Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 150

Chapter 150: Armadominus

Yuan Manqiu’s teeth started to ache from gritting. There were many redundancy and loopholes in Li Yao’s deduction. Various modern algorithms would hardly stump her, but [A Theory of Blue Flame] from forty millenniums ago?

What was that!?

What in the bloody hell was that!?

Yuan Manqiu forced a cough and suddenly patted on Li Yao’s shoulder heavily with wide-opened eyes.

This pat seemed to have dispelled all of Li Yao’s ideas.

“The deduction process is nothing. The most important thing right now is your future development rather than the crafting furnace!”

“Your potential is completely beyond my imagination, so I have decided to turn you into a top tier refiner in one year. The training is going to be very difficult, very painful, and even brutal, are you confident?”

Li Yao turned excited and courageous from Yuan Manqiu’s raving as he loudly replied with his head high and chest out: “Yes, I am confident! The more brutal, the better!”

Having been stirred like this, Li Yao forgot all the problems he had been pondering over a moment ago.

Yuan Manqiu nodded with satisfaction and said, “Very good! First, we have to decide which direction you want to proceed in!”

Refining contained and covered everything; it was a comprehensive subject which was extensive and profound.

There was a wide range of magical equipment, ranging from civilian to military, the smallest of which could be the size of a mustard seed, while the largest could be even bigger than an entire city.

Obviously, refining military equipment like the Burning Sky Battleaxe and civilian equipment like the Super-Fast Crystal Train didn’t have the same approach.

Even among the military equipment, the Burning Sky Battleaxe and the Thunderfire Boltgun were one thing, and huge crystal battle cruisers were another; they had a completely different type of refining concept.

So, the refiners were also divided into many branches. No matter how monstrous of a genius one was, it would still be impossible for him to cover everything.

Li Yao had long carefully pondered over the future. He resolutely and decisively said, “I hope to master the refining techniques of individual magical equipment and become a weapon expert. If possible, a crystal suit master refiner.”

The crystal suit was the king of modern magical equipment; it was a magical equipment among magical equipment. A refiner who could develop and refine a crystal suit was also a terrifying figure among all refiners.

In the world of cultivation, there was a special term for crystal suit master refiners!

Armadominus!

All cultivators, before they leave to mingle in the cultivation world, are repeatedly warned by their elders that they could provoke anyone they want, but they could never provoke an Armadominus!

The battle strength of an Armadominus was not that high, but the forces backing him were absolutely powerful. Countless powerful experts, in order to receive a customized crystal suit, would be more than willing to work for an Armadominus.

Even the lowest level Armadominus, as long as he made as much as a cough, could gather over a hundred Refinement Stage cultivators in a moment.

Even more so, a senior Armadominus who could specifically craft high-rank crystal suits was acquainted with world heroes. Which powerful sect have they not visited? Which Nascent Soul Stage old devil have they not chatted with? Contacts, forces, friendships—one could not even imagine how many extraordinary cultivators they were acquainted with!

“Do you want to become an Armadominus?”

It was not that easy to become an Armadominus.

Among a hundred refiners, at most seven or eight could become a registered refiner.

And among those hundred registered refiners, even three to five Armodomini were not certain.

Yuan Manqiu’s pair of eyes turned crimson as she said through gritted teeth:

“Very good. Originally, our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department mainly focused on small-scale, battle-type magical equipment. If you want to learn refining crystal battle cruisers, then I’m afraid I would not be able to teach you many things, but if it is a specialty in weapons…”

“In this year, let’s go for broke!”

From that day onwards, Li Yao participated in a new training that was so rigorous that one could even say it was more brutal than Spartan training, so brutal that it could only be called insane.

Yuan Manqiu’s teaching style was very peculiar.

She had disassembled all the high-level courses and fused them with the modification of the 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace so that Li Yao would propose a new modifying plan in accordance with what he had learned recently every day.

All the modification plans were done by Li Yao and Li Yao alone; she did intervene at all. At most, she would give remarks after the completion of a plan.

And even if the modification plan looked “completely perfect”, Yuan Manqiu, rather than letting Li Yao perform the modification, would instill him with more knowledge that was even more profound and more abstruse than the previous.

In this way, after Li Yao had learned a new course, whenever he turned around and looked back, he would always feel that the modification plan he had devised a few days back was seriously lacking; he would find many places where he could perfect the plan even more.

“A crafting furnace is the foundation of a refiner. A brilliant refiner has to be well aware of even the slightest bit of change in any of the performance parameters of his furnace. Only then can he craft the perfect magical equipment.”

“The modification of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace is a special test for you. Don’t be impatient! When you have learned everything and utilize all that you’ve learned to modify it, then you will see what kind of monster you have actually modified in the end!”

At the beginning, Li Yao was still scratching his ears and cheeks in anxiousness and could not wait to finish the modification of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace and start refining as soon as possible.

However, as he kept on learning high-level courses like [Glyph and Array Laws], [Theory of Augur], [High-Level Spiritual Energy Entanglement], and [Deduction of Algorithms], he gradually calmed down.

Because he discovered that with every day that passed in reality, during which he would painstakingly study in the Heavenly Refining Tower for several days, one or two powerful weapons would be added to his “armory” and the modification of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace would be even more imaginative and perverse.

Meanwhile, Yuan Manqiu, without missing a beat, would entice in his ears—”Next week when you have finished learning so and so course, you can increase the overall performance of crafting performance by 1%, which will allow you to refine even more powerful magical equipment in the future!”

And when the “next week” arrived, Li Yao would instead discover that he had finished learning a couple of new courses and was proficient in several new algorithms, making it completely possible for him to devise even more maddening modification plan which could increase the overall performance of the crafting furnace by 3%!

Just like this, day by day, time passed. He had already devised a couple hundred sets of modification plans for the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace, each of which was more excessive and fiercer than the one before.

Under the latest modification plans he had devised, one would not even be able to recognize even a shadow of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace—it would have completely changed into an incomparably deformed steel monster!

Another one and a half month had gone by.

Gradually, a small ripple started surging in the calm heart of Li Yao.

He discovered that he had unconsciously walked into a bottleneck.

With the help of the Heavenly Refining Tower, he had several times more learning time than any ordinary student. In addition to that, he could enter the super perceptive state at the drop of a hat; even in his day-to-day life, any messy problem, under the super perceptive state, could be solved like a hot knife cutting through butter.

In a period of two months, he had finished walking the road which any ordinary student could not necessarily finish even in two or three years.

But the problem was that the credits he had obtained were truly too little.

According to the teaching philosophy of the Grand Desolate War Institution, the specialized courses of a respective department were by no means the main channels for acquiring credits.

The Refining Department was only left with one associate professor, Yuan Manqiu, and she only could be proficient in so many domains of refining, thus the specialized courses she could set up were limited.

Not to mention the fact that refining was extensive and profound, and it became more and more difficult to move forward. Many high-level courses contained telepathic thoughts which were as vast as the sea, thus it was impossible to completely master a high-level course in one and a half day like the basic theory courses.

Over these two months, Li Yao had acquired 3,400 credits in one deep breath. His nickname had already changed to “Sleeping Devil” from “God of Sleeping”.

In the opinion of the onlookers, he was an out-and-out training madman.

But the goal of 40,000 credits was still very, very far away.

If you want to become rich, you have to take the risky road!

If he wanted to take down 40,000 credits, the conventional means were far from enough.

Currently, there were three paths laid in front of Li Yao.

Either he could log into the Wasteland Battle Network and receive some task, fight in the arena, or take the specialized courses of other departments!

However, after careful consideration, he discovered that all three roads seemed to have terrible flaws.

Take the mission for example

In the institute, there were very few tasks for a refiner. Even if some department, in order to take care of him, specially issued some maintenance task, its difficulty would also be very low, so he could at most receive a few credits, which was simply a waste of time.

Li Yao could also not say they were being stingy, as the tasks were like repairing boiler-like equipment, so how could they even give him over a hundred credits in one deep breath?

Whereas, a true highly rewarding task was like going into the depths of the Wasteland and hunting demon beasts.

And if he wanted to receive these kinds of missions, he would need to have a minimum of 10,000 credits or even higher.

The more dangerous the mission was, the higher the stipulated amount of credits were.

After all, the institute had to consider the safety of its students. If a low-ranked student rushed into the depths of wasteland, there was a high chance that most would die.

A shrimp like Li Yao, who did not even have 5,000 credits, could only receive some beginner level hunting missions in the vicinity of Wild Waves City.

He had once given it a try, during which he had to spend an entire three hours under the sun to desperately catch a Shovel-Tooth Rabbit which had been biting people.

In the end, he had plucked off its front teeth, as it was the favorite pet of a little girl—you could imagine how many credits could it be exchanged for!

“If it is going to be like this!”

“You are completely forcing me!”

“I can only go and—”

“Fight! In! The! Arena!”

Having firmed his mind, Li Yao took a trip to the arena.

But when he found the 7th-8th level Refinement Stage super macho robust students coming and going on the arena ring with a momentum that could move the mountains and shake the earth, touching his nose, he dejectedly withdrew.

What a joke!

He was a gentleman and was only a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator who majored in refining. Fighting was only a hobby. Even if he took 3,000-5,000 pounds of stimulants, he would still not be able to withstand the wanton bombings of those hunks!

He was only left with choosing the road of specialized courses.

Li Yao thought rather happily. Even Ding Lingdang had said that he had a talent for fighting, so wouldn’t taking a couple Combat Department’s courses be the same as playing?

But after carefully researching, he discovered that he had to actually pay more than double the credits to take the specialized courses of other departments!

For example, if a Combat Department student wanted to register for the course [Rolling Thunder Nine Transformations], he only needed to pay 90 credits, and once he had finished learning, he would earn 360 credits.

However, if Li Yao, a student of the Refining Department, wanted to register for the very same course, he would have to pay 180 credits!

And this was not even a popular course.

If it was a very popular course, the students of the Combat Department would all rush to the higher authorities, asking for the students from the other departments to have to pay a higher number of credits to learn and to receive fewer credits when they passed.

Furthermore, Li Yao had heard that many professors of the Combat Department had a cruel and heartless temperament; they could all kill without spilling blood and fail them without even batting an eye. Each and every one of them had a title like “Fail Master”, “Fail King”, “Fail Reverend”, “Fail Emperor”, and “Fail God!”

It was very normal for 70% of the students to fail a specialized course of the Combat Department.

“These days, one really can’t do anything!”

Over the past few days, Li Yao had not slept soundly, thus his eyes were bloodshot. As he walked in the campus, everyone and everything looked like credits to him.

At this moment—

“Come to my house tonight, I have a ‘good thing’ for you to see!”

A glittering message dancingly appeared in the center of his holographic screen.

In the sender’s image box of the message, Ding Lingdang, with arms akimbo, revealing half of her wheat colored belly, smiled very arrogantly.

Chapter 151: Building Foundation Egg

18:00, Bamboo Rain Pavilion

The Grand Desolate War Institution had a wide-range of staff, as well as many residential areas for the staff scattered all over Wild Waves City.

At the beginning, Li Yao believed that Ding Lingdang, a new professor, would be residing in the dormitory; however, the Bamboo Rain Pavilion’s environment was too good and only a senior professor would have the qualifications to reside in such an extravagant area.

The entire Bamboo Rain Pavilion was extensively covered in restrictive spells, and in addition to those restrictive spells, the weather array glyphs formed a unique microclimate.

As Li Yao stepped into the Bamboo Rain Pavilion, he felt a humid wind blowing on his face as a calm sea of bamboo came into view while a continuous drizzle poured down from the sky.

Scattered in between the bamboo forest were a couple quaint villas. As Li Yao attentively gazed upon one of them, a white light suddenly bloomed before his eyes as a burst of a faint tingle appeared in his brain.

The villas were surrounded by restrictive spells to prevent others from casually spying on them.

Li Yao dared not to act rashly again and honestly walked towards Ding Lingdang’s residence.

The two had not seen each other since Floating Spear City.

Ding Lingdang said that she had a premonition that she was about to breakthrough, so she asked for a leave and went to the depths of the Wasteland to cultivate.

“Has she successfully built her foundation?”

Li Yao felt a burst of joy in his heart as he sped up his footsteps.

In a short while, a small two-story villa next to a hillside appeared amidst the sea of bamboos.

From outside, the villa looked as though it had been completely built from bamboo which had lost its luster and faded away over the long passage of time, integrating completely with the surroundings, giving off an appearance as though it was naturally formed.

“Hiss!”

Right when Li Yao crossed a bamboo fence surrounding the villa, a Seven Star Silver-Ringed Horned Snake suddenly sprang out from the bamboo leaves in the surroundings and wrapped itself around his neck.

Li Yao was caught off guard; his entire body seemed to be petrified.

A Seven Star Silver-Ring Horned Snake was not a powerful demon beast at all and did not have any demonic skill that could conceal its aura.

At any rate, he was a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator, so why didn’t he sense it a moment ago?

Contrary to expectations, the Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake didn’t launch an attack and just used its glossy and green pair of eyes to scan his face.

Li Yao kept on gazing at the Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake before his eyes suddenly become transfixed.

The gaps between the scales of the Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake were flashing with a faint metal gloss, and its pair of eyes were crafted from crystals.

To Li Yao’s surprise, it was a non-living being; it was a special magical equipment that had been refined through the fusion of flesh and blood of an actual Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake with heaven and earth treasures!

“Good gracious!”

Li Yao was secretly rendered speechless.

It was very common to use the flesh of demon beasts to refine with heaven and earth material, but for the refined magical equipment to come out so vividly and lifelike, seemingly filled with life and color, it was truly unfathomable!

“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!”

The Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake flicked its tongue, which was as soft as a real tongue, as it started licking Li Yao’s face.

Li Yao’s pupil suddenly constricted.

He discovered that its forked tongue was actually made from countless sheets of Gold Stone that were connected in series.

Gold Stone was an extremely rare material which possessed the characteristics of both metal and stone and thus has high rigidity and low tensile strength. With the slightest mistake, it could very well be broken; it was a material which is very difficult to process, thus a vast majority of refiners would be reluctant to make use of this heaven and earth material.

The Gold Stone was dissected and cut into tens of thousands of 0.1 mm thin slices, thereafter holes were cut open before they were connected in series. Furthermore, they also had array glyphs engraved upon them so that it was as flexible as the forked tongue of a real snake…

“Unfathomable! The person who refined this piece of magical equipment truly had unfathomable skill!”

“Who the hell actually refined this Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake? He is definitely a peerless master refiner!”

The Seven Star Silver Ring Horned Snake slithered on Li Yao’s neck for while before it lightly sprang back into the bamboo leaves and disappeared.

Meanwhile, from the birdcage at the top of the porch rang a sweet and melodious twirp:

“Li Yao, come in! Li Yao, come in!”

The door opened as it made a “squeak” sound before a rainbow flew out from the birdcage and circled around Li Yao’s head, giving him directions.

Having swept a glance, Li Yao discovered that it was a rainbow-colored, gorgeous parrot, and just like before, it too was a fusion of flesh and blood of a demon beast with heaven and earth treasures.

At first glance, one could simply not tell the difference between it and a living being.

Li Yao was simply flabbergasted. The two magical equipment’s refining style was completely different than with that of grassroots; they were simply exquisite and extravagant, meticulous and time-consuming, and they could be even called a work of art. They were definitely worth a couple of towns together, and yet, much to Li Yao’s surprise, they were actually used for guarding and welcoming guests!

“What exactly is Ding Lingdang’s background? Is her family that rich?”

Li Yao muttered for a while before he walked in with large strides.

Contrary to his expectations, the decor within the villa was very modern; it was simple and concise, with a fierce and masculine feeling.

It was as though a few chairs and tables were casually thrown inside a cultivation gym, while the rest of the space was completely packed with training equipment of all shapes and sizes. It was the complete opposite of its natural and ancient feeling that was present on the outside.

When Li Yao stepped into the living room, he had been shaken to the core by the entire wall opposite to the door.

Over a hundred heads of demon beasts which were baring their teeth and looked extremely fierce, revealing their most brutal side, were helplessly hung on the wall and were reduced to nothing but decorations.

Under the head of each demon beast, there was also an engraving in small characters.

“Flintstone Demon, hunted in Wildfire Mountain Range, blasted its heart in three punches!”

“Herculean Bear Devil, hunted in Wailing Caverns, took 47 seconds!”

“This is ridiculous!”

Li Yao wryly smiled. Anyhow, Ding Lingdang was still a young lady in her early twenties, so how could she hang these kinds of things? Not only that, but she had also casually written the hunting process. Did she fear that others would not know how incomparably mighty and fierce she was?

“Sister Ling, I’m here!”

Li Yao walked in, following the sounds coming from the corner of the living room.

Ding Lingdang had just returned from the depths of the wasteland. Clearly, she was not someone who would clean the house, as the clothes she had worn when she went to the Wasteland were thrown here and there, making quite a mess. Li Yao was extremely embarrassed to see a couple of undergarments casually lying around on the floor.

The air was filled with a faint sweaty smell; however, it was not unpleasant at all, rather a bit strange.

“Oh, you’re here? Come, eat with me!”

Dressed in a crop top and small shorts, Ding Lingdang sat on the ground very aggressively with her slim and slender legs apart. Placed in front of her was a few dozen high-energy foods which a normal girl would not even dare to look at. While she ate, she was watching a battle video that was shot in first-person view with great interest.

The video was shot by a cultivator wearing a recording magical equipment on his forehead when he was hunting a demon beast in the depths of the Wasteland. It was especially stimulating, giving the viewer a feeling as though it was happening to him.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The cultivator in the video was incomparably brutal; the brain of a charming and delicate iron armored warthog beast was splattered all over the ground as it breathed out its final breath.

Having cheered to her heart’s content, Ding Lingdang grabbed a piece of mutton chop and stuffed it into her mouth, whereupon she wiped her greasy hands on her ass before she pulled Li Yao.

“Quickly sit down! First, do not move the chopsticks. Tell me, do I look any different!?”

If it was an ordinary girl who had asked a boy this question, the boy would just answer: “Hey, have you done your hair? What did you do? You look truly beautiful!”

That was normally the correct answer.

However, when such a question came from Ding Lingdang, Li Yao immediately understood—

“Have you established your foundation?”

“Hahaha, that’s right! Tell me, quickly, on a scale of one to ten, how cool does sister look?”

Ding Lingdang unscrupulously started laughing to the point that her eyes had gone white, and of course, her mouth was wide open. She had laughed herself into fits, having not even the slightest bit of care for her image.

Along with her laughter, a thick mass of spiritual energy writhed out of her body and gradually surrounded her into a layer of mist which slowly turned into small, gorgeous beads of water, with each glowing in resplendent colors.

“Liquefaction of spiritual energy!”

When Li Yao perceived them with his spiritual roots, it was even more shocking than looking at them with the naked eye. It was as though tens of thousands of colors fiercely shot out from Ding Lingdang and grabbed ahold of his mind in the blink of an eye.

Refinement Stage cultivator had very low control over spiritual energy and could only stimulate spiritual energy, which was why it was called the “refinement of energy” stage.

However, once they could master the ability to liquefy their spiritual energy, they would step onto the Building Foundation Stage, taking a completely new road of evolution!

Ding Lingdang flaunted herself as she executed seven or eight stances one after another. Only then did she withdraw the liquefied spiritual energy back into her body, converging her aura, as she stuck out her tongue and said, “Alright, I can only do this much. I have just established my foundation, so I can not show off often. Otherwise, I would injure my soul. Wait until I have completely consolidated my state, then I will let you study it slowly. Now, come and eat the Foundation Building Egg with me!”

While laughing, she took out a shimmering demon beast egg which had already been cooked. A sweet smell greeted his nose.

“This is a Foundation Building Egg?” Li Yao curiously inspected the demon beast egg.

The ancient cultivation world of forty millenniums ago was not clearly aware of various cultivation laws; cultivators knew many cultivation principles were so, but as for why they were so, they didn’t know

For a Refinement Stage cultivator of the ancient cultivation world to advance to the Building Foundation Stage, besides cultivating madly, they also happened to need heaven-defying luck as well as taking a pill called the “Building Foundation Pill”. Only then could they have any hope to succeed.

The Building Foundation Pill was refined using over a hundred priceless treasures and were tremendously rare. God knows how many time just a small Building Foundation Pill had raised a sanguinary slaughter, bringing forth countless disputes.

It was only during the modern era when civilization had developed, thereby giving birth to various skills and countless synthetic drugs that could help establish the foundation in an endless stream, was there no longer any need for cultivators to go all out for a Building Foundation Pill.

However, the importance of the Building Foundation Pill was still carried down from ancient times, evolving into a very interesting custom.

After a cultivator had established his foundation, he must personally go to seek out a demon beast egg in order to cook and eat it.

This egg was called “Foundation Building Egg” and signified that cultivators had not forgotten the tradition at all.

Moreover, not just any egg given by a demon beast could become a Foundation Building Egg. For it to become a Foundation Building Egg, it was better to have its color as close to gold as possible after it was cooked.

A golden egg was synonymous to the golden core and it was also a blessing, signifying that after eating this “golden egg”, you could smoothly march all the way to the Core Formation Stage and become a Golden Core powerhouse.

“Quickly eat it, Sister Ling! May you form the golden core as soon as possible and become unparalleled in the world!”

Li Yao sincerely wished her.

“En!”

With a light tap, Ding Lingdang peeled the Foundation Building Egg. The egg shell was very soft; it was completely peeled as if it was the peel of a fruit.

Whereupon, a round golden bead appeared in her palm.

It was the egg of a Golden-Spotted Finch. The egg shell as well as the albumen(egg white) were both glittering, implying it was extremely good and high-grade among Foundation Building Eggs.

It spread out a faint, delicate fragrance. Ding Lingdang, having taken a deep whiff of the fragrance, had an intoxicated look her face. Opening her mouth, just as she was about to swallow the entire Foundation Building Egg, it seemed as if she thought of something as she pinched a small piece of the wiggling golden albumen and sent it towards Li Yao’s mouth.

“Why?” Li Yao was flabbergasted.

“I want to share a bit with you so that you can also be smeared with this Sister’s divine energy. Maybe you can also form your golden core a little earlier!” Ding Lingdang pursed her lips into a smile.

“How can that be ok? According to the custom, the Foundation Building Egg must be swallowed whole! The golden egg is the golden core. Have you seen anyone cultivate a half golden core?” Li Yao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Stop with all this nonsense! How can just swallowing the golden egg allow you to be able to form a golden core? It’s just symbolic. Besides—”

Suddenly, she took a glance a Li Yao’s left side in surprise.

In a moment of surprise, while Li Yao was distracted, a soft mass was stuffed into his mouth and rolled down his throat as though it was tender tofu.

“Hahaha, fooled you!”

Ding Lingdang stupidly laughed and casually said:

“The road of cultivation is very long. Isn’t one person walking alone lonely and boring? Clearly, isn’t it better to find a few friends and brothers to walk together, with everyone talking and laughing along the way? You address me as sister, so how could I let you call me such in vain? If I have good stuff, then I am certainly going to share it with everyone!”

Li Yao scratched his head; he didn’t know what to say.

Between the two, Ding Lingdang was also endlessly chatting, while he did his part of listening to her attentively.

“Quickly eat and drink to have some energy. Sister will take you to her bedroom and let you thoroughly enjoy a bit!” Ding Lingdang said proudly.

“Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!”

A piece of lamb skewer was stuck in Li Yao’s throat, making him cough to the point that tears were flowing out of his eyes.

Chapter 152: You Are a Glass Jaw

The word “enjoy” had ambiguous meanings; there were many things in the world which could be enjoyed.

However, usually, there was only one thing which could be enjoyed in a girl’s bedroom.

But…

Li Yao swept a glance at the over a hundred demon beast heads hanging on the wall.

Among which were a couple dozen heads that were deformed, with the cranial bones having been split open; they were miserable to the extreme.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He knew what was waiting for him was definitely not that kind of “enjoyment”.

Sure enough, when he entered Ding Lingdang’s bedroom, which was as simple as any room allocated in the barrack, presented in front of him was impressively a…

“Teleportation array?”

Through the teleportation array in Peng Hai’s private training room, Li Yao had once entered the “Small Grayfield”, where he had trained for a month. Thus, he was no stranger to teleportation arrays.

“That’s right, cool isn’t it!?”

Ding Lingdang pushed Li Yao ahead.

This teleportation array appeared to be a circle smaller than Peng Hai’s teleportation array, allowing no more than two people to stand together and that too very closely.

Ding Lingdang, without the least bit of hesitation, wrapped her arms around Li Yao’s waist.

“Hey, not bad! You have trained your muscles well, and your waist is quite firm! I thought that after joining the Refining Department, you would neglect training your body!”

Slightly pinching Li Yao’s waist, Ding Lingdang said with surprise.

Li Yao slightly smiled.

He had not deliberately trained his body at all. However, as there were many wrecked magical equipment that were hundreds of thousands of pounds heavy in the rubble…

In particular, the wrecked crafting furnaces, which had multitudes of components that weighed a few tons and perhaps even a couple dozen tons…

And since there weren’t any lifting or transporting magical equipment in the Refining Department, he alone had to carry all the wreckage over his shoulders or drag them along by force.

Every day, he had to carry several tons of wrecked magical equipment and run his way through the rugged ruins, making three to five trips at minimum and a dozen drips at most

He even carried furnaces that were several meters tall over his shoulders in one breath, soaring to a speed that was about 100 meters per second.

Over time, his body became incomparably robust and sturdy.

“Didn’t I say that you are a natural-born body practitioner? Even if you chose refining, you should never neglect training your body. The body is the foundation. A strong body will, in turn, stimulate your brain cells, develop your brain, and grow your soul, making it very easy for you to train in anything.”

Just as her voice faded away, a blue light flashed around the teleportation formation.

Everything went black before Li Yao’s eyes before he appeared in a completely new world.

His body was suddenly hit with sluggishness as a huge pressure weighed down upon him from all directions and a large amount of dense liquid gushed into his nasal cavity. He was surrounded by darkness and calmness, one that was akin to that of an abyss, which was spotted by a few swimming fish.

This was the other end of the teleportation formation which, to his surprise, was under a quaint sea!

Li Yao eyes were opened wide. He discovered that there was a faint brilliance above his head and Ding Lingdang, who was in front of him and happened to have her slim and slender leg close together like a robust mermaid.

He followed behind Ding Lingdang, moving his hands and feet forcefully as he strugglingly swam his way towards the sea surface.

This sea was very odd. As the density of the sea water was extremely high, Li Yao felt as though he was a fly that had been stuck in amber; no matter how he struggled, he could not escape.

Fortunately, it was not empty underwater; many flight stair-like ruins were also present and could be used as support.

Even if cultivators could hold their breath for a long time, after strenuous movements for five minutes, Li Yao was almost out of air as stars started revolving before his eyes.

“Gasp…”

Finally, Li Yao’s head broke through the surface as he gasped for a mouthful of air which carried a fishy smell along with it.

Ding Lingdang too emerged next to him while also carrying a small, glittering, transparent crab on top of her head.

Having beaten her cheeks, an arrow of water shot out before she said with a smile:

“This is a world fragment called the ‘Billowing Star Sea’. The density of the sea here is five times that of the Heaven Origin Sector and there are also invisible undercurrents which, for cultivation, is even better than the ‘Small Grayfield’. Did you enjoy it?!”

“Indeed!”

Li Yao heaved a long sigh of relief. His entire body happened to be exhausted to the extreme, yet his spirit was very excited.

This world fragment, the Billowing Star Sea, was even more dangerous than the Small Grayfield!

Not only was the density of the seawater higher, making it strenuous to move under the sea, but there were also invisible undercurrents, which required him to unleash more than 100% of his effort and only they could he deal with it.

Had he not been running amidst the rubble carrying several tons weighing equipment every day, thereby training an extremely tyrannical body, he would have simply been unable to adhere even for a moment here!

If he could train in the Billowing Star Sea often, his body would definitely become even more terrifying, allowing him to carry even more wrecked magical equipment at once, thereby greatly increasing his efficiency in repairing and modifications.

Upon noticing Li Yao’s fascination, a smile bloomed upon Ding Lingdang’s face: “Since even you say it is good, then I also don’t have to feel sad. For this world fragment, I had spent an entire 500 million, and yet I only have the right to use it for a decade!”

“500 million? Are you that rich?” Li Yao was surprised.

Ding Lingdang pursed her lips:

“If only so! This is all in installments, and even for the down payment, I had to rely on the Young Teacher’s Support Plan of the institute to borrow an interest-free loan. Even then, I have to pay 60-70 million annually!”

She swam to Li Yao’s side as her face brighten up with joy: “As long as I can improve my strength, what does some money count for? Let alone 60-70 million, even 300-500 million can be earned in one trip to the depths of the Wasteland by hunting a few demon beasts. What is there to be afraid of!?”

“I guess that’s right. Without high investment, how can one have high returns? When I have the money, I am going to buy two world fragments—one for training and I will turn the other into a private refining room!”

Li Yao indulged in flights of fantasies.

Ding Lingdang laughed, revealing her snow-white teeth: “For the refining room, you have to depend on yourself, but as for training, you can train here with me!”

“What?”

Li Yao was a little muddle-headed. The Billowing Star Sea, which was worth a couple hundred million, was open to him for free?

Ding Lingdang nodded. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, “Li Yao, don’t you blame me?”

“Blame you for what?” Li Yao had been surprised once again for a moment.

Due to the high density of Billowing Star Sea, Ding Lingdang freely floated above the surface, gazing at the writhing dark clouds in the sky as she said in a solemn tone, “Your dream is to become a master refiner. The Deep Sea University’s Refining Department was the best place for you to go, yet because of me, you had chosen the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.”

“And the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department has now turned into this.”

“After thinking about it carefully, had it not been for me, you would already be in Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, triumphantly advancing towards your dream, instead of falling so low that you don’t even have a crafting furnace.”

“Even if you don’t blame me, I still feel a little sorry for you. That’s why I am lending the Billowing Star Sea to you to train. Think of it as a small compensation to you.”

Ding Lingdang had a dispirited look hung all over her face as she grabbed the small, transparent crab on top of her head and threw it far away dishearteningly.

A smiled appeared on Li Yao’s face.

Gazing at the dark clouds in the sky as they took various shapes due to the fierce winds, he unhurriedly said, “Aren’t I still triumphantly advancing towards my dream? Moreover, very soon, I will have a crafting furnace—a unique crafting furnace.”

“Do you truly not blame me?”

“Of course, I don’t blame you. I have elected this road on my own and it is very good. Whether it some Deep Sea University’s Refining Department or some Supernova Jiang Sheng, one day, they will be blasted away by me!”

“Hahaha, now that’s some ambition! Supernova Jiang Sheng, huh? When you are going to blow him away, just give me a message. I will help you punch him!”

As though a heavy burden had been lifted off of Ding Lingdang’s shoulder, her entire body was a lot more at ease as she quickly started swimming around Li Yao.

“Right.”

Li Yao suddenly thought of something: “Sister Ling, if I want to keep the Refining Department, I need to gather 40,000 credits within one year, which is a little troublesome. In the past, you had taken two years to acquire 40,000 credits and Senior Brother Peng had taken only one and a half year to do so. Do the two of you have some sort of secret method?”

Ding Lingdang thought for a while before she said with a frown, “Senior Brother Peng and I were both students of the Combat Department, so we had many high credits specialized courses to choose from.”

“I did it almost the same way as him. For the first year, I madly studied the specialized courses for one year and first gathered 10,000 credits.”

“The first 10,000 credits are the most crucial. Once you have reached 10,000 credits, you can choose high-difficulty missions and go to the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts.”

“If you are lucky and hunt a powerful demon beast, you will have the opportunity to receive a couple thousand credits, and even over ten thousand credits is quite possible!”

“With the completion of three to five high-difficulty missions, you will have then acquired 40,000 credits.”

Li Yao was absorbed in his thoughts: “So I have to do everything possible to obtain 10,000 credits first?”

“That’s right. The first 10,000 credits are most important. Once you have 10,000 credits in hand, as long as you are strong enough and your luck is good, then you can acquire the later credits very quickly.”

Ding Lingdang patted Li Yao’s shoulder as she laughed and said, “Don’t be anxious. We will slowly think of some way. In any case, there is more than one way to do the same thing, so for now, you should first cultivate in the Billowing Star Sea. I’m afraid that even if you want to go the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts, without a powerful body, it would be no good.”

Li Yao nodded.

Even if he joined a team as a support with the identity of a refiner, his battle strength would still be too inferior.

And in case that he held back the team, then no one would be willing to team up with him next time.

“Alright, you train here for a while first. This is a Repelling Water Bead. When you are truly out of the air, you can infuse it with your spiritual energy to stimulate it and that will allow you repel the invasion of seawater. In the meantime, I will go and post a mission. Once I am finished, I will accompany you after I return.”

Ding Lingdang, while speaking, dived under the sea.

Li Yao happened to have sharp ears. When he heard the word “mission”, his eyes suddenly turned red as he hastily stopped her: “Wait, what kind of mission are you going to post?”

“I have just established my foundation. Although my level has improved, I am still not quite well-versed with the use of various abilities. I have just learned a few really overbearing exercises, so I need to temper myself, and for that, I need a training partner who will help me consolidate my level!”

“How many credits?”

Having heard the two words “training partner”, Li Yao’s eyes lit up.

In the Militant Wolf Slayers cultivation gym of the underground ghost city, he was once a training partner of Fiend Blade Peng Hai.

This was his old line of work!

“The credits are rather high. For every minute, I will pay 10 credits to whoever can bear indiscriminate bombing; however, I have high requirements for the training partner, so it would not be so easy to find him.”

Ding Lingdang said with a frown. She had been upset over this very matter. Finding a good training partner was even harder than finding a good husband.

“10 credits for every 10 minutes?”

Li Yao’s excitement had reached the zenith to the point that flames were shooting out his nose. Having stretched out half his body out of the seawater, he took a beautiful pose to flex his muscles: “Sister Ling, how about me? I can take a beating! Even Senior Brother Peng wasn’t able to knock me down!”

“You?”

Ding Lingdang could not hold back her laughter as she poked him with her slender fingers, pushing Li Yao pack into the sea.

“Don’t be conceited. Do you think a task where you can earn 10 credits for one minute is that simple? Senior Brother Peng could not knock you down because he was just using 5% of his strength.”

“My training partner, on the other hand, has to face of an indiscriminate bombing of at least 80% of my power. To put it bluntly, you are simply…”

“Too weak?” Li Yao unwillingly said.

“Not too weak—you are a glass jaw!”

Chapter 153: Falcon King Soaring Into the Sky in One Leap

“Glass? Jaw?”

“Hei hei!” Li Yao happened to be laughing mischievously as a mysterious look crept over his face: “Sister Ling, guess what level I am currently at.”

Ding Lingdang swept a couple of glances over him before she casually said, “At the temporary station when you had just awakened your spirit roots, you had beaten the sh*t out of a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator, so your talent is pretty good. If I have to guess, then after madly cultivating for these few months, you must have advanced by another level, so you are now in the 2nd level of Refinement Stage, right?”

“Nope!”

Just as his voice faded away, she suddenly came to notice that there was something strange. She stared with wide-open eyes as a sliver of a red glow flickered in the depths of her eyes: “You are in—the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage!”

Ding Lingdang was pleasantly surprised as she ruthlessly clutched Li Yao’s arm: “Awesome! In just the half year I have not seen you, you have broken through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage!”

Li Yao grimaced in pain, yet a smiling look could not remain hidden in the depths of his eyes: “It seems that I have trained well in the [Soul Converging Technique]. Even Sister Ling had been deceived! There is a small island over there, let me show you my strength!”

A few reefs were scattered at the corner of the Billowing Star Sea, the smallest of which was only enough for a foothold, while the largest was 30 to 50 meters in diameter and had jagged rocks of grotesque shapes, much like the jagged teeth of a dog.

Li Yao, who stood barefooted on the sharp reef with his ten toes spread apart and deeply rooted into the rock much like the claws of a falcon, remained completely motionless even under the havoc of the powerful sea breeze.

Taking a deep breath, the glint in Li Yao’s eyes was completely converged as though there were two deep wells, one could not find even the slightest bit of emotions.

