelihood that they will not set up any trap against you because killing you will not stop the fast development and rise of the Star Glory Federation. It will only bring the ultimate doom of the Black Wind Fleet. The vice commander of the enemy is a very rational man. He wouldn’t do such a stupid thing!”

　　“Well, you never can tell,” Li Yao said. “What if he has gone mad and decided to die together with me?”

　　“If you’re so scared, why did you agree with the proposal in the first place?”

　　“How could I say no? I am Vulture Li Yao, the dominator of three sectors and the husband of the Speaker of the Federation. How can I go on a rampage in the center of the cosmos if I’m scared of a tiny Black Wind Fleet? Face is all that matters to us the Cultivators! Right, fellow Cultivators, you must watch the battle closely. Should anything go wrong, the ten Colossi must attack together and save me!”