Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 625

Chapter 625: Yan Xibei’s Counterattack!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“After we absorb the Blood Stripe Virus and grasp their techniques, naturally, we won’t be scared that they will come to manipulate us in thousands of years’ time!

“Besides, after assimilating the Blood Stripe Virus into our bodies, we will all evolve into newer, stronger human beings. It’s very possible that we can march out of Iron Plateau and rule the entire Flying Star Sector!

“This is not only the only destiny of Iron Plateau but also the brightest future for the Flying Star Sector. It is even a brand-new path for mankind in general!”

The more Yan Xibei talked, the more excited and crazier he became. The blood stripes all over his body were glittering and fluctuating. Creepy noises were also echoing from the shell on his insect body like metal rubbing together.

“Bullsit! This is bullsit!”

Unable to stand on his feet, Yan Chihuo sat on the ground before Yan Xibei. His thighs were full of blood, and his face was pale, but he still shouted, “If you are really considering for the future of Iron Plateau, why didn’t you put forward your proposal openly instead of cooperating with the Temple of Immortals and killing so many people?”

Yan Xibei sighed and replied, not without regret, “You think I never thought that?

“When I made up my mind, my very first thought was to share it with the public and ask everyone else to study the Blood Stripe Virus together with me in order to scrutinize and make the best use of it.

“However, three unresolvable problems immediately occurred to me.

“Firstly, look at me. Do you want to be like this?”

Yan Xibei pointed at the blood stripes on his body, which were twisting like vipers, vines, and veins and releasing eccentric redness, with a self-mocking smile.

“Or this?”

He then pointed at his extremely hideous body that was made up by multiple giant insects.

Not waiting for a reply, he shook his head and said, “It’s impossible. You would definitely be unwilling to be changed into such appearances unless it was absolutely necessary. My plan would meet countless obstacles. I assumed that you would rather cooperate with the space residents than meld with the Blood Stripe Virus.

“No. You wouldn’t agree to my plan. If anything, you would even think that I had been controlled by the Blood Stripe Virus, and that my soul and brain were no longer my own. Everything I did was actually the Blood Stripe Virus’ will so that it could bloom and spread to every corner of Iron Plateau, if not the Flying Star Sector. You would think that way, right?”

“Correct!”

Xiong Wuji said coldly, “Master Yan, after listening to your theory, I have every reason to believe that the Blood Stripe Virus has conquered your brain. Or in other words, you’ve been possessed by the Blood Demon!”

Yan Xibei was not angry. He smiled and replied peacefully, “Yes! That is a very reasonable doubt! If I were you and I saw such an ugly monster showing up, I would naturally speculate that he was possessed by a demon and would never believe anything coming out of his mouth!

“I pondered for a long time, but I failed to find an undeniable method to prove that I was not possessed by the Blood Stripe Virus.

“Therefore, I could not tell the secret, because nobody was going to believe me even if I did.

“Like I said just now, you are like people who are born blind. You don’t know what brightness is. Even if I tell you that I see the cliff ahead of us and a bright path beyond it, you will not believe me but simply think that I’ve been bewildered by a devil.

“But I am well aware that I am not controlled by the Blood Stripe Virus. My head is as clear and sharp as ever, and I am nothing but rational.

“Hahahaha. Since it is inexplicable, I might as well not explain it at all! The whole world may misunderstand me, but so what? Just allow me to save Iron Plateau on my own!

“However, since I was on my own, the next crucial issue immediately emerged, which was that I didn’t have enough resources to study the Blood Stripe Virus and perform the necessary experiments!

“I’d been struggling against the Blood Stripe Virus for years and stopped taking care of the affairs of my tribe long ago. My younger brother, Yan Zhengdong, had become the chief.

“I was never a man fond of power. If I suddenly meddled in the tribe’s affairs and demanded a lot of resources, I was bound to be suspected!

“Although I had a lot of connections in all of the six tribes, they could not be translated into the enormous resources that I was in dire need of.

“Even if many people in the six tribes were willing to listen to my command and provide the resources for me, they would inevitably know that I was preparing for a groundbreaking discovery!

“Thirdly, and lastly, let’s say that I could collect resources and carry out my plan in secret. There was still a fatal problem that I could not bypass.

“The space residents!

“I had profound understanding about the capability gap between Iron Plateau natives and space residents. I was well aware that, after thousands of years of separation, the overall combat ability of Iron Plateau natives is much lower than that of space residents.

“At the moment, since we are all human beings, the ostensible peace is still maintained.

“However, if my plan is carried out on a large scale, and Iron Plateau natives start evolving into a whole new life form by absorbing the Blood Stripe Virus…

“… will space residents idle by and watch?

“They won’t. When they discover Iron Plateau natives in our new forms, they will definitely regard us as terrible monsters and destroy us mercilessly!

“We do not have the ability to cruise in the universe and would only be able to take their blow. The war could never be won!

“If any of the three problems remained unresolved, my plan would be just an unreachable dream!

“However, Iron Plateau natives were not doomed.

“While I was troubled by the three problems, I accidentally discovered that a mysterious organization was active on Iron Plateau. They were looking for a ‘cooperator’, or rather, a puppet, on Iron Plateau!”

Xiong Wuji narrowed his eyes and remarked coldly, “The Temple of Immortals?”

Yan Xibei nodded with a smile. “Yes. The Temple of Immortals!

“We all know the purpose of the Temple of Immortals. This organization of the so-called Immortal Cultivators has been conspiring against Cultivators and infiltrating them for many years. But they were in lack of ordinary soldiers, or cannon fodder, if you will.

“The tricks, plots, and harassment of space pirates were far from enough to overturn the world of Cultivators.

“Iron Plateau natives, who boast countless excellent warriors and have a long grudge with Cultivators, naturally caught their attention.

“Iron Plateau natives are too untamable to be directly commanded by them. So, they could only look for a puppet on Iron Plateau and raise a war between Iron Plateau natives and space residents through the puppet. That was the easiest choice.

“The puppet had to enjoy certain prestige in the six tribes and be familiar with their situation in order to supervise the plan of the Temple of Immortals.

“Also, the puppet could not be very strong. He had to be at their mercy and be able to be wiped out easily when necessary.

“Lastly, the puppet had to have a fatal weakness or a very urgent demand that they could lure him with.

“Haha. Hahahaha. Who else on the entire Iron Plateau could meet all the three conditions except for me?

“Therefore, a leader of the Temple of Immortals who called himself ‘Lotus King’ soon found me and tried to talk me into their plan.

“They threw out two baits.

“The first bait was that the cooperation between the Temple of Immortals and Iron Plateau natives was equal. When the plan succeeded, the Flying Star Sector would be evenly divided between us.

“As for the other hook, they claimed that they had methods to treat my legs and restore my capability. My longevity could also be lengthened so that I would be able to explore the summit of qi-training!

“In order to convince me and show their respect for Iron Plateau natives, they even invited me to be one of the four leaders of the Temple of Immortals. ‘Four Kings of Immortality, Mountain Sea Black Lotus’!

“Ridiculous. It was too ridiculous. Those ugly, cowardly Immortal Cultivators who wouldn’t hesitate to sell their mothers for their own benefits were too naïve and hilarious!

“What kind of person did they think I, Yan Xibei, was? Immortality? Recovery of capability? A useless title?

“Honor or disgrace, gains or losses, strong or weak, and even life or death were as meaningless as the clouds in the sky for me. They were not worth mentioning at all!

“Besides, I had just experienced a perilous battle against the Blood Stripe Virus and grasped the virus’ knowledge. The struggles that I had passed were too harsh for me to be fooled by petty benefits!

“They thought that an empty title, Mountain King, was enough to buy me and ease my vigilance so that they would take advantage of me however they wanted. But they did not know that it was exactly the reason I became wary of them!

“‘Four Kings of Immortality, Mountain Sea Black Lotus’. The Sea King, the Black King, and the Lotus King are all super experts above the Nascent Soul Stage!

“I appeared to be in the Building Foundation Stage even after I was partly recovered by the secret arts of the Temple of Immortals. What qualifications did I have to be on par with them?

“The higher they raised me, the clearer I was of their ill intentions.

“The Immortal Cultivators were trying to trade an empty title for the future of Iron Plateau!

“When all the cannon fodder ran out, they could do whatever they wanted to the ‘Mountain King’, who could not even defeat a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, couldn’t they?

“Excellent plan. It was indeed an excellent plan!

“It’s a pity that, if the Blood Stripe Virus had failed to transform me into its puppet, what made the Temple of Immortals think that they could manipulate me?

“On the surface, I pretended that I was fascinated by the Temple of Immortals’ offer and joined the organization to become the ‘Mountain King’.

“But under the table, I demanded a lot of resources, including the state-of-the-art research facilities and secret arts, from the Temple of Immortals under the pretext that I was making preparations for their plan.

“With the resources, I completed the Temple of Immortals’ scheme while I conducted my own research. With the wildlings on the Dark Continent as experiment subjects, I tested the best methods to swallow the Blood Stripe Virus without being corrupted on them!

“In the meantime, I communicated with a meteorite with the foreign blood inside my body and turned it into my own egg of apocalypse!

“Don’t think that you are in a random valley. This particular valley was carefully chosen after years of prospecting!

“Several rarely-seen mother lodes are buried deep below the ground of the valley where countless precious minerals were condensed. But they were too deeply concealed for Iron Plateau natives to explore and excavate.

“However, the eggs of apocalypse can absorb all of the underground resources!

“In short, this valley is my personal natural paradise!

“I planted an egg of apocalypse in the depths of the natural paradise. In the center of the egg of apocalypse, I grew the strongest calamity-level apocalyptic beast in history, which I carefully refined after gathering the essences of countless apocalyptic beasts!

“However, the calamity-level apocalyptic beast does not have a brain or thinking ability. It is just a body, an unfathomably strong ‘apocalyptic body’!

“Hehe. The other three kings of The Temple of Immortals thought me an ignorant barbarian and an old fart that they could make use of as they saw fit. But they did not know that, once the apocalyptic body grew mature and I was fully melded with it through the blood stripes, I would be able to wield a terrifying combat ability far beyond that of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!

“When that day comes, what can the Lotus King, the Sea King, and the Black King do with me?”

Chapter 626: Melding Completed!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Master Yan!”

Xiong Wuji stepped forward, leaving cracks on the ground. He raised his voice. “If you did not mean to help the Temple of Immortals, why did you kill your own brother and incite a war between Iron Plateau natives and space residents? Do you know how many people will die, how many towns will be destroyed, and how many refugees will have to flee and live in underground shelters for the rest of their lives once the war begins?”

“Of course, I do. However, as long as my plan is carried out, a war against the space residents is inevitable.”

Yan Xibei smiled casually. “Since the war will break out sooner or later, we might just as well fight it in the name of the Temple of Immortals and make everyone else believe that we are cannon fodder that has been fooled.

“The thing about cannon fodder is that nobody will pay attention to it despite the scale, isn’t it? Cultivators will be focused on the real schemer behind everything, the Temple of Immortals, won’t they?

“It is also needless to say that we will be granted the ability to enter space during the war. We might even have chances to maneuver several starships of the space pirates or build some of our own!

“However, none of the factors were the main reasons for me to start the war.

“The most critical reason is that you will never agree to meld yourselves with the Blood Stripe Virus while at peace no matter what.

“But everything would change when a cruel war begins and Iron Plateau is in perils.

“Think about it. After the war begins, Iron Plateau will be bombarded into a wasteland by the space residents, and the surviving Iron Plateau natives will only be able to hide themselves in the underground shelters, shuddering in fear. Countless qi-trainers will suffer heavy wounds in the battles against Cultivators and will be on the brink of death.

“Right then, I will announce that I’ve developed a method that can recover the heavily wounded and increase their combat ability quickly.

“Even though the side effect of the method is that the patients will look quite ugly, it is utterly insignificant when they are motivated by hatred and threats that are suffocating Iron Plateau natives.

“When a large batch of qi-trainers accept the foreign blood and meld with the Blood Stripe Virus, there won’t be too many obstacles to further promote the method.

“Hehe. Before long, we will raise a terrifying army with blood stripes below the ground of Iron Plateau!

“At that time, we will be able to counterattack and take over the Temple of Immortals as well as the space pirates under their control. We will sweep the Flying Star Sector and implement our will in every corner of the sea of stars!

“This is my whole plan, which is devoid of any selfish reasons. Everything is for the consideration of the future of Iron Plateau natives!”

Xiong Wuji felt creepy and gnashed his teeth. “It’s a pity that your plan won’t work out now!”

Yan Xibei sighed. “There are always unexpected factors. Over the past ten years, I’ve been working and hiding myself in secret all the time. On one hand, I could not let you see any anomalies. On the other hand, I had to deal with the cunning leaders of the Temple of Immortals!

“They thought that I was too old and stupid. I was ostensibly the supervisor of all the arrangements on Iron Plateau as the ‘Mountain King’, but they had been infiltrating the six tribes all the time. They were even bold enough to send a few spies to the Burning Sun Tribe! However, I pretended that I didn’t know anything. All my patience was meant to buy me more time for the apocalyptic body to grow mature so that the war fire can be ignited!

“But I didn’t expect that, although my decade-long plan was not seen through by the Lotus King, not by the elders of the six tribes, and not by the experts among the Cultivators… it was sabotaged by a wildling who jumped out of nowhere!

“I blame the Lotus King for my mistake. He told me that a space resident named ‘Li Yao’ had snuck into Iron Plateau. The man was cunning and full of dirty tricks. He was quite cruel and resolute, too. The Lotus King asked me to be very cautious of him.

“Sand Scorpion, when I learned your existence, and especially after you and Xiong Wuji fled together, I assumed that you are the space resident Li Yao. All my arrangements were based on that assumption!

“If you were indeed the space resident named Li Yao, you shouldn’t have been able to pass the test of the Truth Cabinet, and the following changes wouldn’t have happened at all!

“But I didn’t expect that you would pass the test of the Truth Cabinet and prove that you are not a space resident. Since you have nothing to do with that Li Yao, a deadly loophole appeared in my plan.”

Xiong Wuji shouted angrily, “Therefore, you killed your own nephew?”

Yan Xibei shook his head in regret. “Ah Feng was a good kid. He had been in touch with the ‘Mountain King’ the whole time, but he didn’t know that the Mountain King was actually me.

“The situation at that time had already gone out of control.

“In order to refine the egg of apocalypse, and to fool the Immortal Cultivators such as the Lotus King as well as the experts of the six tribes, I’d already poured 99% of the foreign blood in my body into the egg of apocalypse to produce the apocalyptic body. I only kept a tiny bit of the foreign blood to maintain the connection.

“Before I joined with the apocalyptic body, I had not been strong enough to deal with the new changes.

“Therefore, when I discovered that things were getting out of my control, I commanded Ah Feng, under the name of the Mountain King, to lead you all into the valley at any cost.

“My original thought was that, if everything went well on the Truth Cabinet, then it would be all good. But if anything went wrong, I could interrupt the development of the apocalyptic body and meld with it ahead of schedule.

“However, I didn’t anticipate that Ah Feng would kidnap me at the crucial moment in the end. I could only sacrifice him in order to free myself.”

“Hu…”

Li Yao had been holding his breath and listening. He finally took a long breath in relief now that a few important questions that had been bothering him were resolved.

Sha Yulan’s hands were moving faster and faster. Hundreds of stars seemed to be emerging among her fingers and blinking above Li Yao’s abdomen. A moment later, she exclaimed, “We made it!

“I’ve finally dissolved all the spiritual energy contained inside the cores and sorted them through!

“Right now, as long as I guide all the spiritual energy into your heart and limbs with the secret massage arts, you will be able to absorb all of it!”

Li Yao beamed with joy. He couldn’t help but grin. “Great! With so much spiritual energy, I will definitely be able to break the last three shackles of the Black Spider Death Curse!

“Yan Xibei, hehehehe, you think that you are a sure winner right now, but you don’t know that a lot of unexpected factors are still here!

“After I break the Black Spider Death Curse, I will be able to advance into the peak of the Building Foundation Stage at the very least. Together with Xiong Wuji, who is in the 99th level of the Refinement Stage, and Lei Dalu, who is in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage, as well as so many other qi-trainers, you will not remain invincible as long as we work together!

“It’s only because you are too chatty! Why do bad guys like you always keep talking and wasting your time when your evil plan is about to work out? That is so idiotic!

“Sister Sha, how long do you expect it will take to guide all the spiritual energy into my heart?”

Sha Yulan calculated quickly and replied, “Very soon. Thirty hours, tops!”

Li Yao was rendered speechless. “Sister, now is not the time for jokes.”

Sha Yulan frowned, “Who’s joking? You only managed to survive the digestive process with my secret arts of the Sha family and your monster-like body. If it were a different person who had swallowed so many cores of apocalyptic beasts that had so many impurities, they would’ve been killed a long time ago!

“If the cores of apocalyptic beasts can be taken orally like tonics, wouldn’t any random guy be able to become an expert after swallowing several of them?”

Li Yao smiled bitterly. “Fair enough, Sister! But according to my observation, Yan Xibei is not likely to talk for another day and night however loquacious he seems.”

In the front, Xiong Wuji looked Yan Xibei in the eye and shouted excitedly, “Yan—”

“Wait!”

Yan Xibei tilted his head. He was wearing a relieved smile as if he had finished a prolonged wait for something. He burst into laughter. “Little Xiong. We’ll talk later if you have anything else you want to say. But right now…”

“Hooooo!”

Yan Xibei’s eyes suddenly bulged, and he roared without a warning. An intense, bloody aura spurted out of the pores all over his body and formed a crimson apocalypse cloud in the sky!

Surrounded by a thin layer of blood mist, he was ten times more intimidating than before!

Everybody was dumbfounded, including Li Yao.

“I’m sorry. There’s something that I forgot to tell you,” Yan Xibei said in a smile. “Since the apocalyptic body was dismembered from the egg of apocalypse in advance, it has been quite difficult for me to meld with it by force.

“In fact, the melding process was not completed until just now. My nerves and veins had all been growing and docking to my new body!

“If everybody had attacked without thinking the moment I showed up, there was a twenty or thirty percent likelihood that you might have been able to kill me.

“Therefore, I had to pick some topics that you were all interested in to buy me more time.

“Right now, the apocalyptic body has melded successfully. Although it is just a semi-product, it can still wield combat ability close to the Nascent Soul Stage!

“Thank you for your patience, everybody. Haha. Hahahaha!”

Sha Yulan looked at Li Yao emotionlessly.

Li Yao scratched his head. “Alright. It seems that Yan Xibei’s wisdom is slightly higher than I thought.”

Waving his enormous scorpion tail, Yan Xibei crawled close to everyone and grinned hideously. “I know that you still have a lot of questions, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t intend to kill you.

“I merely mean to beat you until you’re heavily wounded, drag you underground, and transform all of you with the Blood Stripe Virus!

“When you are fully melded with the Blood Stripe Virus and evolve into a new life form, you will understand my efforts and realize that the path I am walking on is the only option to protect our home and create the brightest future!”

“Yan Xibei, you’ve been beguiled!” Xiong Wuji bellowed.

The black hide armor covering his upper body was broken into pieces, revealing a brawny body with overlapping scars. He opened his arms. His spiritual gas surged out like an iron wall that stood in Yan Xibei’s way!

