Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 225

Chapter 225: Ding Lingdang’s Secret

Intoxicating Immortal Vine was a demonized plant species and contained special neurotoxins which had extreme anesthetic effects. In the Star Glory Federation, it was one of the main raw ingredients for manufacturing narcotic agents.

For cultivators, the Intoxicating Immortal Vine had another use.

Ordinary liquors could hardly get cultivators intoxicated because of their sturdy body and firm spirit.

But even the cultivators had seven emotions and six desires, they too have the time when they want to get drunk and forget their sorrows or get good and drunk.

At that moment, cultivators would mix the powder of Intoxicating Immortal Vine into their wines and get drunk.

However, Li Yao had never seen Ding Lingdang do so.

She was a pure martial arts maniac. She would absolutely not let anything numb her body or spirit. Usually, she wouldn’t even take a drop of alcohol, so how would she mix an intoxicating substance as intense as powdered Intoxicating Immortal Vine in her drinks?

“Is someone drugging her?”

Once this thought crossed his mind, Li Yao could not help but break into laughter.

Not to mention Ding Lingdang herself was a ferocious dragon in human skin, this was the faculty area of the Grand Desolate War Institution and had many Combat Department professors leaving all around. All of them were ruthless characters in or above Foundation Building Stage.

Who would dare come here to drug someone? They would have to be tired of living.

Besides, although the Intoxicating Immortal Vine had intense anesthetic effects, its smell was also strong and unique, which was hard to conceal no matter what methods were used.

Even if someone was drugging someone else, they wouldn’t be so stupid as to use Intoxicating Immortal Vine.

“Does she want to get drunk?

“This is weird!”

Li Yao’s curiosity was piqued immensely. Having walked around the villa twice, he found an open window.

All around the villa, defensive array glyphs were installed. Even if the door was open, outsiders could forget about ever sneaking inside.

However, Li Yao had frequently entered Ding Lingdang’s house, and occasionally when Ding Lingdang wasn’t home, but he alone would go to Billowing Star Sea to train.

Ding Lingdang was a careless girl and had long given him the authority so that the defense array glyphs would treat him as one of their own people.

Li Yao stuck his ear to window sea. The room was quiet but a faint crying could be heard coming from far away.

“She- she is crying? Impossible!”

Li Yao was so surprised that the fine body hair that grew on the back of his neck was now all standing on their ends as a scene appeared in his mind: a dozen meter long T-rex with the gap between its fangs still laden with blood was very sad and dejected as it broke into tears, it was simply…

Unimaginable!

Li Yao swallowed a mouthful of saliva before turning his head to look and discovered the parrot and small snake gazing at him with bright and shiny eyes.

“You must act as my witness, I am only going in because I think that something happened to Ding Lingdang!”

He could not resist anymore as he lightly pushed opened the window and rolled inside.

The parrot and small snake took a glance at each other before they too followed him furtively and went in to see the status of their mistress.

The living room was empty but the smell of alcohol and Intoxicating Immortal Vine was even more intense. Under the dim moonlight, Li Yao discovered a dozen bottles randomly lying around on the table and on the ground as well.

He grabbed a bottle to check and it was the most alcoholic Baijiu[1], and some residue of Intoxicating Immortal Vine was still stuck on the inner wall of the bottle.

He grabbed another bottle and it was same for it too.

“She drank so much!”

An inexplicable fire aroused in his heart; even he could not understand why he would be so angry.

Holding his breath, he listened attentively and the intermittent weeping became clearer and clearer in the dark.

And the cries were filled with sadness, grief, and some fear as well, which for Li Yao felt as though a car had lightly scratched his heart.

“What the hell!?”

Li Yao followed the sound and slowly he drew closer and closer to the source. Finally, he came to the back of the stairs, at the entrance of the underground basement.

“Is it here?”

Li Yao hesitated.

Ding Lingdang had given complete access to him, he was even free to enter and exit her bedroom, except the basement whose entrance was always locked with a huge rusty iron lock; it had seemingly never been opened.

Everyone had their own secrets, and perhaps the underground basement was the secret of Ding Lingdang.

At this moment, the door of this secret was completely open.

Through which, flickering mottled lights could be seen, and in addition to the sobbing, voices of a man and a woman laughing and talking intermixed with bell-like laughter could be heard coming.

“Are there other people inside?”

Inexplicable feelings arose in Li Yao’s heart as he hastened his footsteps and went down the stairs.

The basement was not too big. There was a faint musty smell in the air. Various bits and bobs were randomly lying around, there were also some children toys as well.

At the center of the basement, there was a hologram projector which was projecting a 3-dimensional image of a middle-aged couple along with a very cute little girl.

Apparently, the voices that Li Yao had heard a moment ago were coming from the hologram projector.

“So it was a video.”

Li Yao heaved a sigh of relief. He gazed around and discovered Ding Lingdang huddled in a corner, embracing her knees. A tattered blanket covered her body. She seemed to be in trance, her eyes were blurred as she shivered while she choked with sobs.

Li Yao was stupefied. His heart was like it had been ruthlessly scratched by invisible claws; his eyes twitched with pain.

He had never seen Ding Lingdang in such a weak and helpless position.

She was the very Ding Lingdang, who could smash a demon beast to death with just a punch, who could finish entire five legs of lamb in one sitting. This was the very Ding Lingdang who was the former president of the Iron Fist Club, who had routed countless hulks who were no different than T-rexes in human forms!

“Are…you okay?”

Li Yao gingerly walked over to Ding Lingdang.

Ding Lingdang was already dead drunk. She was completely immersed in her own world and took a long time to distinguish the source of the sound.

When she found that someone had rushed into the basement, a panicked look appeared on her face.

It was as though a ten-year-old girl was facing a cruel demon beast.

However, in the next second, she seemed to have recognized Li Yao before the panic and fragile look in her eye turned into a dazzling aura in the blink of an eye.

It was like a drowning man had discovered a floating piece of wood. Li Yao had turned into her entire hope.

Ding Lingdang immediately rushed up to him!

Although she was dead drunk, at the end of the day, she was still a Foundation Building Stage expert. Li Yao was caught off guard and didn’t know how to dodge. She pushed him down on the ground and tightly held him like an octopus.

Suddenly, Li Yao’s face was flushed red to his ears.

It wasn’t that he was shy or excited, no, no, no, he was completely out of breath.

As she was all alone in her home, Ding Lingdang only had thin pajamas draped over her body, and a lot of her cleavage was wide open on display. She also generally cultivated all year round, as such she had an exquisite body, along with her long and slender legs…

Painted an exceptionally sexy scene.

Nevertheless, not the slightest bit of evil intentions aroused in Li Yao’s mind.

It was not that he was abnormal or anything, in fact, Ding Lingdang was too tightly wrapped around him!

As a matter of fact, drunks are a bit stronger than they normally are, not to mention, there are all kinds of strangulation techniques which a martial arts fanatic like Ding Lingdang had learned, she was as tightly wrapped around Li Yao like a beautiful python that was as thick as a bucket. Not only was he out of breath, even his bones were making “crunch, crunch” sounds. Sooner or later Li Yao’s body would be minced by her.

“Let me go! Quickly, let me go!” Li Yao wanted to cry but had no tears. The two rolled on the ground. Somehow, Li Yao seized the opportunity and found a gap and retreated two steps, but yet again, his ankle was grabbed by Ding Lingdang and was pulled ruthlessly, dragging him back as she tightly wrapped herself around Li Yao. Apparently, she was not willing to let him go.

If someone who was completely oblivious to the whole situation saw them, he would definitely think that the two had deep-seated hatred and were fighting desperately at close-quarters.

The parrot and the snake hid at the entrance, quietly watching.

“You are leaving me with no choice!”

Realizing that Ding Lingdang was going to hold him tighter and tighter as stars began revolving around his eyes, his ears began ringing, even his heart was soon about to be crushed, Li Yao clenched his teeth as he began to release the spiritual energy as he began increasing his level, bursting forth with the real power of a cultivator!

“2nd level of Refinement Stage!”

“3rd level of Refinement Stage!”

“4th level of Refinement Stage!”

Ding Lingdang didn’t use any spiritual energy, she was only hugging Li Yao with pure brute force, so of course, she wasn’t his opponent. Soon, Li Yao was about to break free.

Ding Lingdang seemed to have realized that the floating wood was about to drift away as tears gushed out from her eyes and an aggrieved and terrified look appeared on her face. She said, in a quivering voice, “Don’t leave me again.”

This sentence stupefied Li Yao.

He never knew that Ding Lingdang’s voice could be so gentle and fragile that it could give birth to a desire to protect her in anyone’s heart.

‘You aren’t Ding Lingdang, you must be a demon beast in disguise!’ Li Yao shouted in his heart.

A word in the Ding Lingdang’s words seemed to have aroused the subtle emotions in his heart.

‘Don’t leave me ‘again’? In other words, someone has left her, who could it be? Is it her ex-boyfriend?’

Although Li Yao had not drunk the wine mixed with Intoxicating Immortal Vine, nevertheless, he was feeling somewhat drunk. One after another, ridiculous ideas kept on popping up in his mind.

Before his brain could issue a command, he body had already reacted.

He didn’t struggle to escape anymore and let Ding Lingdang tightly wrapped around him as her burning hot cheek tightly stuck to his chest.

He maintained his level at the 1st level of the Refinement Stage and used his spiritual energy to barely ensure his breathing as he gazed at Ding Lingdang’s crimson face.

Ding Lingdang narrowed her eyes, as though she was a cat who had returned to her nest as she showed a completely satisfied smile

She had already been crying for a few hours, her spirit had reached the limit. In addition, she had drunk so much when she was alone that she was ready to hug Li Yao in grief and fear as her support.

At that moment, she quickly fell asleep in Li Yao’s arms.

She began to snore in an extremely harsh and completely loud voice; she was not the slightest bit like a lady.

“Who the hell are they?!”

Li Yao was rather baffled as tens of thousands of questions marks appeared in his mind.

Having been tightly hugged by Ding Lingdang, Li Yao was completely unable to move and was bored to death. He could only raise his head to look at the middle-aged couple and the little girl in the hologram.

Following which, he discovered that the middle-aged couple’s faces somewhat resembled Ding Lingdang, and the little girl was simply a copy of a younger Ding Lingdang.

“So it was Ding Lingdang’s family video. This little girl should be about ten years old, and the middle-aged couple must be her parents.”

Li Yao didn’t know much about Ding Lingdang’s family. All he knew was that her parents had departed from this world a long time ago.

Her mother was a professor of the Grand Desolate War Institution and this villa was left to her by her mother. As for what her father did, he didn’t know anything.

In the video, Ding Lingdang’s father wore a black military uniform; surprisingly, he was a soldier.

The video was playing the scene of a family of three having a picnic on the lawn.

The ten-years-old Ding Lingdang was still a chubby girl. She was chasing the parrot and the snake, her laughter was filled with innocence.

After a while, she ran to her father’s side and keenly gave a kiss before speaking in a crisp voice, “Papa, the puppet warbeast refined by you is truly too good!

“In the future, I want to be like papa, I want to become a super powerful refiner!”

“What?”

Li Yao was so scared that he almost bit his own tongue.

Among all the horrors he had experienced tonight, none of it was worse than this.

“The dream of Ding Lingdang, this T-rex in human skin, this martial arts fanatic, this professor of Grand Desolate War Institution Combat Department, was actually to become a refiner?”

Chapter 226: I Will Protect You

Even now, Li Yao could clearly remember that, when they first met, Ding Lingdang looked at the refining profession with contempt.

How could he have ever thought that her father was actually a refiner? And if those two lifelike puppet warbeasts came from her father’s hand, then he would have been a refiner of at least the expert-level; he would’ve been at almost the same level as Yuan Manqiu.

So, how could she dislike the refining profession?

With countless doubts circling around his head, Li Yao continued to watch the video.

The video was very long, spanning for a couple hours. It was a mixture of hundreds of videos, recording the scenes of the life of the three over a span of a few years.

While watching the video, Li Yao gradually came to know of another Ding Lingdang, one that was sometimes lively and sometimes quiet; a girl who would become extremely cute when she burst into laughter, a powerless, and always crying, little girl.

This little girl, under the guidance of her father, could rig up some common civilian magical equipment and become so happy that she would grin from ear to ear and dimples would appear on her chubby little face.

Li Yao took a glance at his surroundings and discovered that a lot of the magical equipment that appeared in the video were piled around, laden with dust.

The video came to an abrupt stop at Ding Lingdang’s thirteen birthday.

‘After she turned thirteen, why did she completely change into another person? Not only did her temper became fiery, she aspired to become a powerful body practitioner rather than a refiner.’

Li Yao’s brain was suddenly struck by a flash as he recalled the words once spoken by Fiend Blade Peng Hai, “I’ve met another person just like you. At the age of thirteen, she was a super cultivation genius who had a Spiritual Root Development Quotient of 85%, but all of a sudden, her Spiritual Root Development Quotient fell to 11%. She could barely even stand up; she was reduced to a cripple. Everyone believed that she could no longer cultivate and would spend the rest of her life in bed!

“But this person, not only did she stand up again by putting in a hundred times more effort, an amount that no one could imagine. She once again stepped onto the road of cultivation. At the age of twenty-two, she reached the Pinnacle Refinement Stage!

“If I’m not wrong, after a year and a half at most, she will successfully build her foundation and become one of the youngest Building Foundation Stage Cultivator in the Federation. And If you give her thirty to fifty years… she will become the youngest Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator in the Federation!”

The person that Fiend Blade Peng Hai spoke of was none other than Ding Lingdang.

“What happened to you when you were thirteen?”

Lowering his head, Li Yao carefully observed the sleeping face of Ding Lingdang.

Her face was the epitome of overflowing heroic spirit and also had a bit of stubbornness to it. When compared to the chubby, round face from the video, it was almost completely unrecognizable to Li Yao.

Suddenly, God knows what nightmare she was dreaming, a slight frown crept over Ding Lingdang’s face and the corner of her lips started quivering; revealing a sliver of panic.

‘Don’t be afraid, I will protect you,’ said Li Yao gently in his heart before he suddenly became muddleheaded.

“Am I going crazy! Protect her? Protect Ding Lingdang? Protect this T-rex in human skin?

“How could I have such weird thoughts?

“I must have been too exhausted from the past two days; my mind must be so tired that I can’t put my brain cells to good enough use. That must be it!”

The night went by very slowly. And everything that happened that night was far from normal. Having been hugged by Ding Lingdang, Li Yao’s eyes went wide as thousands upon thousands of thoughts frantically circled in his mind yet none of them were related to refining. He kept forcing himself to think about various academic problems or complex and profound blueprints, and yet, after a moment, all of these thoughts would turn into the ever smiling and twinkling face of Ding Lingdang.

As dawn approached, Ding Lingdang’s grip loosened a bit; Li Yao, on the other hand, was unable to hold on. His head fell down as he sank into his dreams.

He slept like a log, without a care in the world. Inevitably, he dreamt of innumerable wild fantasies which made him flushed red to his ears.

When he woke up, he found himself alone, lying with his hands and legs crossed on Ding Lingdang’s bed.

Li Yao felt lost, nevertheless, “BANG BANG BANG BANG” sounds of something hitting came ringing next to his ears.

He turned his head to take a look, and found Ding Lingdang, dressed in gym shorts and a vest, hitting a sandbag that was crafted from Gray Dragon Crocodile skin which was several inches thick with full force. Each of her punches sank deep into the sandbag.

Her face was glowing with health and radiating vigor, not even the slightest trace of last night’s weakness could be found; it was as if it was just a dream.

Shaking his head, Li Yao sat up before forcefully rubbing his face. “Maybe I was too tired and have been dreaming last night!? This is the Ding Lingdang that I know, how could she be weak-looking like last night?”

Just then, a gust of wind brushed his face as Ding Lingdang fiercely rushed onto the bed. Spreading his hands and legs apart, and holding him, she said ruthlessly, with eyes filled with hostility, looking from above, “Don’t even think of talking about me crying last night, or I will kill you!”

Li Yao was shaken to the core; it wasn’t a dream, she was indeed crying.

Suddenly, Li Yao’s eyes were filled with curiosity and complex emotions which even he himself could not understand.

Feeling nervous from his look, Ding Lingdang smacked his forehead. “Don’t look at me like that. I drank too much last night and was in a bad state, that’s all. Who would have known that you, smelly brat, would silently slip in!”

Li Yao explained himself in a hurry, “I noticed the intense smell of Intoxicating Immortal Vine coming from your house, and I recalled that you never drink, more so getting dead drunk, I was afraid something happened to you, that’s why I rushed inside!”

“I know, otherwise you would have already been beaten to a pulp!”

“But last night, you actually…”

Ding Lingdang retreated and sat on the bed, holding the pillow in her arms. After a while, she took a long deep breath and said calmly, “Forget it, I will tell you anyway. Anyhow it’s not a big secret, many of the professors in the institute know it already.

“Last night was the death anniversary of my parents.”

Li Yao’s eyes went wide.

“My mom was a professor of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Combat Department and my dad was an army refiner. I inherited the blood of them both and showed a talent for creativity as well as for combat at an early age.

“However, my mom thought that it would be hard for a girl to take the road of combat. She’d had it hard from an early age; naturally, she didn’t want her daughter to suffer like her.

“So, my parents wanted me to be a refiner, and in my childhood, I also liked refining very much.

“The year when I turned thirteen, a new city was being built in the depths of the Wasteland and my dad was also stationed at the military base outside the city.

“When the city was finished, a grand ceremony was held, and my mom and I were invited as well to attend the ceremony.

“Unexpectedly, at the inauguration ceremony, we encountered a massive beast tide outbreak. Countless powerful demon beasts under the command of Demon King encircled the entire city in the blink of an eye!

“Originally, the city would have been able to defend for a while until the reinforcements arrived with the help of its self-defense system in the outer ring of the city as well as by controlling the countless pieces of magical equipment.

“However, the city was built recently and its self-defense system hadn’t undergone rigorous debugging, as such, there were many problems with the self-defense system.

“During the highly intense battle, the flaws in the defense system were quickly revealed and the Demon King, taking advantage of the opportunity, ruthlessly bombarded the control center, exploding it to nothing!

“As a result, all of the unmanned magical equipment failed one after another, while the beast tide advanced straight into the city unchecked and wantonly massacred. My mom and dad died in the battle.

“Although I survived, my spiritual roots development quotient fell to the bottom; I became a cripple. I had to start from the beginning.

“Since then, I realized one thing.

“When magical equipment is no longer reliable, we can only rely on ourselves. The strongest fist is the most reliable piece of equipment!

“Therefore, when I once again embarked on the road of cultivation, I did not hesitate to choose to become a body practitioner.

“I firmly believe that only this road can allow me to take revenge!

“The appearance of the Demon King is still etched into my brain, Demon King Night Hail. Even on the ‘Ominous Demon List’, his notoriety is well-known. He’s commanded many beast tides and attacked the Heaven Origin Sector. Every time, before he retreated, he would kill two Golden Core powerhouses. Among the high-level demon clan, he is one of the most problematic figures for the federation.

“However, someday, he will die by my fist. I want to punch him into a patty!”

Li Yao listened to her quietly; he was rendered speechless.

In his heart, he was deeply shocked, so shocked that it could not be described with just words.

He didn’t expect that this girl, who would always be radiating light and heat like the sun, would actually have such a dark past.

Although she was playing it down, Li Yao could imagine the scene; a lonely little girl, in a city filled with a demon beast, watching her parents being torn apart by the demon beasts.

‘Last night, after she drank until she was dead drunk, she must have returned to the year when she turned thirteen, returned to the time when the demon beasts were everywhere in the town, that must the reason why she so was panic-stricken and so powerless,’ Li Yao thought in his heart, which his eyes did not conceal.

Ding Lingdang was completely infuriated by the compassionate and protective look in his eyes. As short-tempered as she was, she said, waving her hand, “I did not tell you these things just so you take pity on me, I was afraid that you would think some nonsense, that’s all!

“I don’t need any sympathy from anybody. You’d better forget what I have said a moment ago and what happened last night. Forget about everything and what you should do!”

All Li Yao could do was nod.

As he himself was someone from the Magical Equipment Graveyard, he could relate to the delicate mentality of Ding Lingdang as a fellow sufferer.

When he looked at the time, his countenance changed. “It’s already 12 PM? Oops!

“I have a meeting with the teacher in the early morning, we decided to discuss restarting the Project Mystic Skeleton!”

Li Yao jumped up and hastily went downstairs. Having bidden her farewell, he anxiously made his way out of the villa.

Closing the door, the extremely calm look on her face collapsed all of a sudden. Her face which was laced with a murderous look, in the blink of an eye, blushed.

“It’s over, I don’t know how I should act around him anymore!”

As Ding Lingdang leaned on the door, wriggling her graceful body, an embarrassed look appeared her face before she covered her face with her hands, and her mutterings escaping from the gaps between her fingers, “So embarrassing, that stinking brat has completely seen my shameful appearance. How am I going to face him in the future? I have completely lost my prestige as elder sister!

“And you two!”

Ding Lingdang, with one arm on her waist, while the other pointed at the snake and the parrot, said angrily, “Why did you let him come in?”

The snake and the parrot looked at their mistress very innocently. Their crystal eyes became sluggish, completely still.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

The knocking on the door rang behind her head.

It completely scared the hell out of Ding Lingdang; her heart was crazily pounding. Having calmed herself down, she opened the door, only to find Li Yao standing there.

“What is it?” Ding Lingdang asked snappily.

“Nothing.”

Li Yao looked a bit flustered, “I suddenly remembered one thing: last night you said, ‘don’t leave me again’, you thought I was your parents and asked them not to leave you again, right?”

Chapter 227: Rebirth of the Mystic Skeleton

“That’s correct. Why?”

Ding Lingdang frowned.

“Nothing particular really. I thought you were talking about your ex-boyfriend at first and I was a little embarrassed. But later I figured out that it was impossible. Haha.”

Li Yao scratched his head. For some reason, he felt delighted.

“What do you mean by ‘impossible’?! Do I look like someone who has never had a boyfriend?”

Ding Lingdang raised her eyebrow and burst out in anger.

In the spur of the moment, Li Yao asked, “No. No. But, do you have one?”

“I kind of, sort of, maybe had one.” Ding Lingdang replied, flushed.

“May I ask what ‘kind of, sort of, maybe had one’ means?”

Li Yao suddenly turned into a baby of curiosity.

“It was when I just went into college. Everybody was new to each other. You know that guys outnumber girls in our college. Then there was this senior student from the Iron Fist Club who was in hot pursuit of me. Said that he adored my passion for martial arts and hoped to explore the peak of martial arts with me. He was earnest and also handsome. So I said that I would think about it carefully.”

Ding Lingdang stammered to get the story through.

“Then what?”

Li Yao felt his throat was dry.

“Then, one afternoon, the Game of Senior Students and Freshmen in the Iron Fist Club took place. He was my opponent after drawing lots. I thought to myself: if you adore my passion for martial arts, of course, I should show you 120% of my capability, shouldn’t I? But as it turned out, I should’ve controlled myself; I broke four of his ribs before kicking him out of the ring into the auditorium.

“That night, he texted me from ICU saying that, although I’m great, he felt we weren’t appropriate for each other after full consideration, and that we should just be friends.

“That son of bitch had no manhood at all. He shrank at the first setback he met. Also, I never promised him anything. I just said that I would think about it. What did the latter half of the text message even mean? Who would want to be friends with such a coward?!

“I was in a terrible mood after all that. Two days later, the Iron Fist Club and the Chaotic Blades Hall got into a fight due to an incident. I was too angry to control myself again and sent 15 classmates of the Chaotic Blades Hall to the hospital.

“Ever since then, nobody’s dared to ask me out anymore. What a bunch of losers!”

The more Ding Lingdang said, the angrier she became. She raised her head, only to find Li Yao grinning like an idiot. Pissed off, she slapped the door.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I told you such a humiliating story because I treat you as a good bro. Other people laugh at me because I don’t have a boyfriend, so be it. But why are you smirking, too?”

“I wasn’t smirking.”

Li Yao was about to laugh again as he said it.

“Still denying!”

Ding Lingdang snatched at Li Yao’s face like lightning and pulled it hard. “You mouth is as broad as a trumpet, and you said you were not smirking! I got it. It is because I am mean to you and always bully you that you hope I never find a boyfriend, isn’t it? You must feel happy and satisfied now, don’t you?”

In pain, Li Yao found his tears swelling. “Ow! It hurts! Hurts! Let me go!”

Ding Lingdang twisted his face hard one last time, and released it in gratification. She slammed the door.

Watching Li Yao walk away while trying to soothe his face through the window, she sat down and sighed heavily.

“What’s wrong with me today?”

She scratched her hair, turning it into a scruffy mess. “Why did I reveal such a humiliating story to him the moment he asked? Next time I will be a joke to him!

“Xiao Cai, come over here. Replay what you saw yesterday.”

What happened last night had been recorded by the Crystal Eye of the parrot and stored in the Crystal Chip.

The seven-colored parrot bounced towards Ding Lingdang, and when it arrived in front her, it opened its mouth from which a light beam was sent out. The light beam then transformed into a 3D representation of the scenes from the last night.

Li Yao circled the villa. Li Yao crawled through the window. Li Yao checked the wine bottles on the desk. Li Yao moved on to the basement, where he was tugged by her.

Ding Lingdang’s lips pouted as she watched all this.

And when she saw Li Yao’s desperate expression when she was hugging him like an octopus, she burst out in anger and slapped so heavily on the ground that the wine bottles were flying to the sky.

“Was it so terrible?”

Ding Lingdang said in anger. “A hug won’t cost you anything. What is that avoidance and abhorrence supposed to mean?”

…

Li Yao was walking towards the Refining Department lightly on the campus, when the tiny Crystal Processor suddenly buzzed.

“The professor must be impatient!”

Li Yao picked up his pace.

But when he lifted his wrist, he found that it was his newly-added contact, Jiang Shaoyang.

Through Spiritual Energy Crane Link, Jiang Shaoyang’s bold forehead was shining brightly under the sun. But he was wearing a strange smile.

His personality felt different from two days ago. It was now a combination of extreme madness and unparalleled calmness, like a frozen flame. No one could tell it’s cold or hot.

“Anything wrong?”

Li Yao was in a surprise.

“No big deal. I just want to tell you that I have withdrawn from Deep Sea University and I’m about to embark on a brand new path of Artifact Refining.”

Jiang Shaoyang said slowly.

“What?!”

Li Yao was shocked. Jiang Shaoyang was definitely a maniac, or was it because he had been influenced by what he’d said previously?

Jiang Shaoyang said in utmost tranquility, “I’ve put a lot of thought into this. You were right. I was bound by so many things in the past, which prevented me from fulfilling my potential.

“The moment I cut off my hair, I said goodbye to my past, my previous life, and my old self. I am ready to explore a new path that has never been set foot on before.

“So, don’t call me the ‘Tenth Star’ anymore. I am just myself, and I’m no longer related to Deep Sea University, Novem Stellae, or Supernova.

“I remember you said that you are known as the Fiend Star among Artificers. Fiend Star or Supernova, or even Novem Stellae, if we get to the bottom of it, are all miniature stars.

“But I’m different. I will become the sun, with a brightness 10,000 times more glaring than any of you!”

The serenity in his face and arrogance in his declaration made it impossible to distinguish whether he was joking or simply insane.

“But…”

Li Yao frowned.

“You don’t believe me?”

Flames of billions of degrees were burning in Jiang Shaoyang’s eyes.

“Not that I don’t believe you. It’s just that technically speaking, the sun is also a star,” Li Yao said solemnly.

“…”

Jiang Shaoyang dazed.

“The sun is just the same with all the other stars. In fact, most stars are brighter than the sun. But they may not look so due to the long distance in between. For example, the Fiery Cloud Star which is close to Heaven’s Origin Sector, is 17 times brighter than the sun by estimation of astronomers. Such stars are countless. This is like… common sense. What, you’d never heard of it before?”

“…”

After a long silence, during which time the veins on his forehead seemed to be bumping out, Jiang Shaoyang finally grumbled, “Metaphor! It was just a metaphor! The bottom line is, please try to keep your training up, because I will see you again soon. People will know which one is stronger, the Sun or the Fiend Star.

“Pa.”

Jiang Shaoyang hung up in anxiety and anger.

“Why is everybody acting weird today?”

Li Yao touched his nose and carried on walking.

He went directly to Yuan Manqiu’s laboratory without any rest after he arrived at Refining Department.

“Professor, sorry I’m late.”

Yuan Manqiu was standing in front of a row of 3D light beams and staring at them quietly.

