Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 550

Chapter 550: Invincible in the Refinement Stage

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao opened his hands and showed that he meant no harm to them, before he said calmly, “It’s true that I came from space, but I did not come here on purpose; I was forced to land on Iron Plateau due to an accident. I want to leave Iron Plateau as soon as possible, too. Therefore, I would like to make a deal with you.

“I need a maintenance workshop with furnaces. It doesn’t matter whether the furnaces are advanced or not, as I will modify them myself.

“Other than that, I need some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and super alloys. If you don’t have alloys, common metals will do. I can purify and merge them myself.

“If you have starships that can sail across space zones, I’m hoping that I can borrow one, too.

“Stop glaring at me so much. Since this is a deal, I will not use your stuff without offering anything in return.

“Truth be told, I’m a refiner with reasonably good skills. If you can provide the resources and facilities that I need, I can help you repair and refine magical equipment in return!

“The weapons and tanks that you are using right now are still at a very low phase in regard to the utilization of spiritual energy. I can help you craft a batch of stronger, more advanced magical equipment.

“As for the category and number of the magical equipment, we can always sit down and negotiate.

“I know that you dislike visitors from space. Honestly speaking, I’m not very used to the environment of Iron Plateau, either. You want me to get my ass out of here, and I want to get my ass out of here, too. Therefore, we all share the same purpose here. Why don’t we help each other and work this thing through? How does that sound?”

Li Yao mixed a stream of spiritual energy in his voice. It was not very loudly, but all the qi-trainers heard him clearly.

Whispers immediately spread among the qi-trainers.

The muscular man in the lead, whose chin was embedded with two rivets, eyed Li Yao suspiciously and asked all of a sudden, “You know how to refine magical equipment? So, you must be a Cultivator!”

Li Yao thought for a moment and nodded his head. “Yes, I am.”

His reply made the qi-trainers burst into fury as if they were cats whose tails had been stomped on.

“Cultivator! A Cultivator!”

“The traitors are shameless enough to return to Iron Plateau!”

The muscular man waved his saber and shouted, “Did you cowards not run fast as if there’s oil beneath your feet? Why are you bold enough to come back to Iron Plateau? We don’t buy your spiel. Deal? Damn it! The Burning Sun Tribe will not make any deals with traitors!”

“Slay him! Slay the traitor!”

“We will not negotiate with traitors. Never!”

Li Yao was dumbfounded.

He knew that the relationship between qi-trainers and Cultivators was not good from Huangpu Xiaoya’s story, but he had never expected that qi-trainers would hate Cultivators so much.

What did they mean by ‘traitors’ and ‘cowards’?

The muscular man slapped the iron horse under his bottom with his saber, raising a large cluster of sparks, while he bellowed, “Let’s go and capture the Cultivator, everyone! Everyone in our tribe will see clearly how evil and ugly the cowards who defected in the old days are!”

The qi-trainers all yelled and roared. Intense black smoke was popping up from the back of their tanks, mixed with vague crimson exhaust flames. The battle was about to begin at any moment.

“Who dares to make a move?”

Li Yao was angry. He bulged his eyes and yelled as his killing intent swept across everyone on the spot.

Although his combat ability was confined to the peak of the Refinement Stage, his battle awareness and killing intent were still in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage. The qi-trainers were all intimidated by his shout.

Li Yao frowned. Unless it was absolutely necessary, he was not willing to fight the qi-trainers.

After all, he would need the maintenance workshop of the qi-trainers and had to ask for their help to gather certain rarely-seen metals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

It was not difficult to beat them, but it would be troublesome to make a deal with them after a huge fight.

“I am not a man who likes to play weak. It’s not my style to conceal my capability, either!”

Daunting aura surrounded Li Yao, as he continued speaking. “I don’t want to see meaningless blood shed on this land. I have reached the peak of the Refinement Stage. You are definitely no match for me!

“Let me repeat myself. I’m more desperate to get the hell off the planet than you!

“I have no other purpose; I merely want to make a deal with you.

“However many resources I get from you guys, I will craft magical equipment twice as valuable for you!

“If you are not open to negotiations, then let’s just go our separate ways. There’s no need to quarrel.”

Li Yao was aware that those under the banner of the Burning Sun Alliance were not the only qi-trainers on Iron Plateau.

He had observed qi-trainers at a close distance and collected enough information for his next step. It was completely doable to find another tribe that was friendlier to foreigners.

“Peak of the Refinement Stage?”

Li Yao’s proud declaration somehow awed the qi-trainers, who were all asking each other, “What is the peak of the Refinement Stage exactly?”

“How strong must he be to have reached the peak of the Refinement Stage?”

“He must be lying!”

“How can anyone advance into the peak of the Refinement Stage? How formidable must the peak of the Refinement Stage be! Such people must be powerful enough to blow up a planet or a divinity with one punch!”

Li Yao took a long breath and tried to hold back his amusement.

It appeared that he had overestimated the qi-trainers. The Cultivation level of this Burning Sun Tribe should not be very high because they had never heard of the peak of the Refinement Stage before!

The muscular man in the lead was surprised, too. A moment later, he suddenly burst into fury and waved his saber. “Nonsense! Peak of the Refinement Stage? Never heard it. Never saw it. He must be lying! Let’s go and capture him!”

“What a bunch of short-sighted frogs!”

Li Yao sniffed and activated ‘Soaring into Heaven in One Leap’, his Soul Igniting Law, to the maximum. Spiritual gas suddenly surged out of his body. In the middle of the bright gold waves, a giant yellow falcon dashed out of his body and flew to the sky with a heaven-splitting shriek!

He had entered the peak of the Refinement Stage!

“Like I said, I don’t like to keep a low profile. This is the legendary level of the peak of the Refinement Stage. If you are only willing to talk after a good fight, just bring it on!”

Soaked in bright golden flames, Li Yao warmed up his fingers.

He had seen that manners and politeness meant little to the qi-trainers who lived in the desolate land.

Maybe, he should teach them a lesson by crushing over them with overwhelming capability before he talked about negotiations.

The image of the yellow falcon gradually spread out over Li Yao’s head. The unparalleled aura of the peak of the Refinement Stage rendered everyone speechless. Even the noises of the tanks seemed to have been suppressed!

Looking at the light flames dancing around Li Yao, the qi-trainers were stunned, with weird expressions on their faces.

After a moment, the muscular man stammered, “Is—is this the peak of the Refinement Stage?”

Li Yao smiled casually. “Indeed, it is. Now, can we talk nicely?”

The muscular man blinked and looked at his companions in bewilderment, as if he could not believe his eyes. A moment later—

All the qi-trainers burst into the loudest laughter.

They laughed so hard that their faces were all red, and they found it hard to sit straight. One of the qi-trainers almost fell off from his iron horse, with tears dripping off his cheeks.

Li Yao was lost. He felt that a cold wind had just blown past him.

The muscular man looked at Li Yao in the same way one would look at a retard, as he scorned, “The Refinement Stage is boundless and endless! I, Yan Chihuo, have reached the 57th level of the Refinement Stage, and I’m not sure that I’ve seen the peak of the Refinement Stage yet!

“You’re a shrimp, only at the 14th level of the Refinement Stage, and you are boasting that you are at the peak of the Refinement Stage? This is the biggest joke of the year!

“If by peak of the Refinement Stage you meant the 14th level of the Refinement Stage, I have too many people of such a level in my team!”

“Yes. We are all at the peak of the Refinement Stage!”

Behind Yan Chihuo, the muscular man, several qi-trainers of the Burning Sun Tribe screamed. Crazy airwaves spread out instantly, showing that they had reached the peak of the Refinement Stage in such a short amount of time.

Moreover, the airwaves they triggered were much more unsteady and disobedient than what Li Yao knew to be the peak of the Refinement Stage!

“Level 19 of the Refinement Stage!”

“Level 21 of the Refinement Stage!”

The two qi-trainers laughed confidently.

Li Yao was so shocked that his jaw nearly dropped.

What—what the heck?

It was commonly known that the Refinement Stage was classified into fourteen levels, namely thirteen preliminary levels and the ultimate level, which was better known to be the peak of the Refinement Stage.

This was the common sense passed on by the ancient Cultivators. Common sense!

The reason for the classification was that Cultivators in the Refinement Stage were still new to the absorption and utilization of spiritual energy. They could only master the spiritual energy in the gaseous form, which was ‘spiritual gas’.

When a Cultivator arrived at the peak of the Refinement Stage, the spiritual gas that they could make use of would reach the limit. It would be useless to absorb more spiritual gas even if they tried. If anything, the excessive spiritual gas might cause harm to their body and mind!

When the volume of spiritual gas reached its limit, the purpose of training would be shifted from absorbing more spiritual gas to the compression of the existent spiritual gas so that it could be transformed into the liquid form, or ‘spiritual liquid’.

In the same volume, the damage contained inside the spiritual liquid was more than ten times higher than that contained in the spiritual gas!

A shallow example would be to compare training to the establishment of an army. The Refinement Stage Cultivators were like generals who continued transforming peasants into privates.

But the more the better did not apply to soldiers in an army. When the number of them reached the ceiling, new soldiers would not improve the combat ability of the army, but only make it more difficult for the general to command. They would consume too many supplies, not to mention that there might not be enough military camps to accommodate the unnecessary soldiers!

If faced with tough enemy, loads of untrained green hands would definitely be the greatest disaster on a battlefield!

Therefore, when the number of soldiers passed a certain threshold, the combat ability of the army could only be improved through the harshest training and competitions so that the soldiers would become seasoned warriors.

The experienced generals all knew that ten thousand untrained soldiers were definitely no match for a thousand, or even five hundred, warriors who were obedient and well-trained.

This was also the essential difference between the Refinement Stage and the Building Foundation Stage.

These qi-trainers, on the other hand, apparently had been absorbing spiritual gas without any restriction. They seemed to have stored endless spiritual gas inside their bodies and embarked on a whole different path of Cultivation.

No wonder you are called qi-trainers! Li Yao shouted loudly in his mind.

Have you never considered advancing to ‘building foundation’ at all and simply run down the path of collecting qi (spiritual gas) without even seeing what is around you?

Translator’s Thoughts

 flycrane01

Although “qi” has multiple meanings, it can be understood as “spiritual gas” in the recent chapters. Translating the natives of Iron Plateau as “spiritual gas trainers” sounds… weird.

Chapter 551: Resonation! Resonation!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Shrimp!”

Yan Chihuo, the muscular man who had rivets on his face, roared, “Let me show you the real invincibility of the Refinement Stage! Die!”

As Yan Chihuo exerted his strength, his leather clothes made of the hide of demon beasts broke apart, revealing his bulging muscles that were as red as fire. His thick veins protruded out of his skin, as if a flood was surging in them.

After a while of yelling and shouting, the spiritual gas around him quickly expanded and swept over the land like invisible flames. Very soon, it reached almost fifty meters away!

The fifty square meters were wreathed in scorching air, as if it were a crater where a volcano eruption was about to occur!

“This is the formidableness of the 57th level of the Refinement Stage! When I break into the 100th and the 1000th level of the Refinement Stage, I will slay the so-called Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators from space should they come to our place!”

The giant saber in Yan Chihuo’s hand was glittering. The joints made of rivets spurted a huge amount of sweltering steam, making the savage saber unprecedently domineering!

The aura of the blade rushed close and crashed into Li Yao’s nose, only to shatter into pieces.

Li Yao was truly speechless.

He did not have the faintest clue what the guys were doing.

The peak of the Refinement Stage was known to be ‘peak’ because additional spiritual gas released by a Cultivator when he surpassed the peak was useless.

The maximum density of spiritual gas in a given space was fixed. The more spiritual gas a Cultivator released, the larger the area it would occupy. This particular area was called one’s ‘spiritual domain’.

Take this Brother Yan Chihuo for example. He was unleashing the spiritual gas of the 57th level of the Refinement Stage, and his spiritual domain was around fifty meters in diameter.

The real problem was that the perception and manipulability of a Refinement Stage Cultivator were limited. They could only sense and control the spiritual gas within around twenty square meters.

It meant that the maximum size of the spiritual domain for a Refinement Stage Cultivator was twenty square meters. Even if a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was to suppress their capability to the Refinement Stage, their spiritual domain would still be less than twenty square meters!

It was the law of Dao and nature!

Only the spiritual gas within one’s spiritual domain was under the command of the Cultivator. The spiritual gas out of the range of the spiritual domain could do nothing except to show off and scare other people away!

Therefore, Li Yao had no idea what the qi-trainers were trying to do by summoning so much spiritual gas that far exceeded their spiritual domain.

Or, was it their fighting style that whoever brought out the most spiritual gas would be the strongest?

Li Yao tilted his head, his eyes wide open. He couldn’t have been more curious as to what Yan Chihuo was going to do with the wandering spiritual gas out of the range of his spiritual domain.

A broadcast rune array seemed to have been installed inside Yan Chihuo’s chest, as he was screaming louder and louder without any rest, producing a sound not dissimilar to a pig about to be butchered.

The rest of the knights from the Burning Sun Tribe echoed with him. Roars were rumbling nonstop, as if it were a slaughterhouse.

Li Yao felt that his head was dizzy and wondered whether or not it was a special form of sound attack.

As the qi-trainers bellowed and their fighting will soared, the spiritual gas inside their spiritual domain started vibrating crazily.

The vibration quickly rippled out and caused the spiritual gas outside the spiritual domain to vibrate together.

Since they were not far away from each other, most of their spiritual domains actually overlapped. The spiritual gas inside such spiritual domains gradually melded together.

Li Yao felt something was off.

He discovered, to his surprise, that the vibrating spiritual gas of the qi-trainers was gradually adjusted to the same frequency and stimulated mutually. In the end, the overall volume of the spiritual gas was greatly enhanced.

It was… resonation!

Are you kidding me? Resonation of spiritual gas?

Making use of the spiritual gas outside the spiritual domain by way of resonation?

Li Yao quickly thought through the mechanism behind the attack.

But there was no time!

All the spiritual gas within the three hundred square meters was resonating. Not only were the eyes of the qi-trainers blood-red and their body size greatly expanded as if they went berserk, the stability of Li Yao’s own spiritual domain was affected, too. Before combat began, his fighting will had been completely suppressed, and he felt palpitations and shortness of breath!

Are you serious? These guys can wield the combat ability of Building Foundation Stage Cultivators simply by the resonation of their spiritual gas?

What kind of technique is this?

Li Yao’s face color finally changed.

Yan Chihuo raised his battle saber, which was now enveloped in surging spiritual gas, as if it had become a gargantuan bat, and smashed down at Li Yao’s head!

Li Yao cried and fled with his head hidden in his hands, but he was still affected by the aura of the blade. He felt that the peak of the Refinement Stage was completely unable to resist the strike of the 57th level of the Refinement Stage. Before the falcon of spiritual gas shrieked, its feathers had already been plucked out and it had turned into a chicken!

“Little Black, let’s run!”

Knowing that it was not good, Li Yao whistled. Black Wing dashed out in a streak of blackness, only to hover and shiver around him as if it were saying, “Am I the most reliable one at critical moments?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes. You are the best!”

Hardly had Li Yao finished his sentence when Yan Chihuo launched his second attack. The guy seemed uninterested in killing Li Yao, because he was attacking with the back of his saber.

However, with such unbelievable strength, the edge of the saber and its back did not really have much of a difference.

Li Yao shrank his neck, his hair dancing crazily in the air.

Black Wing realized that it was not time for fun. It circled around Li Yao and brought him to the sky!

“Fly higher!” Li Yao shouted.

According to his observations, the vehicles of the qi-trainers had been flying close to the ground or even running on the ground. They did not boast much flight ability in the sky.

A large cluster of black brightness spurted out of the grip of Black Wing, which turned into almost ten helical air currents and drove them into the sky.

But he was not even a hundred meters away yet when he heard swooshing noises behind him, only to find that the True Qi cannons on the tanks had opened fire!

The so-called True Qi cannon was actually just a thick, hollow tube with dense, tiny holes in the rear.

The spiritual gas that the qi-trainers unleashed instantly was extremely powerful. When a huge amount of spiritual gas entered the tube through the tiny holes, immense pressure would be caused.

At the front end of the tube was a neatly located crystal bomb. As long as the tube boasted enough airtightness, the pressure, having nowhere to go to, would be transformed into impetus and launch the crystal bombs!

In a moment, dozens of crystal bombs had been launched toward Li Yao.

Crude design, redundant components, and shabby rune arrays. The utilization rate of crystals is too low! Li Yao was not satisfied by the crystal bombs manufactured by the qi-trainers after glancing at them.

However, it did not change the fact that their crystal bombs were much larger in size.

Li Yao’s own crystal bombs were usually the size of fists, if not the size of fingers.

But the smallest of the qi-trainers’ crystal bombs was as big as his head, with sharp spurs on the shell, which made them look like big caltrops. They were shining coldly and awe-inspiringly!

BOOM! BOOM!

The caltrops exploded one after another in the air. The shell was ripped open, and the pieces with sharp spurs blossomed and occupied the entire area!

Although Li Yao had activated his spiritual shield, he was still penetrated through by almost ten pieces of shrapnel, which stabbed into his body brutally.

Swoosh!

Then, large nets weaved with thorns were launched to the sky. The nets seemed to be influenced by a certain uncanny technique, too. They twisted and opened automatically in the sky even though there was no wind. A few of them even connected each other, ready to swallow Li Yao like a bloody mouth!

“Change the direction! Lower the altitude!” Li Yao shouted.

He hadn’t expected the qi-trainers to have such air defense ability. It would be committing suicide to continue flying in the sky right now!

Black Wing shrieked. The tip of the sword was aimed at the ground, and it was not until the sword was half a meter from the ground that it switched its angle and zigzagged forward!

“Go after him! Capture him!”

The iron knights chased after him while launching crystal bombs with the True Qi cannons.

Although Black Wing was faster than the tanks of the Burning Sun Tribe, it had to dodge the crystal bombs.

The bombs were not very powerful, but they would raise intense black smoke after they exploded. The spiritual waves they unleashed caused major interference to Black Wing’s normal flight.

One party running and the other chasing, they soon reached the valley that Li Yao had prepared earlier.

The valley seemed to have been slashed by a battle saber. Steep cliffs were on the two sides of the valley, and its bottom was too deep to measure. Occasionally, the rocks on the two sides of the valley collided, thereby forming natural bridges in the sky. From the bottom, they looked like stone gates. The territory of this place was extremely complicated.

Black Wing darted among the bizarre-shaped stones agilely as if it were a black mouse that had grown wings.

The tanks of the qi-trainers, on the other hand, were less swift. Now and then, one of the tanks would hit the rock, infuriating the rider on them.

Yan Chihuo’s motor skills were apparently the best among the qi-trainers. He remained close behind the prey. While chasing, he even burst into laughter.

“You want to race with me? I’m a man born for racing! I’m the best racer on Iron Plateau!”

Is that so? Then do excuse me.

After passing through a stone gate, Li Yao mumbled something to himself and triggered an iron chip carved with runes in his pocket.

BOOM!

The rocks on two sides of the valley collapsed like a flood. The stone gate was completely destroyed. The smoke raised by the explosion filled more than half of the valley.

Yan Chihuo’s furious curses could be heard inside the smoke.

Li Yao took a long breath in relief. He then dashed out of the valley, accelerating to the highest speed on Black Wing, and ran to the northwest without even looking back.

He did not even stop by the cave where he had been hiding. It was not until dawn the next day that he took a moment of rest.

It turned out to be wise decision.

With the help of Neltharion, Li Yao discovered that more than fifty teams of the Burning Sun Tribe, with almost a thousand soldiers, were searching the desert.

A thousand people!

Li Yao was secretly alarmed. If all one thousand qi-trainers had surpassed the peak of the Refinement Stage and were in the 20th to the 40th level of it, they could prove to be formidable armed forces when they entered the berserk state with the weird technique of resonation with the spiritual gas.

No wonder Iron Plateau became a forbidden area for Cultivators! Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would have a headache if they were faced with a thousand berserk qi-trainers!

Chapter 552: Plan B, Initiated!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao combed his messy hair. A large cluster of dust fell off his head. He coughed, but his eyes shined as he thought of something.

I’ve been trying to find a way to break the shackle of the Black Spider Death Curse and return to the high level of the Building Foundation Stage or an even higher one.

But right now, I won’t be able to do that with the capability of one at the peak of the Refinement Stage!

What if I surpass the so-called ‘peak’ just like those qi-trainers had done and advance into the 25th level, 50th level, and even the 100th level of the Refinement Stage?

I will definitely be able to destroy the Black Spider Death Curse completely when I’m in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage!

The idea was like a morning star in the night sky, which illuminated Li Yao’s entire brain.

It seemed to be a crazy plan, but not completely undoable on second thought.

Firstly, from the battle against Yan Chihuo yesterday, Li Yao sensed that, although the guy’s spiritual gas was more furious than usual, it was essentially the same as the spiritual gas of Refinement Stage Cultivators, except that it was much larger in quantity.

Secondly, judging from the tiny wrinkles on Yan Chihuo’s face, he should be no older than 35 years old despite his rough appearance.

Also, the rest of the knights of the Burning Sun Tribe who were around the twentieth level of the Refinement Stage looked rather young and in their twenties, too. A young boy who might not have reached adulthood yet had already almost reach the twentieth level of the Refinement Stage!

It meant that the training after the 14th level of the Refinement Stage was not too difficult. Or, there were certain secret arts on Iron Plateau that could make somebody advance into higher levels of the Refinement Stage quickly.

Since he had already been in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage before, his understanding about spiritual energy and his construction of spiritual energy models were far more sophisticated than common Refinement Stage Cultivators.

If he grasped the tricks of advancement, he should be able to rush upwards at an unbelievable speed!

Before, Li Yao had been in a hurry to leave Iron Plateau at the earliest chance, but now that he had discovered the qi-trainers’ secret, he changed his mind and was not so desperate to get away anymore.

He had a vague feeling that whether or not he could make another major breakthrough in his Cultivation would depend on his experience on Iron Plateau.

However, it was not an easy task when Li Yao pondered it more carefully.

The qi-trainers had a strong bias against space residents, especially Cultivators. Whatever conditions he offered, it was unlikely that they would teach him the mysteries of the further collection of spiritual gas, much less the technique of spiritual gas resonation.

The qi-trainer’s body, especially their veins and nerves, must’ve been strengthened in a unique way. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to bear so much spiritual gas raging inside their body, which would cause mental derangement or even the explosion of their body.

Such strengthening was different from the strengthening of a body fundamentalist.

Even the body fundamentalists had to strictly abide by the law of Cultivation. When they reached the peak of the Refinement Stage, they had to attempt to liquefy their spiritual gas and set off on the path of building foundation.

Li Yao assumed that the qi-trainers had another technique that could broaden their veins and nerves and increase their capacity for spiritual gas.

When such a technique and the method of spiritual gas resonation were combined, the formidable qi-trainers were made!

I must find a way to learn the two techniques!

Plan A has failed. I’m going to initiate Plan B now!

Li Yao smiled. He rubbed his face vigorously for five minutes until he suddenly tore off an extremely thin membrane from his face!

As the membrane was taken off and the muscles on his face wriggled, his appearance changed weirdly, and his true face was revealed!

CRACK! CRACK!

As he resumed his original appearance, a series of cracking noises echoed inside his body. He was much taller than a moment ago, and his shoulders were two fists wider. Cold brightness was radiating from his streamlined muscles, making him look like a leopard whose fur was shining because it had just rolled over in a pond.

This was actually his true appearance!

Before he reached out to the qi-trainers, he had put on an entirely different appearance with the camouflage magical equipment inside Fengyu Ming’s Cosmos Ring.

He had made two plans. If the communication with the qi-trainers did not go well, he would still be able to collect more files about them with the close-distance picture captured by Neltharion and carry out Plan B.

“I have no other choice now. It’s time to resort to my acting skills again!”

Li Yao commanded Neltharion to enter the stealth mode and observed the surroundings at an altitude of two to three hundred meters as he did not dare fly it too high.

Over the last half month, he had been observing the environment in such a way.

He could clearly see that, other than the east side, large beams of smoke often rose up from the horizons of the other three directions. Some of them were patterned and appeared at a fixed time every day.

The smoke must be man-made, which meant that there was a settlement, or even a town, of qi-trainers below it.

Li Yao did not want to deal with the qi-trainers of the Burning Sun Tribe anymore.

Since those people had just found an ‘intruder’, they would be on high alert at this moment and wouldn’t trust another stranger of unknown backgrounds easily.

But Li Yao estimated that the message of his previous visit might have not spread too far yet because there was no Spiritual Nexus on Iron Plateau. Besides, the message might be misinterpreted during the dissemination.

Therefore, the other tribes of qi-trainers were unlikely to be so alert.

Li Yao took off his mustard-seed battle suit and his underwear, until he was completed naked. He then said sorry to Black Wing and stuffed it as well as the rest of the magical equipment he carried into his Cosmos Ring even though it was struggling hard. In the end, he swallowed the Cosmos Ring into his stomach.

As a half body practitioner, he had a highly precise control over every inch of muscle on his body. The movement of his stomach and his throat was fully under his control. When necessary, he could push his Cosmos Ring out in less than half a second.

From now on, I need to totally forget that I am a Cultivator. I am a native of Iron Plateau, born and raised in this place!

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao remembered the ultimate and mysterious level of a body fundamentalist that Iron God Yan Ba passed on to him.

Think about the ancestors of human beings, the ancient deadly animals that once dominated the sky and the earth, and trigger the genes they left deep in our cells to break the seal and unleash the formidable primordial strength!

“Hoo!”

Li Yao bellowed as if he had become a giant ape. After a series of fulminations from his bones, he was even taller than before, his muscles had expanded like balloons, and his skin was emitting the bronze color of metals!

The Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique from forty thousand years ago and the secret arts of the body fundamentalists to explore the primordial strength had built up his new body together!

Li Yao projected a mirror with his mini crystal processor and observed his new appearance.

He had been living an animalistic life for one month after he was forced to land on Iron Plateau. His unshaven hair and beard were longer than ever right now.

Shocking scars were left on his muscular body, which was now bronze-colored. They were all souvenirs of the fierce battles in the last month.

If he were in space, the scars could be treated in the med bay of any hospital.

However, there were no hospitals in this place. At least the scars looked like badges and were not an eyesore to look at.

At first look, his appearance was basically the same as those of Yan Chihuo and his fellows.

Very good.

Li Yao scratched his chin and smiled in satisfaction. I’ll spend the next five days studying the way that the qi-trainers talk while moving westwards. I should also make myself wilder and more uncivilized on my way!

At the remotest place on the horizon of the west, almost twenty beams of smoke popped up from morning to night every day, indicating that it was a large town of qi-trainers’.

Li Yao planned to try his luck there.

After making sure with Neltharion that he had really gotten rid of the hunting of the Burning Sun Tribe, Li Yao made his way to the west on foot.

In fact, he was unlikely to be discovered if he were to ride on Black Wing since the desert was unpopulated.

However, Li Yao wanted to eliminate the traces of civilization on him during the following few days.

To achieve that purpose, not only did he keep Black Wing inside his Cosmos Ring, he tried to avoid using other modern magical equipment, too.

When he met a demon beast, he would fight them with the crudest stones and bone blades as well as his fists.

After two days, his body had accumulated countless injuries and bruises, which could be quite ghastly for other people.

But for Li Yao, who had been training with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique that was designed for the trainer to be savaged, the more seriously he was wounded, the better the results of his training would be.

Since he was already used to the pain resulting from the gnawing of the Purple Ring Sword Ants, his endurance of pain was ten times higher than that of common Cultivators. Therefore, he treated the wounds as if they were nothing.

Two days later, Li Yao was wearing a red-and-green beast hide on his waist, with a giant bone hammer on his shoulder.

The hammer was made from the skull of a tiger-type demon beast. He did not resort to the arts of refining and simply bound the skull of the demon beast to one of its shanks with its veins.

“Hooo!”

“When I break into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, I will slay the so-called Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators from space should they come to our place!”

He looked at the mirror and practiced his acting skills.

This won’t do. However I pretend to be hideous and brutal, I am still not half as silly and bigheaded as Yan Chihuo was. I feel that I’m missing something.

Four days later, Li Yao was wearing two bone pads on his shoulders, with a bone hammer in one hand and the front leg of a mantis-type demon beast as his saber in the other hand. He had almost twice as many wounds on his body now.

“The path of the strong is to fight their way forward! When I advance into the 10,000th level of the Refinement Stage, I’m going to blow up the sun! Go to hell!”

He jumped and danced in front of the mirror and bashed his own chest like a giant gorilla.

No. This doesn’t work. My acting is too superficial and exaggerated. If I don’t open my mouth, I seem like one of them, but if I open my mouth, they will immediately see through me. I’m still unlike Yan Chihuo and his lot!

What do I do? It’s not like that I can keep quiet. But wait…

Six days later, Li Yao looked at the mirror in silence. His messy hair dangled down and covered most of his face. From the gap of his hair, a pair of animal-like, coldly-blinking eyes were occasionally revealed!

“Shua!”

Drawing a dangerous curve with the battle saber made of the front leg of a mantis-type demon beast, Li Yao grimaced and roared, his sharp teeth glaring.

Chapter 553: Teenager of Furious Bear

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

I seem to have overdone it.

His brand-new appearance had been gradually shaped and altered through meditating upon the spiritual seed of Iron God Yan Ba and speculating on the savageness of the ancient deadly beasts day and night.