Chapter 627: Great Path of Immortality!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“You claim that you are creating the brightest future, but isn’t the future of Iron Plateau made of every Iron Plateau native’s future?”

Xiong Wuji crossed his hands. Two thick-backed, broad-edged sabers appeared in his hands. The auras of his blades extended out into a burning crosshair. He said, “When a war between Iron Plateau natives and space residents breaks out, with the Immortal Cultivators stirring trouble, even if the experts can be melded with the Blood Stripe Virus, what are the ordinary people going to do? From Iron Plateau to the space, billions of ordinary people will die! They do not even have a ‘present’, and you are talking about ‘future’! What kind of bullsh*t future is that?”

Yan Xibei burst into laughter. His six insect limbs moved forward like paddles as he accelerated. The spreading bloody brightness around him condensed into two sharp claws again, which snatched at Xiong Wuji from both sides!

BOOM!

Their spiritual gas collided heavily. As if a crystal bomb weighing a hundred thousand tons had been detonated, quite a few True Qi tanks nearby were knocked into the air and smashed the ground, turning into wasted iron and copper.

All the qi-trainers and Cultivators found it hard to keep their eyes open against the blast. The sweeping dust blocked everything. They could only hear Yan Xibei scream in the center of the sandstorm, “For the succession of our civilization, some people must be sacrificed. Too many of our ancestors have sacrificed themselves while we struggled to survive in the desolate planet for thousands of years. What’s wrong with sacrificing more right now? All the deaths will be worthwhile as long as our civilization proceeds!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Two True Qi trains seemed to be crashing continuously inside the sandstorm, or maybe they were two hungry tyrannosaurs that were mauling each other. Not only was the earth shaking, even the stars in the sky seemed to be unable to withstand the summit confrontation of the two best warriors of Iron Plateau. The rays from the sky were feeble and shivering!

Xiong Wuji roared, “Didn’t our ancestors choose to stay on Iron Plateau in order to protect our home and the ordinary people living on it? Our ancestors worked hard for five thousand years so that the wasteland could finally be revived. But right now, you are going to set it in war flames again and kill so many ordinary people! A civilization that passes on in such a way is definitely not the civilization that our ancestors wanted. Definitely not!

“There are clearly many other ways to solve the problem of being possessed by an alien civilization! We can cooperate with the space residents! All the human beings can work together and crack the mysteries of the Blood Stripe Virus!

“You’ve been bewildered, Yan Xibei! No. You are not Yan Xibei at all!

“The Yan Xibei I knew was willing to fight for every Iron Plateau native, no matter whether they were strong or weak, qi-trainers or ordinary people, old or young, and from the Burning Sun Tribe or the Furious Bears Tribe. When they were in danger, the real Yan Xibei would show up and fight for them at any cost!

“If sacrifices were unavoidable, he would only sacrifice himself! He would definitely not let someone else die and shamelessly call that ‘sacrifice’!

“Yan Xibei is dead. You are only the Blood Stripe Virus, the Blood Demon, taking his body as your shell!

“When your plan succeeds, the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents will all be destroyed and turned into a species entirely different from human beings! That is your real plan. Your plan of possession!

“I, Xiong Wuji, might not be a real Iron Plateau native, but regardless of whether I am an Iron Plateau native or a space resident, I won’t let things go your way!”

BOOM!

As Xiong Wuji roared, an unparalleled blast spread out crazily and blew away the dust around the two of them. A picture of two statues was revealed!

Xiong Wuji’s dual sabers were pushed against the two mantis forelegs on Yan Xibei’s insect body. Although they were absolutely still, dazzling sparks were bursting out from where the blades kissed each other!

Xiong Wuji’s immense spiritual gas of the 99th level of the Refinement Stage condensed incessantly around him like an unyielding torch that was burning crazily with his life as its fuel!

Yan Xibei’s bloody aura, on the other hand, had turned into two enormous hands and pressed Xiong Wuji’s flames of spiritual gas!

Earsplitting thunders were breaking out where the two streams of spiritual energy clashed!

The two parties seemed to be in an impasse. However, Yan Xibei was smiling and showing no signs of trouble, while Xiong Wuji’s face was red, and the veins on his neck were twice as swollen as before.

BOOM!

Yan Xibei pressed downward. Xiong Wuji finally couldn’t bear it any longer. He grunted, the skin all over his body fracturing with blood jetting out. He fell to one knee.

Centered at him, the earth ten square meters nearby collapsed for half a meter!

“Chief!”

“Chief Xiong!”

Although Xiong Wuji had resigned as the chief of the Furious Bears Tribe in front of all the qi-trainers, many of them forgot to change their way of addressing him in the time of urgency.

Pa!

Yan Xibei’s scorpion tail turned into a streak of blackness and whipped Xiong Wuji hard. Xiong Wuji could not dodge and had to take the blow the hard way, only to be slapped almost fifty meters away and crash into two rocks before he finally fell to the ground. A shocking purple bruise appeared before his chest, and he vomited a mouthful of black blood!

“Did you see that? This is the formidability of the apocalyptic body! The 99th level of the Refinement Stage is but the strength of an ant in front of me!”

Taking a deep breath, Yan Xibei was fascinated by the unprecedently strong body, with joy beaming out of his face. He rubbed his mantis forelegs and crawled toward Xiong Wuji slowly, while he remarked coldly, “Do you think that everything will be fixed after you finish the Blood Stripe Virus?

“Naïve!

“The human civilization has been too fortunate. Unbelievably fortunate!

“In the hundreds of thousands of years while we evolved from monkeys into human beings and built up a civilization with a territory beyond one planet, we were never once discovered by any strong unknown species. We lived our lives like babies in cradles, safely and happily.

“In our childhood, when we explored the sea of stars, the constellations around us were all inhabited by creatures far weaker than us. We could conquer them, enslave them, and plunder their resources at our will. Finally, we built a powerful nation called the Star Ocean Imperium in our peak!

“However, luck is not going to be on our side forever!

“If the Blood Stripe Virus could discover us, why can’t the deity-like civilizations that I saw in the heritage of the Blood Stripe Virus?

“Or rather, in the depths of the endless cosmos, will there be a super civilization that is stronger than any alien species that the Blood Stripe Virus has seen? Maybe human beings are but ants for them!

“Even if we fixed the problem of the Blood Stripe Virus today, what if a stronger civilization invades us tomorrow?

“What if another apocalypse breaks out, this time, not about passing on knowledge and possessing our civilization but about pure destruction? What are we going to do if a deity-like civilization yawns and stomps on an ant accidentally?

“Just wake up! The carefree childhood is long over. We are surrounded by a perilous sea of stars and a dark forest where countless ferocious animals and birds are lurking. If they so much as sense our existence, they will jump out and swallow us for dinner!

“Be stronger!

“We have no other options except to become stronger. Become stronger through whatever methods at whatever cost!

“Tigers eat men, but men can eat tigers, too. Our only path is to get stronger and stronger and be men who eat tigers and dinosaurs. If deities do exist, we will eat all of them someday!

“Melding with the Blood Stripe Virus and evolving into stronger, more excellent human beings is the first step!

“After that, we will continue evolving. Eliminate the weak and become even stronger! Only by doing so can we expect to compete with the invincible deities and survive in the dark forest for all eternity!”

Standing in front of Xiong Wuji, Yan Xibei looked down at him.

While vomiting blood, Xiong Wuji smiled miserably. “Eliminate the weak? The deaths of billions of ordinary people are nothing but ‘elimination’ for you?”

“I don’t like the Immortal Cultivators, but they’re right about one thing.”

The bloody brightness around Yan Xibei was still condensing. It was even darker and denser, making him look like a devil being born from blood. He said, “The evolution has long begun. Cultivators, Immortal Cultivators, and qi-trainers are all new human beings who have made a step forward in the path of evolution!

“Stronger, smarter, better human beings are the only hope for mankind. From the perspective of the civilization as a whole, ordinary people who cannot evolve are utterly useless. Their only value is to serve as soil and provide nutrition and resources for us.

“If the conditions allow, I am not a man who hungers for blood.

“But right now, the environment we are faced with is too harsh. The useless ordinary people have already become burdens and nuisances!

“Put down the burdens and cut off the nuisances so that we can march into the battlefield with a light pack. Concentrate all our resources on evolution. That is the only way of survival in the dark forest!

“Hehe. The selfish members of the Temple of Immortals are too scared of death and only pursue their own longevity. They are shameless enough to call themselves ‘Immortal Cultivators’.

“Maybe, the new human beings who pursue the immortality of the human civilization with every method possible, such as myself, are the real Immortal Cultivators!

“What I am Cultivating is the real great path of immortality!

“Evolve! Continue evolving! One day in the future, the human civilization will evolve into a celestial civilization, and we will be the strongest hunter in the dark forest!”

Pa!

Wu Mayan dashed to Xiong Wuji’s back without anybody knowing and dragged him back quickly, while he shouted at Yan Xibei, “Look at yourself. Celestial civilization? I call it a cockroach civilization!”

Yan Xibei was dazed for a moment and smiled without being bothered. “Celestials or cockroaches, the critical thing is that we are alive.

“Survival is everything. There are endless possibilities as long as we are alive!

“Live. Live on. Live on like insects, swine, tigers, wolves, dragons, snakes, gods, or devils!

“This is my path and the path leading to the immortality of the human civilization. This is the only real path of immortality!”

Chapter 628: Make a Road, Set a Fire!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

BOOM!

Yan Xibei was talking so excitedly that the bloody aura around him was all dancing as if it were alive. However, a fireball suddenly exploded in front of him, and the brightness around Yan Xibei was shrieking in pain.

As it turned out, Wu Mayan had shot out a crystal bomb brutally with a thick True Qi gun!

“Huh?”

Ruthlessness suddenly blinked in Yan Xibei’s eyes, and he grinned hideously. “Those who are too stubborn to embrace evolution shall all be eliminated!”

A bloody claw was suddenly condensed in midair and snatched at Wu Mayan’s head, producing earsplitting noises.

Fearlessly, Wu Mayan grabbed a saber that was even longer than himself and jumped up into the sky, slashing the bloody claw!

However, he was too young and only in the 13th level of the Refinement Stage after all. After the clash, the bloody claws remained harmless, but his own saber was broken in half after a clang from the middle!

Wu Mayan grunted. His fingers bleeding, he fell down from the sky.

The bloody claw was much faster than him and went directly for his skull. If they snatched his head, it would definitely be crumbled in the next second!

In the time of urgency, Xiong Wuji suddenly rose up. He picked up his foster son and put him on his back, while he crossed his arms and summoned his spiritual gas to block the bloody claws!

” Do not touch my son! ”

Yan Xibei smiled casually. He suddenly exerted his strength. The blood claw seemed to have turned into a red shooting star and blew Xiong Wuji and Wu Mayan hundreds of meters away, leaving a deep ravine in the ground.

The two of them span wildly in midair and crashed into the qi-trainers.

The qi-trainers hurried to help Xiong Wuji get on his feet, only to discover that his chest was bloody and hot steam was popping out nonstop, as if he had really just been hit by a meteorite.

The qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe and the other five tribes as well as Cultivators from the Great Horn Exo Society were all greatly awed!

Tiny fighting will was hovering and consolidating above the exhausted warriors’ heads.

Most of them were using their sabers and flags as clubs and managed to stand on their feet by supporting each other. Motivated by invisible strength, their fighting will reverberated, and their spiritual gas surged out!

“Fight! Let’s fight!”

“Chief Xiong was right. He is not Yan Xibei. He is not a human being. He is the Blood Stripe Virus. A Blood Demon!”

Sha Yulan gritted her teeth, with hot tears rolling inside her eyes. She forced herself to not look at Xiong Wuji and continued guiding the spiritual energy to attack Li Yao’s heart wholeheartedly.

Sensing the reverberating fighting will that was even more emotive than before, Li Yao felt like he was in the middle of a raging ocean and could not hold it any longer. He jumped up and grabbed a broken saber. A bloody aura immediately sprayed out of his blade!

Sha Yulan exclaimed in a low voice, “The guidance has not been completed yet. The immense spiritual energy is still on a rampage inside your veins, nerves, and internal organs. If it is not completely dissolved and digested, you may die in body explosion at any moment!”

“There’s no time to bother about that!” Li Yao spat, only to discover that his saliva raised a tiny flame when it hit the ground.

Licking his lips, he couldn’t tell what the simmering situation inside his body really was. He simply said, “Let me just slash him and enjoy myself for a moment!”

“Kill him!”

Chiefs of the Giant Axe Tribe, the Feathered Snakes Tribe, the Heaven Wolves Tribe, and the Silver Moon Tribe, as well as the dozens of qi-trainers who still had the ability to fight, roared and rushed forward!

“Kill him!”

Lei Dalu, Zuo Xiaohu, Lu Dian, and the other Cultivators of the Great Horn Exo Society who could still stand also charged at the enemy without thinking about anything else!

“Kill him!”

Li Yao felt that his body was on fire. The broken saber in his hand had joined with him and became an unquenchable torch. It was not spiritual gas that was spurting out of the back of his armor, but orange exhaust flames!

Accelerating himself to the maximum speed, Li Yao turned into a brilliant star and darted at Yan Xibei!

“Ants are just ants! What can you do even if your number is impressive?” Yan Xibei suddenly roared.

The bloody flames hundreds of square meters around him suddenly exploded! A hundred bloody claws extended from the ocean of blood and snatched at everybody on the spot!

Pu!

Li Yao felt that his chest had been bashed hundreds of times within the moment. The spiritual gas that he had just summoned all collapsed, while he was blown hundreds of meters away and crashed into a heavy tank!

There was nothing but blood-red in front of his eyes. Two honeycombs seemed to have been stuffed into his ears, because he could hear nothing except an incessant humming. It was not until almost twenty seconds later that he regained his sight and hearing. He discovered that the hundreds of people who had charged forward had all been blown back by the storm and were scattered on the battlefield.

Most of them were unconscious. There was no telling whether they were alive or dead.

Those who were conscious had also been heavily wounded and were bleeding profusely, unable to stand up again.

Yan Xibei sneered, “The fierce battle over the previous three hours drained your spiritual gas. Even though you were above the 70th level of the Refinement Stage, your combat ability is below the 20th level of the Refinement Stage now that your spiritual gas had run dry and you are exhausted.

“In comparison, this apocalyptic body of mine boasts combat ability close to the Nascent Soul Stage!

“On what grounds do you think you can fight against me—”

Before Yan Xibei finished his sentence, his pupils shrank violently as he looked to his left in surprise.

To his left, a man soaked in blood, with no skin still intact, managed to stumble to his feet.

The best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, Xiong Wuji!

Yan Xibei squinted, crawled over, and shook his head. “It’s useless. Little Xiong, give up!”

Xiong Wuji stood stably and took a deep breath. Still in a trance, he looked around for anything that could serve as a weapon near him. He smiled miserably and said, “That’s why I say that you are not Master Yan at all.

“When I was the most confused, the most desperate, and the most frustrated, it was Master Yan who told me that strength and victory did not matter for an Iron Plateau qi-trainer.

“What matters is to fight and never to give up as long as you are still breathing!”

Yan Xibei narrowed his eyes. His scorpion tail was raised high again.

“Father Xiong, you’ve been injured. Let me!”

Protected by Xiong Wuji just now, Wu Mayan only rolled tumble a few times on the ground and was not wounded. He tore off two strips of cloth from his coat with his teeth and bound his hands with the broken saber. Then he dashed to Xiong Wuji and glared at the scorpion tail that was even thicker than his waist. He raised his saber high and gnashed his teeth. “Come on, you monster. I am Wu Mayan, Xiong Wuji’s son and the future best warrior of Iron Plateau!”

“What a touching father-son relationship.”

Yan Xibei smiled. The scorpion tail turned into a streak of brightness again, this time, not whipping but piercing!

The sharp venomous sting was aimed at Wu Mayan’s thin chest!

Wu Mayan shouted desperately. The surging spiritual gas around the young man was definitely much more than fifteen square meters. His soaring fighting will seemed to have repaired the broken saber and made it even sharper than when it was intact. He slashed it down brutally!

Chi!

The scorpion tail penetrated flesh. The venomous pierced through the body out of the back!

“Ahh!” Sha Yulan cried, her tears flowing out.

But a moment later, she suddenly found that her son had been kicked away when the sting arrived, and it was actually Xiong Wuji who had been pierced through!

The sting had penetrated into Xiong Wuji’s left shoulder blade, but he clutched the thick scorpion tail, and his legs stabbed into the earth like two giant trees. Yan Xibei found it impossible to retract the tail however hard he tried!

” Do not touch my son! ”

With every word Xiong Wuji roared, the earth below him would quake. His dispersed spiritual gas was concentrated again and raged out like a tsunami!

Ten meters… Twenty meters… Thirty meters…

The range of Xiong Wuji’s surging spiritual gas continued expanding!

“Little Xiong, you are truly unsuitable to be a leader. Too emotional. It was only your foster son whom you don’t have any blood relationship with!”

Yan Xibei slowly wriggled his scorpion tail and enlarged the wound on Xiong Wuji’s left shoulder.

The dense thorns on the scorpion tail almost shattered Xiong Wuji’s left shoulder.

Yan Xibei declared gloomily, “Not just a foster son, even a true born son must be sacrificed for the continuity of the civilization when necessary!

“In the dark universe, everything must be calculated precisely for survival. Emotions are the most useless things of all. The new human beings after evolution should retain none of them!”

“Father Xiong!”

Wu Mayan was somewhat lightheaded. He tried to stand up with his broken saber as a club but failed after multiple attempts.

“Big Xiong!”

Sha Yulan rushed toward the two most important men in her life without caring about anything.

Yan Xibei raised his eyebrow. Killing intent appeared in his eyes. Yet, before he launched the fatal attacks toward the two, he suddenly felt an enormous, uncanny force coming from his scorpion tail!

Xiong Wuji had pushed him three meters backwards against his scorpion tail with a body of flesh and blood!

The range of Xiong Wuji’s surging spiritual gas was still expanding. Seventy square meters. Eighty. Ninety…

“Without emotions, what is the difference between humans and rocks?”

Every muscle on Xiong Wuji’s body was cramping because of the excruciating pain. Blood was flowing out of the gaps in his broken armor like rivers. Two bloody footprints were left behind as he stepped forward.

Even so, he was still pushing Yan Xibei back!

The range of his surging spiritual gas was still growing. Ninety-three square meters. Ninety-four. Ninety-five!

“Chief!”

“Chief Xiong!”

Countless qi-trainers who had fallen to the ground, unable to stand up, were clenching their fists and cheering for him.

Even Li Yao was gritting his teeth, as if it were a way to transfer the remaining fighting will inside his soul into Xiong Wuji’s body!

“We are, of course, evolving continuously, to be smarter, stronger, and more excellent.

“But the purpose of our evolution is to protect more people and let more people live a better life!

“I’ve been training crazily and making myself stronger all the time because I want to protect my homeland, my compatriots, and the very planet below our feet!

“If I have to sacrifice my home, my family, and everything that I swore to protect in order to be mightier, such strength is definitely not what I want!”

Ninety-seven square meters. Ninety-eight square meters. Ninety-nine square meters!

Amidst the endless, reverberating fighting will from countless qi-trainers, Xiong Wuji improved himself, reaching the 99th level of the Refinement Stage, the highest state for the qi-trainers of Iron Plateau over the past five thousand years!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Yan Xibei’s bloody aura formed another hundred claws and bashed Xiong Wuji’s spiritual gas. Every blow made Xiong Wuji’s body tremble and his wounds bleed fast!

