Chapter 1068: Scary Weapon
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Han Sen could not wait to sleep on a bed of those purple crystal cores. Doing so would be better than rolling on a bed of cash.
Ji Yanran and Han Sen were not professional scientists, so the correct terminology escaped them. What they did know was that the purple crystal cores were anti-material weapons. They were explosive devices that released obliterating energy upon detonation.
The Alliance had similar weaponry, but nothing that came close to the sheer devastation the purple crystal cores could unleash. If they were ever to be used, though, they'd need a detonator.
It took only one core to blow up an entire battleship.
Scanners could not detect their presence, and no known weapon could work as a deterrent. They were always primed for use, so they couldn't be disarmed or disassembled, either.
As for the previously mentioned need for a detonator, that was where the humans and shura now turned their focus. They had to find a way to use the crystal cores, because no one in either government had figured out a way in which they could be triggered to explode.
Han Sen, however, had.
The beetle he had come into possession of could load up the purple crystal cores as a manner of artillery. They could be fired from the machine with ease.
The beams Han Sen had fired before also used an energy that was not too different from that of the purple crystal cores. Put simply, the cores contained something very similar, but condensed.
The beetle could either fire the purple crystal cores in one shot, or refill the energy lasers for a more controlled and precise method of annihilation. With the lasers, you could use as much or as little of the energy as you wanted and make it last.
If the energy of the core was unleashed all at once, the explosion was enough to destroy a Star-Class Super Battleship.
The thought of such destruction, all residing at his fingertips, made Han Sen shiver. It was no wonder why the humans and shura worked so hard to obtain these purple crystal cores. Which species would shy away from the greatest weapons of mass destruction they had ever seen?
Han Sen, having obtained a thousand of the weapons, figured he could dominate the galaxy.
Not that he wanted to. He wasn't interested in controlling many people, or later having to focus his attention on suppressing rebellions. It'd all be too much hassle.
Still, with the beetle, Han Sen was a force to be reckoned with. He could go up against any faction in the Alliance and come out on top—no sweat.
If Angel Gene sought to provoke him once again, he could promptly blow them all into smithereens.
Unfortunately, the beetle could not be used in the sanctuaries.
But that was the only downside. It was a shame, though, considering he spent so much time there. Opportunities to make use of the beetle would be extremely rare, if they showed up at all. For this reason, Han Sen was secretly hoping a band of Alliance brigands and cutthroats, or corporate bigwigs, would suddenly try to kill him. It'd give him a nice reason to make use of the beetle.
Since this was unlikely, though—considering his prestige and everything—he felt the weapon would go to waste.
Back in the Alliance, their efforts in the crystallizer ruins were worthy of medals. The humans obtained a tally of cores that was far greater than what the shuras were able to.
And back in the sanctuary, when Han Sen saw Xie Qing King, he was so shocked he felt his socks slip off his feet.
The spirit was wearing a well-ironed white shirt. On his face was a nice pair of sunglasses. He wore long boots and was decked out with various accessories and jewelry. For all intents and purposes, he was blinged out. The coup de grace for his fashion was the presence of an obnoxious, gold skull necklace that was hanging across his chest. When Han Sen saw him, he had a beer in one hand and a comic in the other. All the while, sausages were sizzling on a barbecue.
"What's up, my brother?" Xie Qing King made a crazy gesture with his hands. Han Sen had no idea what it meant, but it did look rather gangster.
Han Sen's eyes twitched. He wondered what on earth the spirit had been up to in his absence, and whether or not the books and comics he had brought him were a bad influence.
"Where did all this stuff come from?" Han Sen sat down and asked him. He had not bought most of the stuff that was there now.
"Lin He bought them for me. He seemed willing to buy whatever I mentioned. I must tell you, humans are cool. I like you guys a lot, yo." Xie Qing King performed another gesture. Han Sen assumed it was one in praise of humans, but he couldn't be entirely sure.
Han Sen then thought to himself, "Is it any surprise, with your crazy fists? What idiot would deny your requests, eh?"