Suddenly, squatting down, he stretched both his hands as back as he could as he moved his fingers to take the form of a claw as if he was a falcon—or a vulture—who was ready to soar into the sky!

The eyes of Ding Lingdang, who stood on another reef not too far away, lit up:

“Soul Igniting Law?”

Soul Igniting Law was an extension of the Soul Converging Technique.

The Soul Converging Technique taught the cultivators how to restrain their soul and was an ability to seal the life force of a cultivator.

The Soul Igniting Law, on the other hand, was just the opposite; it was a technique which allowed a cultivator to stimulate their soul to the limit in the blink of an eye, burning their life to their heart’s content, and release an almost inexhaustible amount of light and heat to illuminate the entire universe!

In other words, the Soul Igniting Law taught the cultivators how to—metamorphosize!

Usually, one used the Soul Converging Technique to restrain their soul and lock their life force.

And in a case of an emergency, using the Soul Igniting Law would ignite the fire of life in the blink of an eye, allowing one to have superhuman abilities.

This was the battle mode of a cultivator.

Ding Lingdang was inexplicably excited in her heart; she was simply more excited than when she had just learned a Soul Igniting Law in the past.

And just like the Soul Converging Techniques, the Soul Igniting Laws was a collective name. There were hundreds of prevailing Soul Igniting Laws in the Heaven Origin Sector.

The Soul Igniting Law Li Yao was cultivating was called [Soaring Into Heaven in One Leap]!

The principle of this Soul Igniting Law was to imagine yourself as a falcon imprisoned in iron chains in the depths of a mountain valley.

While the other birds were freely flying in the sky amidst the clouds and playing along with the winds, the falcon which had been locked by iron chains could only stretch its neck and silently look at just a small piece of the sky from the desolate valley.

The iron chains locking it were very tight, deeply embedded into its flesh and blood; the falcon could not flutter its feathers in the least.

Over the years, it remained completely motionless, no more than like a piece of rock. The iron chains seemed to have imprisoned the falcon’s spirit.

Even though it would occasionally watch its kinds sweeping past the sky as they let out cheerful chirps, its eyes seemed to be transfixed, revealing not even the slightest bit of movements within them.

But in secret…

Every second, it was growing!

Every second, it was madly accumulating its power!

Every second, its desire to use its wings to break the stars and suns was soaring to the highest heaven!

Finally, one day, when it had accumulated enough power, the falcon fiercely flapped its wings, breaking the iron chains and blasting the shackles imprisoning it as it let out a sharp cry which resounded throughout the heaven. As it soared into the sky with one flap, raising a hurricane that spanned over tens of thousands of kilometers, it became the king of all falcons.

Soaring into the sky in one leap!

Becoming the king of falcons in one go!

Li Yao’s pair of eyes, which were completely calm and serene like a still, ancient well, suddenly flickered; the look in his eyes that remained dim, in just one tenth of a second, became as sharp as a falcon’s.

A large amount of spiritual energy surged out from his every pore and took the form of feathers; the light-gray feathers, whose edges sketched out gilded edges, gave off an impression of a shocking power slumbering within.

“Cawwww!”

“Cawwww! Cawwww!”

From next to Li Yao came sounds that were as sharp as a falcon’s screeches.

These were the sounds from the sudden expansion of spiritual energy, which produced ripples and friction in the air, leading to sounds like that of a raging storm.

“4th level of the Refinement Stage!”

Ding Lingdang simply couldn’t believe the scene before her eyes. Her pair of pretty eyes flickered with perplexion as she muttered, “Mobilization of energy taking a form, you can actually simulate the beginning step of the creation of heaven and earth! This state can only be possible at the 4th level of the Refinement Stage, yet you can actually do this? How long has it been since you have awakened your spirit roots?”

“Hahahaha!”

Li Yao, who got praises from Ding Lingdang, felt as if he had just eaten honey in his heart. The little image of an expert he had somehow created, in the blink of an eye, was destroyed with his unbridled laughter.

“That’s right, I am in the 4th level of the Refinement Stage. What do you think? Is it enough to fight with you!?”

Over these few months, apart from frantically absorbing the theoretical knowledge in the Heavenly Refining Tower, he would also run left and right amidst the ruins while carrying several tons of wrecked magical equipment. Meanwhile, his computation speed soared to the limit as he drew multiple modification plans.

In addition, he was the only pampered child of the Refining Department, so various resources were left for him to use. Just the crystals he used were ten times of that of any ordinary freshman.

Under such frantic cultivation, he finally broke through to the 4th level of the Refinement Stage three days ago!

“In a few months, you, from an ordinary person, had suddenly turned into a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator—you are even faster than me! My insight is truly good. In just one glance, I had picked a purebred horse like you from the mules!”

Ding Lingdang self-complacently praised herself before once again ridiculing, “However, the fact remains the same. In front of an early stage Building Foundation Stage cultivator, you, a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator, are a glass—jaw!”

“No, don’t you see how cool my form is!?”

Li Yao remained unconvinced. With the shake of his pair of arms, the feathers created out of spiritual energy sparkled.

“What’s the use of a cool form?”

Ding Lingdang disapprovingly said. “The Refinement Stage is altogether divided into 13 levels. From the 1st to the 5th level, it is collectively known as low-level, the 6th to the 10th is intermediate-level, the10th to the 13th level is high-level, and above high-level is peak-stage.”

“In the early-stage of the Refinement Stage, spiritual energy can only be drawn into a virtual form. It just looks good and doesn’t have any battle force. Amidst combat, I can blast your spiritual energy feathers away with just the poke of my finger!”

“Not to mention…”

Ding Lingdang slightly smiled: “In these few months, you have only been studying refining, which has an extremely high requirement for computation ability. Usually, you would have to come in contact with algorithms, theorems, array glyphs, and the likes. You have been cultivating pure spiritual energy, but so what?”

“In the end, a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator like you, strictly speaking, is a 4th level creation-type Refinement Stage cultivator. There is still a certain difference when compared to a battle-type 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator.”

“You are just like Jiang Tao, who you had once beaten. He was a pure creation-type cultivator. Even though he had achieved the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage, wasn’t he still beaten into a pig by you?”

This statement completely calmed Li Yao down.

After having thought about it carefully, he realized Ding Lingdang was right. Over the course of these few months, his computation ability had fiercely increased, enough for him to draw his spiritual energy into a form. A majority of the virtual form he had forcibly stimulated came from relying on his computation ability, which was simply unable to be utilized during combat.

When he thought of this, he could not help but get a bit discouraged and, even more so, a bit unwilling.

If he could act as a good training partner for Ding Lingdang, then he could get 10 credits in one minute, 100 in 10 minutes, and 600 in 1 hour!

Of course, holding on for one hour was just a pipe dream.

During an exchange between experts, life and death were a matter of seconds, even more so with Ding Lingdang, who specialized in killing within seconds. Even a “Herculean Bear Devil” would be unable to stand against her for a minute.

“If I could persevere for three to five minutes, I can have 30-50 credits. Simply practicing twice a day will allow me to have a few thousand credits in a month. If I pass the specialized courses, then just maybe, I will be able to accumulate 10,000 credits by the end of the first semester.”

“This way, I will have a whole semester next year, then I can go to the Wasteland and hunt for the remaining 30,000 credits!”

Having thought of this, Li Yao’s eyes flashed with a sliver of resolution as he stressed each and every word while seriously looking at Ding Lingdang, “Sister Ling, please give me a chance. I want to—”

Even before he could finish, a red light suddenly flashed past his eyes. He felt as though a high-speed crystal train had fiercely crashed into his stomach!

While spewing blood, Li Yao, like a kite with a broken string, flew back and even broke 20-30 reefs before falling flat among the reefs.

For ten seconds, Li Yao’s entire body was paralyzed; he could not move an iota.

And the drilling pain of his stomach felt as though it jolted into his heart like lightning bolt one after another, simulating each and every cell along the nerves; each second felt like a year.

Those 10 seconds… were as hard as ten entire years!

“W-what the hell…”

After 10 seconds, Li Yao barely regained the ability to speak. His voice sounded incomparably hoarse, meanwhile, he felt like he had been hit by a meteor.

Ding Lingdang jumped over in an unhurried and unperturbed manner. Parting her slim and slender legs, she, without the slightest bit of modesty, sat on his stomach.

“Rip!”

Li Yao’s shirt, which was blown into pieces by the impact, was lightly torn away by Ding Lingdang, revealing a distinct fist imprint on his stomach which had flames lingering around it and his skin over his stomach, which was lightly burned.

Ding Lingdang raised her orchid-like fingers and lightly poked upon the fist imprint.

“Hisss—”

Li Yao soon had tears flowing out of his eyes from the pain. He wanted to roll and writhe from pain, but his body remained out of his control; the pain seemed to have turned into invisible shackles, firmly locking his every nerve.

“You see? Just a light punch from me and you have turned into this. How are you even going to spar with me?”

Ding Lingdang’s pursed her lips.

“Didn’t you just blast a punch at me?”

Li Yao felt as though he was waking up from a dream.

Only after a minute did he regain the ability to control his body. His stomach was still in an awful lot of pain, and he felt as if his heart had been entangled inside thorns, where every beat of his heart was torture to him.

Ding Lingdang stretched out her jade-like finger and lightly shook it:

“Wrong, please don’t use the word ‘blast’. At least, only when I have used 90% of my strength can you call it ‘blast’. I just lightly ‘jabbed’ a punch at you!”

“You said you wanted to give it a try. I know you are very stubborn and wouldn’t give up unless I promised you, so I let you give it a try. Do you now know how big of a difference there is between the Building Foundation Stage and Refinement Stage?”

“With your current strength, you can’t even clearly see the trace of my fist. Just a silly poke of mine rendered you completely incapable in your place, leaving you in a state where I can beat you as I like. So what’s the difference between beating a sandbag and you?”

“Alright, don’t think about it too much. Take this, it’s an ointment. Smear it over your wounds and train here at ease, while I log on and post the mission.”

Patting her butt, Ding Lingdang started to walk towards the edge of the island.

Right when her charming foot touched the cold sea, a low and anguishing growl suddenly came from behind her.

“Wait!”

TLN

Sorry guys, you might not know but at the start of this month I was in a minor accident, though I didn’t get injured much, I happened to have torn the muscles of my left leg and had internal bleeding. It was healing fine, but in mid of the month, I had the slightly healed muscles which had somehow connected torn again during a slight mishap in the bathroom. I went to the hospital and was on painkillers. But a couple days ago an extreme pain flared in my leg, rendering me almost unable to move my left leg, I went to the hospital and was hospitalized. Apparently, there was a huge bleeding(clot) still in my leg which is pressing my nerves and muscles. So I was under observation for 4 days and hence unable to translate any chapters, no laptops were allowed there. Anyway, I am back and I will cover whatever I miss during this week. And on another note, a happy news is soon to be bound. You will read it soon, take it as a surprise.

Chapter 154: As Though Two Completely Different People

Ding Lingdang immediately retracted her foot. A sliver of surprise appeared in the pair of her pretty eyes as she turned around and looked at Li Yao; in her heart, she was astonished.

“It can’t be! Was my heavy punch still not enough for this kid to give up? He really is too stubborn!”

Contrary to her expectation, she only saw Li Yao grimace in pain as he weakly said, “Sister Ling, can you help me out? I can’t walk.”

“What!”

Ding Lingdang found it annoying as well as amusing at the same time. With a step, she rushed over and ruthlessly nabbed Li Yao’s ear: “You conceited brat!”

Only then did she pull him to an island at the corner of the reefs.

From the get go, the Billowing Star Sea was sold to cultivators as a place for them to train, and as such, it was preinstalled with various facilities.

The island was a natural resting place and a combat zone, and the seller had set up a supply point at the corner of the island where not only were commonly used drugs were placed but also a medical treatment pod as well.

“Armor?”

On one hand, Li Yao was smearing ointment, while on the other, he was curiously gazing at the supply point, discovering that apart from the drugs and medical treatment pod, two huge weapon caches were also there.

Among which, one was jam packed with chainsword-like close combat magical equipment, while the other had seven or eight sets of armor.

Ding Lingdang shrugged her shoulders:

“These came as a gift when I bought the rights to use the Billowing Star Sea for ten years. Think of it as promotional means of the seller; otherwise, it would be too expensive. But as I am a body practitioner, I seldom use these kinds of things. If you are so interested, you can play with them as you like.”

Li Yao seemed to have thought of something:

“Sister Ling, what if I wore three to five pieces of armor? Wouldn’t I be able to withstand your heavy punches?”

Ding Lingdang scoffed:

“You are so wrong. If you wore a couple pieces of armor, your defenses would indeed increase, but what about your speed and reaction? The higher the defense of the armor, the heavier they would be. You would have to carry a couple hundred pounds or even over a thousand pounds. Let alone quickly dodging my attacks, you wouldn’t even be unable to walk—I might as well hit wooden poles!”

“That might not be necessarily true!”

Li Yao was still very confident in his own capacity.

He would often go to the floating mountains of the Combat Department to observe the training of the Combat Department students. Over there, he discovered that a majority of them painstakingly trained their offense and defense, but in regards to carrying heavy weight, such as squatting and so on, they don’t train enough.

In comparison, he, in order to modify 1st Generation Tai’e furnace, had to carry several tons of wrecked magical equipment and run on the rugged ruins every day.

Day after day, carrying such maddening training, his capacity to carry heavy weight happened to be absolutely outstanding and even better than a majority of the Combat Department senior students.

A mere few hundred pounds of armor was simply nothing for him!

Without further ado, Li Yao first wore a piece of light armor crafted from a Black Ice Crocodile’s skin. Following that, he once again donned a chain armor completely crafted from metal and another set of turtle armor refined from a Star Spotted Turtle’s shell. Finally, he hung over a hundred pieces of demon beast bone spikes above the turtle armor.

Li Yao wore a complete set that weighed 400 to 500 pounds, and when he walked, a “jingling” noise could be heard coming from his entire body, head to toe—it was completely horrendous!

“Huff…”

Li Yao did two squats, jumped up and down a couple of times off the jagged rocks to check if it was alright.

Donning so many layers of armor together was still not half as heavy as the crafting furnaces; his speed had only fallen by 20%.

Ding Lingdang coldly looked at him as she yawned and lazily said:

“A while ago, when you weren’t even wearing the armor, you couldn’t even see from where my punch was coming from. Now that you have worn a couple hundred pounds of scrap, your reaction would be even slower. Isn’t that nothing more than a wooden stake placed on the ground? You know, I can blast this armor with a few punches and kicks before beating you into a pig. This is simply not going to help me in training anyway.”

A mysterious smile crept over Li Yao’s face as he confidently said:

“Give me half a minute. After that, you can attack again. I guarantee, it will absolutely be nothing like before!”

“Oh?”

Ding Lindang was surprised for a moment. Noticing Li Yao’s he-got-it-all-worked-it-out appearance, it gave off the impression that he wasn’t joking and got her interested as she said to herself, ‘Could it be that this kid still has some trick left in his sleeve?’

“Alright, you have your half minute. However, let me warn you—if it is going to be just like before where you can’t even take a hit and can’t stand for even half a second, then I will not give you a third opportunity.”

Li Yao, of course, had a trick.

Li Yao’s expression turned serious as he became calm and focused. His computational ability, like an invisible tide, continued to expand within his brain.

One by one, algorithms, formulae, theorems, and array glyphs flashed past his mind as lines of light, one after another, continuously expanded, collided, blended, and intertwined together to create an abstruse and complex crafting furnace blueprint.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub… dub…

His heartbeat was getting slower and slower, but as a matter of fact, his brain cell activity was increasing.

110%, 120%, 130%…

Li Yao had entered the super perceptive state!

His pupils contracted till they seemed as though they were black tips of a nail. He somewhat provocatively smiled at Ding Lingdang, simply wanting to bend his finger in an aloof manner and gesture for Ding Lingdang to come when suddenly—

The reef not far away from him appeared to be empty—Ding Lingdang was nowhere to be found!

Li Yao felt his scalp tingle as a trail of goosebumps went down his back; his entire spine felt as though it had been immersed in an ice-cold water. Meanwhile, his brain cell activity, in the blink of an eye, broke through to 150%, and in response, his computation ability frantically soared, breaking past every limit one after another!

Behind me! On the right! Three meters! Target approaching at high speed!

This conclusion was not that he “saw” or “perceived”, it was completely derived from 200% brain cell activity of super perceptive state by Li Yao!

“Move 37mm towards the left while turning 36.7 degrees counterclockwise. There is a 56% chance that I might be able to avoid the attack!”

Within one tenth of a second, his brain issued a command that was as fast as lightning.

However, his body was like an old bull pulling a broken cart; from his teleneurons to every strand of his muscle, they were all slow to process the commands madly issued by his brain.

In half of a second, Li Yao happened to move only by 29mm and turn counterclockwise by 31.4 degrees.

“Whizz!”

As if a high-speed crystal train had brushed past his body, setting off a super storm, Li Yao felt a cold feeling seeping through his waist which was followed by a burning sensation. When he lowered his head, he noticed that three to four layers of the armor on the right side of his waist had been torn away by the edge of Ding Lingdang’s punch.

“So terrifying!”

Li Yao was tongue-tied. If he was even one tenth of a second slower in dodging, her punch would have truly struck him. Even if he was protected by four to five layers of armor, he could have possibly been sent flying away from the impact and rendered unconscious on the spot.

Now, he had a deeper understanding of the fierceness of Ding Lingdang, this terrifying dragon in a human form.

However, he didn’t know that Ding Lingdang was ten times more surprised than him in her heart.

Using her big toes, she beautifully stood upon a sharp reef not so far away. Her cheeks happened to be slightly puffed up, and a lump had even appeared upon her glabella from frowning as her face was filled with perplexity. She could not understand how Li Yao had a quicker reaction than before even though he was bearing a couple hundred pounds of armor.

However, since her childhood, she had never been someone who liked racking her brain; if she encountered any unreasonable problem, then she would rather use her fists than her brain!

Ding Lingdang let out a long howl, whereupon the bells tied around her ankles burst forth with clear and melodious rings. Her big toes suddenly blasted the tip of the sharp reef into pieces before she herself transformed into a red beam as she whizzed past!

“Gotcha!”

Under the super perceptive state, Li Yao’s brain cells were madly activated, allowing his five senses to be substantially elevated. Despite this, he was barely able to notice Ding Lingdang’s quick-as-a-ghost-silhouette.

However, as a result, his perception of pain had also been increased by ten-fold. Although the punch from a moment ago had not struck him, the wind generated from the punch had nevertheless seeped into his flesh, bringing an excruciating pain which felt as though his heart and bones were being stabbed, making him drenched in cold sweat, and causing his eyes to be constantly twitching.

Li Yao tightly clenched his teeth as he forcibly endured the pain. His brain cell activity was once again elevated, frantically calculating Ding Lingdang’s speed, angle, and movement trajectory as well as the direction of her next step.

When Ding Lingdang blasted a simple punch aiming at his abdomen, he even miraculously raised his pair of arms and crossed them against his abdomen to defend.

“BOOM!”

Three to four layers of protection on his arms were completely blown away, while Li Yao flew seven to eight meters away. His pair of arms were as though they had turned into two dry, burning branches; nevertheless, he didn’t fall!

The depths of Ding Lingdang’s eyes flickered with a blood-red brilliance as her face revealed a dense, murderous aura. She no longer gave him even one tenth of a second to do any calculations. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before Li Yao with her slender leg raised high, and without any hesitation, kicked downwards like a giant, hacking axe. All of a sudden, Li Yao was smashed into the reef, completely breaking the armor on his abdomen and leaving a deep dent on the iron armor.

Li Yao spewed out a mouthful of blood towards the sky and was no longer able to even crawl. Meanwhile, his brain had, in the blink of an eye, withdrawn from the super perceptive state and was all muddled up.

Ding Lingdang was relieved and refreshed. Bearing a smile on her face, she squatted down next to Li Yao and helped him remove the armor while gazing at him with an inconceivable look in her eye as she clicked her tongue in admiration and said:

“You are one little monster. I truly underestimated you a little bit. If I was even a little bit inattentive, you might have created a big miracle! A while ago, you could not even withstand a punch of mine, but now, you had actually dodged and blocked my punches. That’s truly amazing!”

“However, your endurance is truly poor. During combat, you can not always dodge or block an enemy’s attack, as you will always be hit. At that time, the ability to take a beating plays a particularly important role.”

“You only lasted 10 seconds before you could not carry on and are still very far from lasting for 1 minute!”

“You might as well train here in the Billowing Star Sea for a couple of months. When you get to the next semester, just maybe, you will have the qualifications to act as my sparring partner.”

“Cheer up, Little Brother!”

After a few words, Li Yao wasn’t able to clearly hear anything at all; his mind was entirely preoccupied with the frustration of failing to last for an entire minute.

“Too weak, my endurance is truly too weak. Even after donning three to four layers of armor, I still could not withstand one blow of her. 10 seconds, I could only hold on for 10 seconds. I am too far away from one minute!”

“If I could increase my endurance a bit, then as long as it is even a little bit, I would be able to withstand three to five from her attacks, and with the keen perception and supercomputing ability under super perceptive state, hopefully, I may be able to last for a minute!”

“Let’s see, if there isn’t any exercise to increase endurance…”

Li Yao’s pair of eyes suddenly seemed to be burning with fire. He, flinging caution to the wind, jumped up but was then struck again by a pain at his waist, causing him to bow down letting out an “Ouch!”.

“Are you alright? Don’t scare me, did I attack too heavily?”

Ding Lingdang was blaming herself a little.

“Will, will you be at home tonight?” Li Yao was extremely excited, completely forgetting the pain.

“Yes!” Ding Lingdang was rather baffled.

“Can you wait for me for three hours? No no no, five hours. 12 o’clock midnight, your house, in the bedroom, don’t leave till we meet!”

Li Yao’s eyes bloomed with a vicious gleam, casting a covetous look at Ding Lingdang.

Chapter 155: Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining

Having left Ding Lingdang’s house, Li Yao, at a lightning fast speed, rushed right away to the floating mountain of the Combat Department and immediately dived into the Super Perception Cabin.

“Entering the super perceptive state, brain cell activity, 331%, limit reached!”

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao’s consciousness had appeared in the depths of the Heavenly Refining Tower.

Li Yao didn’t hesitate for even one second and rushed straight away to the southeast corner.

Where there were two rows of bookshelves, stacked inside of which were methods for tempering the body.

During the ancient cultivators’ world, the refining environment was extremely harsh; the furnaces weren’t sealed well enough, and at any moment, it was quite possible that hot gases with temperatures as high as a couple of thousand degrees or extremely corrosive gases and molten ingredients would leak out.

In addition, due to the backward means of forging, many of the processing like cutting, grinding, and so on and so forth had to be forcibly done by the refiner himself.

Therefore, ancient refiners paid great attention to tempering their body.

They were like ancient blacksmiths; often, they were as robust and tall as a bull, and all of them had great physical strength.

Without a strong physique, they would neither be able to raise a few hundred pound hammer nor would they dare to get closer to a crafting furnace that was a couple thousand of degrees hot. In such an event, how would they be able to refine anything?

The first level of the Heavenly Refining Tower had stocked many wondrous and odd skills to temper the body.

Li Yao swept a glance before he reached out towards the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], which was also known as the “First Tempering Canon of the Hundred Smelting Clan”!

The [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] was the quenching body exercise created by the Hundred Smelting Clan’s Elder, “Master Tiemu”[1].

Although he didn’t achieve too much in refining, for Master Tiemu, when it came to the physique, he was second to none in the Hundred Smelting Clan!

Rumor has it that during a refining mishap where the furnace had exploded, the subsequent refiners had been enveloped in hot and poisonous gases that even Golden Core experts did not dare to approach casually.

At that time, only Master Tiemu, who was in the peak level of the Building Foundation Stage, rushed into the refining room and rescued his three fellow disciples just by the virtue of his terrifying physique, astonishing the entire sect. And ever since then, the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] had become the first tempering canon of the Hundred Smelting Clan!

According to the legend, since childhood, Master Tiemu had a weak constitution. He didn’t even have the qualifications to be a “metal forge worker” and enter the metal forging room, let alone the qualifications to be a refiner.

However, he was someone who was extremely crazy about refining techniques. In his free time, he would squat down at the entrance of the metal forging room and watch his fellow senior and junior brothers forging heaven and earth treasures.

Over time, he suddenly thought:

‘If steel, through repeated forging, can have its impurities removed constantly and change its internal structure, becoming so hard that it is nigh impossible to destroy…’

‘Then can the human body follow suit? Can it become incomparably strong after going through repeated tempering?’

If it was any ordinary person who was struck with this kind of thought, perhaps he would have thrown it to the back of his mind in the blink of an eye, treating it as nothing but nonsense.

However, Master Tiemu was a madman. He actually grabbed an iron hammer and fiercely hammered his own body in the very same method as he had seen his senior and junior brothers forge the steel.

At first, of course, he had his muscles ruptured and bones broken from the hammering, would be left vomiting large amounts of blood, and regarded as a big joke by others.

Fortunately, the Hundred Smelting Clan wasn’t some ordinary sect of Jianghu; they had wondrous pills and miraculous panaceas, so besides some pain and injuries, the rest could be treated.

Just like that, Master Tiemu hammered his own body black and blue time and time again, and after a decade of experimentation, Master Tiemu embarked on a road which had never been taken before.

After a hundred years, before he had fallen, Master Tiemu had unremittingly improved his tempering exercise and finally created the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] exercise.

In light of Master Tiemu’s boasting in the introduction of the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], this exercise was one-of-its-kind in the entire cultivation world; it was a marvelous exercise which could increase its user’s strength by taking a beating.

Any enemy’s attack was equal to getting tempered by the iron hammer—the fiercer the attack was, the quicker one’s strength would elevate!

Once the exercise had been cultivated to the highest level, one’s flesh and blood would turn as indestructible as heaven and earth material—”an indestructible body which even the gods won’t be able to destroy”!

Although he was undoubtedly boasting, even Master Tiemu himself had also not achieved “an indestructible body which even the gods won’t be able to destroy” and had nevertheless fallen.

However, after cultivating the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], the body would be like steel and iron, your endurance would be greatly elevated, and this was 100% true.

“Should I cultivate this exercise?”

Li Yao muttered to himself.

As the first tempering canon of the Hundred Smelting Clan, it was obvious the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] was not so easy to train; he would need to spend a large amount of time and energy.

If it was just for earning a few credits from Ding Lingdang, then it was seemingly not worthwhile.

He might as well finish modifying the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace a bit earlier and craft some magical equipment so that he could exchange them with his fellow students for credits.

However, the 1st Generation Tai’e was a small-scale crafting furnace and its production capacity was extremely limited.

And not to mention, he was also a beginner who was learning refining for the first time. Even if he was somehow successful in refining at every attempt, how many magical equipment could he craft?

Besides, others would not necessarily trade with him. The institute had naturally provided some open channels to the public so that the students could have a variety of traditional magical equipment at very low credits, which was enough for their day-to-day training needs.

These traditional magical equipment had all been continuously improved by the major sects over the course of hundred years, and the final form was the condensed from the blood and effort of countless experienced refiners.

Li Yao was not at all confident that he could suddenly craft a magical equipment that could compete and transcend traditional magical equipment.

“In the end, it still comes down to me going to the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts!”

“With the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, I can only craft some comparatively special magical equipment for my own use.”

“However, at the very least, I still need to get stronger so that I would not be dragging the team behind.”

“Although cultivating [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] will not increase my offense strength, it would greatly improve my endurance, which is equal to increasing my survivability in the battlefield. Even if I was attacked by a demon beast, I would not end up dead just from its one attack.”

“But for a refiner, is it enough?!”

Li Yao, who grew up in the Magical Equipment Graveyard laden with crisis everywhere, had always deeply felt a sense of insecurity in his heart.

Although he dreamt of becoming a refiner, he had never thought that he could protect himself just by relying on magical equipment.

And having exchanged blows with Ding Lingdang twice, it had, even more so, made him realize how big of a gap there was between him and a true expert.

“With my current strength, even if my entire body is covered in magical equipment, I would still be completely suppressed when facing an early stage Building Foundation Stage cultivator.”

“And in the depths of the Wasteland, demon beasts who are even stronger than early stage Building Foundation Stage cultivators can be found everywhere!”

“For the future, I must get stronger. At the very least, I have to first improve my endurance!”

When he thought of all this, Li Yao, with all his concentration, entered the world of the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining].

“Whizz! Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!”

Numerous thoughts started flying out of the book before fusing with Li Yao’s consciousness. One after another, sitting postures, acupoint charts, and the body structure entered his soul.

The key point of the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] lied in the three layers—internal, central, and external.

The internal layer meant the insides of the body. One needed to thoroughly comprehend the internal structure of 99 different kinds of heaven and earth treasure and consider oneself as these 99 heaven and earth treasures, imagining oneself to be going through forging and expelling all kinds of impurities from within the body so that the body structure would become denser.

The central layer referred to the surface of the body. One needed to stimulate all 180 acupoints so that under the ruthless bombardment of enemy attacks, one could guide the destructive force of the attacks through these 180 acupoints and infuse them into various parts of the bodies, thereby cleansing the bone marrow, reinforcing the muscles, and thoroughly remolding the body.

And the most crucial was the outer layer. One needed to release his or her spiritual energy outside to inspire it to congeal into a special cushion structure that could mitigate enemy attacks, distributing its impact uniformly, which was to be transported to inside the body through the 180 acupoints.

Obviously, the enemy wasn’t some kind of an idiot; he would certainly mobilize all his strength to attack just one small part during the fight, so how could the power be distributed to the 180 acupoints? Was he going to attack 180 acupoints simultaneously? It was not some kind of massage!

“The most crucial step is to create a cushion structure using spiritual energy which will help in the distributing the enemy’s strength into 180 places!”

“If there isn’t a cushion, then under just one of Ding Lingdang’s heavy punches, I would definitely be blown away. How would I then temper my body?”

“Cushion, cushion…”

A deep frown appeared on Li Yao’s forehead.

He discovered that the cushion structure proposed by Master Tiemu was too complicated. To his surprise, he would have to stimulate the spiritual energy out of his body and congeal it into tens of thousands of small, spring-like air masses all around the body.

When bombarded by the enemy’s punch, these tens of thousands of “spiritual energy springs” would be dispersed. Not to mention dispersing the energy into 180 places, it was quite possible to disperse them into 1,800 places, and naturally, the destructive force would be mitigated to the lowest point, which was not only insufficient to cause injuries but could also be used to cultivate.

The problem was that Li Yao, this insignificant cultivator of the 4th level of the Refinement Stage, didn’t have such fine control over his spiritual energy. It was simply impossible for him to divide his spiritual energy into tens of thousands of groups and then congeal each group into small, spring-like structures as well as arranging them into a certain pattern.

“This is ridiculous! Even a peak level Building Foundation Stage cultivator would not necessarily able to so exquisitely control their spiritual energy. This exercise is simply not suitable for a beginner disciple!”

“No wonder it’s the first tempering canon of Hundred Smelting Clan. However, in Ou Yezi’s memories, besides Master Tiemu, not many people had cultivated this exercise. That’s why only a few scrolls of this exercise are placed here!”

“That’s not right! How did Master Tiemy cultivate it in the beginning?”

Supporting his cheek with his arm, Li Yao pondered for a long time before he thought of one possibility.

I suppose, at the very beginning, Master Tiemu practiced in accordance with the [Golden Bell Cover], [Iron Skin], and [Thirteen Taibao Brutal Training].[2]

Later, he accidentally created this exercise and became a true master of a generation. And when he was writing the exercise, he, in order to leave his name down in history, could naturally not reveal the truth.

Otherwise, if he honestly said that his [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] was born out of [Golden Bell Cover] and [Iron Skin], then where would the style be in that?

Of course, he needed to write it as extremely mysterious and abstruse, making it harder to understand. Only then would it show that he was an extraordinary and refined cultivator.

This could also be considered as a bad habit of ancient cultivators. Many ancient cultivators, when they were compiling a cultivation technique, liked to write it as incomprehensible and mysterious jargon which could be summed up in one sentence—they could not talk in human words!

After criticizing for a while, Li Yao suddenly thought:

‘In order to cultivate [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], the most crucial part is the cushion. There can’t just be one spring-method acting as a cushion.”

‘It is really amazing that Master Tiemu can think of spring structure in his era, but now in the modern era, there are varieties of cushions!’

Li Yao was a refiner, and the cushion was one of the very important concepts in refining. Over these few months, he had learned countless types of traditional cushions.

However, after thinking about them carefully, he was disappointed to find that every cushion structure was very complex and was nigh impossible for a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator to simulate.

“What’s the most basic cushion type…”

Li Yao racked his brain. Suddenly, from the depths of his soul came a “bang” sound—something had exploded.

It was an airbag.

The airbags that were installed in flying shuttles.

Flying shuttles were extremely fast, so if any accident occurred, it was highly likely for its rider to lose his or her life.

So the sect who manufactured flying shuttles had a large number airbags installed in the shuttle. Usually, they were deflated, but in the event of a collision, they would inflate in the blink of an eye, inflating to a hundred times of its original size, providing a vital “cushion” to the passengers!

TLN:

[1] 铁木[Tiemu] – Literally means “iron wood”.

[2]: Golden Bell Cover, Iron Skin, and Thirteen Taibao Brutal Training are ancient martial arts of China, which focuses on the body. One would not be harm by knives and swords if one has mastered these exercises.

Chapter 156: I Am Going to Bully You as I Wish

Late at night, 11:55 PM.

Ding Lingdang, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, stared right at a big and tall boy and kept on shouting:

“Duan Zeyu, luckily, I have always regarded you to be a firm and unyielding man. I can’t believe that I would be requesting a little help from you, for you to be my sparring partner. Can’t you give me a thrashing for thirty to fifty minutes every day? You are not going to be unfaithful to a friend, right!?”

The boy called Duan Zeyu had his face turn ashen from fright as he secretly complained in his heart.

Although he was a senior student who was about to graduate and had reached the 9th level of the Refinement Stage, how could he be an opponent of Ding Lingdang, this wild dragoness?

It would most likely be him who would be trampled upon by her for thirty to fifty minutes every day. It would simply better to die than live, and that’s what you call a “little help”!?

“Professor Ding, since I have joined the Iron Fist Club, you have been the Iron Fist Club’s president and have overseen our brothers and sisters training. Every day, you had taken a lot of care of us.”

“So, I truly respect you as a senior and I very much want to help you!”

“But, it just so happens that I have teamed up with several fellow students and have taken a task to hunt demon beasts in the depths of the Wasteland. I think… it will take one month… no, 3-5 months… no, for a year or so. I will not be in the institute. I am truly unable to be your sparring partner, I am extremely sorry! Hey! It seems someone is calling me. I’m sorry, Professor Ding!”

Duan Zeyu quickly logged out of the spiritual crane messenger.

“A year or so? Why don’t you just say eight or ten years!”

Ding Lingdang was unable to restrain her anger. Having kicked away the crystal processor, she took out a fan and vigorously started fanning. Her face was laced with brooding, which she was unable to vent, as her towering chest heaved up and down.

For finding a good sparring partner to be this hard, it was truly out of her expectation.

Sparring was a very difficult task. If her sparring partner was too weak, he or she would be unable to withstand a few of her punches and kicks, thereby losing the significance of sparring. And the students who were comparatively strong all happened to be venturing into the depths of Wasteland to hunt demon beasts or making a name for themselves in the arena, so why would they bother to become a human sandbag for her?

In addition, Ding Lingdang, this wild dragoness in human skin, was quite famous in the Grand Desolate War Institution. Everyone knew that she was a martial art fanatic. Although she was in the early stages of the Building Foundation Stage, once she went crazy, only the devil would know how much brutality she might ultimately unleash!

If she increased the credits a bit, then under the temptation of the credits, someone might muster up his or her courage, or perhaps someone who wasn’t afraid of death might apply.

However, even a teacher had a limit on how many credits they could give.

If it were the professors or associate professors who could be considered seniors, they could certainly issue priceless tasks.

But Ding Lingdang, this young professor who had just graduated this year and remained in institute to work, was only at the level of an “assistant”, the lowest ranked professor in the university.