“Even if the universe is as dark as you described, we will not abandon our emotions or the things that we swore to protect!”

As if pressed by a pair of invisible, giant hands, Xiong Wuji bent, and his knees fell to the ground beyond his control.

However, no matter how many new wounds were added to his body, no matter how many bones were broken, and no matter how badly his internal organs were torn apart, he gritted his teeth through the agony and even stood straight again without giving in!

Xiong Wuji laughed aloud. “What you see as burdens and nuisances are the only motivation for us to stride forward in my eyes! We will carry everything on our back and walk forth until we get out of the dark forest!”

“Just wake up. There are no roads in the dark forest. We will never walk out of it!” Yan Xibei roared. The veins on the apocalyptic body became as thick as boas. A boundless ocean of blood swept at Xiong Wuji!

“If there are no roads, we will make one. If we can’t walk out, we will set the dark forest on fire and burn it to the ground!”

Xiong Wuji uttered a deafening roar. The range of his spiritual gas was supposed to have reached its limits, but it continued magnifying, despite the suppression of Yan Xibei’s blood ocean. Finally—

The range of his surging spiritual gas reached a hundred square meters!

Chapter 629: Strongest Strike!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“This is—”

The qi-trainers were very sensitive about the range of spiritual gas. With their bare eyes, they could easily measure that Xiong Wuji’s surging spiritual gas had reached a hundred square meters, which meant that he was in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, an accomplishment that no expert in the five thousand years of history of Iron Plateau had ever achieved!

What was the difference between ninety-nine and a hundred?

The difference seemed as insignificant as one square meter, but a change in quantity always led to a change of quality eventually. The last one square meter was the critical threshold!

Hot water at 99 degrees Celsius would boil if it was heated one degree higher!

Xiong Wuji’s spiritual gas was boiling!

For a moment, everyone felt that Xiong Wuji’s spiritual gas had experienced a drastic change.

It had nothing to do with the coverage. His spiritual gas was now granted with something entirely new, as if it boasted an independent will. It was expanding and constricting uncontrollably like everybody’s heart that was beating faster and faster!

“This is—”

Yan Xibei sensed that a strong force was spurting out despite the suppression of his bloody mist, like a patch of grass that was crawling out of the crevices and growing stubbornly despite the heavy rock above its head.

Confusion appeared in his blood-red eyes for the first time, but it was soon replaced by endless brutality. The scorpion tail was spinning at an even larger angle, while the two mantis forelegs were raised high!

“He!”

Streams of spiritual gas jetted out from Xiong Wuji’s eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, and the pores all over his body. They interweaved and melded with each other, forming a raging, dominating cloud of spiritual gas above his head that was confronting Yan Xibei’s apocalypse cloud not far away!

He suddenly bellowed and exerted his strength. His countless veins immediately bulged wide and exploded below his skin!

Xiong Wuji’s hands clutched Yan Xibei’s scorpion tail like two pincers. He then pulled it so hard that Yan Xibei almost fell over. Shaking the scorpion tail crazily, Xiong Wuji was swinging Yan Xibei, who was unable to stand on his feet steadily.

Xiong Wuji was only slightly more than two meters tall, but he was like a hammer throw athlete. Standing in the center firmly, he used Yan Xibei’s tail as his chain and swung Yan Xibei, who was almost five meters tall, around almost a hundred times!

Dust was raging out around the two of them, as if a tornado was soaring and charging at the sky!

The two streams of immense spiritual energy disturbed the balance of nature. Dark clouds crowded close from various directions and swept across the night sky like a black tide. Bolts of lightning were swimming in the ocean of blackness like dragons extending their sharp claws. The earsplitting thunder seemed to be competing with the roars of the two experts on the ground!

The cold raindrops were smacking every qi-trainer’s face hard.

A storm was coming!

BOOM!

After the hundredth swing, a deafening explosion burst out in the middle of the tornado. Cracks immediately spread out on the ground. A spider net hundreds of meters in diameter emerged. Xiong Wuji had bashed Yan Xibei to the ground hard!

The sand was flying about them, and the spiritual gas was on a rampage. Everyone’s eyes were wide open, and yet they could only see a mist of blood. Even if they perceived the battlefield with their spiritual energy, they could only sense a raging ocean of blood and a torch that was burning through the heavens!

In the sky, the cloud of spiritual gas formed by Xiong Wuji and Yan Xibei’s apocalypse cloud were still crashing and mauling each other like two ferocious animals. The cracks on the ground, which were getting denser and denser, were also demonstrating the intensity of their fierce battle!

Everyone, including Li Yao, could do nothing except watch.

The formidability of either Xiong Wuji, who had reached the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, or Yan Xibei, who boasted the apocalyptic body, was much higher than themselves. Even if they managed to stand up and join the fight, they would merely be distractions to Xiong Wuji.

Therefore, they could only grit their teeth and clench their fists while they released their fighting will and reverberated with Xiong Wuji, who was becoming more and more determined!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

In the end, nobody was able to tell whether the sounds were the noises resulting from the combat of the two experts in the mist or the thunder that was breaking out in the sky!

BOOM! CRACK!

An extremely thick lightning hit the mist brutally like an upside-down gold tree!

A muscular man was blown backward from the mist and crashed into a True Qi tank, which lead to an explosion. He then stood firmly in the flames!

Li Yao blinked his eyes hard and looked. It was Xiong Wuji!

Xiong Wuji seemed to have just returned from the bottom level of hell after slaying some crazy devils on his way; he couldn’t have appeared more wretched.

The scorpion tail that had been stabbed into his left shoulder had been torn off from Yan Xibei’s body by brute force and was dangling softly from his shoulder.

But the tail had pierced so deeply that his left shoulder blade had been entirely broken. His left arm was swinging beside his body, apparently crippled.

As for his right arm—

Xiong Wuji had lost his right arm in the previous battle against the apocalypse. Li Yao made an iron artificial arm for him later.

The very artificial arm had been twisted into a cluster of wasted copper and iron in the fierce fight. It was even blown away in the end. What was left was a bare elbow on his right shoulder.

Since only several days had passed after the battle of the apocalypse, the wound on his elbow had not fully recovered yet. During the fierce battle, it had torn apart and was bleeding again, making Xiong Wuji look as miserable as anyone could.

Xiong Wuji’s two arms had both been broken!

Deep laughter came from within the bloody mist.

No words could describe Xiong Wuji’s eyes. The fury in the eyes of all the qi-trainers on the spot seemed to have been condensed in the depths of his!

He waved his broken arms, the aura around him increasing instead of diminishing. The tremendous spiritual gas of the 100th level of the Refinement Stage was consolidated and further consolidated in front of his broken arm in helical forms!

He seemed to have grown two thick arms of spiritual energy. His new hands that were condensed by his fighting will and fury were clenched, and his fists became a bright ball that was even more dazzling than the sun!

As the bright ball continued expanding, Xiong Wuji was withering at a visible speed. His brawny and healthy body was becoming dry, as if the bright ball had drained all of his vitality.

In a moment, Li Yao realized what Xiong Wuji was doing.

He was burning his life and soul. He was going to let out all of his spiritual gas in the purest, most violent, and most direct way!

Once the attack was released, Xiong Wuji’s veins and nerves would all be destroyed, and he would become useless, if not killed on the spot. He would be even weaker than those in the first level of the Refinement Stage!

Li Yao’s eyes bulged, and he held his breath. He was not able to utter anything, but his heart was beating faster and faster at the same pace with the hearts of Xiong Wuji and all the other qi-trainers and Cultivators in the battlefield.

There were no shocked exclamations at this moment.

There was no useless crap such as ‘No, Chief Xiong, don’t!’

Everybody simply gritted their teeth and tightened their muscles, while they stared at the strongest man on Iron Plateau launching the strongest strike of his life!

“Hooo!”

There was no telling whether it was thunder in the sky or the roars from Xiong Wuji’s chest, or maybe it was the sound of Xiong Wuji’s blast blowing into the bloody mist.

The chuckles inside the bloody mist came to an abrupt stop, replaced by an exclamation of disbelief. However, the exclamation only lasted half a second, because it was soon buried by an earsplitting explosion!

The bloody mist turned into shields, trying to block the blast that had been condensed out of Xiong Wuji’s lifelong spiritual gas. The entanglement of the two clusters of immense spiritual energy attracted the thunderbolts in the sky like two super magnets. Lightning fell into the bloody mist nonstop, dying it dazzling white and making everybody unable to keep their eyes open. Hot tears and cold rainwater mixed and covered their face. Blood and sweat, a bitter and salty combination, flowed in their mouths!

The explosion continued for another ten seconds.

A storm finally embraced the earth.

Everybody raised their head and found that the place where Yan Xibei and Xiong Wuji fought had become a deep crater from which crimson steam was popping out nonstop. There was no sign of Yan Xibei at first glance at all.

“Big Xiong!”

“Father Xiong!”

Wu Mayan and Sha Yulan rushed toward Xiong Wuji.

Xiong Wuji’s short hair had turned purely white. His muscular body was now as skinny as a skeleton. He shivered and slowly turned around, opening his broken arms with a big smile, before he finally collapsed to the ground.

The moment he collapsed, Wu Mayan and Sha Yulan reached him. The three of them held each other in the pouring rain.

Is Yan Xibei dead?

Li Yao’s heart was still beating fast, not because of the influence of Xiong Wuji’s fighting will anymore, but because he vaguely sensed that danger was not gone yet.

The crimson steam from the crater was darker and more furious!

Soon, before the smile on the qi-trainers’ faces vanished, their uneasy eyes were focused on the crater again.

Even Xiong Wuji, who had only closed his eyes in Sha Yulan’s arms for half a second, suddenly gawked wide-eyed at the crater in disbelief.

Desperation appeared on the face of the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau for the first time!

“Hehe. Hehehehe…”

Coarse laughter came over from the crater, as an extremely ugly thing slowly crept out!

Yan Xibei’s upper body was tilted to a weird angle. A shockingly giant hole appeared on the right part of his chest. Half of his body had almost been blown off. The right side of his face had been affected, too, where his many body parts, including his right eye and right ear, were gone!

It seemed that a meteorite had just pierced through his body.

However, the blood stripes tangling him were wriggling and repairing his body crazily.

Granulated tissue covered the wounds, which were being healed at a visible speed. But he was even more hideous than before.

A cluster of bloody mist enshrouded the right side of his face and quickly fixed his right eye. However, when the bloody mist faded, what took its place was a crimson compound eye that made everybody feel chilly.

“Xiong Wuji, I didn’t expect that the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, the ultimate level that the qi-trainers of Iron Plateau had been dreaming for five thousand years, should be first broken into by a space resident! I feel very happy as your teacher!

“However, as I said, the apocalyptic body boasts a combat ability close to the Nascent Soul Stage!

“No matter how many breakthroughs you make, whatever mutations you experience, you think you can defeat me with only the 100th level of the Refinement Stage?

“How about a second strike exactly like the previous one? Maybe I will be defeated by you if so. Haha. Hahahaha!”

Instead of waiting for his body to be fully recovered, Yan Xibei waved his broken forelegs and crawled toward everyone!

Desperation. Everybody was grasped by endless desperation!

How could Xiong Wuji possibly perform the strongest strike that he had just unleashed by burning his life and soul at the cost of his lifelong Cultivation a second time?

Would any of the remaining warriors be able to take Yan Xibei’s one attack, if they could stand up at all?

“Huala! Huala!”

The heavy rain poured on Li Yao’s head as well as into his heart, drowning all his messy feelings.

All the methods had been tried. But he still needed a day and a night to dissolve all the spiritual energy and break the remaining three shackles of the Black Spider Death—

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly widened.

To his surprise, he found that the Black Spider Death Curse, which had been confining his heart, had only two shackles left. One of them had vanished into thin air!

He squinted and thought carefully, recalling that Yan Xibei had bashed his chest precisely where his heart was when he charged at the monster.

Could it be that Yan Xibei blew up a shackle of the Black Spider Death Curse when he was trying to blow up my heart?

Chapter 630: Make a Legend!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Seeing that Yan Xibei was crawling closer and closer and his veins were becoming thicker and thicker, making his face so twisted that it could barely be called human, Li Yao gritted his teeth, picked up a broken saber, and charged at Yan Xibei, while he roared, “Don’t be fooled, everybody! This old fart is bluffing!

“How can he be unharmed after enduring a full-strength strike from Chief Xiong? His capability must be at the rock bottom right now! Let’s kill him while he’s injured!”

Li Yao bellowed and jumped up!

The very next second, he was already slapped away by the enormous hand formed by Yan Xibei’s bloody mist, as if he were but a fly. After waving his hands and legs crazily in the air, he crashed into a hill heavily and cracked many rocks!

His head dizzy, Li Yao felt that every bone in his chest had been fractured into multiple pieces. A mouthful of blood was stuck inside his throat, neither going up or going down. He couldn’t have felt more uncomfortable.

Yet, a smile of relief beamed on Li Yao’s face, because, when he sensed his body carefully, he found that there were only… There were still two shackles of Black Spider Death Curse!

You’ve got to be kidding me!

Li Yao was dumbfounded. His eyelids were jumping crazily while he remembered the previous blow. It seemed that he had failed to adjust his body to the perfect angle at the last moment. Therefore, Yan Xibei’s strike did not hit his heart precisely, veering a little bit to the right.

Li Yao spat the blood in his mouth out. Looking at the lightning flashing in the sky, he was of a mind to roar to cheer everybody up. However, he finally gave up after three seconds of preparation due to lack of strength. He gnashed his teeth. “You’ve seen it, everybody. Yan Xibei has been heavily wounded and is weaker than ever. The blow is soft and entirely strengthless—Pu!”

A mouthful of blood was finally thrown out. Illuminated by the lightning, Li Yao’s face was paler than that of a corpse.

The qi-trainers and the Cultivators, on the other hand, realized that it was true. After Xiong Wuji broke into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, he was at least equal to a Core Formation Stage Cultivator. The strongest strike at the cost of his life and all his Cultivation wouldn’t be harmless for Yan Xibei at all.

Flesh and blood could be repaired quickly. However, the combat ability could not be recovered so fast.

Right now, Yan Xibei was at his weakest.

But his capability was recovering quickly with every passing second!

“Let’s go! This is our last chance!”

With a roar, the dozens of qi-trainers and Cultivators all burnt their life and soul while they staggered and lunged at Yan Xibei for their last strike!

Yan Xibei’s face was extremely gloomy under the bloody aura. He glared at Li Yao with the utmost hatred.

He had suffered heavy wounds when he had just melded with the apocalyptic body that was not even mature yet. Li Yao was quite right that he could not have recovered instantly.

He had planned to bluff to buy himself more time just as he did in the beginning. But the wretched ‘Sand Scorpion’ saw through him this time!

Of course, Yan Xibei was not in the least bothered by the flies that were coming at him. But many of his veins and organs had just been reborn and were not suitable for a fierce fight yet!

“You are seeking your own death!”

Gnashing his teeth, Yan Xibei clutched a random qi-trainer with his bloody claw. The newborn mantis foreleg slashed brutally, and the qi-trainer’s head immediately left his body!

He had no time to care about his plan now; he was merely venting his anger by slaughtering!

However, the miserable death of a qi-trainer made the other qi-trainers even more unbendable. They all charged at him in no fear of death at all!

Li Yao gritted his teeth and sprinted again. This time, his computational ability soared while he calculated the trajectories and strength of Yan Xibei’s attacks accurately so that he could set himself in the most appropriate position.

When his saber slashed into Yan Xibei’s insect body, the bloody claw snatched his heart precisely!

The attack almost pierced through his heart.

The second to last shackle of Black Spider Death Curse that had been hiding inside his heart disappeared after a weak scream!

This is the way!

Li Yao was overjoyed. He vomited blood but laughed as he guided his spiritual energy to repair the damaged heart and calculated the second chance.

Now is the time!

While Yan Xibei was holding one qi-trainer in each of his hands, Li Yao charged at Yan Xibei’s face, his eyes shining coldly!

As he expected, Yan Xibei had been prepared for the potential attacks at his chest. The bloodstained spider threads interweaved into the sharpest net of defense, and a cluster of bloody mist rushed out at Li Yao’s own chest!

In the depths of Li Yao’s heart, a cluster of spiritual energy was long ready, too. It almost spurted out of his chest at the same time!

When the two streams of spiritual energy collided heavily, the last shackle in the middle was immediately burnt to ashes!

BOOM!

Li Yao was blown backward again, this time crashing into a drumming tank of the Giant Axe Tribe by accident. A dull noise echoed inside the big drum.

LUM DUM! LUM DUM LUM DUM LUM DUM!

Li Yao could hear nothing in the darkness except his own heartbeat, which was clearer and heavier than ever and sounded like blood-boiling drumming that was faster and faster!

The nine shackles of the Black Spider Death Curse had all been destroyed. He had regained the ability to liquefy his spiritual gas and advance into the Building Foundation Stage!

Li Yao grinned and laughed crazily and silently in the darkness. He summoned all his soul power and spread out all the spiritual gas inside his body!

The range of his surging spiritual gas was thirty square meters, forty square meters fifty square meters… Seventy, eighty!

“Huh?”

Harassed by the many qi-trainers, Yan Xibei was feeling upset when he suddenly sensed that a cluster of spiritual gas was expanding beyond his expectation.

The other qi-trainers also gazed at where Li Yao was in bewilderment.

They discovered that the cluster of spiritual gas did not stop expanding when it reached eighty square meters but continued spreading out!

“This is—”

Everybody gasped. A tiny spark was kindled in the bottom of their hearts. There was hope again!

Yan Xibei grinned hideously. “Xiong Wuji was in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, but he had to kneel down before me, too! Even if there is another one in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, so what?”

Even though he was saying that, he still crawled toward Li Yao despite the collective attack of dozens of qi-trainers.

Li Yao gritted his teeth and expanded the range of his spiritual gas without caring about anything else. Eighty-six square meters, eighty-seven, eighty-eight!

Eighty-eight square meters, however, seemed to be his limits. After his range expanded to eighty-eight square meters, it was not able to move forward one inch, although the edge of his spiritual domain was quivering.

Yan Xibei burst into laughter. “Just the 88th level of the Refinement Stage!”

In his laughter, Li Yao took a deep, deep breath. He meditated on the hundreds of structures of the spiritual liquid, while he compressed, consolidated, and liquefied the enormous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage with his burning fighting will!

For common Cultivators, the 14th level of the Refinement State, or rather, the peak of the Refinement Stage, was the threshold where they could compress their spiritual gas into spiritual liquid thereby advancing into the Building Foundation Stage.

Then, what would happen if the tremendous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage was all condensed into spiritual liquid?

DUM! DUM DUM! DUM DUM DUM DUM!

There were no drummers on the tank, and yet it was drumming soul-stirringly, motivated by Li Yao’s strength.

Li Yao’s body seemed to have turned into an enormous swirl that absorbed all the spiritual gas nearby, and he condensed all of it into spiritual liquid through the high-speed revolutions.

Unstoppably, he broke through the low level, the middle level, and the high level of the Building Foundation Stage without any hinderance and advanced into the peak of the Building Foundation Stage effortlessly!

BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

Quite a few drums couldn’t help it any longer and exploded after echoing their highest note!