"Listen up, bruh. I need to go to the human world, you hear me? I gotta' go, you know? I want to fly an aircraft, pilot a warframe, and start shooting rockets out of cannons, fool!" Han Sen had never seen Xie Qing King so enthusiastic before.
"Holy crap; what have we done? I only gave him romance comics." Han Sen looked at the comic he was holding, and he was surprised.
It was the latest issue of Guts, Guns, and Warframes. Much of it was about war and heroes making use of high-explosive devices. Han Sen would have never bought a comic like that for him.
When Xie Qing King finished the material Han Sen had given him, others must have brought him the rest. And in Han Sen's absence, Xie Qing King became this... monstrosity that was now before him.
Fortunately, the comics of the Alliance were all about heroic humans committing deeds of good. The heroes usually triumphed over evil, even if they did use a variety of high-tech weaponry along the way. The last thing Han Sen wanted was for Xie Qing King to be influenced into becoming some cackling, cliche villain.
Still, his new style was embarrassing. Han Sen had no idea where such a clash of styles could come from, and all Han Sen could do was shake his head and cringe.
"My Emperor, is it time we exact our revenge on Holy-Sword Emperor?" Han Sen encouraged him.
"H*ll yeah. We need to go f*ck that punk up, yo. Those who diss me gon' get their lids peeled, bruh." Xie Qing King flipped a bird to the high heavens.
Han Sen was cringing until his teeth ground, but he couldn't help be a little interested in what Xie Qing King had read, to prompt such a large change in dress style and dialogue.
"Oh, and one more thing, kid. Don't you be calling me an emperor anymore, you feel me? The word 'emperor' is too high-class, and we be needing something from the streets. Call me Brother King, you got it?" Xie Qing King put on a baseball cap and turned it back, then he slinked his way over towards the exit of the shelter.
"Sure... whatever you want..." Han Sen's lips twitched.
Although Xie Qing King was strange, at least he still wanted his revenge on Holy-Sword Emperor. With his power still there, and his friendliness towards humans still intact, that's all that really mattered.
Thankfully, he hadn't been inspired by reading material that would prompt a desire for world peace. The last thing he wanted was Xie Qing King reading about the virtues of Gandhi.
"I need to talk with Lin Weiwei about the do's and don'ts of what to give this guy," Han Sen thought to himself.
Han Sen and Xie Qing King set off towards Holy-Sword Shelter. There was not much need to prepare, as there would only be two super creatures and one king spirit there. It would be an easy fight.
Chapter 1069: The Conquest of Holy-Sword Shelter
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Inside Holy-Sword Shelter, Holy-Sword Emperor's face was green. The other spirits there were all in fear.
Han Sen and Xie Qing King were not sneaky in their approach of the shelter. Fearlessly, they waltzed before its gate. Before they had come, though, they had made stops at twelve of Holy-Sword Emperor's other shelters, including Sword-Palace Shelter. They were each claimed, resulting in the destruction of Holy-Sword Emperor's son's spirit stone, too.
Holy-Sword Emperor knew they were a force to be reckoned with, so his first idea was to run. But with his spirit stone embedded in his shelter, he knew fleeing would be futile.
"Xie Qing King, I won't forgive you for this!" Holy-Sword Emperor exclaimed, before running towards his treasury.
He opened the vault, and with great care, opened a certain metal box that was within. He picked something up, his expression emotional and complex.
Han Sen was a little disheartened. Initially, he had only wanted to come straight to this shelter, so he could slay Holy-Sword Emperor and be done with the primary local threat.
But Xie Qing King had told him that to preserve their honor, Han Sen would have to take down all of Holy-Sword Emperor's lesser shelters before tackling the big one.
"Why is he just destroying all the spirit stones? Can't he save some for me?" Han Sen wondered to himself.
Xie Qing King was nabbing all the glory, leaving only the bones for Han Sen to pick through. All he was able to get was the flesh of sacred-blood creatures, and that was only because Xie Qing King did not need or want any himself.
Han Sen swore to never fight with him again, unless it was an emergency. He was too arrogant and selfish, he thought.
If Han Sen was strong enough, he might even have tried to kill him.