Shining on the light beams were the complicated structure designs of Crystal-powered Mobile Armors.

Tears streamed as she watched.

“Li Yao, thank you. I know of all your struggles and devotion over the past year. Without your dedication, it would’ve been impossible to restart the Project Mystic Skeleton in such a short time. On behalf of myself, Lao Mo, and all the rest staff and students who’ve sacrificed things for the plan, I offer you my sincerest gratitude.”

Yuan Manqiu moved her body and bowed to Li Yao.

Li Yao had no idea what to do. He hurried to get her professor straight and grinned. “Professor, I’m looking forward to the day when the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is born again and flies in the sky.”

“That’s right. We must seize every second in every minute so that the armor can be forged faster.”

Yuan Manqiu wiped her tears away and took a deep breath. She resumed her calmness and quickly said, “I’ll just cut the nonsense and get down to it. Here’s a brief introduction to the current status of Refining Department.

“Because of your excellent performance, the university will increase the budget for Refining Department next year. Also, donations from celebrities have risen, too. So, funding is not a problem anymore. Our plan for now is to recruit 60 students in two classes. I believe many students will consider us now that the resources are abundant.

“As for teachers, I’ve managed to reach out to some experts among the Artificers over the past year. Their major concern before was the funding. Now that it has been fixed, many of them, especially those without any notable status right now, actually don’t outright reject the notion of working as a teacher in Grand Desolate War Institution.”

Li Yao nodded.

Money, place, methodology, and companionship were four indispensable factors in cultivator’s training, among which money always comes first.

A cultivator may be uninterested in everyday life’s entertainment. But their research and training also demand large amounts of money.

Now that the funding was plentiful, no wonder many cultivators had changed their minds about teaching here.

“As for teaching facilities, it’s unnecessary to rebuild a floating mountain since it will cost too much time and efforts. I’ve made a deal with a seller and we’re going to purchase a second-hand small-scale floating mountain which we can modify. Three months after it’s delivered, when it has been entirely upgraded, it will be more than enough to satisfy the need of the two hundred teaching staff and students, as well as the development work of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.”

Chapter 228: You Will Wear the Suit!

Yuan Manqiu paused and said slowly, “There are three critical problems that are yet to be resolved.

“First, the technical problem.

“Over the past year, I’ve done a lot of research and thoroughly studied thousands of designs. Everything is fine, except for the Super Compressed Crystal Reactor, which we underestimated before.”

“The most distinguished characteristic of Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is its avoidance of using Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. As a result, its stability and durability are greatly undermined. For other parts, this shortcoming can be fixed by enhancing the structure. But that won’t do when it comes to Crystal Reactor.

“Condensing violent spirit energy, as destructive as the vast sea, into a head-size Crystal Reactor while asking it to output spirit energy stably according to the battle status was putting too much pressure on the Crystal Reactor.

“It was simply overwhelming for the common alloy materials.”

“Last time, it was because the Crystal Reactor had a crack and released the extremely-condensed spirit energy that the tragedy happened.

“I haven’t figured out how to address this problem yet. If we turn to Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, our cost will increase a lot because they’re essential to the Crystal Reactors for most of the crystal suits. Copying them would be contradictory to our original purpose.

“In the days to come, together with other experts, I will try my best to overcome this barrier.

“Li Yao, take this jade slip. All the documents concerning Project Mystic Skeleton are inside. You can see if there’s anything you can do when you’re free.

“Although you have only just started your career as a Refiner, you always have amazing ideas that are not restrained by the doctrines we live by. Maybe you’ll find a new way and shed some light for us.”

Yuan Manqiu then handed over the jade slip with a string of unique ‘thought’, which is the key to activate the jade slip.

Files of Project Mystic Skeleton were invaluable. Therefore, the jade slip required a special thought to activate it. It also had a self-destruction rune within. Should it be lost, Li Yao could erase all the information easily using telekinesis.

Seeing that his professor trusted him so much as to share all of her top secrets with him, Li Yao felt warm in heart and nodded his head solemnly.

Yuan Manqiu continued.

“The second problem is money.

“When I said that the funding is adequate, I was referring to the rebuilding work for the Refining Department. Actually, the school had different opinions about Project Mystic Skeleton.”

She paused and laughed self-deprecatingly. “It is understandable. I’m afraid that no one else in the entire Star Glory Federation is a hundred percent confident that Project Mystic Skeleton will succeed apart from the two of us.

“The budget that the school allocated is for recruitment of experts, purchase and modification of the floating mountain, and the education of students. Very little is at our disposal. However, by my estimation, to complete Project Mystic Skeleton, the money we need ranges from 5 billion to 10 billion.”

Li Yao nodded, not surprised by the figure.

Although the cost of a Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit had been claimed to be under 100 million, that was only so during mass production. Reinventing the first Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit required much more than that because of the preliminary investments, the experimental cost, and the research funding.

Sometimes it would cost 3 to 5 million, or in some cases even 10 million, to conduct a single experiment.

And dozens of experiments were not unusual to perform optimizations.

On the market, one crystal suit specially designed for Cultivators of Core Formation Stage and Nascent Soul Stage would cost more than 10 billion. It was quite amazing that the entire budget for the research of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was controlled within 10 billion.

Yuan Manqiu continued, “The technical and money problems are directly related. It is because we can’t fix the issue regarding the Crystal Reactor that the investors feel inconfident.

“As long as it is fixed, with our current funding, we will be able to build a prototype, even though there’s nothing but our bare hands.

“Everything will be easier when we have the prototype. Not only will the school increase our budget, we will also be able to look for investments from celebrities and the military. I’m sure someone will be interested. When that happens, getting 10 billion wouldn’t be difficult, even 50 billion would not be a dream either.”

Yuan Manqiu stopped again and eyed Li Yao carefully. “The last and most important question is who will wear the prototype of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit?”

Li Yao realized that it was indeed a big problem.

The prototype would have a lot of defects and deeply buried problems. Not everyone would have the capability to wear it. The wearer must be an experienced Exo[1] who was also good at refining in order to detect the problems during the trial.

They were similar to the test pilots in Li Yao’s previous life who were a hundred times more skilled than ordinary pilots.

Yuan Manqiu shrugged and smiled bitterly.

“I can’t find a suitable candidate to wear the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. After all, the failure last time is already common knowledge to everyone in the entire federation. The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, a cursed crystal suit that is doomed to explode, has killed hundreds of people even before it is fully developed.

“As such, which elite Exo would be willing to risk their life to wear a prototype Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit that might be full of bugs?

“If we increase the reward, some desperados among the ordinary Exos might be interested. But these people would never have received professional training in refining. They wouldn’t be able to describe the problem clearly even if they meet one. Also, many things in the prototypes are secrets of Project Mystic Skeleton which I don’t want to reveal to outsiders.”

“Therefore, Li Yao, do you want to be the wearer of the prototype of Profound Bone Battle Armor?”

Li Yao dazed. He pointed to himself. “Me?”

He was a little overwhelmed.

Yuan Manqiu nodded and said seriously, “I’ve put a lot of thought into it. You’re the best candidate.

“Firstly, Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is designed to be a low-cost crystal suit for mass production, which means its users can only be Refinement Stage Cultivators. Building Foundation Stage Cultivators have far better choices.

“Therefore, we’re targeting Refinement Stage Cultivators as our potential users. All the structures and parameters are designed for them.

“So, it will be for the best if its first user is also a Refinement Stage Cultivator.

“Secondly, you are a Hybrid-type Cultivator and you have talents both in battling and refining. If you wear it, not only will the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit’s potential be fulfilled, you will definitely discover the majority of the problems during the trial. Our communication after will be easier too, as we’ll use terminologies that we are both familiar with.

“Lastly, you are my own disciple. The leaking of secrets will no longer be a concern, and the trials will not just take a day or two. Other Exos might be unwilling to stay at Grand Desolate War Institution for a long period of time. But if it’s you, there won’t be a problem.”

Li Yao’s eyes sparkled as he listened.

It’s perfect to join Project Mystic Skeleton in such a way!

“But, the thing is, I don’t know how to wear a crystal suit,” Li Yao said hesitantly.

Different from Battle Armor, a crystal suit was an ultimate weapon condensed by countless magical equipment controlled by the Crystal Processor. It was as difficult to forge as it was to wear. Only those who were formally trained would be able to control it and become an Exo, another awesome profession in the world of cultivation.

“It’s no big deal.”

Yuan Manqiu clicked softly on the virtual keyboard. Tons of data were displayed on the light beam.

Li Yao scanned it carefully. It was all detailed information about Exo training camps.

Yuan Manqiu said, “There are many ways to become an Exo. The top 10 sects in the federation, Deep Sea University, and First Military Academy of the federation all have their own crystal suit forging departments and corresponding training systems.

“In the military, there are troops entirely made of elite Exos whose strength can be really intimidating.

“But it’s difficult to find a way into such systems.

“Things are different with personal Exos training camps. They welcome anyone who has a decent amount of money.”

Exo and Refiner were the two most popular professions in the world of cultivation. Organizations established to train Exos were too many to keep track of.

Most of them only aimed for your purse. They wouldn’t teach anything useful.

However, the four personal Exo training camps listed by Yuan Manqiu were the best ones. They had been created by top-tier, expert Exos. Although the tuition fees they charged could make your heart stop beating, their tutors did boast real skills and were not hesitant to teach them.

Yuan Manqiu highlighted the file of one of the four training camps. She said, “Thunder Training Camp is going to start a 3-month preparatory course for middle and high level Cultivators in the Refinement Stage. It’s perfect for you.

“Thunder Training Camp, one of the four personal Exo training camps in the federation, was founded by Lei Tingwei, a Cultivator in the Core Formation Stage, and hence have produced thousands of strong Exos. It is best known for its crazy and cruel training style.

“If you are willing to be the test wearer for the prototype of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the school will pay the tuition fees for you and you will be trained in Thunder Training Camp for three months before becoming a strong Exo!

“But there’s one thing you need to know. Lei Tingwei is a harsh and mean man. He values tough training more than anything. The principle of his camp is ‘easy to get in, hard to stay in’. You can get into it as long as you have money, but you’ll have to pass tests after tests. Only the few that survive until the end will be approved by him.

“Are you confident?”

Li Yao’s glanced through the files of the Thunder Training Camp. His mouth spread and a smile appeared on his face.

“Cruel? Harsh? Only few can survive until the end?

“I love it.”

…

Five days later, deep down the Grand Desolate Plateau, a well-worn carrier with patterns of thunder splash on both sides was flying at a low altitude.

Over the dull sand hills, a small oasis lay in front.

Around the oasis was a block of silver buildings.

Many firefly-like lights were chasing, charging, and colliding with each other.

But with a careful look, one would discover that they were all Cultivators in crystal suits!

Although it was just a simulation, the Cultivators were not the least bit sluggish. The cracking of spirit energy echoed like thunder hundreds of meters away.

Now and then, a critical part on someone’s armor would be hit, dying the sky in glorious colors while they fell to the ground.

This… was the Thunder Training Camp.

Chapter 229: Death Training Camp

At the corner of the carrier, Li Yao focused all his attention on the Crystal Processor’s screen, trying to make the best use of whatever time he had left to learn more about the Thunder Training Camp.

The more he read, the more he furrowed his brow.

After a long silence, Li Yao grinned and mumbled, “It’s really hard.”

Among the four major personal training camps, Thunder Training Camp was the most punitive one. It was also known as ‘Death Training Camp’.

‘Death’ had two meanings. One was that many courses in the training camp were imitations of real battles and thus were extremely dangerous. Chances were that the trainees would get crippled or killed, as was duly written in the contract they had signed before enrollment.

Thunder Training Camp was only open to the brave warriors, not cowards.

The other meaning was the high fallout rate.

Thunder Training Camp could be further divided into Inner Camp and Outer Camp. The Outer Camp was designed for the Cultivators in the Refinement Stage, and for the 100 students that it admitted every time, only ten would remain three months later.

That was a fallout rate of 90%, which was even higher than most of the classes of the Combat Department in the Grand Desolate War Institution.

The cruel training style and the super-high fallout rate, on the other hand, had boosted the cachet of the Thunder Training Camp. Many desperate Cultivators were actually willing to pay a large sum of money just to get a glittering ‘Thunder Exo’ badge.

Their effortlessness in paying the tuition fee indicated that they wouldn’t find it difficult to buy a crystal suit worth billions in the future. As a matter of fact, they were either from the younger generations of noble families or future stars of major cultivation sects. They had both resources and capabilities that far exceeded Li Yao’s previous opponents.

“The hundred students are all real experts. They are totally different from freshmen like Zhao Tianchong or Lu Tieshan.

“Many of them must’ve already worn crystal suits before. Unlike them, I’ve never touched one before. I’m a complete novice.

“It’s going to be troublesome to make it to the top ten.”

Li Yao’s thought was interrupted by the impact of the carrier landing on the desert beside the oasis.

Li Yao walked down together with a few other students.

It was noon, the hottest time of the day. There was no shade in the bare desert. The sunlight was so strong that their skin constantly felt as if it were going to explode.

The oasis was not very far in front. Yet the students had to wait underneath the scorching sun.

The carrier took off, leaving a small sandstorm where it previously landed. But there was still no sign of a receptionist.

A few other carriers had come and gone. More students joined the crowd in the desert.

Li Yao observed the other students carefully and noticed that most of them were older than 25 and apparently had experienced bloody battles in real life before. The determination on their faces was far different from the green college students.

Although everyone was hiding their capability with the Soul Converging Technique, Li Yao knew that many of them were already at the high-level Refinement Stage seeing that they had no sweat at all after standing under the hot sun for so long.

He might be the weakest among the hundred students.

Most students were wary of those around them, and when they felt that their classmates were of similar level to themselves, they did not hesitate to demonstrate their hostility.

A training camp was different from a school or a sect.

For the students in a school or a sect, they belonged to the same community. No matter how intense their competition with each other was, they had a sense of “collective honor”.

For example, although Zhao Tianchong, Lu Tieshan, and Li Yao always challenged each other, they knew that they were all students of the Grand Desolate War Institution. When something serious happened, they would stand together and get it over with first before sorting out the issues among themselves.

But things were totally different in a training camp which was all about money-making. No one was anything to anyone else other than a direct rival.

Only ten out of the hundred students would be able to laugh in the end. Every one of the rest was an enemy-to-be and had to be eliminated at the first chance!

That was what all the students had in mind.

While Li Yao was thinking about it, a shadow covered him as if the sun had been eclipsed by a giant cloud.

Li Yao blinked and took a closer look. It was a tall, young man with grey eyes and a sharp face that looked like it had been carved from a rock.

The young man was wearing a strange smile. His eyes were sparkling, just like those of a cat that had decided to play with the rat it had just caught instead of killing it immediately.

The grey-eyed, young man raised his eyebrow and asked coldly, “Grand Desolate War Institution’s Li Yao?”

Li Yao felt a scent of hostility. He stood straight and made eye contact with the young man, “And you are?”

“From Deep Sea University’s Battle Suit Department, Yuan Yeshi,” the grey-eyed, young man said casually.

Li Yao frowned. The name didn’t sound familiar.

“You don’t know me. But I know a thing or two about you.”

Yuan Yeshi smiled indifferently, “My sister, Yuan Yexue, is a disciple of Jiang Sheng, the Supernova, and one of the Novem Stellae. I accidentally came across your file due to her. I knew you’re a genius at magical equipment refining whose popularity has been on the rise and you humiliated Deep Sea University in the Refiners’ Registration Examination.

“However, the Thunder Training Camp is the domain of us Exos. Why did you, a Refiner, come such a long way here?”

“To enjoy some sunbathing,” Li Yao replied lazily to the aggressive question.

There was lightning in Yuan Yeshi’s eyes. He was about to speak again when he felt a disturbance behind him.

It was a shuttle that looked like a scary skeleton.

“Here comes our instructor!” someone called out.

Yuan Yeshi changed his face and said grimly, “The past of you Refiners is none of my business and I don’t care.

“However, I don’t like the way you talk.

“You may be a genius in magical equipment refining, but it doesn’t mean that you can be as arrogant in the world of Exos.

“I’ve got my eye on you and I’ll eliminate you as soon as I have a chance!”

He retreated into the crowd as he stabbed Li Yao with his sharp glare.

At that moment, a strong, middle-aged man jumped out of the shuttle, leaving two deep footprints on the ground before he’d even landed, causing a cloud of smoke. It was as if a 10,000-ton rock just fell from the sky.

“What a grand entrance!”

“He’s at least in Building Foundation Stage!”

Many students were whispering.

When the air cleared again, a short, stout, extremely ugly, muscled man appeared in everyone’s sight.

The man could almost be called bald, except that he had a cluster of hair in the center of his pate. He also had a forked moustache, which was like two black crescent blades.

His hair and moustache drew so much attention at first glance that everyone failed to see what he really looked like.

Some students almost laughed out aloud.

Yet, when the muscled man looked at them with a glare resembling lightning, they felt that their backs were cold and their throats seemed to have been grabbed, which immediately stopped them from laughing.

“My name is Mao Feng, the manager of Thunder Training Camp’s Outer Camp. I will also be your chief instructor for the next three months, and I will become the person that you fear the most, resent the most, and want to cut into pieces the most!”

Mao Feng put his hands behind his back and started to pace around the students.

Whenever he stopped in front of someone, he would stare them in the eyes.

Within five seconds, the student would groan and admit defeat.

Mao Feng would be satisfied and move on to the next student.

His voice was not loud, yet it reached every student’s ear clearly despite the wuthering wind.

“I’ve read all of your files. You’re all men of privilege, one-in-ten-thousand, talented Cultivators. Your backgrounds are profound, and so are your own abilities.

“Many of you have touched crystal suits before. Some of you are even students majoring in battle suits at well-known colleges who want to improve themselves in the Thunder Training Camp during the summer vacation.

“However, everyone must start from scratch here.

“I don’t care who you are. You might be a badass in school, you might be the pillar of your sect, you might be a battle hero, but it all means nothing here. Your identity, position, and past mean nothing!

“In the Thunder Training Camp, you are just an ordinary student who doesn’t even need a name. What you need is just a number, ranging from 1 to 100.

“I will enforce the toughest, harshest, and cruelest training onto you. If you’re sluggish or hesitant for even a single second, you will be eliminated without mercy!

“However, in my experience, most students begged to quit long before they were eliminated.

“Remember, a crystal suit is a treasure of treasures. An Exo is the Cultivator of Cultivators!

“An Exo always leads the charge and is always ready to face the enemies’ attack. An Exo who isn’t killed a couple of times a day is not a real Exo.

“And a real Exo is what the Thunder Training Camp will train you to be. If you’re not prepared, get your ass out of here and now!”

While speaking, Mao Feng stopped in front of Li Yao. His lightning-like eyesight pierced into Li Yao’s head.

‘What a strong spiritual power!’

Li Yao could feel that the spiritual power of his instructor was hundreds of times stronger than the Three-Eyed Ape on the Devil Flood Dragon Island.

Had his soul not been cleansed and strengthened by Ou Yezi, it would’ve been impossible to even survive half a second.

Li Yao gritted his teeth and stared back.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, five seconds, ten seconds!

Ten seconds later, Mao Feng smiled and asked fiercely, “What’s your name?”

Li Yao held his head as high as possible and answered loudly, “Sir, my name is Li Yao!”

“Of course.”

Mao Feng grinned and looked around. He remarked, “Like I said, students of this class are all men of privilege with profound background. Even this seemingly Mr. Nobody actually has a long story behind him.

“You may not know of him yet. Let me introduce him to you. He is the youngest and weakest student in this class.

“But he is also a man who’s cruel to himself.”

Chapter 230: Chief Instructor’s Got His Eyes on You

“Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!”

198 pairs of curious eyes were fixed on Li Yao.

Li Yao frowned and knew it was not good.

It was clear that Mao Feng was trying to teach every student a hard lesson and establish his absolute authority by staring at them and destroy their pride.

But as it turned out, Li Yao’s soul was too solid to surrender after ten seconds of direct eye contact, which made him looked bad.

That’s why the chief instructor set him up as a target for everyone!

With a fake smile, Mao Feng said, “Li Yao, age 20, in the 6th level of Refinement Stage, also known as ‘Vulture’, a cruel man of your generation from the Grand Desolate War Institution.

“His cultivation is not very deep, but his records are quite impressive.

“Before his spiritual root was awoken, he defeated a mutant demon beast that was almost as strong as a demon soldier. The day he awoke his spiritual root, he beat a Cultivator in the 3rd level of Refinement Stage into a heap of blood and bones which barely looked like a human after the fight. Within the next year, he reached the 6th level of Refinement Stage. He was in the battle of Verdant Tarn City too, where he killed a demon general even though he was only in the 5th level of Refinement Stage at that time.

“After that, he was engaged in a fight against 2,000 freshmen from the Combat Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution. Through his smart tactics, he managed to make the opponents attack each other and broke through their encirclement in the end. His name has been rife since then.

“Lastly, he also happens to be a hybrid-type Cultivator, with talents both in fighting and refining, and he’s just passed the Refiners’ Registration Examination!

“Although he may lack experience in using a crystal suit, he definitely knows a lot about its structure and will quickly learn about its maintenance.

“The reason I’m telling you all this is to let you know that you shouldn’t assume you’re someone extraordinary here. There are many more extraordinary people in the Thunder Training Camp. This weakest student is already so remarkable, and the rest will only be better!

“And in the following three months, they will be your opponents!

“The only path in front of you is to crush them by training hard.

“Or you will be crushed by them like the ants below their shoes.”

What the instructor said turned the curiosity in their eyes into pure hostility; their eyes were aimed at Li Yao as if they were guns.

Some students were indifferent.

However glorious Li Yao’s past might be, he was still just a college student in the 6th level of Refinement Stage, while they were all experts of high-rank Refinement Stage Cultivators: in the 10th level or higher.

“Just some random college student.”

Many of them were mocking him.

“Little boy, quite arrogant of you, isn’t it? Cruel man of the new generation from the Grand Desolate War Institution? And a f*cking ‘vulture’? How interesting. We’ll eliminate you as soon as we get a chance and teach you a lesson about the difference between school and real life!”

More students grinned hideously while warming themselves up.

Beads of sweat appeared on Li Yao’s forehead, and his back was cold, too. He cursed the instructor silently.

‘What a petty man this so-called chief instructor is!

‘I was simply staring at him for a few seconds longer than the rest. There was no need to put me in the line of fire like this!’

He glanced at Mao Feng, and found Mao Feng looking at him, too.

Mao Feng patted his shoulder, in a malicious smile, and whispered, “Congratulations, Li Yao. You’ve attracted my attention. My eyes will be on you in the next three months.”

Before Li Yao had a chance to reply, Mao Feng suddenly roared, his beard lifting upwards as if two battle blades, “Everyone, gather in the testing field and get your capability measured first!

“The training camp will provide you with a tailor-made training plan based on your capability and fighting style and arrange different instructors for you accordingly.

“Remember, in the three-month training, there will be an elimination test at the end of each month.

“50 people will be left after the first month.

“20 after the second.

“At the end of the third month, a competition among the remaining 20 will take place and no more than 10 winners will make it to the end before receiving their ‘Thunder Exo’ badges.

“For those who get the badge, after you enter into the Building Foundation Stage, you will be able to be instructed in the Inner Camp by Lei Tingwei who’s in the Core Formation Stage!

“What are you waiting for? The testing field is 50 kilometers away. Get your asses moving now!”

Mao Feng jumped onto the skeleton-like shuttle, throwing dust everywhere after a burst of spirit energy.

He screamed while driving the shuttle,

“Faster! Faster! You’re all Cultivators yet you can’t outrun a shuttle? Those who fail to reach the testing field within half an hour will be eliminated immediately.”

In the smoke, the students gazed at each other in confusion. Suddenly, someone dashed forward. Almost simultaneously, various colorful spirit energies burst out from everybody as they started chasing the shuttle like lightning.

And thus, the competition began!

Rushing 50 kilometers in a desert under the boiling sun at a speed close to a shuttle, even the high level Cultivators felt tired and were sweating over.

But they were all men of determination. Pushed by their desire for victory, they stood straight with an indifferent look, showing no weakness at all.

The testing field had a coverage of couple of square kilometers and boasted state-of-the-art magical equipment for testing. Twenty students were allowed to take a test at the same time.

Beside the testing field were a hundred giant dark iron boxes with murderous runes carved on the surface that brought a strong sense of blood.

“Crystal suits!”

“Not training suits. They are real crystal suits!”

“Although they’re models from 100 years ago, they’re still authentic battlesuits that were worn in battlefields and wielded to kill monsters before!”

“Using real battlesuits at the beginning test, the Thunder Training Camp is really rich. It deserves its name as one of the four top training camps. This trip is definitely worth all the trouble!”

Many students were delighted.

Most of them had received preliminary crystal suits training before. But what they’d worn during training were simple testing crystal suits, which had a huge difference from the real ones.

Seeing the grandeur scene where 100 crystal suits lined up in a row, everyone was passionate and ready for a fight.

Mao Feng roared, “According to your profile, the Thunder Training Camp has prepared a suitable crystal suit for each one of you. You may find your own crystal suit by the names floating above the boxes.

“Remember, this is going to be your last chance to use your name in the Thunder Training Camp. Later, you will be ranked according to your capability from 1 to 100, and your rank will be the only reference to you in the coming three months.

“001 stands for the strongest!

“100 represents the lousiest, weakest, and worst!

“Devote every last bit of your strength into the training if you don’t want to be ‘100’!

“Those of you who have zero experience don’t need to worry. These crystal suits have been adjusted and have its sensitivity reduced to 30%, which means the difficulty of using them is only 30% of the difficulty of normal ones. It is the easiest mode designed for beginners.

“If you find yourself unable to rein the crystal suit under the 30% sensitivity, get your ass out of here quickly, because it means you have no talent for using crystal suits whatsoever. I don’t want to train losers!

“Alright, that’s about enough. Those who have worn crystal suits before come up first. The rest of you, find an empty place and try to get familiar with your suit. There are tutorials in the crystal processor. Warm yourselves up a little.”

Hearing that, all the students jumped joyously towards the crystal suit that had their name on it.

Other than Li Yao, the other 99 students had all handled a crystal suit before, more or less.

Even the students most unfamiliar with crystal suits had done perfectly accurate simulations in professional simulators before.

Unlike them, for Li Yao, who had grown up in the magical equipment graveyard, his life was nothing but training and fighting. He had never even played any of the popular crystal suits games, let alone perfectly accurate simulations.

After he went to college, he spent all of his time and energy on refining and combat training.

Even if he had spare time, he would use it to learn about the forging and maintenance of crystal suits.

He knew absolutely nothing about how to wear a crystal suit.

Li Yao was thrilled, like a young man who was going to be on his first secret date with his lover. He swallowed to ease his dry throat and walked towards his suit box.

Sliding his fingers over the coarse runes, he felt a deep breath in the box, as if a dormant monster was waking up.

The breath echoed in Li Yao’s brain and resonated with its vibration wave, making him unable to control himself.

The uneven runes put on a crimson color as if soaked in blood.

With a cracking sound, the panel on one side of the box split.

An intense, animalistic scent of death crashed into Li Yao’s face like a giant hammer. He shivered.

Although it was a 100-year-old ancient crystal suit, it had reaped the lives of thousands of demon beasts, which endowed it with a bitter cold air completely different from new crystal suits.

When the box was opened, Li Yao even seemed to hear the desperate screams of the demon beasts.

Inside the box, supported by an anti-gravity rune array, a two-meter tall crystal suit was floating in the air.

The suit appeared light and agile, covered by scales made of a special alloy that looked like a grey rock.

The arms of the suit were long enough to reach the knees. Both hands were in the shape of a viper’s head.

Four teeth-shaped blades were folded on the back of the hands, lurking in the darkness, deadly.

All in all, this crystal suit felt like a serpent that was hiding in the crevice of a rock and ready for its victim.

“Seven-step Rock Snake!”

Li Yao gasped. An awfully dangerous name occurred to him.

Chapter 231: Crystal Suit First Experience

“The Seven-Step Rock Snake is a mid-size crystal suit jointly manufactured by the Dipper Society and Star Nebula University. It is 2.07 meters tall and has a total weight of 3.88 ton. It’s an armor with a composite structure of demon beast materials and ultra-high-strength alloy, while scales from seven different serpent-type demon beasts covered its vital areas. The ends of its arms have vibro-blades in the shape of snake fangs, which are forged using the heaven and earth material called ‘Howling Rock’. When the Howling Rock is waved, it can produce piercing howls that can turn into a spiritual attack and directly harm the soul of demon beasts!