But Li Yao’s outburst had not stopped yet.

He sensed that there was boundless spiritual gas near him that he could continue compressing after he reached the peak of the Building Foundation Stage!

He was still far away from his limits!

“This is—”

Li Yao was both surprised and overjoyed. He made up his mind and continued compressing crazily.

The spiritual gas was compressed into spiritual liquid, and the spiritual liquid was showing the sign of consolidation under the high pressure!

When the spiritual liquid solidified, it would mean that he had arrived in the Core Formation Stage!

I’m going to break into the Core Formation Stage and slay this mother*cker!

Li Yao’s eyes were crimson, and the skin all over his body was breaking apart. However, it was not blood that was seeping out of his wounds, but red brightness mixed with spiritual energy!

He decided to take his chances without caring about anything!

For common Cultivators, entering the Core Formation Stage was a hundred times more difficult than entering the Building Foundation Stage. Not only did they need to refill countless Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures before their attempt, they would also have to be guided with secret arts in the deep meditation state during the process, not to mention that they had to find a unique opportunity or timing. Even so, the chances of success were still slim.

Breaking into the Core Formation Stage in the middle of a fierce battle in high spirits after a vehement speech was almost something that would only appear in legends!

However, today, Li Yao was making a legend!

Consolidate! Consolidate! All the spiritual liquid, solidify now!

As more and more spiritual liquid flooded into his body, the swirl in the center of his abdomen was showing traces of solidification. His spine was numb and itching. Coldness was brushing the two ends of his spine like tides!

However—

Li Yao’s eye suddenly bulged. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was unable to move.

He was not prepared for the Core Formation Stage after all.

Maybe, the tremendous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage far exceeded the need to form the core. However, his brain was not developed enough to fully control the spiritual gas to transform it from the gas form into the liquid form bit by bit, and then from the liquid form into the solid form drop by drop until the spiritual liquid was melded together perfectly!

He was more like a ‘dinosaur’ among the Cultivators. His strength was enormous, but his brain was too small to make the best use of his strength!

Cr*p. I’m going to be mentally deranged!

Li Yao grunted. His computational ability surpassed his limits, and countless cerebral vessels immediately exploded. His brain went blank, and he completely lost control over the spiritual energy in his abdomen.

Boosted by the inertia of the revolution, spiritual liquid was still flooding into his chest and consolidating, but in a weird structure that looked extremely ugly. It did not seem to be a core, but more like a lump, a lump of spiritual energy beyond Li Yao’s control that could potentially get him killed at any moment!

However, none of the outsiders knew anything about it.

They could only feel that Li Yao’s aura continued improving inside the drumming tank until it reached a level that they couldn’t comprehend at all!

The things happening to Li Yao were too extraordinary. Although Yan Xibei had learned a thing or two about the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage, and the Nascent Soul Stage after he joined the Temple of Immortals, he could barely understand Li Yao’s current uncanny status.

But he did vaguely feel that ‘Sand Scorpion’ was about to form the core!

In cold sweat, Yan Xibei roared and summoned countless bloody claws to drive away the qi-trainers near him despite his unrecovered wounds.

Then, he charged at the drumming tank in a streak of redness!

“You want to form the core? Not so fast!”

Yan Xibei grinned hideously. The newborn scorpion tail, endowed with all the strength in the apocalyptic body, pierced at Li Yao’s swollen abdomen!

Chapter 631: Simmer! Superlative!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

On the verge of mental derangement, Li Yao was quite befuddled. But he sensed the incoming danger out of instinct and crossed his arms to block the scorpion tail.

However, the enormous, apocalyptic strength inside the scorpion tail pierced into his abdomen, like a bolt of lightning, aimed right at the lump of spiritual energy that he had just condensed!

BOOM!

For a moment, Li Yao felt that a volcano was erupting inside his abdomen. The overwhelming spiritual energy spurted out like magma. All the disordered strength finally found a leak and escaped out of his body in a hurry!

Li Yao was finally back to himself. He was no longer in danger of mental derangement, but he had also come to the painful understanding that his core formation had failed!

Yan Xibei did not expect that such enormous and chaotic spiritual energy was concentrated in Li Yao’s abdomen. Although his previous attack had pierced Li Yao’s abdomen, the counterforce resulting from the outburst of spiritual energy had blown him away brutally. The newborn veins and nerves were a mess again!

Expanding his senses, Yan Xibei found Li Yao lying in the drumming like a balloon that had lost all the air. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Without caring about his wounds, he spread out his arms. Bloody mists stayed on his arms for a while, before they flew into the sky and condensed into two giant bloody hands!

“Ho!”

Yan Xibei bellowed and slapped his hands brutally. The two giant hands smashed Li Yao like two mountains.

BOOM! BOOM!

After two earsplitting explosions, two giant handprints more than half a meter deep appeared on the more than ten square meters of ground around the drumming tank which had been crushed into a cluster of wasted iron!

Li Yao did not have the opportunity to jump out of the tank. He fell to one knee, with metal parts smothering him from various directions. The bones throughout his body were emitting cracking noises. Even breathing became very difficult for him.

“I failed…”

Li Yao smiled miserably. Blackness blinked in front of his eyes. Out of his expectation, it was not very painful. He only felt extremely fatigued.

He felt that it was not cold metal that were pressing him but a warm swamp whose black, thick mud was surrounding and swallowing him bit by bit.

Gradually, he could no longer sense his limbs and his facial organs. Even his breathing and heartbeat became slow. Like an insect that was mired in amber, he slowly gave up struggling.

However, stinging feelings were still stimulating the deepest part of his brain.

They were… fighting will that looked like sparks, the last fighting will from all the qi-trainers nearby in the state of reverberation!

When the qi-trainers saw that the drumming tank Li Yao was in had been completely crushed, they thought that Li Yao had been killed and simply lunged at the enemy with no consideration for their own safety!

Their capability had hit rock bottom, but their fighting will had bounced to the peak when they were hopeless!

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

There was no telling who uttered the eight words first, but they were like a spell that made the exhausted warriors, whose spiritual gas had run dry and who were supposed to never stand up again, manage to struggle to their feet and support each other. They stared at Yan Xibei and moved inch by inch toward him as if their eyes were their crutches!

“You truly have no fear of death. Then you might as well die now!”

Yan Xibei manipulated the bloody hands and waved the scorpion tails and mantis forelegs to continue the slaughter while he shouted loud.

Motivated by such intense fighting willing, Li Yao’s withered heart expanded again.

His fighting will extended out like hundreds of tentacles and sensed every other qi-trainer’s fighting will!

Whenever he touched the burning fighting will of a qi-trainer, his own fighting will would increase a little bit, and when his fighting will had been expanded to the limits, he suddenly discovered something.

The chaotic spiritual energy spurting out of his abdomen was still spinning around him slowly. It was fluctuating at the same frequency as the vibration of his soul, and it was even under his control!

Li Yao’s nearly pure black eyes constricted violently. Two stars seemed to have exploded in the center of his pupils. His fighting will continued soaring and broke the limit of all limits!

He gritted his teeth and stood on his feet silently against the steel that was pressing his head!

“This is—”

The eyes of everyone present bulged as they gawked at the scrapped tank in disbelief.

They all sensed that a tremendous force was slowly rising from the remains of the tank!

“What!”

Yan Xibei burst into fury. He took a deep breath and spat a mouthful of blood and sprayed the blood evenly on his two hands.

His hands, which were now mixed with purple auras, slapped again heavily. With a long screeching noise, the remains of the tank were crumbled into an iron ball by him!

However, spiritual energy was still spreading out of the gaps of the iron ball like tides.

Although it was in the liquid form, it seemed to be in an extremely high temperature and was boiling.

The boiling spiritual liquid turned into spiritual gas and expanded. When the spiritual gas reached a certain boundary, it cooled down and consolidated into spiritual liquid again. The process was repeated incessantly, and a great circulation was formed!

No qi-trainer knew what was going on.

Most of the Cultivators of the Great Horn Exo Society were unconscious. Only a few of them vaguely sensed an enormous strength as if a storm was brewing.

Lei Dalu, as the Cultivator at the highest level involved in the battle, was the only one who could feel the entire process of the formal changes and the circulation of spiritual energy.

However, even Lei Dalu had never seen such a weird phenomenon.

The Building Foundation Stage Cultivators could liquefy their spiritual energy, and when the liquefied spiritual energy was compressed to the minimum into the solid state, they would enter the Core Formation Stage.

However, nobody had ever thought what would happen if the spiritual liquid was boiled instead of being solidified.

BOOM! CRACK!

Dozens of bolts of lightning illuminated the sky at the same time as if they sensed that a strong being had appeared on the ground.

With the lightning as the background, the iron ball exploded like a crystal bomb, revealing a shining figure in the center!

It was exactly Li Yao!

He was still wearing the ragged Sky Scorpion Armor. But every plate was now entangled by spiritual energy and emitting flowing brightness as if they were made of translucent jade.

Stirred by the spiritual energy, his hair seemed to have grown significantly. It had been a mess on his head before, but right now, it was erect like swords, with gold brightness rooted at the end!

Purple electric arcs were dancing around him, overlapping and colliding now and then. Dazzling brilliance was released!

Yan Xibei was more than angry. His scorpion tail shook violently in a ‘pa’ sound, sending a cluster of weird redness out toward Li Yao’s face, surpassing the speed of sound instantly!

But Li Yao snatched it at the last moment and crushed it to pieces!

It was a crimson venomous sting!

“That’s impossible!” Yan Xibei lost his calmness. “What level is this? Even peak of the Building Foundation Stage should be no match for me!”

Li Yao took a deep breath and looked at his hands in confusion. He warmed up his fingers, sensing the new changes that had happened to his body.

It was quite weird that, although he had failed to form the core and a large hole was left in his abdomen, resulting in a huge mess within his body, he was now able to manipulate the dispersing spiritual energy with his immense fighting will. He could even boil the spiritual liquid escaping from his body into the gas form and absorb it again!

As the circulation went on faster and faster, his strength became higher and higher!

“This is not the peak of the Building Foundation Stage.”

Li Yao’s eyes were shining brighter and brighter, as he mumbled to himself, “I have surpassed the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. Just like…

“Just like the predecessors of Iron Plateau who broke the limits and created the superlative height of the Refinement Stage beyond the peak of it!

“Old monster!”

Li Yao stood in midair and slowly flew toward Yan Xibei, his lips curling into a hideous smile.

“Don’t be scared. This is not the Core Formation Stage, but it is not the peak of the Building Foundation Stage, either.

“This is the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage!”

“Superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage?”

Yan Xibei was dumbfounded. He immediately burst into fury. “What kind of bullsh*t level is that? There isn’t such a thing!”

BOOM!

Li Yao suddenly accelerated to the maximum speed and crashed into Yan Xibei, while he shouted, “Chief Xiong was right. Roads are made by people. Every level is created by people, too. This is the level that I have created, the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage!”

“Whatever level you are in, you can go to hell!” Yan Xibei bellowed. The bloody aura around his body was all turned into the most powerful blast and brutally blew Li Yao hundreds of meters away into a rock.

The bystanders were all stunned, not sure how they should react.

When they saw that Li Yao was so confident in such a glamorous appearance, they had thought that he would be able to fight Yan Xibei for a long time and did not expect that he would be blown back so easily!

However, weird clicking sounds echoed in the rock that Li Yao had crashed into. His dominating aura was not in the least diminished, either. Soon, even the hill could not bear it any longer, and overlapping cracks appeared on its surface.

Huala!

The rock exploded in raging dust, and a magnificent shadow suddenly leapt up from the broken stones!

The glittering black armor was painted with gold rings. Two crossed sabers were attached to its back, and a giant spear pointed at the sky from its helmet as if it were trying to cut a hole in the sky!

Everybody gasped. In their trance, many people thought that they were looking at yet another calamity-level apocalyptic beast. But when they looked carefully, they found that it was a set of plugins refined out of the bones and shells of the calamity-level apocalyptic beasts as well as materials from other demon beasts!

“Do forgive me, everybody. I have just grasped a new way to utilize my strength, and I’m still familiarizing myself with it.”

Li Yao warmed up his four limbs. The spluttering electric arcs attached the strengthening plugins to the Sky Scorpion Armor perfectly. It was agiler, swifter, and stronger than he had anticipated!

Apocalyptic Extension versus apocalyptic body!

Calamity versus calamity!

Swoosh!

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao, wearing the Apocalyptic Extension, was already gone. The rock that he had been in exploded, revealing a giant hole almost five meters deep where hot steam was popping up nonstop as if it had been hit by a falling star!

Yan Xibei, on the other hand, screamed miserably!

Chapter 632: Underground Changes!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

After putting on the Apocalyptic Extension, Li Yao was more than five meters tall, too, and on par with Yan Xibei.

They collided like two calamity-level apocalyptic beasts.

The sabers on Li Yao’s back pierced deep into Yan Xibei’s body, while Yan Xibei’s scorpion tail dug into the stomach of the Apocalyptic Extension, and his mantis forelegs left two deep traces on the plugins!

However, the Apocalyptic Extension was merely Li Yao’s strengthening components and had no senses at all. Li Yao wouldn’t be harmed even if it was shattered.

Yan Xibei’s apocalyptic body, on the other hand, was made of flesh and blood and was connected to his own body.

The result of the hundreds of high-speed collisions in that moment was that Li Yao tore off plenty of meat and shells from Yan Xibei’s body while Yan Xibei failed to hurt Li Yao, although he had almost wrecked the Apocalyptic Extension.

Even the apocalypse cloud condensed by Yan Xibei’s bloody mist in the sky was scattering apart under the blast of Li Yao’s surging spiritual energy!

“It’s impossible!”

Yan Xibei was both grieving his loss and screaming miserably. His calmness from a moment earlier was entirely gone!

He tried his best to summon the foreign blood inside his body. The veins covering his body were getting thicker and thicker. Many overlapping spots bugled high as if they were ugly hearts while the foreign blood inside them accrued.

Bo! Bo bo bo bo!

Dozens of ‘hearts’ broke apart instantly!

Boundless bloody mists flooded out and blew Li Yao away brutally.

Li Yao rolled in midair to ease the blast and was barely hurt from the explosion as he landed on the ground. The aura around him continued on the rise!

Hum! Hum hum hum hum!

The broken sabers and swords in the surrounding area were all trembling violently as if they were being controlled by a storm. They soared into the sky after a while and, spinning in midair, gathered in front of Li Yao!

The blades were broken, dented, and rusty because of the acid from Yan Xibei’s apocalyptic body.

Many of them were stained with the qi-trainers’ blood, which started running again, spurred by the pouring rain and Li Yao’s surging spiritual energy, even though it had dried previously!

The hundred blood-stained sabers were revolving in front of Li Yao at an extremely high speed like a tornado!

After Yan Xibei detonated the blood on his body, an unparalleled, intense bloody mist was condensed. It was so red that the color was bordering on purple and black. Countless patterns in the shape of apocalyptic beasts protruded out of the surface of the bloody mist. They were roaring, raging, and making the bloody mist look like a devil that had grown countless heads of other apocalyptic beasts!

The strength of both parties had been increased to the maximum. Their spiritual gas formed an absolute domain that the wind and rain could not enter. The storm was smashing their heads like a waterfall smashing giant stones and forming a hazy fog!

Lightning was attracted by the dominating force field between them and hit the center while spluttering crazily!

Shua!

Li Yao and Yan Xibei surpassed the speed of sound simultaneously. When the collision took place, even the lightning bypassed them as if they were in fear of the intense blast.

Everyone could only see a cluster of brightness ten times more dazzling than the lightning spreading out quickly from the point of collision. The light ball was soon blown away by an immeasurable blast. Affected by the blast, the pouring rain started moving parallel to the ground instead of vertically.

A moment later, the sound of the tide-like collisions finally reached everyone’s eardrums!

Blood splashed out from their ears, and they could not hear anything for a while.

They could only see that, against the flashing lightning, the two tall shadows were confronting each other like two magnificent statues!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Weird noises were echoing inside the Apocalyptic Extension. As it turned out, Yan Xibei had won the round and suppressed Li Yao!

“Is this the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage? You were merely bluffing!”

Yan Xibei burst into laughter. He suddenly exerted his strength and crushed the Apocalyptic Extension. Then—

It exploded!

Before everyone had the chance to exclaim, a streak of black brightness had dashed out of the dazzling fireball and appeared behind Yan Xibei as if it had passed through him!

Yan Xibei’s smile immediately froze.

Li Yao was on one of his knees, with a sharp knife extending toward his back from the elbow of his Sky Scorpion Armor. The rainwater had wiped the last bit of blood on the blade away, making it as clear as a mirror.

Li Yao naturally had known that the Apocalyptic Extension that he had refined in a hurry was no match for Yan Xibei’s apocalyptic body, which the guy had worked on cautiously for more than ten years.

However, the thing about Ares Extensions was that they were all expendable!

With his Apocalyptic Extension as bait, he launched the fatal attack!

Yan Xibei’s eyes bulged, and he looked at his abdomen in disbelief. His waist used to be connected to the insect body, but right now, a black wound was slowly expanding on his waist until it penetrated all the way through his body.

As black blood and white bodily fluids seeped out, he gradually lost control of his lower half.

The apocalyptic body had been cut off from Yan Xibei by Li Yao!

Without the apocalyptic body, Yan Xibei was merely an ordinary qi-trainer. The thick veins bound to his upper body were withering at a visible speed, leaving black scars behind like vines that had been consumed by flames.

He screamed and fell to the ground. Two streams of spiritual gas spurted out of his palms, and he fled away with the counterforce!

But how could Li Yao allow him to run away? He turned into a streak of brightness again as he stretched out his right arm and picked a random weapon from the battlefield with his spiritual gas.

When the weapon reached his hand, Li Yao noticed that it was actually a flagpole, with the flag of the Furious Bears Tribe that was riddled with blood stains and holes, big and small, flapping in the wind on the top.

Yan Xibei was rushing at an amazingly high speed. He had already run almost a thousand meters away in that moment.

But Li Yao was even faster. He appeared behind Yan Xibei after only a few leaps. The flagpole in his hand was humming and entangled by purple gold electric arcs, turning into an unstoppable spear!

Just when Li Yao was about to thrust the spear, Yan Xibei suddenly grinned. An earsplitting explosion burst out deep under the ground, and bloody mist soared to the sky like a volcano erupting. The earth collapsed, revealing a spacious and bottomless cave!

Yan Xibei accelerated again and threw himself into the cave like a weight.

Li Yao followed him without any hesitation. He tightened his body as if it were a bow, and the flagpole in his hand became the sharpest arrow. With an outburst of spiritual energy, the flagpole was thrown out with dazzling electric arcs!

BOOM! BOOM!

The two of them hit the bottom after falling down hundreds of meters, one after the other.

The place had originally been a natural limestone cave. But when Yan Xibei discovered it, he had transformed the cave into a secret base where he experimented on his apocalyptic body.

On the walls of the cave, dense weird plants that looked like vipers and vines were wriggling frantically.

Many spots where the ‘veins’ overlapped bulged high, resulting in translucent vesicles in which countless apocalyptic beasts were being brewed.

Behind Yan Xibei, in the center of the darkness, a giant object more than ten meters in diameter that looked like an enormous heart was fluctuating and trembling.

This object was perhaps the nest where he had bred the apocalyptic body.

His eyes wide open, Yan Xibei straightened his arms and tried to crawl to the bloody heart.