But he looked like a human-skinned beast right now!

Residents of Iron Plateau were not primitive barbarians; they had their own highly developed civilization. He seemed to be going too far in his acting career.

But on second thought, it might not be a bad idea.

Pretending to be a wildling who had roamed in the desert for years was apparently much better than pretending to be a qi-trainer as that lie would be seen through with a few questions asked.

There were many dangerous plants in the desert that could destroy the vocal cord of a human being, making them unable to talk.

The venom of many demon beasts could also sabotage the nerves of human beings and rid them of their language ability.

It was reasonable that a homeless guy who had struggled for twenty years in a desert alone could not talk.

Of course, there were still many suspicious points about this faked identity. However, it was still much better than impersonating a qi-trainer. After all, he didn’t know the first thing about the qi-trainers’ conventions, and everybody would know that there was something wrong with him if they asked him a few questions.

As to exactly what to do next, he actually had no idea.

Li Yao planned to go in the direction where the pillar of smoke were relatively narrow and sparse.

He believed that such smoke would be a smaller settlement of the qi-trainers and that there wouldn’t be too many experts.

When he arrived at the settlement, he could observe the reactions the qi-trainers had about his faked identity. He could also collect more information about the big town where countless beams of smoke were floating.

After he gathered enough evidence that the qi-trainers in the big town were not as cranky as those from the Burning Sun Tribe, he would be able to make his next plan.

Sorting everything out in his mind, Li Yao turned off the crystal processor and put it back into his Cosmos Ring.

This was the last time he would use his Cosmos Ring.

Tonight, he found a crevice on a meteorite mountain to crash in like an animal would, except that he released Neltharion to a tree on the top of the mountain to monitor the surroundings.

Then, he closed his eyes and perceived the wild strength of the ancient deadly beasts billions of years ago while he was inhaling and exhaling.

Tomorrow, he was going to enter a small village around forty kilometers in the southwest.

According to the scouting of Neltharion in the day, the village was not large in scale and had a population of a few hundred at best. It was unlikely that they were all qi-trainers. He should be safe to go there.

When he was half asleep, he was suddenly woken up by an earsplitting noise.

Neltharion had discovered that a True Qi tank was rushing close from the other side of the meteorite mountain!

“Hunters from the Burning Sun Tribe?”

Li Yao shuddered, the hairs all over his body standing on end. He crouched quietly inside the crevice.

The front leg of the mantis-type demon beast had been polished so many times that it was almost glittering. Its surface was dyed with the venom extracted from the roots of the corrosive thorns, which was emitting vague stink.

Li Yao gripped his saber and carefully watched from the perspective of Neltharion, only to discover that the tank was from the opposite direction of the Burning Sun Tribe and had been made in a completely different style.

This True Qi tank was even rougher and clumsier. A ring of bones and shells of demon beasts was embedded to the body of the tank, and a giant horn, which seemed to have been chopped off from a rhino-type demon beast, protruded out of its front. The paint of the tank was not the red of the Burning Sun Tribe but a dim black.

If the True Qi tank of the Burning Sun Tribe could be compared to a burning leopard, the one in front of Li Yao’s eyes was a furious black bear!

Behind the tank, two exhaust pipes more than three meters long rose up to the sky, spurting steam nonstop crazily. The exits of the exhaust pipes seemed to have been installed with noise magical equipment because they were producing thunder-like fulminations. It was only a single tank, but it sounded that an old train was passing by!

The two exhaust pipes were also flagpoles, on which two enormous flags were spluttering in the wind.

On the flag was a hideous bear head, which was biting a blood-stained saber.

“Battle emblem of the Furious Bear Union!” Li Yao mumbled to himself.

Just like the Burning Sun Alliance, the Furious Bears Union was one of the six major sects of Heavenly Saints City. It was even slightly stronger than the Burning Sun Alliance.

Previously, on the carrier of the Temple of Immortals, Huangpu Shiyi had asked their subordinates to pretend to be the Exos from the Furious Bears Union who had come to rescue Li Yao, only to be seen through instantly.

The flag of the Burning Sun Tribe is identical to the battle emblem of the Burning Sun Association, and the battle emblem of the Furious Bear Union has appeared on this True Qi tank right now. This is getting more and more interesting!

Li Yao observed more carefully and found that the one who was riding on the iron beast more than six meters long and spurring it forward with his spiritual gas was only a teenager.

The teenager was a bit slender, but there was ruthlessness on his face. He was wearing a hat made of mottled bear fur and two pads made of bear claws, the talons of which were still shining, on his shoulders.

A saber was held to the left side of the tank, and a hammer even longer than himself was dangling down from the right side of the tank, emitting rattling noises and raising sparks as it hit the ground during the rush.

There were no other qi-trainers behind the teenager. He was riding through the perilous desert late at night all by himself!

Something seemed to be chasing after the teenager in the desert behind him. A dragon of sand was rising up from the ground, and then it collapsed and became a valley several meters deep, as if something was tunneling below the ground.

Chi!

Riding the True Qi tank, the teenager took a large turn in the smoke and suddenly accelerated and sprinted toward where he had come from, directly at the object that was pursuing him!

BOOM!

A black shadow suddenly dashed out of the sand in front of the teenager. Its two pincers were more than one meter long, and its tail was even thicker than Li Yao’s waist, with a glittering venomous needle at the tip!

“Emperor Sand Scorpion!”

Li Yao’s face color changed.

It was one of the most brutal demon beasts he had met on Iron Plateau.

It had a steel-like armor covering its body that was almost weapon-proof. The venomous sting on the tail could be spurted out. As long as it touched one’s skin, one would be entirely paralyzed in less than three seconds.

The opening and closing of the pincers displayed their enormous strength and could block Li Yao’s vibration saber easily. Such a demon beast could also sneak below the ground in the stealth mode at an amazing high speed!

Its only weakness was that, the moment it spurted its venomous needles, the joints of its shell would slightly open and reveal its fatal core.

It was a valuable lesson Li Yao had learned after paying the serious damage to his Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit as the tuition fee.

Yet, the teenager had crashed face to face into an Emperor Sand Scorpion, which even Li Yao did not dare to mess around with. After an earsplitting boom, the horn in the front of the tank pierced into the shell of the Emperor Sand Scorpion deeply and instantly knocked it over!

At the moment of the collision, the teenager had jumped high with his saber and hammer in his hands and landed on the abdomen of the Emperor Sand Scorpion softly, his spiritual gas surging out. He then held his saber behind him, waved the hammer with both of his hands, and smashed down at the Emperor Sand Scorpion’s abdomen brutally!

Are you kidding me? A teenager above the 10th level of the Refinement Stage? What kind of monster is this!

Li Yao was so startled that his eyes almost bulged out.

The teenager’s fluent movements ended with sparks and noises. The shell on the abdomen of the Emperor Sand Scorpion was as solid as its other body parts, like countless overlapping shields that had been melded together. It was not something that a hammer could break.

In the blink of an eye, the Emperor Sand Scorpion had already knocked the teenager to the ground. The fierce battle raised a sandstorm, which wreathed both the human and the beast!

In less than three minutes, the teenager’s long hammer was tossed far away from the sandstorm, followed by himself; he was sent flying like a kite that had lost the string. But before he landed, he had already picked up his saber. He glared at his opponent with a pair of ruthless eyes.

The teenager was soaked in blood.

There were wounds all over his body. Not any part of his flesh was intact. The wound on his left shoulder was deep to the bone, indicating that the attack could’ve chopped off his left arm. Such heavy injuries were unendurable even for many adult Cultivators in the space, but the teenager’s face remained unchanged, except that his thick eyebrow had almost dropped off!

Li Yao was secretly surprised. He slithered toward the teenager like a viper sneaking among the crevices.

“I am Wu Mayan of the Furious Bears Tribe, the adopted son of Xiong Wuji, and a true warrior of Iron Plateau! I am not one of the cowards in space! Bring it on, you pest!”

The young man waved his saber, but his voice seemed to be trembling, as if he had been wronged before and was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Li Yao pondered his words carefully. Was the Furious Bears Tribe really related to the Furious Bears Union?

His speed was neither slowed down because of his contemplation nor did he accelerate because of the dangerous situation that the teenager was in.

He kept the same speed because the Emperor Sand Scorpion was extremely wary. Even the slightest traces might be discovered. Once it snuck underground and lurked, Li Yao was not confident that he could even save himself, let alone the teenager.

The teenager’s blood zigzagged down the saber and had dyed it almost entirely red. He roared and rushed into the sandstorm again, only to be blown back in less than twenty seconds with a crisp sound resulting from his broken saber!

The Emperor Sand Scorpion dashed out of the sandstorm and lunged at the teenager!

Right when it raised its tail high and launched one of its venomous needles, Li Yao sprinted from the darkness like a lightning!

He threw the mantis leg in his left hand toward the venomous needle, deviating it from its trajectory toward the heart of the teenager. At the same time, he bashed the hammer on the head of the Emperor Sand Scorpion into pieces. The remaining handle of the hammer was the shank of a tiger, which was sharp and looked like a hollow dagger.

Shua!

The ‘dagger’ pierced precisely through the only gap on the shell of the Emperor Sand Scorpion and into the venom gland in the center of its body.

Chi!

A spring of dark green venom soared up from the gap and sprayed into the air with a stinky smell.

Chapter 554: Defend the Savageness

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao kicked the teenager away and dodged the incoming venom himself.

The venom hit the ground with screeching noises, leaving deep, shocking holes on the solid rocks.

The Emperor Sand Scorpion in so much pain that it was bashing its tail and writhing on the ground, and yet it failed to remove the hollow shank from back.

The venom gland was like its heart, and the venom was the essence of its life. After three minutes of spraying, it gradually slowed down. The Emperor Sand Scorpion collapsed helplessly and died.

Li Yao jumped forward and removed the shank, half of which had been stained with the venom. It was a good material for refining and shouldn’t be wasted.

The teenager sat on the ground and breathed heavily for three minutes, before he finally returned to himself from the shock of near death.

He was looking at Li Yao with appreciation and admiration, if not with a bit confusion, because he did not understand how Li Yao put down the big guy with just half of a bone blade.

Li Yao scratched his nose while he thought of more than ten possible plans to elicit information from the stranger. He then jumped off the back of the Emperor Sand Scorpion.

While he was in midair, he was suddenly greatly alarmed. After an earsplitting explosion, another Emperor Sand Scorpion that was in scarlet and smaller in size dashed out from the sand below him!

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently.

Damn. A pair of Emperor Sand Scorpions, one male and the other female, were in the company of each other!

Emperor Sand Scorpions were solitary demon beasts. They would never go hunting together unless it was their mating season.

It was quite unfortunate of him to have run into two Emperor Sand Scorpions!

Female Emperor Sand Scorpions were smaller, but they were faster, and their venom was deadlier!

Are you kidding me?

Did I use up all my luck during the battle in space? Why do such things keep happening to me?

Seeing that the Emperor Sand Scorpion was wielding its coldly blinking pincers at him, and there being no time to change his direction at this moment, Li Yao could do nothing except to roar and accelerate toward the enemy, waving whatever was left of his bone blade!

…

“Uncle, hang in there. You can’t die!”

In a trance, Li Yao felt that he was a small boat on a raging ocean, one whose shell was broken and whose cabin was half filled with water.

The events of the previous few hours had become confused memories. From the intermittent pictures, he recalled that, soaked in blood, he had kicked apart half of the Emperor Sand Scorpion’s pincer with brute force and gritted his teeth to take one of its venomous stings while he took the opportunity to pierce the broken pincer into the gap of its shell, thus finishing the pest.

He couldn’t remember what happened later very clearly. He seemed to have been dragged into a cave by the teenager named Wu Mayan from the Furious Bears Tribe.

Wu Mayan had collected a lot of plants, rubbed their sap, and smeared it on his wounds. He had also brought out copious amounts of a fragrant drug and poured it into his mouth.

But his wounds were still burning like fire. They were red and swollen, as if a deadly chilopod had crawled on his body.

Li Yao felt amused. When he had faced off with Fengyu Zhong, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, everything had remained under his control.

Yet, he had been humiliated by two little bugs.

I’ve been poisoned.

The venomous sting at the tail of the Emperor Sand Scorpion can cause nerve damage. If I were a common Cultivator, it might have taken half a month before I could get out of bed.

Even for me, it will take me an entire day to fully mend all the neural network if I dedicate all my spiritual energy to the job.

But the most important thing is that I survived!

Whatever is coming for me, just bring it on! I’m already the most unfortunate person in the world. I don’t believe that I can be any unluckier! Li Yao thought to himself in discontent, anger flowing on his face.

Wu Mayan saw it and exclaimed in wild joy, “Uncle, you’re awake? How wonderful! You must hang in there! I set off distress firework. Somebody is going to rescue us in a moment!

“My foster father is Xiong Wuji, the leader of the Furious Bears Tribe and the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau! My mother is the greatest doctor of the Furious Bears Tribe! She’ll definitely cure you when we’re back in Furious Bears City!”

Li Yao was utterly dumbfounded.

Le—leader of the Furious Bears Tribe, the best warrior of the six tribes on Iron Plateau?

You’ve got to me kidding me!

The title sounds rather impressive. The man must be unbelievably strong, at least much stronger than that Yan Chihuo!

Furious Bears City? Is it the enormous town of qi-trainers where beams of smoke have been popping up all day long?

Li Yao felt his head going dizzy, and he almost passed out.

He had planned to stop by the villages at the periphery of the desert first and see the qi-trainers’ reactions to him.

He was not ready to deal with an opponent that was known to be ‘the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’ when he had only just gotten started!

The best warrior! The man must be higher than the 80th level of the Refinement Stage, if not the 100th level. If he were to notice anything wrong about him, he could easily kill him with just a sneeze!

But since the poison from the scorpion had not been cleared yet, he had barely any physical strength right now, and he couldn’t even run away at the moment.

Li Yao cursed Wu Mayan with the most profane language in his mind. Why did you come out late at night to hunt demon beasts alone instead of staying in Furious Bears City like a nice kid would?

But it could not be helped right now. He could only force himself to enter the deep sleep state and try to fix his damaged nerves as quickly as possible by summoning the primordial force inside his cells.

Later, he was awakened several times.

The first time, he was woken up by a series of rumbling noises that seemed to indicate that ten thousand iron beasts were gathering on the desert for a concert.

Then, Wu Mayan danced with great joy and shouted, “Father Xiong! Father Xiong! We are here!”

Li Yao sensed that a man with daunting aura crammed into the cave.

The cave was rather spacious, but this particular ‘Father Xiong’ was like a giant whose head could reach the sky. He gave Li Yao tremendous pressure even when he was still ten meters away.

Li Yao panicked. He was not ready to confront the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau yet. Therefore, he simply forced himself to enter the deep sleep state again and continued healing his wounds in order to avoid talking to ‘Father Xiong’!

The second time, he was woken up by bumping.

At that moment, they were moving through the desert, accompanied by the morning star.

What Li Yao was placed on was a big crawling True Qi machine with six feet that looked like a spider but billions of times larger. The six long legs were all crafted with steel, packed with coldly shining rivets on them.

The torso of the machine was two round expansive cabins that could accommodate dozens of people at the same time. On the two sides of the torso were more than twenty turrets that were all heavy True Qi cannons more than half a meter in diameter.

Twenty brawny man, whose muscles were glimmering because of sweat, were standing on the two sides of the cabin. In front of each of them, a hollow iron tube riddled with holes was placed.

The iron tubes were surrounded by two dents in the shape of hands where they could put their hands.

The engine compartment was the destination of all the iron tubes.

The brawny men were like crew members who were rowing a boat. Listening to the drumming of a leader in the front, they echoed “Hee—Hah” in a fixed pattern.

While they shouted, the spiritual gas inside their body surged out through their hands and into the hollow iron tubes!

It appeared that the brawny men were all above the 10th level of the Refinement Stage!

The spiritual gas that the twenty qi-trainers unleashed was transmitted to the engine compartment in the rear through the hollow iron tubes. It was then redistributed, enhanced, and sent to the six long legs of the machine to drive the steel spider forward at a speed that was no lower than that of the True Qi tanks.

Occasionally, the spider would jump up high and cover a distance of almost a hundred meters, passing the rough valleys and hills easily by spurting the air out below it.

Such True Qi machines were totally different from the modern magical equipment that was based on crystals and crystal processors. They were crude and primitive, but they brought an air of resolution and stubbornness with them.

Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the Great Dark Age, when the relics of the ancient Cultivators had just been excavated, such True Qi war beasts were the first to be manufactured. The humans at that time had fought against the demon beasts with them as well as the blades accelerated by spiritual gas, so that humanity could rise again!

Li Yao had thought that he could only see True Qi machines in a museum. He had never expected that he would be lucky enough to lie in one.

For a fan of magical equipment, it could almost be called a nice surprise.

However, despite the high speed of the steel spider, it was not installed with any suspension or deceleration facilities, and its structure could not have been any simpler. Every bump and quake had been precisely fed back to Li Yao’s bottom, which was almost shattered into pieces.

The qi-trainers on the steel spider, on the other hand, were like seasoned sailors who had witnessed too many storms. Intense as the bumps might have been, they remained absolutely still, as if they were dozens of rivets that had been stabbed into the ground.

While Li Yao felt that his world was swirling, he vaguely overheard a quarrel at the front of the cabin.

One of the voices was sharp and high-pitched; it seemed to belong to Wu Mayan, who was declaring, “I did not run away secretly! I was out on a hunting trip! I have surpassed the 11th level of the Refinement Stage! I’m not a child, nor one of the pussies from space! I need to prove to everyone that I am an out-and-out warrior of Iron Plateau! I want to join the battle against the apocalypse! I want to fight the apocalypse side by side with Father Xiong!”

The other voice was deep, hoarse, and sounded like a bellowing bear. “You claim that you are not a child, and yet you made other people seriously wounded for you!”

Wu Mayan was totally rendered speechless. He was silent for a long time, before he asked, somewhat guiltily, “Father Xiong, is this uncle alright? He was quite awesome! Although he was merely in the 13th or 14th level of the Refinement Stage, he put down two Emperor Sand Scorpions barehanded with nothing but a few bones!”

‘Father Xiong’ replied, “He suffered heavy wounds and was poisoned by the venom of the scorpions. If it were a regular person, they would’ve died long ago! But he is strong. Really strong. His body is slowly recovering right now! You can tell from the countless old scars on his body that he is not someone to die easily!”

Li Yao was secretly relieved. Judging from the man’s tone, he had not found any issues with him yet and was not hostile at all, at least for now.

He entered the deep sleep state again and devoted himself to the recovery of his body.

When he woke up for the third time, they had arrived at the entrance of a splendid city.

The entire city was surrounded by walls dozens of meters high. They were made up of green rocks and extended to the middle of the dense fog, making it impossible to tell how long they were. Li Yao roughly estimated that each side of the walls could be dozens of kilometers long.

Illuminated by the morning sunlight, the city wall was emitting a metallic glow. There was a giant defense rune array every ten meters or so. Countless cracks of different layers had been left on the defense arrays, clear signs that the defense rune arrays had been broken, mended, rebroken, and re-mended many times. Gory battles must have taken place over and over at the city walls.

When they drew closer, Li Yao discovered lots of askew calligraphy among the cracks, which seemed to have been carved with swords and sabers. All of the words were more than one meter in diameter and apparently written by different hands. Some of them were deeper, and some were mottled and unclear because of the erosion of wind and rain, suggesting that they might have existed for hundreds of years.

Li Yao glanced at them and remembered two lines of proud declarations quickly.

The first line was ‘Reach the 100th level of the Refinement Stage if you are a man! Damn the Building Foundation! Damn the Core Formation! Damn the Nascent Soul!’

The second line looked rather ancient. It had been corroded into two shallow traces by the passage of time.

‘If we cannot defend human civilization, at the very least, we can defend our savageness!’

Chapter 555: Test Passed?

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao was chewing on the two lines when the city gate, which was more than fifty meters high and had an enormous bear claw painted in the middle, was gradually pulled open together with earsplitting noises.

This was the big town of the qi-trainers’ that Li Yao had seen earlier, Furious Bears City!

Li Yao half lay inside the torso of the steel spider. He pretended to be drowsy, but he was actually peeping at the outside through the gaps on the windows and observing Furious Bears City.

The scale of the city was absolutely beyond his imagination. In the Star Glory Federation, a city of such a scale would be called a metropolis with a population of hundreds of thousands.

Li Yao looked at the horizon and discovered that the city skyline was actually made of countless coruscating skyscrapers.

Those skyscrapers were all elegantly shaped and built with translucent crystals. They were neat and tidy and brought a strong feeling of perfectness. Compared to the qi-trainers’ primitive and straightforward style, they were like architecture that should appear hundreds of years later.

It was not until Li Yao observed it more carefully that he noticed that the skyscrapers’ shells of crystals had all been broken. Several skyscrapers had been blown into two halves down the middle. Some had even collapsed into messy mountains of garbage.

It seemed that this place was debris of a metropolis.

On the debris, a lot of simple, shabby buildings had been constructed in the same style as when human civilization had just been reborn at the end of the Great Dark Age. They were impractical, thick, dark, and clumsy. A lot of rebar was exposed to the air without any decoration, constituting a continuous forest of iron.

The southwest side of the city seemed to be the factory zone. Countless high towers stood in the area. They were all riddled with holes from which thousands of streams of black smoke were being spurted. The black smoke was the exhaust from when the spiritual gas was utilized. It formed hundreds of pillars piercing into the sky like the paths to the heaven.

Li Yao sensed a feeble spiritual wave of the fire class from there.

He immediately realized that it could be the place where the magical equipment was manufactured in the Furious Bears City. However, there was no telling how advanced their maintenance workshops were and if they were good enough for him to repair the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

Li Yao pondered everything that he had observed carefully and was deep in thought.

The style of the buildings in the debris was very similar to that of the cities of the Star Ocean Imperium during its prime years.

But the buildings had been destroyed by a major disaster.

Many years later, survivors of the disaster had returned and established a whole new city based on the debris.

That had to be why the buildings at present were in two completely different styles, one old and the other modern.

He was going to observe the city in greater detail, but two brawny men in robes made of bear hide lifted him into a fully-sealed True Qi tank, which drove toward the center of Furious Bears City in a hurry.

Half an hour later, Li Yao was carried into a bleached building. A vague aroma of herbs was floating in the air.

It should have been the hospital of Furious Bears City.

“Mom!”

“Yan’er! ” 1

Li Yao heard the voices of Wu Mayan and a middle-aged woman, but the middle-aged woman’s voice sounded extremely odd and unbefitting.

“Mom. You must save this uncle. He rescued me from two Emperor Sand Scorpions! ”

Wu Mayan was almost crying. He seemed to be embarrassed that Li Yao was seriously wounded because of him.

Li Yao secretly glanced around. The room was big, but it was packed with almost twenty people. Wu Mayan and a plump, middle-aged woman were standing on the left. The woman was wearing brown linen clothes. She was neat, tidy, and gave every feeling of comfort. However, she did not seem to be part of the environment.

On her right side stood almost twenty fully-armed muscular men wearing black robes made of bear hide and armed with heavy weapons!

The men’s muscles were all bulging, and they were all wearing anxious faces. Even the shortest of them was more than two meters tall. They were walking to and fro in the room like a bunch of bears. Now and then, they yelled impatiently.

“Sister Lan, how is he? ”

“Aunt Sha, he is not dying, is he? Although the guy is not very capable, he was brutal enough to have slain two Emperor Sand Scorpions all by himself! A tough man indeed! He should die a hero ‘s death in the battle against the apocalypse if he is to be killed! It will be a shame if he dies now!”

“Sister Lan, you must rescue him. At least keep him breathing! We will carry him to the battlefield of the apocalypse, the most glorious destination for every warrior of Iron Plateau!”

When all the other men were shouting and yelling, the ‘shortest ‘ man in the lead was silent, as if he were a statue.

Li Yao’s attention was all focused on him.

The eyes of the man were deep. His lead grey beard and scruffy hair were linked. His appearance was identical to everyone else’s, except that there was a scar in the shape of a cross in the middle of his chest, as if somebody had torn open his abdomen and sewn him together in a hurry!

The room was rather big, but he seemed to be very cautious, as if fearing that, if he stretched out his arms, the entire building would be demolished by his daunting aura!

The man gave Li Yao a terrifying feeling.

It was he who was the first to rush into the cave, which was immediately occupied.

He was even more horrifying than the other raging men combined!

He was most likely Xiong Wuji, whom Wu Mayan referred to as the leader of the Furious Bears Tribe and the best warrior of the six tribes on Iron Plateau.

The middle-aged woman was apparently used to the raucousness of the qi-trainers. She assured them calmly and walked toward Li Yao.

Li Yao’s heart was pounding as he knew that the middle-aged woman was the doctor of the Furious Bears Tribe. There was no choice except to resort to his acting skills now!

Swoosh!

Li Yao jumped up from the bed and crouched in a corner of the bed, while he glared at the woman with a pair of alarmed eyes, his killing intent soaring, as if he was ready to lunge out at any moment!

The human-shaped bears all exclaimed, “Don’t attack!”

The middle-aged woman was as tranquil as before. She opened his hands. Two clusters of mild green brightness were released from her palms and floated toward Li Yao like two small lanterns.

Her voice fell into Li Yao’s heart like soft feathers. “Don’t be scared. You are in Furious Bears City of the Furious Bears Tribe. There are no demon beasts in this place. We are all your compatriots and your friends. My name is Sha Yulan. I am a doctor. The teenager you saved last night is my only son. I cannot thank you enough, and I will definitely not harm you.

“The wounds on your body are terrible. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you are absolutely safe now that you’ve arrived in Furious Bears City.

“Just let me examine you, will you?”

Li Yao seemed a bit agitated. He glanced around and uttered animalistic roars deep down his throat.

“Is he a wildling on the desert?” asked one of the qi-trainers in a low voice.

Sha Yulan replied softly, “I don’t think so. He seems to be able to understand what I’m talking about. My friend, if you understand me, let me perform a full examination on you. I am just a doctor, and I’m no threat for you.”

Li Yao thought of something and realized why he felt that Sha Yulan was not part of the environment.

It was because the way Sha Yulan talked, namely her accent, pitch and stress, was totally different from the rest of the Iron Plateau natives; it was more like the space residents’ tone!

Thousands of thoughts filled Li Yao’s mind.

In the moment of his hesitation, the two clusters of gentle light flowed into his body. They circulated around his limbs, veins, nerves, and internal organs like two warm streams. Wherever they reached, the dry cells were injected with new energy, and the speed of the recovery of his neural network was three times faster!

Countless questions were still lingering on Li Yao’s mind, but he gradually relaxed despite his wariness and allowed Sha Yulan to do the rest of the examination.

“Thank you for your trust, my friend. I will cure you shortly.”

Sha Yulan’s voice was soft, yet there was a sense of unquestionableness in it. Li Yao felt that he could trust her for some reason.

A spiritual stripe was painted on each of Sha Yulan’s fingertips. Spurred by her spiritual energy, ten bright green threads flowed out of her fingers and navigated along Li Yao’s muscles and veins as the doctor examined his body carefully.

Suddenly, her fingertip shivered.

Li Yao looked at where she was looking, only to find that she was staring at the tattoo of the Black Spider Death Curse on his chest!

His heart was immediately racing again, and he felt that his lips were dry.

He did not cover up the Black Spider Death Curse because he was scared that somebody might see the camouflage and grow suspicious of him.

He had assumed that nobody on Iron Plateau would be able to tell what it was.

However, Sha Yulan’s eyes stopped by the tattoo for a long time. She slightly frowned. There was no telling what she was thinking about.

Who is she exactly? Does she really come from space and happen to know of the Black Spider Death Curse?

It was not until five seconds later, when Li Yao was soaked in sweat, that Sha Yulan retreated her eyes and said slowly, “My friend, do you feel that your head is dizzy, that you cannot remember your past clearly, and that you don’t even know what you are?”

Li Yao was dazed and nodded his head somewhat confusedly.

“Due to the poison of the Emperor Sand Scorpion, your brain has been seriously damaged although your body is strong enough to be recovering. Some of your memories were lost. Even your language ability might be away for a while.”

Sha Yulan seemed to be explaining to Li Yao as well as the rest of the qi-trainers.

Li Yao was overjoyed. He couldn’t believe that he had fooled them with such shabby acting skills.

Wu Mayan exclaimed, “Mom, you mean that the uncle’s brain is wounded? Is it treatable?”

Sha Yulan replied, “The wounds on the body can be cured within several days. But the human brain is too sophisticated. I will try the best I can, but how many memories can be recovered, when his memories can be recovered, and if his memories can be recovered, will all depend on himself.”

Hearing that, the qi-trainers started shouting and yelling again.

Sha Yulan frowned. She walked to Xiong Wuji and whispered to him for a while.

Xiong Wuji’s eyes suddenly shone. He bellowed, “What’s all the fuss about? The patient needs peace! Get out of here now! The apocalypse is coming. Go to your posts and prepare for the battle!”

Xiong Wuji was apparently very respected. The obstreperous human-shaped bears acted like they had run into a tamer when they heard him, and they all left the ward nicely.

“Your wounds are heavy, too. Go back and take a rest now. How are you going to participate in the battle of the apocalypse if you are unhealthy? Your father and I are here for him,” said Sha Yulan to her son.

