Chapter 468: The Terrifying Sages
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On Earth.
Ever since the beginning of the “Revival of Magical Powers” and the return of the Protoss.
The fortune of mankind begun its continuous decline.
As the concentration of the spiritual energy increased and the Protoss continued to get stronger, human beings could be said to have become more and more miserable.
Of course, when the concentration of spiritual energy became insufficient and the tendency towards the technological side of things became dominant, humans gained three consecutive victories in the three “War of the Races.”
But the Protoss was on a winning streak for the next ten games.
Human beings were forced to make compromises ten times.
For example, in the most basic aspect of territory, humans had lost their mother planet. Billions of humans had emigrated to other places.
Then, they lost the moon. All humans on the moon were all driven away and the Protoss, again, occupied their territory.
Then they offered 20 s.p.a.ce cities to the Protoss and other benefits too.
Ten times that they had lost; ten times that they had made compromises.
Each time that they had to make a difficult compromise, they had to dig out a portion of their “cake” from their gradually dwindling interests and profits.
It was akin to cutting off part of their flesh.
Until the humans only had Mars left as their very last home base in the end.
There were few immigration bases on Mercury.
Most of the human population lived in s.p.a.ce cities.
The resources that they controlled were less than one-third of the Protoss’.
Even so, the strength of humans had still been growing for the past number of decades.
For example, the growth of the human population was originally stagnant and was even slowly getting smaller and smaller. But, it had grown to 40 billion in the past few decades… which was about twice the Protoss population.
The total economic output had increased by more than five times.
More importantly, human cohesion, scientific and technological strength and cultivation power had all increased dramatically.
What was more, under the modernized system, the organization, mobilization, and operative power of human society far exceeded those of the Protoss.
In the outbreak of border frictions between the human and the Protoss, even though the Protoss army could always emerge with an amazing fire exchange ratio, in general, they could not withstand the attacks of the human army. If the Protoss insisted on forcibly seizing the territories, it would only result in casualties.
A strong cohesion and organizational strength ensured that human beings would never be completely overwhelmed when faced against the Protoss.
And decades pa.s.sed.
Human beings were also finding their way when it came cultivation; they were acc.u.mulating knowledge and skills and growing. Hence, they had made very significant progress.
This kind of progress was mainly manifested in the human masters of the Jiedan order. There were only five years between the emergence of the first Jiedan master and the ten-thousandth.
Now, the Jiedan phase pract.i.tioners in human society had exceeded one million.
There were also more than a hundred super-geniuses among human beings–the pract.i.tioners who first broke through the Yuanying phase to enter a new realm of cultivation.
As for the most genius among all geniuses, there were rumors that he or she had already entered the Jushen phase… Even in the history of the Protoss, this was also a rare genius that would only appear once in ten thousand years.
The number of master pract.i.tioners had exploded.
This indicated that the implementation of the federal plan of “Cultivation For Everyone” had been extremely successful.
However…It was the so-called “technology” that brought about the greatest help to mankind and quickly compensated for the gap between the strength of humans and the Protoss.
For example, the cultivation mecha, which enabled pract.i.tioners who were only of the Ningye and Jiedan order to raise their attack power by one or two steps, all by themselves. With this rise in their attack power, it became possible for pract.i.tioners at those phases or orders to kill other pract.i.tioners from the Jushen order.
The highest grade of the cultivation mecha could allow its driver, if he or she was at the later stage of the Jiedan order, to have a chance to kill one of those ancient freaks of the Shenguang order.
There were also a variety of magical weapons that brought about a very large increase in combat power.
As time marched onwards, this sort of acc.u.mulation, which was quant.i.tative at first quickly led to qualitative changes.
The reason why the general public opinion was shouting, “the rise of the human race” was not to feel good about themselves. Instead, this was because a.n.a.lysts had seen a clear trend via several incidents.
One, the 14 “War of the Races.” After 40 years of war, the human army finally defeated the Protoss once again and achieved a triumphant victory.
In the course of the battle for victory, the process made one’s heart alarmed and tremble in fright, it was extremely heart-wrenching. A lot of things had been due to luck.
All of mankind was impa.s.sioned. It was the first comeback of ten consecutive defeats.
However, some a.n.a.lysts believed that it was also somewhat inevitable that human beings would win.
“In the first ten consecutive losses, we can see these trajectories. In our first losing battle, the human army was destroyed, but the other side was completely unharmed; in the second, the human army was destroyed, and one member from the other side was slightly injured….. Although the human armies were all annihilated In the next eight sessions, on the Protoss side, the number of minor injuries had increased from one person to two, three, five, ten…and then the first person to be seriously wounded appeared, followed by the first casualty.”
“These two key nodes have made the humans excited and impa.s.sioned, and they have played a hugely inspirational role to lift our spirits; these two key nodes had also caused the Protoss to fly into a rage, it made them extremely angry… The morale and courage inherent in the struggle of human beings have never dissipated.”
“And thus we gradually saw hope.”