However, the flagpole of the Furious Bears Tribe had pierced through his heart from his back. Almost half of the flagpole had disappeared into the ground of the cave and made him unable to move.

The surging spiritual gas on the flagpole had blown Yan Xibei’s heart into pieces a long time ago. He was merely enjoying his last breath.

Li Yao walked to Yan Xibei and stared down at him coldly.

Below Yan Xibei, blood was spreading out and bubbling with foam while it screamed feebly as if it were alive.

Yan Xibei raised his head with the last bit of his strength, so forcefully that his spine was emitting cracking noises. He smiled miserably at Li Yao.

“You all think that I was possessed by the Blood Demon and everything I did was for the Blood Stripe Virus, don’t you? You think you are doing good by eliminating the evilness!

“But have you ever considered the possibility that I was never possessed by the Blood Demon and everything I said was true? What are you going to do then?

“Haha. Hahahaha. It doesn’t matter. You will know the answer soon.

“Inside the ‘blood pool’ is the foreign blood that I carefully refined for the warriors of the six tribes. I planned to invite everybody here so that the success rate could be higher.

“But right now, at such a short distance, with a telepathic thought of mine, the blood pool can be detonated immediately, and the foreign blood will be vaporized and escape to the earth!

“Several of them are bound to be touched by the blood. You will know then whether or not I was lying. Haha. Hahahaha!”

The killing intent in Li Yao’s eyes was immediately maximized!

Yan Xibei grinned hideously. “Don’t be silly. You wouldn’t be so naïve as to think that I didn’t trigger my telepathic thought until I explained everything to you in great detail, would you? I activated the self-detonation neuron of the blood pool before I said the first word. The blood pool will explode in exactly three seconds. Let’s see how you rescue all the people above us!

“Or, will you simply consider all the people who have breathed the bloody mist to be possessed by the Blood Demon and kill every one of them? Is that what you’re going to do?”

Li Yao gasped and gazed at the blood pool, which was constricting and expanding at a higher and higher speed!

Three seconds, two seconds, one second!

The enormous ‘heart’ slowly calmed down after trembling violently for a while.

The deep red color gradually became gray, as if it were turning into a giant rock. After that, nothing else happened at all.

Li Yao blinked and looked at Yan Xibei with interest.

Yan Xibei’s eyes were even wider than Li Yao’s, and he looked at the blood pool in disbelief. He mumbled, “How could it be… How could it be?”

Li Yao’s brain suddenly shivered as he sensed a very familiar spiritual wave from the depths of the blood pool, which had become completely motionless. He thought of something and was stunned!

His heart beating fast, Li Yao sent a telepathic thought into the blood pool.

“S—Sparkle?”

There was no response from the grey blood pool at first. But very soon, an airy spiritual wave came over. “Li Yao!”

BOOM!

A drill of mystic rays pierced through the half-dead blood pool from inside, and a dragon-like warship covered in armor that looked like scales leapt out of the ground!

Chapter 633: Doom of the Foreign Blood

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The drill of mystic rays was bouncing like unpredictable flames in Yan Xibei’s pupils, burning the last bit of his consciousness into oblivion.

The best warrior of Iron Plateau in the old days took a long breath, before he gradually froze, withered, and died with an indescribable expression on his face.

Li Yao didn’t know what to say. He scratched his helmet for a long time before he asked, “How did you end up here?”

“We came to Iron Plateau to look for you and did not know it was so weird until we arrived. Without your specific coordinates, we could only wander aimlessly,” Mo Xuan explained. “Later, we noticed that an Exo Society had landed on Iron Plateau. We had been following them secretly, but we lost them half a day ago.

“We detected that spiritual waves of this area were extremely intense, so we drew close below the ground.

“We did not anticipate that so many eccentric demon beasts were lurking here. To avoid them, we increased the speed of the drill, but we accidentally dug into a cluster of extremely strange mucus.

“The mucus seemed to be a living thing and attacked us, even trying to infiltrate Sparkle!

“But you also know that the five spectral Cultivators including me are all the crew members on board. Our bodies are made of nanotechnology-based alloys that were impenetrable for the mucus. Of course, we launched a counterattack mercilessly!

“The moment after we destroyed the central nerves of the mucus, we sensed your telepathic thoughts and drilled our way out!”

Li Yao realized that he had truly been lucky. Although the Blood Stripe Virus could corrupt living creatures and even germs, the bodies of Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators were liquid metal, a kind of powerful magical equipment from the Star Ocean Imperium. It was definitely not something that the Blood Stripe Virus could conquer!

The crew members of Sparkle were the natural enemy for the Blood Stripe Virus!

“What’s the situation right now?” asked Mo Xuan.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao replied quickly, “The situation is rather complicated. You’d better keep lying low below the ground. Set the communication channel to No. 9; I’ll reach out to you later!”

Since they were on the same planet, communication was a lot easier. Although Iron Plateau was not covered in the Spiritual Nexus, Li Yao could contact Sparkle through telepathic thoughts enhanced by crystal processors at the agreed frequency. It was essentially a point-to-point super mini network.

The electromagnetic environment on Iron Plateau was quite erratic, but Li Yao’s capability had soared, too. The power of his soul was ten times stronger than in the past. Simple communication at a distance of several hundred kilometers wouldn’t be a problem.

Looking at Yan Xibei’s body one more time, Li Yao sighed with mixed thoughts.

Yan Xibei was truly the most formidable enemy he had ever met on his path of Cultivation. Although Skeleton Dragon, the ancient deadly demon from forty thousand years ago that he had encountered on Boneyard, was much more impressive than Yan Xibei in terms of absolute strength, the demon’s scheme, arrangement, and response to changes were far from the previous best warrior of Iron Plateau.

Manipulating Iron Plateau natives, space residents, and Immortal Cultivators at the same time purely on his own, and trying to twist the course of development of a planet and even a constellation in the next thousands of years…

How ambitious and bold that was!

Also, the man had been so close to victory at the end.

Although it was Yan Xibei who had died in the end, Li Yao did not think that he had defeated him. Maybe, the man had been just short of some luck.

If Yan Xibei were not possessed by the Blood Demon, and the future that he described was a plausible possibility, then—

Li Yao shook his head and tossed the philosophical problems away. For some reason, he found it hard to hate Yan Xibei.

Righteous or evil, Yan Xibei deserved to be the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau in the past!

Li Yao sighed. He then retrieved some crystal bombs that he had dismantled from the tank of the Burning Sun Tribe and placed them on Yan Xibei’s body solemnly.

Mo Xuan was dazed. “What are you doing?”

Li Yao replied, “Every living creature here, including the smallest insects, might have already been corrupted. Naturally, I’m going to bombard everything to the ground. As it happens, this very bomb contains fatal neurotoxins. I don’t know if they work on the foreign blood, but they should be better than nothing!

“I’ve set the bomb to explode in half a minute. You go back to where you came for now. I’ll send the map of the Furious Bears Tribe to you shortly. We’ll meet again later near the Furious Bears Tribe!”

“Alright!”

Mo Xuan also knew that Li Yao must’ve experienced a lot of adventures on Iron Plateau, but now was not a good time to talk yet. He maneuvered Sparkle and disappeared in the hole he had come from.

Li Yao looked at Yan Xibei’s body for the last time. Spiritual gas spurted out from the Sky Scorpion Armor as he flew off.

Just when his feet left the ground, weird redness suddenly leapt out of Yan Xibei’s body and pierced at Li Yao’s back like a lightning!

Just as I expected!

Li Yao had been waiting for it. He had condensed dozens of purple gold electric arcs inside his right palm. He opened his right hand, and the Purple Electric Blue Hellfire Claw Art was activated to the maximum. The electric arcs were all released and hit the bloody redness precisely!

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

The electric arcs locked the bloody brightness like a cage. It was screaming miserably and trying to rush out of the cage, only to be burnt into black stinky smoke when it reached the boundary. After ten seconds, its struggle became feebler and feebler, and it turned into ash in the end!

“Hu…”

Li Yao took a long breath in relief. A bloody streak suddenly blinked in the depths of his left eye, but he didn’t realize it and dashed to the earth without looking back.

On the earth, the heavy storm continued unabated.

The weird grey mist flooding out of the cave made everybody wary of getting too close. They could only hold their breath and gaze at the entrance of the cave.

Xiong Wuji managed to sit straight with the support of Wu Mayan and Sha Yulan. He gritted his teeth and stared with hope.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The thunderous explosions from underground seemed to indicate that a great earthquake had happened.

Before everybody had the chance to exclaim, a shadow dashed out of the cave.

It was Li Yao!

In that moment, the valley was seething with cheers and applause that even eclipsed the sound of the storm!

…

In the planetary ring outside Iron Plateau, the fleet of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City had already gathered. Countless Exos and armed shuttles were sent out to perform directional blasting jobs.

Although they could not destroy the whole defense array, they were capable of digging a hole through it.

Inside the bridge of Proud Sun, the flagship, Captain Wan Liyun was eyeing the space steles about to be detonated one after another coldly.

By controlling the direction, angle, and intensity of the explosions and deploying a huge number of magnetic devices, the soldiers were creating a channel in the dense array of meteoroids.

On the light beam, a Cultivator wearing the badge of the Burning Sun Alliance reported, “In twenty-four hours, a channel that assault warships can pass through will be completed!”

“Very good. These are the last twenty-four hours. If we don’t receive a signal from the Great Horn Exo Society, we’ll send our main troops down!

“Remember, it is very possible that Iron Plateau has become a base of the Temple of Immortals. All the qi-trainers are our potential enemies. So, don’t consider this operation a simple rescue mission.

“This is war. A real war!”

Wan Liyun smashed the control panel and gnashed his teeth in fury. “If the rescue mission fails, or the hostages are confirmed dead, retaliation is to be put into action immediately. I want Iron Plateau to be buried in flames!”

Next to Wan Liyun, a Cultivator wearing the emblem of the Furious Bears Union observed gravely, “Captain Wan, we have always believed that there is much more to the incident. Should we act more judiciously until we have solid evidence proving that Iron Plateau natives were involved in the kidnapping?”

“Judiciously?” Taking a deep breath, Wan Liyun replied coldly, “Brother Su, you must think that the Burning Sun Alliance has gone mad because our disciples were captured and even murdered, right?

“This is the latest news sent from the Heavenly Saints Space Zone. Brother Su, and everyone else, please take a look.

“Up until now, the Heavenly Saints Composite Index has dropped by more than forty percent compared to three months ago. The average share price of the major groups under the name of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City has plunged by fifty percent. The transportation sector suffered the heaviest losses. More than seventy percent of the share price has been vaporized.

“This is an out-and-out stock market crash!

“Right now, the financial market is in chaos. A lot of transportation companies are dying under the threat of the space pirates. The cargo passing through Heavenly Saints City this month was only sixty percent what it was during the same period last year. Don’t forget that Heavenly Saints City is the most heavily guarded metropolis in space!

“Some smaller space towns have shut their doors to the outside world in fear of the assault of space pirates. Their cargo throughput was only twenty to thirty percent of last year’s!

“You still think that the so-called space residents and the Temple of Immortals are merely skin diseases?

“They are most definitely not!

“The civilization of the Flying Star Sector is founded on the smooth, secure lines of transportation!

“The six sects of Heavenly Saints City are acknowledged by most ordinary people because we can protect the traffic lines and ensure the communication of people and goods in the bleak, dark universe!

“Transportation lines are the foundation of our civilization. Without transportation lines, we are but lone islands scattered in the sea of stars. Before long, our entire civilization will collapse!

“After the several months of rioting from the space pirates, all the people of the Flying Star Sector are hiding in their towns and fortresses, shuddering in fright. They are losing confidence in the six sects of Heavenly Saints City!

“If a rumor that we cannot even protect our family and disciple breaks out right now and that they were ruthlessly murdered by Immortal Cultivators whom we can only sit and watch to run away, how can we convince the ordinary people that we have the ability to protect them?

“If we don’t have the ability to protect ordinary people, why would they support us, buy our shares, receive the education that we provide, take our carriers, and stand on our side?

“Do you understand? This is not an issue of twenty hostages; it concerns whether or not everyone in the Flying Star Sector should continue trusting the six sects of Heavenly Saints City!

“It will certainly be for the best if we can rescue the hostages, but if we can’t, we have no other options except to launch a thunderous attack at Iron Plateau with all our might. We will rebuild people’s confidence in the six sects of Heavenly Saints City with the destruction of our enemy!

“Do you agree, everybody?”

There was a long silence inside the bridge.

Cultivators wearing the emblem of the Furious Bears Union slowly nodded their heads. “Agreed.”

Those wearing the emblem of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood replied, their eyelids twitching, “Agreed.”

Heavenly Wolves Fortress, Giant Axe Hall, Silver Moon Clan… All the Cultivators sighed and nodded one after another. “Agreed!”

Wan Liyun was flushed and appeared restless. He waved his hands, somewhat tired. “Everybody, take a good rest in our last day. In twenty-four hours, ‘Operation Thunder’ will be carried out!”

Right then, the light beam started shaking weirdly. Taking a deep breath, the officer exclaimed, his voice shaking, “Ca—Captain, we received a message from the Great Horn Exo Society!

“The rescue mission was a success!

“The twenty hostages are all unharmed!”

Chapter 634: [Chapter 634?]

Ten days later, in Furious Bears City…

The Temple of Immortals’ scheme had been foiled, but its repercussions still plunged Furious Bears City into a swirl of events. Li Yao, on the other hand, was bothered by none of it. The most important task for him in the past few days had been to eat well, sleep well, and treat his wounds while consolidating his position in the unprecedented superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage.

Shua!

Sha Yulan plucked the last gold needle from his chest. Sensing the prospering circulation of spiritual energy inside his body, she smiled. “Your body is even sturdier than that of the healthiest qi-trainer than I’ve ever seen. I have no idea how you trained yourself to such an extent at all. I thought that you would have to lie on bed for a couple of months, but you’ve fully recovered after only ten days!”

Li Yao smiled, too. He sensed the strength that felt both familiar and strange flowing inside his body. He punched several times, and the air in front of him rippled like water. However, there was not the slightest sound.

His control over his strength had reached an amazing level that far exceeded the peak of the Building Foundation Stage in common sense. Even Cultivators in the beginning level of the Core Formation Stage might not have been as skilled as him!

Sha Yulan was beaming with interest and said, “The world of Cultivation is indeed full of changes and mysteries. I thought that you were dead for sure, but you’ve set yourself off on a whole new path!

“I’ve carefully analyzed everything in the last couple of days. Your status right now is different from the superlative height of the Refinement Stage. Not every qi-trainer can enter your level by compressing their spiritual gas after they reach a certain threshold in the Refinement Stage.

“At that time, the chaotic spiritual energy released from the cores of the apocalyptic beasts was still lingering inside your body, waiting to be transformed and absorbed. It was accumulating in your abdomen and could have killed you.

“As it turned out, Yan Xibei’s attack with his apocalyptic strength battered the foreign spiritual energy and set it free from your body!

“Moreover, Yan Xibei’s bloody mist covered you like a big cooker and restrained the escaping spiritual energy around you, making it have nowhere to run to.

“Also, everybody was in the most intense reverberation state at that moment.

“All the coincidences together led to your inexplicable level.”

Li Yao chuckled and scratched his head, realizing that he was truly unbelievably lucky.

Sha Yulan suddenly changed the topic. “However, regarding the weird situation inside your body, I have two speculations, one good and the other bad. Which one would you like to hear first?”

Li Yao thought for a moment and replied, “The bad one, please.”

“Although you’ve broken into the ‘superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage’ by luck and your combat ability has been significantly increased, I estimate that it will be ten times more difficult for you to enter the Core Formation Stage than for common Building Foundation Stage Cultivators,” said Sha Yulan.

Li Yao raised his right eyebrow.

Sha Yulan explained, “You’ve received the harshest training of the qi-trainers, and now, you are in the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage. As a result, your veins, nerves, and abdomen have ten times the capacity of common Building Foundation Stage Cultivators’!

“Metaphorically speaking, if the body of a common Building Foundation Stage Cultivator is a lake, your body is an ocean.”

Li Yao nodded. His spiritual energy capacity had indeed improved a lot over the last couple of months. After he entered the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage, he had been feeling hungry all day. His daily training always consumed dozens of crystals, and he still felt that he hadn’t enjoyed himself. His body had become like a bottomless hole.

“Let’s say that one would be able to enter the Core Formation Stage when the ‘water level’ reaches a certain height. One heavy rain will be enough to raise the water level of the ‘lakes’ of common Building Foundation Stage Cultivators and make them reach the threshold,” Sha Yulan said. “But for an ‘ocean’ such as yourself, one heavy rain is far from enough. How much water do you need if you want to raise the water level of an ocean by one meter? I can’t even imagine!”

Deep in thought, Li Yao realized that Sha Yulan did have a point.

Sha Yulan continued her explanation. “For a long while now, I’ve been wondering why none of the qi-trainers, many of whom were talented and smart, have ever entered the Building Foundation Stage successfully in the past several thousand years. There should’ve been some, no matter how low the odds are!

“Now, I finally understand that it was because the qi-trainers overstretched their veins and nerves, increasing their spiritual energy capacity. While their ‘lakes’ grew larger and larger, more and more ‘water’ could be stored, but it made it more and more difficult to improve the ‘water level’ in order to reach the threshold of the Building Foundation Stage!”

Li Yao slapped his thigh and observed, “Good point!”

“There’s another fatal problem about your body. Your abdomen was pierced through by Yan Xibei’s brutal attack. It is now like a bag riddled with holes. However much rice you put into the bag, some of it is bound to leak out.

“The strength that leaks out makes your whole new level. However, it also adds to the difficult of breaking through to the Core Formation Stage, because forming the core highlights the concertation of spiritual energy and not dispersion.

“All in all, my conclusion is that you’ve already deviated from the normal path of training. The superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage is not compatible with the Core Formation Stage, just like the superlative height of the Refinement Stage does not agree with the Building Foundation Stage!

“When the qi-trainers persist in walking on the superlative height of the Refinement Stage and surpassing the 50th level, the 80th, and even now the 100th, the price they pay is that they are unlikely to enter the Building Foundation Stage.

“If you go higher in the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage, you may reach the 10th, the 20th, and even the 100th level of the Building Foundation Stage, but it is very possible that you will have to pay your price, too, which is that… you will never enter the Core Formation Stage!”

Li Yao felt a headache coming on. It was indeed a tough choice.

The superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage was a significant improvement to his combat ability. According to Li Yao’s self-evaluation, his maximum combat ability was close to that of the middle level of the Core Formation Stage. Even if he ran into an experienced Core Formation Stage Cultivator such as Fengyu Zhong again right now, he would not necessarily be on the losing side.

If he could march into the 30th or the 50th level of the Building Foundation Stage someday, it was not unlikely that he could defeat the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators!

However, Cultivation was not simply about the improvement of combat ability.

The Core Formation Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, and Divinity Transformation Stage represented the major landmarks in the path of evolution.

He was like a dinosaur among Cultivators right now.

The combat ability of dinosaurs was naturally much higher than that of monkeys.

But that did not mean that dinosaurs were more advanced than monkeys; monkeys had endless potential due to their intelligence!

Li Yao took a long breath and asked curiously, “Then, what’s the good news, Sister Sha?”