“This crystal suit pays equal attention to both strength and agility and is a perfect fit for those Exos who have a certain power and pursue speed and agility. It’s an exact match with my latest data.

“The Thunder Training Camp’s reputation is truly well deserved. Even the test-type crystal suit is prepared so thoughtfully!”

Li Yao licked his lips as his eyes radiated with a greedy look. Holding his breath, he lightly caressed the ‘Seven-Step Rock Snake’ crystal suit!

As the crystal processor began to boot up, the Seven-Step Rock Snake’s super-compressed crystal cell reactor also began to operate, thereby releasing a tremendous, powerful spiritual energy and awakening the sleeping array glyphs one after another.

A substantive killing intent was gushing out from every groove of this ultimate weapon which gathered into a ghastly reddish aura, just like proliferating ripples, giving it an even more grim and appalling look.

BEEP!

Above the completely enclosed Seven-Step Rock Snake’s helmet, a radiating glyph in the form of a coiling snake was engraved.

The system test was complete!

Li Yao lightly tapped on the activation glyph on the Seven-Step Rock Snake, following which, a slight buzzing of the suit starting up resounded before the ghastly aura lingering around the battle suit was sucked inside. The suit gradually opened up like a blooming Crab Claw Chrysanthemum; revealing a human-shape recess.

Wherein was complex array glyphs outlined by overflowing resplendent lights as well as interlacing crystal fibers; it was incomparably mysterious and wonderful to boot.

A massive telepathic thought uninterruptedly poured into Li Yao neural field from the crystal processor of the Seven-Step Rock Snake.

It was the information relating to the Seven-Step Rock Armor as well as the basic operating tutorial.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao walked into the suit box and stood close to the Seven-Step Rock Snake.

“Seven-Step Rock Snake, start!”

The petal-like suit components closed one by one; they fit together rather perfectly.

Driven by the array glyphs, the spiritual energy quickly circulated in its entire body as Li Yao and the crystal suit merged into a whole; the crystal fibers and Li Yao’s meridians fused together, forming perfect connections.

BOOM

Li Yao’s soul felt a burst of an inexplicable wave.

As if his consciousness was leaving his body and reached a whole new state!

The feeling of piloting a crystal suit was completely different from wearing a heavy-armor.

There was not even the slightest bit of burden or restraint. It was like possessing a new body, one that had numerous new, powerful organs.

The fully enclosed helmet had six crystal eyes around it, giving him a 360 degree, omnidirectional vision. Two of which, one in the front and one in the back, were long-range crystal eyes; such long-range vision allowed Li Yao to clearly see the texture of a rock two hundred meters away. In the center was a thermographic crystal eye; observing through which gave him a colorful and magnificent view.

This kind of sensation was truly uncomfortable.

A human’s visual nerves and brain had long been accustomed to observing the world in a certain way.

The instant the entire world from multiple angles on multiple screens surged into his brain, the first reaction of Li Yao was that of dizziness; he felt the urge to vomit.

Having closed his eyes, everything went dark, whereas his hearing and other senses were amplified.

He could even hear his breath, the gravel rubbing against each other, his heartbeat, the spiritual energy flowing between the crystal fibers, the rocks getting crushed by the crystal suit, as well as the dust drifting in the wind.

These sounds were intermixed with the buzzing sound made by hundreds of array glyphs operating simultaneously.

Rumor had it that a veteran Exo could distinguish the condition of every array glyphs from these sounds.

But when Li Yao came to hear them, it was like bees dancing in the air; it was a chaotic cacophony.

Meanwhile, his skin became extra sensitive. It was like tens of thousands of feathers were tickling him at the same time; making him quiver continuously.

In such a situation, Li Yao straightened up his neck and stood still for half-a-minute as he slowly adjusted to the extremely sharp five senses.

However, new, complex information flooded his brain.

The information included the operating condition of 655 crucial array glyphs, the spiritual energy output of the reactor, the meticulous details of various magical equipment, as well as, humidity, temperature, pressure, wind speed, wind direction, the distance between the various targets in the surroundings, the subsequent best line of attack…

Li Yao felt as if his brain was going to explode.

Taking two long, deep breaths, Li Yao raised his arm to look carefully, disregarding the information flooding his brain. He slowly moved his fingers with a gasp of praise.

The snakelike palm of Seven-Step Rock Armor moved exactly the same.

Li Yao calmed himself down a bit.

“Apart from the amplified five senses, I also need to deal with a large amount of information. It seems, piloting the crystal suit isn’t particularly difficult. Let’s try taking two steps!”

Just as the thought of “walking” flashed in his mind, his leg muscles immediately tightened up before Li Yao’s whole body rushed out as if someone had ruthlessly kicked his ass, as if someone had pulled an invisible thread wrapped around his leg hard.

“What the hell!” Li Yao screamed.

The instant he rushed out, further pieces of information flooded his mind; the quantity of information swarming his brain was ten times than before. All the information gathered into an agglomeration and flooded his brain in the blink of an eye!

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

The propulsion array glyphs engraved on the limbs and the back of the Seven-Step Rock Snake sprayed jets of dazzling flares as the reactor burst forth with a powerful spiritual energy, exerting a strong propulsion on him from various angles.

Li Yao was moving like he was dead-drunk, he tumbled left and right, waved his hands and stamped his feet in the most ludicrous ways, arousing bursts of exclamations and ridicule.

After almost brushing against two nearby crystal suits, Li Yao somehow turned himself around. Realizing that he was going to crash into his suit box, he exerted strength in his legs desperately and leaped high into the air as if a super firework had exploded underneath his ass, and heavily slammed down thereafter with a loud slam. Tossing around seven or eight times, he fell backward with his legs and arms stuck up in the air.

“It’s too hard to control!

“This is the basic beginner mode…with sensitivity lowered to 30%…yet it is so difficult!

“If it was the normal mode, just a flash of thought would send the crystal suit flying three hundred to five hundred meters away. Then how would I pilot this thing!”

Li Yao was deeply shocked.

He recalled the theory which he had learned a few days ago.

The relation between the cultivator and his crystal suit was like the relation between a general and his war horse in the ancient times.

In the ancient cold weapon era, a general, no matter how stocky build and imposing manner he had, how great physical strength and courage he had, if fighting on foot, it would be impossible to defeat a hundred to two hundred enemy soldiers.

However, this very same general, once on a horse, would have the speed, power, and momentum of waving over a hundred pound heavy weapon elevated to the extreme by relying on the momentum of the horse.

Not to mention a hundred to two hundred soldiers, even if he were up against a thousand, he could charge at them seven to eight times and finally could withdraw with very few injuries.

A good warhorse could greatly increase the fighting power of a general!

The better the war horse, the more violent nature it had and the better the riding skill a general needed to have to subdue it and ride it!

The same was true for the crystal suit!

A powerful crystal suit was no different than a proud and violent horse; it was extremely difficult to pilot it.

But once you could successfully control it, your battle force would increase exponentially!

Li Yao’s performance was an example of an unsuccessful attempt at taming a savage horse and was subsequently flung by this savage horse.

“It doesn’t make sense!

“This crystal suit’s sensitivity is locked at 30% so that a beginner can control it. And certainly, the increase in battle force will be lowest; it can only elevate my battle force to around 180%.

“Even the basic mode is so hard to control, let alone the high-level mode when the sensitivity is increased to 200% and battle force is increased by 500%!

“This is not alright. I will be unable to pilot Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit with this kind of performance!

“One more time! I can do it!”

Li Yao didn’t believe in hearsay. Clenching his teeth, he once again started to control the crystal suit.

“First, I need to be gentle, slow, and steady, stand up bit by bit…”

When Li Yao was busy learning how to stand and walk, the first ten students were already whirring across the field.

Running, dodging, jumping, flying, attacking, sprinting, storming!

These trainees all had a certain amount of experience in piloting the crystal suit. In addition, it was the basic beginner mode. They didn’t face any obstruction at all, their maneuvers were completely fluid and they didn’t even take half-a-minute to complete the test.

Their magnificent maneuvers and wonderful performances garnered secret praises even from the Chief Instructor Mao Feng and the several instructors watching.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH

The huge hologram floating above the testing site displayed the overall test score of the trainees.

Impressively, Yuan Yeshi had topped the ranking with a score of 88 out of 100; it was a pretty good score.

“This Yuan Yeshi is a student of Deep Sea University Exos Department. He wasn’t getting aroused by the university’s curriculum and specifically came to our training camp over summer vacations.”

A bald instructor told Mao Feng, laughing, “He has a solid foundation and can be trained in accordance with the highest standards. In my opinion, he could very likely become the best among the hundred trainees.”

Mao Feng nodded absently. Suddenly, he jerked his chin towards a direction and asked doubtfully, “Who is piloting that staggering Seven-Step Rock Snake? It’s already set in beginner mode yet he can’t even walk safely! Even though coming to our training camp with such aptitude isn’t burning much money, it is still wasting our time!”

The bald instructor glanced at the hologram and quickly replied, “He is Grand Desolate War Institution’s Li Yao.”

Mao Feng’s countenance became extremely weird as he said, frowning, “What happened to him?

“Although this little guy is not very powerful, he has a splendid record and is quite intelligent as well. At the beginning, I was quite looking forward to his performance, but how can he perform so badly!?”

The bald instructor pursed his lips into a smile as he said, “It’s quite simple. Some people are inherently unsuitable for piloting crystal suits. No matter how much they train, it’s all futile.

“Some Foundation Building Stage experts and even Golden Core Stage powerhouses can control other magical equipment like an arm directing its fingers, but once they enter the crystal suit, they seemed to have been shackled and under a restrictive spell; all of a sudden, they would become stupid and clumsy.

“What I mean to say is, their talent with crystal suit was not fated.

“Although such people are not many, there are still one or two in one hundred. Maybe Li Yao is one of them. He can only blame his bad luck!”

Mao Feng pursed his lips, “Forget it, let him be. After watching him drive the crystal suit like that, I really want to wash my eyes!”

“Ah!”

At this time, the bald instructor suddenly exclaimed. He said, dumbfounded, “93 points!? Someone among the second batch of trainees has actually scored 93 points!? Genius! He is a true genius!”

Chapter 232: Pushed It Too Hard

The surprisingly high score grabbed every student’s attention.

All of them turned their eyes to the corner of the testing field, where a white suit in crescent shape stood proudly.

This crystal suit, named “Moon Fox”, was best known for its high speed as well as its swiftness. Although the test in which it performed a splendid dance had long ended, everybody seemed to still be dwelling on its bleak, moonlight-like traces.

The wearer’s name quickly spread around everyone in the testing field.

“Long Qianyue, age 25, 12th level of the Refinement Stage, second daughter of the Master of Crescent Moon City.”

“Crescent Moon City is not a wealthy sect, but it values combat skills more than anything else. Every member from top to bottom is crazy about fighting.”

“Long Qianyue is no exception. In the battle of the Iron Eagle Mountain last month, she killed three demon generals by herself and thus gained her fame.”

“I’d never have imagined that she’s so gifted in crystal suits too. The Crescent Moon City is sure to rise!”

“There are not only battlesuit major students like Yuan Yeshi, but also geniuses like Long Qianyue in our class. These two have reserved two places in the winners’ list. The competition will only get fiercer!”

Grinding their teeth, many students were complaining jealously.

While the 99 students and the instructors were talking in a mess, Li Yao did not know a thing that was happening around him, for he had fully immersed himself in the world of crystal suits.

He moved his body and walked the first step, as if he were a rusted machine.

“I MADE IT!”

“I can walk now!”

Although he felt that his body had been slapped by a thorny rope dozens of times, there was still satisfaction on his face.

It was not easy. After falling over 17 times, he finally managed to grasp the delicacy of balance to control the jet direction of the 28 power rune arrays, so that he could make his first step!

“Relax. The key is to relax. Don’t try to subdue the crystal suit. Consider the power rune arrays as a new organ. Chill out and let nature take its course. One step, two steps, three steps…”

He was still unsteady and sometimes his arms would be flapping like the wings of a hen. But this time, he didn’t fall over and successfully walked more than 10 steps.

Li Yao grinned in satisfaction.

The few students around eyed him with obvious contempt.

“It’s just walking, the simplest of all. It took him such a long time to learn, and he’s smiling now…”

“Does he not have any shame?”

Li Yao wasn’t bother by what other people thought of him. He was like a boy who’d just got a new toy and was eager to find new ways to play with it. His entire body and soul were wrapped up in the world of crystal suits, thirsting to overcome all the difficulties and discover new usages.

“Next, I’m going to learn how to jump.”

Compared with walking, jumping was ten times more difficult. Even a hop would require almost a hundred rune arrays to work together.

Li Yao had failed dozens of times, but Li Yao was not the least bit tired of it, nor did he care how other people were looking at him.

After every failure, his understanding grew deeper.

After every attempt, he was better at it than the previous one.

The feeling of getting close to success was really sweet.

Finally!

After falling on his face for the 32nd time, he made a jump of precisely 5 meters.

No more, no less. Exactly onto the place that had been assigned by the crystal processor.

“I’ve got a new skill now!”

“Next, should I learn running, or consecutive jumping?”

Li Yao found himself addicted to the crystal suit.

Right at this moment, Mao Feng’s rough voice boomed in his ear:

“The last group of students, prepare to take the test!”

“Sha Yangwen, Lane No. 1.”

“Zhou Qun, Lane No. 2.”

“Li Yao, Lane No. 3.”

“What?!”

For a moment, Li Yao was confused. Then he realized that he was playing with the crystal suit so devotedly that a full hour already had passed without him knowing.

The other groups of students had already finished their test. Their preliminary test results were almost ready now.

‘This is happening too fast.

‘The crystal suit is so much fun. The last hour felt like half a minute while I was playing with the suit. I haven’t enjoyed enough yet!

‘Why are these people so adept at it? We’re all beginners, but there is quite an enormous gap between me and them. No wonder Mao Feng said that I’m the weakest of us all. He wasn’t lying.

‘My contenders are all geniuses, experts, and professionals!

‘But it doesn’t matter. In three months’ time, I will be more of a genius, expert, and professional than any of you!’

While setting up his big plan, Li Yao hobbled to Lane No. 3 cautiously.

Since he’d just learned how to walk, his hips were wiggling and his posture was extremely ugly, it was like he was trying to hold an egg between his legs.

Everybody almost laughed out aloud when they saw his jitteriness.

They had been anxious after seeing too many geniuses. Many of them were depressed. Now that they noticed someone far worse than themselves, they all felt cheerful.

“Who is this guy? Walking like that under 30% sensitivity rate?”

“Let me check the name sheet. Huh. Isn’t he the Li Yao that chief instructor just introduced?”

“Well well well. According to what chief instructor said, he’s the ‘vulture’, a cruel man, a total badass in his college. I thought he would be better than this.”

Yuan Yeshi was completely lost. After a long while, he mumbled to himself, “Seriously?

“You dared to join the Thunder Training Camp despite such poor talent?

“I shouldn’t have looked for trouble with you. It embarrasses me to set you as a target.”

Long Qianyue, ranking No. 1, stood quietly at a corner. She glanced at the folly, too.

Faint laughter came from behind her helmet.

Under everyone’s doubtful gazes and mockery, Li Yao moved himself to Lane No. 3, one step after another.

The rest of the test-takers had long gotten into position and viewing him as if he were a 3-year-old child.

Mao Feng roared,

“The test begins now!”

The other 19 students sprinted forward like an arrow!

Li Yao took the first step, but had to open his arms to maintain the balance in a hurry because the strong ejection almost made him fall off.

The fumbling caused another round of laughter.

Seeing his stupid actions, Mao Feng frowned his eyebrows so hard that they almost merged together. He scanned the other instructors and asked, “Who is interested in this fellow and would like to teach him?”

The instructors exchanged a look, took a step back unanimously, and seemed to start enjoying the beautiful sceneries of the desert.

Inside the crystal suit, Li Yao was talking to himself without any stop, “You can make it. Come on!

“Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is waiting for you in the foreseeable future!

“Pass this test. You must pass this test. You can’t allow the prototype of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to fall into somebody else’s hands!

“It is destined to be yours.”

After a deep breath, Li Yao raised his head. The flame of confidence in his eyes seemed to be burning a hole on the crystal suit.

He took a giant leap.

Despite the same ugly posture and the shaking now and then, Li Yao was moving forward faster and faster, changing from jogging to running, as if there were an invisible string attached to his waist.

“Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!”

20 silver-shining balls charged towards him.

The crystal suit test consisted of five parts: dodging, attacking, agility, charging and critical striking, each of which had a maximum score of 20.

In the dodging part, 1 score would be reduced every time the test-taker was hit by the silver-shining ball.

Grinding his teeth, Li Yao tried his best to avoid 4 balls with every muscle on his body, only to be hit by the rest 16 balls in the end.

He only got 4 points in this part.

Apart from him, even the worst student had managed to dodge 11 balls.

The second part was attacking.

The test-taker needed to hit 20 moving balls within five seconds.

After five seconds, all the silver-shining balls would be gone.

“Biu! Biu! Biu! Biu!”

Li Yao stood on his toes and waved his hands crazily, as if he was being drowned, while he was aiming at the balls.

But in the end, he got 6 points, less than half of those of others.

Part 3 was agility.

In front of the test-takers were 20 red transparent threads that were tangled together.

The test-taker would need to walk through the apertures among the threads in their crystal suits.

1 score would be reduced every time they touch a red thread.

Li Yao got 7 points on this part.

Li Yao’s performance was absolutely terrible in the first 3 parts.

Many people had lost their interest in mocking Li Yao and shifted their attention to contenders that were more competitive.

Nobody even noticed that Li Yao’s points, although tiny, were improving steadily after each part.

Although the improvement seemed to be insignificant, it did show that Li Yao was getting the hang of it rapidly in the span of dozens of seconds.

Li Yao felt that he had touched upon something real.

The wild horse beneath him was still galloping desperately, trying to get rid of the rider. But he was getting familiar with its temper, and could felt its passion and pride behind its madness.

The last two parts were charging and critical striking.

The test-taker needed to run 500 meters in the shortest time they could and punch the target with the biggest strength they could afford.

“Let’s do this…”

Hundreds of dancing wild bees in Li Yao’s brain now combined into a cloud of glaring stars and then boomed.

“Now is the time!”

Deep squat, jump, speed up, and charge!

There seemed to be a volcano eruption behind his crystal suit, leaving hundreds of magnificent rays of light!

In a blink of eyes, Li Yao had passed hundreds of meters and outrun many students who were in front of him.

“So fast!”

Many people’s contempt now turned into cold sweat.

Li Yao hadn’t learnt much about punching yet, so he simply lowered his shoulder and threw himself directly at the target!

“Boom now!”

After a roar, he accelerated again. A white smoke in the shape of an umbrella was formed before him because of his supersonic speed!

However…

The crash that he expected did not happen.

Li Yao was still not good enough at direction controlling, so he missed the target and continued running at an amazing sped!

200 meters ahead, at the end of the lanes, Mao Feng was studying the test results of the last few groups of students.

They were the weakest and least experienced in crystal suits among all. There was nothing particularly interesting about them in their test results.

Mao Feng glanced at their results and decided not to waste his time. Instead, he began considering how to train the few geniuses he had.

Right at this moment, a strong feeling of apprehension grasped him. He felt he was about to be killed, as if a bold demon king was coming at him!

“What a strong scent of killing. What’s happening?”

Mao Feng raised his head. His pupils shrank as he saw Li Yao’s dashing towards him unstoppably with a distorted face. He bellowed, “What the f*ck is going on?!”

Chapter 233: Astonished Training Planner

Two hundred meters were literally nothing when one’s going at a supersonic speed.

“BOOM!”

Many people felt that their eyes were blurred. Then they heard an earthshaking noise, as if a meteorite had just landed on the field. The collision was so powerful that there was a small sandstorm spreading a kilometer away.

No one could see anything or hear anything except the aftershock of the impact. It took a long time before they came back to themselves.

When the smoke finally settled down, a dramatic scene unfolded itself before them, and there was indistinguishable murmuring of fear in their mouth.

Not far ahead, a shallow pit appeared, with white gas popping up.

The Seven-step Rock Snake collapsed in the pit. Its right shoulder had been completely shattered. Colorful sparks were dancing everywhere with cracking sounds.

Right beside it… was chief instructor Mao Feng, who was in a coma now!

The testing field was caught in an awkward silence. But it was immediately broken. Dozens of twisted screams reverberated in the sky,

“Not good. Chief instructor passed out!”

“Someone has— knocked chief instructor out!”

…

An hour later.

In a fully-equipped crystal suit warehouse, two refiners were repairing the Seven-step Rock Snake.

The refiner on the left, who had a big mole on his forehead, frowned.

“That was a huge impact. The right shoulder was almost broken into pieces. Why was it so bad?”

The refiner on the right had crooked lips. He said,

“Rushing for hundreds of meters in a supersonic state before reaching the chief instructor… How could it not be bad? The chief instructor was knocked out before he could even defend himself with his Building Foundation Stage abilities. It was nuts…”

He stopped when he noticed that his partner looked terrible. Knowing something was wrong, he turned back rigidly.

Mao Feng was standing right behind them with a grim face.

For a moment, the temperature in the warehouse seemed to have dropped 10 degrees!

“Hello, Instructor Mao!”

The two refiners greeted him hurriedly.

Even an idiot would know that the chief instructor of the Outer Camp had been under super-high pressure and was not in his best mood. It was best not to offend him, in case the volcano suddenly burst out.

But Mao Feng had a weird countenance. Behind the gloomy face was some indistinct confusion.

There was something that nobody else in the training camp knew.

When Li Yao was about to hit him in the Seven-step Rock Snake, he already braced himself for the collision.

He didn’t dodge. Instead, he brought himself up to the preliminary level of Building Foundation Stage and condensed a strong spiritual energy shield in front of him.

By his calculation, since Li Yao was merely a Cultivator in the 6th level of the Refinement Stage, the shield would be more than enough to hold him back, even if the crystal suit had empowered him with the supersonic speed and maybe doubled his combat abilities.

But as it turned out, he was blown away in shame!

It was simply impossible!

If Li Yao had not been hiding his true capability, the only explanation will be—

The endowment that this crystal suit offered him was not just doubling the combat abilities, but tripling them, or even more!

Showing no emotion, Mao Feng said coldly, “Leave the damage on the shoulder alone for now. See if there’s anything wrong with the drive mode.”

The two refiners nodded. They lifted a component below the Seven-step Rock Snake’s neck, connected a crystal wire to the processor of the suit, and started checking immediately.

No sooner had they begun than they detected something abnormal. Their faces turned darker and darker and their eyebrows scrunched together.

“What’s wrong?”

Mao Feng asked gravely, his eyebrow bouncing.

They looked at each other. The first refiner finally made up his mind and said, “Chief instructor, it is universally known that the crystal suits for new students are all antiques from a hundred years ago. They’ve endured a lot of battles before and therefore bear a lot of wounds. To fix them, we had to replace some of their components with miscellaneous substitutes, some of which were actually refined by ourselves…”

“Get to the point!” Mao Feng raised his voice.

The second refiner continued. “Do you recall that two days ago, a very rare thunder storm hit our camp? Several warehouses were affected by the weather. I assume that, interfered by the thunder, two crystal wires of the suit had a short cut, causing the chaos of the driving mode.

“The crystal processor shows that the suit is in the beginner mode with 30% sensitivity.

“However, after our double check, we’ve found that it is actually in the X-mode designed for the real experts. The difficulty for using it is twice that of the normal mode.

“In the X-mode, responses that the rune arrays give to spiritual energy are set at the highest level. Even the slightest movement of muscles, or a minor thought, will trigger a profound reaction in the rune arrays. Therefore, X-mode can significantly enhance the combat abilities of the wearer, making them 500% stronger or even more!”

Mao Feng breathed heavily. His eyes were keen and his throat became dry,

“Why was the problem not discovered previously?”

The first refiner answered reluctantly, “Chief instructor, you also know that the thunder storm two days ago caused great damage. Many middle-level and high-level crystal suits in the Inner Camp were influenced as well. We were all summoned to help fix them, so we only had the time to run the regular tests on the suits of the Outer Camp.”

The second refiner added, “Also, this malfunction is too weird. Generally speaking, the drive mode hardly ever goes wrong, and when it does, even the least experienced cultivator will immediately know something is wrong the moment they put on the suit. If they’d reported the issue to us, we could’ve fixed it within several minutes.

“And reporting to us is the only thing they can do.”

The first refiner grinned, “X-mode is devised for qualified, experienced, and proficient Exos. Newbies will find themselves hardly able to stand up in such a mode.”

He stopped when he realized what he just said.

Looking at each other, the two refiners both saw the astonishment in the other’s eyes.

Sweat started appearing on their foreheads.

“Alright. Your explanation is acceptable. Your reinforcement to the Inner Camp was approved by me, and it was me who agreed to only run regular tests too. I take full responsibility for this accident.

“Now try to repair the crystal suit. And remember, nobody else is to know anything about this incident without my permission.”

The two refiners thought that he would be angry and vent his anger to them, but Mao Feng concluded the conversation and left in a hurry.

…

Half an hour later, in an analysis room filled with dozens of screens, Mao Feng bowed to an old man whose face was flushed due to too much drinking and said courteously, “Mister Xu!”

He respected the old man from the bottom of his heart, because the ugly old man, named Xu Tianyou, was a research-type cultivator, who not only was a cultivator at the peak of Building Foundation Stage, but also was a very rare ‘Training Planner’.

A skilled Training Planner is adept at pedagogy, psychology, anatomy, and hundreds of other subjects. They can draft and design detailed training plans for different Cultivators based on their own conditions, so that their training efficiency can be maximized and their potentials can be fulfilled at the fast speed they can afford.

The Thunder Training Camp’s second-to-none prominence, which could be indicated by the fact that even many battlesuit major students came here for improvement, was partly based on the impressive capabilities of Lei Tingwei, a strong man in the Core Formation Stage, and partly because of the comprehensive case-by-case training plans for the students created by the best Training Planners in the trade.

“Little Feng!”

Mr. Xu smiled, “You should know that I always write training plans for the Cultivators in the Building Foundation Stage in the Inner Camp. Why do you ask me to design a tailor-made training plan for a Refinement State Cultivator in the Outer Camp who barely knows anything about training? Who’s this guy? Your cousin? Right, I heard something unbelievable on my way here. Words are that you were knocked out in the testing field?”

Mao Feng dared not to glare at Mr. Xu. Embarrassed, he tried to smile and said, “Mr. Xu, don’t be hasty. I’ll show you a few video clips. We’ll talk about it later after you’ve evaluated his performance in the test.”

Mao Feng waved his hand. All of the screens started playing simultaneously. They were clips from the cameras in the testing field, which had pictured Li Yao’s every movement since he put on his crystal suit.

Mr. Xu glanced at the screens and said casually, “This student probably has never touched crystal suits before. Chances are that he has hardly ever done simulations or played crystal suit games. He knows absolutely nothing about crystal suits. A classic beginner.

“However, he is very good at learning from his failures, and he doesn’t make the same mistake twice. Therefore, he has been improving fast.

“Look, he may have fallen over dozens of times when he first started, but they were all for different reasons.

“Ostensibly, he could barely stand or walk. But in fact, he was trying different ways of strength manipulation to test the best posture for standing and walking.

“Not bad. Not bad.”

The more Mr. Xu watched, the more he started talking. He nodded his head without knowing. “His improvement is indeed magnificent. A moment ago, he was still unable to stand and now he’s already jogging?

“However, it’s not unusual that a student of no prior knowledge learns very fast at the beginning period.

“Based on these video clips, I can only say that he is a smart, somewhat talented student. Definitely not good enough for me to make a training plan for him.”

Before he finished his sentence, Li Yao in the video clip started sprinting and rushed into the supersonic state!

“Huh?”

Mr. Xu raised his eyebrows and looked at Mao Feng suspiciously. He mumbled, “That can’t be right. I remember that the tests for new students have been conducted in the beginner mode, which can only double a student’s ability in the best-case scenario.

“The reason you come to me is that this boy is a genius at running and you want me to make a training plan that will boost his running potential?”

Mao Feng shook his head, he sighed. “Mr. Xu, you’re wrong. The boy is not a genius runner.”

“The Seven-step Rock Snake that he’s been using was not set in the beginner mode, either. It was in the X-mode that only the top experts can manage.”

“What?!”

Mr. Xu was shocked.

Chapter 234: No. 100

The atmosphere at the testing field was weird. All the students gathered together and whispered between each other, and their topic was, no doubt, Li Yao who was so extraordinary that knocked the chief instructor out the first day he entered the camp.