“And in the 14th “War of the Races,” we humans have deployed as many of our best personnel as we could. We’d dispatched 1,480 masters at the peak of Jiedan order and 20 Yuanying geniuses. All of them drove the latest ‘Tianshen Mecha,’ with a 95% death rate in this battle, we’d killed 18 of the ancient Protoss freaks of the Shenguang order.”
“We’ve scored a brilliant victory this time with a ‘counterattack by the weak against the strong.’”
Of course, this is also something that we have to be glad about because the Protoss underestimated their enemy, they did not dispatch the naga bio-mecha produced by the Chen family’s fortress into the war….. But the naga bio-mecha is a biological mecha, which belongs to the category of unmanned equipment and it cannot replace personnel to be deployed in the war.
However, the Protoss would request to amend the rules of the game. In the next War of the Races, the Protoss would recruit 100 naga bio-mecha to take to the field, using mecha to fight against mecha.
Second, the technology of human beings had finally developed to the extent that the Protoss would be afraid of their consequences.
In particular, the celestial technology, which was a combination of the celestial powers and science and technology. After decades of research, development, and progress, an extremely horrible level of strength had erupted from technology.
Among them was a weapon called the light bomb, it had an explosive yield of more than 20,000 tons.
Its power was equivalent to the atomic bomb at the end of World War II.
In the face of the light bomb, pract.i.tioners who were of a lower order than the Sages could be killed if they were too near to the core of the explosion.
More crucially, the manufacturing cost and technology contained in such a weapon were not very high. As long as some funds were invested, the raw materials were sufficient, they could produce more than 1,000 of those bombs annually.
Of course, the light bomb was a highly kept secret in the human world, the Protoss were even less aware of its existence. Chen Jin also learned about this through some special intelligence channels.
He understood that humans now had a trump card in their hands that could provide a sufficient level of self-protection.
Besides, with more than 100 times the organizational and mobilizational abilities of the Protoss, it was estimated that after another decade or more, the Protoss would not be able to suppress the humans with their power any longer.
From this one could know that, in the face of adversity, human beings could always break out 100 times, 200 times the potential harnessed in their bodies. They must not be taken lightly.
The pros and cons, the reversals of the humans and the Protoss; their contrasting strengths that rose and fell in succession; the nearing of their gap and overtaking of the Protoss. A reversal might soon be seen in the upcoming years.
If the Protoss kept their promise in good faith.
Possibly after the end of the last few “War of the Races.”
Venus, the moon, and some asteroid resources would all return to human hands.
Humans might even take back some land on their mother planet where they could settle, which many humans could not stop thinking about and longed to return to.
The pre-requisite was that the Protoss would keep their promise.
But…the strong were used to make rules; they were not good at obeying rules.
The strong could win ten wars, a hundred wars, but if they were defeated in even one war, they found the fact difficult to accept. When that happened, they would fly into a rage.
Under extreme anger, forget about the rules agreed by the two sides, even the tacit understanding that had been nurtured for a long time would all be tossed aside at this moment. They would just want to take vent their rage!
At that point, they would only want to kill human beings, their behavior would be just like that of a sore loser.
Thus, in the border areas where friction often occurred, the Protoss suddenly increased their troops on a large scale. The troops were increased by five times, ten times. Countless masters were dispatched, and they crashed through the ranks of the human army, launching an incomparably crazy attack.
In a short period, humans lost countless strongholds in outer s.p.a.ce.
More than one million soldiers were killed in battle.
The soldiers who had surrendered to become prisoners and the human civilians were all killed by the Protoss army.
They looked to be killing off every single human, none were left alive.
They were simply trampling on the most fundamental aspects of civilization and morality. They were demented.
The ma.s.sacre by the Protoss army caused tens of billions of humans to tremble fiercely. They vowed to avenge the victims.
It was just that…the individual combat strength of the Protoss was very strong.
It was hard for the human army in the border areas of the earth to hold them off. The human army could only retreat.
If the line of defense collapsed, the Protoss army would enter the human residential zones. The consequences of coming face-to-face with those aggressive and overbearing were self-evident.
Not only would there be loss of property and the deprivation of life, but certain Protoss warriors also had the hobby of raping human females. They would even go so far as to rape then kill them.
That scenario…was just h.e.l.l!
To resist the Protoss army, to defend their home.
The upper echelons of the Earth Federation had no choice but to lift the ban on the light bomb, allowing this strategic weapon to be revealed and utilized in advance.
“Boom~”
“Rumble~”
“Ah, my eyes, my eyes!”
“Ah~!”
The damage caused by the first light bomb was very satisfactory.
All the Protoss pract.i.tioners within a radius of one kilometer were killed. As long as they were too close to the core of the explosion, even those of the Shenguang order were also killed.
3,000 Protoss fell under the impact of the first light bomb.
Then the second one was launched…
The hundredth…
The number of Protoss warriors that became casualties ranged from 1,000 to 5,000.
In just a few short days, a total of 500,000 Protoss warriors were dead, including the 28 masters of the Shenguang order.
Their strength was greatly injured.
The Protoss army suffered heavy losses within a short period. Many of the warriors sent by the Protoss clans disappeared in entire units, they were swallowed up in the brilliant rays of light.