Sha Yulan smiled and replied, “Need I inform you of the good news? Your body is now an ocean. Although it is ten times more difficult to enter the Core Formation Stage, you will be the strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivator in history should you succeed some day! I don’t even know whether or not ‘core’ will be an appropriate word to describe your status by then. Your capability will definitely be terrifying!”

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone. It was quite true. Raising the water level of an ocean by one meter was naturally much more troublesome than lifting that of a lake. However, the force used when the ocean moved several meters would be much more intimidating than when a lake moved!

“It’s decided then!” Li Yao clenched his fists, his eyes glittering. “I will not abandon the Core Formation Stage. Maybe I will suddenly break into the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage from the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage one day during my training!

“Superlative height of the Core Formation Stage! Wow. I’m drooling just thinking of it!”

Sha Yulan couldn’t help but chuckle. She covered her mouth and said, “Alright. Alright. You can study how to form the ultimate core right now. I’ll go and change Big Xiong’s medication. Right, come to Big Xiong’s ward soon. Captain Lei seems to have brought Big Xiong something, and he wants to share it with you!”

After Sha Yulan left, Li Yao pondered for a moment and locked the door from inside. Then he secretly established communication with Sparkle.

Sparkle was hiding dozens of meters below his ward. Since the distance was very short, the point-to-point communication was not in the least hindered by the rock stratums in between.

Sparkle had not been idling by in the last couple of days. Li Yao had sent the broken Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and the pieces of the Apocalyptic Extension into Sparkle. Professor Mo Xuan had taken charge of the repair work, and everything was successfully completed three days later!

Li Yao explained his situation to the five spectral Cultivators. He also told them that he wouldn’t give up on the Core Formation Stage. Mo Xuan and the rest of the spectral Cultivators couldn’t have agreed with him more.

As refiners, they did not think too highly of the improvement of combat ability that the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage brought.

What the Core Formation Stage could offer was not only enhancement of combat ability, but also a totally different understanding of spiritual energy.

Many kinds of planetary-level magical equipment could only be utilized by those above the Core Formation Stage. Li Yao wouldn’t be able to make use of them even if he was in the 10,000th level of the Building Foundation Stage.

“The path to the Core Formation Stage is always full of perils,” said Mo Xuan. “Thankfully, we still have plenty of time. It’s been only less than one year since we arrived in the Flying Star Sector, and you have already entered the unprecedented superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage. Maybe in the next ten years, you will really find an opportunity to become an ultimate Core Formation Stage Cultivator! If there are no other ways, we can always try to facilitate the process with magical equipment! But let’s settle the details later. We’ve been drilling below the underground for too long. Two crystal reactors exploded in the morning, and we are still working on them.”

“Alright. Let’s talk soon.”

Li Yao nodded his head. He was going to shut off the communication, when he suddenly bulged his eyes and shouted, “Wait!”

Mo Xuan was caught unprepared. He asked, “What’s the problem?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes deep in thought while he mumbled, “Facilitating the process with magical equipment…

“Professor Mo Xuan, look, one of the biggest problems for me right now is that my abdomen is too huge and my veins too thick, resulting in a huge consumption of spiritual energy during my training. The other problem is that my abdomen is riddled with holes that seem fine in everyday life but leak spiritual energy in extreme moments.

“Let’s say that we can craft a piece of magical equipment whose form and mechanism are similar to those of crystal reactors. It will be a pressure cooker three to four meters in diameter!

“Then, I will sit inside the pressure cooker and form the core there.

“Since it is a fully-sealed pressure cooker, the spiritual energy inside my body will have nowhere to escape to even if it wants to run away. Instead, it will only be pressed by the overwhelming pressure from all directions until it is all compressed to the same spot. Won’t that be the ultimate core that I talked about?”

Mo Xuan was silent for a long time, before he replied, “That’s an interesting thought, young man. Let’s talk about it later!”

Mo Xuan cut off the communication.

What does he mean? Isn’t it a great idea?

Li Yao rubbed his hands. Hooked by his bold hypothesis, he started making designs on a blank light beam.

Chapter 635: Father Xiong’s Father

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

When Li Yao walked out of his ward, the first thing he saw was the Great Horn Exo Society’s crystal warship, which was floating in the bright blue sky.

Up in space, countless small carriers had been transporting assets to the crystal warship like ants, and then the Great Horn Exo Society had brought the assets to the six tribes of Iron Plateau.

Every cloud had a silver lining. After the scheme of the Temple of Immortals was revealed, Xiong Wuji’s dream of Iron Plateau natives and space residents cooperating was coming true faster than expected.

For the Iron Plateau natives, a lot of their elite warriors had been killed in the consecutive fierce battles. Besides, all six tribes had more or less been infiltrated by the Temple of Immortals. There was no telling whether or not remaining spies of the Temple of Immortals were still instigating trouble in the Dark Continent, either. Therefore, they were in dire need of all kinds of aid.

In the world of Cultivators, the last couple of months had been quite rough, too. Social order was in chaos, and the financial market suffered heavy losses. Ordinary people and Cultivators were gradually losing their faith.

If a large-scale ground war were to break out at this moment, a lot of resources and lives would be wasted.

Nobody wanted to fight a war unless necessary.

Right now, it was very likely that the Iron Plateau natives would form an alliance with the space residents. The future might be uncertain, but the two parties could at least join their hands against the Temple of Immortals for now.

It was great news for the market and a cardiotonic for the chaotic situation.

The twenty college students from the two best universities of the Flying Star Sector had been rescued by Iron Plateau natives. With that event as a trigger, the ice-breaking process was officially begun.

However, despite the strong will of communication from both parties, the fleet of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City did not land on Iron Plateau directly.

Instead, after they picked up the twenty hostages and expressed their gratitude to the Iron Plateau natives, they quickly retreated to the edge of the Iron Plateau Space Zone, a signal that they were not malicious or aggressive.

After all, the relationship between the two parties was too sensitive. Theoretically speaking, both of them considered themselves to be the rightful successor of the six major sects of five thousand years ago.

The chief of the Furious Bears Tribe was essentially the leader of the Furious Bears Union. Just as two suns could not be in the sky at the same time, the Furious Bears Union naturally could not have two leaders.

Every step had to be made cautiously to avoid the potential disputes.

Therefore, the Great Horn Exo Society, which had zero affiliation with the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, became the best intermediary and a bridge of communication between the two parties.

The six sects of Heavenly Saints City sent a lot of assets that the fleet carried to the six tribes of Iron Plateau through the Great Horn Exo Society, meeting the Iron Plateau natives’ urgent need and showing their sincere gratitude for rescuing the hostages.

Li Yao’s and Xiong Wuji’s wards were separated by a yard. Xiong Wuji’s situation was worse than Li Yao’s. He could barely sit straight to this day.

All suspicions about him were gone. He had also advanced into the unrecorded 100th level of the Refinement Stage in front of everyone. Although it had only lasted a moment, he had nearly blown Yan Xibei into pieces. Such valiant and ruthless actions made everybody in the six tribes worship him.

The Furious Bears Tribe agreed unanimously that he should continue working as the chief, although he rejected the offer multiple times, claiming that his blood was from space and his capability had hit rock bottom.

Therefore, his ward had turned into his office.

The ward, which was always teeming with people, was unusually quiet right now. Sha Yulan and Wu Mayan were the only two accompanying him.

Despite the white hair and the slender figure, Xiong Wuji was in a quite good mood, if not somewhat excited.

Li Yao smiled. “What kind of good news did Chief Xiong receive?”

Xiong Wuji grinned and was somewhat nervous, making Li Yao doubt whether or not he was the tough guy that he had known.

Sha Yulan smiled and explained, “Just now, Captain Lei brought a document. It was the name list of all the passengers and crew members of the starships that had accidents near the Iron Plateau Space Zone five decades ago. The document, including the names, the profiles, and the photos of the victims, is inside the crystal processor.”

Li Yao immediately realized that, if Xiong Wuji was indeed from the space, his family must be in the list.

No wonder even such a tough man was uneasy.

Sha Yulan looked at Xiong Wuji and smiled. “Big Xiong is nervous. Let’s help him look into it!”

“Yes. Let’s help Father Xiong find out what his parents look like!”

“They must be great heroes just like Father Xiong!” said Wu Mayan cheerily.

Li Yao also smiled. He agreed unhesitatingly, “Alright. Let’s help Chief Xiong together!”

Sha Yulan activated the crystal processor and projected a light beam where she displayed the 3D pictures of the victims of the accidents after sorting out the information. She said, “I glanced roughly just now. Over the few years, one passenger starship and two carriers were lost near the Iron Plateau Space Zone. There is no telling whether they experienced cosmic storms or were plundered by space pirates, but not even a screw was found in the end.

“On the missing starships, there were 234 passengers with kids, and thirteen of them were carrying twins. Three were Cultivators.

“Here. This is Fei Kuo from the Fire Cloud Sect. He was a Cultivator in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. It is said that he was quite a celebrity in the Great Bravery Space Zone. A man of chivalry!”

A muscular man with a square face and a long beard appeared on the light beam. He looked strong and magnificent.

Wu Mayan blinked and mumbled, “He looked a bit similar to Father Xiong. Turns out Father Xiong’s father was truly a great man. No wonder Father Xiong is so awesome!”

Xiong Wuji finally couldn’t hold it any longer and turned around. He held his breath and observed carefully. After staring for a while, he remarked hesitatingly, “He might be, but let’s check others first.”

“Alright.”

Sha Yulan was very patient and displayed all the passengers that brought twins with them on the light beam.

Cultivators first and then ordinary people.

Xiong Wuji narrowed his eyes in silence.

When the photo of the ninth passenger leapt out of the light beam, Sha Yulan, Wu Mayan, and Li Yao all exclaimed.

Too similar!

The passenger’s appearance was too similar to Xiong Wuji today!

Although he was not very tall and strong, he stood with a straight back, and his eyes were narrow, long and extremely clean!

Looking at the photo and at Xiong Wuji in person, one would inevitably conclude that they were related.

Xiong Wuji’s eyes instantly turned red. He said coarsely, “He—he is probably my father. What’s his name? What kind of person was he?”

Sha Yulan glanced at the man’s profile and replied, “His name is Xiong Xiangrong. He was a teacher and an ordinary person.”

“I didn’t see this coming.”

Wu Mayan’s eyes bulged, and he mumbled in a low voice, “Father Xiong’s father is an ordinary person…”

“Hahahaha…”

Xiong Wuji finally burst into laughter in great satisfaction. He laughed so hard that tears were flowing out. “I didn’t know that my family name was truly Xiong. Fantastic. Really fantastic…”

Looking at him crying in joy, Li Yao thought of his own origins with complicated feelings. He snapped Wu Mayan’s forehead softly and said, “What’s wrong with an ordinary person? Iron Plateau natives and space residents. Ordinary people and Cultivators. Aren’t they all human beings?”

Wu Mayan held his head after an ouch. He suddenly rolled his eyes and said, “Uncle Sand Scorpion, Father Xiong has found his father. Let’s leave him and my mom alone for now. There’s something that I want to ask you!”

“Oh?”

Li Yao smiled. He somewhat knew what was on the young man’s mind and simply said to Sha Yulan, “Sister Sha, Chief Xiong has found his birth father. You can study his profile in detail now. Ah Yan and I will wander around for a while!”

They left the ward and walked to a pond in the center of the yard.

“Uncle Sand Scorpion, do you remember you promise?” Wu Mayan’s eyes were shining, as he declared, “You said that you would recruit me as a disciple if we were both alive after the battle of the apocalypse. Right now, I’ve passed two of them. You won’t go back on your words, will you?”

“I always keep my promise. However, I also said that I would only recruit you as my disciple if you could endure the biting of a few ants,” Li Yao replied.

“That’s not a problem.” His hands on his hips, Wu Mayan gnashed his teeth. “As long as you are willing to recruit me as your disciple, I can let a tiger bite me however many times it wants, not to mention some ants. Bring them on!”

Li Yao squatted and said, “Give me one of your fingers.”

Gritting his teeth fearlessly, Wu Mayan extended his right index finger with his eyes closed.

Soon, he felt that his finger was itching. He opened his eyes, only to discover that Li Yao had snatched several ordinary ants and placed them on his fingertip.

Wu Mayan was dazed. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Li Yao smiled and replied, “Nothing. I was planning to make things difficult for you with a certain test, but you proved yourself in the battle against Yan Xibei. When you charged at Yan Xibei without hesitation, I made up my mind that I would recruit you as my disciple if you are willing to!”

Li Yao’s maximum combat ability right now was close to the middle and high level of the Core Formation Stage. He was even qualified to establish his own sect. It was only natural that he had a disciple.

Wu Mayan was not fourteen years old yet, and he had already advanced into the 15th level of the Refinement Stage. Such a genius was definitely a treasure that countless sects would fight for.

After getting to know each other for a few months, Li Yao felt that his integrity was unquestionable. Now that the young man was willing to learn after him, naturally, he wouldn’t say no.

Hearing that Li Yao had agreed, Wu Mayan was so excited that he made three back flips in the air. He then kneeled down beside the pebbles near the pond and said respectfully, “Master!”

Li Yao scratched his hair. In the dreams of Ou Yezi’s life, he had tasted the feeling of being the leader of a major sect. At that time, he had thousands of disciples under his command. Naturally, being called ‘master’ was not new to him.

However, now that Wu Mayan had kneeled down before him and addressed him as master, he would have to be responsible for him.

Li Yao thought over all the expertise he knew about and tried to select some techniques that were suitable for Wu Mayan.

Yet, Wu Mayan had already proposed a question dutifully. “Master, I’ve been thinking about a question lately and failed to solve it. I think I’ve run into a dead end! I wanted to ask my mom and Father Xiong, but I felt that they might not be able to understand the question. I wonder, can you help you with it, Master?”

“Oh?” Li Yao raised his eyebrow. Pretending to a serious teacher, he pointed at a grey rock beside the pond and said, “Sit down and let’s talk.”

Chapter 636: Will You Practice the Technique?

 

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Like a monkey that was sitting on thorns, Wu Mayan was moving uneasily. His eyes flickered about for quite a long time; he was hesitating. “Master, I’ve been reflecting on Yan Xibei’s theory about the survival and development of the human civilization. The more I think about it, the more reasonable it appears to me!

“Do you think there’s any chance that he was not possessed by the Blood Demon and he meant what he said and his prediction was true?”

Li Yao was dazed. “Is this happening? You were gritting your teeth and waving your saber crazily that day. I thought that you would be quite unwavering.”

Wu Mayan lowered his head, somewhat embarrassed. He kicked a pebble into the pond, which raised dull noises, before he said, “I also found the transformation of my attitude very weird. After prolonged consideration, I finally discovered that the critical factor was that—

“He was too ugly.”

Li Yao was rendered speechless.

Wu Mayan explained carefully, “My blood was boiling, and my head was seething with fury. Nobody had the time to think about what Yan Xibei was saying. I only saw that he was half a human and half an insect with countless vine-like veins fluctuating on his body. He was exactly what a monster should look like! Of course, I slashed him mercilessly!

“But in my spare time over the last couple of days, I’ve thought about his words, and they began making more and more sense to me.

“Isn’t survival everything for a civilization? All things can happen only if the civilization exists. Once it perishes, hopes and ethics will be no more!

“If some sacrifices and changes must be made for the continuity of the civilization, they seem worthwhile to me.

“If the universe above our heads is truly a ruthless, dark forest, we have no options except to alter ourselves according to the rules of the forest, however cruel they are.

“I cannot find loopholes in Yan Xibei’s theory. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced.

“In my opinion, if Yan Xibei had not looked so disgusting but had looked like a deity wearing a glittering silver robe, many people might have been persuaded by him!

“This is the question that has baffled me for days. Please enlighten me, Master.”

Li Yao blinked and stared at Wu Mayan in silence.

Holding his breath, Wu Mayan looked at him, full of hope.

Li Yao suddenly sighed. He patted Wu Mayan’s shoulder and said solemnly, “Ah Yan…”

“I’m all ears, Master!” Wu Mayan replied respectfully.

“Look, I’m new to the job of teaching, too. Can we start our discussion from the relatively rudimentary topics?

“You are asking me about the future of humanity in your first class. Isn’t that question too sophisticated? I was not prepared at all. In fact, I haven’t had my lunch yet!

“How about this. I’ll teach you four solutions to the ‘Black Tiger Snatching the Heart’ technique. As for the future of human civilization, let’s talk about it later, shall we?”

Wu Mayan was not entirely satisfied. “Okay…”

Li Yao cleared his throat. Staring at the ripples in the pond, which were calming down, in a daze, he suddenly changed his mind and said, “Alright, but I don’t know much about the dark forest and the human civilization.

“Let’s talk about a single person. For example, you.

“Is survival the most important thing to you? Are you willing to endure all kinds of sufferings to the extent that you end up completely different just in order to be stronger and survive?”

Wu Mayan was dazed for a moment. Deep in thought, he nodded his head unconfidently a while later. “It probably is. One only has opportunities when they are alive. Everything will be gone after they are dead.”

“Alright. Let’s assume that there is such an extreme situation. Remember, just an assumption.”

Li Yao tapped his forehead and said, “You are living in a dark forest that is packed with ferocious animals, traps, and hunters. It is a lawless world where the strong prey on the weak!

“With your current capability, if you walk in any direction, you will be devoured with no bones left in less than half a day.

“At this moment, you suddenly find a book that records an unparalleled technique. If you grasp the technique, you will dominate the dark forest and become invincible. At the very least, you won’t be scared any longer and can live on for a long time!

“Then, will you practice such a technique?”

“Do I even need to think? Of course I will practice it. Only the fools won’t! Whatever price I have to pay, however tedious the process is, I will master the technique!” Wu Mayan blurted out.

Li Yao smiled and said, “Don’t be hasty. Wait until I’m done. Learning such a technique is not very difficult. However, it requires a prerequisite that you castrate yourself. Do you know what ‘castrate’ means? Castrate means—”

Li Yao explained the meaning in great detail. He even picked up a fallen branch and drew a few illustrations of the operation in the mud.

“Huh?” Wu Mayan was dumbfounded. “What kind of bullsh*t technique is this? I have to chop off my thing before I get to practice it?”

Li Yao tapped a stone and said, “Assumption. I already said that it was only an assumption. Now, will you practice the technique?”

Wu Mayan’s eyelids were trembling as he said, “W—well, aren’t there any alternative techniques?”

“No.”

Li Yao shook his head. “Other techniques are too weak. Only this unparalleled technique can allow you to survive in the dark forest.”

“That’s too outrageous!” His eyes bloodshot, Wu Mayan couldn’t help but look at groins. He hesitated for a while and asked, “Are there any consequences after I castrate myself?”

“There might not be many.”

Li Yao tilted his head and thought hard for a while, before he replied, “But castrating yourself is not as simple as that. After you castrate yourself, your body will change, and your psychological state will be gradually affected, too. Due to the lack of testosterone, you will lose all your sex drive, and there is the possibility of hair loss. In addition, you will experience frequent hot flashes, and more fat will accumulate around your chest area. You understand the kind of misunderstandings that a build-up of fat in that area could lead to, don’t you?”

Wu Mayan shuttered in coldness. “I do.”

“That’s good. You can make a choice now,” Li Yao said. “Death? Or invincibility as the king in the dark forest after you grasp the unparalleled technique?”

Wu Mayan was silent for a long time, before he sighed and replied, “I might as well choose to die.”