Although they were somewhat startled by Li Yao’s amazing speed, they didn’t think too much about it and merely regarded Li Yao as a speed-type Cultivator that lopsidedly focused on body moving techniques.

Many of them were already at the high level of the Refinement Stage. With an advanced body moving technique and the enhancement of the crystal suit, it was quite possible to run at supersonic speed and cause a sonic boom.

However, running at a supersonic speed for a moment and controlling the body at ease under it were completely different.

To dive into the supersonic state, a high level Refinement State Cultivator would be good enough.

But to maintain the combat abilities with self-control under the supersonic state, even many Building Foundation State Cultivator found it desirable yet unreachable.

Self-control always came first. A mature Cultivator wouldn’t chase after extreme speed or strength that they couldn’t manipulate.

Experienced fighters wouldn’t allow themselves to stay airborne easily. Their legs wouldn’t reach higher than their waist when they were kicking. All of this was to make sure they had absolute control over their body.

“An idiot that forgot all the common sense despite his speed.”

Many people had already tagged Li Yao as such.

“It is understandable. A young man in his twenties and also a badass in his college like him must’ve heard enough praise and compliments to be overconfident about himself.

“Suddenly, it turned out that he had no talent in crystal suits whatsoever, and everybody in the field has witnessed his disgrace. He must’ve been so angry that he wanted to show off his best skill.

“But everything went wrong and caused such a mess!”

Some other people thought they knew what was on Li Yao’s mind.

“He’s going to suffer big time. The chief instructor doesn’t seem to be a lenient man. He must be grinding his teeth and hoping to cut Li Yao into pieces right now. There won’t be a day that goes by without Li Yao regretting what he did in the next three months!”

“Three months? He has zero talent and he just pissed off the chief instructor. I’m sure that his ass will be kicked out of here in a moment!”

Right then, Li Yao returned to everyone’s eyesight, causing a commotion.

“What, he’s already back from the med bay?”

“He’s fully recovered from such a huge impact in such a short time? His body is so strong!”

“But he looks dumb. Is his brain injured?”

Li Yao heard none of it and walked to his own spot, only to be blocked by a tall thin figure.

He raised his head. It was Yuan Yeshi from Deep Sea University.

“Li Yao, I recant my previous declaration.”

With faint mockery in his face, Yuan Yeshi smiled, “I just said that I would set you as my target and focus my full attention on you in the next three months in order to eliminate you at the first chance. Now I take it back.

“Because it never occurred to me that your talent could be so ‘intimidating’ and your performance so ‘excellent’ that even the chief instructor was put down by you with a single move.

“I can’t bear to eliminate a gifted, outstanding freak such as yourself.

“On the contrary, I very much hope that you can stay in the camp for a while longer and make more ‘miracles’ to broaden my horizon!”

Yuan Yeshi was extremely delighted.

It felt like when he jumped into a swimming pool of cold water after three hours under the sun in a hot summer.

Seven years younger than his sister, Yuan Yeshi had been raised and taught by her.

He adored his sister from the bottom of his heart and regarded his sister as an invincible, inviolable goddess.

And his sister deserved his homage. She became a disciple of Jiang Sheng, the Supernova, before she reached 30. Later, she was admitted as a researcher in the Refining Department of Deep Sea University and became known as one of the Novem Stellae.

Yuan Yeshi was very proud of his sister’s achievements.

But a few days ago, his sister brought up the name ‘Li Yao’ seriously and describe him to be a rare genius in refining who deserved great attention because he might become the biggest competitor of the Novem Stellae within the next couple of years.

Obscure hostility filled his heart.

Right now, this genius, talent, and archenemy of the Novem Stellae in the future that his sister had been talking about could only stand there stupidly and listen to his scornful berating. It felt…

Nice! Nice! Nice!

While Yuan Yeshi was feeling nice, he suddenly noticed that Li Yao’s eyes were moving up and down and clearly were not fixed on him. He raised his voice, “Hey! Are you listening?!”

Li Yao’s eyelids shivered. A moment later, his unfocused eyes were focused again. He nodded slowly.

“Of course. You were saying that you would recant your previous declaration. Please. I’m all ears.”

“You—”

Yuan Yeshi was infuriated. His neck seemed to be thicker than usual and his face was so red that his blood seemed like to be oozing out of his orifices at any moment. Speechless for a while, he ground his teeth, “Anyways, good luck, Li Yao. I’m looking forward to your performance.”

Pausing for a moment, he finally resorted to his last move. He tapped his head as if he just remembered it. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I forgot again. I shouldn’t have called you ‘Li Yao’. Now that the test is over and the ranks are out, I should’ve addressed you as ‘No. 100’!”

“No. 100 means you’re the tail ender!”

This remark finally grabbed Li Yao’s attention.

The starry brilliance that was burning in his eyes made Yuan Yeshi’s heart skip a beat.

“Which number are you?” Li Yao asked seriously.

Energized, Yuan Yeshi seemed to be taller and replied in great satisfaction, “No. 2!”

“What, judging from your look, you want to challenge me? Drop the idea now. You may be a genius in the world of refiners. But in the world of crystal suits, the gap between us is too large for you to confront me.”

“Just a No. 2…”

Li Yao was disappointed and didn’t catch the latter half of the sentence. He shook his head, “I don’t want to challenge a No. 2.”

The starry brilliance in his eyes dispersed. He ignored Yuan Yeshi again and retreated to his own thoughts.

What he meant was obvious.

If he were to challenge someone, it could only be No. 1, the best candidate in the field.

He was not interested in the person in second place!

Yuan Yeshi felt his lungs were about to explode out of anger. He didn’t understand where this tail ender’s confidence came from. He was going to let it out when he noticed that there were more and more people coming close and watching Li Yao and himself like it was a show.

Yuan Yeshi frowned and glared at Li Yao, before he walked away unhappily.

Li Yao was still pondering, not because he wanted to annoy anyone, nor because he had a brain injury as many had expected.

It was because he was still in the euphoria of booming into the supersonic state in the crystal suit just now.

Every one of the pores on the body embracing the outside world, hot blood turning into steam through them, soul melting together with the crystal suit… It seemed like a single blow would destroy the entire world. The feeling was just—

IN-CRE-DI-BLE!

“The crystal suit is really marvelous.

“This the first time I ever wore a crystal suit, and I reached a supersonic speed and knocked a Building Foundation Stage expert out.

“What will I be able to do after I’ve fully grasped the mysteries of the crystal suit?”

Li Yao was completely hooked by the thought. He replayed the moment of pleasure in his brain time and time again. There was no time to deal with guys like Yuan Yeshi.

No. 100, the tail ender?

It doesn’t matter!

What’s more important is not who’s fastest off the start line, but who’s the first to pass the finish line!

At that moment, Mao Feng returned to the testing field furiously, together with some twenty instructors.

All of the students hurried to stand straight as a spear and didn’t dare look around.

Mao Feng’s eyesight seemed to be filled with electricity. It swept everyone and finally stopped at Li Yao.

And the intensity of electricity increased exponentially.

“Everyone must bear your rank in mind. The training camp has arranged different instructors for you according to your specialties and level.

“Don’t be hasty if your rank is relatively low.

“An elimination match will be held one month from today in which you will be given a chance to challenge the students who are above you and assume their rank!

“No. 1, No. 4, and No. 5, you are all aware of the basics and prefer agility and melee. Therefore, the training camp assigned Liu Bingqin to you. Instructor Liu!”

A dry and thin female instructor walked out from Mao Feng’s back. She piped, “No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5, come with me!”

Her appearance caused a minor chaos in the field. Many people sighed with jealousy and resentment.

Instructors of the Thunder Training Camp were all renowned strong men in the world of Exos.

The female instructor Liu Bingqin, though only at the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, was adept at using crystal suits. She once fought a demon king for 300 rounds without any sign of failure, thereby gaining her reputation. She was also the top instructor in the Outer Camp.

In everyone’s amazement, the three students walked to Liu Bingqin’s back excitedly and stood straighter.

“No. 2, No. 3, No. 6. You will go with Instructor Murong Yuan.”

“No. 9, No. 11, No. 15 and No. 17…”

“No. 78, No. 84, No. 86, No. 89, No. 92…”

After a moment, all 99 students were sorted out and standing behind their respective instructors.

Li Yao was the only one left on the field. Everyone looked at him with a peculiar expression.

Mao Feng waved his hand and shouted, “Alright. You all know your instructor now. Go with them and start your training!”

Chapter 235: Training in the Crystal Suits Graveyard

Led by their instructors, the ninety-nine students vanished into the desert.

Li Yao and Mao Feng were the only two left in the empty testing field now.

Audacious as Li Yao may be, he felt uneasy under the chief instructor’s murderous look.

“No. 100!”

Mao Feng shouted, “There’s no need to wonder why you don’t have an instructor. It’s because your performance was so crummy that it has created a new lower limit of the Thunder Training Camp! Over all the years as manager of the Outer Camp, I’ve never seen a second weirdo such as yourself! You are not half qualified to receive regular training like the rest of them!

“Now, I’m giving you two options.

“Option one, get your ass out of here as fast and far away as you can, and stop wasting my time.

“Option two, stay in the training camp and start learning the most rudimental basics.

“During your training, I will crush you, torture you, suppress you, and spite you without any mercy. When I discover that you make a mistake, small as a needle as it may be, I will let you know what ‘being dead is better than living’ means and eliminate you ruthlessly!

“You’d better choose option one. If you wait here for a while longer, someone will pick you up and send you home. 95% of your tuition fees will be refunded.

“But if you have completely lost your mind and decide to see if I was joking, then just follow me!”

Mao Feng finished his words without any pause. He jumped on his skeleton shuttle and moved off like lightning, never looking back.

Li Yao dazed. He cursed in his mind, ‘This guy is outrageous. It’s true that my performance hasn’t been very satisfactory. But that’s because I’ve never touched any crystal suits before!

‘The reason why I’m here is exactly because I don’t know the first thing about crystal suits. If I was already good at it, I’d be applying to be an instructor!

‘The more you look down upon me, the more I will prove you completely wrong!

‘Want to eliminate me? It’s not that easy!’

Li Yao gritted his teeth and followed the skeleton shuttle at the fastest speed he could.

After more than half an hour’s running, they’d already covered almost 100 kilometers. Finally, the two of them stopped at a rugged area crowded by a lot of rocks in bizarre shapes.

Under the bare rocks stood a giant, rusted, steel gate which looked like an entrance to a semi-underground warehouse that assumed the place of the original cave.

Mao Feng waved his hand. The rune arrays on the gate lit up dimly. After a long cracking sound, there were sounds of gears grinding and hinges stretching on both sides of the gate.

The gate opened. A strong moldy smell, resembling that in a tomb, hit their face.

Mao Feng looked back with obvious disdain and walked directly into the warehouse.

Li Yao tried to hold back the thought of kicking Mao Feng in his ass and followed.

It was not a big warehouse. One could tell that with a single glance. Metal wreckages that looked like decayed bones were scattered all over the place. They were scarred, battered, and in all kinds of shapes.

It took Li Yao a long time before he recognized that they were all crystal suit leftovers.

Then he realized that this was not a warehouse of crystal suits, but a graveyard for them!

Mao Feng glanced at him and said, “146 crystal suits reside in this place. All of them were too seriously damaged to repair. We could only retrieve the crystal stones and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from them and declared them to be a total loss.

“Look, most of them have been corroded by the poisons of the demon beasts before they were left in the open air for decades. Therefore, their components have all rusted together.

“Your talent is lousy and you don’t know anything about crystal suits. If you’ve made up your mind to learn about being an Exo, this will be your start point.

“This jade slips contain all the structural designs and maintenance manuals of the crystal suits here. What you’re going to do is to dismantle them, clean up their components, and assemble them together.

“The time you have finished your maintenance for all 146 crystal suits lying here with absolutely no rust on them anymore is the time when I will consider assigning an instructor to you for you to receive regular training like everybody else does.”

Li Yao was stupefied. “This is the basics?”

Mao Feng replied coldly, “Of course it is. As an Exo, you must have knowledge of how to conduct fundamental maintenance on crystal suits. Such training is best for you to learn the deep structure of crystal suits. Very suitable for an idiotic newbie like yourself!

“However, it is indeed a little bit difficult to do the training on 146 total-loss crystal suits altogether at the same time. You can say no and get out of here now!”

Li Yao blinked. There was sharp light in his eyes.

Mao Feng grinned hideously.

“Your guess is correct. I am purposely making things difficult for you. This is a simple game that I just came up with. It won’t get any easier as you walk further down this path. There’s no way that you can complete it.”

Li Yao looked at him in the eyes and asked carefully, “Will I be able to learn some real crystal suit skills after I tear down all the 146 crystal suits, remove their rust, lubricate them, and make sure they can work again?”

Mao Feng gave an affirmative by a grunt.

“Alright. I’ll start now!”

Mao Feng stared at him coldly. He said, “You’re going to stay here for some time. Maintenance tools and materials will be sent here in a moment, together with food and water for the next month.

“Contact me again when these crystal suits are as fresh as when they were first produced.

“Naturally, you can also contact me when you feel you can’t bear it any longer and wish to give up.”

“I won’t,” Li Yao replied with a thin smile.

“Very good. Let’s see how long you can persist.”

While saying it, Mao Feng took two pieces of magical equipment that looked like shining shells out of his pocket and handed them over.

“Besides, you’ll need to stick these to your temples.”

Li Yao accepted the magical equipment. He weighed them in his hand and pinned them in his temples.

The magical equipment seemed to become magnetic all of a sudden. They were attracted to each other and wouldn’t let go no matter how hard Li Yao tried to shake them off.

For a moment, the sky and ground were swirling before Li Yao, who completely lost balance and fell to the ground. He felt like vomiting.

“The magical equipment is called ‘Balance Breakers’. They’re particularly useful in the training of balance control.”

Mao Feng smiled, “We Cultivators often need to fly on a sword, or fight in the sky. When you’re in a crystal suit, your speed will be greatly enhanced, which makes balance control all the more important.

“Like back when you were in the testing field, you could barely walk after you put on a crystal suit for the first time. Although you moved quickly enough to create a sonic boom, you weren’t able to control your direction.

“They’re all because of the same reason: you couldn’t maintain your balance.

“Balance of a human being depends on their vestibular apparatus.

“Balance Breakers possess a strange magnetic power that can disturb the functioning of your vestibular apparatus, which will put you in a constant state of imbalance.

“And you’re going to find the subtle balance in the overwhelming imbalance. During this process, your vestibular apparatus will be stronger and you’ll have better balance control, so they’ll help prepare you for the high-speed combat to come when you’re in a crystal suit.

“Stop fiddling with them. Their switch is in my hands. You’ll never dig them out.

“While you maintain the wrecked crystal suits, you’ll always be in instability and you will find yourself hardly able to stand.

“How about it? Want to give up yet?”

Li Yao closed his eyes, breathing heavily. He lay on the ground, with all his limbs stretched out. Still, he felt like a chestnut that was being fried in a pan. Just spinning, spinning, and spinning!

“Instructor, I have a question for you.”

After a long time of adaption, he finally regained the ability to talk. There was not the slightest hint of blood on his face. His skin was drearily pale. But his eyes were deeper and darker than before.

“Yes?”

“Will I be eliminated if I use profanity to an instructor?”

“Good, that’s my boy. However, I hope you are as bold as today in ten days’ time, instead of begging me to eliminate you!”

Mao Feng snorted and went out, slamming the gate of the warehouse.

His angry expression disappeared in no time. He hurriedly turned on his crystal processor and reached out to Xu Tianyou, the experienced Training Planner.

“Mr. Xu, the boy has accepted the challenge.

“According to our deal, as long as he can survive 5 days and 5 nights in the scrapped crystal suits’ warehouse, you’ll design a set of training plans for him. Let’s start the countdown now, shall we?”

Mr. Xu nodded. He answered, “Of course. I’ve already started reading his profile in order to write the best training plans possible for him.

“But whether or not he’ll have the opportunity to use it depends on himself.

“Not that I’m being pretentious. It’s just that my training plan is harsh enough for even a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator. A Refinement Stage Cultivator will never be able to make it without strong determination and an ultra-solid soul.

“So, 5 days and 5 nights. No less for even a single second.”

Mao Feng grinned. “There’s something special about the boy. I’m very confident in him. But just to be clear, our deal was meant to test his willpower and persistence, and it is okay as long as he makes it to the end of the fifth day even if he fails to renew a single crystal suit, correct?”

Mr. Xu smiled. “Of course. Those crystal suits are pure scraps. They’re nothing but piles of garbage which would demand a hell of a lot of time to be fixed up. What’s more, he has the Balance Breakers on him that have basically crippled him. All in all, I don’t have any requirements as to the number of the crystal suits that he recovers. Suppose he does recover eight or ten of them miraculously, then he will have earned my true respect.”

“I reckon it’s going to be more than that.”

Mao Feng beamed. “Something tells me that this boy will make miracles. It’s possible that he will renew—”

He raised two fingers, then added one after thinking for a moment.

Mao Feng said, completely seriously, “30 of them!”

Chapter 236: Seven Ways to Hide Edge

In the dim light of the crystal suit graveyard, Li Yao was left alone with 146 wrecked crystal suits.

Li Yao felt that his entire world had become a small boat floating in the surging tides of stars and sea.

And he was merely an ant on the boat which was completely stunned by the overwhelming dominance.

He stood up shaking, and tried to keep balance by stretching his two arms.

But he suddenly found that the whole world was tilting leftwards and he was falling to his left beyond his control into the crystal suit ruins.

Just like quicksand, the 146 crystal suits flew towards him and swallowed him.

Li Yao screamed. Then he recognized that all the crystal suits were in their original place.

They didn’t fly towards him. Instead, it was him who staggered towards them like a headless fly.

“The balance system of my brain is totally in disorder now. I can’t even stand straight, and whenever I sit down, I feel like vomiting. How can I maintain the crystal suits like this?

“No! If things remain unchanged, I’m never going to finish the maintenance work within a month. And even if I do, there will be no time left for me to learn any crystal suit skills. I’m definitely going to be eliminated!

“It might be exactly what the chief instructor hoped for!

“I won’t let it go your way, asshole!

“First, stand up and hold on for three seconds!”

Li Yao gritted his teeth. Veins were appearing in his pale face.

He shouted and stood up, and it took less than half a second before he fell down on his face again.

10 minutes later.

Li Yao had tried 79 times. Not once did he successfully remain standing for more than two seconds without falling over. His face was swollen, his body covered in bruises.

Then Li Yao tried to stand up for the 80th time. But this time his body couldn’t bear it any longer and he leaned backwards before he kissed the knee of a solid crystal suit with the back of his head.

“BANG!”

The thump echoed in the small graveyard for a long time.

The back of his head was wet. Blood was running out.

But Li Yao opened his eyes with wonder and astonishment.

“What’s going on?

“The dizziness was relieved when my head hit the crystal suit?”

He lay there for a while to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. No, he wasn’t. The sense of balance had returned to his body. He was able to sit up and take a deep breath.

But before he enjoyed himself enough, the swirling feeling crawled back and devoured him like a giant beast. He was locked up in darkness again.

Li Yao lay down again. He gazed at the ceiling and started pondering.

A moment later, he fumbled around the floor and found a crystal suit component.

He weighed it. It was neither too light nor too heavy and exactly fit for his purpose.

He clutched the component and hit it really hard in his head.

“BANG!”

There seemed to be a giant bell ringing in his brain. Li Yao blinked with a twisted face due to the pain.

But with the sharp pain came the ease of dizziness. He was able to sit up and enjoy his freedom for a couple of seconds again.

What’s more, there was joy of insight in his eyes.

He finally understood what had happened.

Even though a small boat was floating in surging tides, an experienced sailor would still be walking with ease on the bumping deck.

Their trick was to anticipate the direction and degree of each bump the moment it happens.

Then they would impose a force of the same degree, but in the opposite direction, to offset the impact of the tides.

Normally, when someone was hit in the head, there would be concussion and dizziness. Sometimes they’d even see stars dancing before their eyes.

But Li Yao was already extremely dizzy before he was hit.

The second wave of dizziness, caused by the knock, offset the first wave of dizziness triggered by the Balance Breakers, resulting in a new subtle balance.

It was exactly the same as the experienced sailors who used their own movement to offset the movement of the sea.

Or rather, it was like two rapid shuttles at the speed of 800km/h, which were in the state of relative rest although they were both moving fast.

“This is why!

“The Balance Breakers has completely overturned the balance system of my brain. There’s no way that I can subvert it.

“However, by introducing a second interference, I can activate a second wave of imbalance.

“When the two waves of imbalance confront each other, they will offset, and my balance system will probably be restored to normal again!”

After figuring out the mechanism, Li Yao started trying.

He shook his head at an astonishing speed.

When one shakes his head too fast, he would feel dizzy because there’s a lot of liquid contained in his brain which will hit the skull when it’s being recklessly shaken.

Just like when the brakes of a shuttle are slammed on, the passengers in it will lean forward uncontrollably even though the vehicle has stopped.

“Ew!”

Li Yao couldn’t hold it back any longer and started vomiting.

Since he’d failed to control the intensity, the two waves of dizziness didn’t offset. Instead, they combined together as if a stun grenade had detonated in his brain, which immediately put him down.

But Li Yao was not the least frustrated. On the contrary, he was excited.

Because his theory had been proved. An external impact could influence the dizziness inside his brain.

If the dizziness could be strengthened, of course it could be weakened.

“Come on now!

“I’ve got it!

“Let’s see who can stop me now!”

An hour later.

47 new wounds and 209 new bruises were added to Li Yao’s body.

He finally grasped the frequency of dizziness, as well as a special skill named brain concussion.

Although it was not enough to extricate him from the swirl of dizziness, he was able to stand and get back to work now.

“Balance training can’t be done in a day. I’m already doing well with such recovery in such a short time. Let’s improve it later in the days to come!

“Now, start the crystal suit maintenance!”

Li Yao couldn’t wait any longer.

Magical equipment maintenance was what he had always been best at!

But after checking the total-loss crystal suits carefully, he found that things were a bit tricky.

What the chief instructor left for him was nothing but scraps that couldn’t be scrappier.

Crystal suits, as the top magic equipment, boasted a high level of precision.

Key components in the total-loss crystal suits, such as the Super Compressed Crystal Reactor, had all been torn away. The only thing left on each of them was the bare framework.

Just like a dead body without muscles, arteries, nerves, and organs. A pure skeleton.

But still, it was much more complicated than Li Yao had imagined.

It was not Li Yao’s biggest problem, since the jade slips that Mao Feng left for him had all the structure designs and maintenance manuals in them.

He had not been asked to modify or upgrade them. Therefore, he only needed to decompose and assemble them according to the illustrations in the jade slips.

It would take some time, but it was not undoable.

The trickier problem was that those crystal suits had decayed in the open air for so long that their components were all utterly rusted, which were as rotten as bones that had been buried underground for decades.

The garbage that had been overlooked for almost a hundred years would be maintained by him and him alone.

“What a bunch of scrap! They’re not crystal suits; they’re pure garbage. They’re even worse than the rubbish that I used to gather in the magical equipment graveyard!

“Any other refiner would find himself unable to do anything about it.

“But it’s me and I have to do my best now!”

Li Yao gritted his teeth and sat cross-legged.

He closed his eyes. His soul returned to the deep down of his brain.

In the middle of the depth of his mind, Ou Yezi’s Tree of Memories was flickering brilliantly.

40,000 years ago, the Hundred Smelting Clan was a major sect for refiners. It had considerable expertise on magical equipment maintenance.

In the Hundred Smelting Clan, the novices would serve as workers or assistants to help maintain the magical equipment before they started refining formally.

Even Ou Yezi himself had spent a few years on the onerous job of maintaining magical equipment in his early days.

In ancient times, there weren’t many maintenance tools as today. Everything had to be done with their bare hands.

Many of Ou Yezi’s memory pieces devoured by Li Yao were related to magical equipment maintenance.

But Li Yao had never studied them before, since he’d never had the chance to use them.

Now, he watched the hundreds of maintenance jobs done by Ou Yezi while fast forwarding. Then he sank his consciousness into Ou Yezi’s self and felt the delicacies of the art of magical equipment maintenance in ancient times.

Rolling them over in his mind, Li Yao felt that he was onto something.

He chose another memory piece and went into the first floor of the Heavenly Refining Tower, where he found a book named Seven Ways to Hide Edge and started reading intensively.

Seven Ways to Hide Edge was an introductory book to magical equipment maintenance from the Hundred Smelting Clan.

It contained instructions on how to remove the rust, how to lubricate, how to illuminate an obscure rune array, thousands of ways to mix maintenance oil… Nothing anyone could imagine regarding magical equipment maintenance was not in it.

Most of the tricks in the book had already been forgotten 40,000 years later.

Li Yao absorbed the knowledge in Seven Ways to Hide Edge by telepathic thoughts transmission technology, like a giant whale absorbing water.

Even so, it still took him a day and a night in the Heavenly Refining Tower before he fully grasped the tons of information in the book.

Then he chose Ou Yezi’s memory pieces about magical equipment maintenance again and practiced the skills that he’d just learnt a couple of hundred times.

In the end, the miraculous tricks and skills were wholly embedded into his soul.

When Li Yao returned to himself satisficed, the time in reality had passed 24 hours.

He could see something unusual about the rusted scrapped metals now.

In the level that ordinary people couldn’t reach or feel, he seemed to hear the steel soldiers roaring astoundingly despite the rust on their body!

“Even though you’re dead, I’ll bring you the dignity you deserve.

“You should be sitting majestically in war museums and talking to the world about your magnificent history as heroes, instead of rotting silently in this shithole!”

Li Yao inserted the jade slips into the crystal processor. He started warming himself up while reading the maintenance manuals.

Cracking sounds came from the joints of his fingers, which seemed to have become ten hungry dragons lusting for food.

Picking up the tools he needed, Li Yao walked to the first crystal suit solemnly.

Chapter 237: Ecstasy

Bloody Blade Battlesuit, developed 124 years ago, was a beginner’s crystal suit for the Refinement Stage Cultivators best known for its amazing weight and solid structure.

However, the passage of time had decorated this robust crystal suit with a thick shell of rust.

At first glance, it seemed to be covered in crimson moss.

Ordinary rust-removing techniques were not able to erase such a thick shell in such a short time.

Li Yao bent his fingers and lay them down on the chest of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit.

His fingers danced like a gentle breeze, as if he were playing a delicate piano.

With the dance of his fingers, his countenance changed from austerity to enjoyment.

Each touch sensed the inner structure of the crystal suit and sent it into his brain.

Together with the structural design and maintenance manual he’d just studied, he knew everything about the crystal suit now.

Then, the speed and strength of the finger dance increased by one hundred times, transforming the piano-playing into ruthless striking.

A burst of brisk cracking sounds came from the skin of the suit, as if thousands of pearls were raining upon it.

The Bloody Blade Battlesuit was rattling.

Li Yao condensed all his spiritual energy into his fingers, where strong spiritual energy lightning was triggered and flashing.

The spiritual energy started rippling on the surface of the suit.

Then something amazing happened!

As the waves stretched forward with the movement of his fingers and the excitation of his spiritual energy, the thick dense rust was desquamated and flew away in pieces!

In less than five minutes, the rust shell on the outmost layer had been completely purged.

Although the suit still looked lackluster and a lot of rust remained in the joints and gaps, it was ready to be dismantled for further maintenance.

Li Yao smile and moved his hands as fast as the wind. He tore down the 107 components that made up the head of the suit and dropped them in a giant metal bucket.

While he was meditating, staff of the training camp had brought a lot of maintenance tools and materials, including many kinds of maintenance lubricant used in the modern cultivation world.

The lubricants were either directly extracted from demon beasts or synthetic. Each of them had their special usages.

But Li Yao felt they were not good enough. After analyzing the characteristics of the maintenance lubricants, he mixed dozens of different lubricants according to the ancient formula in Seven Ways to Hide Edge.

He selected seven lubricants and poured them into the bucket in perfect ratio.

Upon shaking, the vibrant colors of the lubricants melted into dark gold, and the blended liquid started emitting an exotic fragrance.

Then, Li Yao pushed the colorless components into the secret lubricant gently.

After that, Li Yao put his hand into it.

With a growl, Li Yao’s hands trembled violently.

Weird ripples appeared on the surface of the dark gold lubricant.

Countless bubbles popped up.

At the bottom of the liquid, undercurrents triggered by the shaking of Li Yao’s hands were brushing the components of the suit unstoppably.