The credits she could freely allocate were sparse; 10 credits per minute was already her limit.

Thus, this entire night, no one had applied for her mission. And when she brazenly asked some senior students, these steel-willed men, whilst keeping a straight face, actually started shivering as though they were in the jaws of a demon beast and equivocally came up with some excuses to stall—not even one person was willing to be her sparring partner!

“These wimps, isn’t there anyone who has guts like Li Yao!?”

Ding Lingdang angrily muttered to herself.

At this point, a crisp and melodious voice floated over from downstairs: “Li Yao has arrived! Li Yao has arrived!”

The corners of Ding Lingdang’s lips raised, seemingly as if they revealed a smile of understanding.

Somehow, every time she saw Li Yao, her mood would involuntarily get better.

Although, Li Yao’s, this kid’s, character was somewhat extreme, and he was sometimes ignorant of how high the heavens was and how deep the earth was and even a little silly… so much so that Ding Lingdang could not help but have an urge to crush him into two…

Nevertheless, compared to those wimps, in her eyes, he seemed more like a man.

Only such a man had the qualifications to be her, Ding Lingdang’s, dear brother—peas in a pod!

“Come up quickly, let me see what kind of pleasant surprise you are going to bring in a mere five hours!”

Ding Lingdang happily jumped down from the bed, and without even wearing her slippers, went to welcome him barefooted!

Sure enough, Li Yao did bring her a fair share of pleasant surprises!

When the two once again entered the Billowing Star Sea and appeared on a rocky small island, as Ding Lingdang casually blasted a punch, she immediately discovered that something wasn’t right.

When her knuckles were just 5 mm away from Li Yao’s stomach, a “swish” sound suddenly burst forth in the air.

It was as though a mass of gas had suddenly expanded, seemingly as if she had ruthlessly smashed a big bubble.

Of course, the big bubble wasn’t enough to block her heavy punch, but her momentum, which was originally gathered at one point, was dispersed in multiple directions and was scattered and divided into seven or eight streams of power which respectively struck various parts of Li Yao’s body.

Li Yao, who was wearing four layers of armor, had surprisingly blocked this punch. Although he was grimacing in pain, he was nevertheless alive and kicking!

“Not bad, not bad! In five hours, not only have you have mastered a new battle skill, but you can even forcibly block my punch!”

“I guess you should have controlled the spiritual energy to simulate some way to disperse the power, right? Alright, warm up is finished. I will now let you experience this sister’s true strength!”

Ding Lingdang seemed to be burning with eagerness to have a go; she was incredibly excited. From her neck to her ear, she was flushed red, and even her ear lobes were as red as fire. In the blink of an eye, her speed had increased by a level, and Li Yao was completely engulfed by something akin to a red tide!

“Boom!”

Li Yao felt as if he was amidst frightening billows and terrifying waves, seemingly as if he was in the center of a hurricane where the ear-splitting sound of waves frantically bombarded his eardrums, causing him to even have labored breathing and heart rate.

He had already entered the super perceptive state, and his computational ability had soared to limit. Not only was he calculating Ding Lingdang’s speed, angle of attack, and the possible location where she was going to appear, but more importantly, he was also controlling his spiritual energy to form small air bags in front of him one after another, which exploded in a timely manner before Ding Lingdang’s punches struck the target.

To do all this, the computational ability required was much higher than that needed for modifying the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace!

Li Yao felt as though his every brain cell was on fire; every second, countless crystal bombs were exploding in his brain.

However, what was even more difficult to endure was the pain, which was so severe that even a minute fraction of it could not be described in words!

The principle of [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] was to distribute the enemy’s power and stimulate one’s 180 acupoints. This kind of stimulation would bring its user an unimaginable amount of pain that any ordinary person would not be able to endure.

Under the super perceptive state, Li Yao’s neurons were highly perceptive, thus the pain he felt was ten times sharper than usual.

With the two things superimposed, it brought him a feeling of hovering between life and death, which let alone ordinary person, even an ordinary cultivator would not necessarily be able to endure!

“Hiss…”

Li Yao’s pair of eyes turned crimson. He was so overwhelmed with pain that he wished to die. He forcibly emptied his brain and cut-off the connection between his nociceptors and his brain while silently meditating:

“I am a piece of iron, I am a piece of steel, I am not afraid of pain, I am not afraid of pain. This pain is nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing! Only with Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining would my body be indestructible to the point that not even a god can destroy!”

In these couple dozen second, the meditation had played its role; he truly didn’t feel the slightest bit of pain. He had entered a profound intangible state where there was only a series of numbers continuously flashing in his brain. Ding Lingdang’s each and every action was accurately broken down into speed, angle of attack, distance, and just right before the heavy punch was going to land upon him, he would always congeal a bubble out of spiritual energy.

However, Ding Lingdang very soon understood the principle of dispersing her power using the spiritual energy bubble. She was a martial art genius and thus immediately came up with a way to break this. Her every attack was followed by two layers of powerful energy; the first layer of energy was as sharp as a needle and would first pierce the spiritual energy bubble, which was then followed by the true attack that could overturn mountains and seas.

This change was simply out of Li Yao’s expectation, and he was barely able to resist two of her next moves before having to surrender. Ding Lingdang’s kick had blasted him twenty odd meters away, and the armor over his abdomen had been completely smashed, causing even his sternum to faintly crack.

“Hiss…”

Li Yao, who was lying flat on his back in the midst of broken stones, looked at the sky in frustration. It was as if he had returned to the days in the memories of Ou Yezi when he had been first ravaged by “Titan” using the One Hundred and Eight Hands Chaos Gale Hammer Technique.

Ding Lingdang, with a smile laced on her face, appeared before him.

At present, the depression she had was swept away; she was completely refreshed, and her eyes were shining brightly as though she had just finished enjoying a scrumptious feast.

And naturally, Li Yao was this “scrumptious feast”.

Li Yao’s hands and feet had completely gone numb and could not move even a bit. All he could do was ruthlessly stare at her with a face filled with grievance and unwillingness.

Ding Lingdang, who was smearing medication on him, said with a laugh:

“Don’t blame this sister for attacking with a heavy-hand. Who asked you to come with such a strange battle skill, causing this sister to be eager to have a go and be unable to control myself? That’s why you have been beaten to this. However, you are also not without any gains. Guess how long have you persevered?”

“How long is it? Have I—”

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao was enlivened as he immediately sat up.

“Hahaha, sixty-two seconds! You are truly a monstrous genius!”

Ding Lingdang bent her jade-like finger and flicked Li Yao’s nose.

Li Yao was wild with joy. God knows where he even got the strength to be able to actually jump two meters high in the air before he started to dance with joy: “I did it! I have truly persisted for a minute—I have earned 10 credits!”

Although it was just ten credits, he felt so happy, seemingly as if he had gotten a hundred credits. It was simply forcibly seizing 10 credits from the jaws of a T-rex!

“Don’t get excited. Let me tell you some bad news, you’ll have to brace yourself.”

Ding Lingdang’s face was filled with a strange look: “Although you had persisted for a minute, you have never registered for my task on the internet and neither have you filmed the entire spar, so this was not a formal spar and you won’t be able to get any credits”

“Otherwise, with just the two of us here, wouldn’t I be able to simply provide you 100 credits by saying that you have sparred with me for 10 minutes?”

“The credit system is the foundation of the Grand Desolate War Institution, thus every credit transaction has to go through rigorous reviews. Without any evidence, no one is able to arbitrarily send credits.”

“Therefore, if you want to have the 10 credits, you have to first go to the net and receive the task, then start a video recording magical equipment, and then once again persist for one minute. Now I believe that you now have the qualification to be my sparring partner!”

“What!?”

It seemed as if Li Yao had been struck by lightning; his entire body was completely transfixed in a dancing posture, and for a long time, he did not recover from his stupor.

His eyes constantly flickered with a sharp murderous gleam which was even sharper than a saber.

“You mean to say… I was beaten by you in vain.”

“Technically, yes.”

“Then why didn’t you say so at the start!?”

“How could I have known that you would have been so fierce and would be able to persist for so long? I believed that I would be able to wrap you up with a few kicks and punches! Oh my, really worthy of the cultivation genius unearthed by me, Ding Lingdang. You are so different that those ordinary shrimp soldiers, especially in taking a beating!”

“You—”

“A man should not be so small-minded. How about I let you hit me for a minute to let you vent your anger, ok?”

Ding Lingdang started to act shamelessly.

Li Yao was about to explode in anger. He had this hideous look on his face as he ruthlessly stared at Ding Lingdang, seemingly as if he would swallow her in one bite.

In contrast, Ding Lingdang had a completely innocent look. Blinking her eyes for a long time, she finally could not hold in her laughter. She was laughing to the point that she was shaking and even tears were coming out from the corner of her eyes.

“My dear silly brother, I am just joking with you! This island is the combat zone of the Billowing Star Sea, so there is a hidden recording system at the corners that would automatically record videos of a fight.”

“So as long as you have this videos, you can go online and complete the formalities and you will get the 10 credits!”

Li Yao was completely dumbfounded; he was stunned for a long time before he could ask, “Why did you lie to me?”

Ding Lingdang broke out into a laugher and replied:

“Because I suddenly wished to see you get angry. Because you can’t beat me and could only secretly sulk on the side. And then there’s that look when you were ruthlessly staring at me—yes, this look you have now, the look when you are about to explode in anger, yet can do nothing. It is so cute!”

“What the hell kind of thinking do you have?” Li Yao completely could not understand her.

“Generally, doesn’t an elder sister have this kind of mentality towards her younger brother? The feeling of wanting to bully him without reason!” Ding Lingdang replied as though it was right and proper.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth: “Younger brothers will grow up. Someday, when I am stronger than you, I will bully you in turn!”

“Hahaha, that is impossible!” Ding Lingdang, while laughing, resolutely and decisively proclaimed.

“And if it comes true someday?” Li Yao’s eyes bloomed with a dangerous gleam which could be found in the eyes of a vulture.

“If it came true someday, then it’s ok to bully this sister as you like!” Ding Lingdang said in a tone as though she was not at all concerned about this; she simply didn’t place this in her heart.

Chapter 157: Arrival of a Group of High School Students

From this night on, Li Yao, in order to ruthlessly bully Ding Lingdang someday, frantically started cultivating.

In any case, he had already memorized various theories and classics by heart. All that was left was to continue to experiment with them and assimilate all kinds of obscure and abstruse theories through experience. It was like grinding a stone with water; it requires time and effort. These theories were something which needed a lifetime of study, so he could not rush it.

Li Yao simply reduced the time he spent studying theories in the Heavenly Refining Tower and spent a fair share of hours in the depths of the Billowing Star Sea amidst the invisible undercurrents.

While he was resisting the pressure in the Billowing Star Sea, his brain would be madly operating to utilize the Micro-Particle Algorithm, Solar Corona Nine Algorithms, Mustard Seed Algorithm… to create air bubbles one after another.

It was simply impossible to use a single air bubble to deal with Ding Lingdang, this wild dragoness in human skin.

Gradually, Li Yao’s control over spiritual energy had reached a whole new level. He no longer simulated a single air bubble but instead a large air bubble that was lined with another air bubble which also had a set of seven or eight small air bubbles. Layer upon layer of air bubbles were superimposed to create something akin to an invisible armor which was firmly guarding his entire body.

But even so, it was still difficult for him to gain any advantage while fighting Ding Lingdang.

Ding Lingdang was a martial arts genius. The bubble formation which Li Yao had painstakingly spent time and effort to create was often broken by her as long as she came into contact with it for a couple dozen seconds. She was able to completely see through everything and was able to come up with ways to deal with it.

Which was then immediately followed up with some Purple Sun Palm, or Rainbow Punch, or Golden Lightning Finger, or Fierce Tiger Killer, or Meteorite Kick… She would shower him with 30 to 50 strange and marvelous skills.

Even if Li Yao’s weight-bearing capacity had once again increased so much that he could don seven or eight layers of armor alongside two shields crafted from pure steel, it was all to no avail; at most, he would stick for an extra 10-20 seconds before he was ruthlessly blown away.

In the maddening training of the first ten days, he never persisted for more than a minute and a half; the best result was 1 minute 29 seconds.

Fortunately, for the first couple dozen seconds, Ding Lingdang didn’t clearly understand the structure of the air bubbles. Every time she blasted a punch, her power would be broken down to a couple dozen stream of powers which were infused into different acupoints using the [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining].

The [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining] was worthy to be the first tempering canon of the Hundred Smelting Clan. After grasping the abstruse principle of cushioning as well as forcefully enduring the inhumane pain, Li Yao discovered that his body was transforming at a speed visible to the naked eye; his body was getting stronger and tougher as though what was located underneath his skin wasn’t some strands of muscles but a bunch of thick steel bars.

And every time he was hit by Ding Lingdang, his body would get stronger by a point, allowing him to endure an even stronger blow.

Starting from the eleventh day, he gradually reduced the number of layers of armor. From the very beginning with seven to eight layers of armor, he had slowly reduced to four to five layers, and then two to three.

Li Yao pleasantly discovered that along with the reduction of armor, his speed was rapidly elevating and his endurance, with the help of [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], was frantically improving. At best, under the wanton bombardment of Ding Lingdang, he could hold on for an entire two minutes!

On the thirteenth day, Li Yao, with the help of his crystal processor-like computational ability and his stronger body cultivated via [Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining], could occasionally withstand three minutes of Ding Lingdang’s crazy attacks.

Ding Lingdang was incomparably astonished by his transformation. She was also getting more and more satisfied with him being her sparring partner. Every day, the two would train once in the morning and once in the evening. Although Li Yao was completely suppressed, at the very least, he wasn’t knocked out in a second and could also put up a struggle once in awhile.

Originally Li Yao thought that with such high intense combat training, his progress in refining skills would be affected

However, the results were contrary to his expectation.

Every time he was finished sparring with Ding Lingdang, his brain was particularly active and his thinking was especially sharp. Many times, the problems he was unable to solve were often smoothly solved.

Many bright ideas would frantically flash inside his brain, even in the midst of battling Ding Lingdang when she was punching him.

It seems that the human body and brain perfectly complemented each other.

A strong body would, in turn, stimulate the brain to become even more powerful.

Needless to say, frantically calculating Ding Lingdang’s line of attack under the super perceptive state was in itself a terrifying exercise for the brain!

Just like this, Li Yao had not only earned many credits from Ding Lingdang, but he was also progressing steadily as he cleared several difficult refining specialized courses, allowing his total credits to almost reach the 10,000 mark.

Unknowingly, the first semester was about to finish.

Finally, Li Yao had completed the final modification plan and was preparing to modify his very own first crafting furnace.

He had everything worked out. By the end of the semester, he would be finished modifying the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, and during the winter break, he was also not planning to return to the Floating Spear City; on the contrary, he, while taking advantage of the quiet and serene institute, had decided to conveniently craft a few magical equipment.

While waiting for the beginning of the next semester when he could vigorously sweep the credits!

For an entire three days, Li Yao was holed up in the warehouse, blankly staring at the scattered wreckages.

Under his fierce gaze that appeared as though it could even melt steel, every piece of cold wreckage seemed to have come to life as they struggled, jumped, and danced.

Upon the break of dawn on the fourth day, Li Yao stood up and took a long deep breath before he finished a whole set of exercises, following which he slowly and unperturbedly exercised his wrist, which made “crack crack” sounds.

…

In the morning seven days later, an enormous luxurious flying shuttle entered the space of Wild Waves City.

Sitting inside which were 20 odd 17 to 18 years old teenagers, whose curiosity could not be abated even by the biting cold of the cold winds as they kept on chattering and getting surprised by everything.

“Wow, so many floating mountains! The Grand Desolate War Institution is worthy of being one of the Nine Elite Universities. Although it is ranked last, it still can not be underestimated!”

“Check that out! Two cultivators seem to be practicing sword play in the sky. Wow! So fast—I can’t even see their shadow!”

“I wonder if the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, which we have to visit, will also have such a spectacular floating mountain. Do they also have some experts? I am truly looking forward to it!”

“Looking forward to what? It seems that you were not seriously listening to the class. Let me tell you, the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is the worst department among the nine elite universities. Moreover, just half a year ago, they had suffered a serious accident in which their entire floating mountain was blown up. It is simply too horrible to look at.”

“It can’t be! Even the floating mountain exploded? So why are we visiting such a place?”

“Professor Jin Quan, you graduated from Deep Sea University this year, so you must be well informed regarding news of the refiners’ community. What’s this all about Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department? Why must Elder Lei bring us to visit it?”

All the teenagers turned their gaze towards a corner at the forefront upon a young man who had a bit of prideful aura around him.

These teenagers were all third-year student of the “Empyrean Terminus Central High School”.

And the young man who had graduated from the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department this year was Jin Quan, who was also an inner disciple of the Empyrean Terminus Sect and also gave introductory courses in refining to the students.

The Empyrean Terminus Sect was relatively traditional. Since the time it was established, it had always focused on developing various kinds of crafting furnace as their main form of business and would rarely be involved in other fields. It was an out-and-out refining sect.

A majority of the parents of Empyrean Terminus Central High School’s students were a member of Empyrean Terminus Sect or at the very least staff employed by the various enterprises under the Empyrean Terminus Sect. They were all engaged in refining related work.

Therefore, the Empyrean Terminus Central High School was completely different from comprehensive high schools like the Crimson Nimbus Second. The Empyrean Terminus Central High School was a high school which especially focused on fostering refining geniuses; it was a little bit like a specialized institute.

Every year, many students of the Empyrean Terminus Central High School would be admitted into the Refining Departments of the Nine Elite Universities. They were also a little bit aware of the news regarding the ongoings in the refiners’ community, and that was also the reason why they knew that the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department was the worst among the Nine Elite Universities.

Jin Quan heaved a sigh as he spread out his hands and said rather helplessly:

“Students, the Grand Desolate War Institution is known for fostering body practitioners and sword cultivators, and its Department of Medicine and Cultural Department also has a certain level of fame. The floating mountains you just saw belonged to the key departments, so of course, they would look spectacular.

“The department we are about to visit is the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, which is also the worst Refining Department in the entire federation. Moreover, after the horrifying accident, it is left with a single professor and student. Everybody should be able to imagine a bit what it would look like. Please prepare yourself so that you will not be dumbfounded and turned speechless and lose the face of our Empyrean Terminus Sect!”

“What?”

All the students stood up: “A single professor and student? There is such a wondrous department? Why exactly are we going there?!”

Jin Quan forced a smile as he gestured everyone to sit down:

“Students, please be patient. Our Empyrean Terminus Sect’s highly respected Elder Lie Yongming brought everybody to expand your horizons. So of course, there are some things which everyone will admire. At the very least, there will be three things which you can’t find in any other university. Everyone, please keep your eyes wide open or you might miss them.”

“How can there be three things in the worst Refining Department of the Nine Elite Universities which can not be found in any other university? Something that even the Deep Sea University does not have?!”

“Yes, even the Deep Sea University doesn’t have it!” Jin Quan face was laced with a weird look while his eyes wore a smile.

“Professor Jin, don’t keep us waiting, please do tell!”

Jin Quan had piqued everyone’s curiosity completely.

Raising his finger vertically, Jin Quan slowly and leisurely said:

“First is the only working 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace in the entire federation!”

“Wow!”

All the students were completely enlivened.

In the history of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace was a very important classical crafting furnace.

Some two centuries ago, the Empyrean Terminus Sect was just a third-grade sect which was struggling to maintain its existence amidst the brutal competition between various sects.

Only when their research came to fruition and they had developed the 1st Generation Tai’e classical furnace did they emerge from their predicament, becoming bigger and stronger. Now, they could even be considered in the ranks of first-grade sects.

Therefore, many of the older generation clansmen of the Empyrean Terminus Sect had very deep feelings for the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace, which was even referred to as the “greatest treasure of the sect”!

However, the classical style would always be outdated, so then came the 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and so on. And now, the 9th Generation Tai’e furnace was put in use, while the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace was long out of use.

Today, the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace could only be found in some museums which specialized in collecting crafting furnaces as well as the history museum of the Empyrean Terminus Sect itself, where it was meticulously preserved as an antique.

As for an operating 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, that could not necessarily be found in the entire federation even when one searched for it.

However, who knew that five days ago, the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department would suddenly send a modification approval application to the Empyrean Terminus Sect.

Fortunately, the Empyrean Terminus Sect recognized that it was the outdated 1st Generation Tai’e furnace!

Chapter 158: The Three Treasures of the Grand Desolate War Institution

Conducting modifications to a crafting furnace was a sort of convention amongst the circle of refiners.

Every refiner possessed their own unique methods and habits, so their requirements for their smelting furnaces varied broadly.

The Empyrean Terminus Sect was a sect that produced crafting furnaces such as these as their primary business. While they offered modification services of their own, they wouldn’t restrict others from modifying the crafting furnaces produced by their sect.

That would be equivalent to pushing business out the door.

However, there existed an enormous problem when one sought to modify their crafting furnace by oneself. What if the crafting furnace malfunctions after the modification? What if the refined magical equipment product doesn’t match the standards? What if it even causes a serious accident like the furnace exploding? Then who, in the end, would take the blame?

It would be unclear whether the issue would lay with the body of the crafting furnace itself or the modification process.

Therefore, it was okay to perform self-modifications; however, after the modification, a refiner from the Empyrean Terminus Sect must personally conduct an examination. After checking that the furnace meets the standards, the refiner would imprint a special spirit glyph of approval onto the furnace.

This spirit glyph was proof of the Empyrean Terminus Sect’s approval that the modification was a success.

If the furnace didn’t pass the examination, the Empyrean Terminus Sect had to point out in detail where the problem laid in the modification. If the client was unconvinced of the decision, he could likely apply for arbitration from the Refiners’ Association.

The Empyrean Terminus Sect received several hundred of these modification approval applications a year. This was also every day business for the sect.

However, the modification works over the past several years were mostly focused on the 6th generation of the Tai’e furnace and above, the advanced models. Even the 2nd and 3rd generation Tai’e models were rarely seen.

No one expected that someone would modify a 1st Generation Tai’e furnace and even produce it!

The Mountain Sea Sect nearly scrapped the transfer of the 1st generation Tai’e furnace to the Grand Desolate War Institution. The Empyrean Terminus Sect had just an inkling of knowledge on the matter. Last time they helped dig out the blueprints.

However, at the time, the Empyrean Terminus Sect, from top to bottom, believed that the Grand Desolate War Institution was buying them to study them for a bit, for the purpose of becoming educational materials used in courses such as “Classical Structures of Crafting Furnaces”.

It was a university after all. It was quite normal for them to collect antique furnaces.

Who knew that the Grand Desolate War Institution was actually preparing to use a 1st Generation Tai’e furnace for refining and had even submitted an application of approval. Wasn’t their situation pretty bad?

The Empyrean Terminus Sect, from top to bottom, lamented for a time. They just sent Jin Quan, the newcomer who had just graduated from the Refining Department of Deep Sea University, to execute the examination assignment.

In any case, the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace had a thoroughly simple structure. Jin Quan, with the strength of being at the 9th level of the Refinement Stage, was more than enough.

This matter had ended there, but somehow, the person with the oldest seniority, Elder Lei Yongming, had caught wind of this information.

This old man turned 180 years old this year. Even though this old man had only cultivated to the middle stages of the Foundation Stage, his seniority in the sect was so much that he had looked after several elders as they grew up. He even clearly remembered what the elders looked like in their diapers. He naturally held a different position from the others.

From the perspective of a refiner of the older generation like Lei Yongming, they had personally experienced the era when the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace had brought great splendor, so much so that they had even personally refined the components of the 1st Generation Tai’e before. The 1st generation Tai’e had long since become a symbol in their eyes.

Once this old man heard that there was actually a 1st Generation Tai’e put in production on this day, he was emotionally moved beyond control on the spot. Not only was he about to jump forth and go along with Jin Quan, he also wanted Empyrean Terminus Central High School to organize a batch of their top students to come along and take part.

Quoting this old man’s words, they had to let these little rascals experience for a bit just how difficult the older generation of the Empyrean Terminus Sect had it, and yet, despite these difficulties, the Empyrean Terminus Sect was able to refine magical equipment that were extremely durable and everlasting. They had to let these rascals know just how glorious it was to be a younger generation of the Empyrean Terminus Sect!

Jin Quan, as a new generation, naturally scoffed at the opinions of this old man.

From his perspective, idle time would be better off spent organizing a tour over at Deep Sea University’s Refining Department for the students. What was there to see at Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, this damned place?

But who said that this old man was a person of good standing and prestige? Even the elders didn’t dare to utter a sound in face of Lei Yongming, so what choice did Jin Quan have?

Well, if the old man wants to come, then he’ll accompany him. In any case, things were fine as long as this old man roars with happiness.

Currently, this old man had been invited by Professor Yuan Manqiu of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department to exchange some words. Jin Quan’s temper became a bit agitated and impatient. He wasn’t subtle; there naturally wasn’t a need to conceal his thoughts from these half grown kids.

Speaking of which, the anti-gravity shuttle slowly entered the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

Despite having done mental preparations ahead of time, the students were still stupefied by the scene of desolation before their eyes.

“My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, right? Let’s not even talk about the floating mountain. Even this building is on the verge of collapse. Is this really one of the Nine Elite Universities?”

“It’s simply a sheet of ruin! A junkyard!”

“Look! There’s even a statue erected in the middle of the junkyard. It’s a big jumbled mess. What the heck is it?”

The students fussed about loudly, venting the shock in their hearts as much as they could.

Jin Quan laughed in contempt. He shot a sneer at the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit not far away:

“Fellow students, this is the second thing that you can absolutely not see anywhere else. It’s a crystal suit. A crystal suit solely refined by the Grand Desolate War Institution!”

“Crystal suit?”

All the students were stirred up.

Everyone was a top student at Empyrean Terminus Central High School that wanted to one day grow on the path of refining. Naturally, they weren’t unfamiliar towards large-scale magical equipment platforms like the crystal suit, and they knew the difficulty of refining a crystal suit.

“Even Deep Sea University’s Refining Department would find it difficult to refine a new model of crystal suit. So the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department also wants to refine a crystal suit?”

“No wonder they had an accident! They are really too risky, too radical!”

The students gossiped all at once with wagging tongues.

Jin Quan waited for the students to talk their fill before speaking leisurely:

“That’s right. The crystal suit is an extremely complicated magical equipment system. Based on the level of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, they’re absolutely incapable of refining a true crystal suit, and yet, they recklessly and forcefully tried to refine it. You all have seen how the results went.”

“It’s a lesson! A profound lesson!”

“Even if it is fine to defy the heavens when cultivating, one must wield an attitude of brandishing the sword, of slaughtering tigers and dragons, of slaying gods and annihilating buddhas when walking on the road of cultivation.”

“However, sometimes, manpower is exhausted. In the end, this isn’t something that could be accomplished with recklessness. The consequences of overestimating one’s capabilities are as severe as you see!”

Someone raised his hand: “Teacher Jin, what’s the third thing?”

Jin Quan sneered as his eyes glanced with a hint of cold intent:

“The third thing isn’t a thing—it’s a person. An ignorant and fearless mad amateur who doesn’t know how high the heavens are and how deep the earth is. He is the sole student of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.”

The bold, visionary words spoken by Li Yao back in Floating Spear City had long spread to Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

Even though Jin Quan had already graduated, he had also heard the rumors.

As a refiner who walked out of Deep Sea University, he naturally possessed extremely deep sentiments towards his alma mater and was brimming full of pride towards the four words “Holy Land of Refiners”.

Therefore, even though he hadn’t personally met Li Yao, Jin Quan was already filled with loathing towards this mad amateur who didn’t know the immensity of heaven and earth.

As soon as he reiterated Li Yao’s bold and visionary words, every student became shocked.

“Way, way too egotistical, right?”

“He just got the top score in a city, it isn’t that amazing. There are many several thousands of major cities in the Federation!”

“He wants to challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department all by himself? That’s nothing more than a pipe dream!”

Everyone was a youngster with racing hot blood. They didn’t reject typical, lofty aspirations.

But looking at Li Yao’s declaration of war that seemed to break away from reality and juxtaposing it with unbearable, tragic scene of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, Li Yao was looking more like a gargantuan joke.

Jin Quan laughed:

“What do you think? Teacher Jin didn’t trick you guys, right?”

“A 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace still in operation, the remains of a crystal suit that resembles dregs, and add in an ignorant and fearless mad amateur to the mix. These are the three treasures of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, the only ones of its existence with no others like it!”

The students nodded their heads over and over; however, there was one student who couldn’t help lamenting:

“Fortunately, we’ve seen it with our own eyes. Otherwise, what if we carelessly applied for the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department after getting a poor score? Then we would be screwed!”

Jin Quan laughed loudly:

“Everyone, go ahead and relax. Something like that would never ever happen. That is because the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution will already be abolished when you fill out the matriculation form!”

The floating mountain slowly descended in the corner of the ruins while Jin Quan was talking.

Ahead was the warehouse for dangerous goods that had been remodeled into a refining workshop.

Elder Yongming of the Empyrean Terminus Sect had arrived a step earlier; he was already at the entrance of the warehouse discussing scientific topics with Yuan Manqiu. The two chatted, radiating with delight; they were in high spirits.

Jin Quan coughed lightly, winked his eye, and laughed:

“Everyone, fellow students! I’m not that far in age from you all. I only said these words because I consider everyone to be a friend. If Elder Lei hears of this, then I’m screwed! No one will tattle on me, right?”

Everyone exchanged smiles when these words were spoken.

Quite a few boys shook their heads on the spot:

“Of course not. We’re good friends with little Teacher Jin, so how would someone leak out everyone’s private conversation?”

Jin Quan graduated from a famous school. This young lad grew up to be quite handsome, and he also had a lively nature. He was rather popular back in high school and was the target of adoration of quite a few high school students. They all took him to be a big brother, so they talked rather casually.

Jin Quan nodded his head and spoke a few more words:

“Fellow students, even though the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution is incomparably crappy, I estimate that their modified crafting furnace will be baffling as well.”

“Anyway, when truly meeting someone else face to face, you must still show a bit of respect. You must not, by all means, cause the Empyrean Terminus Sect to lose face.”

“Stifle anything that’s funny inside your stomachs for me. Wait until we’re on the way back to slowly have a good laugh. Don’t embarrass the host in their faces.”

“What’s more, this planned tour was still suggested by Elder Lei. If we really laugh on the spot, we wouldn’t be giving face to Elder Lei, right?”

“It’s true that Elder Lei is a man with a good temperament. He won’t bicker about with you babies, but when we get back to the Empyrean Terminus Sect, mommy and daddy will smack your butt till it’s mush!”

The students nodded their heads one after another:

“Understood, Teacher Jin. We will certainly bear it no matter what we see!”

“Excellent, everyone get off the vehicle. Let’s see what kind of modified 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution can produce!”

Jin Quan’s spirit was exploding. He brought the high school students to jump off the flying shuttle.

Lei Yongming was almost two hundred years old. He engaged in refining work year in and year out. His entire body was lean and swarthy. He looked like an old village farmer that had spent too much time outside exposed to the scorching sun.

But the silver hair that filled his head glistened and shone. It was impossible to find one that was dark, making him exhibit a somewhat supernatural presence.

Lei Yongming had quite a good mood. Chuckling, he asked:

“Jin Quan, have you gone over the customs with the students about entering the refining workshop?”

Jin Quan nodded his head:

“Everything has been explained clearly. I told them that they can’t touch and move willy-nilly within the refining workshop and that they need to listen before they act.”

Lei Yongming was completely satisfied. He stroke his goat-like beard:

“That’s good. I talked a bit with Professor Yuan of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department just now. I discovered that the modifications done on their 1st Generation Tai’e furnace contain several novel ideas. It seems somewhat different than what I had imagined. Well, enough talk. Let’s ask Professor Yuan to bring us in for a look!”

“It is us who should be asking an Empyrean Terminus Sect’s elder of the older generation for guidance.”

Yuan Manqiu had spoken with a smile. She waved her plump hands to the numerous youngsters: “Students of Empyrean Terminus Central High School, please follow me. A yellow line has been marked out on the ground. It will be fine for you all to just stand behind this yellow line.”

Jin Quan looked back and mouthed to the students, indicating: “Bear with it. By all means, bear with it.”

“Bang!”

The large door to the warehouse opened.

The group of people strutted inside.

Chapter 159: The Monster within a Jungle of Steel

“Whoa…”

When the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace modified by Li Yao appeared in front of everyone’s eyes, everyone from the Empyrean Terminus Sect, including the experienced and knowledgeable senior refiner Lei Yongming, took in a cold breath, sinking into a sluggish state.

What they saw was absolutely not a crafting furnace but a steel jungle!

The occupied space exceeded forty meters, and the height exceeded twenty meters. The crisscross steel structure formed a mysterious and profound maze. Countless crystal fibers climbed upon the steel frame like vines, while magical equipment units were like bird nests rigged up one after another in the depths of the steel jungle. The various rainbow colors of richness and diversity suddenly flickered between brightness and darkness from the crystals, emitting an elegant radiance. It made this steel jungle seem as if it possessed life and was breathing right now.

A rough scan would yield more than thirty magical equipment units, which far exceeded the design limits of the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace!

The refining styles between the various magical equipment units and components were as different as night and day; some were exquisite and delicate, while others were coarse and bold. Yet, they were forcibly entwined together by crystal fibers, manifesting a sort of unbridled ugliness.

Quite a few magical equipment units had radiator systems and gas conduction vents arranged around them that bubbled huge clouds of steam as it let out a humming cry. They pervaded the air like miasma, causing the steel jungle to look enigmatic. It seemed as if a monster could appear at any moment from within the depths of the miasma.

“This, what the heck is this!?”

“They took several dozen different styles of crafting furnaces and recklessly assembled them all together! It looks just like a mutated monster!”

Jin Quan recovered from his very initial period of shock. A feeling of absurdness to the extreme was born in Jin Quan’s mind.

“Even if the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution is the headquarters for grassroots refiners, this thing is way too grassroots!”

He took a peek behind him. Quite a few students looked like they were waking from a dream, all of them revealed odd expressions.

A plump boy was holding it in so much that his face flushed red, and his shoulders shook up and down; he wanted to laugh, but he didn’t dare to.

No one was unfamiliar with refining. They knew that things like magical equipment weren’t something that one could take several powerful functioning units and piece together to create a completed form that was even more powerful.

Inside laid the most important issue of compatibility and integration as a whole.

The monster level crafting furnace before their eyes was quite frightening at first glance and carried a lot of powerful magical equipment units.

But despite the style and even the operational principles of these magical equipment being as different as night and day, they still carelessly assembled together. How would compatibility be handled? What about the flow of operation? Wouldn’t a malfunction occur every three to five minutes?

The shock within Jin Quan and all the students’ eyes scattered when they tried to understand this point and was instead replaced by a faint hint of contempt.

Fortunately, the students still remembered the instruction given out by Jin Quan. There was no one who laughed on the spot; it’s just that their faces turned red one after another. They looked at each other in dismay, using gazes to exchange the ridicule they had in the depths of their minds.

Only Lei Yongming, this elder, was unable to take his eyes off of it. He gazed into the depths of the steel jungle, seeming rather pensive as he mumbled:

“Professor Yuan, this crafting furnace you all have altered… is rather complicated!”

Yuan Manqiu chuckled. She pulled up the performance parameters from a crystal processor and directed the hologram towards Lei Yongming and Jin Quan:

“Please look you two. After going through our modification, the final performance parameters of the 1st Generation Tai’e are as such.”

Old Lei Yongming skimmed over it with his eyes. His expression was somewhat astonished, and the liver spots on his forehead suddenly flared.

Jin Quan’s sophistication didn’t run this deep. With just a glance of an eye, it was as if he was stung ferociously by a Hemorrhage Wasp. He shouted:

“What!? The furnace temperature increases from room temperature to above 6000 degrees in less than a minute!? The end limits of fluctuation in temperature reaches 500 degrees every second!? A single furnace can be divided into nine refining compartments of different temperatures!? It can simultaneously handle 180 jobs at once as its maximum!?”

“H-H-How the heck is this still a 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace? It simply matches a 6th Generation Tai’e crafting furnace in overall performance!”