“Therefore, you think that part of you is more important than your life, and you would rather die than to have it castrated, right?” Li Yao said.

Wu Mayan was dazed. Deep in thought, he replied slowly, “I’m getting what you are trying to say, Master. If I would rather die before part of me is castrated; there must be something about a civilization and a species that they are unwilling to let go of, sort of like…”

Li Yao added, “Sort of like the ‘thing’ for a civilization.”

Wu Mayan slapped his thigh and said, “Yes. Like the ‘thing’ for the civilization. They do not want to be castrated even if they have to die!”

Li Yao grinned and said, “More or less. In fact, the question has bothered me for a long time, too. Many times, I thought, what if Yan Xibei was never possessed by the Blood Demon and was speaking the truth? Were we doing the right thing if that was the case?

“However, just a moment ago, I suddenly thought everything through.

“The biggest difference between us and Yan Xibei is not about the Blood Stripe Virus. Even if he was not possessed, we would still be the opposite kinds of people.

“For some people, there is always something that they would rather die than give away. Awesome as the unparalleled technique may be, we will only wipe our ass with it.

“But if it were Yan Xibei, he might really castrate himself in order to get started with the technique.

“Different ideologies lead to different paths. Maybe the universe above our heads is truly a ruthless, dark forest, but I won’t castrate the most precious things for me to survive in the forest. If I am not lucky enough and I have to die, so be it!”

Wu Mayan pondered for a while and mumbled, “You do have a point, but I feel something is wrong. We were talking about the future of humanity a while ago. How did the topic change to castration?”

“It’s the same thing.” Li Yao blinked and said assuredly, “If you castrate yourself, you will have no children. What is the future of humanity if they don’t have posterity?”

…

Another half month passed. Li Yao had consolidated his stance in the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage. His spiritual energy could be transformed between liquid and gas at his will, and his understanding about the reverberation of fighting will had reached a whole new level, too.

Sparkle returned with trophies galore. With the state-of-the-art drilling technology, the crew members had cruised below the ground of Iron Plateau and explored a lot of ancient cities of the Flying Star Sector that had been buried five thousand years ago. Their adventures had awarded them with abundant remains of magical equipment and useful Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

The communication between Iron Plateau natives and space residents had become smoother and smoother. The two parties had established an association of communication that was responsible for the subsequent issues of trade and transportation.

Many well-respected professors and leaders from Flying Star University and Heavenly Saints Institute, the two best colleges in the Flying Star Sector, arrived in Iron Plateau after a long trip.

Ostensibly, they’d come to express their gratitude in person to the Iron Plateau natives for saving the twenty students.

In fact, they were the representatives of Cultivators who had come to discuss the cooperation of a deeper level formally.

After all, the Great Horn Exo Society was too insignificant to make promises for all the Cultivators in space.

The presidents and professors of the two colleges, on the other hand, were in the academic circle. They did not belong to the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, and yet they boasted enough prestige and influence among Cultivators. Therefore, they were the perfect representatives for the negotiation.

Everything was progressing smoothly. Iron Plateau was entering a new era of hope.

For Li Yao, it was time to leave Iron Plateau and embark on a new trip of training!

Chapter 637: Invincible in Iron Plateau!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“What? You are leaving?”

In the residence of the chief of the Furious Bears Tribe, the mysterious smiles on the faces of Xiong Wuji and Lei Dalu turned into bewilderment all of a sudden. They stared at Li Yao in disbelief.

The Great Horn Exo Society had played an important role in the hostage incident. Hundreds of its members had fought side by side with the qi-trainers, and many of them had sacrificed themselves. Therefore, the Iron Plateau natives had been treating them especially warmly.

Until the delegation of Cultivators arrived, the Great Horn Exo Society had served as the bridge of communication between the two parties and still played its part after the presidents and professors of the two supreme colleges landed.

Many qi-trainers were still wary of the space residents. Only the Cultivators of the Great Horn Exo Society, who shed blood together with them, could be fully trusted.

Over the past few months, Lei Dalu and Xiong Wuji had been communicating with each other a lot because of the public affairs. The two of them shared similar tempers and became good friends.

Just now, they were wearing smiles as if they had prepared a surprise for Li Yao. But they did not expect that Li Yao would bring an even bigger surprise for them.

Li Yao raised his eyebrow and said, “Is there a problem? I said to Chief Xiong a long time ago that I was forced to land on Iron Plateau and have been kept in this place because of the subsequent events.

“Right now, all the problems have been solved.

“A new chief has been elected in the Burning Sun Tribe. After a month of investigation, many spies of the Temple of Immortals have been discovered. It is only a matter of time before every one of them is fished out by following up the leads.

“As for the Cultivators, they have transported a batch of medical facilities to Iron Plateau quickly. The heavily wounded qi-trainers will receive the best treatment.

“Also, the ‘Association of Interstellar Communication’ has been established. Large-scale communication is already underway.

“I won’t be of much help even if I continue to stay on Iron Plateau.

“Besides, I didn’t speak the whole truth on the Truth Cabinet that day, and I’ve been feeling uneasy. The longer I delay, the more likely it is that I will be seen through. It will be pretty bad when that happens.”

Li Yao spoke frankly. Xiong Wuji and Lei Dalu were both aware of his background and knew that he was not an Iron Plateau native at all.

Xiong Wuji looked at Lei Dalu and asked hesitatingly, “Li Yao, there is still a question that we have been trying to hold back for a long time. How did you pass the test of the Truth Cabinet that day? Was there really any magical equipment that could disturb the functionality of the Truth Cabinet?”

Li Yao was silent for a while.

He had discussed the question with Professor Mo Xuan, and they had reached a consensus that it was not good to reveal his real identity yet.

It was not because he did not trust Lei Dalu or Xiong Wuji, but because of the Temple of Immortals.

Although the Temple of Immortals’ scheme had failed, the organization still boasted tremendous capability in the dark. If Yan Xibei was not lying, the other three leaders of the Temple of Immortals were all super experts in the Nascent Soul Stage. More importantly, Li Yao did not even know who they were.

If Li Yao were to release his real identity to the public, stating that he was from a different world and in possession of many techniques and magical equipment the Flying Star Sector had never heard of, he would definitely become one of the most important targets for the Temple of Immortals. There would be no way that he could train himself and learn knowledge without being disturbed.

“It’s true that I cannot craft a piece of magical equipment that could deceive the Truth Cabinet,” Li Yao replied. “But the Truth Cabinet is a dead thing after all. There are many ways to bypass it. Maybe, everything I said was true, except that it was in a different time sequence and short of a few critical sentences.

“For example, Chief Xiong, has it ever occurred to you that, if you are a space resident growing up on Iron Plateau, it is possible that an Iron Plateau native grows up in the space?

“Wouldn’t such a man pass the test of the Truth Cabinet?”

Xiong Wuji and Lei Dalu were both dazed. It was something that they had never thought of.

Li Yao scratched his hair and said, “Of course, my background is a secret, but it doesn’t matter now. I’m leaving Iron Plateau soon anyway. Speaking of which, I must trouble Captain Lei to find a starship to Heavenly Saints City for me.”

Lei Dalu’s eyes were blinking as he said, “You’re going to Heavenly Saints City? With what identity?”

“Of course I’m going to Heavenly Saints City, as I said a long time ago,” Li Yao said matter-of-factly. “As for my identity? Of course, I will go under my real name, Li Yao! Although an accident happened at the Skyhill Sword Seminar this year, I did demonstrate my capability before it. Right now, the world of Cultivators is in chaos, and it’s a great time for the Exos to show themselves off. I don’t think the three main crystal suit centers will reject me!”

There was even more interest in Lei Dalu’s eyes. He asked, “You are interested in the refinement of crystal suits?”

“Not just crystal suits. I’m interested in all kinds of magical equipment. But of course, the more advanced, the better,” Li Yao replied.

Lei Dalu questioned further about his plans. “Then, what about the most cutting-edge theories about magical equipment? Although the three main crystal suit centers are best known for their products, they cannot be compared to the two supreme colleges in regard of magical equipment theories, can they?”

Li Yao found it odd. “That’s for sure. But what’s with all the questions, Captain Lei?”

Lei Dalu coughed and looked at Xiong Wuji. He was about to speak, when cheers and drumming suddenly came over from outside as if a carnival had just started.

“Let’s go out. We’ll talk about how you leave Iron Plateau shortly.”

Xiong Wuji and Lei Dalu seemed to be expecting the arrival of such a bunch of people. They dragged Li Yao out of the house.

On the street, the saluting cannons were echoing and releasing brilliant fireworks and ribbons.

Two drumming tanks of the Giant Axe Tribe were in the lead, followed by the tanks of the other five tribes except the Furious Bears Tribe. They all put down the flags of their respective tribe as a signal of respect for the Furious Bears Tribe.

All the tanks were painted with glamorous colors and decorated with the skeletons of demon beasts.

The qi-trainers on the tanks were wearing glitzy robes made of beast hides and feathers. They were playing various kinds of instrument airily.

On the biggest True Qi tank at the center, a giant pillar more than ten meters tall and almost three meters in diameter was positioned. When the tanks slowly reached the front of the chief’s residence, the muscular men roared at the same time. Dense white steams spurted out of the tank, and the giant pillar was slowly erected!

The giant pillar was made from ‘Gold Apparition Wood’, an extremely rarely-seen ancient tree on Iron Plateau.

Bathed in sunlight, golden brightness vaguely flowed on the rind of the Gold Apparition Wood. It tangled the giant pillar like gold scales and looked quite splendid.

Four enormous words were written on the giant pillar in the bones of the apocalyptic beasts.

‘Invincible in Iron Plateau!’

“Wow!” Li Yao gasped, his eyes glittering. “Very impressive. What is this supposed to mean?”

“The Furious Bears Tribe made the greatest contribution in the incident even though it had been wronged by the other five tribes.

“This is a sign of gratitude and contrition from the five tribes. It also means that they will listen to the Furious Bears Tribe’s command until the next battle of the apocalypse!”

Xiong Wuji smiled and said, “That is especially so for the Burning Sun Tribe. Whoever the real conspirators were, the incident was caused by the Burning Sun Tribe after all. Therefore, they offered this very precious Gold Apparition Wood. It is sort of their plea for forgiveness!

“Aside from its splendidness, the Gold Apparition Wood can also concentrate the spiritual energy nearby. If the giant pillar stands in Furious Bears City, those who are training in the several kilometers around will all benefit from it. Such a gift is evident of their sincerity!

“As for the four words, ‘Invincible in Iron Plateau’, the reason is simple. The five tribes are showing their respect for the best warrior of Iron Plateau and thanking him for rescuing hundreds of qi-trainers and avoiding a catastrophe!”

“That explains a lot.” Li Yao nodded his head and observed, “Chief Xiong made such a great contribution to Iron Plateau and even advanced into the unprecedented 100th level of the Refinement Stage. You truly deserve to be called ‘Invincible in Iron Plateau’!”

Xiong Wuji eyed him with a weird expression and suddenly asked, “What, you think ‘best warrior of Iron Plateau’ refers to myself?”

Li Yao was dazed. “Doesn’t it?”

Xiong Wuji smiled casually. “I suffered heavy wounds in the battle against Yan Xibei. I can manage to work as the chief of the Furious Bears Tribe right now, but ‘Invincible in Iron Plateau’ is too much for me right now!”

Li Yao’s eyes bulged, and he blurted out, “Who else deserves such a title if the warrior who advanced into the 100th level of the Refinement Stage doesn’t?”

Xiong Wuji looked at him quietly.

Lei Dalu looked at him quietly.

Li Yao blinked and tilted his head, deep in thought. He finally realized what was going on.

Before he could open his mouth, the hundred warriors from the five tribes on the tanks bashed their chests together and shouted as loud as they could.

“The Burning Sun Tribe pays respect to the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau!”

“The Giant Axe Tribe pays respect to the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau!”

“The Feathered Snakes Tribe pays respect to the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau!”

Many other muscular men wearing nothing on their upper body moved a lot of heavy boxes from the tanks and opened them in front of thousands of bystanders. Inside the boxes were dazzling, rarely-seen treasures of the five tribes.

Before Li Yao went into the Truth Cabinet the other day, the chief of the Feathered Snakes Tribe had promised that the Feathered Snakes Tribe would offer part of their trophies as compensation once his innocence was proven.

The chiefs of the other four tribes had made similar promises, too.

In the end, not only did Li Yao prove himself, he had also killed Yan Xibei and saved the day.

Therefore, the five tribes fulfilled their promise and took out even more treasures of their tribes to show their gratitude for Li Yao, the new best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau!

Seeing hundreds of super brawny men more than 2.5 meters tall staring at him with admiration, Li Yao felt that cold sweat was appearing on his forehead. He said, “What do you think will happen if I tell them that what I said on the Truth Cabinet was not necessarily the truth, that I was in fact not a wildling from the Dark Continent, that I hadn’t even lived for a year on Iron Plateau, and that even the cave they found a couple days ago, allegedly my old residence, was actually faked and prearranged by me?”

Chapter 638: [Chapter 638?]

 

Chapter 638: Perfect Solution!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

---

Li Yao did not wake up until the next morning. In his trance, he felt that his cheek was still aching, and even his burps were tasted like condiments. He was intimidated by the feast last night when he thought about it again.

He had not drunk much alcohol, even though the muscular and unconstrained Iron Plateau natives all seemed to be excellent drinkers. It was because everybody was a qi-trainer and could barely got intoxicated. Drinking alcohol was as boring as drinking cold water for them.

Therefore, the way that qi-trainers expressed their hospitality on Iron Plateau was to offer meat instead of wine.

The qi-trainers of Iron Plateau were quite old-school. They considered one’s appetite a good gauge for strength. The more one could eat, the better one would be able to control their body, and the stronger one would be!

Li Yao, as the new best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, was naturally the primary target that received the most attention during the feast. Not only did the leaders and elders of the other five tribes bring the gluttons of their tribes to toast meat in turn, even many qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe had gone to him with beef steaks and lamb chops, raising a civil war.

Li Yao had never been fond of liveliness, but he felt somewhat embarrassed that the five tribes had given him so many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for free.

The trip to Iron Plateau had definitely been worth it. For him, he had looted the warehouse that stored the trophies in the battle of apocalypse. For Sparkle, it had explored Iron Plateau’s underground and found a lot of relics from five thousand years ago in which many remnants of magical equipment were buried.

Right now, the five tribes had even offered their most valuable treasure that they had kept for years to him.

By Li Yao’s preliminary estimation, the resources would be more than enough to establish a small sect.

Although their gratitude to Li Yao for saving their lives was sincere, Li Yao always felt that he was not justified enough to accept all the gifts. With such thoughts, how could he reject their toasts? In the end, he just let go of his self-restraint and started eating!

Li Yao utilized the Art of the Swallowing Whale to the maximum and had the biggest meal of his life. At the beginning, he had still managed to keep counting how many lamb legs he had eaten. But later after he choked the chief of the Giant Axe Tribe, he was somewhat drunk with meat and start eating carefreely.

Li Yao scratched his belly and walked out of his room, only to find that Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan were waiting for him outside.

Since he did not intend to live long on Iron Plateau, he had been crashing at Xiong Wuji’s house.

Snatching a cup of cold tea on the table and drinking all of it, Li Yao frowned and said, “Chief Xiong, please don’t tell me that you didn’t know they were giving me such a pillar.”

“Of course, I did, but what could I say?”

Xiong Wuji shrugged and replied matter-of-factly, “You were the one who revealed the Temple of Immortals’ scheme and killed Yan Xibei in front of everyone. The thousand qi-trainers on site all witnessed Yan Xibei’s toughness in person. Even he was no match for you! Who else deserves to be the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau if not you?

“Iron Plateau natives never go back on their word and always pay compliments when compliments are due. Your contribution in the whole event cannot be exaggerated. Yesterday, they were only offering a little something as a signal of their gratitude. Could I say no to that?”

Li Yao felt a light headache. He said, “It sounds reasonable. But I wonder, did you receive such a giant pillar with ‘Invincible in Iron Plateau’ on it when you were acknowledged as the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau?”

“Then and now are different,” Xiong Wuji replied solemnly. “You know our current situation as clear as I do. We lost a large number of elites in the battle of the apocalypse. Then, because of the trouble that Yan Xibei caused, we suffered even more losses. There is no telling whether or not the Temple of Immortals still has other plans, and the remaining Blood Stripe Virus might still be lurking in the Dark Continent!

“Large-scale communication with the space residents is a two-sided coin, too. Whatever the consequences are, Iron Plateau will definitely be greatly changed!

“Right now, everyone in the six tribes is anxious about their future.

“Naturally, a heroic figure such as yourself must be decorated and promoted to calm everybody down.”

Li Yao was dazed for a long time before he replied, “Fair enough, Chief Xiong. However, with the giant spotlight over my head, how am I going to get away from here? You are not expecting that I stay and guard Iron Plateau under the title of ‘best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’, are you? That, I can’t do. Besides, my identity issue hasn’t been resolved yet!”

Xiong Wuji looked at Sha Yulan with a smile and said, “Don’t worry about that. I’ve figured out everything. It’s definitely a perfect solution!”

Sha Yulan projected a light beam from a mini crystal processor and showed Li Yao a proposal.

After the large-scale communications began, Sha Yulan, with her life experience both in space and on Iron Plateau, became an important official in the newly-established ‘Association of Interstellar Communication’.

“Right now, the relatively simple trade deals have been settled and are about to be carried out,” Xiong Wuji explained.

“For example, there are many mother lodes on Iron Plateau that we cannot exploit with our current technology, but with the space residents’ help, we will be able to excavate and refine them.

“Also, Iron Plateau is a scarce planet. With enough resources and guards, it is an excellent place to develop agriculture and livestock production. For many space towns that have very limited room, Iron Plateau will be a great manufacturer of diary goods and farm products. In the meantime, the farming will gradually change the terrain of Iron Plateau, and we might flourish again like five thousand years ago.

“In short, the deals regarding resources are easy, but cultural communication is much more difficult.

“The biggest problem at hand is that space residents and Iron Plateau natives don’t know each other.

“Space residents think that Iron Plateau natives are simple-minded barbarians with more brawns than brains, if not wildlings who feast upon blood and raw meat.

“On the other hand, Iron Plateau natives consider space residents all cunning, cowardly, and conceited rats.

“The thousands of years of separation cannot be filled up in only one day. Besides, there’s also the competition of rightfulness between us and the six sects of Heavenly Saints City. Direct talk is not an option.

“Therefore, after a long discussion with the leadership of the two supreme colleges of Heavenly Saints City, we decided to gradually resolve the problem with the academic circle as our starting point.

“More specifically speaking, we are going to introduce a series of inter-planet study programs and visiting scholar programs. We’ll send a hundred young people to study in the two supreme colleges of Heavenly Saints City as a start.

They’ll get to study the advanced techniques of the space residents, and their understanding about the society and culture of the space residents will be deeper. More importantly, they are going to disseminate the culture of Iron Plateau and show the space residents that we are not primitive barbarians and that muscles are not our everything.

“Students of the two supreme colleges will all be pillars in the world of Cultivators in the future. If they have a few classmates from Iron Plateau, the communication between the two parties will be a lot easier later!”

“Wait!” Li Yao suddenly waved his hand, as he thought he knew where the conversation was going to. He asked, “Chief Xiong, you are not asking me to join the hundred students and be an exchange student, are you? I’m sorry, but I’m definitely not going!”