Li Yao seemed to be still, but he had brought his spiritual energy to its limit. Every muscle, every artery, and every nerve of his was providing power for his hands.

Now and then, he would need to smack his head to resist the scourge of the Balance Breakers.

In no less than three minutes, his clothes were soaked in sweat, which highlighted the shivering of his muscles.

Five minutes later, Li Yao panted with relief and picked up one component from the lubricant. He observed it carefully under light.

After the two rust-removing procedures, the component had been entirely renewed. It was crystal clear without the slightest hint of rust as if it had just been collected from a refining furnace whose warmth had not entirely gone yet.

However, there was a small scratch thinner than a hair on its surface, which was probably consequence of a fierce battle with a demon beast.

Rust-removing, polishing, lubricating, polishing again, lubricating again.

Many of the key components needed repetitive nourishment of the spiritual energy before they could be assembled again.

The tedious and dull procedures might have been a headache to ordinary refiners, but in Li Yao’s eyes, they made a most splendid and interesting game to which he dedicated his full attention.

The wrecked crystal suits were all classic magic equipment from a hundred years ago. They could be divided into seven categories with 21 different models in total.

Li Yao had little knowledge about them, except for the simple introductions in the crystal suit journals that he’d read previously, let alone details of their structural designs.

But now, not only was he given an opportunity to read their structural designs and maintenance manuals, he was also allowed to touch, break up, explore, and assemble them at his will.

For a magical equipment maniac like him, he was like a rat in a rice jar.

Both Mao Feng and Mr. Xu had considered maintaining the wrecked crystal suits a dreadful ordeal. It never occurred to them that this was a bonus for Li Yao.

Since the key parts and plates of the suits, which were made of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, had been removed and the framework was the only thing left, Li Yao was able to appreciate the beauty of the core of a crystal suit.

Framework was the foundation of a crystal suit.

A crystal suit without a proper framework was like a man with aberrant bones. It wouldn’t help no matter how many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures one put on it.

And the frameworks of the classic crystal suits were perfect.

Through the scattered rust, Li Yao saw dazzling, soul-stirring sceneries.

Some of the crystal suits were solemn, some vivacious, some violent, and still some were mysterious. The different styles of the frameworks had awed him. He felt as wonderful as when he had just finished a bottle of nice wine.

When he’d just got started, the only thing on his mind was to finish the job as soon as possible so that the chief instructor Mao Feng would be humiliated.

But now, after he’d finished the maintenance of his first crystal suit, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, he had successfully revived it to its former glory. Seeing it standing like a king in the darkness, he tossed the thought of revenge away immediately.

He had forgotten who Mao Feng was or where he even was.

Every inch of his mind had been occupied by the fantastic crystal suits. There was nothing but crystal suits, crystal suits, and crystal suits!

He almost wished that time could flow more slowly, so that he could stay a few more years in this gold mine. Every second when his fingers crossed over the surface of the crystal suits had brought him unparalleled ecstasy which he hoped to enjoy for a while longer.

It was odd that the more he wanted to freeze the time, the faster the actual time fled.

At first, it took him an hour to complete one job. But after he had absorbed and learnt all of the structural designs and maintenance manuals by heart, it would only take a few minutes for him to dismantle a crystal suit into atom components.

In the endless work, Li Yao grasped extensive knowledge, like a dry leech on the vascular wall of the world of crystal suits which had enjoyed enough blood to be plump.

In the beginning, he was learning the paradigm of crystal suit frameworks, and the way that their joints were connected.

Later, he started to explore the differences of the frameworks between melee crystal suits and long-range ones.

Next, he was fascinated by the different styles of the craftsmen.

Even the same heavy melee crystal suits could have widely divergent styles if they were created by two different craftsmen, who may have contradictory yet feasible theories on how to design a certain part.

In the end, he was attracted by the fatal wounds that led to the retirement of the crystal suits.

Every model of crystal suits had its own weakness. There was no such thing as a perfect crystal suit.

In the battlefield, once the weakness was discovered by a demon beast, the result could be deadly.

Therefore, the fatal wounds of many crystal suits of the same model were often located at the same place.

Li Yao boosted his computational ability to the maximum and inferred what had happened on the battlefield from the subtle differences of the wounds on the crystal suits. He also pondered if he could make any revisions to the framework design to avoid the fatal wounds or at least reduce their aftermath.

The challenging game grabbed his full attention and deprived him of any sense of time.

It was not until he’d finished the maintenance of the last crystal suit that he regrettably found that it was already 4 days, 23 hours, 37 minutes and 55 seconds later.

…

In the analysis room, Mao Feng was pacing to and fro anxiously. He checked the spirit clock on the wall now and then.

His face was brighter every time he found that some ten seconds had passed.

“Mr. Xu, it seems that the boy has succeeded. In another 20 minutes, he will have completed the five-day-five-night seclusion and proved himself qualified for your special overall planning!” Mao Feng said excitedly.

Although he could not see into the warehouse due to lack of crystal cameras, the fact that Li Yao’d stayed long enough without reaching out to him made it evident that he had persevered long enough.

Even though he might have done nothing but crying and rolling over during the five days, he still managed himself to the end.

Mr. Xu was as calm as ever. He said, not without fondness, “Mao Feng, it would seem that you have indeed come across a very distinguished student this time. My efforts on drafting training plans for him days and nights and revising the training equipment with the resources of the Inner Camp turn out to be not useless now.”

“Mr. Xu!”

Mao Feng was moved. He never thought that the best Training Planner of the Inner Camp would spend so much time on an unknown Outer Camp student.

Mr. Xu smiled and said, “There’s no need to thank me. You and I share the same bad habit. Whenever we meet a promising young man, we can’t hold back the temptation to bring out the best of them. I think this is our occupational disease. Haha. It’s about time. Only ten minutes left. Let’s go there.”

“Alright!”

In high spirits, Mao Feng was going to open the door, when the miniature crystal processor on his wrist started buzzing. The message on the crystal processor thrashed him in the face.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Mao Feng’s nose was out of shape due to anger, “You’ve persisted for 4 days, 23 hours and 50 minutes and there are only 10 minutes left now, and you’re giving up?”

Having no alternative, he accepted the video chat. Li Yao’s corpse-like, pale face and bloodshot eyes gave him a big surprise.

The bigger surprise was what Li Yao said next.

“Reporting to you, instructor. I’m completed my task,” Li Yao said, not entirely satisfied.

“You have? How many of them? 20? 30?” Mao Feng asked unconsciously.

“20? 30? Of course I have completed the maintenance work of all 146 crystal suits. Weren’t you the one who told me that I shouldn’t contact you until I finished all of them?”

Li Yao was confused. His ruby eyes were blinking fast.

Chapter 238: The King of Crystal Suits

After half an hour, Mao Feng and Mr. Xu rushed to the abandoned crystal suit warehouse.

The two glanced at each other before opening the door and noticed a look of surprise in each other’s eyes.

Although it usually came across that Mao Feng had a hot-temper and blew a fuse frequently, he did all that just to scare the trainees; he intentionally created that kind of persona.

Having been the chief instructor at the outer camp of the Thunder Training Camp for a decade, Mao Feng had seen all kinds of geniuses and prodigies, but not one of them had moved or surprised him.

However, this time, he had truly been scared.

Furthermore, he could see that even Mr. Xu, the top trainer in the inner camp, was incredibly surprised.

Two outer camp refiners also followed the two and they were somewhat at a loss. They could not understand why the chief instructor and Mr. Xu had called them over to the abandoned crystal suit warehouse.

‘Hasn’t this warehouse been abandoned for many years?’

But the moment they opened the doors of the warehouse, the air that blew on their faces was no longer lifeless and rusty but had a faint sweet fragrance, gladdening their hearts and refreshing their mind.

The scene before them, even more so, made their eyes focus instantly.

Under the dim lights, one hundred and forty crystal suits were just like one hundred and forty statues of warriors cast from iron and steel that toweringly stood in the warehouse silently, emanating a chilling killing intent.

The suits that used to be laden with rust were now bright as new.

Under the setting sun, the refracted light burst forth with a colorful brilliance, making the group feel like they were standing in a hall filled with crystals; it was as beautiful as a dream.

Surrounded and protected by numerous crystal suits, Li Yao stood alone at the center of the warehouse, inviting them in.

That calm performance and the confident look in his eyes gave off the impression as if he was the ruler of one hundred and forty crystal suits, the king of crystal suits!

Mao Feng and Mr. Xu took a long, deep breath simultaneously as they entered the warehouse.

In contrast, the two refiners weren’t as calm as them and started shouting, “These crystal suits that had been scrapped for decades have actually been maintained to this degree?”

“In-incredible!”

Li Yao was somewhat in a trance.

Li Yao had once envisioned how he would retort or ruthlessly slap Mao Feng’s face when Mao Feng arrived, venting all the dissatisfaction in his heart.

However, now that the chief instructor had actually arrived before Li Yao, seeing the look of disbelief on the chief instructor’s face and listening to the praises from the people next to the chief instructor, Li Yao felt as if…

None of that was important.

Neither Mao Feng’s amazement nor the exclamation and praises of others were of any importance, they were not the things he pursued.

The crystal suit in itself was worth it for him to burn his spirit to the extreme, worth it for him to pursue, worth it for him to struggle, worth it for him to get intoxicated. He could have all the fun from the world of crystal suits!

Was it still necessary to care about what others thought of him and how they evaluated him?

No matter whether it was the criticism or the praises.

It didn’t matter if they treated him as a rookie or considered him as a freak.

He didn’t want to waste even a second on these small things. He just wanted it to be over with as quickly as possible so that he could proceed to the next part, enter deeper into the world of crystal suits and appreciate the endless mysteries to his heart’s content!

Mao Feng’s expression was very strange.

He was somewhat absent-minded. He went to the front of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit distractedly and traced his stubby fingers over the slightly rough texture, showing an inexplicable expression.

Over a couple decades ago, Mao Feng had also been a trainee in the Thunder Training Camp.

This Bloody Blade Battlesuit was his comrade and partner in the training camp.

Until the last training, when they headed deep into the Wasteland for real combat but encountered a huge beast tide, during which they killed and killed for a day and night.

Although they luckily escaped, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was completely scrapped and was sent to the crystal suit graveyard.

Mao Feng remembered very clearly that the Bloody Blade Battlesuit had sustained corrosion from seven and eight demon beast acid attacks and had rusted to the point that it was barely recognizable.

However, he had never imagined that its past elegance could still be recovered!

Apart from some holes due to having been completely corroded, a vast majority of the places had a faint bloody hue lingering around, and every array glyph engraved on the crystal suit was so clear that he could feel the minutest details even with the slightest touch. The array glyphs were in such a good condition that the spiritual energy would flow very smoothly for sure!

“I didn’t expect that you would see the light of day again!” Mao Feng muttered to himself with a complex mood.

The feelings between Exos and their crystal suits were somewhere between comrades in arms and a pet.

Although this Bloody Blade Battlesuit had not accompanied him for a long time, it had saved his life; its very existence had a very special meaning for him.

While Mao Feng was silently wallowing in emotions, the two refiners were gazing at six crystal suit fragments placed on the ground with a very appreciative gaze at a corner.

These six crystal suits had suffered the most corrosion, and their various components could barely hold together by relying on the rusted layer.

Li Yao had just broken their rusted layer and as such the six crystal suits completely fell apart.

Having lost the most crucial components, it was simply impossible to assemble their scattered components.

All Li Yao could do was place their scattered components on the ground in accordance with their approximate locations, gathering the components to try and give the six crystal suits humanoid appearances.

The problem was that he had arranged the components a bit too accurately!

Whether it was the gap or the angle between the components, it was just as it was denoted in the blueprints; it was as if a complete three-dimensional diagram was spread out meticulously on the ground and scaled up to real life version.

This level was absolutely professional to the extreme in the eyes of the two refiners.

After half a minute, the four had come to a conclusion with an incomparably complex mood.

“These one hundred and forty-six scrapped crystal suits have indeed been maintained fairly well, even their smallest gap has not been let off.

“And this was all completed while wearing that Balance Breaker!

“This kid is a freak, out and out!”

Mao Feng’s beard quivered as he looked at Li Yao.

Only to discover Li Yao lying flat on his back at the center of the warehouse, having been fast asleep for some time, even lightly snoring.

Having been up for five days and five nights without so much as an ounce of rest and completely under a high concentration, his spirit had been exhausted to the extreme. This was almost the fiercest ‘combustion of the soul’ he had undergone since he became a cultivator!

He truly could not hold it back anymore and fell into the wonderland of his dream.

In his dream, a new world made up of thousands upon thousands of crystal suits bloomed slowly just like a flower bud.

“Mr. Xu…”

The chief instructor and the trainer went to a corner and whispered to each other, “Is this freak’s potential still insufficient for you to personally create a training plan for him?”

“No!”

Mr. Xu shook his head and said, smiling wryly, “I found that the training plan I drew up for him a few days ago was too conservative, I still need to make it a bit crazier!”

…

When Li Yao woke up from his sweet dreams, the first thing he saw was Chief Instructor Mao Feng with a malicious look covering his face.

“Now, can I take part in the normal training with the other trainees?” Li Yao asked, fidgeting.

“Theoretically, you can!”

Mao Feng burst into a grim laughter, “However, all the instructors have been conducting training for five days; the other trainees have also completed their basic training and begun charging into the higher-level training! If a rookie like you joined them, wouldn’t you be dragging everyone down?

“Therefore, count yourself lucky as this instructor has decided to personally train you!

“Of course, if you think that this is just an excuse, and in fact, this instructor wants to take this opportunity to torture you, ravage you, torment you, and look for an opportunity to eliminate you…

“Congratulations, you are right!

“Don’t glare me like that, I’m still not finished. Aren’t you good at doing maintenance on these crystal suits? So, from now one, you will have to take out extra five hours every night to maintain crystal suits!

“The crystal suits you are going to maintain this time are not the ones that were scrapped a few decades ago, but the crystal suits which are being used by all the trainees in the outer camp. Whether it’s their crystal processor, their reactor, or their offensive magical equipment, you have to do maintenance on everything!

“It’s ten times more difficult to maintain them than the scrapped crystal suits!

“I have arranged two refiners to oversee you. You have to especially report to them. No matter how messy or tired you are, everything will be left for you to complete!

“If you can’t finish it, you have to continue during the day, also there is no need for you learn crystal suit tactics, you won’t understand anyway!”

Facing the roars of the chief instructor, Li Yao didn’t ever dare to shake his eyelashes and said seriously, nodding, “I understand, let’s get started!”

Listening to him, Mao Feng was somewhat shocked as he said, knitting his brows, “You don’t have anything to say?”

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, “Actually, I do!”

“Speak!”

“Can the five hours of extra maintenance at night be changed to six hours, and can I also get some extra work as well? I can make do with sleeping one less hour!”

“…”

Just like that, the crazy training began.

During the day, Li Yao was ruthlessly tortured by Mao Feng.

In the evening, he carefully carried out maintenance on all the crystal suits used by the trainees.

Even in his sleep, he would study crystal suit blueprints and maintenance manuals with joy!

The Thunder Training Camp truly followed a completely closed training mode. The trainees could not contact the outside world, all the information sent out had to go through the training camp.

Every three days, Li Yao would give himself five minutes at night and write a bit about his training and sent it to his friend at Grand Desolate War Institution.

This was the only time he relaxed.

And the ‘friend at Grand Desolate War Institution’ referred to only one person.

Ding Lingdang.

“Sister Ling, today is my eighth day at the camp, it’s also the third day since my training began.

“The training camp has specially modified a training crystal suit for me, it has five times more propulsion array glyphs than an ordinary crystal suit, spread front to back, left to right, top to bottom all over the crystal suit.

“The worst thing is that the rights to control these propulsion array glyphs are not on me, they are remotely controlled by a crystal processor and would randomly fire powerful jet stream.

“It’s like countless transparent ropes pulling me ruthlessly any time, and I would then tumble to the ground.

“And I have to maintain balance under these random jet streams, and also finished a few set of highly difficult training as well.

“For instance, in the first training, I need to grab a hundred mini puppets the size of a fly that are randomly flying under a minute.

“I am busy for almost all of the day, and my best score is catching nine puppets in one minute.

“My performance has shocked Chief Instructor Mao Feng so much that he stared at me for a long time before he stated that he had never seen a stupid trainee like me. Others could capture twenty to thirty puppet beasts when they first started.

“It does not matter, I pay no heed to his words.

“In any case, I will not give up!”

Chapter 239: Stars Falling on My Head

“Sister Ling, today is my 11th day in the training camp.

“After three days of hard training, I can catch 23 miniature beast puppets in the air in one minute.

“In fact, the game is not as boring as it sounds. Although I’m exhausted and my head feels like exploding after each training session, I consistently catch one more miniature beast puppet than the previous time.

“It feels good knowing that I’m getting the hang of it, one step after another.

“You’re crazy at training, too. So, you must know what I’m trying to say, right?

“Then, the chief instructor Mao Feng probably discovered that I was happier than I was miserable after training. Therefore, he increased the difficulty of the game.

“Now, among the hundred miniature beast puppets that I need to capture within one minute, there are 5 different puppets called ‘Bombers’. Once I touch them, they will unleash strong electricity that often overpowers me.

“I have to observe and distinguish the five Bombers from the rest of the miniature beast puppets in order to avoid them!

“It’s really hard!

“But why am I so excited?”

…

“Sister Ling, today is my 17th day in the camp.

“I finished my first agility training session this afternoon. In a crystal suit with a power system which was in disarray, I caught a hundred fleeing miniature beast puppets and avoided 21 Bombers!

“The feeling of being king of the world couldn’t be more fantastic. All the sweats, pains, and passion in the past half month all paid off!

“You must’ve felt the same when you grasped a new skill due to hard work and perseverance, didn’t you?

“So, you definitely understand how I feel.

“This is just the beginning. There are dozens of other training subjects in agility training. Many of them look interesting. The more I learn, the more excited I get. Sometimes, too excited to even sleep.

“Besides agility training, I also started strength training.

“In strength training, I was asked to use a specially modified crystal suit.

“Crystal suits can double the abilities of the Exos, or even enhance them three times.

“But this damn crystal suit for strength training, on the contrary, sealed my strength and suppressed it to 30%.

“Even if I punched with my full strength and soul, I’d only deal 30% percent of the damage that I would’ve before.

“What’s more, many ballast modules were added to this crystal suit, which are basically useless iron balls. They made the weight of the suit to over seven tons.

“Since the anti-gravity rune array and the power rune array are both greatly diminished, I basically need to carry most of the seven tons by myself. It’s more like I am wearing a giant, super-heavy battlesuit.

“And I need to complete almost 100 training exercises, including deep squat, dead lift, sprint, and so on, in such a strength training crystal suit.

“It sounds… amazing!”

…

“Sister Ling, today is my 23rd day in the training camp.

“In the day, I train my strength, agility, and speed.

“During my training, video clips of the experts of the Thunder Training Camp fighting demon beasts are played in the crystal processor, which are brilliant!

“I have to multitask. While I’m training, I’ll need to understand the combat videos and analyze the tactics employed in them because I need to submit a battle analysis report later.

“At night, I’m summoned to the crystal suit warehouse of the Outer Camp and maintain the hundred or so crystal suits under the guidance of two experienced Refiners.

“Although they’re not the latest models, the crystal suits are still functioning well under the discreet maintenance and modification of the Thunder Training Camp. Crystal processors, crystal reactors, core magical equipment… everything’s there. The precision of these crystal suits are ten times higher than the wrecked ones that I talked about before.

“In the beginning, I was so dumb that I couldn’t even reintegrate a single crystal suit over an entire night. My fingers were worn down so much that I could see my bones.

“But the world of crystal suits is too amazing for me to care the abrasions.

“The Thunder Training Camp has very advanced medical equipment. Together with my secret ointment, the injuries can be completely healed within a couple of minutes.

“When my fingers are worn out, I use the medical equipment and the secret ointment to accelerate the healing. Worn out again, healed again. After about a hundred times of repetition, my speed of reintegrating a crystal suit is getting faster and faster and almost equal to the speed of the two experienced Refiners.

“Right now, they view me as a supernatural.

“I also gained an additional benefit from this incident.

“Since my fingers were broken and fixed so many times, the skin on them is much more tender than before, which has significantly improved my sensitivity.

“With a single touch, I am able to tell whether or not the curve of a component is precise and absolutely smooth. Even a 0.01 millimeter flaw can’t escape my attention.

“That’s about everything. I’m going to the warehouse now.

“Maybe because my performance during the maintenance of the crystal suits was so crazy and the two experienced refiners were so shocked, they decided to hand over some simple repair work to me.

“Repairing the crystal suits!

“Even though they’re antique models from a hundred years ago, even though the problems are the simplest of all, it is still an arduous and challenging job for me!

“My blood is boiling. The path of a future Armadominus commences now!”

…

“Sister Ling, today is my 29th day in the training camp.

“First, I’d like to tell you something super awesome.

“I have advanced to another level!

“At four o’clock this morning, I went out in the training crystal suit to do some overtime because I felt that the training subjects that Mao Feng set up were too easy and not satisfactory enough.

“But the moment I was exhausted and on the verge of crumbling, I sensed something mysterious and fascinating.

“It was the boundary of night and day, the grand finale of the darkness before dawn.

“Over my head, most parts of the sky were black, with galaxies glaring and stars shining. But the horizon to the east were blooming in red.

“For a moment, it seemed that all the stars in the sky were raining upon my head before they crushed my body from the top of my skull.

“In the meantime, the morning glow embraced me like ribbons.

“The sky, the earth, stars, and clouds reverberated with my blood, muscles, nerves, organs, and soul, cheering for me and encouraging me!

“I’ve finally reached the 7th level of the Refinement Stage!

“Hahaha. But you might not be as glad as I am, because the gap between us is smaller by a little bit now. It won’t be long before I surpass you!

“The first elimination match of the Thunder Training Camp will be held tomorrow. Of the hundred students, only fifty will stay.

“Other students have been training crazily, too.

“Although I never saw it with my own eyes, I know that none of them will be easy to deal with, based on the scratches on their crystal suits.

“Besides, their abilities were higher than me before. Many of them are in the 10th level of the Refinement Stage or even higher.

“If we are equally skilled at driving crystal suits which give us equal enhancements, they’ll be stronger than me!

“If I want to stay, there is only one way—do the best of my best!”

…

“BANG!”

“BANG! BANG!”

Two crystal suits, one in red and the other in black, were both moving fast, locked in brutal combat over a moor full of toxic smog.

The collision of the spiritual shields triggered strong blast waves that twisted the rays of light within the hundred square meters, making everything look like a scene from a movie.

Suddenly, after an irritating noise of metal being torn apart, the red crystal suit exploded and fell down into the moor with a big splash like a kite whose string had been cut off.

Some instructors who were watching close immediately rushed over in their crystal suits. They rescued the student in the moor and took him to the mobile med bay.

“No. 57 wins!

“No. 39 fails. Eliminated!”

Excited screams came from the black crystal suit.

This was the first elimination match of the Thunder Training Camp.

The hundred students were divided into two groups according to their ranks.

Those whose rank were above fifty would draw lots and select a student whose rank was below fifty randomly. The two of them would fight until one was defeated.

Winners would be able to stay in the Thunder Training Camp, receive more strict training, and learn more about the arts of crystal suits.

Losers would have to pack up and leave.

But before they were dismissed, the training camp would provide a detailed analysis report, compiled by the formidable Training Planners according to their performance over the past month, on their advantages and disadvantages, as well as a future training plan.

The analysis report and the training plan alone were worth the expensive tuition fees.

It was also one of the reasons why the Thunder Training Camp had been popular over the decades and praised by so many Exos.

Underground, in the preparation room.

Before each match, the participants were given a secret room to warm up and adjust themselves.

They could also watch the brilliant performances of other students through screens.

Li Yao was doing push-ups, not on the ground, but on the ceiling.

Like a giant lizard, he attached himself to the few gaps on the ceiling that were thinner than his air with the strength of his fingers and toes, which allowed him to do the unimaginable ‘upside-down push-ups’.

“Tick tack. Tick tack.”

Li Yao’s sweats flowed in the hollows between his sharply cut muscles and congregated on his spine, before they dropped to the ground where a small lake was formed.

“122, 123…”

Li Yao felt he was not enjoying himself enough. He jumped down and looked around. Several dumbbells that weighed a couple of hundred kilograms caught his attention. He bound them to his waist, leaped back to the ceiling, and continued his upside-down push-ups.

“124, 125… 327… 431…”

This was what Mao Feng saw when he entered the room.

He was stupefied for a second, before he retreated quietly.

Outside the room, he took a deep breath and rubbed his face hard to change the surprise on it into fury.

He re-entered the room and screamed at the top of his voice,

“Li Yao, what are you—”

Li Yao jumped down and walked before Mao Feng. He looked at Mao Feng straight in the eyes and asked carefully, “Chief instructor, may I propose a minor revision?”

Chapter 240: Way Too Presumptuous

Mao Feng was dazed and his anger burst out.

“A minor revision?

“For a man with zero talent such as yourself, who has hardly made any progress in training over the last month, what makes you think that you’re qualified to propose a revision?

“It’ll be your turn very soon. Your opponent is a super strong man. I have no doubt that you will be crushed and driven out of Thunder Training Camp in a minute!

“What revision could possibly help you after that?”

Li Yao pretended that he didn’t hear anything. He said calmly, “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Chief Instructor, would you please stop talking such garbage? It’s really wasting my time.”

Mao Feng’s eyes went as wide as those of a bull.

“What?!”

Li Yao answered peacefully, “Chief Instructor, if you have studied my profile before, you should be aware that I hadn’t touched a crystal suit until a month ago and I knew nothing about this incredible new world.

“I’m not a moron.

“At first, you were pissed off and declared that I had no talent whatsoever in using crystal suits after you saw my heartbreaking performance, and I bought it.

“But later, as I grew more familiar with crystal suits and knew more about properties of the different models, it occurred to me that there should have been something wrong with the Seven-step Rock Snake I’d driven. Your attitude had been weird after the accident, too.

“So, yesterday afternoon, I specially spared 17 minutes and 24 seconds to analyze the whole thing in retrospect.

“My conclusion was that there’s a 97% likelihood that, because of the extraordinary gift that I showed in the crystal suit, you were impressed and decided to impose an unusual training methodology upon me.

“You fire me up perversely and, by making advantage of my indomitable spirit, you devised a series of impossible tasks which accelerated my dramatic growth.

“In fact, I’m not half as lousy as you claimed. On the contrary, I’m very awesome, am I not?”

Mao Feng was rendered speechless for a long time.

Li Yao continued, “Goading someone into action by sarcasm is an old strategy. I should’ve seen it through long time ago.

“However, the world of crystal suits is too tempting for me to let go. I only wish that I could devote every second that I have to the mysteries of crystal suits.

“That’s the reason why, although I have long felt something wasn’t right, I never took the time to investigate the matter.

“Until yesterday, when I ran some calculations.

“Over the past 30 days, you’ve spent 12 minutes and 37 seconds on average each day to verbally abuse me, hoping to evoke my ambition through ridicule.

“The 12 minutes and 37 seconds were a complete waste of time in my eyes.

“My ambition had already arrived at peak without any stimulation.

“So, if I were to spend the 12 minutes and 37 seconds on training, I would’ve been able to cover two more subjects and increase my ability by up to 0.05%.

“That’s why I decided to make it clear to you.

“I’m different from other people. Please don’t view me as someone ordinary, and please stop wasting our time with that trash talk.

“If you are really of a mind to torture me, please arrange training subjects that are more difficult, crazier, and more insane for me, instead of just trying to intimidate me with your mouth.

“That’s all I have to say. Excuse me, I’m about to go on stage now, Chief Instructor.”

Li Yao nodded and walked out of the room.

Mao Feng was completely bewildered. He stood alone in the room for a long time. His face turned from red to purple, purple to black, and in the end his face was so gloomy that it seemed as if some ink would spill out at any moment.

“BOOM!”

Mao Feng stamped on his foot and the floor was immediately shattered.

“Boy, that is way too presumptuous!” the chief instructor Mao Feng screamed horribly.

…

In the long and narrow aisle, Li Yao turned on his crystal processor and read the profile of his opponent while he was walking.

Unluckily, he was paired with the No. 9.

Most of the top 10 students had abundant Exo experience. Many of them were even battlesuit majors from famous universities.

No. 9, whose name was Zhou Zhenghao, had an unknown background. But according to his profile, he was an expert in the 10th level of the Refinement Stage.

Crystal suits could only enhance the user’s original combat ability, which was more important than the enhancement.