“For some parameters, it’s even more powerful and ferocious than a 6th Generation Tai’e—no, more than a 7th Generation Tai’e!”

“There’s also this section. If you disregard the wear and tear and operate it at its extreme limits, even the hardest horn of the Mystic Steel-Bone Rhinoceros can be refined!?”

“Even if you really took so many remains of advanced crafting furnaces and pieced them together, forcefully reaching this kind of performance, it absolutely wouldn’t last long. It would be scrapped after a maximum use of one or two times, and it might even explode!”

Jin Quan’s face flushed red to his ears, his neck swelled out by a factor, and his speech grew faster and faster. He used chattering to mask the super-powerful shock in his heart.

And after hearing the series of magnificent performance parameters, the numerous youngsters behind him were even more stupefied; they were completely flabbergasted.

Just based on this pile of junk, some performance parameters actually overtook the newest generation of crafting furnace by the Empyrean Terminus Sect?

How! Is! This! Possible!?

Old Lei Yongming leaned close to the hologram, studying it in great seriousness:

“Professor Yuan, you are an expert of the refiner’s circle whose reputation has spread far and wide. This old man naturally wouldn’t suspect the crafting furnace that you have modified. It really does have such magnificent performance.”

“However, when checking whether or not a crafting furnace meets standards, one aspect that needs to be looked at is the extreme performance limits. Another aspect that also needs to be looked at is its stability.

“Can you bring out the blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams out for everyone to study a bit? Let’s look at it from the perspective of theory and calculate the output of its performance. Let’s see whether or not it can maintain stability.”

Yuan Manqiu laughed candidly:

“That much is obvious. Since we need to get the approval of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, the blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams will certainly be brought out for you two to examine. However, there’s one matter that Old Lei needs to know about… This crafting furnace wasn’t modified by me. I didn’t have a single hand in it from beginning to end. From the very initial proposal of modification to drawing the blueprints to tightening every single clamping bolt, it was solely all done by my disciple. It will be better to ask him to come and briefly explain it to you.”

Old Lei Yongming didn’t respond for a time. His face revealed skepticism:

“I heard that your refining department only has one new student who just entered the school. Could it be that Professor Yuan has an even more outstanding disciple outside of school?”

Yuan Manqiu shook her head. She spoke without fooling around:

“Nope. I only have this one student. My heart will be perfectly content if I can finish teaching him. This crafting furnace was solely modified by my disciple, Li Yao, from beginning to end. I didn’t even touch a single nail. Li Yao? Li Yao!”

The two words “Li Yao” were like two vicious, heavy fists. They exploded against Jin Quan, causing him to be on the verge of collapse.

He forcefully shook his head to compose himself and yelled wildly in his heart:

‘The heck you talking big for? A new student who just entered the school for half a year can complete such a complicated modification? And can conjure out such magnificent performance? Yuan Manqiu must be giving him instructions from behind. A hands on teaching!’

In regards to Yuan Manqiu, this former Deep Sea Goddess, Yin Quan still didn’t dare to have contempt for her.

If performance such as this had conjured out from Yuan Mannequin’s hands, then there was a 1% chance of its possibility.

But if it was just based on Li Yao, this ignorant and fearless mad amateur?

Not even a 0.01% possibility would exist!

‘H-Humph, I was originally going to give you all a bit of face by saying a few random words just for show and be done with it, but I never thought you all would make a pile of scrap metal such as this.You even dared to talk big, calling to attention such exaggerated performance parameters. And now you even say that it was modified by a new first-year student. Not to mention that it’s that Li Yao who doesn’t know how high the heavens are and how deep the earth runs!’

‘You think that can escape me!?’

‘When you take out those blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams out, I’ll randomly point out a few crucial areas. A kid such as yourself certainly wouldn’t have a clue of what’s going on. You’ll just disgrace yourself in front of everyone.’

‘You even want to wage war with our Deep Sea University’s Refining Department? Dream on!’

Jin Quan settled on his plan. His eyes flashed with a streak of light as the corner of his mouth hooked into a sneer.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Following Yuan Manqiu’s shout came the sound of footsteps that shook mountains and moved the earth from behind the steel jungle.

It was as if an enormous beast was slowly walking over from within the depths of the miasma.

“What the heck? Whose footsteps can be this heavy, liken to that of a demon beast?”

The students looked at each other in dismay. Their brain cells were a bit insufficient right now.

Even though Teacher Jin warned and injucted by all means to hold in whatever they see… However…

It was really difficult to bear!

Sometime later, a youth with a stature that was neither tall nor large came boring out from the steam. His appearance on stage made everyone’s eyeballs completely bulge out!

The contours of his muscles were revealed quite clearly on his upper body, yet they were not excessive. Right now, he was in the middle of concentrating his attention on studying the hologram filled with formulas. His left hand just casually carried an enormous metal box.

Written atop of the metal box was: “Black Copper Ore, One Ton!”

Black copper ore was the number one most commonly used consumable resource when refining. It can aid in increasing the furnace temperature in a flash.

The biggest property of the black copper ore was its super high density. Its weight was extremely heavy, and just the size of a fist would weigh several dozen kilograms. Generally, magical equipment was used to transport them.

“Boom!”

Li Yao placed the metal box filled to the brim with black copper ores to the side. The intense jolt made the bottom of everyone’s foot numb.

It looked like a ton of black copper ore was honestly within the box!

“It can’t be… He can actually lift a ton of raw material with one hand, and from his appearance, it looked like he didn’t even need to use much effort at all to do so. He isn’t even sweating!”

In our Empyrean Terminus Sect, we would obviously use magical equipment to carry such heavy objects. Who the heck would carry it directly by hand!?”

“Where the heck did this monstrous fellow spawn from in the end? He has such enormous strength, yet he wants to be some refiner. Wouldn’t it be better for him to go to the wasteland and slay demon beasts?”

The students all felt a chill run down their spine. When seeing Li Yao walk over, a few of the weak natured students couldn’t help but retreat a step back as their necks withdrew back.

Yuan Manqiu resisted the urge to smile with difficulty. She spoke with a face filled with sincerity:

“I’m truly, terribly sorry to make you two see this ridiculous scene. Our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department just encountered a tragic accident, so most of our funds have been used to compensate the families of the victims. The remaining money must all be used on a blade’s edge. In addition, this is nothing for my disciple. He just wields stupid strength. If he can carry it, he’ll carry it. This saves buying an assistance magical artifact and conserves a bit of our funds!”

Lei Yongming’s lips trembled. He really didn’t know what would be proper to say.

This famous, old refiner, who has many experiences and knowledge, had his heart in a bit of a mess.

Jin Quan’s scalp was becoming even number, and his hair was standing straight up.

Li Yao finalized the final parameter and walked two steps towards the crowd. He suddenly stood fixed and bent his head to listen for a second.

He discovered that the sound of a set of radiator systems expelling steam was a bit ear-piercing.

He muttered to himself for a moment and calculated for three seconds with half-squinting eyes. Li Yao walked towards the right side of the steel jungle, taking his hand to reach out to the clamping bolt fastening a radiator system.

“What the heck is he up to?”

Everyone was at a loss. If he wanted to loosen or tighten the bolt, wouldn’t he need a wrench?

This bolt was the size of a fist and was already tightened dead-tight. It would be hard to loosen it even with a wrench.

To deal with this kind of clamping bolt within the Empyrean Terminus Sect, every case would need the use of a specialty magical equipment that relied on spiritual energy to complete the job.

It can’t be that he actually wants… to use his bare hands to loosen the bolt, right?

Chapter 160: Tit For Tat

Are you kidding!?

Needless to say, the clamping bolt was already tightly secured and was absolutely impossible to loosen easily. What’s more was that it was a clamping bolt for a radiator system, whose metal components were extremely hot!

Under the panic-stricken gazes of everyone, Li Yao formed a claw using his fingers and lightly grabbed onto the clamping bolt. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly applied force.

In the blink of an eye, everyone felt as if a needle was ruthlessly pricking their eardrums.

It was as though a demon beast had suddenly emerged from the darkness and released an oppressive aura.

Many students let out an “Ah!” as their face revealed a horrified look.

Li Yao’s stature suddenly doubled in size. While his muscles bulged, his right arm, in particular, was simply double the size of just a moment ago, and his skin seemed to shine with a metallic gloss as though it was a rudimentary form of steel which had just taken out of the furnace after undergoing through repeated tempering!

One after another, thick green veins that were wrapped around his right arm bulged and slowly spread to his fingers. Li Yao’s arm was akin to a metal claw; with just a light bit of force, it made the clamping bolt emit “Creak Creak!” sounds. Much to everyone’s dismay, Li Yao had forcibly rotated the clamping bolt by one-third of a circle!

The unimaginable, ear-piercing sound of steam escaping from the radiator suddenly turned softer, as though the unruly, giant steel beast had been put to sleep and was now gently “breathing”.

“This…”

If one was not watching with their own eyes, none of these teenagers would have believed that such a thing was possible.

This monster had actually tightened the clamping bolt by almost half a circle with just his hand?

Had he gone to the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine to learn some hand technique or grafted a demon beast’s claw onto his shoulder?

“Professor Jin, this guy is very strong!”

A few of the students could not help but speak to Jin Quan in a low voice.

The corners of Jin Quan’s eyes started to twitch as a grim look appeared on his face.

Elder Lie Yongming look at Yuan Manqiu with a bit of surprise as he said, “The clamping bolts are the foundation of a large-scale magical equipment system and one has to pay particular attention to them. Sometimes, just slight unwinding of the bolt would affect the stability of the entire crafting furnace.”

“Of course, it would save effort to use a wrench, but it lacks a subtle feeling of touch through which you can determine whether the screw is in place or not.”

“Using fingers, on the other hand, can let you feel the slightest bit of change, allowing you to screw the clamping bolts perfectly!”

The elder heaved a sigh and continued:

“This is the ideology of the older generation refiners. In contrast, the modern generation of refiners have mastered various advanced magical equipment which would display all kinds of data, so why would they even bother using their own fingers to get a feel?”

“Professor Yuan, your disciple is truly out of the norm.”

Yuan Manqiu gave a smile as she shouted, “Li Yao, let me introduce you to everyone!”

Flinging his arm, Li Yao’s stature, in the blink of an eye, returned to its normal form, completely devoid of any hints of the hideous appearance he had a moment ago.

He gave off the impression as though what he did was common practice. Very calmly and unperturbedly, he walked towards everyone.

He had hardly realized that his terrifying performance had already scared some of the teenagers and had caused their legs to go limp!

“Come here, let me introduce you to Elder Lie Yongming of the Empyrean Terminus Sect. He is a highly respected and prestigious senior in our refiners’ community.”

Yuan Manqiu said with a smile. Following that, she continued with emphasis: “This is Jin Quan, today’s inspector. Not only is he a top student of Deep Sea University who had just graduated this year, but he is also a direct disciple of Supernova Jiang Shen. And as Jiang Sheng is my junior brother, in terms of seniority, you two are also related by senior brother and junior brother relation. Today is a good opportunity to let your Senior Brother Jin give you some pointers!”

Li Yao’s eyes immediately lit up.

It was as though an utterly bored vulture gliding in the sky had suddenly found a prey that was grazing on the ground.

The disciple of Supernova Jiang Sheng!

Jiang Sheng was not only the leading figure among the younger generation in the elite faction of the refiners’ community, but he was also the one who had acted unscrupulously during the memorial ceremony in the Grand Desolate War Institution, which had deeply hurt Li Yao, causing Li Yao to have an urge to have a showdown with him.

However, Jiang Sheng had already achieved fame and success and had a very high status, so naturally, he would not place Li Yao’s challenge in his eyes.

Therefore, he was first going to use this so-called “Senior Brother Jin” to actually determine how big of a gap there was after his half year of painstaking study!

Li Yao’s eyes were suddenly set ablaze, and all of his ten fingers were slighting twitching; he was completely excited.

Jin Quan squinted his eyes. A cold look which seemed to be congealed out of the essence of ice picks appeared in the depths of his eyes.

“Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!”

When the two met eye-to-eye, sparks seemed to be shooting in all directions.

Even the teenagers from the Empyrean Terminus Central High School felt the oppressive atmosphere. It was as though two experts were in a confrontation, and murderous intentions seemed to be surging in the back.

“Wow, I wonder who is going to win between Professor Jin and this weirdo?!”

“Bullshit! Of course, it’s going to be Professor Jin. Professor Jin was a top-grade student of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. No matter how powerful this weirdo is, this isn’t some fight, so what’s the use of being stronger?”

All the teenagers, one by one, broke into a discussion while secretly cheering for Professor Jin in their hearts.

In their eyes, Jin Quan was the most powerful refiner. No one was his opponent, not to mention some muscle-brained weirdo.

“Junior Brother Li, today, I, on behalf of the Empyrean Terminus Sect, am going to inspect the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace. Let us first talk about work, and as for chatting in regards to camaraderie, let’s hold onto it for later. Can I trouble you to show us the blueprints and spiritual energy flow chart? Let your senior brother teach you a thing or two!”

Jin Quan could not wait to let Li Yao make a fool of himself.

Li Yao nodded as he frankly replied, “But of course. But I wonder which part’s blueprint does Senior Brother Jin want to see first?”

“Which part?” Jin Quan scoffed.

The structure of the 1st Generation Tai’e Furnace was quite simple; it only had a total of a hundred or so blueprints, so even if it had gone through six or seven modifications, it could be no more than two to three hundred.

With Jin Quan’s strength, simultaneously studying a couple dozen blueprints was simply nothing.

“It’s alright for you to display all the blueprints and spiritual energy flow charts. I can look at them together, and it will also save some time,” Jin Quan said in a slightly impatient tone.

“Are you sure?” Li Yao was surprised for a moment.

“What’s there to be sure about? In my Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, simultaneously studying a couple blueprints is a basic skill,” Jin Quan sneered.

Li Yao nodded, and without saying another word, quickly entered a few keys on the crystal processor before he raised his wrist which pointed at the ceiling.

“Whoosh!”

As though a whole new world had burst forth from his crystal processor, over a thousand golden streams of light soared into the air and continued to spread before they interlaced with each other, mapping out thousands of abstruse and complex 3-dimensional blueprints as well as spiritual energy flow chart, giving off an impression of a golden sea of stars that was gradually revolving above everyone’s head.

“…”

The visual impact of the hologram put everyone in a trance for a moment.

Everyone’s face was glistening. Many students forcibly rubbed their eyes as if they had fallen into a magnificent dream.

“Senior Brother Jin, all 1,995 modification blueprints as well as the 1,786 spiritual energy flow charts of 1st Generation Tai’e furnace are here. Please give me pointers.”

Li Yao said with bright and shining eyes.

He could not wait to seek a bit of advice from the direct disciple of Supernova Jiang Sheng.

Jin Quan was dumbfounded.

When he stretched his neck to look above, his mouth was wide open while his gaze became a bit blurry.

Soybean-sized cold sweat freely trickled down his forehead, and very soon, his entire face was drenched in sweat.

He felt like a lonely boat lost in an ocean of 3,000 or so 3-dimensional diagrams.

He felt like a mouse which had been placed deep within a maze facing a bunch of fork roads. Not to mention exiting, the mouse was not even aware of where east, west, south, and north was!

Jin Quan was crazily shouting in his heart:

“So shameless, and yet, he says he didn’t receive any help from Yuan Manqiu?!”

“If not for Yuan Manqiu, then how could this muscle-brained idiot personally draw such blueprints!? Can a freshman who had not even been in the institute for over half a year draw 3,000 exquisite 3-dimensional diagrams?”

“Boasting also has a limit; otherwise, it is very easy to be trampled upon by others. Now let me bust you right here!”

In the blink of an eye, Jin Quan’s countenance turned extremely serious.

Jin Quan started muttering some incantation while his pupils slightly dilated and an azure radiance gushed out from the depths of his eyes, forming ring after ring surrounding his pupils.

“Azure Ringed Iris” was a unique technique of the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department which enhances the visual acuity as well as the analysis of complex 3-dimensional blueprints!

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Five rings surrounding the pupils of Jin Quan appeared while his eyeball quickly turned as he took a fleeting glimpse at tens of blueprints before he got a complete view of them.

Gradually, the corner of his lips started to rise as a sliver of a confident smile appeared on them.

“Junior Brother Li!”

Jin Quan, with a face beaming with a smile, said while drawing out his tone, “Let’s take a look at Blueprint No. 109, in which the cooling tank you have depicted had clearly used the Exquisite Star Structure proposed by Elder Binghe of Ice Dragon Castle as reference. There is too much deviation, the main cooling tank and the sub-cooling tank are too close, and the arrangement of the condensing tube is all also somewhat redundant. After all, a lot of coolants are highly toxic and corrosive, and different coolants will conflict with each other, so your arrangement is rather irregular. In the case the coolants of the two cooling tanks happen to mix together, then I am afraid a huge problem will follow!”

Jin Quang heaved a sigh and sincerely said, “Although the cooling tank in the crafting furnace is comparatively less important and not so dazzling when compared to magical equipment units, it can not be ignored. It is directly related to the success and failure of the quenching process. I think you should first think of improving the layout of the cooling tank. As for the other parts, there is no need to look further.”

“Wow!”

A few high school students could not help but burst into praises. Professor Jin was too awesome—he had discovered such a huge problem so quickly!

After a moment of surprise, Li Yao said with a frown:

“Senior Brother Jin, my cooling tank layout did not use the Exquisite Star Arrangement at all, but rather the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement proposed by Daoist Master Scarlet Moon of Divine Magus Mountain 175 years ago. At first glance, the two arrangements indeed look somewhat similar, so it is pretty normal for even Senior Brother Jin to make a mistake.”

“What?!”

Even before the triumphant look on Jin Quan’s face could vanish, it was completely solidified from shock.

His first reaction was that it was absolutely impossible.

But when he recalled the structure of the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement from the depths of his memories and carefully reviewed it, only then did he realize that he was truly mistaken!

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, Jin Quan’s face was completely flushed red.

Even the most basic layout had confused him; this mistake could not be more rudimentary than any other rudimentary mistake, and that too in front of so many students.

Jin Quan could already hear many students gasping in disbelief.

Hesitatingly, he was about to speak, but in the end, didn’t. However, it was Elder Lie Yongming who came forward and fired a question with his pair eyes which were radiating in a strange brilliance:

“You actually know an unconventional layout like the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations Arrangement? Then do you also know that this layout has very serious flaws and is therefore discarded after being used for a few years? How did you solve those flaws?”

Chapter 161: A Showdown Between Refiners

“The Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations’ flaw is merely its excessively compact layout. It needs special array glyphs to control the circulation of the coolant, and this sort of special array glyph needs a specific suitable algorithm in order to bring out its greatest potential.”

“It was precisely because Daoist Master Scarlet Moon didn’t have a suitable algorithm that he gave up on this kind of elaborate layout.”

“And I just so happened to find several fresh algorithms from an ancient book which were then integrated with the modern Mustard Seed Algorithm, Solar Corona Nine Algorithm, and etc for a total of four modern algorithms, forming a computational cluster containing seven types of algorithms. The issue was barely able to be resolved in this way.”

“Elder Lei, please look!”

Li Yao swiped his finger, pulling Blueprint No.109 over. He endlessly tapped the enlarge button.

A series of densely packed formulas immediately appeared from the void.

“A computational cluster comprised of seven different algorithms?”

Every single liver spot on Lei Yongming’s face glistened as his pair of eyes suddenly turned clear, seemingly as if he was ten years younger. He concentrated his mind for a minute and beckoned at Li Yao, “Come come come. Youngster, let me ask you…”

From the perspective of all the students of Empyrean Terminus Central High School, the following ten minutes were dreadfully the hardest ten minutes for them to forget of their third year high school period.

Elder Lei Yongming crossed verbal swords with Li Yao—you come and I will lead. The speed of their words grew faster and faster, and they tossed out jargon endlessly one after another that was extremely rare and nearly unheard of. They were simply like two alien lifeforms from millions and millions of light years away quarreling in a different language and dialect.

Not only was their talk extravagant and elusive like the clouds and mist that cover the mountains and akin to falling into a dream, even their refining teacher, Jin Quan, who was the most awesome person in their eyes, stood to the side somewhat dully. He was barely able to stick in a question, and soon, the two people had their spittle splatter all over as they spoke to settle things. Once in awhile, the two people would toss out a problem or an algorithm that would cause Jin Quan to be at a loss for words. Even if he rolled his eyes for half a day, he wouldn’t necessarily receive an answer.

“What the heck? It looks like this weirdo knows more than Teacher Jin?”

“Grandpa Lei is the most senior and veteran refiner in our Empyrean Terminus Sect, and yet, he is even chatting with great exhilaration with this weirdo. It can’t be that this weirdo’s level of theory is on the same level as Grandpa Lei’s, right?”

“That’s impossible. This weirdo will get stumped by Grandpa Lei’s questions sooner or later. Just look. Grandpa Lei asked him about some Seven Stage Fire Variation Control problem and he can’t answer it!”

“That’s just not being able to answer a single question. Teacher Jin can’t even butt into the conversation!”

Even though the youngsters lowered their voices to the minimum, how could their words escape Jin Quan’s ears?

Jin Quan’s shame and humiliation reached its limits. It was as if a giant pair of invisible hands had launched a series of slaps from left to right, smacking him right in the face several dozens of times. His entire face was burning painfully.

If there was a crack in the ground, he would have certainly stabbed his way inside and never come out!

“Yuan Manqiu must have taught him ahead of time. She had him mechanically memorize this for the sake of demonstrating in front of me, a graduate of the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. That’s just how awesome their Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is!”

The more Jin Quan thought about this, the more reasonable he felt it was. His heart was venting his anger, and his back molars were nearly ground to pieces.

In the beginning, Elder Lei Yongming was only somewhat interested in the Mystic Spirit Seven Transformations. He never thought that this ancient layout, which was discarded over a hundred years ago, would actually still be used in practice by someone. Not to mention that this someone was such a young university student. He couldn’t help asking Li Yao some questions.

He never thought that things would become this uncontrollable. The two jumped from one topic to another, jumping from a structure that was a variation to another structure that had been adjusted. Elder Lei Yongming’s sentiments towards the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace ran very deep. If not for it, he wouldn’t have come to visit from distant lands. He probably never thought that the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace could actually be modified in such a wild way beyond all imagination. He was captivated for a time and even forgot that he was in the middle of an examination.

He only awoke from his dreamlike state ten seconds later. He brushed his head full of hair and spoke somewhat embarrassed:

“Pardon me, Jin Quan. It’s been quite a few years since this old man has encountered a modification proposal for a 1st Generation Tai’e, so I was excited by my memories when seeing this in front of me. I spoke a few extra words with our little friend Li Yao, interrupting your examination. Come come come. You can continue. Don’t hesitate to speak of any issues that still remains with these blueprints and spiritual energy flow diagrams!”

Jin Quan did not know whether to laugh or cry. My heart said that you, old grandfather, had raised all the crucial points just now, and this kid spoke so extravagantly. If I try nitpicking again, wouldn’t I be helping myself to dishonor?

Jin Quan grew all the more certain that the entire modification proposal came from Yuan Manqiu’s hands.

Perhaps Li Yao, this mad amateur, was somewhat gifted in the aspect of theory, but that wasn’t enough to complete such a complicated and exquisite modification!

In front of his many students, Jin Quan found it hard to rage. He forced himself to say:

“There aren’t any major problems with the structure and spiritual energy flow side of things. Let’s give a real time operation a shot then and see if the operational process is stable or not.”

Li Yao nodded his head. He walked in front of the control console.

“Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!” Seven translucent holograms suddenly lit up, surrounding him completely within.

Several thousand lines of control glyph-script emerged on the holograms, forming a super complicated, ring-shaped refining interface.

Cultivators refining magical equipment was different in nature from the steelmaking and iron forging of the common people.

There were at most a few dozen procedures in steelmaking and iron forging, and the temperature of the steelmaking furnace was usually maintained to be constant.

When cultivators refine magical equipment, they need to take several dozen or even several hundred different materials and fuse them together. The furnace’s temperature would vary over three to five times every second, and the temperature may need to be raised to be above a thousand degrees or dropped below zero each time.

When several hundred materials were placed within, with such switching of temperature every second, the tempering timing needs to be grasped perfectly… Even if it’s the simplest flying sword, the magical equipment would need to undergo several hundred procedures for the initial successful step in refining.

Because of this, it was possible for the control interface of the crafting furnace to be even more complicated than that of the main control interface of a crystal warship.

From the perspective of a refiner, this was the stage where their talent could be put to full use!

Li Yao shook his fingers in a not urgent yet not slow manner.

The scope of his movement was very small, yet it caused a series of pitter-patter to ring out like that of a firecracker going off. The power of the sound was quite terrifying.

“You guys guess, what kind of magical equipment will he refine?”

“Flying sword? Saber?”

A few high school students couldn’t help commentating in low voices.

Li Yao series of gorgeous performances just now had caused them to be a bit rattled. An inexplicable expectation was born from the bottom of their hearts.

“Don’t be stupid. Only the most common of swords could be formed with only a single go in the crafting furnace. I’m guessing he will refine a very complicated magical equipment component out of it, one with a dozen or so curved surfaces.”

Right at this time, Li Yao suddenly moved.

He was like a viper that had been hibernating in the depths of the underbrush; he changed from extreme stillness to extreme movements within the span of 0.1 seconds as his pair of hands suddenly transformed into two hurricanes that pounded crazily against the control glyph-script atop the translucent hologram!

“P-P-P-P-P-Pow!”

The high school students couldn’t see Li Yao’s pair of hands at all. They could only hear the faint sound of the control glyph-script after being stimulated. In the end, the sound formed a single line that was indistinct to the ears.

Ferocious!

Sharp!

Li Yao’s style of manipulation was just like his nickname, the Vulture. He was incomparably wild and brutal, and it caused people to be unable to bear being anxious for these translucent holograms. What if they were completely shredded by his wild hands!?

Following his super-high hand speed came the awakening of the entire steel jungle.

The 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace was like a demon beast with a stomach rumbling with hunger that had discovered its prey. Every joint and every strand of flesh from head to toe was cast into the wildest of operations.

“Tss…”

In an instant, the steam excited an ear-piercing sound that was ten times sharper than before, and a giant cloud of steam enveloped the entire steel jungle. The high school students could only stare as the countless crystals flickered between brightness and darkness within the depths of the fog, much like countless beasts blinking their pairs of eyes!

“In the end, is this refining? Or is this murder?”

All the high school students were in complete shock.

Afterall, they had seen their parents refine before, all refined and cultured, methodical. They had never seen a refining style like Li Yao’s—it was simply extremely fierce!

Within the curling mist, Li Yao’s pair of hands danced madly for five minutes. The roar of the steel beast weakened a little at last.

Li Yao’s body faded within the depths of the white mist, only to emerge a short time later. He carefully and cautiously held an object as he walked towards the crowd.

“It’s only been five minutes, what can he refine?”

“What could it be in the end? Could it be an extremely small assassination weapon?”

The students that shouted in curiosity stretched their heads over, striving to outdo one another.

As soon as they saw the object held in Li Yao’s pair of hands, everyone went “Wow”. Seven to eight large eggs could be stuffed down their mouths.

Li Yao had been so crazed, savage, brutal, fearsome… yet what he refined was actually a nail.

It was the size of a finger, had a pitch-black body, and was ordinary—it was a nail that was not altered in any way!

Even though the nail could barely count as a sort of magical equipment component, this was too unpresentable when compared to the refining style he had displayed in great seriousness!

There were even quite a few of these high school students who were able to operate a crafting furnace and refine a magical equipment component more complicated than a nail!

Only Elder Lei Yongming’s eyes flickered with radiance. Taking the nail in a serious manner, he held it in the hollow of his palm and tossed it upwards to get a feel for its weight.

The old man’s eyes revealed a hint of astonishment, but he didn’t say a word. He kept silent as he handed the nail over to Jin Quan

Two of Jin Quan’s fingers twirled about, casually swaying the nail. He was endlessly sneering in his mind and his opinions only grew firmer.

At most, Li Yao was just a bookworm with a gift in theory, or perhaps, he had mechanically memorized some unorthodox theory to scare people. When it came to practical application, his weak link was exposed.

However, he didn’t come here today to evaluate Li Yao on his level of refining.

Even if someone else’s level was even crappier and refined out a rectangular steel block, this had nothing to do with him at all.

“How can I make this kid disgrace himself?

Jin Quan’s eyeballs turned as he tossed the metal nail to Li Yao. He put on a fake smile and said: “Then next, it’s my turn, right?”

In accordance with the examination process, the refiner on the modifying side would first make a piece, then the refiner of the Empyrean Terminus Sect would make another piece.

If no issues occur after both sides give a real operation a go, then the modification was pretty much considered a success.

Jin Quan walked with his head held high, appearing before the control console, and surrounded by the refining interface.

His refining style was completely different than that of Li Yao.

Although his hand speed wasn’t that fast, it appeared to be quite concise, grand, and elegant. At first glance, it made people think of the flowing rivers of the high mountains; it held an unspeakable gracefulness.

Pairing it with his handsome features, it gave him the appearance of a true immortal cultivator refining magical equipment.

He finished his refining five minutes later as well and brought his workpiece to the face of the crowd.

Everyone extended their necks to look, and all were stupefied.

What Jin Quan had refined was actually another nail.

However, it was different than the ordinary pitch-black nail that Li Yao refined under careful observation; Jin Quan’s nail was as vast as the heavens and the earth.

Chapter 162: Supersonic Collision!

At first glance, the nail forged by Jin Quan appeared dark blue; however, after staring at it for a moment, one could notice very fine golden threads amidst the dark blue.

And when rotated against the light, it became even more brilliant and lustrous as the crisscrossing golden threads formed an incomparably magnificent pattern.

As though the surface of the nail was wrapped in a layer of scales from a terrifying demon beast.

“Casting Dragon Scales!”

“Professor Jin has surprisingly used the Casting Dragon Scale Technique and forged this nail into a dragon scale Nail!”

A chubby schoolboy could not help but burst into an exclamation.

He was Jin Quan’s most faithful admirer. A while ago when he saw his idol being humiliated, he felt his heart itch as though it had been scratched by a monkey.

Finally, it was only when Jin Quan had forged the dragon scale nail that he was relieved of that feeling before his face lit up with happiness.

“Casting Dragon Scales” was a secret technique of the Empyrean Terminus Sect. When forging some rather simple and basic components, using the Casting Dragon Scales Technique, the surface of the component would be covered in a layer akin to dragon scales, turning the component harder and stronger in accordance with the bionics principle.

The nail strengthened using the Casting Dragon Scale Technique would be at least five times better than an ordinary nail forged using the same material!

“Professor Jin is truly awesome. I always thought that the Casting Dragon Scales Technique could only be used by the senior refiners of the older generation in the Empyrean Terminus Sect. I can’t believe Professor Jin, who is just twenty years old, had mastered this technique!”

“That’s right! Furthermore, Professor Jin looks so cool when he was crafting, unlike that weirdo who looked more like a convulsing madman.”

“Yeah, a convulsing madman indeed. There also wasn’t any patterns on the nail forged by him. Isn’t that just an ordinary nail? Even I can do that!”

In the blink of an eye, Jin Quan’s image in the hearts of these teenagers started to rise once again.

Refining was a profession where one paid the most attention to practice. Even if one boasted using the most fantastic words, how could it amount to anything?

In the final analysis, it was all about skills!

Squinting his pair of eyes, Li Yao swept a glance at the dragon scale nail in Jin Quan’s hands as the corner of his lips seemed to move; however, he didn’t say anything.

Whereas, his pupils contracted to the limit as two sharp-as-a-needlepoint aurae shot out from them.

He also admitted the fact that it was indeed a top-grade nail.

As before, holding the Dragon Scale nail, Elder Lie Yongming caressed and tossed it upward a few times but didn’t say anything. He silently handed the dragon scale nail back to Jin Quan.

Jin Quan, upon noticing that Li Yao was rendered speechless, also believed that Li Yao had admitted defeat willingly and became even more elated. His prestige, which had been beaten down a moment ago, staged a comeback, and his handsome face distorted a little as he laughed and said:

“Junior Brother Li, the modifications you have done on the crafting furnace are indeed pretty good. It is operating fairly smoothly, and there is not even the slightest bit of hampering in the circulation of spiritual energy. The dispensing of raw materials and mixing of coolants is also very convenient.”

“However, in accordance with the rules, we still have to test the two nails refined by us, testing their actual performance. And as long as there isn’t any too big of a defect, then your modifications will be approved!”

“In order to test the performance of these two nails forged by us, of course, we need many magical equipment and measuring equipment. However, testing through them is time-consuming and laborious, and at the very least, it would take us one and a half day to draw a conclusion.”

“I am confident in the strength of your institute, and as there are also so many students here, why should we waste time? How about we do this, let the two nails collide at a high speed. Generally, through the sound, flashes, and shock waves of the collision, as well as the wear and tear after the collision, we can check the strength of the nail.”

“However, using this ‘collision test’, we can only draw a conclusion after three to five collisions. I wonder, can your nail withstand three to five collisions with my dragon scale nail?”

“If you are not confident, then we can forget it. We can still use the conventional testing methods. We would just have to spend a bit more time, that’s all.”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment as he pursed his lips into a smile which carried a sliver of coldness.

In the refiners’ community, the “collision test” could be considered a relatively common testing method that was suitable for some structures or basic components which needed high rigidity and tensile strength.

During the super-speed collision, when the components collide, experienced refiners could roughly determine the performance of the component from the subsequent sounds, flashes, and shock waves.

However, for him to suddenly propose the collision test, it was obvious that Jin Quan had ill intentions.

The flames in the depths of Li Yao’s eyes burned more and more furiously, as he too was eager to test his own strength. He nodded while clenching his teeth:

“Alright, I don’t have a problem! Although the nail forged by me looks ordinary, I believe it can withstand three to five collision with the dragon scale nail.”

‘He took the bait!’

Jin Quan burst into excitement.

He believed that the crafting furnace was derived from Yuan Manqiu’s hand.

Looking for a bone in the “Deep Sea Goddess’s” egg was very difficult![1]

However, Jin Quan had absolute confidence in the dragon scale nail forged by him. He muttered to himself, ‘Is there any need for three to five collision? Isn’t it alright as long as Li Yao’s rotten nail explodes in the first collision?’

This way, he could more or less vent his hatred and also restore some face, and incidentally, also let everyone get a clear look at Li Yao’s, this braggart’s, true appearance.

Elder Lie Yongming raised his white eyebrows as he deeply stared at Jin Quan. His eyes flickered with an extremely complex look. Suddenly, he said, “Jin Quan, since you are going to be using the collision test, it is not appropriate for you to conduct it, let me do it!”

Jin Quan was surprised for a moment before his face beamed with happiness.

‘Did the old man also realize that Li Yao is a crazy braggart and wants to teach him a small lesson?’

The more Jin Quan thought of this, the more he found it reliable as he happily carried the dragon scale nail:

“Grand Master, please!”

Elder Lie Yongming stretched out his emaciated-like-a-stick hands, and with a slight move of his ten fingers, the two nails jumped out of Li Yao’s and Jin Quan’s hands and flew into the air as though they had been dragged by invisible wires!

All the silver-white hair on Elder Lie Yongming’s head stood erect as though his entire body was shrouded in an invisible static electricity. As he snapped his ten fingers, the two nails started to pull apart from each other bit by bit before they were separated by twenty meters and rotating at a high speed.

Under the direction of Yuan Manqiu, the high school students retreated by a dozen meters and stood behind a defensive array glyph.

Many of them were witnessing such a stimulating collision test for the first time, and soon, they began whispering to each other:

“What do you think? How many times can that weirdo’s rotten nail collide with the dragon scale nail?”

“Up to five times?”

“Three times I think, up to three times. The dragon scale nail is highly rigid. I have heard that some cultivators who move their weapons with their thoughts specially buy a large amount of dragon scale nails and use them as a hidden weapon which could even pierce the shell of demon beasts!”

“I wonder whether this weirdo’s nail will bend from the collision.”

“It should… be impossible. This weirdo still has some ability. I think his nail can collide with the dragon scale nail up to two times!”

Jin Quan stood proudly and comfortably with his arms crossed as though a gentle breeze was caressing his face.