Wu Mayan knew that he had done something wrong, and he did not dare disobey his mother’s words. Therefore, he nodded and waved. “Uncle, you must hang in there. I’ll bring you delicious food for lunch! I guarantee that you will be as strong as you can ever be, and you will distinguish yourself in the battle against the apocalypse!”

After Wu Mayan left, Xiong Wuji locked the door of the ward from the inside.

Li Yao had just calmed down, but Xiong Wuji’s action made his heart beat fast again.

Sha Yulan retreated behind Xiong Wuji and asked calmly, “Alright. There are no irrelevant people here anymore. Let’s talk frankly now. Who are you exactly?”

Chapter 556: Unnegotiable

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao cursed silently, not knowing whether he should play dumb or tell the truth.

Although Xiong Wuji was standing casually five meters away, the intimidating aura he released was growing exponentially, as if an invisible bear had hugged him!

Sha Yulan said, “Whoever you are, you saved my son, who is also the adopted son of Xiong Wuji, leader of the Furious Bears Tribe. We cannot thank you enough, and we mean you no harm. I wasn’t lying to you on purpose, either.

“I have never seen the tattoo on your chest before, but I can sense a unique feeling of evilness from it that is the distinguishing characteristic of the Black Spider Death Curse.

“I’m aware that only those who have killed the best assassins of Black Spider Tower are likely to be harassed by the Black Spider Death Curse.

“If you are really a native of Iron Plateau, then I can’t help but wonder why a member of Spider’s Thorn has landed on Iron Plateau for no good reason and was killed by you.”

Li Yao failed to come up with any response.

It was not entirely because of his bad acting skills. He had never expected that somebody on Iron Plateau could recognize the Black Spider Death Curse!

“My friend.”

Xiong Wuji opened his mouth slowly, his voice low and deep like a bear that was rubbing against a tree. “You risked your own life to save my adopted son. I owe you a great favor. You are from the space, Dr. Sha is from the space, and my adopted son Wu Mayan is also from the space. You can see that the Furious Bears Tribe is different from certain other tribes! Who are you, why are you here, and what do you want?”

Li Yao blinked, his mind in a mess.

He didn’t know that this Sha Yulan was truly from the space, and it did not seem to be a secret in the Furious Bears Tribe!

Sha Yulan gestured for Xiong Wuji to retreat farther. She then carried a chair and sat down, before she spoke softly. “Judging from the wounds on your body, you’ve suffered a lot on Iron Plateau. I can totally imagine what kind of life a space resident must’ve been living after he was forced onto Iron Plateau. It is perfectly normal that you are very alert. How about I tell my story first, and then you tell yours?

Before Li Yao could reply, Sha Yulan had already started. “I’m from a family that specialized in the medicine, born the Horizontal Wind Space Zone. My father was a well-known doctor in the space zone. Once, a patient who suffered from the Black Spider Death Curse and was on the brink of death came to my father.

“Although my father failed to save him, the Black Spider Death Curse left a very deep impression in me. That’s why I saw through your tattoo easily a moment ago.

“My husband was a manager of a small sect in the Horizontal Wind Space Zone and was in charge of the logistics.

“When our son Wu Mayan was six months old, the three of us went on a trip to visit my parents, but we encountered space pirates half way through.

“Most of the starships in our fleet were captured. My husband managed to break away from the siege as a skilled pilot, but in our haste, and driven by a cosmic storm, we drifted to the Iron Plateau Space Zone.

“When we arrived here, we had run out of food and ammunitions, and there was barely any fuel left. The telepathic thought transmitter on board was broken, too. We could not reach out to the outside world via the Spiritual Nexus as there was no such thing here.

“Therefore, we could only risk landing on Iron Plateau.

“But we didn’t expect for the defense network of Iron Plateau in its atmosphere to be so powerful. Our starship was seriously damaged again when we were breaking through the planetary ring.

“My husband burnt his life and soul without thinking about anything else in order to steer the broken starship. Although we landed successfully in the end, my husband passed away unfortunately because of over-exhaustion.”

Sha Yulan sighed. “Wu Mayan, who was only six months old back then, and I were lost in the desert and about to be slain by the demon beasts when qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe appeared and rescued us.”

Li Yao lips moved, but he did not dare to open his mouth. He was meaning to ask why the qi-trainers did not ask for her trouble since she was also a Cultivator.

Xiong Wuji seemed to have seen through what was on his mind. He sniffed and remarked, “What do you think we qi-trainers are? Scumbags who bully women and children?”

Sha Yulan managed to make a smile. “I’d read a few confidential files about Iron Plateau before and was aware that, although the natives of Iron Plateau were not primitive barbarians, their impression about the residents in the space, especially Cultivators, was not very good. However, for my son, I couldn’t care less about that and thought that they could torture me however they wanted as long as they kept my son alive.

“As it turned out, when those silly bears discovered that there were only the two of us, they did not know how to deal with me at all even though they had noticed that I was a Cultivator.

“At that time, Wu Mayan was still being breastfed. He was just a small meatball. I was merely a non-battle-type Cultivator who could not even catch a chicken. They could neither beat nor condemn us, and we would be dead for sure if they drove us to the desert.

“Therefore, they established a small house in the corner of Furious Bears City where my son and I could stay. It seemed like they were even scared that we might die. Haha.

“Then, the wife of a qi-trainer had trouble during her labor. Both her child and herself were about to be killed. Nobody knew what to do. I happened to drop by and saved the two of them.

“Later, more people gradually came to seek treatment from me. It was mostly women and kids in the beginning. The job I did most often was the midwife.

“However, healthy as the men here may be, it was natural that they broke a bone or two when they were fighting demon beasts outside. Some of their traditional methods were effective, but many wounds could only be treated with the more modern medical knowledge.

“After I saved a few seriously wounded qi-trainers, my name gradually spread afar. They started calling me ‘Dr. Sha’. Not only was I known within the Furious Bears Tribe, the qi-trainers of the Silver Moon Tribe and those of the Greedy Wolves Tribe would come to ask for my help if they had no solutions themselves, too.

“In the last twelve years, I’ve saved more Iron Plateau natives than I can count. The serious wound on Xiong Wuji’s chest couldn’t have been healed without me.

“With my contribution, the adults of the Furious Bears Tribe mostly have the decency not to speak ill of the space residents when I’m around. But sometimes, little kids say the nastiest things, and don’t even realize it, when they are horsing around.”

Sha Yulan paused for a moment and the continued speaking, somewhat reluctantly. “Yesterday afternoon, my son was playing with a few other kids. He’s a proud and aggressive one, and he beat his three companions down heavily. One of them was pissed off and said something that was not very nice.

“My son did not give a reply there. He secluded himself for half a day when he was back. No one expected that he would run out secretly late at night to hunt demon beasts by himself in order to prove that he was as valiant as any Iron Plateau native even though blood of the space flows in his veins.

“Thankfully, you showed up in time, or it would’ve been a terrible disaster.”

Xiong Wuji said, “Last night, I received a message from the Burning Sun Tribe stating that a Cultivator had landed on Iron Plateau and encountered them. The Cultivator was even trying to make a deal with them, but he didn’t know that the Burning Sun Tribe was the tribe that hated Cultivators most among the six tribes of Iron Plateau. In the end, the Cultivator fled desperately and even humiliated the son of the leader of the Burning Sun Tribe. If my guess is correct, the Cultivator was you, right?

“The Furious Bears Tribe and the Burning Sun Tribe are different. Why don’t you tell us what the deal was that you tried to make?”

Li Yao was interested. He observed the two of them and discovered that they were as calm as before and showed no signs of lying.

Besides, if Xiong Wuji was really the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, there was no need for him to lie at all.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao kept most details to himself and simply said that he was a member of an Exo Society who had fiercely battled against space pirates in the Iron Plateau Space Zone and that he had been forced to land on the planet eventually.

Xiong Wuji nodded. “According to our observation, it’s true that a fierce battle took place in space a month ago. There were also signs that the defense system of the planet was triggered.”

Li Yao concealed most of the details, but he elaborated on his performance in the Skyhill Sword Seminar to prove that he was reasonably good at the art of refining and could help the Furious Bears Tribe craft a huge amount of magical equipment.

Xiong Wuji listened attentively. He suddenly interjected when Li Yao was talking about the Skyhill Sword Seminar. “You are a refiner? Then, can you repair starships?”

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone. He replied, “My specialty is the refinement and maintenance of melee magical equipment, namely swords and sabers. As for starships, I’ve conducted a few maintenance tasks before, but I’m not adept at it. It will depend on the model of the starship, the extent of damage, and the number of backup components.”

He was better at destroying a starship than repairing one.

Xiong Wuji nodded in acknowledgement and hinted for him to continue.

When Li Yao finished his speech, Xiong Wuji concluded, “So, the deal you talked about was that you get resources and maintenance facilities from us and we get a lot of magical equipment crafted by you.”

“Correct!”

Fire of hope was ignited in Li Yao’s heart, as he nodded and said, “Chief Xiong, I can tell that you are much more rational than the guy from the Burning Sun Tribe. The deal I’ve proposed is a win-win for us. If you don’t believe me, I can refine a few swords and sabers right now. You can test their quality yourself!”

“I believe you… but the deal cannot be made right now.”

Xiong Wuji shook his head. “Right now, I don’t have enough resources and facilities to make a deal with you.”

Li Yao was dazed. “Why?”

Xiong Wuji narrowed his eyes in which two terrifying flames were burning, while he said coldly, “Because an apocalypse is coming. All the resources must be used to forge the large war machines, and all the personnel must be summoned to join the battle of the apocalypse! Your crystal suit should be a piece of very precise magical equipment. To mend it would require a lot of resources and time. However, right now, I don’t have enough resources and time to trade with you.

“If both of us are still alive after the apocalypse, let’s make a deal then!”

This was the second time that Li Yao heard the phrase ‘battle of the apocalypse’.

Seeing the grave expression on the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, Li Yao was grasped by anxiety, too. He asked, “Didn’t the apocalypse take place five thousand years ago? What exactly happened at that time? Why are the Iron Plateau natives and space residents so against each other? What is the battle of the apocalypse?”

Chapter 557: Choices Five Thousand Years Ago

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Sha Yulan glanced at Xiong Wuji and, seeing no objection on his face, explained after pondering for a while. “The apocalypse was the greatest change of the Flying Star Sector in the last five thousand years. I had never been told the full story before I was forced to land on Iron Plateau, but I’ve managed to have a general idea of what happened after investigating and analyzing the information for more than ten years.”

Li Yao was beaming with curiosity. He observed, “Since I was born and raised in a remote town in the sea of stars, I’d never heard of this apocalypse before, and I definitely have no grudge with the qi-trainers. But for some reason, the qi-trainers of the Burning Sun Tribe seemed to regard me as their mortal enemy. They started fighting me after only a few words. It was completely unreasonable. I should at least know what I am killed for if I have to be killed. What exactly happened five thousand years ago? What is the so-called apocalypse? A meteor shower?”

Xiong Wuji sniffed and replied, “An apocalypse is the greatest catastrophe for a sector. It is so much more complicated than a simple meteor shower!”

He waved his hands, gesturing for Sha Yulan to continue, while he sat aside with a solemn face, deep in thought.

“I haven’t seen a Cultivator from space for more than ten years. Considering that you saved my son’s life, and that this is not a big secret on Iron Plateau, it doesn’t matter if I tell you about it.

“All those qi-trainers, including those of the Burning Sun Tribe, although rude and reckless, have good reasons to hate Cultivators.”

Sha Yulan cleared her throat. “Qi-trainers and Cultivators, from their own perspective, both think that justice was on their side. I’ll try to tell the story without bias.

“Brother Li Yao, you should know that the Flying Star Sector used to be an important region for the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago; a lot of space fleets were stationed here, and countless military bases were established. The development level of this area was quite high.

“When the Armageddon Rebellion took place, Blood God, supreme commander of the expedition army of the imperium, revolted and became a demonic Cultivator who called himself the Mad Armageddon. A civil war thus began. Hundreds of years of battles shattered the Flying Star Sector and almost demolished it.

“Even so, a lot of relics in the area could still be made use of, and many damaged starships could be repaired, too. The remaining soldiers of six troops of the imperium as well as their descendants struggled in various planets and world fragments. The six troops gradually evolved into six big sects, which led the people to be united and to pass on the civilization.

“The majority of the six sects were soldiers of the Star Ocean Imperium and their descendants. Naturally, they were much more organized than civilians.

“Also, debris and relics were everywhere in the Flying Star Sector. A lot of knowledge could be analyzed and inherited from them.

“Therefore, the development level of the civilization of the Flying Star Sector recovered very fast. About six thousand years ago, although still relatively small, it had already reached seventy percent of the brilliance of the Star Ocean Imperium when the latter was at its peak.

“The Flying Star Sector, at that time, had developed more than ten space zones and permanently altered the territory and atmosphere of three planets with the energy from almost ten stars. The planets were the new lands for human beings.

“On more than another ten planets, mines were established to collect the precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

“The entire Flying Star Sector was flourishing.

“Iron Plateau was the capital planet, or mother planet, of the Flying Star Sector. It was where the coalition government of the six big sects was headquartered, as well as the origin of the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector.

“In space, citizens of the Flying Star Sector had repaired a lot of the starships of the Star Ocean Imperium and created newer, bigger, faster crystal warships based on them that could cruise in the universe.

“Those were our golden years. Everybody shared the same goal, which was to explore other constellations and find more brotherly human civilizations. We planned to help them, unite them, and eventually rebuild a great alliance of human beings across the entire universe!

“At that time, everybody firmly believed that the invincible human beings would definitely be able to achieve that!”

Bitterness suddenly appeared on Sha Yulan’s hopeful face. “One year before the expedition fleet was to set off, the astronomers of the Flying Star Sector suddenly discovered that a weird wave was crashing right at the Flying Star Sector. After extremely complicated observation and calculation, it was ascertained that three meteoroid showers, one large and the other two small, had been aimed at the only habitable planets of the Flying Star Sector, with the large one targeting Iron Plateau precisely!

“If they were common meteoroid showers, how could they have been aimed at all three habitable planets at the same time?

“There was no doubt that it was not just an astronomical phenomenon, but an apocalypse whose target had been selected neatly!”

Li Yao listened carefully and exclaimed when he heard ‘apocalypse’.

Sha Yulan said, “Apocalypses are the most mysterious phenomena in cosmology. When a Cultivator advances to a certain level, or a civilization is developed very fast, an apocalypse might be triggered!

“In the era of the Star Ocean Imperium, mankind encountered many apocalypses. Some of them were resisted by the joint efforts of the Supreme Emperor and the twenty Guilds of Provenance, but some of them couldn’t be stopped at all.

“An apocalypse often leads to the complete destruction of one or more worlds!

“The astronomers immediately ran the most precise calculations about the trajectory, scale, and damage of the apocalypse. Their final conclusion was…

“Fifty fifty.

“There was a fifty percent likelihood that the apocalypse could be resisted if all the resources of the Flying Star Sector were summoned.

“There was also a fifty percent likelihood that, however many resources were summoned, and however hard they struggled, they were not going to stop the apocalypse from destroying the three planets!”

Li Yao was dazed. He asked, “Couldn’t the estimation be more precise?”

Sha Yulan smiled bitterly. “Apocalypses are the most inexplicable phenomena of the modern Cultivation world.

“Ancient Cultivators believed in divinities or the so-called ‘heavens’. Apocalypses were easier to explain for them. They simply perceived such disasters as punishments or tests that were arranged by supernatural powers, and they could survive them with faith and righteousness. The bottom line is, everything was related to religion and thus unfalsifiable for them.

“We modern Cultivators don’t believe in superstitions, nor do we accept the existence of divinities.

“For ten thousand years, the superstitions of the ancient Cultivators have been ruled out one by one. The objective laws of nature behind them have been found.

“But apocalypses are as mysterious and incomprehensible as they have ever been. They are the fatal weakness of the modern Cultivation theorems.

“It is said that a Cultivator whose surname was ‘Liu’ and whose title was ‘Master Star Prier’ saw through the mysteries of apocalypses during the last years of the Star Ocean Imperium.

“But soon after, he was mentally deranged and got involved in the warfare, never to be seen again.

“Therefore, it was already an unbelievably troublesome task to capture the trajectory and estimate the time of the arrival of such enigmatic phenomena like an apocalypse. Countless astronomers burnt their life and soul while they were calculating the apocalypse until they perished because of fatigue in the end.

“It is said that the estimation of the damage of the apocalypse depended on a fickle, unpredictable value. If it was odd, then the apocalypse would be resistible; if it was even, the apocalypse would not be stopped at all.

“A team of dozens of astronomers sacrificed their lives together, but they still failed to determine whether the value was odd or even!

“The details have been lost in the passage of time. All you need to know is the outcome.”

There was mockery and sadness on Sha Yulan’s face; telling the story seemed to be draining her. She took a few breaths. “If it was more likely to resist the apocalypse, or if the apocalypse was more likely to be unstoppable, everything would’ve been easier. But the problem was that each possibility was fifty percent.

“The Flying Star Sector, at that time, had the ability to perform a large-scale space migration and to provide absolute defense for one of the planets. But either choice would consume tremendous resources.

“Faced with the incoming apocalypse, the Cultivators were inevitably divided.

“Some of them call themselves ‘homers’. They suggested that all the other planets of the Flying Star Sector should be abandoned and that the population and resources be concentrated on the mother planet Iron Plateau. With all the resources available in the Flying Star Sector, a super stellar-level defense array could have been established outside the mother planet, which could be used to resist the apocalypse.

“According to the advocates of such a notion, the apocalypse was definitely resistible if all the resources of the Flying Star Sector were focused on one planet. As long as the mother planet was saved, the mines and secondary planets in the periphery could have been reestablished within the subsequent hundred years.

“The rest of the Cultivators were known as ‘spacers’, and they maintained that staying on Iron Plateau could only lead to the doom of the entire civilization.

“Now that a large fleet was already available, and that the technology of universal sailing was quite advanced, they argued to concentrate all the resources of the Flying Star Sector to upgrade the fleet and to refine a large batch of star fortresses.

“Since the target of the apocalypse was the planets, everyone might as well be evacuated from the planets and into space. A civilization in space would be created!”

“The arguments of the two sides had their own pros and cons.

“The proposal of the homers was a gamble. If the apocalypse was successfully resisted, all would be good. But if the stellar-level defense array was broken through, the entire civilization would be destroyed.

“The spacers, on the other hand, were asking everyone living on the planets, from infants in their cribs to seniors over a hundred years old, to move into starships within several decades. It was definitely not an easy job.

“Besides, mankind originated from planets. To move away from planets and live in cold, narrow starships without having the chance to stand on real soil again was too cruel a penalty for a civilization.”

Li Yao blurted out, “They could’ve stayed in space temporarily and moved back to Iron Plateau when the apocalypse passed.”

He realized that he was not thinking at all after he heard what he said.

The resources of a sector were limited. If they were devoted to the starships and space towns, building a stellar-level defense array would definitely have been impossible.

Without enough defense, it was quite likely that Iron Plateau would have been blown into smithereens by the apocalypse. How could they move back if that happened?

Chapter 558: God Slaying!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“The hardcore advocates of spacers were the members of the Flying Star fleet who had been preparing for the expedition across the universe. The best elites of the Cultivation world had been gathered in the fleet, including many Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. Most of them were the leadership of the big sects.

“The majority of homers were made of the low-level Cultivators. Although their Cultivation was not very high, they were supported by most ordinary people.

“Space is boundless and perilous. Nobody could anticipate what the Flying Star Sector would be like after the apocalypse. It was possible that all the planets would be destroyed. If so, human beings would be floating in the sea of stars for all eternity and become a nomadic civilization.

“Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators might be able to live through such crisis. But faced with the endless universe, what were the odds of survival for low-level Cultivators and ordinary people?

“The entire system of Cultivation and way of life would be demolished. Without planets as bases, it would be questionable whether or not such a system could be reestablished.

“The two sides had been at loggerheads with each other since the very beginning. The homers decried spacers to be timid cowards who ran away before a fight. Even if they succeeded in escaping via starships, the torch of civilization would only diminish and eventually die down if there were no planets, no natural paradises, and no Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

“But the spacers scorned the homers for being idiotic turtles. It seemed to be a valiant decision to stay and try to resist the apocalypse, but it was only irrational. The homers were the real cowards; they did not have the courage to explore the sea of stars. In the end, if the defense array of the homers could not resist the apocalypse, everyone would be killed in the disaster. In comparison, spacers were the real brave ones who would not only continue their civilization but also lead the human beings of the Flying Star Sector to expand their territory and explore new worlds so that the civilization would be brought to a new height!

“The debate between the two sides continued unabated, and their conflicts grew more and more intense. At the beginning, the argument was merely theoretical. But soon, when resources were going to be mobilized to implement a plan to resist the apocalypse, the theoretical argument was about to turn into blood and fire in reality!

“According to the astronomers, the apocalypse was going to arrive seventy-one years later. But both the planetary defense array and the production of thousands of starships were projects that could potentially take a hundred years. Therefore, they must seize every second and take action immediately.

“Resources of the Flying Star Sector were limited. If one of the two plans got more, the other plan would doubtlessly get less.

“Regarding the distribution of resources, the two sides almost raised a civil war!”

Li Yao couldn’t help but interject. “Wasn’t there a coalition government at that time? Besides, there were bound to be leaders and elders in the six major sects. Since most of them were spacers, why would the low-level Cultivators under their command not listen to them?”

Sha Yulan smiled bitterly. “The Flying Star government was co-established by the six sects. There was not a well-respected monarch who had enough prestige to win everyone’s support. Besides, it was not for personal gain, but for the future of the entire civilization!

“If it were for their own benefit, the low-level Cultivators would naturally follow the arrangements of their masters, elders and leaders.

“But right now, it was the lives of tens of billions of people that were at risk!

“If you were a Refinement Stage Cultivator, and you firmly believed that the planetary defense array could resist the apocalypse and that the progress of the civilization would be disrupted if everyone ran out of the planets and simply let the apocalypse destroy all the habitable planets, would you listen to the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators when you believe that only your companions could save everyone, including the crying babies in the cradles?

“Not just the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. At that time, a series of shocking crimes had happened.

“In the records of Iron Plateau, these crimes were known to be—god slaying!

“At the time, the Flying Star Sector had a highly developed Cultivation civilization. There were three super experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage, above the Nascent Soul Stage, who were all supporters of the ideology of spacers.

“The three Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were all true gods of war; they had made great contributions through life and death during the development of the civilization of the Flying Star Sector. They were very respected both among the Cultivators and among the ordinary people.

“When the conflicts began, the three Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators spared no efforts in endorsing and preaching the spacers’ theories to win the ordinary people’s support.

“Under their influence, many ordinary people were convinced and willing to run away from planets together with the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators toward the sea of stars.

“Right then, an attack against one of the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators took place in a congress meeting of the coalition government!

“Yes. An attack against a Divinity Transformation Cultivator!

“The assailant was merely a Refinement Stage Cultivator, and an admin-type one at that. She was the recorder of the meeting!

“A Refinement Stage Cultivator trying to assassinate a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator!

“It was not hard to guess that no sooner had her killing intent been revealed than she was discovered.

“However, her purpose was never the assassination; she was merely taking the opportunity to root for the homers.

“The assassin gave a marvelous speech in the congress meeting in front of thousands of representatives and billions of spectators and rebuked the Divinity Transformation Cultivators for being as timid as rats when they decided to abandon their home and flee without fighting.

“She berated the spacers for leading the human beings of the Flying Star Sector to doom. Although the homers were mostly low-level Cultivators and descendants or disciples of the spacers, they would not lower their heads in front of the truth that would determine the destiny of their civilization.

“This was the greatest Dao for them. Faced with the false Dao, they would not shirk away and would rather fight until their last drop of blood was shed even if their opponents were Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, or even real deities!

“The assailant also stated that, although she had been captured, all the low-level Cultivators of the homers had made up their mind to sacrifice themselves. From that day on, if the three Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were still spreading propaganda for the spacers’ theories in public, then…

“Every day, three Refinement Stage Cultivators would assault the three Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators!

“No. It was not an assault; it was suicidal attack!

“At that time, many representatives of the congress meeting were homers. Due to their backing, nobody dared to stop the female assassin from completing her declaration.

“The speech of such a weak girl rendered the entire hall speechless. Even the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator who had been the target of the attempted assassination was shocked at her valor and failed to come up with a response.

“The ordinary people who were watching the live stream of the congress meeting were deeply touched, too.

“After the assassin was taken into custody, she somehow managed to kill herself the following morning despite the various barriers imposed on her. She also wrote a few words with her blood on the wall.

“Born in Iron Plateau, die in Iron Plateau!”

Li Yao was flabbergasted.

He did not know that the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector had been so unbendable five thousand years ago. An insignificant Refinement Stage Cultivator was bold enough to attack a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator, and when she inevitably failed and was captured, she ended her own life elegantly and decisively!

This was the conflict of the great Dao. It was not about one’s capability but the firmness of one’s belief!

“Born in Iron Plateau, die in Iron Plateau,” Xiong Wuji mumbled.

He listened attentively to the valiant actions of the predecessors of the homers. Although he had heard it all a thousand times before, and he was the one who had told Sha Yulan the stories, he was still breathing fast, with brightness blinking in his eyes, as if this was the first time that he had ever heard such a story.

However, his face was somewhat grave. When he spoke the words ‘die in Iron Plateau’, there was a hint of depression in his eyes.

Sha Yulan sighed. “From that day on, the homers started fulfilling their promise. Every day, three Refinement Stage Cultivators would attempt to assassinate the three Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators in public.

“Of course, their endeavors all failed.

“But so what? There were too many homers. If the millions of Refinement Stage Cultivators were all willing to die for their decision, it was impossible to kill all of them.

“Besides, the two sides were compatriots in the first place. Many homers were the disciples and descendants of the spacers. How could they expect to clean out all of the homers?

“This was the ‘God Slaying Initiative’!

“Moved by the homers’ determination, many Cultivators who supported the spacers gradually returned to the homers’ side.

“Many low-level Cultivators of the homers were in charge of the rudimental affairs of their sects. Therefore, they had quite a lot of arsenals and magical equipment bases under their control.

“Before the apocalypse consumed them all, a civil war was about to break out!”

Li Yao found it hard to breathe. He tightly clenched his fists.

“If a civil war broke out, the spacers were naturally much stronger. But strength was of little significance, because if the war broke out, a lot of resources and time would be wasted. Even worse, the civilization might be torn apart, and the two sides would completely go against each other. If so, nobody would ever survive the apocalypse!

“Thankfully, the leadership of the two sides retained some rationality. Before the civil war broke out, they reached an agreement to divide all the resources.

“After all, the resources that the planetary defense array required and those the production of starships required were not entirely the same.

“The plan seemed simple and straightforward. But it was actually only the best of the worst choices. Everybody had to carry out the agreement, however unsatisfied they were, in order to not trigger the civil war.

“From that day on, the human beings of the Flying Star Sector were gradually separated into two groups, the homers and the spacers. They are now the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents.”

Li Yao thought for a moment and asked, “Since the agreement was reached, shouldn’t the two parties live in harmony now? I think it was a reasonable decision to divide the resources. As the saying goes, you should never put all your eggs into one basket. If some of them were staying and some leaving, the civilization would be kept alive in some form as long as either side succeeded!”

Sha Yulan smiled vaguely. She glanced at Xiong Wuji and sighed. “That was exactly what the leadership of the two sides thought when the agreement was signed. If the two plans were implemented at the same time, one of the two sides would carry on the civilization even if the other side failed. But as the agreement was proceeded, and especially when the new generations were born, the chasm between the two parties grew wider and wider, eventually becoming irreparable.”

Chapter 559: Born in Iron Plateau, Die in Iron Plateau!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“The civilization of the Flying Star Sector was in its golden years before the apocalypse. Everything was thriving. No difficulties seemed to be stopping us from striding forward.

“However, the news of the apocalypse instantly dragged us from the golden years to the time of desperation.

“The new generation born in such a period had a different understanding of the world from their parents. They were almost born with the hostility against each other.”

Li Yao was confused. “If such a catastrophe was coming, everybody should have been more united. Even if they did not look eye to eye, they could have simply avoided interacting with the dissidents. What was the hostility for?”

Sha Yulan explained, “It had been estimated that the apocalypse would occur some seventy years later. But with the development of the observation technology, the trajectory and speed of the apocalypse had been rectified multiple times, and it was determined precisely in the end that the apocalypse would arrive a hundred and one years later.

“A hundred years was enough for several generations to be born.

“Imagine you are a homer who was born in such an era. Your parents tell you, when you are still learning how to talk, that your civilization will suffer a destructive strike in several decades’ time and that your only hope is to build an enormous shield to resist it.

“Your parents, your grandparents, and your brothers and sisters are all striving for the purpose. The whole significance of your life is to contribute to such a cause!

“If you are a Cultivator, you may go into space temporarily to construct the planetary defense system.

“If you are an ordinary person, you may be digging holes day and night in order to build underground shelters that can be hundreds of meters deep.

“Everybody is burning their life and soul.

“Countless Cultivators fall while they are building the planetary defense array. Some of them are even crushed to pieces by the rushing meteoroids.

“Equally many ordinary people also sacrifice themselves because of the cave collapses, poisonous gas, and the scourge of demon beasts.