As disappointing as all this was, though, he couldn't deny how good it felt. There he was, in the Third God's Sanctuary, steamrolling through a multitude of shelters as if it were no more difficult than a Sunday drive. With no force able to oppose the duo, it felt pretty good.
Bao'er had also accompanied Han Sen, and she was sitting upon his shoulder. In her hands, she played with the bird-fish thing.
Now, they were marching directly before Holy-Sword Shelter. Standing before its gates, Xie Qing King yelled, "Hey, yo! I am the Super Emperor, and I am the one who knocks... because I'm polite. Of course, if you keep this gate shut, I'll just have to tear the gate down. It's in the way of me killing you. That being said, if you'd like to concede, you may."
If there was anyone else around, Han Sen would pretend he did not know him.
Xie Qing King was obviously having fun, though. He made another strange gesture and said, "I'm-a give you fifteen minutes to decide, punk. If you want mercy, you better get out here."
Han Sen spent that time observing the shelter that was before him. He couldn't help but admire the grandeur of the place. It was a massive walled city. But it was disturbingly quiet. There was no noise coming from beyond the gate, and there seemed to be no creatures manning the ramparts or watchtowers.
Han Sen used his Dongxuan Aura to scan the area, and that was when he saw Holy-Sword Emperor, standing above the gate.
A hundred-meter-tall creature stood behind the king spirit.
In the sky, there was an ape flying around with bat wings. It was like a creature risen from the pits of hell. Or Oz.
"Xie Qing King, we are both king spirits here. There is no need to take things to such extremes," Holy-Sword Emperor began a speech.
Although Han Sen's golden raven was strong, he wasn't entirely sure it'd be enough to take on Holy-Sword Emperor or his pets.
He couldn't kill a fully-healed Xie Qing King, either.
In response to Holy-Sword Emperor, Xie Qing King immediately said, "Cut the crap, fool! You either fight me like a man or get down on your knees."
"Fine. But let it be on your head." Holy-Sword Emperor started his signature move. A thousand swords rose from his hands, and he sent them all flying down towards Xie Qing King.
Xie Qing King then said, "That old chestnut? Oh, please!"
Xie Qing King threw a punch and generated a shockwave that knocked all the swords away. The entire skill was canceled by that single throw of a fist.
Roar! The hundred-meter-tall beast leaped down towards Xie Qing King and Han Sen.
In that creature's mouth, Han Sen saw something swirl. It was like a blood-red sea. If he was sucked into that vortex, he didn't fancy his chances of survival very much.
Han Sen received Brother Seven's information, so he already knew what to expect from the two super creatures of the shelter.
"Then we fight to our deaths, I take it?" Xie Qing King leaped into the sky with a silver light and threw a punch towards the super creature before him.
The hit landed, and it sent the super creature reeling backwards in agony. As it suffered the power of that blow, it screamed in pain. Still, it tried to use its talons to grab Xie Qing King's head.
Xie Qing King threw an uppercut towards the incoming talons, eliminating its advance and giving the monster very sore fingers. The punch was stronger than the monster's attack had been, and the additional force sent the creature flying away.
The other super creature swooped down with its bat wings to attack Xie Qing King, but it was a futile attack. Xie Qing King was so fast, he even had the time to reapply gel on his hair.
Seeing this, Han Sen felt another stabbing cringe. Xie Qing King was now like a slut, reapplying makeup and pushing up her boobs before meeting new clientele.
Xie Qing King knocked away the airborne monkey, and with the coast clear, Han Sen took off running to get Holy-Sword Emperor's spirit stone.
Holy-Sword Emperor saw this, and so he quickly fired his swords Han Sen's way.
Han Sen transformed into a black raven. He was enveloped in a raging fire, which accelerated his pace. He effortlessly evaded the barrage of swords that were coming for him.
All the swords were broken and burnt. They smoldered and melted inside the ruthless flames that were left in Han Sen's wake.
"You took advantage of my injuries the last time we met, human. Do you think you can defeat me this time?" Holy-Sword Emperor looked enraged, and he drew out a single, menacing greatsword.