He seemed to be looking up at the two nails; however, most of his attention was on Li Yao.

He didn’t want to miss the stunned, embarrassed, and ashamed look on Li Yao’s face when that rotten jet-black nail explodes!

Li Yao, on the other hand, was staring at the sky with rapt attention while his fists were tightly clenched to the point that thick green veins had emerged on his arms; he was extremely tensed.

“Fizz!”

With the move of Elder Lie Yongming’s thoughts, the two nails rotated to the limit and made an ear-piercing noise from the friction with the air!

Suddenly, Elder Lie Yongming’s eyes opened widely as they radiated with a lustrous and dazzling brilliance as though two crystal searchlights were instantly switched on!

“Whizz!”

“Whizz!”

In the front of the two nails, a mass of white mist respectively appeared.

It was the sound barrier!

The two nails broke through the speed of sound!

Under the speed of sound, the twenty meters gap was engulfed in the blink of an eye as the two nails ruthlessly collided with each other!

Everyone didn’t hear anything and only saw a resplendent ball of light suddenly expand, following which something broke into pieces and was shot out.

A few fragments struck upon the defensive array glyph and burst forth with a “crack” noise.

Only now did the deafening sound of the collision, the grating noise from the high-speed air friction, as well as the sound of a nail blasting into pieces bombard their ears!

“Ah, it broke into pieces!”

“Li Yao’s nail could not withstand even one collision and was broken by the dragon scale nail!”

“It’s too disappointing, right? Damn, I thought he was someone with peerless skills. Obviously, the many theories he has spoken of sounded plausible!?

“What’s the point of exaggerating theories in superlative terms if he can’t even forge a nail? Refiner my ass!”

“That’s right! Although our Empyrean Terminus Sect’s dragon scale nail has high rigidity, an ordinary nail should be able to withstand at least three to five collision, right!?

“In just one collision, it broke into pieces. Isn’t that disgraceful?”

The Li Yao’s wrapped-in-a-shroud-of-mystery image in the hearts of the teenagers collapsed and was completely reduced to nothing but that of a rhetorical theorist.

Oh, so he was a theorist with great strength.

“Haha, it broke into pieces in just one tenth of a second. It’s even weaker than I imagined!”

Jin Quan bit his tongue hard while laughing before he forced a smile on his face as he gazed at Li Yao’s face.

‘Never would have thought that this madman’s face would be so thick that there wouldn’t even be an ounce of expression on his face, but instead, with a shining bright pair of eyes akin to black crystal, he would thoughtfully stare into the air.’

“Stupid, stupid… how could I be so stupid!”

Just as Jin Quan, who was fired with boundless enthusiasm, wanted to open his mouth, two screams suddenly came from behind—it was the chubby boy.

During the collision, some fragments shot at the defensive array glyph and bounced off, which just so happened to fall not too far from him.

The young, fat boy was momentarily excited and stretched out his fat ass as he bent over to the ground to pick up the fragment.

However, he didn’t know that due to the high-speed rotation and collision, the nail had accumulated a lot of heat and was just like a red-hot nail. Immediately, a bunch of blisters emerged on his fingers.

The first scream was precisely due to this.

The second scream, however, was due to the shocking discovery made by the young, fat boy. The fragment on the ground was of dark blue color and was completely covered in thin golden threads as though it was covered in a layer of dragon scales.

To his dismay, it turned out to be a fragment from the dragon scale nail!

During the high-speed collision, was the nail which exploded instantaneously… the Dragon! Scale! Nail!?

The young, fat boy was flabbergasted as he fell down on the ground with his legs apart while distractedly looking at the dragon scale nail’s fragment and even forgot the piercing pain on his fingertips.

His mouth opened wider and wider to the point that the uvula in his throat was showing.

“Li Shanhao, what happened to you?”

One by one, the students noticed the strange appearance of the young, fat boy before they gathered around him

The young, fat boy kept blinking his eyes. His Adam’s apple moved for a long while, but he could not utter one word. He could only use his thick and short trembling finger to point at the fragment of the dragon scale nail.

After half a second, everyone had fallen into the same panic-stricken and dumbfounded state as the fat boy!

Everyone looked at each other; they did not dare to believe their eyes.

Professor Jin Quan, who was the most handsome, the coolest, and the strongest in their mind had actually lost… he had thoroughly lost?

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Numerous gaze simultaneously shot towards Jin Quan.

Everyone wanted to see how Jin Quan was going to respond. How would he fight back?

Chapter 163: Seven Layered Heavens, Hidden Dragon Scales!

Jin Quan did not respond in the slightest, seemingly as if he had just been struck by lightning; he was at a total loss and didn’t know what to do.

From head to toe, every part of his body was trembling, and even his two rows of teeth were clattering.

His handsome face was completely distorted, revealing an embarrassed smile which was even uglier than crying.

Elder Lie Yongming heaved a sigh as he pulled Li Yao’s nail as well as the fragments of the dragon scale nail into his hand before walking in front of his apprentice grandson and waved his hands to the high school students, gesturing for them to come over.

“Jin Quan, do you know where you lost?”

Jin Quan felt like weeping but had no tears. His lips quivered, but how could he answer half a word?

Elder Lie Yongming earnestly said:

“Casting Dragon Scales is an exemplary skill of our Empyrean Terminus Sect, and I am very pleased by the fact that you, at such a young age, have mastered it as well as being able to apply it so skillfully and forge a dragon scale nail.”

“However, Jin Quan… kid, you have been proud and arrogant since you were a child. You are too impatient to do everything and had been negligent in your work. Take a look at these fragments. Can you see the ‘dragon scales’ you had cast are somewhat scattered? Due to this, the dragon scale nail was irregularly heated inside the crafting furnace, and there is a 0.01% difference in the weight on both sides.”

“The internal structure is also unstable, so what’s the use of laying three to five layers of dragon scales on the surface?”

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that there is a problem with your method. It is quite possible that the reason for you to forge a flawed dragon scale nail is because it was your first time using this crafting furnace and you had been too arrogant and proud. You had forged it before even familiarizing yourself with the performance of the crafting furnace!”

“And the nail forged by Student Li Yao…”

Elder Lie Yongming slightly smiled as he beckoned and said, “Student Li Yao, what’s so special about your nail?”

Having approached, Li Yao said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:

“The forging method of this nail is derived from an ancient book and is called ‘Seven Layered Heavens’!”

Elder Lie Yongming’s eyes flickered with a sharp gleam as he repeatedly nodded:

“Good, good, very good—Seven Layered Heavens!”

“Students, don’t be fooled by the jet-black ordinary surface of this nail. In fact, there is a universe inside!”

“The so-called “Seven Layered Heavens” is using seven levels of hidden strength. In other words, seven different kinds of material are mixed with each other layer after layer. If you cut this nail in the middle, you will be able to see a seven layer structure spanning from inside to outside. Seven Layered Heaven, each level supporting the other, softness with hardness, flexibility with rigidity. It is absolutely a notch above the dragon scale nail!”

“Furthermore, Student Li Yao has personally modified this crafting furnace and is perfectly familiar with each and every performance parameter. The nail forged by him is of uniform density, and its dimensions are accurate; there isn’t a single flaw. It has a first-rate quality and can also be considered a peerless nail!”

“Jin Quan, if you had spent a dozen minutes and tried to figure out the performance of the crafting furnace, then the dragon scale nail refined by you would not have had a single flaw. Perhaps, it would have been able to collide with Student Li Yao’s ‘seven layered heaven nail’ a dozen times, and it would have been difficult to tell who the winner would be.”

“However, you were impatient and didn’t place Student Li Yao in your eyes, thereby refining a flawed dragon scale nail. Of course, it could not be a match for the seven layered heaven nail.”

“In other words, you didn’t lose to Student Li Yao—you lost to yourself!”

“Oh…”

Upon hearing this reasoning, the high school students were caught by surprise. They had never imagined that the jet-black nail forged by Li Yao would be so exquisite.

Seven Layered Heaven Method?

It sounded quite domineering!

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao’s image in their mind once again grew big and tall, turning into a humongous monster that was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

Jin Quan lost his wits. The lines on his forehead simply composed a “三” character as a downcasted look was painted on his face.

Patting his shoulder heavily, Elder Lie Yongming said:

“Jin Quan, don’t blame Grandmaster for intentionally making a fool of you. Your Grandmaster has watched you grow up since childhood. In the past, your grandfather and father have also followed Grandmaster and learned refining. In Grandmaster’s eyes, you are just like a grandson!”

“And your refining talent in the Empyrean Terminus Sect is also outstanding!”

“In the first place, Grandmaster has high hopes for you, I hope that you can become a top-tier refiner and lead the Empyrean Terminus Sect to greater heights.”

“However, from the beginning to end, you have been too impetuous. Although graduating from Deep Sea University’s Refining Department is pretty good in the eyes of ordinary people, in Grandmaster’s eyes, it’s still far from reaching your limit, let alone breaking through your limit!”

“Hopefully, today’s duel can wake you up. I hope that the impatience and arrogance deep down in your heart can be swept away once and for all so that you can walk on the true road of refining with firm footing!”

“Now, take your dragon scale fragments to the side and self-reflect, ok?”

Jin Quan’s face turned red to purple and then purple to black. One by one, his face turned into seven to eight colors.

Finally, he was as silent as a grave as he walked to a corner in a crestfallen gait before squatting down, whereupon holding his head, he stayed down.

“Student Li Yao…”

Elder Lie Yongming’s eyes bloomed with a magnificent brilliance. His entire body was as though it had donned an invisible battle suit as he faintly smiled and said, “In the last couple decades, this old man has never seen such exquisite modifications to a 1st Generation Tai’e Furnace, so this old man is itching to give it a try. Can you lend it to this old man to try a hand?”

Just a while ago, from Yuan Manqiu’s introduction, Li Yao came to know that this old man had been immersed in refining for over a century. Although his cultivation was not that high, his experience, on the other hand, was extremely rich. He was an old ginger that could not be underestimated.

Just a moment ago, Jin Quan had lost a great deal of face for the Empyrean Terminus Sect, so of course, this old ginger would like to recover it!

Promptly nodding his head, Li Yao respectfully said, “Old Lie, please!”

“Wow, Grandpa Lie is going to refine!”

The high school students were all excited to the extreme.

Lie Yongming was an elder of the Empyrean Terminus Sect and had an aloof status. For a long time, he had never crafted anything in public. Nobody would have imagined that he would make an exception for Li Yao.

Everyone stretched their neck as they held their breaths.

Elder Lie Yongming appeared before a console as he intently observed the refining interface.

His eye revealed a deep love just like a hot-blooded young man looking at his beloved girlfriend.

Suddenly, his emaciated pair of hand started to move.

Compared to Jin Quan, he was several times slower. His every action was neither too fast nor too slow and appeared extremely ordinary.

His actions were neither crazed nor maddening like Li Yao’s, and neither was it elegant or comfortable like Jin Quan’s.

It was like an old worker who had rich experience, finishing everything with persistence and consistency; so calm, so accurate, so relaxed.

But when Li Yao was watching, the words “Governing the whole country like cooking a small fish!” emerged from the depths of his heart.

As far as Elder Lie Yongming was concerned, refining to him was perhaps just like frying a little yellow croaker; it was nothing more than simple and boring day-to-day work.

After a moment, the elder walked out of the steam, calmly holding a “nail” in his palm!

“Student Li Yao, this old man had also forged a nail. Please tell me what you think.”

The eyes of the teenagers sparkled. They had never expected for Grandpa Lie to also forge a nail.

It must be a dragon scale nail—a flawless dragon scale nail!

Li Yao’s eyes contracted as he solemnly used both hands to hold the nail forged by the elder.

Li Yao was a bit surprised as the nail was jet-black on the surface, appearing as ordinary as the nail forged by him. He could not see even a single thread of dragon scales.

“What?”

Many students were perplexed and could not help but shout.

Li Yao, on the other hand, was as though he was holding a masterwork weapon. His eyes were madly trembling while cold sweat emerged on his forehead.

Suddenly, he flicked his fingers, making it seem as if the nail had been struck down by lightning seven times.

“Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding!”

A strange thing occurred.

To everyone’s dismay, with the flick of his fingers, the solid nail burst forth with cries of tigers and dragons that shot through the roof and lingered in the air.

“Sounds from the flicks of fingers?”

Elder Lie Yongming was truly astounded as he muttered to himself, “Such an unorthodox testing method. I thought that it had already been lost. I did not expect—”

Li Yao too was shocked in his heart and that too was ten times more intense than the elder.

The arrogance in the depths of Li Yao’s eyes was swept away, and his face was filled with admiration: “Old Lie, your dragon scale nail is truly flawless. It is even more rigid than my seven layered heaven nail. If we do a collision test, I’m afraid that my nail would not be able to withstand even three collisions!”

“Dragon scale nail?”

“Where are the dragon scales? Why can’t I see them?”

The teenagers anxiously grimaced. Their eyes were bloodshot, but they were still unable to find a single dragon scale.

Li Yao slightly smiled and explained:

“Old Lie’s dragon scale nail looks ordinary from the surface, but all the dragon scales are hidden inside the nail. Furthermore, if I am right, the internal structure bears more than a layer of dragon scales, and there are at least three layers, with layers upon layers of reinforcing. The principle is almost the same as my Seven Layered Heaven Method, but the difficulty of forging layer upon layer of dragon scales is obviously ten times greater!”

“A master craftsman is a master craftsman—I am convinced!”

Li Yao made a deep bow to Lie Yongming.

The elder’s skill has given him a very timely lesson, making him deeply understand that the refiners’ community was filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. No matter how good one thought they were, there is always someone out there who is better!

Even a Building Foundation Stage refiner possessed such skills, then what about a Golden Core Stage refiner? And there is also Nascent Soul Stage refiners!

Li Yao was completely looking forward to the limitless and brilliant future!

Elder Lie Yongming was once again stupefied:

“It’s not at all strange that you can perceive my “hidden dragon scales” method; however, you can surprisingly perceive that I have cast three layers of hidden dragon scales. This is truly inconceivable!”

He gave a thumbs up to Li Yao: “At the beginning, this old man came to visit your institute just to see the 1st Generation Tai’e Furnace, but who would have thought that your institute would give this old man such a pleasant surprise! Student Li Yao, this old man’s skills are simply nothing. I have just accumulated a little bit of experience that’s not worth mentioning over the many years of repeated refining, that’s all. I believe that it would only take a decade or two for you to surpass this old man’s achievements!”

“Wow!”

All the teenagers were dumbfounded. They didn’t expect that the highly respected Elder Lie Yongming of the Empyrean Terminus Sect would give Li Yao such a high evaluation.

In a moment, many of the students’ complex gazes fell upon the crestfallen Professor Jin Quan at the corner.

Jin Quan was like a group of tangled roots as he held onto the dragon scale nail fragments with a blurred gaze. He seemed to be in a trance, mumbling something, and maybe even he himself didn’t know what he was saying.

Suddenly, he felt heat waves billowing from all around him.

As he raised his head to look, he discovered that all the students had gathered at his side and surrounded him in a circle as they looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“You guys…”

Jin Quan flushed red to his ears; he was extremely ashamed. He didn’t know how he should face his own students.

He truly fell very ruthlessly. ‘The students must have come to ridicule me, right?’

“Professor Jin!”

The fat boy called Li Shanhao came forward and loudly said, “Don’t be sad, we will always support you!”

“That’s right, your opponent was simply a monster. Even Grandpa Lei praised him and said that he would catch up with the achievements of Grandpa Lie in a decade or two, so how could a normal person win against such a monster? Professor Jin, don’t be sad. In our minds, you are still the best!”

Chapter 164: The Fiend Star Appears! Nine Star Explosion!

“Even though this monster’s depth of knowledge is more profound than that of Teacher Jin and he had refined a magical equipment even stronger than the one refined by Teacher Jin, at least… at least Teacher Jin is more handsome than him!”

“That’s right! Teacher Jin’s refining style was confident, smooth, and even graceful. He’s just plain awesome. How can this monster even compare?”

“Teacher Jin, by all means, don’t be dismayed. Even if you can’t match up to him in all sorts of ways, at least you’re better looking!”

The high school students thought for quite a while and were still unable to think of an aspect where Teacher Jin Quan was stronger than Li Yao. In the end, they just thought of this strong point that wasn’t really a strong point.

Actually, even though Jin Quan appearance was quite effeminate and cool, Li Yao’s appearance wasn’t as bad as they were saying.

Even though Li Yao couldn’t be said to be handsome, he still had a set of features that was both good and bad. His figure was tall and straight, and he possessed a coarse, wild, and brash charm. This charm that was steeped in his entire body possessed an energy that made people’s blood go racing involuntarily.

If Jin Quan was a standard lady-killer, then Li Yao was a “model man” to the letter.

This was especially so when they witnessed the might of the Seven Layered Heavens Nail, which even Grandpa Lei had praised Li Yao to the high heaven for. The “mad convulsions” that Li Yao had demonstrated during his refining had transformed into a “radiating passion that revealed his dominance” within the hearts of quite a few youngsters.

In regards to Li Yao’s particular personality from the perspective of these youths whose rebellious tendencies ran strong, Li Yao’s matchless, tyrannical style of a monster was quite appealing.

However, Teacher Jin Quan was one of their people, so how could they embolden the enemy while putting out their own might?

Obviously, they had to boast up their Teacher Jin Quan as the number one most handsome dude under the heavens!

Jin Quan’s spirit was at its lowest, but the childish and ridiculous cheers of the youths had roused his energy with laughter. He rubbed his face with some effort as his eyes turned clear. Letting out a long, relaxing breath, he nodded:

“Everyone’s right. Victory and defeat are commonplace in conflicts. A single loss is not that serious. I’ll cultivate properly when I return and surpass him next time!”

Jin Quan gripped the fragments of the dragon scale nail tenaciously within the palm of his hand, totally unaware that he was squeezing out blood. He walked with large strides to go face to face with Li Yao and performed a deep bow.

“Junior Brother Li, I accept this loss with all my heart and I thank you greatly for this profound lesson. I will forever carry this shattered dragon scale nail by my side to always have today’s lesson engraved in memory. I will certainly madly cultivate when I return to the Empyrean Terminus Sect. There will be a day when I will come find you to swap pointers, and when that day comes, I hope you won’t refuse!”

“That’s right! Revenge is a dish best served cold. Our Teacher Jin will go back and go through bitter training for ten years. He will surely come back to find you, you big devil, and wipe out this grudge!”

The small fatty, Li Shanhao, howled while ducking behind Jin Quan.

His best friends, a few smooth-talking boys, continued to stir up trouble: “That’s right, big devil! Just you wait! Teacher Jin will certainly annihilate you!”

Jin Quan was both happy and amused at the same time. His heart clearly said that he was a gifted student of Deep Sea University while his opponent was a freshman of Grand Desolate War Institution. So how could it be that Li Yao had become a big devil whose prowess was unrivaled in the mouths of the group of little rascals, while he was considered to be lower by more than a single level and needed ten years of bitter training to come back for revenge?

They’re looking down on him too much, right?

Jin Quan looked back and gave a ruthless glare to Li Shanhao. He explained with some embarrassment:

“You must not misunderstand, Junior Brother Li. I sincerely want to compare refining techniques with you. I absolutely don’t harbor any grudges.”

Li Yao was unable to restrain a smile. He laughed: “You’re welcome to come and compare refining techniques at any time. However, I too will madly cultivate. I will certainly be stronger than I am now when you come over next time!”

“That’s good then. I am very much looking forward for that day to come. When that happens, we will see just who is crazier in the end!”

After a moment’s pause, Jin Quan’s expression suddenly turned utterly serious. He spoke while pausing after each syllable, “Junior Brother Li, today’s loss was just my sole defeat. It has nothing to do with Deep Sea University.”

“Our Deep Sea University’s Refining Department is full of crouching tigers and hidden dragons. The powerful come forth in large numbers. I won’t talk about the previous generation for now. There are nine great true disciples and three hundred direct disciples among Professor Jiang Sheng’s students. I am just one of the three hundred direct disciples ranked near the end. I am far from being able to represent the true level of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

“And so, based on the strength I see before me, you are still far from being proficient enough if you truly wish to challenge the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department!”

Li Yao’s eyebrows raised up high like the unsheathing of two black sabers:

“What’s the difference between a true disciple and a direct disciple?”

Jin Quan explained:

“Direct disciples are recognized by Professor Jiang Sheng. They are fortunate students who are allowed to listen to his personal lectures and are naturally much more powerful in strength than a typical student.”

“Not every student who receives personal instruction from Professor Jiang Sheng can receive his true teachings. This is because the professor speaks far too profoundly and mysteriously. Those who are lacking in aptitude by even just a little bit won’t be able to make heads or tails of his words.”

“In the last ten years, there have only been nine students who were able to obtain his true teachings. They are known as the Nine Great True Disciples. On their own, they formed together a refining seminar called… The Nine Star Chain!”

“The Nine Star Chain is like nine little stars orbiting around Supernova Jiang Sheng!”

Jin Quan spoke with seriousness:

“The nine great disciples, the Nine Star Chain, represents the highest level of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. Each one of them is stronger than I am by ten-fold. I needed ten years of bitter training to master a method such as the Casting Nine Scales. They look at me with disdain and contempt, for they possess even stronger ultimate techniques!”

“Only those who can prevail over them are qualified to formally challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department!”

The radiance of nine star dots appeared within Li Yao’s eyes, only to explode one after another in an instant.

“The Nine Star Chain? A very impressive name, but in the face of my endlessly rising Fiend Star, you all are destined to perish into the darkness!”

“The appearance of the Fiend Star and the explosion of the Nine Stars—this is the path I will walk!”

The little fatty, Li Shanhao, came boring out from behind Jin Quan right at this moment. Holding his chest up high, he sucked in his stomach, placed his hands on his hips, and spoke loudly:

“That’s right! The experts of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department are like the clouds, and the powerful are like the rain. Just based on you, this big devil, you wish to single-handedly challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department? This is simply the ravings of a lunatic! Even if you’re better than Teacher Jin, even if you manage to wipe out some Nine Star Chain, you still need to get past me!”

The little fatty raised his thumb and stabbed it towards his chest: “Today, I witnessed the ultimate confrontation between you two experts. Let alone the burning passion in my heart, it has made my blood race and boil! I vow from this day forth that each day, I won’t sleep until past midnight. I will train like crazy and fight to test into Deep Sea University’s Refining Department and become a formidable opponent of yours, big devil!”

Li Yao was stupefied on the spot, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. When did he become a “big devil”? Wasn’t his refining style just a bit sharper than normal?

“In any case…”

Li Shanhao suddenly changed expressions as he changed topics. His entire face was covered with a flattering smile as he rubbed his hands and spoke, “The minimum passing score required for Deep Sea University’s Refining Department is very high. No matter how hard I work from here on, I most likely won’t be able to pass. I don’t know if your Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is still recruiting new students this year. How high is your minimum passing score?”

So this was his real goal.

Immediately, there was someone amongst the group of friends behind him who howled:

“Alright, you dead fatty. Just now, you even said that we would test into Deep Sea University’s Refining Department together and face off against this big devil together with Teacher Jin. How can you betray us so soon?”

“You don’t understand crap!”

Li Shanhao’s skin was super thick. He snorted with disdain: “If I can test into Deep Sea University, I will obviously follow Teacher Jin. But such a high score requirement… Can crappy people such as us test into it? We might as well join the big devil’s side. After all…”

He looked at the contours of Li Yao’s muscular arms with some envy. He swallowed then spoke: “Big Devil… wait no. Other than Teacher Jin, the second young refiner that I revere the most from the depths of my soul is… Teacher Li Yao, the eldest senior brother of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. The quality of education there has to be excellent and top-notch!”

“And there’s also how bold, ferocious, and awesome Teacher Li Yao’s refining style is. It simply gives a feel of being unrivaled and unmatched in the boundless expanse of the universe. It is very suitable for me, who possesses this sort of powerful strength of awesome buff manliness!”

He smoothed up his sleeves upon speaking, exposing a fat arm, and shook it with immense pride as he spoke, “Can you see it? This body of muscle!?”

Everyone was stunned by his shamelessness.

Only a few of his best friends, being cut from the same mold, came out. They defected to the enemy in the blink of an eye on the spot, crowding around Li Yao one by one:

“Teacher Li Yao!”

“Eldest senior brother!”

“Give us a quick lecture then, Eldest Senior Brother. Is the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department still recruiting students this year? The minimum score shouldn’t be that high, right?”

This group of good-for-nothings headed by Li Shanhao was quite notorious within Empyrean Terminus Central High School.

Even though these good-for-nothings were somewhat gifted, they were known as troublemakers in school. Their hearts and minds weren’t completely concentrated on studying, and every few days, the school would ask their parents to come to handle things.

They normally relied on their talent and wasted their days, barely considered top students. How would it be possible for them to pass into the golden field of study that was the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department?

They never expected to have their eyes opened wide on this day. Yes, Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department’s environment was lacking a bit, but they had such a bold and powerful eldest senior brother—this department seemed to be quite decent!

Most importantly, Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department didn’t have a big reputation, so the minimum score requirement must be quite low, right?

“Teacher Jin, in my mind, you are still the number one unrivaled handsome refiner, and I will forever worship you, admire you, and grieve for you; however, I am forced to helplessness in regards to the future!”

The little fatty mouthed silently to himself in his mind: “If worse comes to worst, when I learn this big devil’s tyrannical and matchless refining technique, I’ll defect back to Teacher Jin’s side!”

“That’s wrong!”

The little fatty’s eyes bulged round and wide as he recollected about a certain matter. He smacked a fierce palm towards his greasy and shiny forehead as his expression changed greatly: “Teacher Jin just said that the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department will be abolished this year. Could that be actually true?”

“That’s right!”

Several of his best friends recalled this one after another. They howled in agony: “It can’t be! We just barely managed to find a minimum required score that was low and yet was in a relatively strong field. Will our hopes and dreams be crushed?”

Li Yao gave a slight chuckle and pinched Li Shanhao on the back in a not light yet not intense manner. He looked at the good-for-nothings crowded around and spoke with decisiveness:

“Go ahead and be at ease! Do your best when you get back!”

“Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department won’t be abolished! We welcome your applications!”

“Today, this place may be just a sheet of ruin, but I believe that there will be a day when the ones to walk out of here will be the strongest refiners of the federation! For sure!”

Chapter 165: Armory

Half a month later.

The heavy snow fluttered about for an entire night. It was only during the wee hours of three, four AM did the snow somewhat stop.

The campus after the snow was a sheet of somberness and desolation and was exceptionally cold.

It was winter vacation, so the majority of students had returned home to celebrate the new year, leaving just a few cultivation lunatics at school.

The time was precisely the moment when it was the darkest before dawn. Even the cultivation lunatics were in the Deep Sleep Chamber in deep sleep, preserving and honing their strength.

However, it was as if there was a wildfire within the refining workshop, as if it was the afternoon of a hot day. The intense sun was scorching as steam curled around.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Aside from the humming that came from the high-speed operation of the crafting furnace, there was also a bombarding sound with quite the rhythm coming from the depths of the steam.

A small area was marked out in the corner opposite of the imposing 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace. It was a metal forging room that was built according to ancient methods, and although it was small, it was complete in every detail.

Not a wisp of steam was on Li Yao’s body, exposing a body of lean muscle. The Dark Star Rock danced like the wind, instantly transforming into over a hundred streaks of hammer shadows that smashed against the anvil. The pounding caused sparks to scatter all about, splashing onto his body, yet he was totally unaware of it.

His lips pursed up under the illumination of the scarlet red furnace. He held an expression of concentration, and every breath was drawn especially long.

Nine seconds for each inhale. Nine seconds for each exhale. The timing did not vary by a hair.

His body would expand by a factor as he inhaled, and as every strand of muscle fiber bulged, they would reveal even the tiniest of details, seemingly as if countless dragons were bulging out from beneath his skin.

And his skin dispersed with a bronze, silver, and gold luster of radiance, much like a metal that had been forged to the pinnacle.

This was the number one secret body tempering technique of the Hundred Smelting Clan, the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique. This was the exquisite symbol of his cultivation.

When he exhaled, his body would return to normal and all the “dragons” would return to the depths of his blood and flesh to hibernate, concealing their claws and teeth and curbing their wings, making him look no different than a normal university student. His thick back, his sturdy waist, and his bulging muscles were larger than even those buff dudes from the Combat Department.

This was the marvel of the Soul Convergence Technique!

Li Yao had already grasped the initial step through long study via the Heavenly Refining Tower, and now, he could take his strength at will and suppress it to the 1st level of the Refinement Stage.

At first glance, he was a newcomer who had just awakened.

But, as soon as he uses the Soul Igniting Law, Li Yao was confident that his strength, particularly his anti-gravity and instantaneous burst strength, would absolutely not lose to any student of the Combat Department, for he had cultivated for several months at the bottom of the Billowing Star Sea—even if they were students from the higher grades!

“Exhale…”

Li Yao wielded the Dark Star Rock at his maximum speed and forged for a full ten minutes. Fine beads of sweat seeped out from his body, making it look like he had put on a layer of glistening battle armor. Finally, he finished with great success!

Letting out a drawn out breath of relaxation, a stream of air shot out from his mouth and suddenly expanded midair, forming the appearance of a vulture flapping its wings, ready to fly. It lasted for a full ten seconds before gradually fading away.

“Not bad! I could only maintain it for 9.5 seconds yesterday, but today, I have increased it by half a second. My control over energy has become more and more exquisite. Soon, I will be able to break through the 5th level of the Refinement Stage and officially rush into the 6th level, the intermediate level Refinement Stage!”

Li Yao’s pitch-black pupils flared with light as the corner of his mouth arched into a smile of self-confidence.

Through mad cultivation at the bottom of the Billowing Star Sea and through the bitter bracing of wild bombardment from Ding Lingdang, explosive progress was made whether it was in Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining, the Soul Converging Technique, or the Soul Igniting Law. During a sparring session five days ago, Li Yao broke through in a single breath to the 5th level of the Refinement Stage and even borrowed the power of this breakthrough to launch a dangerous counterattack against Ding Lingdang!

Even though he only severed a single strand of hair on her head, this was, after all, the first time he had made contact with Ding Lingdang’s body. Even if he had been beaten to a pulp afterwards, Li Yao was still quite pleased in his heart.

“Work hard! Strive forward!”

“The next level breakthrough will mean I have reached the intermediate level within the Refinement Stage. Spirit energy will no longer be just for show and can be used in actual combat!”

“At that time, my combat strength will increase by three to five fold!”

However, levels one through five of the Refinement Stage are considered to be low levels, so it is relatively easy to break through to them.

To step across from the low levels to the intermediate levels would require profound comprehension in addition to the accumulation of strength. One must not be impatient for that time.

Li Yao had just reached the 5th level of the Refinement Stage a few days ago, so his state wasn’t too stable. He had just let his imagination run wild for a moment and didn’t really have the impatient thoughts for quick results.

Stretching his aching back, Li Yao opened the ice maker and used his brain to touch upon the freeze array glyphs, causing them to flash. His mind was completely clear, and only then did pick up the workpiece he had just forged for careful examination.

What was twirling in his fingers was shockingly yet another nail, a seven layered heavens nail!

Actually, he had left out a step in the refining showdown that happened half a month ago.

The Seven Layered Heavens technique was an ancient refining technique from the Hundred Smelting Clan of forty millenniums ago. It absolutely could not be formed with just one go through the crafting furnace. It still needed the One Hundred and Eight Chaos Gale Hammer Technique to hammer it over and over, taking the seven layer structure and fusing it into a single body. Only in this way could it become the true Seven Layered Heavens!

If the seven layered heavens nail had gone through the ancient forging technique, then even if Jin Quan had refined the perfect dragon scale nail, Jin Quan wouldn’t even have the slightest bit chance of victory. His nail would instantly explode under the high-speed collision!

However…

Li Yao snapped his fingers, and a different pitch-black nail immediately flew into the palm of his hand.

This was none other than the dragon scale nail refined by Elder Lei Yongming.

This was a gift the elder had sent to Li Yao before leaving.

“Ding!”

Li Yao flicked it with his finger and the dragon scale nail let out the hiss of a tiger and the cry of a dragon. The sound lingered in waves.

It was as if there was truly an imposing and ferocious dragon hibernating within this tiny, little nail.

Li Yao listened to the subtleties of the dragon’s cry with half squinting eyes. He could perceive the internal structure of the hidden dragon scale nail. He muttered to himself:

“Marvelous, profound, and inconceivable!”

“The techniques of the previous generation of refiners have truly reached perfection. Even if I use the true Seven Layered Heavens technique, it would be impossible for me to forge even a single layer of the hidden dragon scale structure. The old grandfather had actually inserted three layers in an instant, reducing the total weight of the nail by 22% while increasing the strength by 100%. In the end, how did he manage to do this?”

“I exhausted my mind forging this seven layered heavens nail, yet it’s still not enough to contend against that old grandfather’s hidden dragon scale nail. After ten collisions, my nail would certainly be the one to shatter!”

Li Yao deeply recognized the distance between him and a true master refiner. It was a distance that was oh so far.

In an instant, an endless crazed swelling rose from the bottom of his heart, as the desire to battle raged and burned. His ambitions expanded crazily.

“With a universe this large, it is truly worth it to spend an entire lifetime to challenge others. I must not relax by all means. Every second must become time spent in getting stronger. Every second must be lived to boundless brilliance!”

Li Yao gave a subtle smile when his thoughts reached this point.

What Lei Yongming had given him did not end with something as simple as just a nail.

After being shaken by the astonishing potential revealed by Li Yao, the old grandfather had pulled some strings to establish a Strategic Cooperation Agreement between Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department and the Empyrean Terminus Sect.

The Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department had officially turned into an extracurricular education base of Empyrean Terminus Central High School, and the Empyrean Terminus Central High School would organize their top students to come to the department for a touring study each year.

At the same time, Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department made a promise to pay special attention to the students of Empyrean Terminus Central High School during the Limit Challenge Competition. They just had to comply with the standards to receive preferential score treatment!

The most amusing thing of all was that the good-for-nothing Little Fatty Li Shanhao and his group of good-for-nothings had gotten a hold of Yuan Manqiu and Li Yao’s spiritual crane messenger number. They didn’t dare to contact Yuan Manqiu, the department head; instead, every few days, they would go contact Li Yao with affection. Every message would refer to him as their eldest senior brother, addressing him quite intimately.

To give preferential score treatment, even from a third rate specialty that was the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, was still a promise of good faith.

Obviously, the Empyrean Terminus Sect wouldn’t accept this benefit for nothing. With just a wave of Elder Lei Yongming’s hand, the Empyrean Terminus Sect immediately brought out eight million credits and this old grandfather personally took out two million credits for a total pooling of ten million credits in investments. They sent it to the Grand Desolate War Institution, indicating that the money was to be invested in the refining department. They even said that this was just the first stage. In the future, if everyone’s cooperation goes pleasantly, they could even consider forming a special fund, a fund to be given as an investment every year to the refining department.

The entire administration of Grand Desolate War Institution was shocked in this instant.

Ten million credits investment couldn’t be considered large, but it also couldn’t be considered tiny. The few traditional investors of the Grand Desolate War Institution, like the Devil Fist Sect, the Hundred Saber Alliance, and other similar sects, would invest several hundred million each year!

However, these sects were all combat sects of the Wasteland, and their relationship with the Grand Desolate War Institution was extremely close. The Combat Department was equivalent to their core reserves and base of training, so it was natural for them to give the Grand Desolate War Institution money liberally.

Meanwhile, the Empyrean Terminus Sect was a sect focused on refining and never really collaborated together with the Grand Desolate War Institution. This time, the Refining Department had forcefully broke open a new road. The investment money was only second to what was key, the slow and pervading influence of the Grand Desolate War Institution into the region where the Empyrean Terminus Sect was located.

It must be known that the Empyrean Terminus Sect was in the middle of an abrupt rise to become a top ranking sect. They had certain fame within the federation. If the two sides deepened their collaboration, the benefits that the Grand Desolate War Institution would receive would far exceed a simple 10 million credits.

As a result, this matter brought Li Yao a benefit that he could never have imagined; he received a scholarship called “Star of the Wasteland”.