“You’ve experience everything. When your father dies in the space, when your brother is torn apart by demon beasts, and when you dedicate everything to the construction of the shield, you are suddenly told that some other people are not willing to fight side by side with you; they are going to abandon you and their home and simply run away!

“They do not just run away; they will even take away a lot of resources with them!

“The resources could’ve been used to enlarge and widen your shield so that more people can be protected!

“But now, because of the cowardice of those people, the shield guarding the entire civilization is smaller, lighter, and thinner.

“What would you think of those people?”

Li Yao was deep in thought.

Sha Yulan continued her explanation. “It is the same for the spacers. The new generation of spacers were informed that their destiny was to create countless crystal warships and sail afar with their civilization.

“During the decades, countless people died on their posts, leaving many touching stories behind. Some refiners were drawing structural designs of starships day and night, only to collapse and never wake up again!

“Every spacer believed that, if they could produce one more starship, more lives would be saved, and their civilization could continue!

“If you were such a spacer, what would you think if you knew that some diehards have stolen a lot of resources to build a big and useless turtle shell because of their foolishness and stubbornness?

“Fewer resources mean fewer starships, and fewer starships mean that tens of thousands of people may not be able to survive!”

Li Yao was silent.

It was indeed an impasse.

“Furthermore, as the strategies of the two sides proceeded, their social forms underwent tremendous changes.

“The society of the homers regarded the underground shelters as the cores. Before the shelters were fully established, they had built countless enclosed cities on the ground simulating the underground environment. They were hoping that they could persist underground even if several meteors breached through the defense array.

“For decades, in order to better prepare the people for the apocalypse, they even manually created a lot of meteor showers with unbelievable technology as rehearsals.

“As for the spacers, to adapt to the lifestyle in space later when each starship would be a small society, all the people were sorted into different towns. The smaller towns had a population of several thousand, and the larger ones had tens of thousands.

“Each such town was going to be a starship society later. The residents of the same town would board on the same starship.

“The Cultivators from the six major sects also took the opportunity to enter every ‘starship town’ and establish their branches as the leadership of the starship.

“When a starship was successfully produced, one of the towns would be migrated into the starship as a whole.

“After years of preparation, everybody had been used to a society of such a small scale. The immigration was mostly smooth without much trouble.

“It was not hard to guess why the new generations born in the two vastly different social forms found each other alien and hated each other!”

Xiong Wuji was suddenly angry when he listened to this part of the story. He raised his voice and said, “Cut the irrelevant stuff. Tell him about ‘Plan Prometheus’!”

Sha Yulan paused for a moment. For the first time, the tranquility on her face was gone. She said gravely, “Although the relationship between the two sides were bad, they were faced with a common threat after all. For the big picture, there were never any real conflicts, until the hundredth year, right before the arrival of the apocalypse.

“At that time, the homers had finally finished their planetary defense array. However, due to the lack of resources, it did not reach the stellar-level, however close it was.

“The spacers had also produced a lot of starships and space towns.

“Because of the restriction of technology, the space towns did not have the ability to sail across space zones, much less constellations.

“But they were distinguished for their large size and their self-circulating biological system. Therefore, a lot of ordinary people could live on them.

“Finally, the time to part had come!

“The two divisions of civilization would embark on different paths of survival shortly.

“If things went just like that, maybe hundreds of years later, the misunderstanding between the two parties could have been eliminated, and they could still have reunited as one.

“But just then, ‘Plan Prometheus’ was implemented.

“Many spacers were the management and leadership of the six major sects. They had the top confidential training techniques and facilities in their sects under their control.

“Many such assets were inherited from the Star Ocean Imperium. They could only be read or utilized, but not copied or duplicated.

“According to the agreement, the spacers would leave some of the techniques and training facilities before they set off.

“But no one realized that, as the new generations of the spacers had grown up and risen to power, some of them had become the organizers of the final immigration!

“281 spacers of the new generation reached a secret agreement and carried out ‘Plan Prometheus’. They stole all the techniques and training facilities that should’ve been left for the homers!

“When theft was discovered, they had long run away on their starships!”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. “That’s highly immoral.”

Techniques and training facilities were the essentials for a Cultivation sect. If such assets were stolen, the Cultivation sect would lose all its knowledge!

No wonder there were only ‘qi-trainers’ on Iron Plateau. Their techniques had all been lost.

It also explained why the qi-trainers loathed the Cultivators so much.

Sha Yulan said grimly, “What is moral and what is immoral when we are talking about the life and death of billions of people and the continuity of a civilization?

“The new generation had no doubts about the spacers’ theories and believed that staying on Iron Plateau was a dead end. The techniques and training facilities would only be buried together with the homers.

“If so, they might as well steal all the techniques and training facilities so that the spacers could be stronger and the likelihood of the survival of their civilization could be higher!

“Every technique was a spark of civilization. Everything they did was to pass on the sparks of the human civilization. That was all.

“It was a sordid, cruel, and yet a very realistic decision.

“The homers naturally burst into fury when they discovered everything. However, there was nothing they could do. They did have some starships, but they did not have enough crew members. As the apocalypse drew close, most Cultivators had to stay inside the planetary defense array to ensure that it functioned normally. Therefore, they could only stand by and watch the spacers run away.

“Finally, the apocalypse arrived!”

Li Yao held his breath. Although he knew that human beings of the Flying Star Sector had survived the catastrophe, he still felt that his heart pounding.

Sha Yulan continued to speak bitterly. “Out of everyone’s expectation, the supposedly three waves of meteoroid showers gave birth to a fourth wave, which lunged at the main fleet of spacers.

“The main fleet of spacers, caught off guard, was almost entirely demolished.

“The remaining starships were swallowed by space storms and lost in the broken universe. They had to survive on their own in darkness. It was not until four thousand years later that the civilization gradually recovered.

“However, even to this day, the civilization hasn’t returned to its former glory!

“The ending of the homers was not any better. Although the strongest wave of the apocalypse was split to strike the fleet of the spacers, its remaining power was still beyond the capacity of a defense array that had failed to reach the stellar-level. A lot of meteoroids broke through the defenses and hit the surface of Iron Plateau. The environment of Iron Plateau was completely reshaped. A disaster of hundreds of years was thus begun!

“During the calamity, all the Cultivators above the Refinement Stage, including the Building Foundation Stage Cultivators, the Core Formation Stage Cultivators, and a few Nascent Soul Stages, did their best to drive the defense array to resist the apocalypse lead by a Divinity Transformation Cultivator. In the end, they all perished when their souls were burnt out!”

Li Yao did not understand. “Wait. Didn’t you say just now that all the three Divinity Transformation Cultivators were spacers?”

Sha Yulan sighed. “The Divinity Transformation Cultivator who was the first to be attacked in the ‘God Slaying Initiative’ chose to stay on Iron Plateau in the end. He said that he had not changed his mind, and he still believed that space was the only destiny. But it was the duty of a Cultivator to protect mankind. Since so many ordinary people were staying in their homeland, one of the three Divinity Transformation Cultivators should also stay and fulfill their responsibility.

“Born in Iron Plateau, die in Iron Plateau.

“It was what the female assassin had said a hundred years ago.

“When the apocalypse arrived, the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator recited the eight words and died a hero’s death together with countless other Cultivators in the battlefield!”

Chapter 560: Eggs of Apocalypse

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“After that—”

When Sha Yulan was about to continue, Xiong Wuji interrupted her, speaking in a hoarse voice. “After that, most of the shelters were demolished by the apocalypse. The bombardment of the meteors cast Iron Plateau in absolute darkness for decades. The territory was entirely changed. The demon beasts that used to lurk underground mutated and became even more brutal and bloodthirsty!

“Only a few of them, who had been hiding in the deepest shelter, survived the catastrophe. But they were barely alive.

“When they returned to the surface, what they saw was a black sun, a desolate land, savage demon beasts, and city debris after city debris.

“All the Cultivators above the Building Foundation Stage had been killed. Only a small portion of Refinement Stage Cultivators, who were responsible for the order and safety of the shelters, were lucky enough to survive.

“However, most of the techniques and training facilities had been stolen by the spacers!

“Without the techniques and the corresponding knowledge, without the enlightenment of masters, and because all the natural paradises had been destroyed, they explored in the darkness for a thousand years and yet failed to find a way to build their foundation!

“But what’s the big deal about being unable to build a foundation? They could still slay the demon beasts and defend their homes even if they were merely in the Refinement Stage!

“The Refinement Stage Cultivators fought against the mutated demon beasts and the harsh environment day after day. Gradually, they learned how to broaden their veins and nerves in order to improve their capacity for spiritual gas. They also perceived a brand-new technique from the apocalypse and embarked on an entirely different path of Cultivation from the past.

“These Cultivators—

“No, they stopped calling themselves Cultivators anymore.

“Since ‘Cultivators’ meant abandoning homes and fleeing without fighting, they should be ashamed of the name forever.

“Because they could only make use of spiritual gas, they simply called themselves ‘qi-trainers’!

“The Cultivators all ran away, but the qi-trainers stayed on Iron Plateau and guarded their homeland and the people living in it!”

Sha Yulan stood up. She glared at Xiong Wuji without any concession and spoke in a voice that was low and yet determined. “Cultivators did not run away! We were merely trying to save civilization in a different way!

“In space, the Cultivators shed as much blood as those on Iron Plateau did!

“At that time, most Cultivators were riding crystal warships that were faster, agiler, and sturdier.

“In comparison, most ordinary people were moving in the space towns, which were slow.

“When the apocalypse approached, the crystal warships of the Cultivators could’ve run away!

“But in order to let more space towns escape from the apocalypse, countless Cultivators waged a suicidal war against it in their crystal warships!

“For most of them, they knew that they would certainly be killed, and yet they charged at the apocalypse anyway, just so that the power of the apocalypse could be diminished and the space towns behind them could be one percent more likely to survive!

“It is true that a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator stayed on Iron Plateau and sacrificed himself, but the other two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were also in the lead when the apocalypse struck the space fleet, and they died protecting their own people!

“The homers built an iron shield on the surface of the planet, but the spacers also built a shield, one made of flesh and blood!

“I don’t care how you brag about the valor of your ancestors, but I will not allow you to insult the Cultivators who sacrificed themselves bravely!”

The short doctor held her head high without the slightest fear in front of the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau like an infuriated cat.

Xiong Wuji seemed to be caught off guard by Shu Yulan’s refutation and was lost for words for a moment.

Li Yao was dazed briefly, too. He hurried to ease the intensity. “Faced with such a world-destroying catastrophe, I think that homers and spacers both had good reasons for their decisions. But as for the members of ‘Plan Prometheus’ who stole the techniques and training facilities before the arrival of the apocalypse… I don’t know how I should comment on them. I wonder, what was their ending?”

Sha Yulan took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Members of Plan Prometheus had planned to flee to the periphery of the Flying Star Sector after they stole the techniques and training facilities and reunite with the main fleet when the apocalypse passed. They would hand in all the techniques and training facilities by then.

“In the message that they sent to the main fleet, they confessed that their behavior was in violation of the laws of the coalition government and any code of conduct; they admitted that there was no way that they should be pardoned or forgiven.

“But in the meantime, they emphasized that more of their civilization would be saved this way and the humans of the Flying Star Sector who were about to roam through space would have a better chance to thrive again.

“Whatever felonies they were going to be condemned to, they were willing to accept them all, even if they had to go on trial and be sentenced to death. Before the action, they had been prepared to die in dishonor.

“As long as the civilization of the Flying Star Sector could live long and prosper, they would sacrifice everything and be the fuel for the burning torch of humanity!

“However, before they joined the main fleet, the apocalypse had already arrived.

“The entire Flying Star Sector was cast into a havoc. Several planets were torn apart. Many world fragments collided, and even more were separated in that moment.

“In the end, we lost touch with the members of Plan Prometheus. After such a long time, I assume that they have long gone extinct.”

Li Yao secretly sighed.

The members of Plan Prometheus had run to the periphery of the Flying Star Sector in advance with abundant training techniques and facilities. If they had still been around, they would be a quite important force. Too bad they had perished.

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked again, “The apocalypse happened five thousand years ago. Why are there still ‘battles of the apocalypse’ today?”

Xiong Wuji slowly exhaled. “Apocalypses are not as simple as you think. The apocalypse that assaulted Iron Plateau was not made of meteors, but ‘eggs’!”

“Eggs?” Li Yao was baffled.

Xiong Wuji explained, “In the first hundred years after the apocalypse, the survivors also thought that the apocalypse had passed and went out of their shelters to rebuild their homes. At that time, the land was scarred, and countless enormous meteorites were standing like mountains.

“Very soon, the survivors discovered that they were wrong. Very wrong.

“The meteorites were not simple rock and metal, but ‘eggs of apocalypse’ in which countless terrifying eccentric beasts were growing. Every few years, several such eggs would mature and give birth to tremendous eccentric beasts that ravaged our land!

“To fight against the beasts, qi-trainers established the six tribes of Iron Plateau according to the organizational structure of the six big sects in the past.

“Each of the six tribes was allocated a certain area to defend. A deal was also made that, when the eggs of apocalypse showed signs of maturing in one tribe’s territory, all the other tribes would gather and fight it together!”

Li Yao gasped. He did not know that the meteorite mountains he had seen in the desert were eggs yet to mature.

No wonder so many weird runes were carved on them!

Apocalypses. The mysterious apocalypses!

When Li Yao was in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, he had taken courses like ‘Nine Levels of Apocalypses’ and ‘Hypotheses on the Origin of Apocalypses’.

The few apocalypses that the Heaven’s Origin Sector had witnessed all targeted certain experts.

In the early years of the Star Glory Federation, several experts had experienced apocalypses when they were trying to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage from the Nascent Soul Stage, too.

The form, duration, and outcome of each strike of the apocalypses were different.

There were normal means of attack such as meteor showers or lightning strikes. There were also less normal ways such as mental attacks when the experts were sleeping.

Whatever the pattern was, the apocalypses all targeted individuals. Even their family members next to them had hardly ever been affected.

According to the textbooks, such apocalypses targeting individuals were known to be ‘minor apocalypses’.

In comparison, the destructive strikes targeting a planet or even a constellation were called ‘major apocalypses’.

Due to the insufficient development of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, its knowledge about major apocalypses was quite limited.

Therefore, this was the first time Li Yao had learned the entire process of a major apocalypse.

He had never thought that it would be so powerful that its effect still lingered on after five thousand years!

Li Yao couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of monsters could grow inside the eggs of apocalypse for five thousand years? Couldn’t you demolish all the meteorite mountains to destroy them?”

Xiong Wuji replied, “The eccentric beasts were not brought here by the apocalypse; they are all the local demon beasts of Iron Plateau.

“The eggs of apocalypse are like mutation factories. They can absorb the cells and flesh from the demon beasts on Iron Plateau and produce even stronger demon beasts!

“You should’ve discovered that, different from those of other places, the demon beasts on Iron Plateau had more metal constituents in their bodies, haven’t you?”

Li Yao nodded his head.

He had been curious as to why the demon beasts of Iron Plateau were so difficult to deal with. Besides, there was a huge amount of metal in their skin and bones, as if their head, teeth, and claws were made of steel.

Xiong Wuji said, “The demon beasts you saw had only mutated slightly. The eccentric beasts growing inside the eggs of apocalypse are ten times more horrendous than them!

“The meteorite mountains are everywhere on Iron Plateau. With our current capability, we cannot blow all of them up. Besides, once we blow them up, countless eccentric beasts might be freed and attack us!

“Therefore, we can only build high walls and train our troops while we progress further on the path of qi-training. When we discover that an egg of apocalypse is about to mature, we prepare everything in advance and deploy our troops to the battlefield of apocalypse to slay the beasts and blow up the intruders!

“In less than one month, another egg of apocalypse in the territory of the Furious Bears Tribe is going to mature.

“Within the next month, all of our resources must be collected to prepare for the battle. We cannot spare any to make deals with you. In one month, after we suppress this wave of attacks, we can talk about deals then. Maybe at that time, we will be able to make an even better deal!”

Chapter 561: Superlative Height

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

A better deal?

Li Yao quickly remembered that Xiong Wuji had asked whether or not he could repair a starship at the beginning of the conversation. He suddenly felt that he was onto something.

However, the most important question for him was not how to get away from Iron Plateau, but how to resolve the wretched Black Spider Death Curse!

Although the curse brought him absolutely no pain, it was not like he should be confined to the peak of the Refinement Stage for the rest of his life.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, “Chief Xiong, in that case, it’s all the more reason that we should start making a deal now! You are building war machines. I happen to know something about the production of sabers, swords, and crystal bombs, and I can help you build more powerful weapons! When the apocalypse arrives, I will fight side by side with you!”

Xiong Wuji was somewhat bewildered. “You are going to fight against the apocalypse with us?”

Li Yao answered, “Of course. I’m a Cultivator.”

Sha Yulan’s eyes suddenly shone with a smile of pride on her face.

Li Yao thought for a moment and decided to speak honestly, even though his following request was a bit outrageous. “However, I am now suffering from the Black Spider Death Curse. Although it does no harm to me, my capability has been curbed to the peak of the Refinement Stage.

“By the peak of the Refinement Stage, I mean the 14th level of the Refinement Stage in your understanding. From what I’ve seen, it is not a very high level on Iron Plateau, and I doubt that I will make much of a contribution with my current capability even if I join the battle of the apocalypse.

“I wonder, can I learn the techniques of the qi-trainers so that I may have a breakthrough?

“Of course, I won’t study your techniques for free. In space, it is very normal to exchange knowledge. I can trade for your techniques with the arts of crafting melee weapons, the practical battle skills of Refinement Stage Cultivators, or even the tricks of building one’s foundation.”

Li Yao’s heart was pounding as he finished his proposal.

Qi-trainers’ secret arts were their core techniques after all, and it was naturally questionable whether or not they would be willing to share them, if they were not infuriated by the idea in the first place.

Xiong Wuji did not burst into fury or storm out as Li Yao had feared. Instead, he seemed a bit embarrassed and walked to the window to enjoy the scenery of the outside after a cough. Then, he waved his hands at Sha Yulan and gestured for her to explain.

Sha Yulan smiled and said in a low voice, “Brother Li Yao, the training techniques of the qi-trainers are no secrets on Iron Plateau.

“The environment of Iron Plateau is harsh, the land barren. Life is very difficult here. Not only is everyone faced with mutated demon beasts on a daily basis, bloody wars break out every ten years or so when a batch of eggs of apocalypse are mature!

“Therefore, people here prefer muscles to brains, and they do not keep the ways of training to themselves. On the contrary, everybody is encouraged to train themselves so that there will be more warriors when a war comes!

“At the center of every tribe on Iron Plateau is a splendid temple. The few training techniques that they have are all placed inside. Everybody can read them for free. The experts of each tribe will have open courses regularly. Whoever is interested in them can join them easily.

“Look, everybody knows my son Wu Mayan to be a space resident, but he has never been forbidden from undergoing the training ever since his gifts in training were revealed. This place is in serious shortage of qi-trainers. One more warrior means one more hope for victory in the battle against the apocalypse.

“Therefore, in general, it is not a problem for you to study the qi-trainers’ techniques, as long as you stand up and protect the ordinary people when they are in danger.”

Li Yao couldn’t help but interrupt her. “I would not hide behind the ordinary people when they are in danger even if I don’t learn the qi-trainers’ techniques.”

Sha Yulan nodded in a smile and continued. “However, the qi-trainers’ techniques are, in fact, not very suitable for the Cultivators who have made certain accomplishments, because their techniques are really… a little bit weak.”

Xiong Wuji coughed loudly and looked back at Sha Yulan in discontent.

Sha Yulan pretended that she did not see it and simply continued her explanation. “When I arrived on Iron Plateau, I was also shocked by their unfathomable levels. The 50th level of the Refinement Stage, the 80th level of the Refinement Stage, and all their talks about beating Core Formation Stage Cultivators and thrashing the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. I thought that they were the strongest people in the world.

“But after I stayed for a while longer, I discovered that it was not the case at all.

“It is true that they have made breakthroughs in the Refinement Stage of the traditional sense, but they never made great breakthroughs. If anything, they created a brand-new level above the peak of the Refinement Stage that I would like to call ‘superlative height’.”

“The superlative height of the Refinement Stage?” Li Yao chewed on the seven words.

Sha Yulan nodded her head. “When they surpass the peak and reach the superlative height, they are no longer bound by the spiritual domain we know about, and they can expand the range of their spiritual gas outburst unlimitedly. They call the improvement of every meter in the diameter of the range of the outburst the advancement of a level.”

“What?”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. A meter wider meant a level higher? That sounded rather straightforward.

Xiong Wuji sniffed heavily and glared at the two of them.

“Eh, such a way of classification is indeed easy to understand and implement, even for the old and the kids. It’s very good. It’s very good,” observed Li Yao as he scratched his nose, not entirely meaning what he said.

Sha Yulan smiled. “Brother Li Yao, since you have reached the Building Foundation Stage before, you must have a deep understanding about the source and structure of spiritual energy. If you really enter the ‘superlative height of the Refinement Stage’, I believe that your levels will definitely soar. Chances are that you may become an ‘expert’ in the 60th level of the Refinement within the next month.”

Li Yao grinned. It was quite a good possibility. But such a way of training did not touch the essentials of spiritual energy and simply aimed to collect more and burst out more. It might have sounded cool when he told other people that he was in the 60th level of the Refinement Stage, but it wasn’t really proof that he was a top expert.

“If one can keep advancing into higher levels until they reach the 300th or the 500th level, it is quite possible that they can truly defeat Core Formation Stage Cultivators and be on par with Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.

“However, one only has limited time and energy, and the range of the spiritual gas outburst has its own restrictions.

“Qi-trainers have existed for thousands of years. Neither the legendary experts thousands of years ago nor the contemporary ones have ever broken into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage. Even the best of them come to a halt in the 99th level!

“Therefore, it is believed that the maximum range of spiritual gas is a hundred meters. The 100th level of the Refinement Stage is an unbreakable ‘Wall of True Qi’.

“The slogan they wrote on the city walls such as ‘Go into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage if you are a man!’ is merely meant to cheer everybody up,” Sha Yulan said.

Xiong Wuji finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and bellowed, “I don’t believe in the Wall of True Qi. I will definitely break into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage. I will!”

Sha Yulan lowered her voice and said softly, “Big Xiong, I believe you will. But as of now, no qi-trainers have ever entered the 100th level, have they?”

Xiong Wuji snorted again and turned around.

This might have been the reason he was unwilling to explain it to Li Yao himself.

“The spiritual gas outbursts of the top experts of the six tribes of Iron Plateau can reach more than ninety meters, which means that they are above the 90th level of the Refinement Stage.

“According to my observation, their combat ability is approximately between the high level of the Building Foundation Stage and the peak of it, but nowhere near the Core Formation Stage.”

Li Yao was somewhat shocked. He asked, “If their best warriors are only equal to the Cultivators in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage, how have they managed to resist so many demon beasts and the mutated ones resulting from the apocalypse?”

Sha Yulan explained, “Such a methodology of training cannot produce super experts, but they have another technique: teamwork. When an army of qi-trainers is formed, their spiritual gas will be mutually spurred and eventually congregate into an unstoppable and destructive torrent.”

Li Yao thought of the iron knights of the Burning Sun Tribe who had gone berserk when their spiritual gas resonated. That must have been such a teamwork technique.

Sha Yulan said, “Do you see it now? The qi-trainers did not have a second path to walk on due to the special circumstances of Iron Plateau. For us the Cultivators, the best we can do is reach the peak of the Building Foundation Stage if we follow their path. Why bother?

“Moreover—

“The qi-trainers have to suffer excruciating pain when they get started. It is basically plucking their veins and bones and rebuilding them. The requirement on the solidness of the soul is very high.

“When I just joined the Furious Bears Tribe, I tried the secrets arts of the qi-trainers once out of curiosity, only to give up in the first test due to the overwhelming pain.

“The natives of Iron Plateau have been living on this land for thousands of years. They’ve fought bloody battles, and their bodies are extremely strong. Even so, many of them still quit because they cannot bear the pain.

“You should be able to imagine how horrible the process is now.”

Li Yao’s curiosity was aroused, too. He asked, “I’ve suffered some pain during my training. I wonder, how painful can the qi-trainers’ training be?”

Sha Yulan said solemnly, “It’s totally different from what you’ve experienced. The way that Cultivators of space train ourselves is gentle and progressive in general, nothing like the wild and barbaric style in this place!

“I can tell from your face that you don’t buy it. Let me give you an example. Have you ever heard of a strange insect named ‘Purple Ring Sword Ant’?”

Li Yao was dazed. “I know a thing or two about them.”

“If so, you must know how agonizing the Purple Ring Sword Ants biting is, don’t you?

“The training of the qi-trainers’ is like more than ten Purple Ring Sword Ants gnawing you at the same time!”

Li Yao’s expression suddenly turned extremely weird. “More than ten Purple Ring Sword Ants gnawing me at the same time? That must be… painful!”

Sha Yulan added, “That is only the first test. More breakthroughs mean more pain. In the end, you will feel that a hundred Purple Ring Sword Ants are nibbling on you at the same time!”

Li Yao’s face became even weirder. “A hundred? That will be indeed quite painful.”

Sha Yulan nodded. “Do you know how terrifying the process is now? There’s even more. During the training, you cannot resist the pain with your spiritual energy, and you must keep your head absolutely clear in order to sense the stretch and expansion of your every vein and nerve. If your head gets muddled because of the pain, it is very possible that you will become mentally deranged!

“Such a terrible training method is pure nuts! It can only exist in such a wasteland like Iron Plateau!”

Chapter 562: Wu Mayan

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Seeing that there was weirdness but no fear in Li Yao’s face, Sha Yulan raised her voice. “The physical torment is already agonizing enough. However, the qi-trainers’ brain will be put under pressure when they are training with the other technique. It is like… inserting a memory piece that does not belong to you into your brain by brute force!

“Unless your soul is extremely solid, you will find it unbearable!

“If you are careless for even one moment, you might suffer mental derangement and go mad!”

Li Yao’s eyes bugled even wider, as he recited, “Inserting a memory piece that does not belong to me into my brain?”

Sha Yulan nodded and continued speaking gravely. “A bloody, horrendous, inhuman memory piece!

“The natives of Iron Plateau begin the qi-trainers’ training when they were very young. At that time, their veins and nerves are not fully developed and boast endless potential. Their brains are not mature yet, either, so they can take the relatively big blow.

“Just like that, they pick up the technique bit by bit while the difficulty of their training slowly increases. Some of them will be able to grit their teeth through the entire process and become real qi-trainers!

“For adults like you and me, our veins, nerves, and brains have taken full shape, and we must withstand unparalleled pain if we want to change them!

“Even if you make it through all the tests, the best you can do is to reach the 60th or 70th level of the Refinement Stage, which equals to the beginning of the Building Foundation Stage. What’s the point?

“Right now, are you still interested in the qi-trainers’ techniques?”

Li Yao nodded. “I have to try them no matter what. This might be the only solution to breaking the Black Spider Death Curse for me!”

Xiong Wuji suddenly rose up and walked to Li Yao. He looked down at him and said solemnly, “When the six tribes of Iron Plateau were established, our ancestors vowed together that no techniques should be kept secret and that everyone’s wisdom should be gathered to make best use of the techniques!

“Whoever is willing to learn and ready to endure the pain, we will try our best to teach them!

“If one more person learns the techniques, we will have one more soldier, and we will be more likely to survive the apocalypse!

“Therefore, I can show you the techniques of the qi-trainers without caring about your identity. However, I fear that you will cry and beg to quit during the very first test!

“Listen to me carefully before we start.

“If you don’t get in touch with the qi-trainers’ techniques, I may consider you to be a civilian. When the apocalypse arrives, you will be allowed to hide in Furious Bears City.

“However, if you persist and learn the qi-trainers’ techniques, I will regard you as a qi-trainer!

“When the battle of apocalypse begins, every qi-trainer must be on the frontline. They will be the first to charge, to kill, and to be killed.

“If you hesitate or even desert at that time, I will execute you in person!”

Li Yao did not give in to his intimidating aura, which felt like a giant mountain. He looked at his eyes, which were brimming with passion, and replied, one word after another, “I am not a qi-trainer; I’m a Cultivator. I will let you know what a real Cultivator looks like!”

After Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan left the ward, Li Yao went into the deep sleep state again.

Before Sha Yulan left, she had smeared a lot of ointment on his body; it was made from the healing herbs the Furious Bears Tribe had gradually discovered during its thousands of years of struggle. She then rubbed and made the ointment penetrate into his flesh.

Therefore, the recovery of this deep sleep was much more efficient than the previous ones.

After the noon, when Li Yao woke up again, the poison of the Emperor Sand Scorpion had been eliminated, and he had regained the prowess of the peak of the Refinement Stage.

Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan did not show up again. But Wu Mayan, Sha Yulan’s only son, had come to Li Yao excitedly.

According to Sha Yulan, her son knew that he had come from space and that space residents were not respected in this place.

Sha Yulan had saved countless lives in the Furious Bears Tribe with her excellent medical skills. The qi-trainers always considered themselves to be gallant and chivalrous, and they were too ashamed to be mean to the widow and her son. On the contrary, the natives tried to make their lives easier.

However, when they were chitchatting about the past, it was natural that they lambasted the Cultivators who fled to space and scorned them as cowardly rats.