Now that the opponent was three levels higher than Li Yao, he could crush Li Yao as easy as pie, even if the two of them were equally skilled at operating their battlesuits.

There wouldn’t even be a slim chance of winning, unless his skills were far better than those of his opponent.

The strength of his opponent filled Li Yao’s eyes with joy.

Li Yao walked towards the crystal suit warehouse as he thought, ‘Very good.

‘This is my first real battle in a crystal suit.

‘It’s great that I’ve been blessed with such a strong opponent.’

Since the latter half of the hundred students were less experienced than the former half, to ensure fairness of the elimination match, they were allowed to wait until their opponent had picked a crystal suit before they got to pick their own. It was believed that such arrangements could somewhat reduce the gap between the two contenders.

Very soon, No. 9’s choice was displayed on the crystal processor — Thunder Axe Battlesuit.

Thunder Axe Battlesuit was a super-heavy crystal suit, 2.65 meters tall, weighing 13.21 tons. It was the most titanic and cumbersome crystal suit among all the low-level ones provided by the training camp.

Of course, it boasted a large arsenal, too.

The Honeycomb Flying Sword System on its shoulder had 360 tiny flying swords on board. The four Thunder Axes on the outside of its arms and legs could deal incomparable damage, too.

Thunder Axe Battlesuit was muscular men’s all-time favorite. As long as the wearer had enough strength, the crystal suit would become a walking guillotine.

“It seems that No. 9 is going to be a husky fellow.

“A husky man in the 10th level of the Refinement Stage now has the Thunder Axe Battlesuit on him. It’s really blood-freezing!

“Which suit should I pick to fight him?”

Li Yao’s face was wrapped in a mixture of craziness, obsession, enjoyment, and excitement.

Like a young man going on a date with his girlfriend, an assassin who was prepared to avenge his father, a serpent that had locked onto its prey in some dark woods, and a boy who’d just found a new game and was exploring the rules of it.

Soon, his eyes started shining.

The young man was on bed with his girlfriend, the assassin jumped down from the beam of the house, the serpent charged towards its prey with its glaring poison fangs, and the boy found out the trick of the game and moved on to the next level, grinning in great satisfaction.

Li Yao picked a crystal suit without any hesitation. The exhaust flame of the suit lit up the sky, and he flew towards the arena.

…

Many students were paying close attention to this elimination match, especially the winners from previous matches, who wouldn’t let go of such a rare opportunity and gathered together in order to watch the live show from the screen.

They were all here for No. 9.

Although the 99 students except Li Yao had been studying under different instructors, now and then there would be group training sessions in which they would be summoned together. Therefore, they all knew a thing or two about the others’ progress.

No. 9, or the former Zhou Zhenghao, was one of the toughest men among all the students.

Not only had he been endowed with great talent, he was also crazy about training. People often noticed that he was doing training at midnight.

One time, when he had an accident during training and broke four of his ribs, he took no rest and resumed training after some simple treatment from the med bay.

Instead of reducing the amount of training, he added another 20%, claiming that he needed to make up for the time he lost in the med bay.

Therefore, No. 9 had received the nickname “steel man”!

He was one of the best Exos among the muscular-type Exos. After he put on a super-heavy crystal suit such as the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, even Long Qianyue and Yuan Yeshi would need to pay full attention knowing they couldn’t be too careful.

A match such a tough man was participating in was definitely worth watching!

The only regret was that his opponent was too weak.

Many people clearly remembered what happened on Li Yao’s debut, and he had vanished into thin air ever since then.

It was told that his talents were so limited that he had to receive specially designed fundamental training.

Such a newbie would probably be blown away by the ‘steel man’ with a single punch. They wouldn’t have the chance to see the full potential of the steel man at all.

But some people disagreed.

Li Yao’s ability was truly lousy, but his speed, on the other hand, was quite impressive.

If he had grasped some basic driving skills to stabilize his speed, with the help of a speed-type crystal suit, there was a good chance that he might be able to dodge the steel man for a while.

After all, as a super-heavy crystal suit, Thunder Axe Battlesuit was at a disadvantage to speed-type crystal suits.

If Li Yao just circled around, he could possibly survive for a few minutes.

Then the topic of the conversation changed to how long Li Yao could survive under the bombardment of the steel man.

After a couple of minutes, the match of No. 9 versus No. 100, or the steel man versus the newbie officially began.

There were eight arenas in the Outer camp that simulated different natural environment. The place of the elimination match would be a random one of them after drawing lots.

Unfortunately, Li Yao drew the desert battlefield.

In the vast desert, there were no shelters or complex territories that could be made use of. It would be the most straightforward competition of combat abilities!

When the two crystal suits flew into the battlefield and landed in the desert with a small sandstorm, everybody gasped in surprise.

They all thought that Li Yao had given up already in desperation.

“Thunder Axe Battlesuits! Two of them!”

“The newbie picked a Thunder Axe Battlesuit, too?”

“Is he insane? Knowing that his specialty is swiftness, yet picking a slow and leaden super-heavy crystal suit, he’s giving up his only advantage just like that?”

“Has he decided to do arm wrestling with Zhou Zhenghao, the steel man?”

While they watched in bewilderment and incomprehension, the two Thunder Axe Battlesuits had boosted their spiritual energy to their maximum, releasing splendid colors from their back. They ran towards each other, enshrouded by two clouds of smoke.

Thunder Axe Battlesuit against Thunder Axe Battlesuit, super-heavy against super-heavy, the contest between steel and flesh was about to begin!

Chapter 241: Steel V.S. Steel

“Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!”

As the prelude to the battle, the two Honeycomb Flying Sword Containers on the shoulders of No. 9’s Thunder Axe Battlesuit were fully opened, sending out dozens of rays of lights in the color of lavender which dashed towards Li Yao like a neatly-knitted net, screaming.

Flying swords attack!

The 360 tiny flying swords on the Thunder Axe Battlesuit were all carved with strong thunder-class rune arrays made of violent thunder-class crystals.

Since they were designed for one-time usage and there was no need to collect them, their damage was extremely high.

Once they hit their target, thunder storms would be released. If more than one flying sword hit the same target, the lightning they unleashed would build up and increase the damage to an even higher level.

Even an opponent as strong as a demon general might be torn apart instantly!

Since it was just a match, all the aggressive magical equipment had been suppressed to reduce their damage to one tenth of the original.

Besides, a special program named Identification of Friend or Foe System was installed into the crystal processor, too. Once the system foresaw that a fatal attack would be performed, it would immediately withhold the action.

Even so, when dozens of flying swords, with lightning dancing in between, charged towards him as if they would destroy everything in their way, Li Yao still felt his heart skip a beat.

But then, it only started beating faster!

“Excellent!

“This is the battle I wanted; this is everything I desire!”

Instead of dodging or retreating, he was manic enough to speed up and went directly against the flying swords face to face, the power rune arrays behind his back blazing brilliantly.

“Bait Bugs, activate!”

“Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu!”

Two plates on the outside of his shoulder blades split. From inside, hundreds of firefly-like mini puppets stormed out and hovered around him like shining stars.

But when the flying swords came close, the Bait Bugs hummed and dispersed into all directions.

Tips of the flying swords trembled violently.

More than thirty of them were interfered by the spiritual fluctuation released by the Bait Bugs whom they mistook for their target. Then they rectified their trajectory and went after the Bait Bugs.

Like brave soldiers, the Bait Bugs turned their direction and collided with the flying swords, causing a series of lightning flashes. It was like masses of purple lotuses had blossomed in the sky of the desert.

The remaining twenty flying swords that had not been interfered with continued to speed up towards Li Yao. Within a moment, they were already under his nose.

Li Yao could see vividly the waves released when the flying swords tore the air apart.

He was instantly tied by voltaic arcs.

All the attack rune arrays of the flying swords were triggered, causing a sandstorm that was dozens of meters tall to swallow him like a giant yellow beast.

In the stomach of the beast, Li Yao put everything he’d learned over the past month into practice.

He didn’t condense a full-scale spiritual shield, which would consume too much spiritual energy and also affect his senses and swiftness.

Instead, he only formed a thin spiritual shield which covered him in crimson. Then he started dodging with amazing agility and speed in the super-heavy crystal suit that weighed more than ten tons.

The tracks of the flying swords were all transparent. Thousands of pieces of data were collected and analyzed by the crystal processor before it produced the most reasonable dodging plan in his brain.

In a moment, the Thunder Axe Battlesuit blurred and disappeared into hundreds of shadows, just like an elephant dancing in a storm.

All the flying swords missed their target, however close they were.

Several flying swords were able to hit the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, but they were repelled due to inappropriate angles, leaving one voltaic arc after another around as if Li Yao had put on a new galvanizing battlesuit.

“BOOM!”

Li Yao rushed out of the sandstorm.

“Really?”

All the spectators exclaimed in great surprise.

Li Yao’s battlesuit seemed to be well-worn, indicated by the glaring scars from explosions and electric shocks on its surface.

But, with a careful look, one would discover that they were actually all scratches and none of them were fatal.

“A lucky dog?”

Many were surprised, for they thought that Li Yao had already been put down by the salvo.

However, the Thunder Axe Battlesuit was not best known for flying sword attacks, which was the specialty of the long-range crystal suits.

For the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, flying swords were merely an approach to minimize the range of activity of its opponent, so that its weakness, its speed, could be overcome and the Thunder Axe Battlesuit would have an opportunity to draw close to its opponent.

And once the Thunder Axe Battlesuit was near, its opponent would be screwed.

Naturally, No. 9 was not disappointed at the failure of the first wave of flying sword attack. He continued onto the second and third wave of attack.

Although Li Yao dodged each and every of them perfectly, their distance was getting smaller and smaller.

No. 9 seemed to have dominated the battlefield. With the consecutive flying sword attacks, he pushed Li Yao to the place he desired.

In the meantime, Li Yao launched two counterattacks by releasing his own flying swords.

No. 9 didn’t even bother to dodge.

In the 10th level of the Refinement Stage, with the enhancement of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, he was able to form such a dense spiritual shield that none of Li Yao’s flying swords could break through.

A month ago, in the Refiners’ Registration Examination, the Tarantula that Li Yao used was so much heavier than the Wolf King that it just ignored the opponent’s remote attacks.

But this time, the roles had been swapped.

This time, it was his opponent who had more weight, more strength, and more spiritual energy!

Very soon, the distance between the two had been reduced to less than a hundred meters, which was the perfect distance for the Thunder Axe Battlesuit to sprint.

No. 9 roared. He threw all the remaining flying swords he had. Then he stomped his feet, under which the power rune arrays seemed to be transformed into two burning suns venting endless light and heat. His speed was brought up to its maximum and he dashed towards Li Yao like a rushing, high-speed crystal-rail train.

Li Yao’s Bait Bugs had run out. Facing the intense attack of hundreds of swords, he had to move to one side fast and try to find a gap in the profound sword array.

This was all within No. 9’s expectation.

“BOOM!”

Two steel beasts collided. Li Yao was blown up into the sky, his thin spiritual shield shattered.

“What a brutal collision!”

Many watchers felt that their blood was freezing.

No. 9’s strength was one of the best among all students. This collision made them feel that they had heard the noise of their own bones being crushed.

Yet No. 9 had no intention of stopping.

He was a ferocious combat lunatic. He didn’t care who his opponent was.

Maybe a newbie, maybe a master. Maybe in the 1st level of the Refinement Stage, maybe in the Nascent Soul Stage.

It didn’t matter. He had one and only one solution, which was to burn out his soul and push forward unstoppably.

No. 9 stomped his feet again, sending out another round of ripples on the surface of the desert as if a meteorite had just hit the earth. With the counterforce, he accelerated and caught up to Li Yao who was still in the sky.

“Shua!”

The electromagnetic axe on No. 9’s right leg hit Li Yao’s chest with a dazzling voltaic arc.

That was just the beginning.

The four electromagnetic axes on No. 9’s arms and legs bit Li Yao like four fangs and wouldn’t let go, causing an intimidating electromagnetic storm while both of them were falling to the ground. A small tornado was triggered.

“No. 100 is doomed.”

“Had he chosen a speed-type crystal suit, he might’ve been able to circle around for a while longer.”

“Yet he selected a super-heavy crystal suit. He thought he was good enough to beat the ‘steel man’? What an idiot!”

The savage sandstorm had blocked the crystal camera, stopping everyone from seeing what was happening in the tornado.

But they all knew that the match would end within several seconds.

No, it wasn’t a match but a predominated slaughter.

However, the two in the tornado didn’t think so.

The more he fought, the less confident No. 9 became.

Although he hit his opponent time and time again, the feedback from the axes was different from usual when he hit the target with the burst of his spiritual energy.

On the contrary, it was as if he had hit a swamp, a cluster of mud or a bottle of gel. His spiritual energy went off and just vanished into thin air, as if his opponent were a ghost made of smoke instead of a human being!

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Although he seemed to be dominating the match, No. 9 was filled with uncertainty. He roared and waved the four electromagnetic axes, trying to cut his opponent into pieces. Plates and components were flying everywhere in the sky.

In the scarred crystal suit, Li Yao took all the attacks quietly. His face was calm as ever, as if the seemingly unbearable bombardment was nothing but tickling for him.

Every second, his body would move dozens of times in small scale, so that he could avoid No. 9’s giant axes before they hit him, or set an appropriate angle for the edge of the axes to slip away on the round plates.

While he dodged, he was observing his opponent’s attack and concluding his fighting style and habits. Then he speculated the fatal flaw based on his observation.

In the meantime, thousands of structure designs popped up in his brain.

The structure and weaknesses of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit were all clear now.

“My opponent was stronger than me, his explosive power greater than mine, his spiritual energy denser than mine, and we’re equally skilled at driving crystal suits.

“I have to take a risk if I am to win!”

Thousands of lights gathered into a deadly brilliance in Li Yao’s eyes.

Chapter 242: Fatal Gap

Li Yao’s movements sped up exponentially. Every part of his body left a few blurred afterimages behind, as if a clear reflection in the water was stirred by the intrusion of a stone.

“Shua!”

Li Yao withdrew from No. 9’s storm of attacks. He dashed backwards like a slippery loach.

Had he not seen it with his own eyes, No. 9 would have never believed that someone could drive a super-heavy crystal suit as swiftly as a light one.

Before No. 9 came back to himself from shock, Li Yao had launched his counterattack!

The two Honeycomb Flying Sword Containers on his shoulders were opened, like the mouth of a fierce beast baring its fangs. All the flying swords were unleashed and targeted at… No. 9’s outline!

No. 9 sneered. He released all his Bait Bugs and condensed his spiritual shield to its maximum in the meantime.

Since he had much more spiritual energy than Li Yao did, he could resort to a war of attrition without worrying he would run out of resources.

However, the flying swords suffered no interference from his Bait Bugs, nor did they hit his spiritual shield. Instead, they found their way down into the desert and boomed underground, causing a sandstorm that was even more violent than the previous tornado.

Most of the crystal cameras on No. 9’s suit were blocked. He couldn’t see through the dust. His ears were full of the growling of the wind. The enemy’s movement had been entirely covered.

Suddenly—

No. 9 felt that a strong wind was coming at his neck, as if a cunning beast decided that it had lurked enough.

He could even feel the sting in his veins.

“This is your plan?”

No. 9 smiled. He raised his right arm. With a boom, electrical sparks were dancing on the suit. One electromagnetic axe was tossed far away into the desert.

“Disturbing my senses with dust before launching a critical attack with a flying axe. It was a good plan. But you underestimated me!”

The four axes on the arms and legs of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit were all designed to be detachable. In critical moments, they could be wielded and thrown away as a weapon, which was more dangerous than the flying swords.

No. 9 had both talent and determination. He had been using the Thunder Axe Battlesuit ever since he entered the camp. How could he not know that?

He’d known that this was Li Yao’s only chance the whole time!

“Shua! Shua!”

Another two flying axes came from the dust. No. 9 didn’t even bother to look at them. He crossed his arms and cast them away easily. In the meantime, he sprinted 30 meters forward.

“Gotcha!”

Although his senses of vision and hearing were both greatly diminished, he still discovered a vague figure right in front of him by his instinct.

His opponent seemed to be caught off guard. Not expecting him to arrive so fast, his opponent was still waving the last electromagnetic axe.

No. 9 roared and threw himself at his opponent at full strength, who was blown away more than ten meters and lost his last electromagnetic axe.

“Your four electromagnetic axes are all gone. Your tiny flying swords have been used up, too. You’re on my chopping block now, boy!” No. 9 screamed and created a steel millstone with his four electromagnetic axes which enveloped Li Yao from head to toe.

“Ka! Ka! Ka! Ka!”

Li Yao had lost the ability to fight back. Fragments of his crystal suit, which No. 9 had completely torn apart, were all over the place.

It seemed that he couldn’t stand it any longer. His legs shaking, he fell to the ground.

No. 9 didn’t care. He raised his axe and slashed at Li Yao’s head.

Everything had come to an end.

The sandstorm had settled down. In the middle of the glorious sunset and the yellow desert, two crystal suits stood still, which was indeed a beautiful picture.

Li Yao’s suit had almost been entirely shattered. There was not a single plate that had suffered no damage from the battle. Many parts of the suit were gone, exposing his skin to the air. Half of his helmet was cut away, and the remaining half was sparking nonstop.

As for No. 9’s suit, it had been contaminated by dust. Other than that, it was perfect without any damage, except for… a tiny hole under his arm.

“The steel man has won. He beat the newbie really hard!”

“Half of his head has been chopped off. Well well well. That was a little bit too much. Could almost be called a sadist.”

“Zhou Zhenghao, the ‘steel man’, is indeed the top muscular man in the training camp. He’s not reserving any of his capability when his opponent is just a green hand.”

“But why is he not moving?”

Many students were amazed by No. 9’s toughness and Li Yao’s suffering.

After a moment, No. 9 moved.

His almost intact crystal suit shivered, before it collapsed slowly.

At first, he was on one of his knees. He tried to raise his right hand and give Li Yao one last shot, only to lean towards one side of his body and fall down to the ground with a cracking sound.

“Pu!”

No. 9 was ejected out of the crystal suit and tossed into the soft sand far away.

“No. 100 wins!”

“No. 9 fails. Eliminated!”

When the cold and indifferent announcement came from the voice rune array, all the students were so shocked that they seemed to be too choked to ask how it happened.

Even Long Qianyue, who had been watching the match emotionlessly, leaped from her seat in admiration.

Yuan Yeshi, who’d made fun of Li Yao before, was pulling his hair and trying to figure out how a newbie such as Li Yao could miraculously win the game.

In the endless desert, No. 9, or Zhou Zhenghao, the ‘steel man’, was sitting on the ground completely stupefied.

He was eyeing his opponent’s crystal suit in such a perplexed way that it might be pierced through by his look at any moment.

“Chi…”

The crystal suit opened like the blossom of a lotus. Li Yao walked out exhaustedly and staggered to Zhou Zhenghao. He sat down beside him.

His dry lips curled, forming what could almost be called a smile.

Zhou Zhenghao understood what the smile meant.

It was his opponent’s respect for his performance in the previous battle.

Zhou Zhenghao was 28 years old, 2.1 meters tall, 175 kilograms of weight, with a square face and a beard, who had been crazy about training.

Respect or contempt from his opponent meant nothing to him.

He just wanted to know how he was beaten.

“Why?”

He looked at Li Yao and asked earnestly, “I have almost torn you into pieces, I even cut off half of your head, why on earth could you still attack?”

Li Yao was moved by his pursuing and curious look, which was exactly the same as when he was training crazily.

He explained carefully, “Thunder Axe Battlesuit is not a new model of the super-heavy type crystal suits. It was an extended model based on the ‘Thunder Saber Battlesuit’, a heavy type crystal suit, with additional attack and defense modules. But its main framework has the same structure as the Thunder Saber Battlesuit.

“What you tore apart was just the attack and defense plug-ins and the plates of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit. You never really damaged the main framework.

“You did cut off half of the head. As a result, I lost most of the crystal cameras and surveillance magical equipment.

“However, the core crystal processor of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit is located at the bottom of the head. You only peeled off its shell. Its computational capability was not affected, so the suit could still function normally.”

Zhou Zhenghao was speechless for a while. Then he reluctantly added, “Even though I failed to launch a critical attack, how did you manage to put me down in such a short time?”

“Because of the design defects of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, or the congenital deficiencies, if you will,” Li Yao explained. “Thunder Axe Battlesuit has too many attack and defense modules added to it. It was not perfect in the aspect of coherence of the modules. For example, there is a minuscule gap under the left arm which expands the arm’s waving range so that the power of the electromagnetic axe can be maximized.

“Besides, generally speaking, the gap is hardly possible to target.

“The gap is thinner than a hair. It seems inconceivable that the gap can be located during a fierce combat. In the meantime, the gap contributes a lot to the expansion of attack range. Therefore, the Armadominus decided to keep the gap after weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

“I was observing your strategies and habits in order to find out in which of your attacking postures would expose the gap. Then, I changed 13 different defending postures and finally managed to let you expose the gap by attracting you with my head and making you raise your axe with both of your arms.”

Zhou Zhenghao was not convinced. He said, “Suppose you did find the gap, how could you penetrate it when your electromagnetic axes and flying swords were all gone?”

Li Yao explained patiently, “Not all of them. When I released the flying swords, I caught one of the swords on the way and hid it in my hands. In the end, when the crucial moment came, I pushed it into the gap.

“Had we been in a real battlefield and the magical equipment not been suppressed, that attack would’ve hit your heart.

“Therefore, the system determined that you failed.”

Zhou Zhenghao was dazed.

“How were you able to ‘catch one of the swords on the way’? Is it even possible?”

“It’s very simple.”

Li Yao frowned, “It is much easier than the training of catching miniature beast puppets, don’t you think?”

Zhou Zhenghao had no idea what he was talking about, “What kind of training involves catching miniature beast puppets?”

“The one in which a hundred miniature beast puppets are released and… Okay, never mind.”

Li Yao curled his lips, knowing that he was fooled by the chief instructor again.

Nobody except him had ever done that kind of insane training.

“Everything’s clear now.”

Zhou Zhenghao was not a beginner. He had thought everything through soon after Li Yao explained the key to his victory. He smiled bitterly, “You were passive at the beginning because you were analyzing my attack patterns and styles and also because you wanted me to be less wary. After I took away the attack and defense modules from your suit, your weight was reduced and your speed was higher, making your critical attack easier to launch.

“And I thought I was the one winning the match!

“I’m sincerely convinced by your performance in this combat that you’re more qualified to stay in the Thunder Training Camp than I am.

“Thank you for explaining everything to me. No. 100, no, I should call you Li Yao. I really appreciate it. Now I can die without regret.”

Zhou Zhenghao stood up and nodded at Li Yao. Then he turned around and walked out of the arena.

“Wait!”

Li Yao suddenly stopped him, “May I ask if your left knee was seriously injured before?”

Zhou Zhenghao came to a halt. He turned his head, shocked, as if he had seen a ghost. He cried, “How did you know?”

Chapter 243: A Training Camp Named Universe

“I can tell from the abrasions on your battlesuit.”

Li Yao explained, “I’m a Refiner. Most of the crystal suits that we use have been maintained by me. Few people choose a super-heavy crystal suit such as the Thunder Axe Battlesuit. Of the two Thunder Axe Battlesuits in the Outer Camp, one was sealed and rarely used, while the other one has been used on a daily basis. I assume it is you who has been wearing it.”

Zhou Zhenghao nodded in surprise. He never knew that besides training, Li Yao had been working on the maintenance of all the crystal suits, too.

That was a tremendous workload. Did he not need sleeping?

Li Yao continued,

“While I was maintaining the Thunder Axe Battlesuit, I discovered a problem.

“As a super-heavy crystal suit, it has many elastic gaskets made of the bones of the ‘Sanskrit Sun Demon Fish’ on its legs as buffers, so that it won’t be collapsed due to its own weight.

“However, for this particular Thunder Axe Battlesuit, the elastic gaskets on the right leg are 0.41% more worn than those on the left leg.

“The disparity of abrasion suggests that the Exo who’s wearing the suit tends to be lopsided on his right leg, and that even when he’s using both of his legs, the force from his right leg is always greater than that from his left leg.

“Generally speaking, Cultivators have perfect control over their bodies. Unless they’re using some special skills, their bodies should be absolutely balanced during their training.

“The simple tricks of balance control should be easy for a Cultivator in the 10th level of the Refinement Stage such as yourself. So, I assume that your leg was too seriously injured before to function normally like your right leg.”

Indescribable expressions appeared on Zhou Zhenghao’s face. He exclaimed, “That’s correct. When I was 21, I was engaged in a brutal battle with demon beasts in the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau in which my left knee was chipped and my left leg was almost entirely melted due to the demon’s poison!

“It took me a whole year to fully recover. But, although my body was healed, there has always been some unresolved issue on my mind. I can’t use my left leg as fluently as I use my right leg. There’s always a tiny difference. It’s sort of an ‘inner demon’ for me.

“But the difference is so small that few people can recognize it. Li Yao, now that you’ve pointed it out, is there anything you can do about it?”

Zhou Zhenghao knew that Li Yao must’ve had more to say about the issue.

For years, he had been looking for doctors and experts for his leg. In fact, his leg injury had been cured a long time ago. It was the mental problem that had been haunting him.

But he was a stubborn man and not the type of people who would be easily influenced by interferences. Therefore, although he had many hypnotherapy sessions, they didn’t really help.

Seeing that Li Yao could find out about his old ailment based on just a few elastic gaskets, a glimmer hope was rising from the bottom of his heart.

Li Yao thought for a while and nodded, “Now that your injury has become a mental issue, it’s definitely not something that I can fix up.

“However, I do have a few suggestions for you as a Refiner.

“Your problem right now is that your speed and reactions in combat are affected because of your imbalanced legs. I’m not sure how the problem can be sorted out in daily life, but I have two ideas if you’re in a crystal suit.

“Firstly, change the elastic gaskets in the right leg of the Thunder Axe Battlesuit into something made of softer materials.

“There are many kinds of elastic gaskets. Sanskrit Sun Demon Fish’s bones have medium elasticity. You can choose a softer material so that the force from your right leg will be more absorbed than your left leg is. This way, your two legs will remain balanced.

“Secondly, if you don’t want to change the elastic gaskets, you can also ask a Refiner to increase the weight of the electromagnetic axe on your right leg, or reduce the weight of that on your left leg.

“All in all, the point is, to restore balance by foreign aids.

“The two approaches can’t resolve your mental issue. But at least they will increase your combat abilities in a battlefield.

“As to precisely which kind of elastic gasket you should use, or how to reshape the electromagnetic axes, you’ll need to hire an experienced Refiner who will observe your legs and run calculations to figure out the delicate differences before modification.”

Zhou Zhenghao beamed and nodded.

Although Li Yao’s proposal was only palliative, it did solve his urgent problem and was not difficult to put into practice. In fact, it was much easier than resolving the insubstantial mental issues.

His depression caused by elimination was instantly gone!

Zhou Zhenghao even felt that he was lucky to have met Li Yao in the elimination match.

Eliminated by the Thunder Training Camp, he could still try other training camps, or accumulate experience from real combats. There was still a good chance that one day he could become a strong Exo.

But without Li Yao’s enlightenment, the leg injury would’ve been likely to bother him forever!

“I can’t thank you enough!”

Zhou Zhenghao paused for a while. Then he said, “Li Yao, from the way you tossed the axes just now, I can see that your speed and strength were both good enough, albeit not without a lack of subtleness. It appears to me that you haven’t done much training with flying axes and you were merely throwing them away with brute force.

“In fact, there are many tricks you can use to flying axes. Once you get to the bottom of it and wield axes with your full abilities, the axes will be ten times more intimidating than the flying swords! I’ve practiced axes-flying for a while, and I think I have some shallow understandings about how to best use it. If it’s not too presumptuous of me, we could discuss this and see if there’s any improvement.”

He was trying to return the favor and also make friends with Li Yao.

After the soul-stirring combat, Zhou Zhenghao was aware of how strong Li Yao was and thought Li Yao deserved his respect.

Also, Li Yao pointed out his problem without holding back and helped to resolve it, which indicated a good personality.

Moreover, Zhou Zhenghao had long known that Li Yao was a Refiner whose name was on the rise.

Now that he was lucky enough to meet a young, strong, upright, genius Refiner who was destined to be the star of tomorrow in the world of Cultivators, how could he miss such a rare opportunity to make friends of him?

This was also how Cultivators normally made new friends and expanded their social network.

What he said lit up Li Yao’s eyes, who leaned forwarded and said earnestly, “Not presumptuous at all. I, for one, admire Brother Zhou’s strength very much. A super-heavy crystal suit is not something that some random guy can play with!