This was the highest level scholarship of the Grand Desolate War Institution. The requirements to get this scholarship were extremely demanding, and the student had to have an outstanding display in academics and perform enormous contributions to the school as well. The student had to do both, and neither could be lacking.

Since Li Yao was able to modify the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, his academics didn’t need to be mentioned. His drawing in of 10 million credits in investments for the school could be counted as an enormous contribution. It was quite justifiable for him to receive the scholarship.

The money wasn’t a lot, but the crucial point laid in the fact that the scholarship gave him a whole additional 3000 school credits as a reward!

In this way, Li Yao’s total school credits easily broke through the 10,000 mark.

He had no burdens at all now. He wholeheartedly threw himself into refining madly.

The entire winter vacation was spent with complete diligence.

Every morning, he would go to Ding Lingdang’s home and cultivate in the Billowing Star Sea for an hour. Then, he would spar with Ding Lingdang in low-intensity for half an hour and high-intensity for five minutes.

Soon after, he would enter the Heavenly Refining Tower with the help of the Super Perception Cabin and analyze over and over the structures and functions of various magical equipment.

Ancient ones, modern ones, civilian ones, military ones, close-combat ones, long-distance ones… Every blueprint of each and every magical equipment he could find were totally chewed to pulp by him.

After leaving the Heavenly Refining Tower, he would go back to the depths of the Billowing Star Sea to cultivate for one more hour before he would act as a sandbag for Ding Lingdang once again for another half an hour.

After eating dinner, he would start his true refining.

One magical equipment after another came freshly refined out from the crafting furnace. They went through ancient forging techniques to become harder, stronger, and more precise than those produced from purely modern arts.

All sorts of vibrant and brilliant colored magical equipment that could cut through steel like mud appeared within a small gray building to the side of the refining workshop.

Following the coming of the new semester, this little gray building shockingly turned into an awe-inspiring armory!

Chapter 166: The Fierce Battle of Verdant Tarn City

Three days before the start of school.

Li Yao stretched out his muscles under the setting sun. Sitting at the base of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, he let the blood red color of the setting sun dye both him and the crystal suit red. The shadows of the two merged as one, trailing out long like a black saber.

Li Yao had formed a particular habit starting from an unknown time. No matter how busy the day was, he would take out half an hour during the evening to come beneath the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and sit in silence for a moment.

He started doing this one day due to exhaustion. He discovered that when occasionally resting against the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit for a few minutes, he would suddenly feel his mind especially open up and his thoughts would become exceptionally clear. Many theories and blueprints that he wasn’t able to understand normally would suddenly become clear at once.

This sort of feeling was like entering the Super Perceptive State, yet it didn’t have the side effects of the Super Perceptive State. He was able to maintain it for a very long time.

It was as if there was someone else thinking with him in the darkest depths, much like joint problem-solving.

Li Yao was at a loss. He thought for several days and could not think of a reason why. He could only take it as blessings from the refining department’s senior brothers and teachers from the underworld, hoping that Li Yao would able to smoothly get 40,000 credits, test and become a registered refiner, and bring Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department to glory.

He maintained this habit from that day forth.

The half hour with the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit became his moment of relaxation that was hard to come by during the day.

It was as if all the teachers and elder brothers of the refining department were hibernating in the depths of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. They cheered for his sake, letting him have the morale to madly cultivate beyond his limits and letting him press on through gritted teeth!

Based on his current state, to make something from nothing, to refine a magical equipment completely produced by himself was still something where the will was there but not the strength.

But based on sturdy fundamentals that stemmed from the strong and ferocious forging techniques of forty millenniums ago as well as his unrestrained devil modification style, Li Yao had already conducted crazy enhancements for several dozen types of typical magical equipment. Quite a few of these magical equipment had performances that far exceeded the original, so much so that they differed completely, seemingly as if they were different objects.

He refined until today, having completed 18 primary battle magical equipment and several dozen auxiliary magical equipment, displaying all the techniques he possessed to the utmost detail.

However, would his modification train of thought be accepted? Would these magical equipment be like what he had envisioned? Could they display their might on the battlefield? Would they be welcomed by his classmates? Could he exchange them for school credits…

All of these questions will have their answers found in true battle after the start of the new school semester!

“I have decided now. Once the new school semester starts, I will bring all my artifacts to the depths of the Wasteland and hunt demon beasts. On one hand, I will be able to use live combat to test the magical equipment produced from my devil modification and go a step further in fine tuning the details. On the other hand, I can record a live combat video and upload it to the Wasteland Battle Network as a live advertisement!”

More importantly, Li Yao really wanted to hone his combat skills.

Fiend Blade Peng Hai had told him this back in Floating Spear City: to become an outstanding refiner, it was best to first become a remarkable soldier.

He did not take these words to heart at the time.

But when he started to truly refine using the crafting furnace, even for engaging in minor modifications, Li Yao suddenly became aware of the reasoning behind these words.

If one doesn’t dance with blades and handle guns, how would one know how to refine an outstanding saber?

Only in actual combat would he be able to gain a deep understanding of the nature of each magical equipment, and only then could he understand the essence of a refiner and become a super, top-notch master refiner.

Li Yao turned his head when his thoughts reached this point. He gave a deep glance at the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, and emotions of disappointment and frustration were born inexplicably from the bottom of his heart.

There will be a day when he will successfully refine the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. He will make this majestic Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit rise to the highest heavens and roar with wind and thunder!

But he didn’t know just who would don the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit when that day comes and laugh in defiance against the heavens and earth.

Li Yao’s eyelids twitched. An image of him wearing the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit suddenly appeared in the depths of his pupils. He had a world-shaking appearance.

This scene was impossible to erase once it had appeared and stabbed deeply within his heart like a growing barb. No matter how he pulled, he was unable to remove it.

“If there is a day when I can don the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, break through the skies of the highest heavens, and brave the winds and waves of the star ocean… How refreshing that would be!”

Li Yao chuckled and giggled as he let his imagination run wild.

Right at this time, Wild Waves City suddenly sounded with a resonating horn in all directions.

It was as if countless giants were standing up straight at every corner of the city, ferociously pounding their chests and letting out roars that shook the heaven and earth.

“Roar!”

“Roar!”

“Roar!”

Li Yao’s pupils suddenly constricted and he suddenly jumped up. He sized up his surroundings with a bit of astonishment.

Even though he couldn’t see even half a person, when the horn sounded, the entirety of Wild Waves City underwent a bizarre change.

The strong odor of blood and metal flooded the air. Even though the frigid winter wasn’t over, it was as if the scorching summer had suddenly arrived.

“Whoosh!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Several dozen streaks of light consisting of every color imaginable ascended slowly towards the skies from all directions. They interweaved together, faced the northeast direction, and shot out like lightning.

They were several dozen experts of at least the Building Foundation Stage!

The crystal processor on Li Yao’s wrist crazily vibrated. The Wasteland Battle Network had pushed out a notification, and there was a sudden outburst of extremely important information.

This was an unprecedented event. Li Yao activated the crystal processor at once.

A stream of information made up of a mixture of gold and blood colored lights popped up. It was an ad-hoc mission of complete urgency.

“Emergency military situation!”

“Verdant Tarn City, located 478 kilometers away from Wild Waves City, has encountered a beast tide of level 8 or higher! The beast tide has already broken through the outer defense lines and has rushed into the city!”

“There are still many civilians remaining in Verdant Tarn City who are staying entrenched within the center of the stronghold. The entire city has already sunken into a messy situation where humans and demon beasts are mixed together. It is impossible for us to use super-heavy magical equipment to destroy the beast tide.”

“We can only summon masses of federation forces and cultivators to enter the city and engage in alleyway and street combat!”

“The federation forces have officially asked the cultivators of all sects and universities surrounding Verdant Tarn City to enter the battlefield!”

“Our school, at its roots, is a local university of the Wasteland. When faced with a neighbor in crisis, we are bound by duty!”

“The name of this ad-hoc mission is… The Fierce Battle of Verdant Tarn City!”

“Every student who has more than 8000 credits can sign up!”

“Those who are interested, please register on the Battle Network and assemble at Field No. 2 within an hour. Time is of the essence!”

“Repeat. This mission is extremely high risk. It is very likely to lead to heavy injuries or even death. Those that do not have confidence in their own strength, don’t apply!”

“Due to the urgency of the battlefield situation, the quantity and species of the demon beasts are not known. The official school credit reward for this mission has yet to be calculated; however, the school promises to give participating students rewards in accordance with the highest standard!”

“Cultivators are the sabers of human civilization. Now is the time to unsheathe these blades. An hour later, at Field No. 2, we will leave and behead the demons and exterminate the devils!”

“Behead the demons and exterminate the devils!”

The last few words made Li Yao dry at the mouth and tongue; his blood was racing.

He was just a normal person during the last beast tide invasion. He had to rely on Ding Ying, Wei Qingqing, and the red-eyed officer… these cultivators to come protect him.

But today, he had already become a cultivator of the 5th level of the Refinement Stage and had even refined several dozen masterwork weapons that could cut through steel like mud.

When it comes down to him versus a thousand, death will rain down all around him!

“Excellent! In the ancient cultivation world of forty millenniums ago, a newly forged masterwork weapon would undergo slaying several demons and devils as a baptism!”

“Verdant Tarn City. Beast tide. I will use you all to baptize my first batch of magical equipment!”

…

Field No. 2 of Grand Desolate War Institution.

A Thunderbird class light transport ship had landed at the corner of the field.

This was a transport ship that was specialized for quick response usage. It could transport over 800 passengers each trip, and it can carry ten medium-sized crystal tanks underneath it. This was a model that was specifically refined to deal with beast tides.

Generally, besides taking the crystal rail, cultivators below the Building Foundation Stage would board this kind of transport ship to enter battlefields where danger lurks at every corner.

Flying solo on a sword was tantamount to throwing away one’s life. All sorts of demon beasts hibernating or lying in wait in the darkness would unleash their demonic energy and poison to instantly kill you!

Grand Desolate War Institution’s dean, Xiong Baili, and his administration had already gathered below the Thunderbird transport ship.

Quite a few of the teaching and administrative staff were wearing battle armor, fully armed and prepared to enter combat.

Xiong Baili’s entire face was serious and his eyebrows were locked tight. He faced a young officer with stripes of a major and asked:

“A’Chao, how did things turn out this way? Isn’t Verdant Tarn City a mining town? There are several dozen military camps in its surroundings and three overlapping defensive lines. It could be said to be near invulnerable to attacks, so how did a beast tide suddenly break through? Normally, a few rounds from the crystal warships would be able to resolve this issue, but now, we’re at the point where we need to engage in street fighting?”

The major’s name was Xiong Zongchao. Not only was he a graduate of Grand Desolate War Institution, he was also a distant relative of Xiong Baili; he was Xiong Baili’s distant nephew.

So, Xiong Baili had asked him openly and honestly.

Xiong Zongchao spoke with a bitter laugh:

“Fourth Uncle, the outer defense perimeter of Verdant Tarn City hasn’t been broken through. This time, the wormhole appeared right inside the city. The beast tide directly rushed into the city region and engaged in street warfare. Even great immortals wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about this.”

Xiong Baili was stunned:

“We’re this unlucky?”

From the past until now, the original strategy executed by the Star Glory Federation against the Demon Beast Wasteland was an encroachment fortification tactic. Every city was constructed as a near invulnerable fort to nibble away at the Wasteland inch by inch, forcibly reducing the amount of room for demon beasts to exist.

Only through wormholes could demon beasts break through to the Heaven Origin Sector from the Blood Demon Sector and launch a surprise attack.

The emergence point of a wormhole is random. If a wormhole appears in the middle of the wilderness, then the beast tide could only gnaw against the outer defensive perimeter of the city.

They need at least three to five hours, and even half a day may not be enough for them to gnaw through the defenses.

Humanity’s crystal warships can fly leisurely to the skies above the beast tide with their Primeval True Fire Cannons, Taiyi Lightning Railguns, and Shattered Star Bombarders… Various mighty, powerful, and unrivaled super-heavy magical equipment can be unleashed, cleaving skulls and brains together in an indiscriminate bombardment. No matter how unbridled the beast tide is, they would all turn to roast duck!

But this time, they were truly unlucky. The wormhole directly appeared within the city. The beast tide came pouring into the city region in an instant, mixing together with the human race.

No matter how strong crystal warships were, in the end, they couldn’t just bombard the entirety of Verdant Tarn City to smithereens, right?

They could only mobilize the federation soldiers and cultivators to engage in street combat!

Xiong Baili gave a cold snort. His expression turned incomparably sharp:

“Who cares if its street combat? We of the human race are the most powerful combat race of the endless sea of stars. It doesn’t matter which environment we fight in. We will surely be the ultimate victors! A’Chao, come. Experience for yourself the bearing and style of Grand Desolate War Institution’s new generation!”

Chapter 167: Levels of Demon Beasts

Before Xiong Baili faded away, a fiery red stream of light whizzed over.

“Brother Chao, long time no see!”

Xiong Zongchao’s complexion changed. His body turned into a blur as he did nine incomparably impossible dodges. While his true body retreated by ten meters in a single breath, the remnant shadow he left behind was torn into nothing by the fiery red light.

Xiong Baili, without making a sound, came in between the fiery red stream of light and Xiong Zongchao before he said, “And this is…”

Xiong Zongchao slightly smiled:

“There is no need for me to introduce her. She is none other than one of the youngest Building Foundation Stage cultivators of our Star Glory Federation, the future star of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Combat Department, Ding Lingdang. She and I have met several times in the depths of the Wasteland and have also collaborated to kill a Demon General!”

As the fiery red brilliance solidified, Ding Lingdang’s strong and graceful figure was revealed.

She was dressed in a tight red combat suit which was decorated with flames, sketching out her soul-stirring curves. Her entire body was overflowing with a resplendent brilliance which was a feast for the eyes.

“Marvellous! My bones are about to rot from being holed up in the institute for the past couple of months. Finally, I can kill some demon beasts! I really can’t wait!”

Rubbing her hands, Ding Lingdang jumped up and down.

After a moment, hundreds of terrifying aurae approached at a high speed.

Xiong Baili smiled and said:

“This is the Iron Fist Club’s president, Hua Tianxiong. This is Chaos Edge Hall’s president, Xu Ge. Behind them are the senior students of the Combat Department, many of whom I believe you have met?”

Xiong Zongchao nodded.

The Grand Desolate War Institution and the army had close ties. Both sides often joined forces to behead demons and kill devils. Xiong Zongchao was the liaison officer sent by the army and had been long acquainted and friends with many of the senior students of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

“Brother Chao!”

“Brother Chao!”

One by one, tall and stalwart students with stubbornness written all over their faces came forward and greeted him. All of them were burning with eagerness: “Finally, I can fight shoulder to shoulder with Brother Chao and slaughter demon beasts!”

Soon, a dozen or so silhouettes appeared. Although their appearances were a bit tender, their imposing aurae was no less than that of the senior students.

These were all the best among the best freshmen.

Seeing so many freshmen excited to participate in the mission, the smiling look in Xiong Baili’s eyes turned intenser:

“Come, A’Chao. Let me introduce you. This is Zhao Tianchong, a 4th level Refinement Stage sword cultivator who has been hunting demon beasts in the depths of the Wasteland since childhood. This is Lu Tieshan, a 4th level Refinement Stage body practitioner who has been painstakingly training in the Devil Fist Sect since childhood. These two are the strongest experts among the freshmen!”

Xiong Zongchao was surprised as he said with emotion:

“Advancing to the 4th level of the Refinement Stage in just half a year after entering the institute? These freshmen truly can not be underestimated! In my time, students only entered the 4th level of the Refinement Stage after spending two years at the university!”

Xiong Baili said with a laugh:

“Yes, the quality of this year’s freshmen is particularly good. Not only are there two students who have entered the 4th level of the Refinement Stage, a dozen students who have entered the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage have also appeared. They are not only unusually talented, but they also cultivate with madness to the point that they did not return to their families even for the new year during their winter vacation!”

“Pleased to meet you, Dean!”

“Pleased to meet you, Dean!”

Zhao Tianchong, Lu Tieshan, and the other freshmen greeted Xiong Baili together.

All of them were members of the Hidden Dragon Hall and had cultivated together. When they came to know about the beast tide outbreak at Verdant Tarn City, they, without a moment of hesitation, came.

After half a year of painstaking cultivation, these “hidden dragons” were no longer their old selves of when they had just entered the institute; their arrogance was completely converged in the depths of their eyes, where it had been purified into a cold sharp gleam, and their temperament was calmer and more profound.

This was especially so for Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan, whose profoundness totally did not tally with their age.

Only when their eyes bloomed with sparks from time to time would the others have a glimpse of the impatience buried deep within the depths of their heart.

Their deep desire could only completely bloom when they are on a true battlefield.

Having swept a gaze, Xiong Zongchao repeatedly sighed:

“When all’s said and done, our Grand Desolate War Institution is unlike any other. Obviously, they are still on their winter break, but when the horn sounded, we could still gather 300 students. Furthermore, all of them are cultivators. If such a strong army arrived on the battlefield, even Demon Generals would dare not to contend with them!”

Xiong Baili’s smile turned into a frown as he said:

“That’s not right. If I remember correctly, the number of people who have applied is 301. There is still one student who hasn’t arrived yet.”

Before his voice could fade away, a silhouette could be seen approaching from the distance. In just a few steps, the silhouette had traversed hundreds of meters.

Xiong Zongchao was a bit perplexed:

“This student looks very unfamiliar, is he also a freshman? Why is he carrying such a huge box on his back?”

Finally, the silhouette revealed itself to be a student who was dressed in a black combat suit and had a huge metal casket on his back which was fastened onto his body with three large belts. Every step he took seemed to be very heavy, as his every step gave burst to a “Bang! Bang!” sound on the ground.

The box appeared to be very heavy, seemingly as if it weighed at least a thousand kilograms.

However, the student seemed to lift such a heavy weight with ease, as though it was light as a feather; he did not seem to mind the heavy weight. In just a breath, he had skimmed over to the front of the Thunderbird-class light transport ship.

Xiong Baili burst into laughter:

“Student Li Yao, you are a refiner. Do you still want to go to the battlefield? It’s too dangerous!”

Xiong Baili had a pretty good impression of Li Yao.

Whether it was him going against the flow, adhering to the Refining Department, or the modification of the 1st Generation Tai’e Furnace which pulled over a ten million sponsorship, these matters had surprised Xiong Baili incessantly, and he deeply remembered this somewhat special teenager.

Xiong Zongchao’s eyes bloomed with a sliver of radiant splendor as he cried out involuntarily:

“Is this the only student of the Refining Department? He is really powerful!”

Xiong Zongchao had been in the army for many years. He was in the special forces and had a very sinister insight. Just from the sound of Li Yao’s footsteps, he reckoned that the iron crate on his back weighed at least a ton!

‘Even after running countless miles while carrying a ton on his back, his breathing is still steady and there is no change in his complexion.’

‘This student’s body is exceptionally powerful.”

At the beginning, Xiong Zongchao regarded him as a senior student of the Combat Department. Meanwhile, in his heart, he was secretly surprised. Why hadn’t he seen such a strong student before?

However, much to his surprise, Li Yao turned out to be a freshman of the Refining Department!

Xiong Zongchao was astounded to the extreme.

Li Yao pursed his lips, revealing his snow-white teeth:

“Dean, I need to amass 40,000 credits to participate in the Refiners’ Registration Examination, so how could I miss such a good opportunity to sweep credits?”

“Alright!”

Waving his hand, Xiong Baili’s eyes flickered with an electric brilliance as he swept a glance over the students and spoke in a loud voice, “Since everyone is here, let me repeat it once more. This mission is extremely dangerous, and it’s very likely that you will be seriously injured and some of you might even die. If there is even an ounce of hesitation in your heart, it’s best for you to withdraw!”

The 301 students stood firm with their heads held high, with not a single one of them uttering a word. Everyone’s face was flushed red to their ears, seemingly as if they were being burned inside an invisible and maddening will to fight.

After three seconds, Xiong Baili raised his head and let out a long roar: “Good, good, very good! Having students like you is the greatest pride in my, Xiong Baili’s, life. Let us depart and slaughter those demon beasts!”

“Slaughter those demon beasts!”

Hundreds of teachers and students loudly roared. Everyone’s blood was bubbling as they boarded the Thunderbird-class light transport ship.

After a moment, the light transport ship rose into the air as it whizzed towards Verdant Tarn City!

On the transport ship, Xiong Zongchao started up the large-scale master crystal processor of the ship as hundreds of telepathic thoughts were transmitted to the mini crystal processors of Grand Desolate War Institution’s teachers and students.

Which included the 3-dimensional map of Verdant Tarn City, the distribution of the federation army, as well as the growing list of information of friendly forces.

When the sects within 500 km radius came to know of the beast tide outbreak at Verdant Tarn City, all of them mobilized.

Every second, countless powerful cultivators rushed toward Verdant Tarn City.

And with the vanguard troops commencing their fight after entering the city, a general understanding of the quantity and type of demon beasts was also procured.

This information was all transmitted to the main crystal processor of the Thunderbird-class light transport ship and subsequently distributed to the micro crystal processor of all its passenger.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Everyone checked their crystal processor with rapt attention as the colorful holographic screen was flooded with countless information just like a downpour.

Everyone was a cultivator, and as such, the speed of reading the information was very fast. In just a short moment, they had all grasped the general situation.

Xiong Zonghcao introduced:

“At present, it seems that the beast tide is of at least Level-7, and very coincidently, the wormhole had appeared in an underground abandoned warehouse in Verdant Tarn City. As a result of this, no one seemed to have noticed at the beginning. It was only when tens of thousands of demon beasts had spread across the city through its complex sewer lines and appeared within the city simultaneously did they notice. However, by then, it was too late!”

“Fortunately, in order to guard against beast tides, every city in the Wasteland is fortified from inside and outside. Many of the large scale structure inside the city were enclosed in low-rise walls and defensive array glyphs. Many of the areas even have a large number of military magical equipment installed.”

“Furthermore, Verdant Tarn City is an important mining city. Many sects have mining bases in Verdant Tarn City along with a bunch of guards to protect the mine, all of whom are ex-servicemen or cultivators that are holding the line.”

“And the native sect of Verdant Tarn City, the ‘Azure Sun Sect’, is ranked 379 among the top 500 in the federation and have ten Building Foundation Stage experts.”

“Under the resistance of the Azure Sun Sect, most of the civilians were able to hide inside the fortified buildings, and the headquarter of the Azure Sun Sect even has over ten thousand civilians protected inside. Please look at the 3-dimensional map, here, here, and here. There is still a large number of civilians stranded.”

“We have two missions: the first is to save all the civilians, and the second is to behead all the demon beasts in Verdant Tarn City, kill them one by one—even fowls and dogs are not to be spared!”

“Please look at the information list of the demon beasts. From the news transmitted from the frontline, this is a mixed-type beast tide. At present, we know of 43 Demon Soldiers and 5 Demon Generals; however, we have yet to discover the Demon King.”

“But from past experiences, we are 80 to 90% sure that a Demon King will be commanding such a large-scale beast tide from the back!”

Along with the introduction of Xiong Zongchao, translucent, 3-dimensional images appeared one by one on everyone’s holographic screen. These images included the pictures of a couple dozen demon beasts along with their habits, levels, risk factor, the heaven and earth treasures they bear… over a hundred kinds of information.

Li Yao’s heart skipped a beat.

He had never imagined that the level of this time’s beast tide outbreak would be so high and that a Demon King might even appear.

The demon beasts in accordance with the strength are divided into Demon Soldier, Demon General, Demon King, Demon Emperor, Demon God, and so on and so forth, and their respective cultivation level in the human cultivation system respectively is Refinement Stage, Foundation Building, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation.

Li Yao, on Devil Flood Dragon Island, had killed a three-eyed ape which was even weaker than the Demon Soldier. It had not even entered the lowest level and was just equivalent to an ordinary person.

Whether it was a Demon God or a Spirit Transformation Stage expert, both belonged to the legendary, peerless figures which have not appeared in the Star Glory Federation for a long time.

Even the Demon Emperor, which was comparable to a Nascent Soul Stage old monster, was also very rarely seen. Once he appeared, he would certainly be followed by hundreds of millions of Demon Soldiers, for which half of the federation would be completely mobilized. Only then was it possible to compete with them.

Starting from the Demon Soldier, demon beasts would gradually break away from the shackles of a beast, gaining high intelligence. Then, they could be called a member of the “demon clan”.

The thought of actually fighting with a true member of the demon clan made Li Yao inexplicably excited!

Chapter 168: He’s Dead Weight!

Having finished introducing the general situation of the battle, Xiong Zongchao once again said:

“Soon, you will be entering the battlefield. I can see that a lot of you have your own weapons, but if any of you need weapons, you can head to the armory of the transport ship and take your pick. We don’t have many close combat magical equipment, but we have all kinds of firearms, ready to equip. Everybody can casually take them for use!”

Li Yao’s heart was astir.

All the magical equipment he had crafted were close combat-type, so it would also be better to get a firearm for self-defense.

Just as he was about to get up, he came to notice that the other students remained completely still. He couldn’t help but befuddled as he asked Ding Lingdang, who was sitting beside him, in a low voice:

“Sister Ling, why isn’t anybody taking a gun?”

Ding Lingdang slightly smiled and said:

“Traditional body practitioners and sword cultivators rather don’t like using firearms. It’s not like we are complacent and choose to stick to our ways, but on the contrary, it’s because weapons like firearms have many flaws.”

Since the development of long-range types magical equipment such as firearms, the pros and cons of long-range and close-combat type magical equipment had always been a bone of contention in the world of cultivation.

The pros of firearms were quite obvious. Not only could the firearms be fired from long-range, but the firepower was also strong. Not to mention that using the crystal cell as the energy source allows its user to preserve his or her spiritual energy, and also the fact that some low-tier firearms could even be used by the ordinary people.

However, the cons were also quite obvious. Whether it was the crystal cells or the bullets that were forged out of crystal, both were terrifyingly heavy. A Thunderfire Boltgun, along with a dozen crystal cell, plus three to five hung bullet belts would at the very least weigh over fifty kilograms.

As far as ordinary people were concerned, spending a few days or maybe even a dozen days while carrying such weight and venturing into the depths of Wasteland where demon beasts frequently lurk would truly be a terrifying thing.

And as far as cultivators go, it was compulsory for them to accelerate from zero to a couple hundred or even to the speed of sound within a couple of seconds at every move, and in just one breath, they had to dodge demon beast’s attack a couple dozen times continuously in the air.

And carrying an extra kilogram of supplies would slow their high-speed movements by one second, which would decrease the number of maneuvers they could do during the battle and in-turn would make them susceptible to the demon beast’s attacks!

And most importantly, due to the long confrontation with humans, demon beasts have also evolved. Many of the high-level demon beasts have a body covered entirely in a hard shell, while their vital points were concealed underneath the joints of the shell, making it very difficult to hit them from a distance of a couple kilometers. They had to approach to a hundred meters distance and fire from close-range, and only then was it possible to cause fatal injuries.

However, as far as cultivators were concerned, within a range of hundred meters, whether one used firearms or blades wasn’t truly too much of a difference.

“Within the federation army, a vast majority of the soldiers were ordinary people who fight in troops, so they do not need to worry about the problems caused by the logistics support. That’s why firearms are mainly used.”

“Our Grand Desolate War Institution’s teachers and students all specialize in close-combat and have not received strict firearms training.”

“Furthermore, we are used to fighting in small teams, so we have to rely on ourselves for the logistics support. Not to mention, our hunt can easily take half a month, so we need to carefully plan every gram of supplies we will carry.”

“If we are equipped with firearms, not only would it cause insufficient injuries to the demon beasts, but on the contrary, it would drag us down and affect our speed and agility!”

“However, in the cultivation world, just like sword cultivators, there are also ‘firearms cultivators’ who specifically train in ‘gun fighting techniques’. A powerful firearms cultivator could accurately shoot between the gaps of a demon beast’s armor from a couple kilometers away!”

“The Federation’s First Military College specializes in fostering firearms cultivators, and only in their hands do firearms make sense.”

Having said that, Ding Lingdang pondered and said:

“However, it would also be better for you to take a gun for self-defense. In any case, you are quite powerful, and moreover, you have not formally undergone close-combat training. For you, blades and firearms are just the same. It would be rather safe for you to use the gun to shoot from afar.”

Li Yao also thought the same. Apart from the [One-Hundred-and-Eight Hands Chaos Gale Hammer Technique], he had not seriously learned any other offensive techniques.

And the [One-Hundred-and-Eight Hands Chaos Gale Hammer Technique] wasn’t actually an offensive technique but rather a basic forging skill. Just like [Thousand Tempering hundred Refining], it was an exercise to beat and boil the muscles and bones to temper the body.

By carrying out painstaking training in the depths of the Billowing Star Sea, Li Yao had his strength and speed enhanced, allowing him to withstand Ding Lingdang’s attack for a longer period of time.

Until now, he only had a physique which was seemingly cast from iron and terrifying strength; however, he did not have even one brilliant saber technique or sword technique.

If it was a firearm, he just had to squeeze the trigger and the bullet would blast its way out on its own, which he was capable of.

Having thought of this, Li Yao stood up and greeted Xiong Zongchao before walking towards the armory.

All the students who were sitting on either side of the aisle were surprised for a moment; they could not understand why someone would choose a firearm.

No one here was a rookie; they understood basic common sense. For close-combat cultivators like them, firearms would just slow them down and would simply be unable to unleash their true strength.

However, when they found out that it was Li Yao who was going to pick a gun, their eyes revealed a look of relief. One by one, many of them nodded their heads:

“Fellow Student Li Yao, you should take a few guns to defend yourself. Although we will protect you, in a street fight, anything can happen. It’s better for you to prepare yourself for everything!”

“Yes! We have heard that your skills are pretty good; however, fighting is not your specialized field after all. On the battlefield, you can be considered as a support staff, and it would be better for you to hide behind us and fire one or two shots when the demon beasts are least expecting it. We will help you contain the demon beasts!”

Everyone was very cordial. They weren’t discriminating against him because of his “meager strength” at all.

In their opinion, he was just a freshman of the Refining Department whose specialty lies in the technical field. It was very normal for his battle strength to be far from the students of the Combat Department.

It was already quite good for a refiner to fight shoulder to shoulder with everyone and risk his life amidst the dangerous battlefield.

As Li Yao wormed his way into the armory, suddenly, racks jam-packed with hundreds of dazzling, traditional firearms filled his view and caught him by surprise.

As a veteran magical equipment fanatic, naturally, he had a deep fanaticism for the firearms, which even matched his fanaticism for blade-type magical equipment.

However, in day-to-day life, blade-type magical equipment were rather easy to obtain, while terrifyingly powerful firearms were subjected to control and needed certain qualifications to equip them.

In the past when he was just an insignificant scavenger, the most he came in contact with were ordinary firearms like the Thunderfire Boltgun.

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly flickered with greed as he glanced left and right. Drool was almost ready to trickle down the corner of his mouth as he swooped in to kiss the weapons a few times.

Xiong Zongchao smiled in his heart. As someone who was from the military, his love for firearms was just the same and he would always feel a sense of intimacy with them.

Xiong Zongchao generously said:

“Junior Brother, since you are a refiner and don’t have any offensive strength, and as the city is very dangerous, you should pick a powerful firearm. You can casually pick any weapon that you fancy here. I will hand you the jade chip which will transmit telepathic thoughts and give you a run-down on its operating method and allow you to master its basic operation within three minutes.”

Li Yao unconsciously nodded his head as he was somewhat dazzled by the armory and was at a loss as to which one to chose.

Until his line of sight happened to fall upon an enormous metal beast at the corner, after which he could no longer extricate. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he couldn’t help but walk towards it.

After five minutes.

Zhao Tianchong and Li Tieshan, who were the strongest amongst this batch of freshman, whispered to each other.

The subject of their discussion was none other than Li Yao.

Ever since the mystical reversal performed by Li Yao at the end of the month, during which he continually caught up with the four experts of the Hidden Dragon Hall and seized the first position in the Newcomer Ranking, the two had treated Li Yao as their strongest rival.

At first, the two, by relying on the specialized courses which rewarded many credits of the Combat Department as well as madly cultivating in the last semester, had pulled far ahead of Li Yao by a fair number of credits.

However, in the last days of the semester, Li Yao had successfully modified the 1st Generation Tai’e Furnace, acquired a scholarship, and had obtained 3,000 credits as a reward, thereby leaving them far behind all of a sudden once again.

The two were once again shocked as well as helpless. At first, they had intended to return home for the new year during the winter vacation, but under the stimulation, they didn’t return home and were madly cultivating even on new year’s eve.

Finally, they somehow had the opportunity to amass the credits; however, who would have known that Li Yao would also come!

Lu Tieshan hesitantly said:

“However, he is just a refiner. He is nothing more than a supporting combat staff, and at most, he could repair a few magical equipment. If he wants to get a large number of credits, I’m afraid it won’t be that easy, right?”

Zhao Tianchong replied expressionlessly:

“Not necessarily. That guy is a madman. If compelled, he could do any kind of mad stuff, and maybe, he could even give us some ‘pleasant surprises’!”

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

Li Yao walked out of the armory with heavy steps.

Many people freely swept a glance at him before they were suddenly flabbergasted.

Lu Tieshan’s eyes were ready to fall out as he involuntarily cried out:

“What the hell is that thing!?”

Li Yao was carrying a heavy firearm in his arm which was even thicker than his own thigh. The firearm had as many as six barrels, which had complex and abstruse glyphs engraved upon them and were inlaid with crimson crystals, arranged in a circle, giving off the impression of a burning trunk.

However, that was still nothing big when compared to Li Yao’s upper body. At this moment, it had a few bullet belts wrapped around several times in a cross pattern (X), where each bullet was as big as an infant’s fist. Its warheads were inlaid with crystals while its shell had array glyphs engraved across. They were out-and-out spiritual explosive shells.

The entire set together would at the very least weigh over half a ton. A normal person would never think of carrying such a mass which would hinder their movement, if not crushing them to death!

“Six Barrel Rotary Cannon? T-t-this, this is something that is installed on crystal tanks. He is actually carrying it through brute force?” Someone exclaimed.

Li Yao’s every step would shake the bullet belts, which would, in turn, make “clink clink clink” sounds as he swaggered his way towards his seat. In his heart, he raised an openhearted cry.

He could completely unleash the might of this matchless Six Barrel Rotary Cannon; it was simply made for him.

In contrast, the Thunderfire Boltgun was rather too weak. This was a weapon which a man must use!

Lu Tieshan had reached the ends of his forbearance as he stood in front of him:

“Fellow Student Li Yao, did you choose this gun…”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow: “Is there a problem?”

Lu Tieshan screamed, “Of course, there is a problem! How heavy just a single bullet is along with the weight of the firearm need not be said, and we all know that with your strength, you can carry it, but have you ever thought of its recoil? The recoil of such a heavy weapons is terrifying. Every shot would generate a recoil which is equivalent to a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator ruthlessly smashing into your stomach. Can you even withstand that?”

He suddenly retreated a few step as he punched towards Li Yao’s stomach.

Li Yao was surprised for a moment.

He was used to sparring with Ding Lingdang, who was a Building Foundation Stage cultivator, so in his eyes, this punch of Lu Tieshan was straight and slow. It was simply like a punch fired by a one-hundred-and-eighty years old man. He had hundreds of methods to dodge it.

However, Lu Tieshan didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, and this punch could even be said as him extending his arm, not to mention that he also stopped 22.87 mm away from his stomach.

Li Yao blinked his eyes and did not move as he just watched Lu Tieshan slowly fire a punch before slowly withdrawing it back.

“What do you mean?” Li Yao was unable to tell head or tail of Lu Tieshan’s actions.

Lu Tieshan raised his voice:

“I just used strength comparable to a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator and fired a lightning-fast punch. While you not only could not react, you even failed to see it! If you fired this Six Barrel Rotary Cannon, it would be equivalent to having yourself pounded with a couple dozen heavy punches within one second. Wouldn’t you spit out blood?”

Li Yao suddenly came to a realization. Only now did he come to understand that Lu Tieshan was acting out of kindness. He could not help but feel somewhat embarrassed.