Wu Mayan, as a proud young man growing in such an environment, found the humiliation completely unbearable. He planned to wash the dirt from the space residents’ name with real actions.

He had entered the temple of Furious Bears City to receive the qi-trainers’ training when he was only five years old.

While many local kids of Iron Plateau admitted their failure and abandoned the throbbing training, the dogged young man from space gritted his teeth through it and increased the difficulty of the tests time and time again.

Wu Mayan was only thirteen years old at present, but he had reached the 12th level of the Refinement Stage.

In the history of the Furious Bears Tribe, and even all six tribes of Iron Plateau, it was an unbelievably shocking speed.

In the Heaven’s Origin Sector, if a young man could advance into the high level of the Refinement Stage, he would be a super genius among super geniuses.

Even in the Flying Star Sector, where the spiritual energy was denser, it was rare to see a thirteen-year-old who had awoke their spiritual root, let alone one on his way to the peak of the Refinement Stage.

Therefore, when Xiong Wuji, the leader of the Furious Bears Tribe and the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, fostered the young man from space as his son, there was not much objection within his tribe. One of the most important reasons was that Wu Mayan had proved his capability!

Such an identity and experience led to Wu Mayan’s obstinacy and aggressiveness. He was always asking for other people’s trouble as a little gangster in Furious Bears City. He also had many conflicts with the teenagers from the other tribes nearby, and his name had spread far and wide.

However, in front of Li Yao, who had saved his life, he couldn’t have acted more nicely and seemed just like any other normal thirteen-year-old kid would.

He had suffered serious wounds last night, too. However, his body was quite strong, and he had basically recovered after a night of rest. When he heard that Li Yao was also recovering, he had hurried over to visit him.

“Uncle, you are so awesome. You’ve almost recovered from the brutal sting of an Emperor Sand Scorpion after such a short period of time!

“Here. Uncle, I said that I was going to bring you delicious food. This is the best roasted beef in Furious Bears City. When I told your story to the shopkeeper, he admired your bravery very much and decided to offer it for free. I totally never robbed him. Doesn’t it look yummy?

“Uncle, my mom said that you lost part of your memories. But you can understand us, can’t you? My name is Wu Mayan. What’s your name, uncle?

“Ah, I almost forgot. You don’t remember much right now. But calling you uncle all the time seems inappropriate. How about this. I will make a new name for you. You can call yourself that until you remember who you are!

“Since you are awesome enough to take down two Emperor Sand Scorpions in a row, you might as well be called ‘Sand Scorpion’!

“In the Furious Bears Tribe, there’s a tradition that a new father will go out and hunt down a demon beast when his child is born. The child will be nicknamed after his father’s trophy. The stronger the demon beast is, the more awesome the child’s nickname will be. Haha!

“Emperor Sand Scorpions are not the top-tier demon beasts, but they can dig holes and release poison to kill their enemy. Therefore, they can be very difficult to cope with. You are just like them. Although your capability is not high, you are equally tough!

“Uncle, after you enjoy the food, I’ll bring you to tour around Furious Bears City. My mother said that I’d better show you what the world looks like. Your brain might be stimulated, and you might remember more things.

“Right. Father Xiong also asked me to bring to the weapon factory to pick several blades of your liking. He said that you were going to play your part in the battle of the apocalypse to come!”

Wu Mayan waved his hands nonstop, as he talked enthusiastically.

It was the story that Li Yao, Xiong Wuji, and Sha Yulan had agreed upon.

After all, Sha Yulan was a non-battle-type Cultivator and a doctor, but Li Yao was an out-and-out warrior.

It had taken the Furious Bears Tribe a long time to accept Sha Yulan. Some of the traditionalists were still having doubts about her even to this day.

It was not hard to imagine what the tribe’s attitude toward Li Yao, a battle-type Cultivator of unknown backgrounds, would be.

Besides, when the battle against the apocalypse began, the other five tribes would come and reinforce the Furious Bears Tribe.

According to Xiong Wuji, since Sha Yulan joined the Furious Bears Tribe, the six tribes of Iron Plateau had gradually divided into two different attitudes toward the space residents.

Three tribes slowly accepted Sha Yulan; many of their tribesmen had come to ask for her treatment.

But the other three tribes, including the Burning Sun Tribe, were as pigheaded as before and unwilling to reach out to the Cultivator.

The two parties had been in a bad relationship ever since the Furious Bears Tribe accepted Sha Yulan.

Therefore, it would be bad if Li Yao revealed his identity as a Cultivator right now.

In comparison, if Li Yao pretended that his memories were partly lost because of poison, there wouldn’t be a problem for the time being now that Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan had helped cover up everything.

One month later, when the battle of apocalypse passed, they could figure out how to reveal his true identity to everyone.

Thanks to his keen senses, Li Yao felt that the two of them were still concealing something. He was not aware what the ‘bigger deal’ that Xiong Wuji mentioned was, either.

However, he felt no malevolence from them, so he simply agreed to the proposal.

As for Wu Mayan’s words about Xiong Wuji asking him to help Li Yao pick several suitable weapons for him, it had actually been Li Yao’s own idea.

Favors must be returned. Since the Furious Bears Tribe was opening the qi-trainers’ techniques to him, it was only reasonable that he offered something in return. Only by communicating with each other could the overall development of the civilization be accelerated.

He was planning to study the typical weapons of the qi-trainers and see if he could modify them so that the odds of success in the battle of the apocalypse one month later could be increased.

I should probably walk around under the name of ‘Sand Scorpion’ in the month to come! Li Yao thought to himself.

He followed Wu Mayan to visit Furious Bears City.

Wu Mayan’s single tank had been seriously damaged during the hunting. Therefore, they went out on foot.

The first impression Li Yao had of Furious Bears City was a city of steel wreathed in grey smoke.

On the two sides of the broad street were buildings made of iron structures. Enormous crimson bricks were exposed to the air without any decoration, bringing a strong air of roughness and wildness.

The passers-by on the street were mostly high and mighty. Even the women were all more than 1.8 meters tall, with shining, bulging muscles.

Passing through one of the streets, they entered the downtown district, which was brimming with skyscrapers. Giant iron rails were established in midair, on which black and clumsy True Qi trains were rushing.

The locomotives of the True Qi trains had more than ten chimneys, which were roaring earsplittingly and spurting black smoke and white fog, dragging the body of the train that was dozens of meters long forward. They were not as fast as crystal trains, but they were equally impressive.

“Get on the train, Uncle Sand Scorpion. I’ll show you the way to the weapon factory!”

Chapter 563: True Qi Container

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Five thousand years ago, before the apocalypse, what was currently Furious Bears City had been an enormous metropolis. Furious Bears City had been established on the remains of the metropolis, and the remains were the most important resources for the citizens.

Therefore, Furious Bears City was divided into separate districts, which were built on the most valuable debris and enclosed by a high city wall at the edge.

The distance between different districts was usually very long. Many routes on the ground were blocked by debris. Even the routes that were not blocked were still rough and inconvenient.

Therefore, the True Qi trains in midair became the best vehicles available. Most ordinary people would ride such trains to commute from their homes to their schools or factories.

Wu Mayan had just boarded on one of the trains with Li Yao, when a conductor came to check his ticket. The young man held his head high and announced, “I’m a qi-trainer!”

The conductor immediately changed his attitude and said respectfully, “Please proceed to the special carriage for qi-trainers at the front. This is—”

Wu Mayan said, “This is a friend of mine. He is also a qi-trainer. However, he was wounded recently during a hunting trip. I will provide his spiritual gas later.”

Led by the conductor, the two of them passed through two carriages. The passengers on board, seeing that they were moving forward, realized that they were both qi-trainers and all showed admiration and reverence, as if they were heroes and big shots. Li Yao felt slightly awkward being stared at in such a way.

Compared to other carriages, the special carriage for trainers was neither luxurious nor exquisite. The only difference was that there was a big iron shelf on which many black metal balls were placed. Each ball was slightly larger than Li Yao’s hand, with holes and valves on the surface. They reminded Li Yao of the super-compressed crystal reactors on crystal suits, except that they were much more unpolished and primitive.

Wu Mayan took two metal balls from the shelf in a natural way. He stopped briefly and took another one. Then, he guided Li Yao to two empty seats and sat down.

Li Yao looked around. There were several qi-trainers in a few other booths. They had two or three metal balls in front of them, too.

Just now, Wu Mayan had said to the conductor that he was going to provide Li Yao’s spiritual gas. He started to wonder what that meant.

“Huuuu!”

The train roared. A huge amount of white fog spurted out from not only the locomotive in the lead but also underneath each carriage. All the carriages were enshrouded in grey mist. The train marched forward and was gradually lifted to almost twenty meters off the ground.

Li Yao greatly enjoyed the continuously changing scenery outside the window. He found that five steel towers almost a hundred meters high were standing not far ahead. There was a giant helical iron tube in the middle of each high tower that extended deep underground.

More than ten beams of smoke spurted out of the top of the high towers. Like raging dragons, the iron tubes drilled underground while producing earsplitting noises nonstop.

Wu Mayan followed Li Yao’s gaze and explained with a smile, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, they are the ‘True Qi Water Dragons’ of Furious Bears City that are used to pump the underground water!

“Furious Bears City has many advantages. There are many shallow crystal mines that are readily exploitable. One of the biggest shortcomings of the city is the lack of water sources!

“It was not until the True Qi Water Dragons were established that the clean and delicious water from hundreds of meters underground could be retrieved. The shortage of water in the city was resolved once and for all. After that, the population of Furious Bears City gradually increased, and it finally became one of the biggest cities on Iron Plateau!”

Li Yao stared at the towers with great interest.

When he was in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and in the space of the Flying Star Sector, he had seen a lot of drilling magical equipment driven by the spiritual energy from crystals.

However, this was the first time he had seen large magical equipment driven by the spiritual gas from human beings that could dig hundreds of meters into the underground!

The wisdom of mankind awed him. Flames of civilization were like stubborn grass that could always penetrate through the stones on them and embrace the sunlight however unfavorable the environment was!

While he was secretly complimenting the Iron Plateau natives, a few loudly noises broke out in the sky.

Li Yao craned his head out of the window, only to discover that a few grey giant sacks were slowly passing by with lead grey cabins hanging beneath.

Two wide wings extended out of the cabins. Four propellers were installed to the back of the wings and the cabins. They were spinning fast, driven by the spiritual gas and pushing the sacks to fly slowly, leaving white traces in the air that gradually dispersed.

“These are True Qi airships. They are the vehicles used to transport people from Furious Bears City to the towns of the tribe.

“The pilots of such True Qi airships are all expert qi-trainers. Their manipulation of spiritual gas is extremely delicate.

“They can lower the density of their spiritual gas with special techniques to the extent that it weighs even less than air!

“After pouring such ‘light spiritual gas’ into giant airbags, they make the airbags float. By altering their directions with propellers, they can take us to wherever we want!

“Such True Qi magical equipment was only invented three hundred years ago. With the True Qi airships, Furious Bears City is better linked to the secondary towns.

“However, there are many flying demon beasts in the sky that often attack the True Qi airships. So, many guards are stationed on each True Qi airship and are known as the ‘Flying Bears Army’. It is one of the most coveted professions in the Furious Bears Tribe. I used to dream of joining the Flying Bears Army in the past, too!” Wu Mayan said excitedly, holding his head high.

While talking, he picked up one of the metal balls. He then opened a valve on the top of the ball and pressed his hands against the ball. His ten fingers aimed at ten holes, and his palm aimed at the other six. The sixteen holes on the metal ball were all covered by him.

The young man’s eyes bulged and suddenly grunted. “Hu!”

His spiritual gas surged out as he fully demonstrated the capability of the 12th level of the Refinement Stage!

Li Yao sensed that the spiritual gas around his companion flooded along his arms and hands into the hollow metal ball nonstop!

The metal ball hissed feebly.

Above the metal ball was a pressure meter crafted out of bronze on which there was a red pointer. As Wu Mayan’s spiritual gas poured into the ball, the red pointer staggered and moved clockwise.

There was a circle of numbers from zero to a hundred on the pressure meter.

The pointer came to a halt when it reached sixty. However hard Wu Mayan tried, and even when his face was completely red, the pointer simply shivered and would not move any further.

Wu Mayan released his hands unwillingly, before he closed the valve on the ball and mumbled, “Another middle-level True Qi ball!”

He took a moment of rest and warmed up his hands and legs. He then grasped the second metal ball and took a long breath, saying to himself, “I’m going to make a breakthrough over the 65% mark this time!”

Seeing Li Yao’s confusion, Wu Mayan chuckled and explained, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, these are ‘True Qi containers’, the most important magical equipment for the natives of Iron Plateau!

“As you can see, the civilization of Iron Plateau is one based on spiritual gas. The vehicles in the sky and on the ground, the battles against the demon beasts and the apocalypse, and daily life such as pumping, tilling, and constructing all required spiritual gas.

“However, only the qi-trainers can produce spiritual gas. Even if ordinary people become strong experts in martial arts, there still won’t be spiritual gas inside their body. As a result, True Qi magical equipment is supposed to be unavailable for them.

“However, long, long ago, a great qi-trainer invented this magical equipment, the True Qi container, which can store a lot of highly-compressed spiritual gas like a solid pressure cooker!

“Look, we can store our spiritual gas in the True Qi containers and hand them over to ordinary people, who will use them as power sources. In such a way, they will be able to use simple True Qi magical equipment, won’t they?”

Wu Mayan smiled. “Therefore, it is not a privilege of ours that we don’t need to buy tickets when we take the train. We buy our tickets by paying with spiritual gas instead of money.

“If a qi-trainer is to take a True Qi train, they will have to fill at least one low-level True Qi container.

“Right. True Qi containers are divided into three levels, namely high, middle, and low, depending on how much spiritual gas you transmit into it. The more spiritual gas your pour inside, the higher the pressure will be, and the more difficult it will be to pour more. Right now, I’m in the 12th level of the Refinement Stage, and I can only fill 60% of a True Qi container. I can’t get any further than that.

“The more spiritual gas a True Qi container includes, the stronger the power it will release. The best ones can be applied to the more advanced True Qi magical equipment.

“Without sufficient pressure, the spiritual gas that the True Qi container releases will be weak and can only be applied to civil magical equipment. Such containers are low-level True Qi balls.

“These are the rules of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. Ordinary people till the land, weave the clothes, and earn their income by working hard in factories.

“Qi-trainers are supported by ordinary people. We are fortunate to enjoy delicious food and various resources before them. We are not bothered by daily trifles and can dedicate ourselves to training and battles.

“In return for our benefits, we have two duties. The first is to slay the demon beasts and fight against the apocalypse, and the second is to fill True Qi containers continuously, which will serve as the power source of the whole tribe!”

Li Yao nodded. The environment of Iron Plateau was even harsher than that of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Bigger threats were always looming in this place. Ordinary people and qi-trainers had to try their best and fulfill their respective responsibilities in order to keep the torch of civilization burning.

“Our train tickets are supposed to be paid by filling two low-level True Qi containers. But, generally speaking, most qi-trainers will try to fill more True Qi containers whenever they can afford to. We might be exhausted because of the overwork, but our tribe can be greater with each additional True Qi container!”

At this moment, the True Qi train rushed past a neighborhood of skyscrapers. Illuminated by the magnificent sunset, the forest of steel was glittering with brilliant gold brightness, bringing an air of splendidness.

Chapter 564: Sonic Sword, Wolf Fang!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Wu Mayan watched the scenery with Li Yao quietly. A moment later, he remarked, “Beautiful, isn’t it? But on Iron Plateau, only six cities boast such splendid views.

“The six cities are established on six extremely vast areas of debris, where many resources and techniques from before the apocalypse were left. They are also protected by high city walls, and the demon beasts cannot break into them.

“However, the towns and villages out of the six major cities are often attacked by demon beasts. When an egg of apocalypse explodes after becoming ripe, the creatures inside can even destroy an entire town!

“Therefore, the development level of the towns and villages vary. Some of them are hundreds of years behind Furious Bears City.

“It can’t be helped. Not all people have the privilege of living in Furious Bears City because of the insufficient resources here. Many farms and mines are scattered across the desert and must also be attended to.

“These places are among the luckier ones. Furious Bears City often sends a lot of qi-trainers to these places to protect the ordinary people.

“On the other side of Iron Plateau, there exists a large godforsaken area known as Dark Continent.”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow high to show his interest.

Wu Mayan explained, “Dark Continent is the half planet that was the first to take the blow of the asteroids. It is not hard to guess that the place bled most. Chances are that all the shelters were demolished in an instant.

“For thousands of years, the six tribes of Iron Plateau have been struggling, growing, and expanding on this half of the planet. But due to the limitation of resources and technology, we cannot afford to establish towns in the Dark Continent.

“We’ve sent many an exploration team to the Dark Continent. They reported that it was a desolate world that had been completely destroyed by the apocalypse. There were no cities or towns. Demon beasts were the masters of the place.

“According to the exploration teams, there were human beings in the Dark Continent, too. However, they had absolutely no rules or moral standards. Theirs was a cruel society where the strong feasted upon the weak. Many survivors had even become real barbarians, no different from animals who ate raw meat and drank blood.

“The biggest wish of the qi-trainers is to grow stronger and set foot in the Dark Continent one day to save our compatriots!”

The young man’s face was brimming with determination.

While they were talking, the True Qi train slowed down and reached a new stop.

The intense scent of metal that filled the air belied where they were; it was the factory zone.

“We’re here. Let’s go!”

As the apocalypse was drawing near, all the factories in Furious Bears City were running at the maximum efficiency to manufacture more war machines.

The weapon factory was overloaded. The spiritual gas was threatening to explode, and coolants were splashing all over the floor. Yelling and collisions echoed nonstop. The air was sweltering to the point that it almost felt like one was burning.

Li Yao observed the qi-trainers’ magical equipment factory as a professional refiner.

Prototypes of assembly lines could be found in the factory, albeit very primitive and in lack of automation. There were still a lot of workers and blacksmiths doing their hard jobs with sweat dripping off their heads at their posts.

The technology of metal refinement on Iron Plateau was much more underdeveloped than the outside world. Most Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were barely usable because they were mixed with too many impurities.

Although Li Yao was a brilliant star on the Skyhill Sword Seminar, he was not an omnipotent man. The creation of modern magical equipment included too many details. The enhancement of metals alone involved tens of thousands of techniques. It was impossible for Li Yao to have learned all of them.

With a rough calculation, Li Yao realized that, given the underdevelopment of Iron Plateau, it was impossible to produce the components necessary for the maintenance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit within several months.

That was leaving the crystal reactor aside. The crystal reactor required dozens of special alloys and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. The facilities were unlikely to produce any of them.

Li Yao sighed and put the maintenance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to the back of his mind for a while. He focused his attention on studying the magical equipment in the factory.

As Xiong Wuji’s foster son and one of the most distinguished young geniuses in Furious Bears City, Wu Mayan was quite familiar with the manager of the weapon factory.

A fat qi-trainer soon brought the two of them to a warehouse that belonged to the weapon factory.

The manager smiled and said, “Boss Xiong has told us that this brother killed two Emperor Sand Scorpions and rescued you. What a tough man! Boss Xiong said that this brother is free to choose whatever blades and magical equipment he wants and that he will be paying for them later!”

Li Yao was never courteous when it came to magical equipment. He kept his mouth shut, his eyes glittering, while he climbed up and down the big iron shelves inside the warehouse and examined the qi-trainers’ magical equipment.

Shua!

He took a black iron sword, which was more than two meters long, from a shelf and touched it, greatly fascinated.

Although it was a sword, it was broad, thick, and weighed more than sixty kilograms. The edge of the sword was not sharp. When it was being wielded, it was like a giant bat and could easily smash the enemy to death if it failed to slash them. Apparently, it was a good weapon to deal with demon beasts that had solid shells.

There were no decorations on the body of the sword, except for the dozens of small holes in rows.

“This is a jet sonic heavy sword. Everybody prefers to call it a ‘sonic sword’. It is the favorite weapon for all the qi-trainers of Furious Bears City. Other than that, there are also sonic sabers, sonic bats, and sonic hammers, but they are all designed with the same mechanism.”

Wu Mayan explained, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, look, there’s a circle of inlet holes on the grip of the sword that lead to the center of the sword. Enhanced by the rune arrays there, the spiritual gas transmitted into the holes will spurt out from one side of the sword and thus accelerate it! As long as you are above the 17th level of the Refinement Stage, it will be more than easy to wield the sword at sonic speed.”

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone. He sensed the sword with his spiritual threads and immediately understood the mechanism of the sword after a few seconds.

He walked to a corner of the warehouse, raised the heavy sword high, and slashed down after pouring his spiritual gas into the body of the sword.

Hiss—

Enhanced by the rune arrays inside the sword, his spiritual gas spurted out in eight streams from the holes on the two sides of the blade, as if a whale spurting water!

The edge of the sword was further accelerated by the enormous force resulting from the spurting spiritual gas. It broke the sonic barrier and surpassed the speed of sound instantly!

Shua!

Two sharp waves spread out from the air in Li Yao’s front with an earsplitting sound, as if the air had been wounded by Li Yao’s attack and was moaning.

Maximizing the damage by increasing the speed of the blades with a jetting mechanism?

Such True Qi weapons are simple in structure, easy to maintain, and do not require many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. They are very suitable for the Refinement Stage Cultivators. Indeed, not bad!

Li Yao complimented the inventions secretly.

The Refinement Stage was merely the most basic phase in Cultivation both in the Flying Star Sector and in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. It was the starting point of a long journey.

When all Cultivators were devoted to training in the hope of building the foundation or even form the core, they sometimes overlooked the exploration and research of spiritual gas, which was considered to be the lowest form of spiritual energy and not worth studying at all.

But on Iron Plateau, since the qi-trainers were unable to enter the Building Foundation Stage, they had explored the mysteries of spiritual gas far and wide. After thousands of years of development, a brilliant system based on spiritual gas had been created!

The qi-trainers’ expertise on spiritual gas was far more sophisticated than that of other places in many aspects!

Li Yao put aside the sonic sword and picked a crystal bomb.

The crystal bomb looked like a bucket. It was half the length of Li Yao’s arm. The warhead was even larger than his fist, with sharp thorns occupying its surface.

Wu Mayan explained, “This is a long-grip grenade, but we prefer to call it ‘Wolf Fang’!

“The fighting styles of the six tribes on Iron Plateau are not entirely the same. The Furious Bears Tribe likes close-distance combat best.

“When the qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe are about to be engaged in a battle, it is a common practice that we carry a lot of Wolf Fangs with us. If we run into demon beasts, we bombard them first with dozens of grenades and blow the heck out of them before we charge at them, waving our sonic swords and sabers, and slay them all until their blood congregates into a river. That’s the most gratifying thing ever!”

Li Yao was deep in thought. No wonder the magical equipment he saw most on the shelves most consisted of swords, sabers, and grenades, and there were barely any firearms.

Since the two kinds of magical equipment were the fundamental weapons for the qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe, Li Yao planned to start with them and see whether or not he could make any improvements.

Based on the knowledge Li Yao had learned from Huangpu Shiyi, Li Yao was almost certain that the ‘Wolf Fang’ grenades could be upgraded in various ways.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and was drawing the structural designs of the new version of the grenades in his brain when Wu Mayan suddenly exclaimed in surprise and ecstasy, “What? The Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team are running a competitive test with their new magical equipment? Uncle Ma, please show us the way!”

Wu Mayan snatched Li Yao’s arm and said excitedly, “Uncle Scorpion, we’ve chosen a good day to come. The two most awesome combat squads of the Furious Bears Tribe are having a competitive test with their new magical equipment. Let’s hurry and check it out!”

Behind the warehouse was a spacious test field. Two teams, both made up of almost twenty qi-trainers, were preparing for the test to come unhurriedly.

Speaking from the standard of Iron Plateau, the qi-trainers of the team on the left were all short. None of them were over two meters tall. More than half of them were females and were relatively slender.

The qi-trainers on the right, on the other hand, were all muscular giants who were around 2.5 meters tall. Their shoulders were as broad and thick as planks, and each of them weighed well over two hundred kilograms. They were the living embodiment of ‘furious bears’.

The test had not begun yet. Neither side had summoned their spiritual gas. Therefore, Li Yao couldn’t tell what levels they were in.

However, both the lean qi-trainers on the left and the brawny giants on the right gave Li Yao tremendous pressure.

What a strong smell of blood. They are real experts!

Li Yao was greatly interested.

When several pieces of large magical equipment, which looked really weird, were trolleyed to the qi-trainers, Li Yao became even more interested.

Chapter 565: Clash of Thunder and Lightning!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The qi-trainers of both teams were putting on their armor; the two teams’ armor were designed completely differently.

The armor for the thin qi-trainers on the left was smaller and lighter. All the joints were exposed to the air, and the plates were connected by soft tubes, with a lot of the True Qi containers that Li Yao had seen previously on the train added to them.

Attached to everyone’s back were pairs of foldable iron wings, which were full of spiritual gas tubes. At the ends of the wings were small holes from which white steam were popping out.

The qi-trainers jumped and warmed up their bodies. As their spiritual gas surged out, their wings opened and closed, and when their wings stretched to the limits, a lot of spiritual gas spurted out and pushed them up more than ten meters into the sky, where they would hover for around five seconds.

When the qi-trainers stopped in midair, the iron wings continued folding and changing the angle of the spurting spiritual gas, allowing them to perform small-scale movements nonstop. They were altering their postures and dashing in the air, showcasing their incredible agility.

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone. Such jet armor was no less swift than crystal suits!

Wu Mayan explained very proudly, “This is the Fierce Storm Assault Team, an elite squad made of thin, soft-boned qi-trainers. The armor they are wearing is special jet armor. They have been training in the air nimbly since they were very young. With sufficient spiritual gas, they can fight in midair for an entire hour!”

The members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team were all using relatively narrow double swords that were also installed with a jet acceleration system. As their spiritual energy surged out, the swords glittered and produced deafening sonic explosions, as if supersonic armed shuttles were passing by. Their aura was truly dominating.

The muscular giants on the right, in the meantime, had put on thick, heavy black iron armor.

Their armor seemed to be made of several enormous shields and couldn’t have looked more magnificent. They were already taller than other people without the armors. But in the armor, they were all more than three meters tall and were literally moving iron towers!

Dozens of True Qi containers were attached to each black iron armor, too. Facilitated by the spiritual gas, the gears between plates continued spinning, which was the only reason they could turn their joints freely and move forward in a set of armor weighing hundreds of kilograms.

The black iron armor focused more on the arms. Spiritual gas tubes were entangled among the layered plates like thick man-made muscle fibers. When their spiritual gas surged out, their iron fists collided into each other brutally, releasing cacophonous noises.

Countless hooks were placed on the rough surface of the armor, where almost a hundred long-grip grenades were hanging. Through the chains driven by spiritual gas, they could be sent into the qi-trainers’ hands very easily.

One of the muscular men picked up a ‘Wolf Fang’ and weighed it in his hand. He then suddenly extended his arm and threw the grenade forward. Dozens of air currents spurted out of the gaps on the arms. Pushed by them, the grenade was tossed thousands of meters away!

Li Yao’s eyes were keen enough to see that a row of targets was placed at the end of the test field, thousands of meters away.

The targets were not large in the first place. Observed from thousands of meters away, they were as insignificant as beans. But the grenade hit the bull’s eye precisely!

The shell of the grenade was riddled with sharp thorns, which allowed it to pierce deep into the target. In the blink of an eye, the grenade exploded and blew the target into pieces!

“Hooo!”

The muscular man was very satisfied. He bellowed, waving his arm that was even thicker than Li Yao’s waist.

Wu Mayan was in awe as he said, “This is the Iron Bears Detonation Team, another elite squad of the Furious Bears Tribe! They are all giants with infinite strength and experts in throwing grenades. When a battle is caught in a stalemate and we cannot make any progress, or when we are faced with super strong demon beasts, the Iron Bears Detonation Team always leads the charge!

“Equipped with the most powerful iron shield armor of the tribe, with hundreds of Wolf Fangs, they can crush any demon beasts when they rush close and bombard them!

“Fierce Storm and Iron Bears are the strongest combat units of the Furious Bears Tribe!

“Every young man in the tribe dreams of being admitted by one of the two elite teams one day!

“I used to dream of becoming a guard on the airships. But when I learned of the existence of such elite squads, I made up my mind that I would join one of them and maybe become a captain one day!

“My foster father Xiong Wuji was once the captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team. Although he was neither tall nor strong, he was extremely crazy during battles and ran in the front with absolutely no fear of death. He even detonated the grenades right on his armor several times! That was why he was called ‘the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’.

“But I’m even leaner than him, and I doubt that I will ever be taller than 1.8 meters in my life. It seems more likely that I will join the Fierce Wind Assault Team!”

While talking, the two elite squads had finished preparing their equipment. The competitive test soon began!

The rule of the test was very simple. There was a circle in the middle of the spacious test field. In the center of the circle was a red flag. The two sides would sprint at the circle at the same time. Whichever side snatched the red flag and brought it back to the ‘home camp’ of their side would be the winner.

Swoosh!

The Fierce Storm Assault Team was best known for their speed and agility. Hardly had the test begun when several qi-trainers jumped to the sky and sprinted forward, flapping the iron wings on their jet armor.

Their remaining teammates, while rushing on the ground, were also accelerating with their jet armor in a zigzag pattern that looked like white lightning.

By the time their opponents had gotten started, many of them had already rushed into the circle.