“I was only taking advantage of my familiarity with the structure of the crystal suit.

“If we have another fight and you’re aware of the weakness under your arm, there is no way that I will defeat you.

“You’re correct. I never learnt the art of flying axes. When I tossed the electromagnetic axes, I did feel that something was wrong. My tremendous strength couldn’t be transmitted into the axes, and it near suffocated me. Please do enlighten me, Brother Zhou!”

Zhou Zhenghao smiled.

“Your strength is indeed abundant. The explosive power inside your body is disproportional to your tiny figure. What a beast! The key is breathing. Your breath must reverberate with the electromagnetic momentum in a sophisticated way. The following things are of paramount importance…”

Two training maniacs started discussing wholeheartedly.

The breathing method introduced by Zhou Zhenghao gave Li Yao major inspiration, while several of Li Yao’s ideas on how to exert one’s force caused cold sweat to break out on Zhou Zhenghao’s forehead.

The more they talked, the more topics they found themselves both interested in. From the art of flying axes, tricks of super-heavy crystal suits’ small-scale movement, ways to minimize the enemy’s range of activity by flying swords, to the question how to lure the enemy into the Thunder Axe Battlesuit’s sprint distance.

The two of them were chatting with their arms waving up and down. Even after the instructors escorted both of them out of the arena, they were still in high spirits.

“I’m terribly sorry that I eliminated you. I wish we could still learn from each other in the training camp.”

Li Yao meant what he said.

“Indeed, it is regretful. But it doesn’t matter now.”

Zhou Zhenghao scratched his beard and replied cheerfully, “I am now in a new training camp called ‘the universe’. Although I’ve been eliminated by the Thunder Training Camp, I will pursue my training in the ‘Universe Training Camp’. There is still a long road ahead. We’ll have a lot of opportunities to meet and discuss with each other. Hopefully, one day, we’ll be able to fight side by side! ‘Vulture Li Yao’, this is a name that I’m never going to forget.”

Li Yao smiled. “‘Vulture’ is my nickname for my enemies; if you consider me a friend, call me the ‘Fiend Star’!”

Zhou Zhenghao nodded. “I spent almost all of my time on training and don’t have many friends. But you’re definitely one of them! There’s still some time before the end of the elimination match. Would you like to watch the game with me in my preparation room and talk about the crystal suit skills?”

“That’s exactly what I want!”

They talked and laughed on their way to the preparation room.

The audience was stupefied and couldn’t understand what was going on. Blocked by dust, they couldn’t see clearly the actions of the two Thunder Axe Battlesuits. They’d seen that Li Yao had been suppressed by his opponent the whole time and he was on the verge of being cut into pieces. But before they knew it, the system had announced that Li Yao had won the match!

What was more puzzling was that after a little chitchat when they were off their crystal suits, Zhou Zhenghao seemed to be mad with joy in appreciation.

But Li Yao had just eliminated him!

Zhou Zhenghao had struck everyone as a man serious in both speech and manner who cared about nothing but training. He was cold like ice whenever one spoke to him. Definitely not someone with a good temper.

It was also one of the reasons why he was nicknamed the ‘steel man’.

But why was he talking with Li Yao so casually and joyfully now?

Everyone was looking at each other, hoping to find an answer from someone. It felt like there was a giant stone stuck in their chest.

What kind of person was Li Yao? A newbie or a murderous vulture?

“What the hell?”

Yuan Yeshi was biting his lips so hard that blood was running out. He clutched his fists, his veins appearing on his face.

Intentionally or unintentionally, he glanced at the No. 1, Long Qianyue.

“Interesting. I’ll find the answer myself in the second elimination match one month later.”

Long Qianyue smile vaguely. She wrote ‘Li Yao’ on her palm with her finger.

Then, with a clap, her hands folded, crushing both the air and name in between into pieces.

Chapter 244: Slashing My Way Forward

Ten days later.

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!”

It was a sunny day on the desert, yet sounds of thunder echoed.

In the middle of the grey desert, a blood-red figure was burning with a blade flying up and down, triggering waves of wind and tides of thunder.

It was Li Yao who was practicing a saber art!

Of the three months training in the Thunder Training Camp, the first month was meant for rudimental movements and basic crystal suit driving skills, the second month was for embedding the trainee’s previous arts into the crystal suit, and in the third month, the trainee would need to improve themselves by hunting down demon beasts in some of the most dangerous zones in the Grand Desolate Plateau together with their instructors.

Li Yao was wearing the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, which was a model even older than Seven-step Rock Snake. Few people in the Outer Camp were fond of it.

Yet, Li Yao loved it, because it was simple, solid and reliable. Besides, there were endless possibilities for it to be modified so that he could fulfil the potential of the saber.

Chief instructor Mao Feng was a big fan of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, too. He taught Li Yao his experiences about the Bloody Blade Battlesuit without reserve. Li Yao’s understanding of the classic crystal suit grew deeper after Mao Feng’s teaching.

The standard Bloody Blade Battlesuit carried a 2.01-meter long heavy straight saber.

Li Yao substituted it for a 1.97-meter long crescent saber with air paths on both sides, so that his advantage in swiftness could be maximized.

“BOOM!”

Li Yao stomped on the ground. The burst of spiritual energy from below his feet sent hundreds of pebbles up to the sky in all directions.

“Shua!”

The Bloody Blade Battlesuit turned into dozens of crimson shadows which enveloped most of the pebbles.

Li Yao’s movement was too fast to measure. With several cracking sounds, the pebbles were all cut into halves and fell to the ground.

“BANG!”

The last few pebbles exploded into powder because of the spiritual burst.

Li Yao put back his saber. The crystal camera on his suit beamed red rays and scanned the field. Then he sighed grimly.

“Of the 372 pebbles, 364 were cut into two halves, 6 were hit too hard that they were crushed into pieces, and 2 fell to the ground before I reached them.

“I still can’t utilize the crystal suit perfectly. I don’t have enough control over my strength and I can’t manipulate it the way I want.

“Three days. It’s been three days since I made any progress. Is this my limit?”

Li Yao was somewhat irritated.

Since he entered the second phase of the training, his progress had been slower. He missed the feeling of joy in the first phase when he was improving every second.

In the last three days, he even came to a halt. However crazily he trained himself, he found himself not improving at all.

Mao Feng told him that was normal. Every training had bottlenecks and limitations.

An adolescent would still grow taller even if he didn’t eat much food, but when he became an adult, it would be difficult for him to be even one centimeter taller no matter how much food he ate.

If a man was growing and improving every second, even only by one trillionth each time, he would be formidable.

What Li Yao needed most was a good rest. He had to slow down and chew over what he had learnt.

But Li Yao didn’t buy it. He only took half a day’s rest. Then he went to the desert to practice the saber art again.

“How long will it take before I can wave the saber as fiercely as Long Wenhui?”

In the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, Li Yao picked up a small stone from the pocket on his waist.

It was the very stone that the Core Formation Stage Cultivator Long Wenhui, vice president of Hundred Saber Alliance, gave to him.

Every facet of the stone had been left with Long Wenhui’s saber demonstration. Each demonstration contained endless mysteries.

After repetitively studying it, Li Yao only had a partial understanding of three demonstrations on the stone.

He was like a beginner who was asked to copy a masterpiece painting when he’d only just learnt how to use a brush.

“Long Wenhui is in the Core Formation Stage. His saber demonstrations are not that easy to follow.

“But with the enhancement of the crystal suit, my combat ability is three times stronger than before. I wish I could understand even one of them.

“One move. I just need one move!”

Holding his breathe, Li Yao touched every facet of the stone again.

Although his fingers were covered by the suit, the delicacy of senses were transmitted into his brain perfectly. But the essence of the saber demonstrations was still intangible as if in mist.

Putting the stone back into his pocket, Li Yao resumed the tedious training.

Blade out, speed up, slash, blade back!

The monotonous actions were repeated time and time again. Li Yao lost the sense of time and buried himself in the world of the Bloody Blade and the pebbles.

Centered at the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, thousands of broken pebbles were scattered over the area of half a square kilometer.

He didn’t notice that it was already dusk until he was too exhausted to stand up anymore.

Suddenly, he caught some anxious screams behind him.

The crystal camera on the back of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit recorded what was happening.

Countless beasts on the desert had gathered together and were coming at him unstoppably like surging tides.

Common beasts were in the front, demon beasts with bizarre shapes were behind them. Li Yao even detected several strong demon soldiers.

But it’s not like they were hunting anything. They seemed to be fleeing from something!

BOOM! BOOM BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOMM!

Dull quakes came from the horizon, like an iron army had been assembled and ready to conquer the world.

Soon, a gargantuan yellow cloud appeared in the horizon. It drew closer and closer, blocking the sun and the sky.

“Dust storm!”

Li Yao’s face turned pale.

Dust storm was one of the most destructive natural disasters in the Grand Desolate Plateau, in which hundreds of tornadoes were aggregated with millions of tons of sand and stones.

The disaster was often caused by the disorder of natural spiritual energies and showed no signs before it took place. According to the damage, it was classified into ten levels.

A level 10 dust storm, which was the least damaging, was already powerful enough to send humans and animals into the sky.

A level 7 dust storm was strong enough to blow away a crystal-rail train.

As for the dust storms of level 5 or above, even many Cultivators would find themselves unwilling to face them.

This particular dust storm was vast, yellow in color, and dark like ink. Thunder and lightning seemed to be brewing in it, too. It was definitely level 5 or higher!

“Run!”

Li Yao ran away instantly.

Behind him, the dust storm devoured everything in its way.

Now and then, screams of demon beasts, who struggled only to be consumed by the dust storm, pierced through the sky and died down, ending up somewhere far, far away.

Li Yao brought his speed to maximum. Many red letters were jumping crazily on the screen, warning him that all the power rune arrays were overloaded. The crystal reactor in the stomach was burning so hard that he felt he was holding a fire ball.

“Run! Run!”

Li Yao didn’t care. He ground his teeth and carried on fleeing!

The power of nature far exceeded any human’s wildest imagination. After dozens of kilometers of running, he was caught and swallowed by the dust storm.

Inside the dust storm seemed to be a totally new world. Because of the disorder of spiritual energies, a lot of colorful tornadoes were moving and roaring everywhere, as if some prehistoric beasts had come back to life. Thousands of lightning bolts resembling vipers were tangled together. It was more splendid and magnificent than Li Yao could ever have imagined.

Countless stones, beasts, and demon beasts were caught by the mad tornadoes and ended up crushing each other into ashes.

Death was so close to him that he felt like the gates of hell had been opened in all directions.

The Bloody Blade Battlesuit was far from enough to overcome the torture of the tornadoes.

Li Yao tried to turn on the power rune arrays in hope to flee out of the dust storm, only to wreck two power rune arrays instantly.

The solid crystal suit, suffering tearing forces from two different directions, with several cracking sounds, seemed like it could explode at any moment.

“If I can’t run away, I might as well not even try!”

With death at the doorstep, Li Yao’s heart felt like booming. His mind was clearer than ever. Time became slower for him, allowing him to observe the details of the dust storm.

“Zhou Zhenghao was correct. The universe is a big training camp in which I need to polish myself, train myself, and fight against the universe.

“Even if I must die, I’ll kill this damn dust storm first!”

Li Yao’s eyes blazed and he roared like a beast.

Instead of running, he boosted the power rune arrays to maximum in the same direction as the swirling of the tornado. At a speed faster than ever, he continued charging forward!

He was not taking the trip passively, but slashing everything aggressively in his way!

“Hu!”

A giant stone was thrown at Li Yao by a tornado.

For a moment, the saber demonstration that Long Wenhui had left woke up in Li Yao’s brain and streamed into his limbs and organs like shooting stars after an explosion.

“Shua!”

In the storm of death and the swirl of various colors, Li Yao slashed the giant stone into pieces in the most overwhelming way.

“Ouch! Ouch!”

A flying demon beast was drawn into the swirl, too. It dashed towards him while it was trying to maintain its balance.

Li Yao bellowed. He tilted the power rune arrays to change his direction and rushed towards the beast in wind and thunder.

In an almost perfect arc, his crescent saber slashed the high-level demon soldier into two halves.

“BOOM! BOOM BOOM!”

A violet tornado moved at Li Yao in the most formidable way.

Li Yao roared again. His soul was burning so ferociously that the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was covered in crimson, as if the crystal suit had become a 7-meter tall red giant. The spiritual energy on his saber was extended by more than ten meters and flared devilishly.

“Ho!”

Meaningless, random noises rolled out of Li Yao’s mouth.

They were the war cries deeply buried in the blood which had been uttered when ancestors of human beings were faced with natural disasters and animal assaults before they learnt how to speak.

Li Yao went for the tornado.

The crescent saber, in a sky-tearing brilliance, hit in the middle of the tornado.

His violent spiritual energy had ripped a giant hole on the tornado which he dashed right through.

Then, the tornado dissipated into countless clusters of wind, before they were absorbed by other tornadoes and completely vanished.

The tornado was killed by Li Yao!

Chapter 245: Second Match, Begin!

Just like that, Li Yao waved and slashed the saber in the dust storm like a devil.

Stones, demon beasts… Whatever stood in his way was immediately cut into pieces.

Time seemed to have stopped. The only thing that could be seen was the crimson twinkles of his saber.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but the dust storm eventually came to an end.

In the colorful tornadoes, the lightning bolts as thick as dragons shrank into the size of boas, then the size of earthworms, before they completely vanished.

With the dispersion of tornadoes, billions of tons of sand started falling. The prehistoric beast had died and decayed.

Li Yao regained control over his body. After several bursts from the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, he ripped a small hole in the dust and ran out through it.

“BOOM!”

After he was out of the dust storm, Li Yao finally couldn’t bear it any longer. He flew in the sky at a low altitude, then he landed and staggered forward; ultimately, he lost balance and fell over, raking a deep fissure behind him.

At the end of the fissure, he tried to turn his body around. Stretching his arms and legs, he lay on the ground and looked at the sky.

It was late at night. The dust storm had cleared all the clouds, making the starry sky all the more brilliant. Watching through the crystal camera, every star had a different halo, as if many fireflies were dancing and singing.

Li Yao grinned.

Only after one faced the terror of death could one appreciate the beauty of life.

“Shua!”

Li Yao waved his hands casually. Spiritual energy ejected from his palm and formed a light blade of over three meters, which flew forward with the wind and thunder for more than ten meters.

Saber Aura!

It’s the real Saber Aura that could destroy the enemy from a long distance away!

“While I was in the dust storm, cutting the tornadoes and slashing the lightning, I was able to blend the Desert Storm Saber Technique with the saber demonstrations from Long Wenhui. Now, I have a basic understanding of Saber Aura.

“But this is just the beginning. There is still a long way to go before I can use Saber Aura in real combat.

“As my very first Saber Aura, it is different from the Desert Storm Saber Technique as well as Long Wenhui’s saber art. Moreover, it is endowed with the feeling of tornadoes and thunder from back in the dust storm. I shall call it ‘Thunderous Tornado Saber Art’!

“For the next 20 days, my primary task will be to fully embed the Thunderous Tornado Saber Art into the crystal suit, and create my unique crystal suit technique.”

Li Yao thought about something. He opened the map that covered 500 square kilometers around the Thunder Training Camp in his crystal processor.

The Grand Desolate Plateau was a place of perils. There were forbidden zones everywhere because of the disorder of natural spiritual energies.

Some of them, due to the special terrains and the fluctuation of natural spiritual energies, were extremely likely to be struck by dust storms. They were also known as the Dust Storm Area, which were specially marked with a skeleton pattern on the map.

Li Yao found a particular Dust Storm Area named Wuthering Canyon.

The place was not far away from the Thunder Training Camp. Since dust storms were blowing there all year around which consumed much of the natural spiritual energy, the intensity of the storms was not very high. Most of them were only level 10 or level 9. It was a very stable Dust Storm Area.

“Wuthering Canyon will be my personal training ground!”

Li Yao had made up his mind.

From that day on, Li Yao went to the Wuthering Canyon to practice his aviation skill as well as his saber art alone after he finished his designated, daily training.

Mao Feng thought that he was out of his mind. However, the training camp did not ban students from training in the way that they deemed most suitable for themselves. After all, since Li Yao escaped from the dust storm, he seemed to have broken through his bottleneck and started climbing towards a higher peak.

Therefore, after discussing with Mr. Xu, Mao Feng didn’t reject the plan. Instead, he arranged a modified shuttle to send him to the Wuthering Canyon every day.

A deep sleep capsule was installed to the shuttle, in which Li Yao could take a good rest on his way to the Wuthering Canyon or back, so that he could make use of every minute of the day in training.

The only problem was that the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was breaking down due to the high intensity of training.

Every time, after a crazy training session, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit would be seriously damaged, with some power rune arrays set off and some components distorted.

It was lucky that Li Yao was a refiner himself. He brought the issue to the other two refiners respectfully from whom he learnt many basic crystal suit repairing tricks.

It also happened that the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was a simple and easy-to-modify crystal suit. Based on his modification experiences and the performance of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit in the tornadoes, he made some minor revisions during the repair to make the suit better fit his own combat style.

Technically speaking, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was the Thunder Training Camp’s possession. Li Yao had no right to modify it.

However, the Bloody Blade Battlesuit was so antique that few students ever used it. In fact, it had been idling in the corner all the time before Li Yao wore it. Besides, Li Yao claimed that he was only repairing the suit, and after everything was completed, the performance of the suit was above standard.

Therefore, after consulting with the two refiners, Mao Feng didn’t interfere. He was curious, too, as to how far Li Yao could go.

His position was highly dependent on his students. If he could bring up a strong student, his position would be more stable, too.

Days came and went.

Every day, from dawn to afternoon, Li Yao would receive the harshest training in the training camp.

At 3:30 pm, he would go to the Wuthering Canyon in deep sleep in the shuttle, where he would practice the saber art in the dust storm.

At 9:30 pm, after he returned to the Thunder Training Camp, he would head to the crystal suit warehouse and maintain the crystal suits for all the students. Then he would handle his Bloody Blade Battlesuit and learn to repair and modify it.

Every second was fully occupied. The letters to Ding Lingdang were quickly reduced to several lines.

20 days had passed.

In the Wuthering Canyon, the sky was so clear that it seemed to have been washed. Stars were blinking in delight. It was a peaceful night after a dust storm.

Li Yao relieved himself from the Bloody Blade Battlesuit and sat down beside it. He played with the stone that Long Wenhui had left for him in his hands.

Suddenly, Li Yao crumbled the stone with a cracking sound.

All the saber demonstrations on the stone had been learnt by heart. When he closed his eyes, he could see every detail of Long Wenhui’s movements with the saber in front of him.

Although he couldn’t comprehend all of them, he no longer needed the help of the stone. Every movement of the saber had been carved in his brain. He could study them at any moment.

Li Yao brushed off the stone powder in his palms and took out the second item that Long Wenhui had offered him.

The mysterious card.

Now that his spiritual energy was stronger than before, he could ‘summon’ the stars in the card at his will.

A starry sky in the card.

A starry sky over the head.

The two skies flickered against each other. They were equally splendid, magnificent and quiet.

Li Yao held his breath and appreciated the beauty of the universe in silence.

Hundreds of spiritual threads from his spiritual root crowded towards the mysterious card.

Ripples appeared on the surface of the card. All the spiritual threads were absorbed in.

Li Yao had long discovered that the card seemed to be a two-dimensional thin paper. But inside the card, there was a vast, complicated, three-dimensional labyrinth.

His hundreds of spiritual threads were at the entrances of the labyrinth. But no matter how he tried to extend his spiritual threads, he never reached the end of the labyrinth. His spiritual threads were not even able to meet one another in the labyrinth.

The labyrinth in the thin card was boundless. It was indicative of a professional space folding technique, as shown in the proverb ‘hide the world in a seed’ and ‘in a small sand contains three thousand universes’. It far exceeded the limitation of all the techniques in the Heaven’s Origin Sector as well as Li Yao’s imagination.

“It’s really a vast world.

“There are countless mysterious worlds waiting to be explored beyond the Heaven’s Origin Sector. There is countless magical equipment waiting to be studied!”

Li Yao sank all his attention into the card labyrinth.

He was satisfied, for he explored the labyrinth further than he did yesterday.

He believed that he would unravel the labyrinth and reveal the secret behind the card one day with persistence.

But his priority currently was the 20-out-of-50 elimination match the next day.

The 20 students who passed the match and entered the third phase of training, led by their instructors, would embark on a journey to the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau, a real battlefield!

Strong demon beasts would be waiting for them there!

There would be invaluable Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. An inconspicuous flower might be worth billions!

If anyone was fortunate enough to discover a new mother lode, their fame would soar and they would be a powerful person in the world of Cultivators!

Li Yao rose, put on the Bloody Blade Battlesuit, and strode out of the Wuthering Canyon.

…

“Swoosh! Boom!”

A firecracker exploded in the sky, dyeing it into various colors.

The second round of the elimination match would commence in five minutes.

The 20-out-of-50 elimination match was to be held in a special world fragment.

This world fragment had a coverage of around 50 square kilometers. Tall trees over a hundred meters tall were all over the place. Even if one entered the fragment in a crystal suit, one could still feel freezing chills blowing nonstop.

Therefore, this world fragment was named “Dark Wood World”!

Deep in the gloomy, creepy forest, two hundred light spots were randomly scattered, which were all miniature beast puppets that would sent out special spiritual energy waves.

The light spots that looked like fireflies were the targets for every student.

Everyone who collected more than ten light spots and held them for more than ten minutes would be considered a winner.

The more light spots one student had, the more waves would be sent out from them.

Other students could detect the waves easily and attacked the student to grab their light spots.

There were two hundred light spots in total, which meant there would be only twenty winners at most. As the match went on, the unclaimed light spots would be fewer and fewer, and the competition would be fiercer and fiercer!

Chapter 246: Double Hunting

In the Dark Wood World, there were no demon beasts. But there were many demoniac plants.

The most notorious one of them was the ‘Dry Snake Vine’ that often clung to the trees, which could be as long as hundreds of meters and as thick as a python. The bumps on its skin contained corrosive sap, too. It could be really tricky if one was caught.

Fifty students were all in their crystal suits now. They were doing final checks on their suits.

Li Yao observed his opponents carefully.

After two months of hard training, everyone had advanced greatly. They were riding their crystal suits so naturally that the suits seemed to be part of their bodies.

Most of the students were already in the high levels of the Refinement Stage. With the enhancement of the crystal suits, the air around them indicated that they were as powerful as the Building Foundation Stage Cultivators.

It was going to be a brutal battle!

While Li Yao was observing the others, he was being observed, too.

He’d chosen the Bloody Blade Battlesuit that he was familiar with, with camouflage patterns painted on the skin. It was striped with yellowish and greenish colors and did not look very attractive.

But no one dared to look down upon it.

If someone could take down Zhou Zhenghao, the ‘steel man’, they would be definitely stronger than they currently looked.

Long Qianyue and Yuan Yeshi were scanning and detecting the characteristics of Li Yao’s crystal suit carefully. They each had their own plans on how to deal with him.

After a moment, the screen inside everyone’s crystal suit displayed a countdown.

Three, two, one!

The second round of the elimination match had begun!

50 crystal suits, unleashing intensive exhaust flames, dashed into the dark, primitive forest from all directions.

The moment he entered the forest, Li Yao turned the power rune arrays down to minimum and switched to stealth mode. He moved in the forest quietly.

Instead of searching for the light spots scattered in the forest immediately, he decided to get familiar with the territory and figure out a forest combat strategy first.

“Swish!”

A Dry Snake Vine lunged at him ruthlessly.

“Shua!”

After a flash of the saber, the vine was cut into two slices.

The corrosive sap from the fracture almost reached Li Yao when he shunned it hurriedly. The sap fell to the ground and emitted terrible smell.

Li Yao observed his surroundings carefully. All the plants in the Dark Wood World were larger than normal. The thorns were thicker than his thigh. None of the trees here were lower than a hundred meters, forming a cage that locked everything inside.

He stayed in the forest for quite a while, and it was not until cries and explosions were echoing not far from him that he shifted his attention to the map.

Two hundred light spots were glimmering in the map.

Some of the light spots had been gathered together, releasing a brightness that was even more distinctive than fireflies at night.

They were the ones that were already claimed by some students. There were not many unclaimed light spots now.

Under the guidance of the map, he leaped forward from tree to tree like an agile ape.

Very soon, he found a light spot floating in the air among twigs.

The shining miniature beast puppet flew upwards the moment it felt a crystal suit was drawing near.

Li Yao stomped on the tree and followed it like an arrow just unleashed from the bow. He caught the light spot in his hand.

His spiritual threads crowded into the miniature beast puppet and activated the control program.

The miniature beast puppet stopped moving and stayed over his head.

The first light spot had been collected!

Soon, the second and third light spots were dancing over Li Yao’s head, too.

However, just like he could see the light spots on the map, so could everybody else.

As more and more light spots were claimed, there was too little meat for so many wolves. Conflicts were brewing.

Under the fourth light spot, Li Yao came across another student, who already had four light spots over his head.

The two of them stood and stared at each other quietly.

All added together, there were only eight light spots here in total, which was not enough for either of them to win.

Therefore, they didn’t start fighting immediately.

After a moment, Li Yao slowly retreated to darkness.

The other student was relieved. He thought that Li Yao feared his capability and didn’t want to fight over a single light spot.

However, the relief didn’t last long. Li Yao dashed out of darkness at him like a giant serpent!

His retreat was only meant to increase the distance between them so that he could sprint!

Fast!

Li Yao was too fast!

The student was aware that Li Yao was not a newbie, but it never occurred to him that Li Yao would be so strong!

There was no time to dodge. He waved his chainsword by instinct.

Li Yao felt great danger, but he still went directly for his opponent.

He lowered his body, allowing the chainsword to leave deep damage on his left shoulder. Then, in a flash of moonlight from down to top, he broke through the other student’s spiritual shield and slashed his saber at his opponent’s neck, the weakest part of the crystal suit.

Dazzling spiritual energy sparks burst out from the other student’s crystal suit. He was immediately determined to be ‘dead’ by the system and fell to the ground, unable to move anymore.

The light spots on his head were freed and pulled over by Li Yao’s spiritual threads.

Now, Li Yao was in possession of eight light spots, which made him extremely bright in the map.

He could feel that several crystal suits were coming close at a high speed even without the help of the crystal suit.

He moved his shoulder, and found that although its defense capability had been greatly diminished, the shoulder could still function normally.

Li Yao licked his lips. Then he began carrying out his plans.

Half a minute later.

After a rattling sound, a crystal suit charged out of the bushes towards the target it just locked.

When he reached it, he found that his target was rigid and had no light spots over his head because he was already determined to be ‘dead’.

Above his head, two Dry Snake Vines snuck down toward him.

He waved his blades and cut the two vines into pieces. But before he caught his breath, a chainsword pierced into his chest from inside the tree in front him and eliminated him instantly!

Li Yao had dug a hole in the middle of the tree, put the chainsword in it, and pasted the bark back.

With the burst of his spiritual energies, the chainsword was boosted and hit the newcomer instantly!

The student collapsed, completely stupefied.

Two light spots were floating slowly.

Li Yao smiled and stretched his spiritual threads to catch them.

He had gathered ten light spots, which met the first requirement.

Now, the countdown began. He needed to keep the light spots for ten minutes.

Since he had ten light spots already, his mark on the map turned into dangerously red, making him a target for everyone

Li Yao started running without any hesitation.

In less than two seconds, the place where he had been stood was pierced by more than 10 flying swords.

Soon, he noticed that he had several pursuers. He put the body movement technique he’d learnt in the dust storms into practice, turning himself into an erratic leaf in high winds.

For a time, he was on the top of the hundreds-of-meter tall trees; for a while, he was among the branches that were tangled together; for a moment, he was diving to the ground like he was committing suicide and didn’t turn his direction until he was only half a meter away from the ground.

The followers found it difficult to chase him. Two of them even crashed into each other because of Li Yao’s delicate, small-scale movements.

The distance between Li Yao and his followers grew larger and larger.

Right then, ahead of Li Yao, the bark of a giant tree twisted weirdly. A faint brightness shined and disappeared.

Li Yao felt that his heart had been pricked by a needle. He knew a great danger was coming. But there was no time for him to react except to lift his left arm in the hope to hold it back.

“Shua!”

He felt that his left arm was on fire. Dozens of warnings appeared on the screen of the crystal suit, indicating that his left arm had lost all functions.

If it were in a real battle field, his left arm would’ve been cut off already.