And if he clarified now that he could see Lu Tieshan’s punch and had hundreds of methods to dodge it and counterattack, and moreover the fact that even if it did land upon his body, it would not hinder him too much, wouldn’t… that be too arrogant?

Having thought for a bit, Li Yao said:

“Fellow Student Lu Tieshan, thank you for your reminder. I will be careful.”

Having said that, he walked to his seat and sat down before holding the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon and started wiping it happily.

“You—”

Lu Tieshan, upon seeing that Li Yao didn’t listen to his persuasion, stomped his feet on the floor in anger.

“Forget it!”

Zhao Tianchong stopped him and said in a low voice, “The newcomers are always like this. They think that the bigger the firearms are, the more formidable they are. Wait until he suffers a few times, then he will understand.”

“A few times? At the very first time, his bones will be broken into pieces, and he would turn to us to save him. He is truly a dead weight!”

Lu Tieshan was a bit annoyed.

Having seen the gun Li Yao had chosen, he knew that Li Yao was a downright rookie.

He and Zhao Tianchong had a very rich amount of combat experience and knew that the most annoying thing in combat was having a rookie who wasn’t clear about the general situation in the team, and often, such rookies would become a dead weight for the team.

Sitting on his seat while meticulously wiping the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon and familiarizing its structure, Li Yao casually asked:

“Sister Ling, approximately how much percent is a blow from a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator compared to one of your blows when you usually fight me?”

Ding Lingdang thought for a bit:

“It is almost nothing. At most, it’s a few tenths, why?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Li Yao touched his nose while he continued wiping the cannon.

At this moment, a “BOOM” came from underneath the Thunderbird type light transport ship and started shaking, seemingly as though it had been struck by a huge wave.

They had arrived in the space of Verdant Tarn City, and in front of them was the battlefield!

Chapter 169: Death Squad

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The Thunderbird type light transport ship was like a lonely boat amidst a tempestuous storm; it was shaking more and more.

Upon hearing the strange noise coming from underneath their feet, everyone wondered what was corroding the hull.

The senior students who had experienced many battles could not help but have a pale complexion, and a few freshmen, even more so, constantly swallowed their saliva to ease their tension.

“Everyone, we are already flying over Verdant Tarn City. There are many hidden demon beasts underneath us who are launching attacks against us. However, they won’t be able to break the spiritual energy shield within a short period of time, so you don’t need to worry!”

Having calmly said that, Xiong Zongchao seemed to have thought of something as he headed to the cockpit.

In a short moment, the walls of the transportation ship started flashing as they turned into a huge, ring-shaped holographic screen, displaying the scene outside the ship, seemingly as if the hull had turned transparent in the blink of an eye.

Li Yao gazed into the distance, peering at the azure lake, Verdant Lake, at the front!

Verdant Tarn City was built by the lake and was a flourishing city whose population numbered in the tens of thousands and had sky-rise buildings. It was an extraordinarily bustling city.

“BOOM! BOOM!”

At this instance, Verdant Tarn City had lost its former glory. The entire city was shrouded in a faint cloud of dust and smoke, and explosions were ringing off the hook. Meanwhile, demon beasts were attacking the human bases, causing the defensive array glyphs to be stimulated to the extreme as colorful streams of light soared into the high heavens.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

At this moment, a couple of gray streams of some kind of vicious liquid quickly shot out amid the cloud of dust and smoke and struck dead-right on the bottom of the transport ship.

The transport ship fiercely jolted a bit while its passengers bounced up from their seats.

Fortunately, the transport ship had promptly launched a spiritual energy shield, guarding the transport ship against the bombardment of the gray liquid. The gray liquid stuck onto the spiritual energy shield, seemingly as though the mass of gray liquid were sentient entities that were brandishing their claws and baring their fangs as they constantly corroded the spiritual energy shield and made ear-piercing noises.

Li Yao was secretly astounded. He now knew why low-level cultivators were not willing to ride their swords in the Wasteland.

The gray liquid was certainly highly toxic and corrosive; even after the Thunderbird type light transport ship had launched its spiritual energy shield, it was unable to withstand them even for a bit.

If some low-level cultivator were hit directly, perhaps they would melt into a puddle of pus in the blink of an eye!

Xiong Zongchao simmered in anger as he shouted:

“Do you think that your father’s transport ship doesn’t have any offensive ability and you can target your father so unscrupulously? Analyze the trajectories of their attacks for me and fire the mystic ray. Let’s crucify all of them!”

Under Xiong Zongchao’s order, all the lights in the transportation ship dimmed down as all the spiritual energy was directed to the main crystal processor for analyzing the trajectories of demon beasts’ attacks.

After a moment, three milky white beams were fired from the nose of the transport ship and pierced through the cloud of dust and smoke.

Wherever the mystic beam went, nothing could hide from it. Not only was the dust and smoke no longer blocking their line of sight, but even the interior structure of the buildings was visible. The mystic beam also brought a mystifying magnification effect.

Li Yao’s mind was astir, as he seemingly “noticed” three toad-like demon beasts squatting amid a broken building a few dozen kilometers away. The toad-like demon beasts were a hundred times bigger than a toad and weighed almost a ton. Their bellies engorged and shrunk alternatively and could bulge up to as much as five meters in diameter before vigorously contracting and shooting some kind of poisonous liquid into the sky!

Xiong Zongchao burst into laughter:

“So it was three Venomous Ghost Toads. Let’s see where you are going to escape to now!”

The three poisonous toads also seemed to have realized that they had been locked onto by the mystic rays. One by one, they revealed a panic-stricken look and the ghost face-like pustules at their glabella burst open, shooting a mass of gray mist as their stature suddenly started to shrink.

When the Venomous Ghost Toad shot the poison, its body would expand to ten times their original size, making it difficult for it to move quickly.

As long as the Venomous Ghost Toad had a minute, it could shrink its stature by 90%, making it a lot easier to escape.

Xion Zongchao sneered a few times as he started up the crystal processor and used the long-distance transmitting mode:

“Command center, this is Ship No. Ait, Fower, Siks, Fife(8465). My ship has already used the Nine-by-Nine Mystic Rays to lock onto three Venomous Ghost Toads. It is estimated that they would finish shrinking in 57 seconds. Requesting for a Flying Sword Strike! I repeat, the enemy will flee after 57 seconds! Requesting a priority level-1 Flying Sword Strike!”

After 31 seconds.

From the three military barracks around Verdant Tarn City, a couple dozen flying swords overflowing in resplendent brilliance respectively rose into the air where they formed a full circle and ruthlessly whizzed towards the position locked onto by the Nine-by-Nine Mystic Rays.

“Crash!”

Over a hundred flying swords shot down together from three different angles. The three Venomous Ghost Toads had yet to finish contracting before they were mangled into pieces in the blink of an eye along with the building which was filled with holes and was crashing down!

The teachers and students aboard the transport ship raised cries of jubilation.

The Thunderbird-type light transport ship flew straight ahead into the city.

“Five hundred cultivators of Grand Desolate War Institution have come to fight shoulder to shoulder with the fellow daoists of Verdant Tarn City!”

…

Completely surrounded by the sea-like beast tide, a twenty-floor high edifice at the heart of Verdant Tarn City where demonic energy was soaring into the sky—

Was the “Azure Sun Center”, the headquarter of the native sect of Verdant Tarn City, the Azure Sun Sect.

A particularly fat demon beast was hiding in the basement of a building a kilometer away. It looked just like the Venomous Ghost Toad, but it was three times bigger, giving off an impression of a huge mass of tumor.

It was a variant of the Venomous Ghost Toad and also the king of poisonous toads—the Ghost King Venomous Toad!

The Ghost King Venomous Toad’s entire body was spotted with countless pustules, which were spewing a huge amount of gray mist, covering the entire sky and disrupting the cultivators’ telepathic thoughts search.

Even the Nine-by-Nine Mystic Ray was unable to pierce the gray mist and accurately lock onto its position.

Along with the contraction and expansion of its humongous belly, a huge mass of poison was shot out from the Ghost King Venomous Toad’s mouth and directly attacked the Azure Sun Sect’s headquarter, whereupon the defensive array glyphs of the edifice, which were on the verge of collapse, flickered from the bombardment.

Thousands upon thousands of demon beasts were eagerly watching the venomous toad’s display of power. As long as the defensive array glyphs were eroded, they could force their way into the building and chow down everything with relish!

Tens of thousands of civilians were nestling together inside the Azure Sun Center. Upon hearing the “Chi Chi” sounds of erosion and the constant bombardment coming from outside, they turned pale from fright; however, no one cried. The elderlies and the women comforted the children in a low voice:

“My dear child, the Azure Sun Sect’s cultivators are here. Everything is going to be alright!”

Whereas, the men had long stood together with the clansmen of the Azure Sun Sect and had taken up magical equipment to join the bloody battle.

At this moment, a tall old man was restlessly pacing back and forth in a hall. He was the leader of the Azure Sun Sect, Han Tianyang.

“Leader!”

A ragged disciple whose entire body was bathed in blood and had a large chunk of his face corroded away staggeredly ran back.

“Elder Ji and more than half of the people he had brought along have fallen, yet we had not even seen the shadow the Ghost King Venomous Toad!”

Han Tianyang trembled and was almost about to fall down. Gritting his teeth and pondering for a long while, his eyes flickered with an ominous gleam as he firmed his mind and said:

“Prepare for the third charge. I am going to personally lead the team. All the elders, deacons, managers… every disciple above the 6th level of Refinement Stage, gather all of them and create a death squad of cultivators. We are going to fight it out!”

The disciple was frightened. He broke into tears in anxiety as he quickly got down:

“Leader, please think twice. If we do that, the entire Azure Sun Sect will be finished. It will be over for us!”

A red-faced old man who was standing behind him also cried:

“Leader, it doesn’t matter if we, the old men, and you charge together, but please leave some of the seeds of the Azure Sun Sect. We can not sacrifice every one from the Azure Sun Sect!”

Han Tianyang repeatedly laughed coldly. His laugh was incomparably sad and shrill:

“At this moment, can we still leave some seeds behind? If we can’t kill the Ghost King Venomous Toad, its poison would soon erode our defensive array glyphs, and at that time, tens of thousands of demon beasts would flood-in—any seed would be completely finished!”

Han Tianyang paused for a bit before the expression in his eyes turned as sharp as a saber. He swept a glance at the numerous disciple and spoke in an imposing manner:

“Everyone who is left here are the core disciples of the sect, many of whom had been members of the Azure Sun Sect for several generations. I am also not going to utter some heroic or noble words like there are tens of thousands of fellow countrymen behind us… I am not going to speak some nonsense like that. I am only going to say one thing and only one thing!”

“Our Star Glory Federation pays more attention to meritorious military service and advocates courage!”

“In the past during a beast tide outbreak, there were also many sects who took all their forces to fight, a vast majority of whom were disabled and crippled, and as a result, the sect was almost destroyed!”

“After the battle, these sects were completely supported by the country and received vast resources for reconstruction. Not only did they rise from ashes, but they were ever more prosperous!”

“In contrast, the sects who cowered during the beast tide outbreak and withdrew from front lines were all ridiculed by the entire world. Not only did they no longer receive any support from the country, but their business partners also severed all ties with them, and even the general public were reluctant to buy the products of those sects, leaving no one willing to conduct business with them.”

“These sects survived the beast tide outbreak, but after the beast tide, they had thousands of fingers pointing at them and were ridiculed by tens of thousands of people, branded with the title of coward. And ultimately, not only did they vanish from the face of the Star Glory Federation, but they had also gone down in history as a byword of infamy!”

“At this moment, we have become a beast in the cage and the only thing we can do is risk our lives. Even if you are unable to come out alive, we can fight a bloody battle till the end and show the world the courage of the cultivators of our Azure Sun Sect. Only then would we have the possibility to rise from the ashes after the battle!”

“What is a seed? You think it’s a human, but that’s wrong, absolutely wrong! Only courage is the seed of our Azure Sun Sect! As long as our Azure Sun Sect has this kind of courage and uprightness, our sect will remain forever!”

Han Tianyang paused a bit before he raised his voice as his voice turned resonant like a bell:

“Members of Azure Sun Sect, listen up!”

“Under the leader, elders, deacons, and managers… every disciple in the 6th level of the Refinement Stage or higher, prepare to attack!”

“Those who have the higher cultivation will charge in the front, while this leader of yours will lead the charge!”

“If the high-level Foundation Building cultivators are dead, intermediate-level Foundation Building cultivators will lead the charge. If the intermediate-level Foundation Building cultivators are dead, low-level Foundation Building cultivators will lead the charge. If all the Foundation Building cultivators are dead, the Refinement Stage disciples will lead the charge!”

“Whoever is afraid of death, roll out now and leave the Azure Sun Sect. We will part ways right here!”

“Boom! Boom!”

The attacks of the Ghost King Venomous Toad were getting fiercer and fiercer, and most of the defensive array glyphs had been corroded by the poison. In at most half an hour, the demon beasts would charge into the edifice and start a bloody massacre.

The disciples of the Azure Sun Sect also knew that their leader’s every word was true and that they already had no room for escape.

In any case, they were going to die, so why not die a heroic death? That way, they can receive the support from the country, and once the Azure Sun Sect is reconstructed, their parents, wives, and children would receive great care.

If they cower and sit still like a turtle retracting its head and hiding in its shell, then once the demon beasts broke the array, the building would be flooded with them and their death would just be a trifling matter!

None of the disciples withdrew as they took guns and sabers out of the sheaths and prepared for a fight to the death!

At this moment, a thunderous cry rang forth in the sky:

“300 cultivators of Clear Heart Palace have come to fight shoulder to shoulder with fellow daoists of Verdant Tarn City!”

—That was just the beginning.

Within ten minutes, billowing thunderous cries rose one after another:

“150 cultivators of Fire and Ice Peak have come to fight shoulder to shoulder with fellow daoists of Verdant Tarn City!”

“80 cultivators of Permanent Sky Mansion have come to fight shoulder to shoulder with fellow daoists of Verdant Tarn City!”

“500 cultivators of Grand Desolate War Institution have come to fight shoulder to shoulder with fellow daoists of Verdant Tarn City!”

The disciples of the Azure Sun Sect were first astounded for a moment before they became wild with joy as they jumped and cheered in jubilation.

“Leader, the reinforcements have arrived. Cultivators of a couple dozen sects within the 500 kilometers have rushed over. Even the Grand Desolate War Institutions have sent 500 teachers and students to participate in the battle!”

Han Tianyang slightly quivered before he heaved a sigh of relief. His taut nerves were suddenly relaxed down. He could not even utter a word.

He waved his hands with exhaustion as though a weight had been lifted off his mind. He was drenched in sweat.

At this moment, thunderous cries once again rang forth in the sky:

“Cultivators of various sects who are bravely fighting the enemy, the federation government has just announced that all the reconstruction work of Verdant Tarn City will be handed over to the sects who are participating in this battle. Furthermore, the rights to operate the 19 mines near the Fertile Valley for a hundred year will also be awarded depending on who has performed the most bravely during the battle!”

“City reconstruction work!”

“Right to operate 19 mines for a century!”

“No matter what kind of reward is obtained, the profits would be an astronomical figure. It would be sufficient to expand our Azure Sun Sect by four to five times!”

“Forget that, just one mine would bring so much crystal resources, enough to allow our cultivation to advance by a few levels!”

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Everyone cast their gaze at Han Tianyang. Everyone’s face was laced with excitement, and their eyes were blooming with a resplendent aura.

An elder could not help but ask:

“Leader, are we still going to charge?”

Han Tianyang burst into laughter as his body was surrounded in a powerful aura. At the same time, his white hair radiated with a dazzling silver radiance, and his emaciated skin turned moist and shiny again; all of a sudden, he became a hundred years younger.

Metamorphosis!

He was burning his life force to impact the limits of evolution.

“Of course, we are going to charge!”

“Many fellow daoists have come to help us, and the beast tide must be in chaos. At this moment, rushing through the front would be as easy as a hot knife cutting through butter!”

“Furthermore, you have all heard about Verdant Tarn City’s reconstruction work, and there is also the right to operate the 19 mines near Fertile Valley for a hundred year. You just have to summon up your courage, suppress your fear of death, and bravely fight for the sect!”

“Even if we are assigned just 10%, it would be sufficient for our Azure Sun Sect to prosper for the next hundred years. We can even be ranked among the top hundred in the federation!”

“A hundred years of foundation! If we are not going fight in this battle, then when will we?”

“Disciples of the Azure Sun Sect, listen up! Release all your energy and ignite your souls! Blast to your strongest state and charge with me—kill for the future of the Azure Sun Sect!”

Chapter 170: The First Battle

The cultivators of the Wasteland were intrinsically more valiant than those from the inland. Their morale was boosted by the news of the arrival of the military, and they were excited by the reconstruction project of Verdant Tarn City and the nineteen crystal ore veins. Not only did the cultivators from the Azure Sun Sect jumped towards the Ghost King Venomous Toad like an unstoppable force, the several dozen cultivators in the stronghold ignited their life force to unleash a final counterattack.

Several hundred cultivators at the Building Foundation Stage or higher dropped down from the skies, specifically aiming at the Demon Generals within the beast tide. Demon Generals were front line commanders of the beast tide, and once they were killed, the ordinary demon beasts who possessed relatively simple brains would become a confused mess and incapable of engaging in tactics.

In addition, the military used their crystal warships to airdrop light crystal tanks which were ill-suited for city-centric combat. The Federation Army advanced in suppressing the beast tide from the outside.

The three-pronged attack wreaked havoc for a long while before the initial suppression of the beast tide was finally made. Quite a few civilians had been rescued from within the stronghold.

But this time, the wormhole had emerged underground. Countless demon beasts rushed through the sewers to the surface like a tide of water. Demon Kings, whose power was equivalent to humanity’s Core Formation Stage cultivators, oversaw the battle from underground. The cruel street combat would have to continue for a long period of time.

In the factory district located in the southwest region of Verdant Tarn City, nine cultivators had formed a small squad. They advanced forward with complete vigilance.

They were all freshmen of Grand Desolate War Institution.

Aside from Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan, who possess combat experience, the remaining members had rarely exchanged blows with demon beasts on a true battlefield.

So, their first mission was to get familiar with the battlefield as quickly as possible and to accumulate real combat experience!

The demon beasts didn’t devastate the southwestern portion of Verdant Tarn City as hard as the other areas. High stage cultivators had already swept through this factory district and were unable to discover any excessively tyrannical high stage demon beasts. At most, there were a few Demon Soldiers lying in wait within the darkness, which was most suitable for these newcomers to train on.

Ding Lingdang was the leader of these troops; in other words, she was the babysitter of these newcomers.

She was extremely dissatisfied about this task. She pouted and cursed as she kicked small rocks on the roadside around.

Li Yao held the Six Barrel Revolver Cannon with both hands. Ammunition belts were wound around his body, and he carried a giant metal crate weighing over a thousand kilograms on his back. All sorts of equipment were piled atop of him like a mountain, burying him entirely inside. Cheerfully walking in the middle of the squad, no matter how one looked at him, he looked like an upstart who got rich overnight.

Zhao Tianchong’s and Lu Tieshan’s moods became a bit displeased. They were different from normal freshmen; they had actual combat experience since the age of ten, and by now, they could be considered be veterans of the battlefield. Executing this mission of bringing along these newcomers more or less meant that they were acting as babysitters.

And there was also Li Yao within this group of newcomers. He was like a master carrying all those big guns around, showing off his combat power.

They thought about the moment when the recoil of the cannon would fracture Li Yao’s bones, how Li Yao would scream with “wa wa”, implicating everyone in the scene. The two became even more depressed just thinking about it.

“When this mission is over, we’ll apply for a higher level mission and engage in free slaughter. It’s best to get far far away from Li Yao, this newbie!”

The two people looked each other in the eyes, each revealing their intentions from their eyes.

The blood-like setting sun dyed the dilapidated walls with a layer of red. There was no hint of people within the destroyed factory district; it was incomparably desolate.

There were collapsed buildings and abandoned flying shuttles everywhere. There were even a few shriveled up demon beast corpses in the corners. The ground was mottled everywhere with the black color of their blood.

A faint red glow floated within the air, permeating with an acrid aura.

Ordinary people could hold on for 35 minutes before dizziness, shortness of breath, and chest tightness kicked in.

Even though these nine were cultivators, their minds were agitated and their thoughts were a mess. It was a discomfort that could not be described.

Ding Lingdang took out a box of dark green ointment from between her breasts. She smeared a bit beneath her nose and passed it along to the student next to her. As the student applied it and passed it on, she explained:

“This is demonic energy. Besides the death of a demon beast, the rotting of their corpses will generate this demonic energy. Also, quite a few demon beasts can release demonic energy naturally.”

“Demonic energy exceeding a concentration of 10% isn’t suitable for the survival of ordinary humans, and even cultivators would find it hard to persevere for long in a concentration exceeding 30%. In a concentration exceeding 50%, one must wear a crystal suit and rely on powerful purification magical equipment in order to fight within the demonic energy!”

“The Blood Demon Sector is the headquarters of the demon beasts. It’s said that quite a few places in the Blood Demon Sector have demonic energy concentration exceeding 70%. This was one of the reasons why our human race has been constantly unable to breach the Blood Demon Sector. Our crystal suits are too few in number.”

“If only there was a crystal suit that was cheap to manufacture. Squads could be equipped with this crystal suit on a massive scale, and only in this way could we assemble a great force that could engage in a great decisive battle within the Blood Demon Sector, where the concentration of demonic energy exceeds 70%!”

This last sentence was purposefully directed towards Li Yao.

Sure enough, the glow in Li Yao’s eyes radiated intensely and his fighting spirit soared even higher.

Ding Lingdang laughed and continued:

“Here, the concentration of demonic energy doesn’t exceed 3%. Besides assaulting the nose, it won’t cause any major disturbances, but everyone still needs to be careful. The dense demonic energy shows that there are quite a few demon beasts lying in wait nearby. They can appear at any time.”

“Hiss!”

“Hiss!”

“Hiss!”

Before Ding Lingdang’s voice could fade away, sounds that were as sharp as needles ferociously stabbed against their eardrums thrice.

Several flying shuttles were discarded to the side of the road suddenly exploding. Three black balls with a diameter of a meter each came rolling out. They made an ear-piercing hiss and split open as jointed limbs sharp like blades reached out. They turned into three two-meter tall demon beasts that bore their fangs and brandished their claws.

At first glance, they looked like a hybrid between a cockroach and a mantis that was enlarged by a thousand times. Hard black carapaces covered their bodies, the tips of their two limbs were condensed into sabers, and two barbs even grew out from the very front. Under the illumination of the setting sun, they let out a chilling aura that made one’s blood run cold!

“Black Armored Saber Mantis!”

For quite a few of the freshmen, this was their first time seeing this sort of demon beast. Each of them raised their wrists to look at their crystal processors.

A large paragraph of information suddenly jumped out from within the hologram.

The Black Armored Saber Mantis was a type of joint-limbed demon beast with an extremely savage nature. A fully matured Black Armored Saber Mantis could reach the rank of a low level Demon Soldier. It could brandish its two forelimbs, which were like chainswords, to engage in combat, and it could also curl into a ball to move at high speeds and ferociously ram its prey.

Even though the Black Armored Saber Mantis was a low level demon soldier with not the highest of offensive abilities, the life force of this demon beast was very hard to overcome. Even if the main brain located in the center portion of its body was annihilated, it can still persevere for a dozen minutes by relying on its savage instincts. All of its limbs had to be cut off in order to cause it to lose all its combat ability completely.

The remaining series of data included the Black Armored Saber Mantis’s maximum speed, maximum destructive ability, etc. There were also a few videos of cultivators fighting the Black Armored Saber Mantis.

However, since they were faced with powerful enemies, they naturally didn’t have the time to research these videos in detail.

“Hisssssssssss!”

The scarlet compound eyes of the three Black Armored Saber Mantis spun for a very long time at the sight of this many humans. Couldn’t help but be enticed, it pressed in closer step by step.

Slaughter was fused in the blood and nature of demon beasts. Even if it had an intelligence rivaling that of humans, it would still be compelled to move under the desires to slaughter and would commit acts with all sorts of extreme craziness!

In accordance with its strength, Demon Soldiers were divided into the three levels of upper, intermediate, and lower. The Lower Demon Soldiers were equivalent to low level Refinement Stage cultivators.

Even though demon beasts were more savage than humans, humans possessed more abilities and magical equipment. When the same level of opponents meet face to face, one must look at their on-the-spot performance to see who would be the victor and who would be the loser!

“I’m coming for you!”

Zhao Tianchong made a long hiss, not waiting for the other people to respond; his figure already transformed into a gray streak of light, flashing in between the three Black Armored Saber Mantises.

He unsheathed a sharp blade from his waist, and several hundred streaks of sword-light covered the entirety of ten-meter radius region. It was as if the mass of sword-light interweaved to form a hurricane that completely sucked the three Black Armored Saber Mantises inside!

“D-D-D-D-D-Ding!”

No one was able to see his actions at all. They could only hear the long sword collide endlessly with the blade-like limbs of the Black Armored Saber Mantises as sparks scattered all around!

At practically the same time came more hissing sounds from farther away. Four Black Armored Saber Mantis had sensed this fight and came rushing to aid their comrades.

“Now, it’s my turn!”

Lu Tieshan laughed. He ferociously punched his seemingly scale-covered fists together, unexpectedly producing arcs and arcs of crackling electricity. Like a tiger setting off the mountain, he swooped down charging towards the four Black Armored Saber Mantises.

Three minutes later…

Great amounts of electrical arcs coiled around the bodies of the Black Armored Saber Mantises, letting out the strong stench of burnt flesh.

Not only were their brains turned to mush from the electricity, but their limbs were also all paralyzed by it. They laid weakly on the ground, unable to move a single step.

Zhao Tianchong also finished his kill. His monster-like figure withdrew back to the team.

The sword twirled in the arc of a flower and was swung to flick off the bit of demon blood on the tip before being returned to its sheath with a click.

A great amount of purple blood sprayed like mist from the three Black Armored Saber Mantis following this sound. All their limbs separated from their bodies in an instant, and their bodies were each separated into two halves with great precision!

“Senior Brother Lu’s so mighty! This Thunder Devil Fist move is far too beautiful!”

“Brother Zhao is unrivaled! Within your hands, the essence of the Phantom Sword Technique is truly displayed in great detail. It has greatly opened our eyes!”

Several of the freshmen cried out in admiration one after another.

If they had made their moves, perhaps they would have been able to slay a Black Armored Saber Mantis after a bloody fight; however, it would have been impossible for them to shed the blood of their opponents so freely, skillfully, and easily like these two experts.

Ding Lingdang coldly interrupted them:

“Don’t let down your guard. These six are just guards. What’s next is the real enemy!”

Before her voice could fade away, a gold beetle ball with a diameter of two meters came rolling out from an abandoned building to the side. It bore its fangs and brandished its claws, stretching to be over three meters in height. It was a giant mantis whose body flickered all over with gold light.

Its blade-like forelimbs were twice as long as the forelimbs of a Black Armored Saber Mantis, and sawtooths that flashed with a chilling aura covered and hung atop of the limbs. As soon as these teeth hooked onto flesh, a huge chunk of skin and bone would be ripped off!

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was a variation of the Black Armored Saber Mantis. Its maximum strength can reach the level of an intermediate demon soldier, and it possessed even more powerful demonic techniques and can consume metal ores to strengthen its carapace. Its carapace was the same as being equipped with a layer of hard armor. Its defensive power was extremely high!

“The Gold Armored Saber Mantis—its maximum combat ability is equivalent to the intermediate level Refinement Stage!”

A scream came out from the group of freshmen.

Anyway, everyone wasn’t too nervous. After all, they had Ding Lingdang, a Building Foundation Stage cultivator, watching over them. What’s the big deal about an intermediate level demon soldier?

Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan were itching to fight it.

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was a series stronger than them, but they were all one-in-ten-thousand cultivation geniuses and they even had the support of an expert. If the two of them joined hands, even if they weren’t able to surpass the gap and slay this monster, they would absolutely be able to escape unharmed!

They glanced at each other directly and were about to advance forward when someone suddenly oddly said:

“Hold on. Isn’t there someone with heavy firepower within our squad? Naturally, before anything else, we should let the heavy firepower expert mow through a round against this kind of demon beast with extremely high defensive power!”

“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!”

Everyone’s gazes all congregated upon Li Yao’s body when these words were spoken.

Chapter 171: Super Shocking Firepower

Everyone was more or less a bit discontent with Li Yao’s decision.

When a team was first formed, bringing along one or two support members who possess no combat ability, like a doctor, a spirit tattoo artist, or a refiner… was very normal.

These support members could display necessary functions in key moments, and everyone did their best to protect them with all their strength.

But as a support member, Li Yao needed to get his own status clear. No one expected him to display much combat strength, so it was best not to cause trouble.

If Li Yao were to wield a thunderfire boltgun or a similar ordinary firearm to occasionally suppress a demon beast at long range for a moment, no one would say anything even if he missed.

But he just had to carry such a huge Six Barrel Rotary Cannon. Let alone its excessive weight, it had ferocious recoil. If he really did open fire with it, he would hurt himself before even chasing off the demon beast. Wouldn’t that be asking for trouble?

So, a student with a more impatient temperament hid to the back of the group after letting out a cry. He wanted to see how Li Yao would handle this tough problem.

Li Yao had no idea what the intentions of the others were. He rolled up his sleeves to the side; he was long from being at the state of being able to hold himself back. He wielded the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon with both hands and advanced forward a few steps with great excitement. He followed the operational procedure recorded within the jade chips and laid open its support structure.

The red crystals that coiled in a circle behind the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon suddenly flared with light, letting out an ice-cold killing aura that caused one’s scalp to go numb. A humming sound came from within, making it seem like a giant metal beast was awakening from hibernation.

“Hiss!”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was able to sense that there was something odd with this group of humans.

However, Ding Lingdang had used the Soul Converging Technique to hide the entirety of her aura. In the eyes of the mantis, she was just a Refinement Stage cultivator.

From the perspective of this intermediate level demon soldier, even if it couldn’t slaughter all of them, if it could slaughter at least a few of them, it would walk off without a second thought.

So, with eyes revealing a savage intent, it strutted forward with imposing pressure.

It had discovered the gun wielding human within the team, but the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was known for having powerful defensive strength. It would be very hard for ordinary firearms to harm it, not to mention the distance was so close. All it needed was a few seconds to charge into the crowd and let blood and flesh fly everywhere through slaughter!

A wisp of ice-cold malevolence appeared within the scarlet compound eyes of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis. Withdrawing its limbs, just as it was about to curl up into a ball and roll into the crowd…

Li Yao took a deep breath. His slightly squinting pair of eyes suddenly bulged wide as his skin-tight black combat garments suddenly expanded while endless aura came shooting out from his pores!

Igniting the soul!

Exploding with energy!

Transforming the body!

Li Yao’s figure suddenly expanded by a factor as a faint gold luster appeared on his skin. He exerted force with both his legs, instantly splitting the earth. His feet entered three centimeters into the ground like two firm poles of a support frame, steadily holding the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon in place!

Everyone was shocked besides Ding Lingdang.

“Third level of the Refinement Stage!”

“What a powerful aura. He’s at least at the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage!”

Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan glanced at each other with incomparably complex gazes.

The two of them had crazily engaged in bitter cultivation day night and day in the Hidden Dragon Hall for half a year to barely break through to the 4th level of the Refinement Stage.

Of the rest of the hundred or so “Hidden Dragons”, there were only a few that were able to break through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage.

They would never have expected that Li Yao had reached the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage.

They could tell that he had very powerful combat strength from his explosive state and that he absolutely wasn’t as simple as a typical creation-type cultivator.

He was a hybrid-type cultivator to the letter, possessing talent for both creation and combat!

“I never thought that he was actually a hybrid-type!”

Lu Tieshan laughed wryly.

A wisp of envy was revealed within the eyes of this cultivation genius.

This sort of gaze had only been exposed to him by others, and this was the first time for Lu Tieshan to be jealous of the talent of a peer.

Li Yao didn’t hear the cries of shock from the others.

From igniting his life force and exploding his spiritual energy, he entered an extremely stimulated and profound state.

It was as if there were only three things left in the entire world.

Him, the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon, and the Gold Armored Saber Mantis.

The cannon had already fused with his flesh and blood and trembled along with his breathing.

He could clearly feel the pulsations of every array glyph on the cannon’s body and of the spiritual energy of every explosive and restless bullet.

When the restlessness of this spiritual energy reached its peak, it converged into an unstoppable current of spiritual energy. His heart beat faster and faster, as if his chest would explode open in the next second…

Li Yao pulled the trigger with ferocity!

“B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Boom!”

The sight bloomed in front of everyone’s eyes. They saw dazzling glowing spheres suddenly blossom in front of Li Yao.

A streak of scarlet fire of incomparable might directly assaulted the Gold Armored Saber Mantis along with an ear-deafening roar—it instantly lifted smoke and dust to fill the skies, enveloping the Gold Armored Saber Mantis completely within!

“He…”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was obscured by the smoke and dust. They could only cast their gazes onto Li Yao.

Everyone’s pupils were slightly dilated.

Appearing within the depths of their eyes was a scene of incomparable horror.

Li Yao’s crazy display was simply like another terrifying demon beast!

The recoil was extremely strong. Ordinary people would find it impossible to control. The Six Barrel Rotary Cannon, which was only found mounted on crystal tanks for fixed firepower, only slightly quivered within the control of Li Yao’s powerful arms, maintaining a torrent of firepower.

Li Yao adjusted the fire rate to its maximum. Over a thousand rounds of spiritual energy explosive rounds engraved with assault-type array glyphs could be fired every minute.

This meant that he had to withstand the bombarding recoil equivalent to several dozen heavy fists from a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator every second!

Not only did Li Yao not shake at all, he even held up the spraying Six Barrel Rotary Cannon, withstood the heavy recoil, and forcefully advanced forward.

One step!

Two steps!

Three steps!

Every step he took embedded his feet deeply into the earth, rumbling out spiderweb-like cracks within.

Zhao Tianchong’s scalp was tingling just from watching. He whispered to Lu Tieshan:

“Think you can do it?”

Lu Tieshan watched as if he was drunk. He was stupefied for a long time before shaking his head:

“If you give me enough gas, I should be able to stand there and bombard away for half the day. But to forcefully withstand the recoil while also advancing forward and have my two arms not move even an iota, this is far too shocking! This kid’s strength and blow resistance ability are simply inhuman!”

Within half a minute, a full 900 rounds of spiritual energy explosive rounds were sprayed clean. The deafening roar spontaneously ended, yet the barrel still spun at high speeds, letting out a rising azure smoke. Li Yao roared:

“AWESOME!”

He never felt so awesome firing a gun before. All the fury that filled his heart had simply condensed within the spiritual energy explosive rounds to be completely exploded out. He could even bombard a Buddha!

“What Gold Armored Saber Mantis? You’ve just been smashed to pieces by my bombardment!”

Li Yao loaded the second ammunition belt and looked, filled with confidence, towards the depths of the smoke and dust.

The smoke cleared. The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was curled up in a shivering mass. It was frightened and unsteady, but… it was completely unharmed!

“The heck?”

Li Yao was dumbfounded, and his face immediately flushed red.

In the end, he wasn’t a cultivator who specialized in guns and neither had he cultivated in the mysterious and profound arts that were gun combat techniques.

And the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon wasn’t designed to be wielded by a single soldier, so it didn’t have a super accurate targeting system.

Even though Li Yao’s ability to resist blows was extremely strong, so much so that the recoil couldn’t hurt him, the recoil was still enough to cause the barrel to waver slightly.

Coupled this with a little bad luck, most of the bullets just grazed past the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, riddling a two hundred meter high three-floor building with countless holes. It was scattered, smashed, and on the verge of collapse.

Only 1% of the rounds had hit their target. However, the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s carapace was circular shaped and extremely strong. Most of the rounds had bounced off, and even if one or two of the rounds could penetrate through the cracks of the carapace and explode, the rounds wouldn’t cause too much damage.

He was faced with this result, but there was no one who continued to make cynical remarks towards him.

The Six Barrel Rotary Cannon wasn’t known to be an accurate firearm, as its main purpose was to suppress the advancement of demon beasts through its violent firepower.