Members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were all wearing heavy armor. Their speed was low, but they had their own tricks, too.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Dozens of Wolf Fangs darted at the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team quickly and brutally as if they had eyes!

Some of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team dodged the grenades with their jet armor, while some others waved their sonic swords and unleashed high-pressure spiritual gas to blow up the grenades before they approached.

But the Iron Bears Detonation Team indeed excelled at the usage of Wolf Fangs. Some of the grenades hit each other in midair and altered each other’s direction, and some of them exploded in advance; the resulting blast not only changed the trajectory of the other Wolf Fangs nearby but also improved their speed!

Several Wolf Fangs broke the defense of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and exploded right beside them.

The team members grunted and fell out of the sky with sharp thorns stabbed into their bodies.

Li Yao’s eyes almost bulged out. He did not expect that they would be using real grenades during a test!

The Wolf Fangs were indeed powerful. The broken shrapnel penetrated through the spiritual shields and armor of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team. Although they were not seriously wounded, they were still bleeding fast because of the broken shells.

Wu Mayan saw Li Yao’s surprise and explained matter-of-factly, “This is typical for the daily training of the Furious Bears Tribe. It can be quite dangerous, but how can you expect to fight the ferocious demon beasts if you cannot stand such training?

“Not just the two elite squads, even the everyday training of the common qi-trainers is extremely painful and perilous. Many people give it up because they’ve had enough of it every day. Some people grit their teeth through it, only to become mentally deranged and to be forced to quit.

“My mom said that you were going to do the qi-trainer’s training tomorrow. You must be very careful about it. It’s not a joke!”

While they were talking, the two torrents of steel crashed into each other!

The Fierce Storm Assault Team was swift and nimble like a lightning, and the Iron Bears Detonation Team was heavy and strong like rumbling thunder.

The competition between the lightning and the thunder was heated from the moment it began.

Countless Wolf Fangs exploded brutally. Dozens of sonic swords ripped apart the air simultaneously!

Li Yao greatly enjoyed their performance.

Speaking of the combat ability of the Refinement Stage, the qi-trainers on Iron Plateau had apparently achieved the best of it.

If a hundred qi-trainers of Iron Plateau and a hundred Refinement Stage Cultivators from space were engaged in a match, Li Yao would definitely bet on the former!

While observing the summit confrontation of two elite teams, Li Yao contemplated on the modification plans of sonic swords and Wolf Fangs.

He was dwelling in his own world, when Wu Mayan suddenly exclaimed in shock and he discovered that a black object was coming right at his face!

As it turned out, one grenade was bashed away by a member of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and darted precisely at his head!

BOOM!

Before he realized what was going on, the Wolf Fang had exploded. Hundreds of broken pieces formed a hurricane of metals and swept over!

Li Yao’s pupils shrank to the size of needle tips. He entered the super perceptive state instantly and increased his brain cell activity to 500%!

In the super perceptive state, time seemed to have been slowed down to one fifth of its original speed, and the air turned extremely thick. Every broken piece almost came to a halt.

Li Yao could clearly see the trajectory of each piece and calculate their new routes when they crashed into each other, before he figured out the best dodging plan at present.

He moved his left leg and planned to slide backwards three meters, only to run into Wu Mayan heavily.

The young man had noticed the incoming Wolf Fang earlier and tried to jump close and drag him away even though it was equally dangerous for him!

This little guy!

Li Yao was somewhat moved and found it hilarious. The perfect route of dodging had been blocked by his young friend!

He gritted his teeth and further increased his brain cell activity. His eyes immediately became bloodshot, several of his cerebral vessels exploded, and he was soaked in sweat!

When the shrapnel reached them, he slightly moved toward the left and grabbed Wu Mayan’s sleeve. In the end, both of them fell to the ground!

The two dodging movements happened really fast. In other people’s eyes, he was merely shocked and fell to the ground in fear.

But in Li Yao’s precise calculation, it was the safest dodging plan available. His shoulder and right arm would be hit by two broken pieces, but Wu Mayan would be unhurt.

However, just as he fell to the ground hurriedly, a white figure dashed close, with a sword in hand that turned into hundreds of phantom-like shadows and blew away all the broken pieces!

Chapter 566: Temple of Techniques

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The white figure stopped; it was a tall woman in silver jet armor. She looked down at Li Yao with a slight smile of mockery.

The woman was almost 1.9 meters tall, but her four limbs were evenly distributed and brought absolutely no feeling of clumsiness. On the contrary, she gave Li Yao the impression that she was as fast as a swallow. It was quite odd.

Her nose was high, and her eyes were deep. Some of her hair was gold, enshrouding her in an exotic vibe.

Yet, she was eyeing Li Yao with despise and contempt, as if she was scorning his cowardice.

Li Yao did not realize the reason until a moment later.

The dodging movement he had performed just now made it look like he was so scared by the Wolf Fang that he had simply fallen to the ground.

Also, he had brought his brain cell activity to the maximum instantly a moment ago. As a result, several of his cerebral vessels had exploded. His face was pale, his hands were shivering, and he was soaked in sweat. It was exactly what a shocked man looked like.

Qi-trainers valued courage and valiance more than anything else. Given his chicken-like appearance, no wonder he was gazed at in such a way.

Li Yao was unhappy. In the haste just now, he had forgotten that he was merely at the peak of the Refinement Stage and exploited his brain too much.

If he were at the high level of the Building Foundation Stage, he could’ve perfectly repaired a few broken cerebral vessels within several seconds.

But right now, he only had the capability of the peak of the Refinement Stage. He had to extend his spiritual threads into his brain and connect the broken veins neatly and slowly. It could take quite a few minutes for him to fix the veins and disperse the extravasated blood.

During the several minutes, there was no way that he could stand up. He would look as overwhelmed as he was right now.

The tall and strong woman stared at him for a while and then turned to Wu Mayan. The two of them seemed to be quite familiar with each other. The woman smiled and said, “Wu Mayan, I’m told that you ran into two Emperor Sand Scorpions when you went out hunting secretly all by yourself last night. Thankfully, someone saved you. The man put down the two demon beasts with merely half a shank. You talked as if he was the most marvelous expert in the world. I don’t think you were referring to him, were you?”

Wu Mayan was a bit lost for words, too. He did not expect that ‘Uncle Sand Scorpion’, whose face color had remained unchanged when confronting two Emperor Sand Scorpions simultaneously, would fall to the ground in fear just because of a grenade, with a face paler than paper and a pair of hands that were continuously shuddering.

The young man stammered and failed to come up with any response.

The tall woman grinned. Her canine teeth were thick and strong like those from an animal.

Somebody in the Iron Bears Detonation Team noticed the accident, too. A muscular, dark-skinned man strode forward and, seeing that both of them were alright, were greatly relieved. He spoke loudly, “Wu Mayan, young boy, you’ve come to watch our practice again? Why didn’t you keep your distance?”

The muscular man was dazed at Li Yao who was still sitting and sweating on the ground, too, as if he had never been in such a situation where a guy was horrified. He scratched his head and looked at the tall woman in bewilderment.

“Alright. All good here. Let’s continue!”

The tall woman lost all interest in Li Yao and gestured for the muscular man to return to the test field.

Wu Mayan was almost crying. He said in a low voice, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, what happened to you? You were like a God of War when you fought the two Emperor Sand Scorpions yesterday. How come you were so intimidated by a small grenade? Have you never touched crystal bombs before?”

Li Yao rolled his eyes in his mind.

Wu Mayan sighed in hopelessness. “Why were you moving just now? If you stayed where you were, I would’ve knocked you out of the way!

“It’s great now. Both of us fell to the ground. How shameful!

“The woman wearing white jet armor is Xiong Zhenzhen, captain of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and an expert at the 79th level of the Refinement Stage! The black iron tower that followed her is Shi Meng. He is the captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team and an expert at the 81st level of the Refinement Stage!

“I’m so screwed. They’ve both witnessed my disgraceful action just now. How can I apply for the two elite teams in the future?”

Li Yao showed no expression, as he was focusing on the mending of his cerebral vessels.

He was never a man who cared about how other people viewed him. Despise from the two experts and Wu Mayan’s complaints hardly bothered him.

But he was thinking about the formidability of the jet armors and the shield armors.

Such two kind of armors should be the prototypes of crystal suits. Other than the lack of crystal processors to help the wearer during a fight, they are even more sophisticated than many traditional crystal suits in the usage and enhancement of spiritual gas. They are definitely the best equipment to maximize the combat ability of a Refinement Stage Cultivator!

The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit is not available at present after all. Maybe I should craft a set of such armor for my temporary use?

Li Yao sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands holding his chin, while he was meditated and completely ignored the grumbling young man next to him.

…

After the test, Li Yao returned to the hospital with several sonic swords and a few Wolf Fangs of various models.

Sha Yulan had prepared a quiet ward for him so that he could do his research without being disturbed.

The light in the ward was on for an entire night.

Next day in the morning, Wu Mayan came to find him again. They went to the central area of Furious Bears City, where the temple of the qi-trainers’ techniques was located, on another True Qi train.

What a splendid building! Li Yao craned his neck.

The temple was a black, majestic building, hundreds of meters high. Thousands of years of wind and rain had cast countless giant boa-like cracks on the surface of the temple, which only managed to remain standing with the help of the rebars and iron chains.

In front of the temple was a large square, in which lot of lifts made of gears and hinges that led into the ground were installed.

Judging from the sign before the temple, there were still a large number of buildings underground.

Outside the temple, a bronze statue almost twenty meters tall was standing silently. It was a strong man in beast hide fighting a large mantis-type demon beast barehandedly.

Although a great many details of the statue were lost, one could still doubtlessly sense a strong feeling of bravery and determination from it.

A rusted sign was embedded on the pedestal of the statue. It seemed to have been burnt and was riddled with holes, but a line of words could still be distinguished.

‘Training Camp No. 341 of the Flying Star Coalition Government’

According to Wu Mayan, the temple had once been a camp of the coalition government of the six major sects where the new soldiers were trained before the apocalypse. Many advanced training facilities had been installed previously.

The general training of qi-trainers could be done anywhere. However, the enlightenment in the beginning and quick improvement could only be achieved in the special chambers of the temple.

Before they entered the temple, they could already hear miserable screams from the depths of the building and see many tall, brawny man staggering feebly out of the building and leaving in depression and shame.

Wu Mayan said in a low voice, “Since the apocalypse is about to take place, many ordinary people have come to the temple to have another test to determine whether or not they have the potential to be a qi-trainer. However, most of them can’t even pass the first test because of the suffering and have to give up!

“The six tribes of Iron Plateau worship the strong and deride the weak. If anybody cries because they are bitten by a demon beast during a hunting trip, other people will definitely laugh and mock them.

“But it’s a tradition that none who cannot bear the training of qi-trainers and quit are to be regarded as cowards or ridiculed!

“The reason is that such training is significantly more painful than the biting of a demon beast. It’s only natural that normal people cannot bear it!

“Uncle Sand Scorpion, don’t be too hard on yourself if you find it difficult to persist. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, alright?”

Li Yao did not give any response. He walked upwards along the broad steps made of black stones together Wu Mayan.

A giant board was hanging above of the temple’s entrance on which three aggressive and bloody words were written.

‘ALL FOR SURVIVAL!’

Thin black smoke filled the temple, making it troublesome to see what was going on clearly.

Li Yao could vaguely tell that hundreds of children less than ten years old were sitting in metal buckets on the left side of the temple with only their heads exposed to the air.

The metal buckets seemed to have been filled with special medical liquid. Tormented by the secret medicine, all the children were in great pain. Some of them were even sobbing.

There was resentfulness on Wu Mayan’s face, too, as he remarked, “This is the process to broaden the veins and bones of the children and to lay foundations for their training later. Only by strengthening their organs from the age three to five can they bear the pain of the expansion of their veins later and store the superfluous spiritual gas without exploding!

“I assume that you must’ve never been cleansed with such secret medicines. If not, the training of spiritual gas will be even more insufferable for you! Let me repeat myself. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Just give up if you can’t withstand it, otherwise you might be killed!”

Xiong Wuji had already informed the deacons of the temple in advance. Therefore, Wu Mayan directly led him to an advanced training chamber on the third floor below the ground.

It was said that the training chamber was designed for experts above the 40th level of the Refinement Stage.

The chamber seemed no different than the training chambers Li Yao had seen in the outside world. Barbells, iron sticks, and punching targets were in every corner of the chamber.

All the training equipment was made of black iron and seriously oxidized, filling the air with an intense smell of rust.

Li Yao had only just walked into the chamber when was he deeply attracted to the dozens of large colorful pictures hanging on the wall. They were the pictures of the veins and nerves inside the human body, but different from those Li Yao had seen in the outside world, there were hundreds of brand new veins as thin as hairs in the middle of the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins!

It was not very clear in the general picture, but one could clearly see that the tiny veins were all over the body like capillary vessels!

Chapter 567: A Thousand Bridge Veins!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Fu Dong, the manager of the training chamber, was a brawny man over 2.2 meters tall. His two arms had been torn away by demon beasts, and shocking scars could be seen on his chest. He used two giant artificial arms on his bare shoulders and controlled the metal hands with his spiritual threads. When the artificial arms were extended fully, they could be well over two meters long.

Wu Mayan explained to Li Yao in a low voice that Manager Fu Dong was the toughest mentor in the temple and that he knew the guy’s teaching too well. The manager was truly a cruel and merciless man.

“This training chamber of mine is reserved for the real tough men. Boss Xiong told me last night that you are an out-and-out one. That’s why I decided to keep the training chamber for you today.”

Fu Dong waved his iron arms and picked up multiple training tools, which seemed more suitable for interrogation, while he eyed Li Yao coldly and said, “If you are not a hard man, just give up right now. There are a lot of other training champers in the floors above. Let’s not waste each other’s time!”

While talking, he tossed a pile of metal shackles Li Yao.

“The veins of a human can be divided into the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins. For ordinary fighters, they mainly focus their attention on training the Twelve Essential Veins. When someone enters the Refinement Stage, they start training their Eight Subsidiary Veins.”

Fu Dong’s right arm was lengthened by the spurting spiritual gas. He pointed at the pictures of veins on the wall and explained, “The Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins constitute a circulation where the spiritual gas will loop and trigger the potential in one’s cells.

“However, in the middle of the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins, there are a lot of capillary vessels as thin as a hair!

“Cultivators discovered the capillary vessels long ago. But before the apocalypse, no one had attached much importance to the training of capillary vessels, because such training could prove excruciating, and the capillary vessels only had a limited capacity as they could not be expanded too much. It was more rational to consider how to build the foundation and form the core than to devote much time and energy to the training of capillary vessels!

“However, since the apocalypse, we qi-trainers have focused on the utilization of spiritual gas!

“Although each capillary vessel is as insignificant as a hair and can only store a tiny amount of spiritual gas, the total amount when all the capillary vessels are made use of is never to be underestimated. The Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins combined are only twenty veins, but there are thousands of capillary vessels inside your body. If the width and hardness of all the capillary vessels are increased by ten times, how much more spiritual gas will you be able to store inside your body?

“This was the principle of training for the qi-trainers in the beginning. After the apocalypse, the land was wreathed in darkness, the demon beasts dominated the planets, and we lost all our heritages. We had absolutely no other options except to concentrate on the training of capillary vessels!

“The trial turned out to be successful, but in a different way from what we imagined. As our ancestors continued training and broadening their capillary vessels, they discovered eventually that the function of the capillary vessels was to connect the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins!

“Before, it was commonly believed that the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins were solely connected by the Two Bridge Veins. That was how the theory of becoming an expert of martial arts by breaking through the Two Bridge Veins originated.

“But right now, as long as the capillary vessels are expanded and strengthened, the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins can better communicate, too!

“When the capillary vessels get stronger, the Twelve Essential Veins and Eight Subsidiary Veins will be improved, too!

“In short, the purpose of this training is to transform all the capillary vessels inside your body into new ‘Bridge Veins’ so that there will be a hundred or even ten thousand Bridge Veins in you!

“Breaking through two Bridge Veins is enough to make one an expert martial artist. It is not hard to imagine how overwhelmingly strong one will be if they can make ten thousand Bridge Veins in their body!

“This is our path of training!

“Look at the pictures on the wall carefully, especially the distribution of all the capillary vessels. Boss Xiong said that you’d done some training sessions before and you were in the 14th level of the Refinement Stage. If so, remembering the pictures is not going to be a difficult task for you, is it?”

Li Yao shook his head and studied the pictures wholeheartedly.

Transforming the capillary vessels into the Bridge Veins and breaking through all of them? That sounded rather violent!

Five minutes later, Fu Dong picked up the training tools that looked like shackles and put them on Li Yao with Wu Mayan’s help.

The set of training tools was made of two handcuffs and two leg cuffs. All the cuffs were black, heavy, and clumsy. There was no telling what they were made of, but each of them weighed more than two hundred and fifty kilograms. Pressure meters, which were full of gears and valves and brought a feeling of messiness and crudeness, had been welded on top of them.

Li Yao stretched out his arms and legs. Although he was carrying a thousand kilograms of weight, it was not a big deal for him, who had become used to loaded training, and his punching was as fast as previously.

Seeing that the trainee took the weight for nothing, Fu Dong was slightly surprised. However, he didn’t comment on it. “These tools are known as ‘True Qi Locks’. They are the best magical equipment to broaden your capillary vessels! As long as they are activated, the hollow syringes in the interior side of the shackles will pierce into your body shallowly and inject hundreds of streams of compressed spiritual gas into your capillary vessels!

“They will help the expansion of your capillary vessels, and the spiritual gas inside your body will be triggered to launch counterattacks at the intruding spiritual gas!

“Both the expansion of capillary vessels and the war between the local and foreign spiritual gas are extremely painful and unbearable for most people.

“Qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe all start their training when they were little kids. They widened their capillary vessels bit by bit, sometimes only working on several of them in a day. Gradually after days and years of hard work, the more dogged and talented ones would make it in the end and become real qi-trainers!

“Boss Xiong said that you want to participate in the battle against the apocalypse next month and hope to improve your capability as quickly as possible. I don’t know whether or not you’ve received training with True Qi Locks before, but either way, one month is too short!”

Fu Dong mumbled something to himself and brought over almost twenty True Qi containers together with Wu Mayan.

Li Yao noticed that the readings on the pressure meters of all the True Qi containers were above 95%, which indicated that these were all high-level True Qi containers that could be used for real battles!

The True Qi Locks had several holes on them through which the True Qi containers could be docked. However, the airtightness of the gadgets was apparently not very good, as white steam was spurting out nonstop. A moment later, Li Yao was already enveloped in fog.

“There’s a pressure setting device on the True Qi Locks. Look, you can adjust the triggering level of the spiritual gas by spinning the gear this way.

“The standard pressure equals to the intensity of a middle-level True Qi container releasing all the spiritual gas evenly in ten minutes.

“I suggest you train at one third of the standard pressure in the beginning. If it is too much for you, you can change it to one fifth.

“When your body is used to the True Qi Locks, you can try to increase the pressure to twice the standard pressure, five times the standard pressure, or even ten times the standard pressure. This set of True Qi Locks is prepared for the experts and supports thirty times the standard pressure at best!

“But remember, don’t increase the pressure recklessly. Such a training process is like filling air into your body. You must keep your head in the clearest state and guide the spiritual gas into your veins consciously. If your head turns dizzy because of the pain, the spiritual gas will mess around inside your body. If you are lucky, you might be mentally deranged. If you are unlucky, one of your limbs might explode on the spot!”

Fu Dong reminded him of the risks seriously.

Wu Mayan interjected, “If you can hold back the pain, you can train your physical strength with the equipment on the ground. The training effect will be better if you do them at the same time!”

“Watch your mouth!”

Fu Dong glared at him and said angrily, “That is a very advanced training method that is only suitable for the real experts. Do you think everybody else awoke their spiritual roots when they were ten just like you?”

Li Yao nodded his head, showing that he had fully understood the risk.

Fu Dong extended one of his fingers and said, “For the last time, give me a hint if you can’t stand it any longer. I’m going to open the valve now!”

Li Yao lifted his hands and watched him tranquilly.

In the room next to the training chamber, Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan were observing Li Yao through a one-way mirror.

Beside Sha Yulan was a large box in which various medical drugs were stored.

She glanced at Xiong Wuji and asked, “I’m here to because someone might need to be saved. What are you here for?”

Xiong Wuji replied casually, his hands behind his back, “Observation. One can only reveal their true personality when they are in anguish. Our plan concerns the destiny of Iron Plateau. I cannot trust a shy and weak man without knowing exactly what he is.

“I don’t care how much pain he can resist; I only want to see how he resists the pain.”

Sha Yulan suddenly tremored. She said softly, “Big Xiong, have you really made up your mind? Once the plan is initiated, it’s very likely that you will turn from the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau and the well-respected hero into the biggest traitor of Iron Plateau and a rat that everybody spits on!”

Xiong Wuji was silent for a long time, before he opened his mouth again. “Maybe I haven’t made up my mind yet. But now that fate has brought such a guy to me, I can only launch the plan no matter what!”

Sha Yulan asked, “Are you not scared of disdain and even death?”

Xiong Wuji took a long breath. He looked at Li Yao, deep in thought, while he replied briefly, “All for survival.”

Sha Yulan smiled bitterly. She lowered her head and said, “Then, let our names rot together!”

Their hands, one large and the other small, and one dark and the other fair, held each other tightly.

On the other side of the one-way mirror, Fu Dong opened the valve on the True Qi Locks brutally.

Earsplitting shrieks burst out from the joints of the True Qi Locks. Spiritual gas spurted more than ten meters away like white arrows!

Spiritual gas less than one third the standard pressure had been blown into Li Yao’s body!

Chapter 568: Does It Not Hurt?

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong held their breath as they observed Li Yao’s reaction nervously.

For many tall and muscular men in the Furious Bears Tribe, they would already be crying and begging for mercy when one fifth the standard pressure was imposed on them.

There was nothing but indifference on Li Yao’s face. He blinked his eyes and looked back peacefully.

Wu Mayan looked at Fu Dong in bewilderment. He then stood on his toes so that he could check the pressure meter on Li Yao’s shackles and hear the shrieking spiritual gas from the joints of the tools. He remarked confusedly, “There’s nothing wrong. It is one third the standard pressure. What’s going on? Uncle Sand Scorpion. Do you not feel anything?”

Li Yao shook his head.

No, that was not entirely true. He felt like ten thousand feathers were brushing his body and making him itch. They were like dragonflies stopping by the surface of a pond and had dispersed before he had enjoyed enough.

Fu Dong made up his mind and span the gear again to change the standard pressure!

Li Yao frowned. He finally sensed clearly that feeble currents were flooding into his body from his wrists and ankles and roaming among his internal organs and his twenty major veins.

However, the air currents were too weak. He felt that somebody was gently tickling him. He was unfulfilled, and the eagerness deep in his blood was aroused.

“Still nothing? Does it not hurt?”

Wu Mayan was dazed. He remembered what had happened to him when he was faced with the standard pressure for the first time. He had felt that he was being skinned and almost jumped up and crashed into the ceiling!

Fu Dong was somewhat surprised, too. “Breathing and heartbeat are normal. Eyes are clear, too. You must’ve received training with True Qi Locks before, right?”

Li Yao shook his head emotionlessly, showing that he had forgotten everything.

Wu Mayan’s eyes suddenly shone. He exclaimed, “That must be the case! Uncle Sand Scorpion is probably an expert of one of the other tribes and has received training with True Qi Locks before. That’s why you can hold back the pain!”

Is this pain?

Li Yao did not think so at all.

In Ou Yezi’s memory fragments, to practice the ancient arts of refining, he had ruthlessly tortured himself countless times.

The Thousand Fingers Soft Bones Technique alone, which was for the purpose of improving the nimbleness of fingers, required breaking one’s fingers repetitively, shattering them and restoring them with secret medicines.

Some of the other training techniques even demanded that he put his hand in boiling medical drugs until they were cooked, and they were boiled again and again after they recovered. Only in such a way could the freshest skin and flesh be created, and the sensation of the hands be maximized.

His Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique had also been improved many a time when he was practicing with Ding Lingdang. Ding Lingdang had never showed any mercy when she was in a fight, and it was often terribly painful for him.

To further improve the speed and sensation of the hands, he had even conducted the cruelest training with the Purple Ring Sword Ants!

They would often say that fingers were connected to the heart, but for him, the pain of dozens of Purple Ring Sword Ants biting him simultaneously was something that he could only vaguely feel.

He had thought that such pain was not thrilling enough and fed virulent poison to the Purple Ring Sword Ants in order to increase the pain.

The more pain he was in, the faster he would improve!

The standard pressure felt like stinging from a grass tip for Li Yao. It was absolutely not worth mentioning and felt more like itching than aching.

He did not like itching.

Therefore, he simply extended his hand and span the gear hard. The switch was set to five times the standard pressure immediately.

Hiss—

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong both gasped, but there had been no time for them to stop him. They were beaming with amazement.

Li Yao grunted. He felt that the spiritual gas was crowding into his body like scorching magma and finally caused some pain for him.

He had tasted pain of exactly the same degree every time he was warming up before a training session. The familiar feeling made his lips curl, and he grinned in satisfaction.

Now we’re talking.

Li Yao squinted, as if he was enjoying a delicious meal. He continued adjusting the valve and increased the pressure of the spiritual gas to six times, seven times, eight times…

In the observation room next door, Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan were both dumbfounded. Their faces were almost kissing the glass, and they failed to come up with any remarks for a long time.

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong did not know Li Yao’s background. They thought that he had received True Qi Locks training before, and therefore, could still accept everything they saw, however shocked they were.

But Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan knew clearly that Li Yao was a Cultivator from space. How could he endure such pain on his first try?

Seeing that Li Yao had set the valve to more than ten times the standard pressure, Xiong Wuji was greatly stunned. He glanced at Sha Yulan in confusion and asked, “Didn’t you say that the training methods of the Cultivators in space are all very mild and orthodox? But I seriously doubt his training was ‘mild and orthodox’. His face seems to suggest that he is quite enjoying the suffering!”

Sha Yulan was as befuddled as him. She mumbled, “I don’t understand. I’ve never seen such a weird Cultivator before!”

Hu—

Li Yao finally stopped at thirteen times the standard pressure. He took a long breath and exhaled in content. A mouthful of white steam dashed out like an arrow that was as swift as the spiritual gas escaping from the joints of the magical equipment!

This was not his limits yet. But since this was only his first try, he would like to take it slowly and progressively.

The muscles all over Li Yao’s body protruded out. His thick veins appeared like raging blue dragons. Yet, his countenance was as indifferent as before. Except for the occasional twitching of his eyes, there were absolutely no signs that he was in excruciating pain!

Li Yao reflected on the pictures of capillary vessels that had been etched to his brain just now wholeheartedly. He then observed his body with his soul while his spiritual threads extended and guided the spiritual gas charging into his body precisely toward where the capillary vessels were located.

Increasing the capacity of spiritual gas by building a thousand Bridge Veins!

Wu Mayan was truly shocked.

He was also able to withstand fifteen times the standard pressure now. However, beyond ten times the standard pressure, the agony that felt like ten thousand ants biting his heart was still too much for him. Even if he could concentrate his attention, he would still be grimacing and screaming during his training, his face twisted, and would in no way be nearly as tranquil as Li Yao was right now.

The little monster, who had always considered himself to be a resolute man, shouted in disbelief, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, do you not know what pain is?”

Li Yao was not bothered by him, and he was focused on the thousands of streams of rampant spiritual gas inside his body. He felt that he still hadn’t enjoyed enough yet, and therefore simply walked to the corner of the chamber where the training equipment was placed.

He had his own daily work-out plan and did not require the supervision from other people.

He warmed up himself at first with 800-kg barbells casually before he ran at the highest speed for three minutes. When Li Yao felt that his body had been woken up, he started the real training.

Swoosh!

His left arm turned into a grey shadow and thrashed forward like an iron whip, immediately raising the sound of air being ripped apart. A small swirl appeared right in front of the first, before two fulminations echoed on the target, the first being the explosion of the swirl and the second resulting from the actual collision!

Pa! Pa!

The gap between the two noises was very brief, as if two serial Wolf Fangs had been detonated simultaneously. The earsplitting noises resonated inside the spacious training chamber and did not die down for a long time.

My capillary vessels have been filled with spiritual gas. When I punch, I feel that a tide is surging out together with my fist. The feeling is quite marvelous!

Li Yao grinned. He recalled the agonizing days in the outdated training field of the Crimson Nimbus Second High School where he had been sweating and training with the special vest under the guidance of Mister Sun Biao.

The insufferable days in the past were more vivid than ever today. He felt that he was drinking a cup of cold beer that became the most gratifying stream when it entered his stomach!

One punch. One punch. Another punch.

Carrying more than a thousand kilograms of weight, with untamable spiritual gas savaging his body, Li Yao started his daily training.

After each punch, his muscle fibers and capillary vessels were torn apart, but they were quickly mended by the spiritual energy the very next moment. The feeling of getting stronger gave him ultimate pleasure.

Without him knowing anything, the iron target in front of him had been left with two deep traces of fists.

Li Yao took a long breath and finally stopped. His fists had no protection, so they were now soaked in blood and sweat, which were dripping to the ground steadily.

He raised his head to check the time. An hour had passed while he had summoned his spiritual energy and trained crazily.