Although some of the Protoss acted as if the enemy was beneath their contempt, thinking that the human army was still not powerful enough for them to fear.
Most of the Protoss were nearly blinded by the rays and they found it unbelievable.
It was then followed by nervousness and panic.
They were afraid that a light bomb would suddenly fall onto their community.
The danger of mankind had once again magnified to a degree that was more terrifying than those wild magical beasts.
Views purporting to “A discussion on the threat of humanity” and “We must kill all the humans” flooded countless reports.
The entire Protoss society had fallen into collective anxiety. They were at a loss of what to do.
They had realized the tenacity and intractability of human beings.
They also referred to the performance of the human army’s counter-attack in the 14th War of the Races.
Feeling the gradually decreasing concentration of spiritual energy in the air, some of the Protoss came to a helpless conclusion–if they were to take the long-term view, time seemed to stand on humans’ side.
If they were to continue the marathon compet.i.tion, the Protoss would probably lose!
“What should we do?”
“How can we kill those d.a.m.n monkeys completely.”
“We, as powerful and n.o.ble Protoss, will lose to them?”
“As the saying goes, ‘There can only be one winner at the top.’ Let’s unite and do our best. We’ll put on a spurt of energy and kill all the humans.”
“We can’t go on like this anymore. Those despicable humans are about to go overboard.”
Countless cries were calling for violence and the deaths of human beings.
They came to the conclusion that “human beings were the greatest threat, and they should be quickly destroyed.”
But… the power of the light bombs was such that it left a lingering fear in their hearts. They had no courage to withstand the power contained in those bombs.
Other clans were welcomed charge into battle selflessly to fight against the humans. But when it came to one’s forces, it was a different tune; their forces must be retained… Internally, the clans did not agree and they were wary of each other. Hence, they couldn’t come together to create mutual trust, cooperation, and a single purpose.
But there was a clan called Tianyin, who thought of a way.
“Sage ancestors.”
“Each clan will contribute to a pool of resources that we’ll use invite the Sage ancestors to step forth. We’ll let the Sages be in charge!”
“That new type of weapon in the humans’ possession is very powerful, even those pract.i.tioners of the Shenguang order can’t withstand it. But to the Sages, it won’t even be enough to light up the dark.”
“As long as we invite our Sage ancestors to make an appearance, the humans will exist no more!”
“We are so sick of this. Those insignificant beings are not surrendering and they’ve even gone against us repeatedly. Since a long time ago, there’d been no need for them to be alive. Kill all of them and get this over with!”
Hearing the words from this Protoss, a high-ranking Protoss asked him, “The Sages have always refrained from getting involved in the mortal world. Will they agree to make a move against our enemy?”
“Why wouldn’t they agree? As long as all the clans come up with some treasures to offer as tributes, the Sages will listen to us if they find the gifts satisfactory… If the tributes are rich enough, the Sages will be ecstatic. They will help us to make a move against humans after understanding their deceit and cunning.”
Tribute?
The other clan representatives looked at him, they suddenly understood.
A Sage had emerged from the Tianyin clan, who was later known as the Tianyin Sage. He was very powerful and was one of the last four remaining Sages.
Of course, the time between when the Tianyin Sage had ascended to a Sage and now was not long. Among the four Sages, his strength was the weakest, however, it still was not a level that the ordinary Protoss pract.i.tioners could look up to.
It was was like comparing a lake and the sea.
If the Tianyin Sage made his move, the mere human beings would not even be worth mentioning.
It’s just that they had to pool their resources together to offer a tribute that could satisfy the Sage. It was not something that could not be done
They also considered the proponent, a clan that was founded by the descendants of the Tianyin Sage. The relations.h.i.+p between the Sage and his clan was tight. The att.i.tude of the Tianyin clan could be the att.i.tude of the Sage.
Hence… Tribute, get them!
Miracle drugs, buy!
Spirit stones, collect them!
In just a few days, they had gathered a sufficient quant.i.ty that would satisfy the Tianyin Sage.
…
Soon.
A Protoss with blurred facial features and dressed in snow-white robes appeared. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back in the empty air.
His physical body traversed across s.p.a.ce, flying to an area near Mar’s...o...b..t.
Towards the densely populated cities on the planet below.
He stretched out a hand, and countless gusts of mists rushed forth below him. The mists transformed into an invisible giant hand that wrapped around Mars entirely.
Then, the hand grabbed the planet carelessly but lightly.
“Boom~”
More than half of the surface of Mars was covered by the giant hand.
Only less than 30% of the billions of humans living on Mars survived.
He took another step and arrived in front of Mercury which was tens of millions of kilometers away.
He gently punched with a fist.
Mercury was turned into countless fragments of s.p.a.ce debris.
He went to the surrounding areas of some s.p.a.ce cities. Similarly, he lightly swatted the s.p.a.ce cities. The survival rate was less than 1%.
…
Half a day or so later, more than one billion human lives disappeared in the hands of the Tianyin Sage.
The contrast of the power between the humans and Protoss once again underwent a tremendous reversal; the excellent impetus that the human race had for their revival was broken by one powerful man.
The power of the Sages could be described as terrifying.