Coloured Glaze looked at the scar on Zuo Jingyun's left shoulder where the flesh was connected to the metal, somewhat regretfully. She extended her hand, wanting to touch it, but she did not have the courage to do so. She asked in a low voice, "Then … Then, how did you escape from death, Sister Yun?"
"Wei Longtao saved me."
Indescribable brilliance beamed out of Zuo Jingyun's face all of a sudden. Even her voice was full of emotion. "He is the real hero and the real Cultivator. Right now, many people in Starlight have been saved by him. They are united by his charisma and his magnificent strength.
"Before Wei Longtao, although 'Starlight' was still struggling on the surface, it was in fact a nominal organization. The descendants of the Cultivators like us were only avoiding the hunting of the Immortal Cultivators on the 'earthly dragons' driven by their survival instincts, or launching suicidal attacks at the Immortal Cultivators with their hot blood when they were consumed by the fury of revenge. We could not hurt the Immortal Cultivators at all.
"At that time, Starlight was just a tray of loose sand. It was just a bunch of ghosts and stray dogs that wandered below the ground.
"Wei Longtao's arrival completely changed everything. He was both the most excellent pilot and modification master of the earthly dragons and a tough, fearless warrior. He had faced the dozens of 'sandworm' penetrators of the Immortal Cultivators with one earthly dragon countless times. Every time, he achieved astounding and unbelievable feats. After blowing up the penetrators of countless Immortal Cultivators and saving the descendants of the Cultivators, he retreated in one piece. He is the greatest legend of the underground world in the past hundred years!
"After making a name for himself below the ground step by step and intimidating the Immortal Cultivators, he reunited the descendants of the Cultivators in the past who had lost hope and established new rules and goals for Starlight. He told the ignorant, desperate, angry, or hopeless people what 'Cultivator' meant exactly.
"What was even more unexpected was that he also found a way to reach out to Starlight, which was active in space. He made the two branches of 'space' and 'underground' work together and even excavated the critical intelligence such as the 'global sword network'.
"It was with his unremitting efforts that we had the opportunity to gather all our strength and launch a desperate counterattack. For hundreds of years, we had been hiding, fleeing, and living in fear below the ground. Such a throat-cutting attack gave us a chance to destroy 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'. It was something that we did not even dare to dream about before!
"Therefore, if you ask me what a real 'Cultivator' is, I really don't know. But if there is an opportunity, I can bring you two kids to meet Wei Longtao and ask him to tell you in person.. You may think that he has a beard and eyes that are even bigger than headlights, and looks ferocious, but he is in fact a very amiable man.....
Han Te blurted out, "So, I'm not the only one who thinks that Commander Wei Longtao's eyes are like headlights!"
For a moment, everybody was amused.
Coloured Glaze pursed her lips and said, "That explains a lot. Commander Wei is truly a great hero. With his leadership, we will certainly be able to take down 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'!"
Zuo Jingyun glanced at A Boxing Champion with a complicated expression. She said gloomily, "Perhaps you will feel that our plan is a bit reckless or even crazy, but we don't have a choice.
"In fact, more than a hundred years ago, the Immortal Cultivators' search and suppression efforts on the underground world of the Land of Sins were much weaker. They even ignored the issues below the ground for decades. Something seemed to have happened to them internally, which led to a brief period of development for us.
"However, in the recent decades, 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky' has been replaced by a new leader named 'Wuying Lan'. He is a very tough guy who has enriched the forces in the sky as if he were performing magic. The siege on the underground is getting more and more intense every day, too.
"Even with such a wise and farsighted expert as Wei Longtao leading us to deal with the Immortal Cultivator Wuying Lan, our strength is still being weakened day by day. We are like people who are slowly bleeding. If we do not counterattack, we will be killed sooner or later.
"Now that we have reached out to Starlight in space and discovered the 'control center of the global sword network', the legendary 'temple of Cultivators', this is our last chance. If we don't take the risk while we still have some strength left, we won't even have the strength to fight when we are cornered and desperate later!
"Of course, we have foreseen the difficulty and danger of the mission. Everybody is prepared to sacrifice themselves valiantly. We are not scared of death, and we are not scared of failure. Even if we do fail this time, I believe that everything we have done will certainly spread to the sea of stars like burning dandelions and float into the hearts of countless people. One day, new Cultivators will be born, who will complete our unfinished cause and overthrow the evil reign of the Immortal Cultivators!"
Han Te and the Coloured Glaze were fascinated. They looked at Zuo Jingyun with even more admiration.