Wu Mayan had watched him to train for an entire hour with his shocked expression unchanged. He stuttered, “Un—Uncle Sand Scorpion. Are you done with your training?”

Brutal man! Absolutely a super brutal man!

During the expansion of veins with spiritual gas, the pain would grow exponentially as the training process proceeded.

The training sessions of the expansion of veins for normal qi-trainers were usually around half an hour. They would have to take a brief rest between each session. He did not expect that Uncle Sand Scorpion would be so tough that he could persist for an entire hour!

Li Yao shook his head. He waved his hands and said, “The gas has run out.”

“What?”

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong were both flabbergasted. “Eight high-level True Qi containers have been used up in only one hour?”

…

Li Yao spent five hours in the training chamber. Except for the half hour when he consumed food crazily, he devoted all his time to training at the highest intensity and sabotaged the barbells and iron blocks, which weighed hundreds of kilograms, to the point that they sounded like were about to break apart.

Eventually, he used up 42 high-level True Qi containers and increased the pressure to seventeen times the standard pressure!

Even Fu Dong, the manager of the training chamber who had always thought that he had seen everything, was extremely shocked, much less Wu Mayan. The young man had completely forgotten what happened in the test field yesterday and almost started worshipping Li Yao as a god!

When the training was done, Li Yao did not return to the hospital with Wu Mayan, because Fu Dong told him that someone else was waiting for him on the fourteenth floor below ground.

It was Xiong Wuji.

The deeper he went, the fewer traces of man-made architecture could be found. The minus fourteenth floor was essentially a natural underground cave, with mysterious and dark pathways leading to everywhere. Giant iron doors were embedded to the crude walls of the cave.

Clang! Clang!

Countless ferocious animals seemed to have been locked in the depths of the cave. They were bashing the heavy and thick iron doors with all their might.

Roars resembling those of primordial beasts leaked out from the gaps under the iron doors and raged in the pathways, making the ears of everyone who heard them sore.

“This is the most special training chamber in the temple of techniques. Only those with distinguished performances in the first test are qualified to enter this place!”

The pathway was almost blocked by the high and mighty Xiong Wuji, who said coldly, “It is even safe to say that this is where the qi-trainers do their real training!”

Chapter 569: Titan Warriors

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“The training of souls is different from the expansion of veins; it is much more dangerous. You will not necessarily be able to pass it even though your soul is very solid.

“Do you hear the screams in the secret cells below? They are all the experts of the Furious Bears Tribe. They used to be determined, unwavering tough men, but they all became mentally deranged because of the blast to their souls. They have completely lost themselves and have become animals who know nothing but slaughtering. Therefore, they can only be locked in this place to wait for their eternal peace.

“I did not plan to bring you to the real training place of the qi-trainers in the beginning, but your performance earlier was widely beyond my imagination.

“With everything reaching this point, I have no other alternatives other than to wager on you.

“It’s all up to you now. Do you want to go in or not?”

Xiong Wuji’s philosophical words raised a lot of questions in Li Yao’s mind.

The creepy screams from the depths of the cave almost terrified him, too.

However, expanding the veins with True Qi Locks could only increase the body’s spiritual gas capacity. He wouldn’t be able to fully control the overflowing spiritual gas when it was unleashed.

Li Yao vaguely sensed that the technique of spiritual gas resonation that Yan Chihuo had performed had something to do with the so-called ‘real training’ deep underground.

Staring at Xiong Wuji without backing off, Li Yao replied briefly, “I would like to have a try.”

Xiong Wuji nodded and pushed open a rusted iron door next to him.

The iron gate was almost one meter thick and looked strong enough to be installed in a vault. The interior side of the gate was riddled with interconnecting scratch marks, as if somebody had mauled the iron frenziedly.

“After you go inside, just follow your heart and try to enter a meditative state. If you are really connected to the ‘Titan Warriors’, you will be able to enter the ‘Titan Illusionary Land’. Do note that the Titan Illusionary Land can be very tempting. It’s very easy to dwell in it and fail to return to yourself. You must not forget who you are, or you will be just like the prisoners below.”

After finishing the speech, Xiong Wuji locked the door from the outside.

Li Yao observed his surroundings carefully. Behind the iron door was a crude cave whose walls were full of bumps and hollows. With a closer look, Li Yao discovered that they were all traces of fists deep into the rocks. There was no telling how many people had savaged the cave, but the rocks had been pressed so hard that they looked metallic.

In the middle of the cave were countless bizarre-shaped stones that were emanating glamorous colors. They looked the same as those Li Yao had seen on the meteorite mountains.

Li Yao immediately realized something. These are the scraps of the meteorite mountains. They are pieces of the apocalypse!

Some of the meteorites were carved with messy runes; some had shabby pictures, which looked like the wall paining of the primitive barbarians, carved into them. In the pictures, many mighty giants were fighting against ferocious beasts.

Several other meteorites looked like fossils, in which biological remains that had lithified were stored. They were all larger than Li Yao’s head and had extended countless tentacles spread out in various directions like octopuses.

LUM DUM! LUM DUM!

While Li Yao was gazing at the fossils, a powerful heartbeat echoed inside his brain.

Li Yao was suddenly alarmed.

He had realized what the objects sealed inside the meteorites were.

They were hearts. Judging from their scale, they were the fossils of hearts that belonged to giants more than three meters tall!

Did all the runes, paint, and heart fossils come to Iron Plateau together with the meteorites during the apocalypse? What are the Titan Warriors that Xiong Wuji mentioned just now?

As the heartbeat inside his brain became faster and faster, the runes and paintings on the meteorites seemed to turn into flowing lines that were spinning slowly deep inside his eyes.

Li Yao vaguely heard roars that were as loud as raging thunder. Thousands of noises congregated into a magnificent battlefield!

Li Yao stared at the largest heart fossil. He narrowed his eyes and entered a meditative state accompanied by the sounds of a beating heart and roaring.

A bottomless hole seemed to appear below his feet. He was falling, falling, and falling, until he heard an earsplitting explosion and found himself in a whole new world!

This was a bleak and vast world, and it seemed to be a planet in the primitive phase. Far ahead were erupting volcanoes whose magma had almost consumed the entire sky.

On the ragged land, tens of thousands of giants were grouping. Their average height was around four meters, and their shoulders were twice as broad as those of human beings. Their heads were the shape of triangles, their chins protruding significantly. Two sharp tusks jutted out like ivories.

Their skin was crimson, as if on fire, on which glamorous flowery stripes were growing. They did not look like tattoos but more like they had been there at birth. The flowery stripes turned into different forms and shades as their masters waved their hands and legs.

All the giants were wearing simple beast hide, some of which was covered with the bones or shells of eccentric beasts. Contrary to the rest of their primitive getup, they were holding very delicate metal blades that resembled axes and sabers in their hands!

Li Yao felt like he was having a heart attack, but then he suddenly discovered that he had become one of the red giants, too, and that he was charging forward under the command of his leader.

“Ughhhh!”

The red giants were apparently poor at speech. They could only utter several simple syllables, but the glamorous stripes that were continuously changing on their bodies were a unique form of communication for them.

Although Li Yao couldn’t understand their language, he could sense the meaning expressed by the roars and the changing stripes.

From beginning to the end, all the crazy roars and the bouncing stripes had but one meaning.

“Let’s fight! Let’s fight! Let’s fight!”

In the continuous mountains ahead of them, countless hollows appeared, making the mountains look like honeycombs. From the hollows crawled out terrifying beasts almost five meters tall that seemed to be hybrids of spiders and mantises. Several bigger holes even produced enormous beasts more than ten meters tall. It was like an exposition of gargantuan creatures.

The ferocious beasts out of one’s worst nightmares had in fact triggered the burning fighting will of the red giants, who charged forward without any hesitation. With the sabers flying and the axes dancing, they constituted a steel torrent and savagely crushed over everything in their way!

“Hoo!”

In the beginning, Li Yao still managed to keep his head clear. But as the battle became heated and the red giants beside him continued roaring, unfathomable waves were released from their brains, which bolstered Li Yao’s fighting will without him knowing.

He had planned to find a place to hide and observe the battle of the two unknown species as an outsider.

However, when he slashed open the shell of a strange beast and green, thick body fluid splashed all over his body, he suddenly felt that the blood of the beast was even more thrilling than the hardest liquor, which motivated his soaring fighting will. He was devoted to the battle, forgetting where or who he was!

The battle lasted an entire day. It was not until two blood-red moons appeared in the sky that Li Yao sat cross-legged on the battlefield, where blood was flowing like rivers, and gradually came back to himself.

But the scenes of slaughtering had been etched into his brain.

Looking around, he found that there were barely any red giants left now. The lose-lose battle had almost destroyed the two unknown species at the same time.

But the surviving giants couldn’t have been more excited. Now and then, they would stab their saber into their enemy’s dead body and raise it high, while they danced and roared in triumph.

For some reason, Li Yao felt that his throat was itching. He craved to yell, shout, and even continue fighting in the uncanny world.

The thought suddenly alarmed him. He shuddered, and after a blink of dazzling light, he had returned to the dark cave in reality.

However, he was soaked in sweat and stinky, black mucus. He felt extremely comfortable as if he had just gone through a gratifying fierce battle.

Li Yao took a long breath in relief. He was going to stand up, when he suddenly felt that his leg hurt. He lowered his head and discovered that a shallow wound had appeared on the outer side of his right leg.

Li Yao remembered clearly that, in his illusion, a giant insect had slashed him in exactly the same place.

What is going—

Li Yao was deeply confused. He pulled open the iron door while he pondered on his experience.

He could tell that the red giants in the illusion had been triggering special waves from their brains when they roared in the same way that the qi-trainers’ technique of spiritual gas resonation functioned.

Is this the source of the qi-trainers’ technique? Did they find the heritage of an unknown species during their struggle against the apocalypse and learn the technique of spiritual gas resonation from them?

The illusions felt similar to Ou Yezi’s memory pieces, but they seemed to be more advanced than the memory pieces! My body has undergone high-intensity training without me knowing while I was fighting in the illusions. Even the wounds that I suffered in the illusions have been fed back to the real world!

But why is such a technique hidden in a destructive apocalypse?

Three minutes later, Xiong Wuji opened the iron gate. Although he was still expressionless, there was astonishment deep inside his eyes.

“You saw it.”

Not a question, but a statement. “I’m getting more and more curious now. Who are you exactly? You are definitely not a common Cultivator, at least not one of those Cultivators Sha Yulan has described.

“Normal qi-trainers can only stay in the ‘Titan Illusionary Land’ for half an hour. But you stayed in it for three hours on your first try, and you are still rational without being mentally deranged.”

Li Yao asked in a hurry, “Are Titan Warriors those red giants with skin like fire? What species do they belong to, and why would their heritage appear in an apocalypse?”

Xiong Wuji said, “Titan Warriors are the name we made for the mysterious foreign species because of their large size. Judging from the size of their hearts, they are at least twice as tall as us. Also, they are born with bloodthirst and ruthlessness. In all the illusions, they are always doing the same thing: fighting! Therefore, we’ve been addressing them as Titan Warriors!”

Chapter 570: Heritage of Fighting Will!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“As for why their heritage appeared in an apocalypse, I’d like to know the answer to the question, too.”

An indescribable expression surfaced on Xiong Wuji’s face, as he mumbled, “For thousands of years, we only knew that, although the eggs of apocalypse often bring about tide-like eccentric beasts over time, we could also receive a huge amount of heritage from the pieces of the meteorites after we defeated them.

“We loath the outbreak of the apocalypse because countless towns and villages will be ruined.

“But we also look forward to the disaster because we will receive more knowledge and be even stronger after each outbreak as long as we are still alive!

“We turned into the Titan Warriors in the Titan Illusionary Land. We learned advanced battle skills after endless combat. Moreover, we learned the techniques to fully release one’s fighting will, to control spiritual energy with one’s fighting will, and even to reverberate with other people’s fighting will!”

It was not until then that Li Yao learned that the so-called spiritual gas resonation was formally known as ‘Reverberation of Fighting Will’.

Fighting will was a very hollow concept. One’s fighting will might soar in a battle, but fighting will alone was never enough to win the battle however elevated it was. A three-year-old could never defeat a trained soldier from the special forces no matter how determined and resolute he was.

However, the rule seemed to be broken among the Titan Warriors.

They were a species whose capability grew with their fighting will!

Xiong Wuji stared at Li Yao and asked, “The other purpose for which I brought you here is to let a space resident experience everything. Tell me from the perspective of a space resident, what exactly do you think apocalypses are? Are they salvation or destruction?”

Li Yao was deep in thought. He shook his head after a long while and replied in confusion, “I don’t know.”

He really couldn’t tell the answer.

Before, when he witnessed the miserable appearance of Iron Plateau in person and heard the story that Sha Yulan and Xiong Wuji had told him about the arrival of the apocalypse, he had naturally thought that apocalypses were strikes launched by species stronger than mankind.

There were too many species in the sea of stars. The Star Ocean Imperium had destroyed countless alien species during its expansion, too.

However, the civilizations of such alien species were usually very underdeveloped. In most cases, they had never even set foot off their home planets.

But it was still possible that stronger civilizations were thriving in the vast universe where human beings had not set foot in yet.

When those civilizations noticed the potential of mankind, they launched an attack in advance in order to demolish it.

It was a natural and reasonable deduction.

However, after what he had just experienced, Li Yao found the theory ungrounded and questionable.

The first thing to be doubted was the speed of the apocalypse.

According to Sha Yulan, the astronomers of Iron Plateau five thousand years ago had determined that the meteoroids of the apocalypse were travelling toward them on a large scale no faster than one third the speed of light, which was not an impressive speed. Besides, during the hundred years of observation, there were no signs that the meteoroids had the capability to perform space jumps.

Since they could not perform space jumps, they could only pass through various space zones slowly and dutifully, and therefore gave human beings abundant time for the resistance and the escape plans.

But the question was, Iron Plateau had only thrived in the recent ten thousand years.

If there really was an alien species that had a civilization far more developed than that of mankind, their territory must have been very close to what the Star Ocean Imperium’s old territory so that they could detect the human beings’ existence in such a short amount of time and launch a close-distance attack unhurriedly.

But people in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium had explored their surroundings far and wide, and they never found such a terrifying neighbor beside them.

The only possible explanation was that the ‘apocalypse’ had been launched ten thousand years ago, or a hundred thousand years ago, or even before the ancient Cultivation world was formed and before the first monkey to walk upright was born.

It was possible that the apocalypse was not aimed at Iron Plateau.

It was just that, during its long journey, when it flew past the Iron Plateau Space Zone, it detected a certain kind of civilization in this place and was triggered.

The eggs of apocalypse outbreaks made even less sense.

To deal with the outbreak of one egg of apocalypse, the six tribes of Iron Plateau had to work and fight together with all their available soldiers.

If the purpose of the apocalypse was destruction, the outbreaks of ten eggs of apocalypse would do the job very easily!

Also, the heritage concealed inside the meteorites of apocalypse was like free knowledge that had been sent on purpose.

Only by learning the battle skills of the Titan Warriors was it possible to live on in the harsh environment shaped by the apocalypse and defeat the brutal, bizarre beasts created by the apocalypse!

Apocalypses. What were the purpose of the mysterious apocalypses?

Li Yao quickly thought of the Grand Blue Planet, a primordial great world where all species originated billions of years ago.

Before mankind appeared, many species on the Grand Blue Planet had grasped Cultivation techniques, and they had encountered apocalypses countless times.

When Li Yao received the spiritual seed of Yan Ba, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and a body fundamentalist, he had seen mottled pictures deep inside his cells left by the prehistoric experts.

In the legends, billions of years ago, dinosaurs had dominated the Grand Blue Planet. Among them, the tyrannosaurs discovered the mysteries of Cultivation and grasped powerful techniques!

It was said that the tyrannosaurs had been able to create a new world or clutch the moon in their prime.

They had created a once-flourishing civilization of dinosaurs and called themselves the ‘Pangu Clan’!

The ultimate expert of the tyrannosaurs was known as ‘Pangu’ 1 !

From the research of archeologists of various generations, it was verified that the Pangu Clan had been able to alter the surface and atmosphere of planets on a large scale and collect resources from the satellites of the Grand Blue Planet. Therefore, their claim of ‘creating a new world and clutching the moon’ was not entirely bragging.

It was the earliest civilization to human beings’ knowledge that had been proven. There had been certain experts before the Pangu Clan, but they had only been strong personally, possibly due to fortuitous incidents, and had never led a really developed civilization.

Therefore, human beings regarded the Pangu civilization as the source of the civilization of mankind. Legends of Pangu establishing new worlds had been passed on generation after generation.

However, the Pangu civilization had been overturned by an apocalypse while it was blooming.

After the Pangu civilization, several other civilizations had replaced one another on the Grand Blue Planet. But then the second apocalypse arrived.

This time, it was not meteors, but an Ice Age that lowered the temperature of the entire planet by dozens of degrees for millions of years!

The prolonged Ice Age almost obliterated all civilizations. It was not until tens of millions of years after the Ice Age that mankind gradually rose up and walked out of the Grand Blue Planet and the primordial world. The civilization of mankind had thus branched and blossomed in the boundless cosmos!

When he heard the stories before, Li Yao had simply thought that the two apocalypses destroyed countless species and civilizations.

But now that he reflected on it, he discovered that, although the first apocalypse terminated the Pangu civilization, it had given birth to billions of brand new species in the millions of years to come, many of which had learned the arts of Cultivation. Countless experts and powerful civilizations had been born!

After the second apocalypse, the species and civilizations were all wiped out, but mankind—the strongest species in the battles amid the sea of stars—was created. They developed a brilliant Cultivation civilization and expanded their territory from a single planet to the entire universe!

It appeared that the civilizations born after each apocalypse were always stronger than their predecessors.

However, in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium, many worlds had failed to resist apocalypses, and their whole planets had been destroyed. In such cases, there would absolutely be no following civilizations.

The contradictory findings cast Li Yao in a maze of thought. He couldn’t figure out the logic at all.

Xiong Wuji patted his shoulder firmly and said, “Never mind. It doesn’t matter what the apocalypses really are. All for survival, and survival is all. Try your best to train yourself and blow it up brutally!”

From that day on, Li Yao set off on the path of insane training again.

His training sessions were more tiresome than those of any other qi-trainers, even including Xiong Wuji.

During the day, he would put on the True Qi Locks and inject spiritual gas under twenty times the standard pressure into his body, and he would simultaneously improve his physical strength with barbells tons of weight. He was also engaged in speed training, namely sprinting and turning, and combat training, with a weight of almost a ton bound to himself. Each day, he would do his training for seven to eight hours without any rest.

In order to fill his stomach, Li Yao often devoured an entire bull during two training sessions!

After expanding his veins, Li Yao would go to the secret chamber in the deepest part of the temple of techniques that stored the knowledge of the Titan Warriors and appear in the Titan Illusionary Land in a meditative state.

Every heart fossil of the Titan Warriors represented a different memory piece. The larger a heart was, the higher the position that the Titan Warrior had once been, the stronger they had been, and the gorier and more brutal their memory piece was.

The other qi-trainers could often only bear to meditate for half an hour. They had to quit after half an hour, or it would be too much of a burden for their brains, and they might become mentally deranged. In the worst cases, their own memories would be jumbled with the memories of the Titan Warriors, and they would become monsters who knew nothing except killing.

However, it was different for Li Yao, who had been born with weird, foreign ‘earth’ memories and had experienced Ou Yezi’s memory pieces. The structure of his brain was different from that of a common Cultivator’s, and his soul was extremely solid. Naturally, he was not scared that he would be affected by the Titan Warriors’ memories.

Each night, he would spent almost ten hours in the secret chamber and learn the battle skills of the Titan Warriors greedily from their heart fossils.

They were a species born for fighting.

They did not have the dazzling Cultivation techniques as mankind did; they focused all their attention on the training of ‘fighting will’. They could manipulate and enhance their spiritual energy by increasing their fighting will and transform everything into the purest strength and damage eventually!

All the memory pieces were battles, battles, and more battles!

Most of the time, they were fighting hard against a certain kind of insect. But they were occasionally killing each other until their blood ran dry when they couldn’t find an enemy for a long time.

In the beginning, Li Yao had thought that they were fighting the insects to invade or defend their land.

But later, Li Yao realized that the purpose of their fighting was fighting, and that fighting was their everything!

Chapter 571: Li Yao’s New Technique

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

As the apocalypse was coming, most of the experts of the Furious Bears Tribe had been summoned to the desert to practice their battle formations. The advanced chamber was often empty and almost became Li Yao’s personal training room.

Except for the manager, Xiong Wuji, and a few other people, nobody knew that a monster named Li Yao was getting stronger and stronger below the temple of techniques.

Five days after starting his training, a shocking discovery excited the entire Furious Bears City!

It was said that Xiong Wuji had found a relic that was deeply buried in an underground cave by accident while he was training in the desert. It seemed to have been left by an expert a thousand years ago. Most of the expert’s belongings had eroded, but the schematics of a sonic sword and one for Wolf Fang remained intact.

The two designs gave the refiners of the weapon factory of Furious Bears City tremendous inspiration and helped them develop faster sonic swords and Wolf Fangs that could deal more damage!

Although it was not possible to upgrade everybody’s gear due to the limited time, the elites of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team were able to switch to stronger magical equipment before the apocalypse!

Everyone in Furious Bears City was seething with exhilaration because of the discovery. They believed that it was a propitious omen!

It was needless to say that they were actually Li Yao’s masterpieces.

As an expert in melee magical equipment and crystal bombs, he had come up with more than ten modification plans after he disassembled the old sonic swords and Wolf Fangs and analyzed them carefully.

The only problem was that he had to draft a plan that was not difficult and could be put into use by the weapon factory immediately. That was why he was delayed for a couple of days.

But if he had simply offered his modification plan to the weapon factory, somebody was bound to become suspicious of him. Therefore, he and Xiong Wuji came up with the story.

Calling it ‘treasure from a thousand years ago’ would not only eliminate the doubt of the refiners of the Furious Bears Tribe who would accept it gladly but also boost the morale of the tribe.

After he demonstrated unparalleled performance during his training and completed the modification blueprints of the two kinds of fundamental magical equipment, Xiong Wuji’s attitude toward him changed greatly. He was really considered a negotiable partner right now.

The two of them often chatted and exchanged knowledge with each other. Xiong Wuji brought out a lot of personal understanding about qi-trainers’ expertise, while Li Yao presented many secret arts and techniques from the Cultivators. They both learned a lot and quite enjoyed the sharing.

Wu Mayan, who had always considered himself a young genius, was totally awed when he witnessed Li Yao’s unbelievably horrifying training process. He was worshipping Li Yao and even asking to become his disciple.

Li Yao found it very funny. He did not want to be too involved, but since the young man was harassing him day and night, he simply gave him a cruel training plan and told him that he would consider the idea if the young man could persist.

He had thought that the young man would give up shortly. But as it turned out, although he was crying and screaming during each training session, he actually made it to the end every time, however disgraceful he looked. Wu Mayan eyed Li Yao as if he were a devil after each training session, but when Li Yao appeared in the training chamber next day in the morning, he always found that Wu Mayan had come in advance and was helping to clean up his training equipment.

The young man’s stubbornness during his training reminded Li Yao of himself a couple of years ago. He suddenly felt that it was not a bad idea to recruit a disciple.

Twenty-five days later…

According to the observation of the wizard of the Furious Bears Tribe, who had experienced multiple outbreaks of the apocalypse, the eggs were about to be mature and would explode in the next week.

The battle against the apocalypse was about to commence!

Inside the advanced training chamber deep below the temple of techniques, Li Yao put the heavy barbells back onto the shelf with a huge ‘clang’. He felt that his legs were soft and couldn’t help but gag with his two hands holding the floor.

But the previous crazy training had completely consumed the residue of food in his stomach. He gagged for a long time, only to throw out some saliva.

Li Yao’s face was pale, his body cramping. The sweat almost congregated into a lake, and his hands and legs were shivering softly.

Taking more than ten deep breaths, he finally regained control of his limbs. He gritted his teeth and stood up, before he observed himself through a giant mirror next to him.

One last training procedure. I must carry on!

Inside the bronze mirror, his upper body was naked, with multiple layers of True Qi Locks imposed on it. All the True Qi Locks had been modified and tempered by him. Delicate circuits could be found on their surface.

Since he had been training for a long time underground, which was devoid of sunlight, his skin was much fairer than before, and his body size seemed to have shrunk. The large clusters of muscles on his body were now narrower and more exquisite. Even the female warriors in the tribe seemed to be stronger than him.

However, compared to the angry, sinewy men of the tribe, his muscle fibers were clear and distinguishable. When he exerted his strength, his body seemed to have been decorated with gorgeous stripes that seemed to be flowing and appeared quite beautiful.

Summon my fighting will! Release the soaring fighting will in the form of brain waves and manipulate the spiritual energy with them to strengthen my body!

Li Yao meditated on the Titan Warriors’ technique of raising their fighting will. Intense waves were unleashed from the depths of his brain. His muscle fibers spread out like ripples and changed continuously into fuzzy patterns.

On his back, the muscles, shaped like an upside-down triangle, seemed to have formed an angrily roaring face!

This was the brand-new technique that Li Yao perceived in the Titan Illusionary Land!

The skin of the Titan Warriors boasted special colorful stripes that could change into various patterns. Just like the spiritual tattoos on Cultivators, the patterns could enhance one’s spiritual energy and increase the combat ability of one’s body!

Of course, there were no stripes on Li Yao’s skin. Even if he asked somebody to make a tattoo for him, the adornment was still unchangeable and could only perform a single technique.

However, he had realized something after his last discussion with Xiong Wuji.

The qi-trainers of Iron Plateau had evolved, generation after generation, over five thousand years, which had blessed them with such strong bodies. Together with the reverberation of their fighting will, they had definitely reached the limits in regard to the utilization of muscles.

In one short month, he could never be as physically strong as Xiong Wuji however hard he trained himself.

If so, why shouldn’t he walk on a different path by improving the agility of muscle fibers instead of their hardness so that he could control his muscles with his spiritual threads to draw the patterns?

Drawing runes with muscle fibers!

This was the brand-new technique that Li Yao had thought of.

After more than ten days of testing, based on the observation of how the Titan Warriors made use of their battle patterns, he was certain that the method was feasible!

“HOOOO!”

Li Yao’s eyes were bloodshot. His long hair, which hadn’t been cut for quite a few months, fluttered. Streams of spiritual gas surged out in the tiny training chamber and terrified the barbells in the corner, which were emitting weird noises. They even formed visible swirls and circled him crazily!

Finally!

With the help of the muscle stripes, when my fighting will soared and my spiritual gas surged, I surpassed the peak of the Refinement Stage and reached the superlative height of the Refinement Stage that other Cultivators in space have never entered!

Li Yao smiled. The fatigue from the previous harsh training session was entirely gone. The furious spiritual gas flooding into his body seemed to have turned into an afternoon breeze in summer for him.

He walked to the front of an iron target and started the final training with the most basic punching.

A thousand punches. Begin!

This was the scene that Wei Changsheng and his fellow members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team saw when they entered the training chamber.

A booth had been established in a corner of the spacious advanced training chamber. It was enclosed with large tempered glass, through which one could vaguely see that a ‘stout’ man was punching something in True Qi Locks.

However, he seemed to be exhausted. After each punch, he would have to stop for a moment and breathe heavily, if not gagging.

His face was extremely twisted, too, indicating that he was being tortured inhumanly.

Fu Dong, manager of the training chamber, was sitting in the outside, his eyes half closed. He seemed to have become used to everything here.

Wei Changsheng was greatly surprised. The advanced training chamber was almost exclusively reserved for the elites of the Iron Bears Detonation Team and the Fierce Storm Assault Team. However, they barely came to this place because they had been bettering their teamwork in the desert over the previous month.

How come there was a personal training booth right now?

Even Shi Meng, captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, and Xiong Zhenzhen, captain of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, did not have such a privilege!

Wei Changsheng’s face suddenly turned gloomy. It was not about himself. But on what grounds was this unfamiliar short man entitled to a personal booth if Captain Shi Meng, whom he admired most, was not?

He did not dare express his discontent openly in front of Fu Dong. Therefore, he managed to fake a smile and asked, “Uncle Fu, what is this all about?”

Fu Dong did not even bother to raise his eyebrow. He replied, “This training chamber has been specially modified under Boss Xiong’s instruction. Nobody is to enter Sand Scorpion’s personal booth, but you are free to do your practice in the outside.”

Chief Xiong’s instructions?

Wei Changsheng was secretly startled. He was about to ask more when he suddenly smelt an intense aroma of meat.

One of the members of Iron Bears Detonation Team exclaimed in joy, “It’s the meat of Silver Striped Boars! Yummy yummy!”

Silver Striped Boars were rarely-seen demon beasts in the desert. Their meat was delicious and contained abundant spiritual energy. However, their number was small, and they were often very vigilant. They did make delicious food, but it was very difficult to capture them. Even experts like themselves hardly had the opportunity to enjoy them.

Wei Changsheng sniffed hard and laughed in satisfaction. “It’s truly the meat of Silver Striped Boars, with at least five kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures roasted with them! They are definitely the best food in the world. Our chief is truly generous now that the apocalypse is coming close!”

The qi-trainers’ training often consumed enormous physical strength. It was a common practice for some food to be kept in the training chambers for the gluttons, but such delicious food like the meat of Silver Striped Boars was hard to come by.