Looking at the Gold Armored Saber Mantis all curled up, hugging its head and scampering, being completely suppressed in place, Li Yao had completed his task of being the heavy firepower member perfectly.

“Hiss!”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s compound eyes were simply about to ignite into burning embers. It never thought that its grand self of being an intermediate level demon soldier would be suppressed dead-fixed by this group of low level Refinement Stage cultivators.

It also knew that the advantage of heavy firepower laid in distance. The further the distance, the more formidable its might.

This group of humans was toast as long as it could draw close!

And it would absolutely tear that human wielding the gun at the front most of the group into countless pieces!

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis withdrew into its hard gold carapace ball in an instant and mixed together with the stench of a strong gale as it ferociously charged over to the group.

Li Yao yelled with an explosive shout. An incorporeal barrier around his body was shattered into pieces and his aura expanded by another factor.

“4th level of the Refinement Stage?”

No one even had the strength to feel shocked at this moment. They stared stupidly at Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan.

These two both reached the 4th level of the Refinement Stage. Before, everyone recognized them as two rarely seen big experts of the freshmen class.

But now appeared a third freshman at the 4th level Refinement Stage. He was able to go head to head with them.

Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan gritted their teeth. It seemed that if they were to relax just a bit, a berserk howl would come shouting out of their mouths!

Li Yao’s strength had increased substantially after exploding into the realm of the 4th level of the Refinement Stage. He was able to barely suppress the muzzle of the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon into slight wavers.

Even though he could still increase by another level, he didn’t prepare to do so. Instead, he crazily calculated various cryptic and abstruse problems in his brain, madly increasing his brain cell activity.

Li Yao entered the Super Perceptive State in a second!

In an instant, a series of dazzling data about the distance, bearing, and wind direction between himself and the Gold Armored Saber Mantis manifested within his field of vision.

The most optimal shooting trajectory completed calculations a moment later!

“B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Boom!”

The Six Barrel Rotary Cannon displayed its might once more.

The accuracy of this volley increased greatly. The first series of spiritual energy explosive rounds collided against the carapace of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, causing sparks to scatter all around. It caused this demon beast equal to the intermediate level Refinement Stage to stagger.

At least 30% of the following thousand spiritual energy explosive rounds hit their target. They bombarded the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s carapace, causing it to split and burst. Blood and flesh flew everywhere and the hissing never stopped. It was forced to flee, but no matter where it rolled, Li Yao was able to calculate a new firing trajectory in an instant. The rounds seemed to converge into a flaming whip that ferociously whipped against its body, and the whip specifically penetrated inside.

The carapace of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was chiseled apart ten seconds later. It retreated little by little as even a limb was severed to be sent flying.

“Don’t tell me that he could actually use the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon to forcefully slay an intermediate level demon soldier?”

Everyone had their eyes bulging and their mouths gaping. They watched Li Yao advance step by step, forcing the Gold Armored Saber Mantis into a corner, making it completely defenseless under the bombardment.

This was completely a display of firepower—a super shocking display of firepower!

Chapter 172: The Blood Lotus Slowly Blossoms

“Click!”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis had been forced to retreat step by step with its flesh and blood scattered through the air and its severed limbs dying the ground with blood. Suddenly, an ear-piercing mechanical sound came screeching from the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon. The unrestrained torrent of fire came to a sudden halt, seemingly as if the dance of a berserk flame was forcefully severed.

Out of ammo!

Li Yao’s eyebrows creased slightly. He now understood why Ding Lingdang and other close-combat cultivators didn’t like to use firearms.

The firepower of firearms was ferocious, but the consumption rate of ammunition was a bit too much. Even several hundred rounds of ammunition weren’t enough to completely slay an intermediate level demon soldier.

If this was a high level demon soldier, a demon general, or even a demon king, how many rounds would he need?

Only the troops that ensured resources to logistics were able to pour down a torrent of firepower in a completely unrestrained manner.

It was impossible for a tiny combat squad formed by cultivators to bring several hundred thousand rounds of ammunition for each mission when they engaged in close-quarters slaughter day in and day out in the Wasteland.

On a small scale with a long timeframe, the fist or the sword was more reliable in high-intensity combat.

“Hisssssssssss!”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s shrieking was incomparable ear-piercing, sharp, and berserk.

It hadn’t been killed, but it had received serious injuries. Not only was its carapace split in half, but three of its eight jointed limbs were severed, and even its right forelimb that carried a sawtooth edge had been severed, causing a stinky purple fluid to flow out from the wound.

There was no longer the imposing air of a mantis king. It was simply like a stray dog with a broken leg.

Although the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was seriously injured, it turned even more crazy, violent, and bloodthirsty. It painfully swallowed its last bit of reason and its scarlet compound eyes seemed to drip with blood!

It also discovered that Li Yao had exhausted the last of his rounds. Its shriek turned incomparably ruthless. It withdrew its limbs and backed up two steps—it was about to come charging over!

“Not good!”

Everyone’s expression suddenly changed, realizing that Li Yao’s display of firepower, of Li Yao pressing forward step by step, had caused him to be faintly separated from their protection. A lone soldier had deeply entered enemy lines, walking to the front of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis.

It didn’t matter if he was a refiner or a heavy firepower user, he was in a defenseless state close to an injured and berserk demon beast. The consequences were going to be very serious!

Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan glanced at each other and nodded at the same time. They were just about to go save him.

“Wait!”

Ding Lingdang suddenly stopped them. A calm smile hung on her face. She nodded with her chin: “Don’t be impatient. Let’s see what happens next.”

In their moment of hesitation came a shocking development right in front of them.

Li Yao tossed the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon to the side and placed down the metal box he had always carried on his back.

A boom sounded. The heavy weight smashed against the earth, causing dirt to go flying.

Li Yao muttered to himself as his pair of hands transformed into a gray cloud. He was working at lightning-fast speeds.

The several dozen array glyphs all around the metal box suddenly flared to sketch the criss-cross structure of a profound and complicated glyph.

The large metal box made a smooth mechanical sound as all sides of the box suddenly unfolded open, revealing countless crystal gears.

The entire structure went through a transformation as the gears operated at high speeds—it actually transformed into a portable weapons rack!

Sabers, spears, swords, halberds, hatchets, axes, hooks, tridents… 18 classes of bladed weapons of every variety were available, all of which were flowing with brilliant light. They were all dauntless close combat magical equipment!

“This is way too excessive!”

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. They never expected that Li Yao would carry this many close combat magical equipment.

He really deserved to be called a refiner!

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was intimidated by the cold aura of the weapons. It was stunned for a long time before being stimulated by the savage nature of a beast from its pain. It brandished its sickle-like forelimb and suddenly came charging over!

Li Yao was composed as he reached out with his left arm towards the weapons rack and put a black iron ring on his wrist.

Then, he whistled. Five black shields the size of palms flew into the air and revolved slowly around him. Occasionally, they would combine together to form a large shield in front of his left arm. Occasionally, this large shield would disperse back to smaller shields that protected every vital point on his body.

Li Yao shot out with his right hand and grabbed a flaming saber. It was as if he was wielding a raging and burning flame. The corners of his mouth curled up as he charged at the Gold Armored Saber Mantis with a chuckle.

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis greatly displayed its mad nature. It shrieked and it heavily rammed over!

Li Yao didn’t hide or dodge. The five shields on his left arm combined to form a single large shield, forcefully blocking the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s ramming attack.

With a boom, Li Yao flew seven, eight meters away.

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis also reeled back by four, five steps. It staggered and was somewhat disoriented.

“This ability to resist blows is far too terrifying! It can actually match the full force of a demon beast!”

Everyone, including the mighty Lu Tieshan, was scared witless at the sight of this scene.

The strength of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis didn’t necessarily fall to the level of a low level demon beast even if it was seriously injured. Demon beasts were known for their great strength, and after being injured, the mantis greatly displayed its mad nature.

Li Yao was actually able to meet it head on?

And…

After turning his body mid air and landing on the ground, Li Yao squatted deeply with his legs and let out a long whistle. He sprung up and pounced. The flaming saber’s tip was released to be over three meters long. It went to ferociously cleave through the Gold Armored Saber Mantis!

He was actually the first to recover from the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s ramming attack!

“Hiss!”

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis was still dizzy. It never thought that this human would be this dauntless.

Having been caught off guard, it was cleaved by the saber.

Even though its carapace was incomparably hard, this saber penetrated deeply into its body and a giant gush of purple fluid spurted out, which was then evaporated in an instant by the flaming saber, letting out a “Tsss”.

“For its temperature to be this high, what kind of saber is this? And it can even split the carapace of a Gold Armored Saber Mantis with a single swing!”

All the freshmen had gradually gotten used to Li Yao’s strong and fierce body.

However, they were curious about the model of the peculiar saber.

Most notably were the sword cultivators of the Chaos Edge Hall. Their eyes flared when they saw just how sharp this flaming saber was. They discussed spiritedly, but in the end, they were unable to think of just which sect had refined that masterwork weapon.

With this one strike hitting its target, Li Yao knew to quit when he was ahead. He instantly retreated five meters to avoid another dangerous and explosive attack from the Gold Armored Saber Mantis. He put the flaming saber back to the weapons rack and took out a chainsword.

Not only was the sword blade of this chainsword especially large and wide, the sawteeth looked to be like the fangs of wolves and had a slight curvature to them. It was unknown what kind of forging technique was used to have a faint color of blood be infused in the tips of the sawteeth. Its imposing air was extremely terrifying.

With a shaking of his hand, the wolf sawteeth began to vibrate at high speeds to cut through the air, letting out a terrifying purr.

Li Yao, wielding the chainsword, pounced at the mantis once again!

After the dazzling display of firepower, Li Yao devoted the next ten minutes to demonstrating his wonderful, brilliant, and varied close combat magical equipment!

Aside from the flaming saber and the wolf fang chainsword, he took out battle-axes, great hammers, spears, and etc from the weapons rack one after another. He had taken out a dozen or so close-combat magical equipment.

Every type of weapon was a strange model and was far different from the close combat magical equipment commonly seen on the market.

The astonishment in Zhao Tianchong’s and Lu Tieshan’s eyes grew more and more intense.

The others were shocked by Li Yao endlessly producing all sorts of magical equipment, but they were shocked by the essence of Li Yao’s incomparably strong and fierce body.

The two discovered that it didn’t matter what magical equipment Li Yao wielded. Li Yao had only one pattern of attack.

And it was not fancy at all; it was just meeting force with force. First, he would use the shield to ram the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, and then he would take advantage of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s dizzy state and pounce on top of it at flying speeds to unleash an attack.

And before the Gold Armored Saber Mantis could recover, Li Yao would quickly retreat and switch to a different weapon.

These tactics were utterly simple and crude, but they were absolutely effective.

However, only Li Yao, with his monstrous transformation of being able to resist blows, was able to use this kind of tactic.

If it were anyone else, even if they had a shield for protection, they would only be able to withstand up to three to five collisions before spitting up blood.

“What do you think of Li Yao’s combat strength? If he was facing us two versus one instead of a demon beast, who do you think would win?”

Zhao Tianchong whispered to Lu Tieshan.

Lu Tieshan silently muttered to himself before saying:

“Li Yao’s strength and ability to resist blows is completely enough to shock me. His instantaneous burst strength is also very powerful. Just look. He’s deep in his squat when he suddenly explodes forth. His speed instantly reaches his maximum like a hurricane. Even the Gold Armored Saber Mantis is finding it hard to react to.”

“Other than this, he’s a complete expert in defense. He must have cultivated in a technique that specializes in defense. A strange protective film formed from his spiritual energy covers his entire body. The deadly offensive displayed several times by the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was all dispersed by this protective film!”

“He has this layer of spiritual energy protective film. Combine this with his steel-like physique, and Li Yao’s defensive power might dreadfully be higher than that of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis. Even if I land my Thunder Devil Fist, I don’t have the confidence that I would be able to blast apart his defenses.”

“However…”

Lu Tieshan made a change in topic. He spoke somewhat befuddled, “Compared to his defenses, his attacks are simply a mess. I can’t even stand to directly look at it. It’s completely at the level of an amateur!”

Zhao Tianchong nodded and said:

“I agree with your views, but I feel that Li Yao has chosen wisely.”

“Wisely?”

Lu Tieshan scratched his hair and asked, “What do you mean?”

Zhao Tianchong chuckled and explained:

“A person’s time and energy are limited. It’s impossible to learn everything. For fellow student Li Yao to be able to modify and produce a 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, clearly, he has put in a great amount of time and energy into refining techniques, so how much time would he have left to spend on combat cultivation?”

“Even if he doesn’t have the time, he should first learn more practical skills.”

“With his great strength, he can carry more magical equipment and items than us and he can display the superiority of being a ‘massively equipped man’.”

“His ability to resist blows is strong and he has a superior defensive technique. These can all help raise his survival rate on the battlefield.”

“As for offensive techniques, it doesn’t matter if he learns them or not. In the end, he’s a refiner, not the main force of combat.”

Lu Tieshan let out a long breath after listening. He spoke with some anxiety in his heart:

“I understand now after your explanation. It looks likes this kid is still a normal human. He doesn’t know everything. His greatest weakness is being not good at attacking.”

Zhao Tianchong replied:

“You can’t really say it’s a weakness. Everyone has chosen a different specialty, so certainly, everyone has different paths of development. If someone knows how to refine, has extraordinary strength, and is a master in close-combat, then that’s simply…”

He shook his head and didn’t continue speaking.

Then, a sudden change occurred at this time.

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis, with cuts all over its body, was nearly drained of all its purple fluids. It finally was unable to endure the frontal standoff against Li Yao. Letting out a shriek and a “swoosh”, two thin transparent cicada-like wings suddenly unfolded from its body

With a light leap, the Gold Armored Saber Mantis flew a dozen or so meters—it fled in a panic!

“Li Yao was able to force a Gold Armored Saber Mantis to retreat all by himself?”

Even now, there were still quite a few freshmen who couldn’t believe their eyes.

Li Yao calmly felt out a small remote control from his waist. A smile filled his face. He aimed it at the direction the Gold Armored Saber Mantis was fleeing in and lightly pressed.

B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Boom!

The Gold Armored Saber Mantis suddenly shivered, and then its entire body exploded.

Several dozen balls of fire suddenly expanded, transforming into slow blossoming lotuses of blood one after another!

Chapter 173: Main Competitive Strength

“What the heck?”

At first, the group of people was deathly silent, but then they exploded with shouts of shock one after another, never stopping.

“Did he cultivate in some exceptional mystical ability to allow his spiritual energy to penetrate into the Gold Armored Saber Mantis and have it hibernate within the mantis’s blood only to have it explode during its final moment?”

Lu Tieshan forehead seeped with sweat.

The Devil Fist Sect had several similar mystical abilities, but these were high level techniques that only powerful cultivators at the Building Foundation Stage or higher could use.

How could Li Yao do such a thing by himself?

Zhao Tianchong stared dead-fixed at the remote control in Li Yao’s hand and shook his head:

“It’s not an ability. There are bombs!”

Lu Tieshan cried out:

“Bombs? When did he have the time to put so many bombs on the Gold Armored Saber Mantis? Not to mention that the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s carapace is incomparably smooth, so how did he get the bombs to stick?”

Zhao Tianchong was a bit crushed as he muttered:

“We’re still underestimating fellow student Li Yao far too much. We thought that he decided to meet force with force against the Gold Armored Saber Mantis by relying on his powerful and strong physique and his powerful ability to resist blows… I only realized it just now. This was all a trap to hide his killer move!”

Lu Tieshan gaped and his eyeballs spun. It seemed that he understood something as his expression grew more aghast.

Zhao Tianchong saw Lu Tieshan’s ashen face and knew that he had seen through a few things. Zhao Tianchong nodded and said:

“Yes, I’m afraid it’s as you’ve guessed. For fellow student Li Yao met the Gold Armored Saber Mantis using force against force, it was only to cause the Gold Armored Saber Mantis to have a moment of dizziness so that he could draw in to close range.”

“In the instant when the distance between the two closed in to zero, Li Yao took a few miniature bombs and secretly put them onto the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s body.”

“As for how he was able to get these bombs to stick onto the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’s smooth carapace, I don’t know.”

“He was able to place a few miniature bombs with every collision.”

“A dozen collisions later, several dozens of miniature bombs were attached to the vital points of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis.”

“This demon beast was already seriously injured. It made a frantic getaway without caring for its injuries and was flying at high speeds when the dozen of miniature bombs exploded at that same time, so how else could it have ended beside it dying?”

“It’s impossible for fellow student Li Yao to bring this many bombs on him in one go. We believed that each time Li Yao retreated to the weapons rack, it was to swap for a new weapon to use the Gold Armored Saber Mantis as a test subject for testing the might of his magical equipment.”

“However, this was just one of his goals. A more important goal was to use the swapping of weapons to cover up grabbing more miniature bombs.”

“The Gold Armored Saber Mantis has extremely high intelligence. If it had seen Li Yao grab a whole bunch of bombs, it certainly would have fled early on.”

“Only in this way could Li Yao attach several dozen miniature bombs to the carapace of the demon beast. And it didn’t even know what hit it—it never discovered it even until death!”

Zhao Tianchong laughed bitterly and continued:

“Fellow student Li Yao understands his weak point of having a lack of attack ability very well. He actually managed to think of such a strange combat tactic that displays his superiority in hand speed to the pinnacle.”

“I had to think back in great detail to be able to think of this. He had performed a few seemingly redundant movements.”

“I originally thought that his hands were flustered because he wasn’t good at attacking, so I didn’t think it was important.”

“Only now do I know—that was the time he had placed the miniature bombs!”

“If we were his enemy and he places some bombs on our body when we exchange blows, what do you think the aftermath would be like?”

Lu Tieshan pondered for a moment before shaking his head hard:

“That’s impossible. We’re different from demon beasts.”

“The carapace around the Gold Armored Saber Mantis is a layer of exoskeleton. There are no sensory organs, so it can’t feel the subtle changes on its carapace, which was how Li Yao was able to attach several dozen bombs without it knowing. We’re people who cultivate, and every fine hair is incomparably sensitive. We would find out in the first instance!”

Even so, fear still lingered in these two people’s hearts.

This was because they realized that Li Yao wasn’t a simple meat-head with overly developed limbs.

Even if he possessed tyrannical and incomparable strength, within the midst of battle, what he loved to use more was…

His brain!

Zhao Tianchong’s expression turned incomparably grave in an instant. He clenched his teeth as he said, “People may be given the wrong birth name, but nicknames are never wrong. I’ve heard that fellow student Li Yao has a nickname back in his hometown called ‘The Vulture’. He truly lives up to his name. He’s a vulture that’s vicious, crazy, and cunning!”

During their conversation, Li Yao returned with a face full of calmness.

Everyone immediately surrounded him to chatter at the same time:

“Fellow student Li Yao, you really broke into the 4th level of the Refinement Stage? That’s way too incredible!”

“Fellow student Li Yao, these magical equipment you just used, just which sect refined them? No matter how I look at them, they all look somewhat familiar, but I can’t think of any at all!”

“Did you really use bombs to finish off the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, fellow student Li Yao? How were you able to have the bombs stay attached to the smooth carapace of the Gold Armored Saber Mantis for so long? They didn’t fall no matter how violently it moved!”

Li Yao split into a grin and spread open his empty pair of hands. His hands subtly swayed and four fine miniature crystal bombs appeared between his fingers.

They were different from normal bombs. This kind of bomb had a sticky light green slime on one side and was carefully wrapped by a layer of film.

“This is my special sticky bomb. One side is applied with the slime of a Bullet Dart Frog. As soon as it’s exposed to the air, it can generate an extremely strong adhesive strength and stick itself to the carapace of a demon beast for a full dozen minutes!”

“This was specially refined to break the hard outer husks of demon beasts!”

The Bullet Dart Frog was a large frog species that was commonly seen in the Heaven Origin Sector.

Its tongue was very long and was even coated with a powerful, adhesive fluid. As soon as its tongue lashed out, the tongue could even cling to small animals atop of branches. The tongue would then retract and the frog would eat the prey. And so, this was how its name came to be.

After people discovered the special characteristic of this frog, the Bullet Dart Frog was raised on a massive scale for the extraction of the slime of its tongue. The slime was regarded as a purely natural glue.

However, this was the first time they saw the glue and a bomb be combined together. Their eyes couldn’t be stopped from lighting up.

Li Yao handed the sticky bomb to the student next to him to let everyone take a look at it. Then, he casually raised his flaming saber:

“All of the magical equipment here have undergone my modifications and enhancements. They have quite the increase from their original performances!”

“Take for instance this Scarlet-Sun Demonslayer Flaming Saber. This is a typical design pushed out by the Scarlet Dragon Sect thirty-seven years ago. Its design is quite outstanding, and among similar flame magical equipment, it can be considered to be out of the ordinary; however, the crystal consumption for its fire is too high, and after a long period of battle, it is very likely that spiritual energy overflow would occur. As a result, the handle would then burn the hand, influencing one’s combat experience.”

“But after re-refining over the key areas and going through my intense forging, this Scarlet-Sun Demonslayer Flaming Saber’s maximum temperature has been raised by 11% and the flaming edge has been lengthened by 8%. When using the standard purity of crystals for fire, its time in combat has been increased by 7%. Most importantly, I’ve fixed the defect of its spiritual energy overflow. It won’t burn your hand no matter how you use it!”

“As for how to use it, each and every fellow student who uses sabers, take it for a try!”

“As for those who use swords, battle-axes, meteor hammers… Don’t worry fellow students! All of the close-combat magical equipment here are all modified versions. Their performances have increased from the original version by at least 10%. I will introduce them one by one. Everyone, feel free to play!”

Li Yao held a chainsword in his left hand and a meteor hammer in his right. His mouth was a torrent of words, talking non-stop as he hyped up his magical equipment up to the heavens, causing everyone who listened to be stupefied. In the end, he spoke with radiating passion:

“Of all these modified magical equipment, the most expensive is just 990 credits, while the cheapest is just 630 credits. They’re practically free!”

“What are you waiting for, fellow students? The time for battle is at hand. These weapons will greatly increase your killing efficiency when they’re in your hands. Grab your crystal processors posthaste and trade with me!”

Everyone had looked through and passed on Li Yao’s magical equipment. Quite a few sword cultivators revealed expressions of fondness for them, but no one said a word. The scene entered into an eerie silence.

Zhao Tianchong coughed dryly a moment later. He said with some awkwardness:

“Fellow student Li Yao, the magical equipment you’ve modified are really quite decent, and even I’m tempted by them. But, the price… isn’t it a bit too high? Basically, they’re twice as high as the original version!”

Li Yao was stunned and his brows furrowed:

“Fellow student Zhao Tianchong, we’re all part of the same circle. Don’t use this kind of method to haggle with me!”

“Everyone knows that the structures of the underlying magical equipment are classics. They are the coalescence of the heart and blood of numerous master refiners over several dozens of years. Even the most subtle modification wouldn’t be easy to do.”

“I meticulously handcrafted, hand-forged, and even assimilated high quality materials into each and every key component. Only in this way could I increase the performance by at least 10%. The amount of time, energy, and costs I spent is unknown. Increasing the price by double isn’t excessive, right?”

“If the goods are real, then double the base price is not outrageous.”

Zhao Tianchong admitted that increasing the performance of a magical equipment by 10% warranted increasing the price by 100%. This was a very normal thing.

In the most extreme case, even if the magical equipment was increased by 1% and the price was doubled, this would all be within a reasonable range.

After all, on the battlefield, an increase in performance of 1% could decide the matter between life and death.

The value here could not be measured by money.

“However, fellow student Li Yao, you probably don’t quite understand the mentality of us students of the Combat Department.”

“From our perspective, we’re still at the learning stage. It isn’t a good thing to use excessively powerful weapons while we’re still learning.”

Zhao Tianchong explained with complete sincerity:

“If we get used to using powerful weapons right now, we would become dependent on them and neglect our own cultivation. Then when we leave university, enter a true battlefield, and the masterwork weapon breaks, wouldn’t we be screwed?”

“You’re right!”

Another student spoke agreeing, “There’s an unwritten rule in our Chaos Edge Hall. In daily training, we must use only the simplest, the most basic of weapons to temper ourselves for true strength!”

“Therefore, even though your modified magical equipment are quite decent, from our perspective, they’re a bit excessive.”

Li Yao was stunned for a long time before shouting:

“That can’t be right!? Sure, low-grade weapons can be used to temper and train one’s combat skills for day-to-day training, but on the battlefield, you can’t still be using low-grade weapons, right? You have to use one or two high-grade weapons to protect yourself, right?”

A few sword cultivators glanced at each other, but in the end, it was still Zhao Tianchong who explained:

“Indeed, fellow student Li Yao. On a real battlefield, we do carry weapons of two different grades.”

“If we encounter weak demon beasts like the Black Armored Saber Mantis, we would use our low-grade weapons to temper our combat skills. If we meet demon beasts more powerful than us, like the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, we would use higher-grade masterwork weapons and stake our lives.”

“Even though you increased the performance of these masterwork weapons, the problem is: the underlying model is too basic. They don’t count as real masterwork weapons!”

“To sum it all up, your modified magical equipment are too good to train with and too poor to stake our lives on. The price isn’t particularly cheap, and they don’t have any main competitive strengths!”

Chapter 174: Li Yao’s Transformation

Li Yao deeply furrowed his brows.

At first glance, what Zhao Tianchong had said made sense but it was also strange, after careful deliberation. Li Yao thought for a long while before responding with a stomp of his foot.

“Fellow student Zhao Tianchong, there’s a big problem with your explanation. Your demon beast slaying efficiency rate is greatly increased when you’re equipped with better magical equipment. If before, you could kill ten demon beasts in a day and tomorrow you could kill fifteen in a day, wouldn’t you still be able to meet the same objective of crazily cultivating you’ve been bickering about? You just think my gear is too expensive!”

A rarely seen blush appeared on Zhao Tianchong’s face.

He really had been exaggerating a bit.

It was true that the Grand Desolate War Institution didn’t encourage students to use masterwork weapons when cultivating on campus.

However, in real combat where danger lurks in all corners of the battlefield, a bit of a performance increase with magical equipment was certainly a good thing.

No one would despise having an overly sharp sword.

Zhao Tianchong awkwardly explained:

“Fellow student, Li Yao, if the magical equipment was only more expensive by a couple hundred credits, everyone would grit their teeth and accept it.”

“But the basic magical equipment is all consumable. They would need to be replaced with a new one every few days, under intense combat. We can’t just spend a couple hundred credits every few days right?”

“We wouldn’t be able to make it back, even if we do increase our demon beast slaying efficiency by 10%!”

“He’s right!”

Sword cultivators agreed with him one after another, for this was the most crucial factor.

If the price was right, who wouldn’t want to equip themselves with more powerful performing magical equipment?

The key laid in the fact demon beasts were very hard to deal with. Some were like the Gold Armored Saber Mantis; they had a hard carapace. Some had super hard skeletons. Some even had bodies filled with corrosive acid.

Close combat weapons just didn’t last more than a few days against demon beasts. Often, the blade’s edge would crumble and the sword’s body would split. They would be rusted by corrosion and become unusable.

Everyone was a college student strapped for credits. Every credit was saved through great difficulties. It was alright if they only had to spend several hundred credits once but who would be able to stand spending several hundred credits every few days!

Zhao Tianchong smiled wryly and said:

“Fellow student Li Yao, I just spoke the truth. We, students of the Combat Department, may earn credits at a lightning speed by taking missions but we spend a lot of credits in a lot of places.”

“Not to mention, the professors of the Combat Department can destroy someone by subtle means and fail someone without blinking an eye. It makes us have to spend a large amount of credits to retake courses.”

“Say that we regularly get injured during cultivation and we go find some fellow students at the Medical Department for help, their scalpels would have to be polished and sharpened until they’re super shiny so that a single blade could draw blood!”

“So, we can only be meticulous about our points!”

He paused before speaking again.

“However, the magical equipment you’ve refined is really nice. If you can lower the price by 30%, you’ll certainly make a lot of sales. I’ll be the first to buy a chainsword, regardless of the others!”

“Yes, the things here are good. I really like this battleax. It’s just too expensive. If you can reduce the price by 25%, I’ll grit my teeth and buy it!”

A different and burly classmate stroked a battleax in his hands as he spoke with loving affection.

Li Yao blinked his eyes. He could tell that everyone spoke the truth.

Now that he thought about it, this was true. If a saber was more expensive by several hundred school credits but could be used for a year, he would grit his teeth and bear it.

However, these things were consumables. If one’s luck was bad on the battlefield, encountering a demon beast with an especially tough skeleton or maybe a strong corrosion demon beast, the magical equipment would turn to scrap in an instant!

Even though the swords refined by Li Yao had their performances greatly increased, it was impossible for them to last for more than three to five days of continuous and intense combat.

Taking this into account, the price was indeed expensive.

Yet, Li Yao also had his difficulties.

If he were to sell a single close combat magical equipment for 800 credits, his net profit wouldn’t be much. Most of the credits would go towards the cost.

Buying the original magical equipment to modify would require spending of hundreds of credits, to say the least.

In addition, there were all sorts of precious raw materials required. A single piece magical equipment would give him a net profit of one to two hundred credits at most.

He would have to work endlessly around to clock, modifying several hundred pieces of magical equipment, in order to reach 30,000 credits.

Not even 30%, if prices were lowered by 20%, a single piece magical equipment would only earn him a couple dozen credits. It would really take endless years to earn 30,000 credits.

Li Yao had the faint sensation that he appeared to have taken the wrong road.

He was still using the more manual, artisan style of refining methods of forty millenniums ago.

Through thousands of revisions of hard work, meticulous carving and perfecting, and forging by hand, he was able to refine a more exquisite magical equipment with slightly stronger performance.

However, the refining rate was terribly low. It would take at least one or two days for a single finished product. The more complex ones required three or four days.

Current cultivation sects long ago adopted large-scale industrial methods to refine low-level magical equipment. They refined in bulk. Their efficiency was extremely high.

With greater production, the costs could be brought very low.

The magical equipment produced by this large-scale refinement method didn’t have the most powerful performance.

But the quality to price ratio was the absolute highest.

This was the perfect method of refining for low-level magical equipment with extremely high rates of consumption.

“Efficiency! The key lies in efficiency!”

Li Yao had this sudden epiphany.

“I was using the train of thought of refining quality products on refining consumable products. It takes me one to two days to modify an ‘exquisite’ consumable product. Obviously, I’m getting nowhere with efficiency as low as this!”

“However, a real quality product that could behead a demon god with one strike… How could I, a lowly cultivator of the 5th level of the Refinement Stage, refine such a thing?”

Li Yao thought for a moment. Then he asked with a heart filled with anticipation.

“What about the sticky bomb? It is inexpensive and it has decent power. This is my competitive product!”

This time it was Lu Tieshan’s turn to speak.

“Fellow student Li Yao, it’s true that your sticky bomb is decent. It’s been well-purposed for use against the hard exoskeleton of a demon beast but it’s way too complicated to use. What if I accidentally get it stuck to my hand? That would be very embarrassing.”

“We don’t have your astonishing hand speed or finger dexterity. We aren’t able to stick that many sticky bombs to the carapace of a demon beast unnoticed!”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. He discovered he had made his second error.

When he was refining the sticky bomb, he had unconsciously used his own view as the viewpoint of a user.

Not only had he develop astonishing hand speed through high-intensity magical equipment maintenance, he had cultivated in the Thousands Fingers Supple Bone Exercise, a god-like technique of the ancient past devoted to increase the pliability and flexibility of fingers.

The fingers of a typical cultivator weren’t as nimble as his and their hand speeds weren’t as quick.

From their perspectives, using the sticky bomb was far too complicated. In intense combat, a single accident would have them sticking the bomb to themselves.

In short, it was a magical equipment exclusive to Li Yao. It was hard for others to use.

Li Yao lowered his head. His cheeks somewhat hurt with a burning sting.

“Senior Brother Peng was correct. For one to become an outstanding refiner, one must go through great quantities of real combat and first become an excellent soldier. This way, one understands what magical equipment is most popular, most practical within real combat!”

“It was because of my lack of combat experience that I refined, behind closed doors of the school campus, the magical equipment that only seemed brilliant.”

“The numbers of the magical equipment was very beautiful on paper and they displayed outstanding performance during testing.”

“But when they reached the battlefield, all sorts of problems were revealed.”

“Real combat… I need large amounts of real combat experience!”

“I will temper my combat skills in actual combat and become a true soldier. Only in this way can I know which magical equipment will be the most well received and how to refine it!”

…

Three days later at the eastern business district of Verdant Tarn City.

Li Yao was expressionless among the ruins of dilapidated buildings. His eyes shone brightly with life. He stood in confrontation of a demon beast.

An intense change had occurred within the battlefield situation in these three days.

Large batches of cultivators had rushed over one after another. Quite a few of the students of the Grand Desolate War Institution had heard the news, heading back to campus early and entering the battlefield one wave after another to engage in slaughter.

Each day, transport ships had to make several trips back and forth between the Grand Desolate War Institution and Verdant Tarn City.

The large army expanded their territory, pressing against the demon beasts. The large beast tide on the surface was suppressed. The powerful Demon Generals and Demon Kings put up a resistance in the sewers where it was accessible from all sides. The high-level cultivators could only enter deep underground to engage in bloody slaughter in the maze of pitch-black darkness.

Small squads of demon soldiers were in every nook and corner on the surface. They were handed over to the Refinement Stage cultivators to deal with.

Li Yao was a well-known and excellent figure of the Refinement Stage cultivators.

He was facing an Armored Snapping Turtle. This was an extremely fierce and tough intermediate level demon soldier.

It was like a hybrid between a turtle and a crocodile expanded three times their original sizes. A tortoise shell armored its body. Its defensive power was even more tyrannical than the Gold Armored Saber Mantis’. It had a thick and muscular tail, covered with sawteeth, that was like a barbed iron whip. The tail ripped through the air, letting out a humming cry.

It didn’t matter if one was being struck by the turtle shell or swept by the iron tail, the consequences would be disastrous.

But Li Yao was very different than the version of himself from three days ago.

After discovering his problem, he had deeply thought over the matter for a very long time. In the end, he deeply affirmed to his heart that he would properly sharpen himself in actual combat.

He sold most of the magical equipment he had refined during winter vacation at very reasonable prices to his classmates. He just left himself a Heavy Vibrosaber of great attack power.

Sabers, guns, swords, halberds, hatchets, axes, scythes, tridents… There were thirty to fifty different types of close combat magical equipment. It was obviously impossible to completely master all their properties in a single breath.

Li Yao was going to first master using the saber to become an expert in both refining and using it.

He liked the saber with its domineering air, to be able to press forward and sever things in half with a single strike!

Other than this, he conducted a modification on the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon. He adhered a mystic ray laser attachment to the barrel so that it could emit a red beam of light. This red beam of light could focus into a dot from several hundred meters away and act as a simple targeting system to increase the precision of this heavy firepower weapon.

He took the now-empty magical equipment box and modified it into an ammunitions crate. He carried thousands upon thousands of spiritual energy explosive rounds.

Right now, Li Yao had a jet-black Heavy Vibrosaber spanning across his waist, shining with light. He held the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon in his hand. A thick and heavy ammunition belt extended from the ammunition crate on his back to the firearm in his hands.

A vest covered with pockets was worn over his skin-tight combat garments. The pockets were all full and bulging, filled to the brim with sticky bombs!

He wasn’t just fully armed. He was simply a walking weapons depot!

When faced with the Armored Snapping Turtle, whose strength was clearly a series higher than his, Li Yao’s mouth hooked into a smile with a hint of calmness. He coldly squeezed out a single word from between his sharp teeth.

“Die!”

A streak of red light shot out from the muzzle of the Six Barrel Rotary Cannon. It precisely hit the chest of the Armored Snapping Turtle, forming a distinct targeting dot.

The Armored Snapping Turtle had yet to react when Li Yao heavily squeezed the trigger.

Amidst the loud sound, like a volcano erupting, came balls and balls of flame that exploded in front of Li Yao’s body. They converged into a red stream of light that was incomparably thick and powerful. The light cleaved at the Armored Snapping Turtle’s skull, ferociously bombarding it!