Zuo Jingyun smiled, somewhat in embarrassment. She pinched the Coloured Glaze's cheek softly and said, "I seem to be bragging. In fact, it is not so unbelievable. However, we have been hiding below the ground like turtles for hundreds of years. We are either mining, scavenging, or fleeing in panic every day. If such days continue for hundreds of years, what kind of Cultivators are we exactly?"
Han Te waved his fists solemnly and said, "Sister Yun, you do have a point. Then, let's fight side by side and take down 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky' together!"
"You?"
Zuo Jingyun was amused. Looking at A Boxing Champion, she said, "In fact, we only intended to recruit some tough bandits who had nowhere else to go. After all, at that time, we thought that everybody in the chaotic battle in Liberty City was the most ferocious guys who had been driven to desperation by the Immortal Cultivators. Even if we were to be killed in the mission, it would not be an unjustified death, right?
"But I did not expect that A Boxing Champion would be interested in your spiritual puppets and bring you with him, involving you in the perilous mission for no good reason."
"Please don't say that, Sister Yun."
Coloured Glaze pouted and said solemnly, "If Sister Yun hadn't shown up in time to save us, we would've been eaten by those disgusting lizards!"
"In that case," Zuo Jingyun said, "I cannot watch you die without doing anything. Let me think about how I should deal with you …"
"There's no need to think about it. We will follow Sister Yun on your earthly dragon 'Cloud Piercer'!"
Han Te bulged his eyes and said hopefully, "This is the Land of Sins. There will not be a place that is absolutely safe until 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky' is blown down! We promise that we will listen to Sister Yun obediently and will not cause any trouble for you. So, please take us with you. I want to see Manjusaka falling from the sky with my own eyes! "
"Yes. We will certainly be of a lot of help."
Coloured Glaze also grabbed Zuo Jingyun's clothes and begged, "Just let us stay on Sister Yun's car!"
Zuo Jingyun obviously did not have much experience in dealing with children. Frowning, she thought for a long time and finally said, "Well … Take a good rest first. Let's talk about it tomorrow. Just follow Commander Wei's arrangement."
She put Coloured Glaze aside softly and was about to turn around and leave.
Han Te suddenly put on a weird expression and asked somewhat abruptly, "Right. Sister Yun, how did you come up with the idea of recruiting new blood in Liberty City? Was it Commander Wei Longtao's idea?"
"Yes. We would never have done that in the beginning. After all, if some disobedient guys joined our team in a hurry, a lot of unstable factors would've been caused. The problem would've been much more serious than the shortage of manpower."
Zuo Jingyun looked at Han Te suspiciously. "However, since it was Commander Wei's idea, he must've had a deeper purpose that we cannot understand for now.
"It doesn't matter if we don't understand it. Commander Wei can't be wrong. He has proposed a lot of even more outrageous suggestions before, but they always worked miraculously. It shouldn't be a surprise this time, either.
"Little guy, why are you asking that?"
"No — Nothing."
Han Te scratched his hair unnaturally. "It just occurred to me, so I'm just asking. Also, how did you reach out to the branch of Starlight in space? Have you ever seen the Cultivators in space? What do they look like?"
"Sort of … I have."
Zuo Jingyun nodded her head hesitantly. "For safety reasons, Commander Wei has always been in touch with space. The less we know, the better. After all, the Immortal Cultivators have plenty of technology and can elicit the most important intelligence from us.
"However, Commander Wei once brought a lot of videos and promotional videos. So, I sort of have seen the fellow Cultivators in space before, haven't I? Except for being slimmer and lighter, they don't look much different from us. Don't overthink, little guy! "
Han Te stuck his tongue out and then yawned so hard that even his tears were squeezing out.
"I won't disturb your rest anymore. I believe that it will take you a long time to digest everything that you've been through in the past two days."
Zuo Jingyun smiled and grabbed the chain at the entrance of the cave, slowly disappearing into the abyss of the mine.
A Boxing Champion looked at Han Te and then at Li Yao. He walked to the entrance of the cave and observed the noises outside while he casually asked, "Why did you ask Han Te to ask that? What are you suspicious about?"
"Huh?"
The two little fellows bulged their cheeks and eyes again, staring at Li Yao in confusion.
After pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, "Can I trust you, A Boxing Champion?"
"Of course not. You know that I am just a puppet and an artificial intelligence that does not have the slightest concept of morality or trust. Everything that I do is based on 'becoming the strongest'. As long as it is in my ultimate goal, I will betray or even kill the three of you at any moment. So, how can you trust me?"
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