One of the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team swallowed and couldn’t help but raise the white cloth on the meat of Silver Striped Boars, only to be slapped away by Fu Dong.

Fu Dong said coldly, “Don’t touch it. It is prepared for Sand Scorpion. The food for other people is aside.”

Wei Changsheng opened the few giant iron buckets and looked inside suspiciously, only to be irked. Although the contents smelt as good as the meat of Silver Striped Boars and some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had been added, the most critical part of the food was ordinary pork and just the bones and internal organs of the Silver Striped Boars.

Chapter 572: Unbelievable Craziness!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Uncle Fu!”

Wei Changsheng attempted to hold back his anger and remarked, “What’s the meaning of this? Before, not just Captain Shi and Captain Xiong, even Chief Xiong had the same food with everyone else when he was training with us! Who is this Sand Scorpion exactly? He doesn’t look familiar. Why is he qualified to enjoy such a large Silver Stripe Boar all by himself while we can only eat some offal?

“Has he made any distinguished contributions to the tribe? Is he able to destroy a top-tier demon beast in the battle to come?”

“I know him!”

A member of the Iron Bears Detonation Team gazed at Li Yao for a long time before he finally remembered who the strange guy was. He patted his head and shouted, “This guy, Sand Scorpion, only joined the tribe a month ago. It’s said that he fought two Emperor Sand Scorpions in the wilderness and saved Wu Mayan. He was wounded due to the venom of the demon beast, and his mind is clouded!”

“Right!”

Another teammate recalled him now that his origin was mentioned. He sniffed and said, “One month ago, during the competitive test with the Fierce Storm Assault Team, Wu Mayan brought the man to watch, but he was so shocked by a Wolf Fang that he fell to the ground. His face was pale, himself shuddering, and he failed to get back on his feet for a long time!”

“What?”

Wei Changsheng couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “I remember it now. Indeed, there was such a coward back then. Did we talk about him for a long time after we returned?

“It was just a Wolf Fang! What’s the big deal even if it did explode right in front of his face? Men of the Iron Bears Detonation Team wouldn’t have even raised an eyebrow, much less dodging and hiding. I was wondering where such a timid fellow came from. I didn’t know that it was him!”

“Hehe. Is it anything extraordinary to slay two Emperor Sand Scorpions? If I had encountered them, I could’ve killed three or even more!”

“Our chief is not fair regarding the matter. The guy only rescued his foster son. Even though Wu Mayan is a rarely-seen genius in our tribe, there’s no need to treat him as nicely as this!”

The more they talked, the angrier they became. Suddenly, the personal booth was opened with a ‘Chi’ sound. As if a wind from the nether world blew by, Li Yao staggered out exhaustedly.

He was soaked in sweat and couldn’t even stand straight. Even his eyes had lost focus.

The training just now seemed to have drained him. His stomach was rumbling, and he could only see the food in front of him. Not bothering the irritated newcomers, he sniffed, smelt the aroma of the pork, and walked toward the Silver Stripe Boar.

The members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team glared at him, but he took them all for nothing.

Wei Changsheng sneered. He took a step forward and stood in the way between Li Yao and the Silver Stripe Boar.

Li Yao’s hair was soaked with sweat and was stuck on his face, droplets of sweat dripping constantly. He glanced at Wei Changsheng through the gap of his hair casually and indifferently.

With only that one glance, the smile on Wei Changsheng’s face froze. He felt that he had been placed in a frigid hell at absolute zero. His face was pale, his eyelids jumping crazily. He failed to come up with anything for a long time.

Li Yao bypassed him silently and picked up the big tray of food, before he wobbled toward the gate with heavy feet.

“Sand Scorpion, you are not finishing the food here because you are in a hurry to train below?” asked Fu Dong, who was apparently not new to the situation.

Li Yao did not even have the strength to talk. He nodded and vanished out of the gate.

Everyone was awed by his uncanny aura. None of them stood out and stopped him; they only watched him leave proudly.

It was not until three seconds after he vanished that the icy air thawed. Everybody in the room swallowed subconsciously.

As if his neck had been grabbed by an invisible, giant hand, Wei Changsheng’s face was practically blue due to shortness of breath. He was finally able to cough loudly as cold sweat began popping up on his back.

Horrifying!

The exchange of eyes a moment ago had been too horrifying!

He felt that a real Titan Warrior had stood in front of his face, staring at him emotionlessly from a high stance!

If he had made any other movements, he would’ve been slain for sure!

“Changsheng, what happened? Why didn’t you stop the guy?”

“The guy is but skin and bones. He’s not even two meters tall and barely reaches your chest!”

“Why didn’t you punch him right in his face and snatch his Silver Stripe Boar?”

“Damn it. We’ve been training and suffering in the desert day and night, and we’re not even allowed to have one mouthful of the Silver Stripe Boar. Why is the fair-skinned boy entitled to the Silver Stripe Boar by training casually inside a windless and rainless training chamber?”

“Unfair! It’s too unfair! We’re going to argue with the chief!”

Members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team felt embarrassed for their fear a while ago after they came to again and all started yelling.

But Wei Changsheng was still not himself yet.

Fu Dong eyed them coldly, his lips curling in mockery, as he said, “Do you think that, by slaying demon beasts in the desert under scorching sunlight and savaging storm, you’ve had enough suffering and training and are qualified to eat the Silver Stripe Boar?”

A member of the Iron Bears Detonation Team shouted, “Our previous trip was an out-and-out practical drill. We cleaned up the nine nests of the demon beasts and killed more of them than anybody could count! What’s craziness if our deed wasn’t? Who’s qualified for the meat if we are not?”

Fu Dong rose up suddenly and replied grimly, “You would not buy it if I say that Sand Scorpion is more qualified than you. Therefore, you can follow me and see how the man has been training himself so that you won’t need to disgrace yourself before the chief.”

“We might as well see it. How impressive can it possibly be? We’ve seen the outcome of his training just now. His grimacing face and half-dying appearance did not befit a real expert! The real men of Iron Plateau should be as calm as anything. Even if your leg is torn off by a demon beast, you simply kick out the teeth of the demon beast with your other leg!”

His words naturally raised laughter, and somebody even applauded.

Fu Dong smiled casually and led everybody into the personal booth.

Among the crowd, Wei Changsheng observed the surroundings suspiciously and mumbled, “Nothing interesting here. Who hasn’t used True Qi Locks set at thirty times the standard pressure before? The weight of the deep squat is merely 1,500 kilograms. I can do twenty sets of them at any time!”

Fu Dong answered expressionlessly, “First, the weight of 1,500 kilograms is for relaxation and rehabilitation after seven hours of crazy training. I will save the trouble of telling you what the maximum weight of his deep squat is because you won’t believe it anyway.

“Second, look at the True Qi Locks more carefully. It’s not thirty times the standard pressure, but fifty times!”

“What!”

All the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were dumbfounded.

Spiritual gas at thirty times the standard pressure was already the limits for common qi-trainers. Even experts at their level were not willing to recall the terrible experience of when they endured thirty times the standard pressure.

Fifty times? What would that feeling be?

Fu Dong smiled and continued. “This set of True Qi Locks was modified by Sand Scorpion himself. It can trigger the spiritual gas up to fifty times the standard pressure.

“He has been training for seven hours wearing such True Qi Locks and could still finish five sets of deep squats with 1,500 kilograms.

“His every training session consumes hundreds of True Qi containers!”

Those present were all experts. They inferred the intensity of Li Yao’s training instantly and were all frightened.

Fu Dong then pointed at an iron target in a corner of the training chamber. “Now, look at the target. Do you see any anomalies?”

Everybody examined the target doubtfully. The target was made of ‘Black Rock Gold’, a common metal material on Iron Plateau. It was riddled with fist indentations.

However, it was not unusual. Everyone there could leave deeper, clearer traces on such targets when they exerted all their strength.

Fu Dong said strangely, “Touch it.”

Wei Changsheng was bold enough to extend one of his fingers to the surface of the target. His eyes immediately widened as he exclaimed, “It’s so hot. Hundreds of degrees at least!”

“Correct.”

Fu Dong said with his hands held in his back, “Maybe you think that the highest level of punching such iron targets is to embellish the targets with the traces of your fists. The deeper and the clearer the traces are, the more awesome you will be.

“But when Sand Scorpion was punching the target, he transformed most of the damage into heat. Under his bombardment, the temperature of the target was raised by 420 degrees!

“And this was after he had just finished the high-intensity training in the True Qi Locks.

“I even suspect that, if he filled himself and took a good rest, he could punch the target so hard that it will melt when he exerts his full strength on the target without burden!”

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment.

Fu Dong looked at their facial expressions and chuckled. “You think his training is as simple as that? Tell you what, such a personal booth was established because he needed to train himself in certain extreme environments!

“When you saw him just now, he was doing the final relief and recovery procedure. The oxygen concentration inside the booth is approximately 5%, one quarter of the comfortable parameter for human beings.

“During his real training, he pumps away all the air inside the booth to make it almost a vacuum!”

Wei Changsheng and his companions were truly appalled.

Training crazily in a vacuum while being pumped with spiritual gas fifty times the standard pressure!

Where was this monster Sand Scorpion from?

“He—he has been training like that all the time?” Wei Changsheng stammered. But for some reason, he believed that it was true when he thought of Li Yao’s cold and indifferent eyes.

Fu Dong nodded with an inexplicable expression on his face. After a long sigh, he commented, “Since you went to practice in the desert, he has been coming to this place to conduct the extreme training that is beyond anyone’s imagination every day.

“I’ve been responsible for the training chamber for almost thirty years, and I’ve witnessed a lot of tough experts. Xiong Wuji in the old days, your captain Shi Meng, Xiong Zhenzhen of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, the young genius Wu Mayan who rose to fame only recently… They are all adamant and resolute people and have experienced cruel training without exception.

“However, this is the first time that I’ve ever seen a monster as crazy as him.

“How much of a contribution do you think a man who has been training in such a way can make in the battle against the apocalypse to come? Do you agree that he is qualified to have a Silver Stripe Boar all to himself now?”

Wei Changsheng was silent. Suddenly, he put one of the manacles on his wrist and, gritting his teeth, turned on the switch. The spiritual gas, set fifty times the standard pressure, was immediately poured in!

“Ahhhh!”

Wei Changsheng immediately screamed desperately like a pig being butchered. He fell to the ground as if he had been struck by lightning. Then he was bouncing and jumping like a lobster that had just been tossed into a cooker, crying for mommy.

“Not good. Changsheng is foaming at the mouth. He is about to pass out!”

“Hurry and save him!”

The training chamber was in a mess.

Chapter 573: Sky Scorpion Armor

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

As the egg of apocalypse ripened, the gargantuan meteorite mountain began to emit large clusters of air currents in various colors that interweaved with each other and grew toward the sky helically. They swallowed one cloud after another and eventually formed a swirl of seven-colored smoke in the sky.

The residents of Iron Plateau called such a phenomenon an ‘apocalypse cloud’.

The appearance of an apocalypse cloud suggested that the egg of apocalypse would break out in several days.

The egg of apocalypse that was about to mature was on the northwest side of the Furious Bears Tribe. When it was sunny during the day, one could see that a small apocalypse cloud in the northwest sky, surrounded by colorful radiance but with immeasurable darkness in the center, was staring at the ground like a weird, unblinking eye.

One month earlier, Furious Bears City had been seething with enthusiasm like a giant steel refining factory.

But as the apocalypse drew near, the entire city calmed down. Like a warrior who was whetting his saber in the darkness, all the anxiety, excitement, dread, worry, and hope were turned into the monotonous noise of the honing of their blades against the grindstone.

In the weapon factory, the refiners and workers who had been working hard for months were lying everywhere, snoring.

They had finally finished forging a batch of brand new magical equipment before the egg of apocalypse ripened.

The latest sonic sword model’s distribution of tubes for the internal circulation and venting of spiritual gas had been redesigned. When the spiritual gas surged out, it would add slight vibration at a high frequency to the edge of the sword so that the damage of the blade could be improved.

Almost twenty ancillary spurts were added to two sides of the main spurt, which was emitting spiritual gas along the two sides of the sword. The middle of the sword would receive a counterforce that would make it essentially an invisible rail. Therefore, the strike of the sword would be more accurate and stable.

The latest Wolf Fang model had seven brand-new attack rune arrays on the interior side. Not only did they reduce the cost of crystals, they had also increased the firepower of the grenades. The latest Wolf Fangs also boasted a unique delayed detonation system that could be controlled with telepathic thoughts. As long as one thought about it, more than ten Wolf Fangs could be detonated simultaneously.

The elites of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team absolutely loved the new weapons. They’d been dwelling in the test fields affiliated to the weapon factory to familiarize themselves with the new magical equipment.

Today, the last test was going to be held.

Tomorrow, the warriors of the Furious Bears Tribe would march into the desert and challenge the apocalypse!

In the test field, almost all the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team had gathered.

There were almost a hundred soldiers on both sides. They were all experts above the 40th level of the Refinement Stage. Although they were insignificant in number, the solemn and daunting aura emanated from them almost tore the entire test field in half, as if they were two armies.

The two parties confronted each other silently. But the last competitive test was postponed for a long time. It was not until people were whispering to each other that Xiong Wuji appeared on one side of the test field.

“Warriors of the Furious Bears Tribe!”

Xiong Wuji’s voice was not high, but his every word swept into everybody’s ears like a hurricane. “Tomorrow, we will be setting off to challenge the apocalypse. Today, we are running our last competitive test.

“The purpose of the competitive test is, on one hand, to let you understand the magical equipment in your hands better, and, on the other hand, to let you know your comrades and brothers who will be fighting side by side with you better!

“Fierce Storm can only entrust the ground to Iron Bears, and Iron Bears can only entrust the sky to Fierce Storm, after you learn each other’s formidability in the competitive tests!

“Also, a new warrior will be joining the competitive test today. The competition of two sides will become one of three sides! The rules are the same. Each of the three sides has a home camp. As long as you bring the flag in the center of the test field to your home camp, your side will be deemed the winner!

“Due to the limitation of time, the warrior had no time to practice with everyone else in the desert, and therefore, is not familiar with the battle formations. Therefore, he is not going to be listed in the main troop but will be asked to perform free hunting as a lone wolf in the battlefield.

“But still, I think that it is necessary for you to meet the warrior. After the competitive test today, you will know whether or not you should be worried if he is standing next to you!”

Xiong Wuji’s words raised a riot.

In the battle of apocalypse, most warriors would join battle formations and fight as a team.

But there were always some experts who wandered out of the battle formations and to hunt individually.

Sometimes, it was because their capability was too high, and they could not achieve their maximum damage in battle formations; sometimes, it was because of their special technique, say, full-range indiscriminate area attack, which would hurt their teammates if they were in the battle formations.

Although they were free to choose their targets, their goal was almost always the strongest beast in the apocalypse. The experts who were hunting individually would always lunge at wherever it was the most dangerous!

Only the strongest, the most experienced, and the most determined warriors in the tribe were qualified to conduct free hunting.

However, the elites of the two teams had seen all the seasoned warriors of the Furious Bears Tribe and cooperated with them neatly multiple times. Wasn’t it redundant to arrange a competitive test to let them get to know each other?

Just when everyone was baffled, a figure not very tall gradually appeared from the darkness.

“It is him!”

In the Iron Bears Detonation Team, Wei Changsheng gasped, his right-hand tremoring slightly beyond his control.

“It is him?”

Xiong Zhenzhen, leader of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, was somewhat confused. She glanced at Xiong Wuji in discontent, frowning.

“You may call him Sand Scorpion.”

Xiong Wuji said, “Chances are that you do not know him well at present, but believe me, by the end of the competitive test, he will have left a very deep impression on all of you!”

Four hundred sharp eyes were staring at ‘Sand Scorpion’ as if they were shooting arrows, only to be entirely blocked by the weirdly-shaped armor on him.

It was bright grey armor with the jet armor of the Fierce Storm Assault Team as the prototype. However, it had undergone unrecognizable and even insane modifications.

The layered plates of the armor were round with barely any sharp thorns. They had copied a lot of the attributes of insects and arthropods in the principle of bionics. At first look, it seemed to be a large scorpion that had stood straight like a human. But folded wings on the back of the armor made of tens of thousands of thin, translucent, interconnecting metal foils made it look like an enormous dragonfly.

Behind the back of the armor, more than twenty True Qi containers were densely placed. Their size was smaller than that of commonly-seen True Qi containers, but there were clusters of glamorous spiritual stripes on them. A two-handed sword more than 2.5 meters long was hanging at the waist of the armor. The body of the sword was riddled with messy spurts, yet they brought a weird feeling of beauty.

It was possible to imagine that, when the messy spurts ejected spiritual gas at the same time, the trajectory of the sword would definitely become mysterious and unpredictable.

Chi… Chi… Chi…

While he walked toward everyone slowly, white steam was dispersing from the joints of his armor, as if the armor was a living dragon that was breathing nonstop.

Occasionally, through a gap in the steam, one could see a pair of unattractive eyes. But if one were to stare at him for more than three seconds, one would be able to discover hunger and thirst in his eyes, like two vipers that had just finished their hibernation and seemed to be ready to go on a killing spree.

Xiong Wuji patted Li Yao’s shoulder and asked, “Are you ready?”

Li Yao squinted and nodded his head. The two vipers deep down his pupils were immediately gone.

Since he finished the basic training five days ago, he had been dedicated to the modification of the armor.

For a magical equipment maniac, fighting a battle without armor was as uncomfortable as going shopping naked.

Based on the jet armor of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, with consideration of the characteristics of the iron shield armor, and following certain designing principles of crystal suits, he had created a brand-new set of armor of his own.

The standard jet armor had more than thirty spurts so that the qi-trainers could alter their directions in the midair swiftly.

However, on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, there were more than fifty main power rune arrays and more than a hundred ancillary power rune arrays.

As a seasoned Exo, Li Yao was much more adept at direction alternation in the air than the qi-trainers.

Therefore, he had installed 61 spurts on the armor that he modified. Together with the sliding wing he had designed, he was totally able to perform unbelievable turns and sprints in the air!

Li Yao was very satisfied with the armor, which had exploited every possibility of the utilization and enhancement of spiritual gas.

Also, a lot of amazing inspiration had popped up in Li Yao’s head while he was crafting the armor. He had accumulated valuable experience for his own crystal suit in the future.

He had named the jet armor ‘Sky Scorpion’.

Today was also the first field test for the Sky Scorpion Armor.

Xiong Wuji glanced at everyone and said, “The structural design of this Sky Scorpion Armor was also found by me in the exploration of the underground relic a month ago. However, since many components of the armor have to be manually made carefully, the speed of production of such armors is not high. Today, only one set of such armor has been successfully forged. We cannot equip everyone with the armor as of now.

“Besides, it required some special skills to wear the Sky Scorpion Armor. Therefore, they are not available for everyone!”

Xiong Wuji’s words infuriated everyone on the spot.

What does he mean by saying that it requires some special skills to wear the Sky Scorpion Armor? Is he insinuating that we are all not capable enough?

They all glared at Li Yao.

In the Fierce Wind Assault Team, the members who had seen Li Yao falling to the ground in fear of a Wolf Fang in person showed despise, too.

On the Iron Bears Detonation Team’s side, Wei Changsheng secretly went to his captain Shi Meng and said, “Captain, he is the one I talked about!”

Shi Meng had already put on the entire iron shield armor. He was like a moving war fortress. His eyes were glittering in the gaps of the facial cover and locked onto Li Yao like two cannons extending out of battlements.

CRACK! CRACK!

Shi Meng’s bones emitted crisp sounds, which were clearly audible despite his thick armor, as he warmed up his body. He rubbed his hands and smirked. “Very good. I’ve been meaning to meet the monster who can endure fifty times the standard pressure since the day you mentioned him. However, I haven’t been able to see him even though I went there every day over the past few days!

“Let me see how venomous this Sand Scorpion is!”

Five minutes later, the competitive test hosted by Xiong Wuji in person commenced after an earsplitting roar!

“The test now begins!”

Chapter 574: Tail Turning!

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The spacious test field was more than two kilometers long and one kilometer wide. The center of the test field was lower than the periphery, making it a man-made ravine dozens of meters deep. Almost a hundred stone pillars were standing in the bottom of the ravine. The flag, on which a bear head was painted, had been affixed to the largest pillar.

The Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team started from the two ends of the test field, while Li Yao started from the edge of the half.

While Xiong Wuji’s roars were still echoing in the air, he had already marched out.

After each step, a huge amount of spiritual gas would spray out of his arms, legs and his body, accelerating his speed to maximum instantly.

Swoosh!

Li Yao jumped up, the metal wings on his back unfolding completely. They did not look like wings of a bird, more like fish fins.

As the spiritual gas surged out, the thousands of metal foils on the wings vibrated at the same time, making themselves look like blinking scales of goldfish in the water.

Li Yao’s movement was agile and swift. Like a swordfish that was sprinting in the seawater, he swooped and snatched the flag and put it on his back.

The pole of the flag had been crafted out of special magnetic materials, so that it could be conveniently fixed to the back of any armor.

This was just the beginning.

The elites charging close from the two directions had surrounded him.

They considered him a deadly opponent after hearing Xiong Wuji’s introduction. Now that he had secured the flag before everybody else, he was even more of a target for them all.

That was also what Li Yao had been yearning for.

This time, Li Yao did not want to resort to any plots or tricks, nor did he care about the victory of the game. He merely wanted to know exactly how strong he was after a month of crazy training!

“Bring it on!”

Li Yao grinned, licking his lips that had cracked because of his thirst. He unsheathed the giant sword 2.5 meters long, and instead of returning to his home camp in the same way, he leapt several times, charged at the Fierce Wind Assault Team, and crashed into them brutally!

Dozens of members of the Fierce Wind Assault Team were gliding in midair with the help of their jet armor. Another dozen of them were zigzagging on the ground in unpredictable and mysterious routes. Xiong Zhenzhen, an expert in the 79th level of the Refinement Stage, was at the rear of the team, and her sharp killing intent had poked forward and locked onto Li Yao even though he was hundreds of meters away!

Li Yao could even sense that the breastplate of his armor was uttering rattling noises because of her killing intent, which was suppressing him like countless fast arrows.

The sounds further triggered his fighting will. He felt that he was back to the days and nights when he was slaughtering his enemies brutally in the Titan Illusionary Land!

One versus a hundred!

Li Yao roared. Spiritual gas spurted out from his back, making the flag flap in the air. His speed was even higher than before.

Just when the two parties were about to engage, he abruptly fell to the ground beyond everyone’s expectations, as if he had been smashed by a giant, invisible hammer right in the face!

Before the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team realized what was going on, a large batch of dense Wolf Fangs had rushed close in the sky!

As it turned out, the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, seeing that Li Yao was fleeing in the opposite direction with the flag, were worried that he would return to his own home camp or that the Fierce Storm Assault Team would take the flag. Therefore, they simply launched a hurricane-like grenade attack!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Almost a hundred Wolf Fangs that had been redesigned by Li Yao exploded one after another. Countless fireballs appeared in midair.

Although the number of crystals in the Wolf Fangs were only one third of the original, the sky was still burning as if on fire. The grenades raised a large area of smoke that blocked everybody’s vision.

Swoosh!

In the middle of the black smoke, Li Yao jumped up and slashed his saber upward like a scorpion that was raising its tail!

Chi—

Intense spiritual gas surged out from the two sides of his giant saber, which surpassed the speed of sound instantly as if it had grown wings!

His target responded in a hurry. The two thin swords in his hands broke the sonic barrier within the moment, too!

Sonic sword versus sonic sword!

However, in order to reduce the weight for the convenience of air battles, the Fierce Storm Assault Team members were all equipped with light swords. How could they compete against the monster-level blade in Li Yao’s hand that weighed almost four hundred kilograms?

The member of the Fierce Storm Assault Team who was clashing with Li Yao grunted. He lost control of his swords and was immediately blown away!

Li Yao’s face was red as if he had been drinking delicious wine. His giant sword raised a tornado and smashed away three members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team within several seconds.

At this moment, the black smoke gradually dispersed. Everybody was able to see their target clearly.

Six members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team sprinted at him from six directions simultaneously. Twelve sharp auras of sword from them blocked all the routes of escape around Li Yao!

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shined. The two vipers deep down in his pupils craned their heads, while he dashed toward one of the sword auras. The plate on his right arm suddenly revealed a gap from which two glittering iron balls rolled out.

Li Yao threw the two balls casually. After two explosions, the sword aura was blown into nothingness quickly.

They were delicate mini crystal bombs!

The flawless net of swords immediately had a fatal hole.

The Sky Scorpion Armor blinked out of the hole like a slippery loach. Before anyone realized what was going on, he had waved his sword and cut off the spiritual gas tubes on the back of two members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team precisely!

Chi—

The two members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team were yelling and dancing crazily like balloons that had been pierced by a needle.

Their teammates all felt their heads going dizzy.

“How is it possible? His movements in midair, the attacking, the dodging, and the sprinting, are even swifter than ours. He is like a ghost!”

“The giant sword of his is at least three hundred kilograms. But in his hand, it is even more agile and precise than the lightest sword. Why?”

But before they figured out the answer, a furious tide of iron flooded to them!

The Iron Bears Detonation Team had come close!

Their appearance meant the arrival of the gale of Wolf Fangs.

All the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were muscular men who possessed enormous strength. They could hit a flying bird thousands of meters away precisely with a Wolf Fang no larger than a fist.

The targets moving in the sky were naturally the best goals for them.

Suppressed by the heavy firepower, both Li Yao and the Fierce Storm Assault Team were forced to land on the ground.

Li Yao grinned and laughed silently. He kicked the shoulder of a member of the Fierce Storm Assault Team heavily and knocked him hundreds of meters away. With the counterforce, he threw himself into the battle formation of the Iron Bears Detonation Team like a cannonball.

More than ten members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team surrounded him. Dozens of high walls seemed to be collapsing toward him at the same time!

Li Yao returned the giant sword to his back. He then extended his fingers. Ten coldly-shining, sharp blades appeared on his fingertips!

His two hands suddenly turned into two streaks of silver brightness. The iron shield armors touched by him were all blossoming and exploding with their plates and components flying out!

The development level of the arts of magical equipment on Iron Plateau was relatively primitive after all. As a monster who could locate the flaws of a crystal suit from the gap as thin as hair on it, Li Yao found the iron shield armors that were crude, shabby and connected by rivets completely unchallenging.

If his hands were moving at their top speed, he could’ve dismantled such armor barehanded!

Several members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team exclaimed in shock. Their thick and dense siege was somewhat disrupted.

Taking advantage of their confusion, Li Yao blinked behind them and aimed his ten sharp finger blades at the spiritual gas tubes between the True Qi containers and their armor!

It required a huge amount of spiritual gas to drive such heavy armors. The spiritual gas stored inside a qi-trainer’s body was far from enough. Therefore, every iron shield armor was attached to more than twenty True Qi containers. Some of the True Qi containers were directly connected to the components, but some others were linked to the armor via tubes.

For ease during a battle, most tubes to transmit spiritual gas had been made of soft materials and were only protected by a hard shell. They were the most fragile parts of the armor!

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The battle formation of the Iron Bears Detonation Team had already become an enormous hot tub. White fog was spreading everywhere, and the sound of spurting spiritual gas echoed nonstop.

Since the members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were tall and strong and their armor was extremely heavy, they were not blown away by the leaking spiritual gas. However, it was difficult for them to stand on their feet.

“Get out of the way!”

Shi Meng, captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, lunged close like a huge mountain that had grown hundreds of legs.

His size was the largest of all in the Iron Bears Detonation Team. Yet, he was sprinting at a speed even higher than that of many members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team!

Li Yao blinked and leapt backwards. Spiritual gas burst out of his back and pushed him up into the sky like an invisible spring.

Swoosh!

In midair, Xiong Zhenzhen, captain of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, crossed her swords and launched a deadly attack like a patient hunter who had waited long enough.

Li Yao’s face color remained unchanged. His giant sword appeared in his hands miraculously and cut in the center of Xiong Zhenzhen’s crossed swords!

Xiong Zhenzhen sniffed. She controlled her spiritual gas delicately and drew a slight curve on her crossed swords, which made them slide on the edge of Li Yao’s giant sword.

In the meantime, she slithered close like a swift swallow, almost kissing the edge of her enemy’s blade!

She finally discovered the biggest advantage of the giant sword. It was not its weight, but its length!

The longer a blade was, the stronger it would be. The shorter a blade was, the trickier methods it had to resort to. Li Yao’s giant sword was a heavy blade whose damage could not be maximized without enough distance. However, Xiong Zhenzhen had drawn close to Li Yao by the swinging force of her soft swords!

Li Yao’s face remained unchanged, except that the smile on the corner of his lips suddenly turned extremely weird.

After a crack, the giant sword dissected itself into more than ten pieces, each connected to one another via spiritual gas tubes, soft ropes crafted out of the veins, and nerves of demon beasts.

Driven by spiritual gas, the sword had become a whip more than ten meters long. It looked both like a swift boa and the deadly tail of a scorpion!

How could the armor be named Sky Scorpion without a tail? The giant sword’s name was exactly ‘Scorpion’s Tail’!

Shua!

The giant sword took a turn like a scorpion that was waving its tail, and the tip of the sword lunged toward Xiong Zhenzhen’s back like the sting of the scorpion!