A crystal suit in an exotic shape revealed itself in the trunk. It was tall, thin, and green in color. Two sickles were installed at the ends of its arms. All in all, it looked like a metal mantis.

“Green Sickle Battlesuit, one of the most dangerous melee crystal suits, has four mimesis rune arrays on its skin, which gives it with the ability of imitation. The crescent chainswords on its arms can even tear apart the shells of a demon general!”

Li Yao remembered that the wearer of the Green Sickle Battlesuit was Yuan Yeshi.

“Li Yao, it never occurred to me that you could avoid my critical attack after only two months of training. That’s tremendous progress. Good for you!”

Seven light spots were floating over Yuan Yeshi’s head. He rubbed his crescent chainswords that looked like two giant sickles. Sparks were dancing as he said, “I really would like to figure out how you defeated Zhou Zhenghao one month ago. Please, do tell me everything about it with your true abilities!”

Li Yao took a deep breath and crouched. Two dust storms with wind and thunder were forming in his eyes.

Suddenly, he blinked. All his killing scent was gone. He turned around and went on fleeing to the deep forest.

Yuan Yeshi was stunned for a moment. He didn’t understand why Li Yao would choose to run away when he had brought up his killing scent and was ready for a desperate fight.

Half a second later, a crystal suit that looked like a silver fox in moonlight showed up beside Yuan Yeshi.

It was the Moon Fox Battlesuit driven by Long Qianyue, who had nine light spots over her head.

The other four pursuers were there, too, only to find that the top two experts of the training camp had already come.

They looked at each other in discontent. Knowing that they could do nothing about it, they retreated silently.

Yuan Yeshi’s face turned pale. Faced with the greatest enemy in the camp, he crossed the crescent chainswords before his chest.

Long Qianyue glanced at him and shook her head. She said, not without contempt, “I’m well aware of your capability, which does not interest me.”

After that, she dashed toward the direction in which Li Yao had fled like a silver laser.

Yuan Yeshi felt that his face was burning. He roared, “Long Qianyue, you can’t be certain of victory if we were to fight in real combat! Don’t be so outrageous!”

Gritting his teeth, he circled and followed up from a different angle.

Long Qianyue and Yuan Yeshi, the two best candidates in the training camp, were closer and closer to Li Yao, like two fangs of a beast, or a pair of pliers, that were ready to press him into pieces.

Chapter 247: Perish Together?

Li Yao fled like a scared rabbit. While he was running, he tossed countless black shining metal balls from the pouch on the waist of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit.

The metal balls exploded the moment they hit the trees and released clusters of dark smoke, blocking the vision of the two hunters and even interfering with their thoughts.

However, the two hunters were experienced Exos. They were not really troubled by the smoke grenades that had interference rune arrays on them.

Besides, even without the scanning of crystal cameras, Li Yao had been bright enough in the map after he’d collected ten light spots.

Now up high, now down low, breaking through the smoke, the two of them entered the center of the forest where trees were densest while chasing after Li Yao.

Suddenly, Long Qianyue came to a halt and crouched as if she were whipped in the face. She hid herself among the branches.

She felt a strong sense of danger.

But Yuan Yeshi felt nothing. He continued his way and soon discovered that Li Yao was trapped in a clump of Red Ring Thorn which he was struggling to get rid of.

Red Ring Thorn was another type of demonic plants. It was thicker than a human’s thigh. Normally, it would lurk in bushes in mimesis. At first glance, it was the same as any weeds.

However, should anyone accidentally step on it, it would immediately shed its camouflage and tie the prey up with pricks and zigzags which looked like red rings. Once the prey was killed, it would dissolve and swallow the prey.

Although Li Yao was in his crystal suit, he was still delayed a few seconds by the Red Ring Thorn.

Yuan Yeshi sneered. He sprinted, the sickle-like crescent chainswords in hand.

Suddenly, he heard something over his head. A giant clump of Red Ring Thorn was falling on him.

Li Yao, who was trapped and struggling in the Red Ring Thorn, instantly freed himself and came at him.

“I knew it was a trap!”

Yuan Yeshi had been prepared for this. He changed his direction suddenly and dodged the Red Ring Thorn above his head. His speed was not affected. In fact, he seemed to have accelerated when he slashed one of his chainswords at Li Yao’s neck and the other at Li Yao’s stomach.

Yuan Yeshi’s quick reaction seemed to be beyond Li Yao’s expectation. Li Yao twisted himself in the air dumbly.

Although he avoided attacks of the two chainswords, his chest was stomped on by Yuan Yeshi and he fell to the ground like a rock off a cliff.

“You’re done!”‘

Yuan Yeshi grinned hideously. He crossed his arms. Thousands of sparks were dancing in his chainswords. He stomped on the trunk of a tree and was ready to dive down.

However, the touch from the bottom of his feet was empty and not solid at all.

The tree which he stomped on leaned backwards.

Yuan Yeshi immediately understood what had happened. The tree had already been cut into two halves by Li Yao. But his slashing was so fast that the tree was still standing.

Now that he stomped on the tree, the formidable force from the crystal suit instantly pushed the tree down.

He didn’t get the counterforce that he had expected and lost balance; he suddenly felt short of breath.

This was just the beginning.

The moment he stepped on the tree, dozens of other trees around exploded at the same time and collapsed towards the middle.

The trunk of those trees had all been slashed by Li Yao, who also set up crystal bombs at the bottom of the trees.

Yuan Yeshi knew that it was not good.

This was the battlefield that Li Yao had chosen.

Long Qianyue and he hadn’t chased Li Yao to this place. It was Li Yao who’d lured them to the place on purpose.

The Red Ring Thorn was not a trap, but the pretense of a trap.

The trees that seemed to be perfectly normal were Li Yao’s real traps.

Right at this moment, he heard the sound of thunder.

All the crystal cameras on his crystal suit detected a cloud of dust storm with wind and thunder arriving from below to top.

Thunderous Tornado Saber Art!

For a moment, the deepest fear grasped Yuan Yeshi as if he were faced with a calamitous dust storm on a desert naked.

A moment was more than enough to decide the winner of two experts in a combat.

Yuan Yeshi failed to receive any counterforce and lost balance at first.

Then he was intimidated by the fallen trees and spent half a second calculating how to avoid the impact.

Before he finished his calculations, flashes of Li Yao’s saber had enveloped him.

The vigor in Li Yao’s attack was beyond his imagination!

But as a battlesuit major student from Deep Sea University, Yuan Yeshi calmed down at the face of death.

He was aware that Li Yao’s attack was accumulative. The more he tried to avoid it, the fiercer Li Yao’s attack would become.

What’s more, dozens of trees were falling upon him from above. In order to not run into them accidentally, he would have to spare some computational ability to calculate a safe route, whereas Li Yao must’ve already calculated the speed and direction of the falling trees. Chances were that Li Yao had even already sorted out the safe route in which he would dodge the trees.

If he went on dodging, Li Yao would dominate this combat. Before the trees reached the ground, he would be annihilated!

A brutal light burned in Yuan Yeshi’s eyes. With a grim face, he gave up on his defenses and charged towards Li Yao, ready to die together with him.

“Li Yao!

“Suppose your plan goes well and you kill me, I will still be able to heavily wound you before I die!

“Long Qianyue, the top expert in the training camp, is waiting outside the trees. Let’s perish together for her to enjoy the fruit!”

Yuan Yeshi spoke fast. His words dashed to Li Yao like flying swords.

Li Yao had spent so much time and effort to make this trap and was on the verge of success. Apparently, he wouldn’t choose to die together with him. He would definitely retreat!

As long as Li Yao retreated, or stopped his current actions, there would be flaw in his attacks. He would have a thousand ways to make a comeback!

However—

Li Yao seemed to have heard none of it. His speed increased to limit.

Yuan Yeshi’s sneer changed into desperation. In confusion and fury, he screamed, “Then, let Long Qianyue take advantage of us!”

Two crystal suits collided. The spiritual shields sprayed out dazzling sparks and scattered into pieces.

Broken chainswords flew to the sky and fell to the branches of a tree. Li Yao’s crescent saber was blown away, too.

In half a second, Yuan Yeshi was ‘dead’, Li Yao ‘seriously wounded’!

The crystal suits fell to the ground without support, because most of the power rune arrays on them had already blasted and lost the aviation ability.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The trees finally collapsed to the ground and buried the two of them, forming a giant tomb.

“Why?”

To this moment, Yuan Yeshi still couldn’t figure out why Li Yao chose to die together with him.

Yes, he was eliminated. But before his ‘death’, he’d also wounded Li Yao badly. Any random Exo could come and kill Li Yao right now.

Li Yao didn’t say anything. He lay in the mud with four limbs stretched out, waiting in the darkness silently.

Noticing the trees tangled together above them, Yuan Yeshi suddenly understood everything.

‘Asshole!

‘Blowing up the trees was not just meant to interfere my thoughts. More importantly, the trees are being used to cover him and buy him some time!’

Outside Li Yao’s trap, Long Qianyue was staring at the fallen trees, not knowing what to do.

She knew that Li Yao was hiding somewhere under the trees. But to get inside the heap of trees was indeed tricky.

Every tree weighed hundreds of tons. It was not difficult to cut each of them in half, but to move them away would be quite a different story.

Long Qianyue thought for a moment. A silver light appeared in her palm and she dashed towards the tree on the top of the heap.

After a crack, the tree was broken into two parts. But the two parts, after rolling for a while, stopped at the top of the heap.

Long Qianyue frowned. A sense of powerlessness gripped her.

There was no way that she could slash all the trees into pieces within several minutes.

Eventually, she gave up slicing them and tried to reach the bottom of the heap through the gaps between trees.

“BOOM!”

Right then, a dull explosion echoed under one of the trees, indicating the existence of yet another crystal bomb.

“He installed crystal bombs on the trunks, too?”

Long Qianyue felt like her blood was freezing.

She did not know how many crystal bombs had been installed. If they exploded as she passed by and Li Yao was nearby, the situation would be terrible.

Long Qianyue didn’t know how seriously Li Yao was wounded. But she did know that Yuan Yeshi was sure to have been taken down.

It would not be a wise decision to fight against such a formidable opponent in a battlefield with such complicated terrain and in his favor.

However…

After a moment, Long Qianyue blinked coldly and squeezed into a gap between trunks.

“Li Yao, if you think you could scare me off with a single crystal bomb, you are terribly mistaken!

“You only had a limited time to set up such an arduous trap for Yuan Yeshi. There’s no way that you could set up so many crystal bombs inside the trunks, too.

“Otherwise, you would’ve set all of them off together after I came inside, which would be better for your purpose, instead of setting off one before I’d even entered!”

Long Qianyue calculated a route inside the heap and jumped up and down through the trunk gaps.

Despite Li Yao’s futile struggle to attract her to the areas which were full of Dry Snake Vines and Red Ring Thorns, Long Qianyue caught up to Li Yao several minutes later.

Li Yao gave up resistance. He sat down exhaustedly, his back against a tree.

Every rune array on his crystal suit was spurting spiritual energy sparks in various colors.

Without saying anything, Long Qianyue locked onto her target with all her attack magical equipment.

However, the moment she was ready to launch her attack, the target vanished from her map.

The IFFS[1] had determined Li Yao to be ‘unassailable’ because Li Yao had survived for ten minutes!

He’d become the first student to pass the second elimination match!

[1] Identification of Friend or Foe System

Chapter 248: Dark Desolate Domain

Three days later, at a frontier base of the federal army located north of the Grand Desolate Plateau and hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest town.

In a well-guarded military base where crystal railguns could be seen everywhere, 25 Exos were doing last minute checks for their journey.

They were the twenty winners of the second elimination match of the Thunder Training Camp and five top instructors in the camp who were going on a field trip to the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau.

“The northern defense line, consisted of thousands of military bases, is the furthest frontier of the Star Glory Federation. The territory beyond this defense line, although claimed to be the federation’s domain, has a harsh natural environment with a lot of unexpected dangers and strong demon beasts. No humans could ever live there, nor could any ordinary armies station the area. We Cultivators are in charge of cleaning the place regularly.”

Mao Feng paced to and fro. His eyes were wide while he roared, “Make sure everything’s in working order with your crystal suit. Once we’re into the depths of the Grand Desolate Plateau, there will be no supplies or reinforcements. If something happens to your crystal suit, you will be in serious trouble!”

Li Yao tested in his crystal suit. He activated every rune array on the suit and check the data reports on the screen.

This would be the first time that he left the northern defense line to train in the lonely wilderness.

He was both anxious and excited.

He’d chosen the Bloody Blade Battlesuit as before.

After one month of maintenance and modification, the parameters of the Bloody Blade Battlesuit couldn’t be a better fit for his physique and combat style.

In light of the real battle to come that was bound to be different from the elimination matches, he’d added a lot of attack magical equipment modules to the suit which was now armed to teeth.

The Shattered Star Bombarder specially designed for crystal suits was wrapped in a chill air of blood. It could destroy high-level demon soldiers with a single blow.

“Check!”

“Check!”

“Check!”

25 crystal suits were standing dazzlingly in the middle of the military base. Five hundred soldiers of the base formed two rows beside them.

“Salute!”

The five hundred soldiers stood at attention and performed a perfect military salute.

The Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars, the national flag of the Star Glory Federation, was fluttering on the flagpole dozens of meters tall.

Soldiers of the federal army were mostly ordinary people. They could only station in the military base and defend their country in shelters.

The task of attack could only be shouldered by Cultivators.

Therefore, the soldiers paid their sincerest homage to the Cultivators.

Under their warm stares, the 25 Cultivators got on four heavy-type crystal tanks and embarked on their quest together with four wagons which contained enough crystal stones and supplies for half a month’s use.

One of the wagons could be transformed into a battlefield workshop where simple crystal suit maintenance could be performed.

Besides the 25 full-armed crystal suits, they also carried more than fifty beast puppets with strong firepower.

More than half an hour later, a glittering and translucent high tower appeared in front of them, which was the first man-made architecture they’d come across during their ride to the north.

Led by Mao Feng, all the students jumped down from the crystal tanks and stood around the tower in a circle.

The tower had been carved out of luminous crystals with hundreds of rune arrays on them. Eight small round towers stood around the tower in the middle, bringing a strong sense of mystery.

When they closed their eyes and observed through their spiritual roots, they discovered that countless colorful spiritual threads were embroiled around the high tower and stretched forwards in all directions to the end of horizon.

They were like a big net with rainbows weaved in, expanding around the entire world.

The high tower was a Spiritual Beacon which could send telepathic thoughts as a cell unit of the Spiritual Nexus. Only when one was in the coverage of a Spiritual Beacon and had signal could he use the Spiritual Nexus normally to receive or send telepathic thoughts.

“This is the last Spiritual Beacon you’ll see, which marks the boundary of human civilization. Later, we’ll enter the world of darkness where there is no network at all.

“I’ll give you five minutes. Whatever you want to say to your family or friends, say it now while there’s still network!”

Mao Feng’s words caused a minor turbulence.

Spiritual Beacons were THE greatest magical equipment in history.

The boundless spiritual network that allowed people worldwide to communicate with each other instantly was the foundation of the prosperous modern cultivation civilization.

For the students, they’d always been in the coverage of the Spiritual Nexus, even when they were fighting on the Grand Desolate Plateau.

Although the signal was sometimes intermittent, it was usable to communicate with the outside world, and if they came across danger, they could ask the Cultivators nearby or the military for help.

However, they’d met the last Spiritual Beacon at the edge of the human world. Further ahead, there would be no network at all. They wouldn’t be able to ask for help when they were in trouble.

Indescribable loneliness suddenly grasped them.

“We’re about to lose signal.”

“We’re going to be out of network for an entire month. That’s terrible!”

Everyone hurriedly contacted their family and friends while they still could.

Li Yao thought for a while. He took a selfie with the splendid view of the Grand Desolate Plateau as background and sent it to Ding Lingdang with a message that read,

“Before I enter the Dark Desolate Domain.”

Dark Desolate Domain was the collective name for the dangerous zones beyond the northern defense line that were never touched by human civilization.

This was the end of the world, the closest spot in the Heaven Origin Sector to the Blood Demon Sector, a chaotic land where spiritual energies were unfathomably fierce, home to countless strong demon beasts, as well as a place that boasted infinite Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and mother crystal lodes.

“BOOM! CRACK!”

Inside the Dark Desolate Domain, the spiritual energies fluctuated like surging tides, which had no pattern at all.

For a moment, it was sunny without the slightest hint of cloud. The next moment, lightning was already brewing behind heavy clouds and the rain was pouring down at any moment.

The lightning was rolling over in the clouds like vigorous dragons, which snapped at the ground every once in a while.

The power of Cultivators was completely overwhelmed by the rage of nature.

Mao Feng’s face turned pale as he screamed, “Disperse! Disperse now! Raise your spiritual shield output to maximum!”

The other experienced instructors had already dragged the students almost 100 meters away.

The moment they ran in all directions, a thunder resembling a golden dragon dashed down from the clouds and went directly for the Spiritual Beacon.

The defense rune arrays on the eight small round towers around the Spiritual Beacon were instantly activated, which formed a transparent shield over the Spiritual Beacon.

But it was not strong enough to withhold the frenzy of nature. A moment later, the eight towers exploded and the shield was gone. The thunder went on without stop and ripped the Spiritual Beacon into pieces.

Shattered crystals, accelerated by the lightning, was thrown to every direction like screaming bullets.

Luckily, everyone had already activated their spiritual shields, which stopped the shattered crystals and crushed them into ashes. Nobody was hurt, albeit truly shocked.

“Spiritual waves from the Spiritual Beacon are too intense. Once the natural spiritual energies are on a rampage, the Spiritual Beacon will always be the first thing to be destroyed! It’s like the lightning rod which is always hit first during a thunderstorm.”

Mao Feng added, “Building a Spiritual Beacon requires huge amounts of money and effort, not to mention the cost of many precious crystals. But it is quite easy for it to be damaged. Besides the lightning which can tear them apart easily, many strong demon beasts will also be attracted by the spiritual waves from the Spiritual Beacon and are willing to destroy it no matter what!

“Therefore, although Spiritual Beacons, as the core of the Spiritual Nexus, are of paramount importance to us, we can’t build them unlimitedly. Establishing one at this place is already the best we can do.

“In front of us is the Dark Desolate Domain, a dreary world without network that only the bravest dare to walk in!

“Cultivators, move forward!”

Against thunder and lightning, the squad dashed to the horizon.

Weather in the Dark Desolate Domain was never tranquil. The storm didn’t die down until one night later.

The world when everything was peaceful again was different from the outside, too.

The sky was red like blood. Clouds were twisted into colorful swirls. Many of them had giant holes through which one could see stars clearly.

Day and night was indistinctive here.

The land around was no longer barren. On the continuous hills grew demonic plants that none of them had ever seen before, which were extremely large due to the nourishment of abundant spiritual energy. Weeds that had razor-sharp edges were taller than any of them, which were shining weirdly under the violet sun.

In the dense forest, screams of demon beasts echoed; as if crystal bombs had exploded around the tanks they were in, every one of them felt a chill down their spines.

“Dark Desolate Domain is the closest spot in the Heaven’s Origin Sector to the Blood Demon Sector. Due to the universal gravitation, the two worlds were attracted to each other.”

All the students sat down around Mao Feng and listened to the rules of the Dark Desolate Domain.

Mao Feng had two big demon beast eggs in his hands. He lifted them up, “Let’s say this egg represents the Heaven’s Origin Sector, and the other egg represents the Blood Demon Sector.”

He put the two eggs together and knocked them gently,

The eggshell was thick. There were many cracks on the surface; the eggs didn’t break, but they were pinned together.

“The Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector are like two crushed eggs. The Dark Desolate Domain is the point of impact. The sky on the Grand Desolate Plateau is like the cracks on the eggshell.

“Why do wormholes often appear on the Grand Desolate Plateau? Because there are many cracks due to the impact of the two worlds.

“As for the inland of the federation, the sky there is as intact as a smooth eggshell without a single crack. Naturally, no wormholes will ever show up. It is through these cracks that the demon beasts find their way into our world.

“Observe the two eggs. Isn’t the point of impact most crowded with cracks and most likely to crumble?

“It is also the case with the real worlds. The Dark Desolate Domain is the most fragile and perilous place in the entire Heaven’s Origin Sector!”

Chapter 249: Vast Universe and Silver-blood Demons

Many of the students had read Introduction to Cosmology before and had a basic understanding about the distribution of parallel worlds. They nodded in agreement.

But some of them didn’t know much about the universe. Although they were aware of the existence of parallel worlds, they didn’t understand why two worlds would collide.

Outside the Heaven’s Origin Sector were boundless stars and an endless vacuum. Even the closest galaxy was thousands of light years away. They couldn’t imagine how the collision took place.

Seeing the confusion in their faces, Mao Feng further explained, “Yes, from a three-dimensional point of view, all the different worlds are located in the same universe in their respective galaxies.

“The Heaven’s Origin Sector is in one of the galaxies, while the Blood Demon Sector is in another.

“Theoretically speaking, there are no barriers between the parallel worlds. We can sail anywhere we want freely. The only thing that stops us is the long distance.

“With the current level of technology in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, if we refine a crystal warship that can sail in the universe, it might take us millions of years to reach our neighboring galaxy. Or the parallel world next to us, if you will.

“In the three-dimensional level, the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector are at two ends of the universe with a very long distance in between. There’s no way that the two of them will ever be related.

“But if you were to jump out of the three-dimension and move on to a higher level, everything would be different.

“In a higher dimension, every parallel world is a sealed egg that is placed next to each other in a way that we can’t comprehend. If two eggs are too close, there will be attraction between them which may lead to collision and even fusion of a brand new parallel world.

“The Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector is exactly such a double-world system.

Noticing that many students were still confused, Mao Feng took out a piece of white paper and drew one circle on either side of the paper.

“See? Let’s say this piece of paper is a two-dimensional universe, and the two remote circles stand for the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector respectively.

“In the two-dimensional level, the two worlds are far from each other. There is no way for one of the worlds to reach the other one, let alone crushing.

“However—”

Mao Feng folded the paper. The two circles that had been on opposites sides now overlapped.

“If a strong power can break the two-dimensional rules and understand this fictional universe in the three-dimensional level, it will find that the two worlds are right beside each other.

“This is the relationship between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, too

“As two galaxies, we are at different areas of the universe with trillions of light years in between.

“But as two parallel worlds in a higher dimension, we’re very close to each other like the two circles on the paper. That’s why there is attraction between the two worlds that eventually leads to the collision.

“Chances are that, one day, the two circles will merge into one!

“Alright, as battle-type Cultivators, you’ve learnt enough already.

“The more profound theories will be explored by the research-type Cultivators.

“Anyways, just remember this: The Dark Desolate Domain is the point of impact between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector. Spiritual energies from both worlds intersect here, making this place the most abundant, furious and chaotic in either of the worlds.”

This argument was very simple. Everybody understood it immediately.

It was like the intersection of two seas where the resources carried by undercurrents congregated.

Mao Feng continued, “The rich spiritual energy here consolidated into all kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and mother crystal lodes. They also provide nourishment for the intimidating mutant demon beasts and demonic plants. This is a treasury that boasts inexhaustible resources.

“However…

“Despite the ample natural resources, the place is too far away from the federation. Besides, the spiritual fluctuations here are too fierce for large-scale crystal fleets to sail.

“If our main troops were deployed here, they might get caught by the spiritual energy swirls and be torn into pieces by accident!”

The students were reminded of the thunderstorm last night.

It was not a common thunderstorm, but a violent tide caused by the clash of the spiritual energies from two worlds.

The crystal warships that the Heaven’s Origin Sector could produce at present were not capable of sailing against such spiritual energy tides.

A war in reality was not a game. It was a money-burning task.

Countless crystals and resources would be consumed for a single quest of a large-scale fleet.

If the fleet were to be scattered by the tides after a long march, the huge military expenditure would be for nothing. And this was not counting the loss of soldiers.

It was also the reason why the Star Glory Federation, after five hundred years of bloody battles, still failed to conquer the Dark Desolate Domain.

Their biggest adversary was not the demon clan but nature itself.

“Listen up, everyone. Strong as the crystal warships may be, they cannot cruise in the Dark Desolate Domain. Here, Cultivators, especially us Exos, are the boss. We are the main forces in the war!”

Mao Feng’s words ignited everyone’s passion. They all couldn’t wait to start hunting demon beasts, plundering Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and increasing their own ability right now.

Mao Feng pressed his hands down and eased everyone. He continued, “This is about everything related to the Dark Desolate Domain. For the next month, you will be fighting and training here. A fifth of the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that you collect will go to the training camp, of which half will cover the repair fee of your crystal suits and half will be the instructors’ payment. Is that okay with everybody?”

Everyone nodded.

Their crystal suits were all provided by the training camp. It would be costly to fix them if they were damaged. The repair fee seemed reasonable.

The instructors’ payment was even fairer.

The five instructors were all above middle-level of the Building Foundation Stage. With the enhancement of the crystal suits of the latest models, they could wield the strength of the Core Formation Stage.

It was under the protection of the five Cultivators that the students dared to fight and train in the Dark Desolate Domain at ease.

Otherwise, they would be committing suicide if they decided to train here, considering that they were all merely in the Refinement Stage.

A tenth of their harvest as payment for the instructors was a deal that couldn’t be fairer.

Mao Feng nodded his head, then he brought up something else.

“Alright, since there is no objection, we’ll start our training now. But before that, I need to remind you of something very important.

“The Dark Desolate Domain is full of dangers. Thunderstorm zones and dust storm zones are ten times more frequent and stronger than those outside.

“There are also strong mutant demon beasts lurking in darkness waiting for their prey.

“However, none of the above are the most appalling thing.

“The most appalling thing here is the infiltration squad of the demon clan, which is made of the elite soldiers in the demon army. Some of the squads are even made up of silver-blood demons exclusively!”

Everyone gasped at Mao Feng’s words.

Li Yao recalled the composition of the demon clan.

Different from mankind, the demon clan was not a unique species, but a collective name for the unification of countless kinds of demon beasts.

Sometimes, the difference between two demon beasts was even bigger than that between a demon beast and a human being.

For example, some mammal demon beasts, especially the primate ones such as demon monkeys or demon apes, looked very similar to human beings, but entirely different from the arthropod demon beasts such as the Gold Armored Saber Mantis.

Why would a monkey consider a mantic to be its own kind, even if the latter had wisdom?

Moreover, many demon beasts were natural enemies and on different parts of the food chain. They had been attacking each other for billions of years. The hatred had melted into their blood.

Therefore, since the Demon Beast Empire 40,000 years ago, strong demons had been oppressing weak demons by ruthless coercion, who then enslaved and shackled the weaker demons.

After 30,000 years of development, four classes had been formed in the Demon Beast Empire.

In the bottom were the black-blood demons, who served as food, peasants and cannon fodder.

Black Armored Saber Mantis was a typical black-blood demon.

They were the main force for the invasion to the Heaven’s Origin Sector and also inexhaustible cannon fodder. Even if they were to go extinct, high classes of the Blood Demon Sector wouldn’t feel the least bit sorry about it.

Above the black-blood demons were bronze-blood demons, which was a class of warriors.

The Six-Armed Naga that Li Yao came across in the Verdant Tarn City was a bronze-blood demon.

On the top of the bronze-blood demons were silver-blood demons, who were the aristocrats and governors of the world of demon beasts, as well as the main contributors of the demon clan civilization.

One could say that only the demon beasts equal to or higher than silver-blood were the real demons. The black-blood and bronze-blood demon beasts were nothing but slaves or food in their eyes which were no different from human beings, if not worse.

After all, human beings had established a great civilization. Many of their creations were popular among the demon clan, too.

As for the gold-blood demons, also known as sacred-blood demons, were the royals of the world.

During the Demon Beast Empire’s 30,000-year reign over the cosmos, more than ten dynasties had replaced one another. Royals of the dynasties all spent boundless resources to improve the quality of their blood, thereby increasing their strength. That’s why they were called ‘sacred-blood’.

However, during the substitution of dynasties, the sacred-blood demons often turned against each other.

After the Star Ocean Imperium was founded, the Supreme Emperor commanded the annihilation of the sacred-blood demons which almost exterminated them.

Now, the sacred-blood demons only lived among legends. There might not be a single sacred-blood demon in the entire Blood Demon Sector.

The current Blood Demon Sector was made up of hundreds of demon cities created by silver-blood demons. The cities were fighting and merging in conflicts.

An infiltration squad entirely made up by silver-blood demons was like ‘the Imperial Guards’ of the ancient kingdom. One couldn’t think too highly of them.