This had to be a joke. Even ignoring the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage, which was of his own invention and assuming that he was merely at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage, he was still among the top experts in the world of Cultivators.

The leadership of many sects, the experienced refiners of major crystal suit centers, and the teachers and even professors in many renowned universities were merely in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage.

And now, he was going to start from scratch as a student like a rookie?

Of course, he wouldn’t waste his time in such a way!

“Of course not!” Xiong Wuji immediately replied. “Right now, you are officially the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, and you stand for the top combat ability of Iron Plateau. Asking you to be a student equals to admitting that we are weaker than the space residents. Why would we do that?

“What I was meaning to ask was whether or not you are interested in going to the two supreme colleges of Heavenly Saints City to communicate and doing the research work as a visiting scholar and a representative of Iron Plateau.”

Li Yao was dazed. “Visiting scholar?”

Xiong Wuji smiled and said, “Yes. We have come to an agreement with both Flying Star University and Heavenly Saints Institute. In the next five years, we will send at least ten visiting scholars to Heavenly Saints City.

“The visiting scholars are all the well-known experts on Iron Plateau. Naturally, their expertise and their jobs are different from the students’.

“According to our agreement, the visiting scholars can choose designated projects based on their interests and specialties and work with the most talented geniuses in the world of Cultivators.

“They can also teach courses in their special fields.

“Faced with the threat of the Temple of Immortals, the two parties are both genuine about the agreement. We will exchange techniques for techniques. The two supreme colleges will provide the best treatment for our visiting scholars. All the research programs will be open for you. As long as you prove yourself to be capable enough, all the project teams will welcome you, and all the available resources will be at your disposal.”

“Is that so?”

Li Yao was greatly interested. His lips curled up into a smile.

If the two supreme colleges that represented the highest academic level of Cultivators opened all their resources and programs for him, becoming a visiting scholar seemed to be much a better choice than working in the three crystal suit centers.

After all, most of the cutting-edge theories, advanced experiment facilities, and talented geniuses were all gathered in the two supreme colleges.

Even the experts in the three main crystal suit centers were mostly the professors or visiting professors of the two colleges.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought. This is the best choice for both you and Iron Plateau,” Xiong Wuji explained. “Since the moment you slew Yan Xibei, you have been destined to become the strongest expert on Iron Plateau and the center of admiration. Can you vanish quietly? How will I explain it to all the Iron Plateau natives when they find out that you’re gone?

“The identity of visiting scholar, on the other hand, gives you a perfect excuse to leave Iron Plateau for Heavenly Saints City.

“In a few years, after the chaos on Iron Plateau is settled and new experts emerge in the six tribes, their memory of you will gradually fade.

“At that time, you can live in Heavenly Saints City and choose to not come back to Iron Plateau again as an ambassador of Iron Plateau. It won’t feel strange anymore, will it?

“On the other hand, if you are all by yourself, even though you are the super refiner Li Yao whose both hands can surpass the speed of sound, it’s very possible that you won’t get access to enough resources. You will most likely end up being an ordinary worker in the three main crystal suit centers if you file your applications.

“But everything will be different if you are a representative of Iron Plateau, won’t it?”

Chapter 639: Ridiculous Appointment!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao’s interest was greatly piqued.

Although he had distinguished himself in the Skyhill Sword Seminar, he was still a young man in the world of Cultivators. He would have to start with the secondary projects and gain his seniority even if he were to join the three main crystal suit centers under the identity of Li Yao. It would take him forever before he got to do what he wanted.

The wait would naturally be much shorter if he represented Iron Plateau. It was quite possible that he would get in touch with the real high-end projects in advance.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao frowned and said, “What about my identity? Nobody is a fool. Rumors are already spreading out. Bai Kaixin, the vice-captain of the Great Horn Exo Society, has been asking to have dinner with me all the time lately. Perhaps he already started doubting me.”

Xiong Wuji smiled casually. “Don’t you see? If you are a Mr. Nobody, naturally, many people will question your identity. But right now, you are the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. Behind you are thousands of qi-trainers. Excluding crazy lunatics, who can doubt you, dares to doubt you, and is willing to doubt you?”

Li Yao was dazed. He thought carefully for a while and made up his mind. “Alright, I will go to Heavenly Saints City as the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau and work as a visiting scholar!”

Xiong Wuji smiled. “This is the first time that space residents have ever seen us in the past five thousand years. Your behavior will potentially influence how space residents take Iron Plateau natives. To be honest, I wouldn’t be as relieved if it were anybody else. If they made a joke of themselves, every Iron Plateau native would be disgraced. You are doing me a great favor by going there first.

“However, bear this in mind. After you reach Heavenly Saints City, you will certainly meet a lot of people from the six sects of Heavenly Saints City. Many of them may not have forgotten the competition of rightfulness yet and will likely to provoke you. We are in troubled times…”

“I understand.” Li Yao suddenly interrupted him. “I’m not a man fond of quarrels. I’ll try to restrain myself for the big picture. I won’t get into conflict with them easily.”

“Why not?” Xiong Wuji raised his eyebrow and said, “What I meant was that, if anybody provokes you, you must fight back brutally and teach those blind idiots what an Iron Plateau native looks like.”

“…” Li Yao was rendered speechless.

“Right. One more thing. Did you really recruit Ah Yan as your disciple?”

“Yes,” Li Yao admitted honestly. “He is very similar to myself ten years ago, but with a much higher aptitude. I recruited him as my disciple wholeheartedly.

“However, since we have over-planet study programs right now, I suggest Wu Mayan goes to study in Heavenly Saints City, too, to broaden his horizon and make him gain more experience, so that he can progress further in his training.

“There are still two months until he is fourteen years old, but he has already entered the 16th level of the Refinement Stage. I think neither Flying Star University nor Heavenly Saints Institute will reject such a treasure.”

Xiong Wuji smiled. “Alright. That is exactly what was on my mind. I meant to send Ah Yan to study in Heavenly Saints City, but I thought that I’d better hear your opinion first since you are his master. It’s all good then if you have no objections!

“However, you and Ah Yan are both special. According to him, he kneeled before you beside the pond as a gesture of acknowledging you as his teacher. That won’t do!

“You are now the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. It’s a big deal that you have recruited a disciple. We cannot do things so inappropriately.

“How about this. I’ll have everything prepared. Before you set off, experts of the six tribes and Cultivators who are still on Iron Plateau will be invited to join the ceremony. He will be acknowledging you as his master in public. It will also be a demonstration to the Cultivators of your prestige on Iron Plateau.”

Li Yao was going to say no, but he soon realized that Xiong Wuji was trying to promote his name, and it would be beneficial for his future development.

Feeling the warmth in his heart, Li Yao nodded with a smile. “Alright. Whatever you say, Chief Xiong!”

…

Half a month later, in Flying Star University inside Heavenly Saints City…

Flying Star University was located on the third orbital ring, the one closest to the downtown area of Heavenly Saints City. Inside the orbital ring, there were natural landscapes that simulated mountains and rivers, as well as central business districts that were full of skyscrapers. Laboratories and teaching buildings could be seen everywhere, too.

The spiritual energy transmission tubes on the wall of the orbital ring continued releasing spiritual energy into the air and built a man-made paradise inside the third orbital ring where the students and scholars of Flying Star University could train themselves at will.

At this moment, in the natural landscape area of Flying Star University, next to a spring lake, an old man wearing a cloak was fishing. His fishpole was shivering slightly, and he looked half asleep, but he was quite enjoyed himself.

However, the old man’s good mood was disrupted by the buzz of his mini crystal processor. After the old man read the message, his face turned darker than ever.

“Ridiculous appointment!” The old man threw the fishpole to the ground and asked gravely, “President Shang, may I ask who came up with the idea of letting the so-called best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau work as a visiting scholar in the Refining Department of Flying Star University? What place do they think the Refining Department is?”

The old man was Wei Wenyao. He was one of the best masters of refining in the Flying Star Sector as well as the dean of the Refining Department of Flying Star University. He was a well-respected authority in the circle of refiners.

President Shang, whom he was speaking to, was merely a deputy president in charge of administration and human resources. He was not famous in the academic circle and did not have any projects that he should be proud of. Moreover, he was almost forty years younger than Wei Wenyao.

As a renowned scholar, Wei Wenyao did not care about his title at all. He berated ruthlessly, “President Shang, Flying Star University is not a random community college where anybody can work as a visiting scholar or visiting professor!

“According to tradition, the visiting professor of Flying Star University should at least be a professor of one of the other 122 colleges in the Flying Star Sector, and even a visiting scholar should be, at least, an associate professor!

“Right now, you are making history by asking a barbarian to work as a visiting scholar in the Refining Department, join our research, and even teach our students! Is this a joke?”

President Shang hurried to explain, “Dean Wei, please calm down. Communications between Cultivators and Iron Plateau is underway. You are well aware of that, too. You supported the decision and even stated that you would like to recruit a few students from Iron Plateau, didn’t you?”

“Cut the nonsense!” Wei Wenyang was rather bad-tempered. He glared and shouted, “Students and scholars are different. If students from Iron Plateau come here, I can always teach them special courses about the rudimental common sense about refining for the sake of communication even if they are not as smart as our students. But if a visiting scholar comes to this place, they are going to teach our students and join our projects. Not only will they mislead the students, it’s also quite possible that they will mess around with the projects and delay our progress!

“Besides, I’m rather curious. Since you mentioned that the guy is the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, you can always send him to the Combat Department or the Exo Department. He would be most welcomed in those places. Why does he have to come to the Refining Department?”

President Shang replied, his face bitter, “We thought exactly the same in the beginning. Since he is known as the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, he must have unique stills with him even though the Cultivation techniques of Iron Plateau are slightly underdeveloped, considering that he is the ‘best’ anyway. Therefore, we welcomed him to teach the students of the Combat Department and take part in the projects there. If possible, he could work with our combat-type Cultivators and develop new techniques.

“However, although the man said that teaching students of the Combat Department was not a problem, he also stated that he was interested in the arts of refining, too, and would like to exchange ideas with the best refiners of the Flying Star Sector on the latest theories in refining.”

“Exchange ideas?” Wei Wenyao was so angry that he was actually laughing. “President Shang, not that I look down on the Iron Plateau natives whom I know for a fact are not primitive barbarians, but really… Forget it. Tell me more about the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. Does he have any experience in refining?”

President Shang coughed and replied, “Iron Plateau is still relatively closed to us for now, and we do not have a very good intelligence network. Right now, the two parties are in a honeymoon state, so it’s impossible for us to send people to investigate. Thus, what we have here are only the official profiles that the Iron Plateau natives offered us.

“According to the Iron Plateau natives, this best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau was in fact a wildling born in the Dark Continent…”

“Wait!” Wei Wenyao was dumbfounded. “I just said that they were not primitive barbarians, and you are immediately giving me one to prove that I was wrong?”

“Please listen to my explanation first.” President Shang thought that the whole thing was absurd, too, but he was responsible for human resources after all. “The best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau has a legendary background. It is said that, although he was born a wildling, he was actually raised up by a mysterious space resident who was not only an unparalleled expert but also a skilled refiner. Therefore, the best warrior knows a thing or two about refining.”

“Bullsh*t,” Wei Wenyao sneered coldly. “The art of refining is a professional, complicated, comprehensive subject that involves hundreds of independent courses and countless kinds of precise magical equipment. Only after rigorous, systematic training can a qualified refiner be raised.

“A mysterious expert living in the woods teaching a random guy casually for several years, and an expert of refining was born? Is this a fairy tale?”

President Shang wiped the sweat on his forehead and replied, “I’ve seen the armor that the best warrior refined. It seems rather delicate to me.”

Wei Wenyao sniffed and said, “I’ve seen a lot of True Qi armor and True Qi blades crafted by the Iron Plateau natives over the last couple of days. They have their own advantages, but in regard to structure and materials, they are still in the primitive, crude phase.

“Maybe, a refiner was forced to land on Iron Plateau and taught the barbarian some basic skills of refining that were enough for him to distinguish himself on Iron Plateau.

“But it does not mean that such a barbarian is qualified to work as a visiting scholar in my Refining Department!”

Chapter 640: Magnate of the Magnates

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“The bottom line is, have you ever seen his capability in person, President Shang?”

President Shang nodded quickly and replied, “I have. At the disciple recruitment ceremony in Furious Bears City three days ago, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau showed his skill a little bit.

“There were three super alloy planks twenty centimeters thick that could serve as the gates of treasuries, with a gap of one meter in between.

“After his one punch, the first plank was immediately melted by his spiritual gas; even its surroundings became orange.

“On the second plank, hundreds of holes appeared. His spiritual gas was condensed into needles and pierced through the plank.

“His spiritual gas did not run out after blowing through two planks and left a fist indentation more than ten centimeters deep on the third plank!

“The Cultivators who joined the ceremony did not think too highly of the Iron Plateau natives. They were dumbfounded when they saw his performance. According to the evaluation of several battle-type Cultivators, the man’s maximum combat ability was at least in the middle level of the Core Formation Stage.

“The Iron Plateau natives also have secret arts that can allegedly enhance their combat ability by reverberating their fighting will. If he is on a rampage, he might be able to fight a peak-level Core Formation Stage Cultivator! I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

Wei Wenyao scoffed. “What about a peak-level Core Formation Stage Cultivator? Fighting and refining are entirely irrelevant. That’s why I said he should be invited to the Combat Department.”

President Shang smiled and said, “Don’t be hasty, Dean Wei. I haven’t finished my point yet. Iron Plateau natives value aggressiveness and valiancy, and they worship the strong more than anything!

“The best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau enjoys quite a high prestige in the place. Not only did tens of thousands of people of the Furious Bears Tribe participate in the ceremony, the other five tribes also sent many representatives led by their chiefs and elders to congratulate him. It was indeed a lively and splendid scene!”

Wei Wenyao frowned. “What does that have to do with the Refining Department?”

“The guests did not come empty-handed. The gifts from the five tribes almost filled the valley. Any one of them was an invaluable treasure,” President Shang replied. “The best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau then gifted twenty Cloud Thunder Pearls even larger than pigeon eggs to his disciple!

“As a refiner, you must have heard about the treasure before. Not only does the pearl glitter at night, enormous spiritual energy of the thunder class is also contained inside. It is one of the best ancillary materials for training!

“A Cloud Thunder Pearl the size of a finger is already too precious to be bought on the market, not to mention twenty of them the size of pigeon eggs!”

Wei Wenyao gasped.

He was a refiner, so he knew what a valuable material Cloud Thunder Pearl was better than anybody else.

President Shang lowered his voice and said, “We were all shocked by the extravagance of the best warrior. After we asked around, we learned that the man had done the five tribes a great favor even though he had been wronged by them. Therefore, the five tribes offered a large number of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, as well as other valuable resources, to him to express their apology and gratitude.

“Although Iron Plateau is a desolate area, a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures have been found during the five thousand years of exploration. The endless mother lodes buried underground alone are much more promising than the dust in space where we get our resources, are they not? Therefore, the Iron Plateau natives may seem strong and simple-minded, but they are out-and-out magnates!

“Therefore, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau is one of the richest among the magnates. It may be exaggerating to say that he is richer than a country, but it’s quite possible that his belongings are more valuable than the assets of a small sect!”

“Oh?”

Wei Wenyao finally realized where the conversation was going.

President Shang was beaming with a smile. “Now you see, Dean Wei. This is the situation I assumed.

“Sand Scorpion learned from a refiner from space during his childhood and must’ve grasped a thing or two. In the primitive world of Iron Plateau, he is the tallest among a bunch of dwarfs. Of course, he feels like he is a king.

“Since the man is unparalleled on Iron Plateau, it is natural that he feels his refining arts are already excellent, and he has decided to communicate with the masters of refining.

“Of course, we can turn down the request, but I suggest that Dean Wei does not to rush into anything. In short, the man is a classic more-wealth-than-wisdom guy. If such a rich man comes to the Refining Depart as a visiting scholar, he is definitely going to bring a large sum with him!”

Wei Wenyao stopped whining.

Being a dean of the Refining Department of a college was different from being a pure refiner.

The most important task for a dean was perhaps not his own study, but to find more donors for the Refining Department.

It was true that Flying Star University was one of the two best colleges in the Flying Star Sector, but no colleges in the world would ever complain that they had too much money.

The Refining Department was quite a large department, with a lot of money-burning projects and programs. Besides, the Refining Department of the Heavenly Saints Institute was always competing with them.

If an idiot really came here with loads of money…

Wei Wenyao quickly thought of several projects in the department.

The projects had all been stagnated for various reasons. Some were because of the impractical designs, some because of the huge investment, and some because of the tremendous setbacks they suffered.

President Shang hurried to fan the flames. “Dean Wei, stopping hesitating. This is not a wildling; this is a mother god of fortune! If you hesitate, he might go to the Heavenly Saints Institute and revive a few projects of the Refining Department there. Please don’t be angry then!”

Wei Wenyao was finally interested in the idea. “President Shang, are you sure that he is willing to invest? How rich can he be, considering that he’s all by himself?”

“That’s not a problem.” President Shang smiled. “He may be not rich enough, but he is backed by the entire Iron Plateau! As for whether or not he is willing to invest, that will depend on your treatment of him. In my opinion, with so many great masters of refining in our department, it will be more than easy to fool a bumpkin from the remote area when they team up.”

Wei Wenyao chuckled. “We are not ‘fooling’ anybody; we are mere each playing our part in the discovery of the endless mysteries in the world of refining together with our good friend from Iron Plateau, with the intelligent doing the research and the wealthy paying the money!”

After he shut off the communication, Wei Wenyao thought for a moment and reached out to almost ten project leaders who were currently short of funding. A remote meeting was held.

A moment later, doubts and exclamations burst out above the small lake again.

“What? A wildling is coming to my project team as a visiting scholar? Isn’t that bullsh*t?”

…

Outside of Furious Bears City, Li Yao’s and Wu Mayan’s shadows were lengthened by the setting sun.

The following day, the two of them would set off. For the first time in Wu Mayan’s memory, he was going to leave Iron Plateau for the boundless universe. The young man was a bit uneasy.

His right arm was exposed to the air, as he was testing a piece of new magical equipment Li Yao had refined for him. It was a silver glittering glove that extended to his elbow with complicated spiritual stripes on it. When he put on the glove, his right arm looked like an artificial one and was quite eye-catching.

The glove was based on Xiong Wuji’s right arm, which had been blown away during his fierce fight against Yan Xibei.

Wu Mayan had picked up the broken arm from the battlefield and begged Li Yao to craft a glove for him.

Xiong Wuji’s artificial arm was made of ordinary materials. Therefore, Li Yao added another dozen or so rarely-seen materials to it and asked for the advice of the five spectral Cultivators on Sparkle before the job was done.

Wu Mayan put on the glove and punched, tornadoes sweeping out from his right fist. He had trained himself hard wholeheartedly. His sweat was glimmering in the sunset.

“Have you made up your mind?” Li Yao smiled at his first disciple. “Have you decided to keep walking on the path of qi-training?

“I need to remind you that you cannot have all the best in the world. The path of qi-training and the path of normal Cultivation are not compatible. The thicker your veins and nerves are, the more spiritual gas you will be able to store. However, the result is that it will be more difficult to liquefy the spiritual gas.

“You are still young, and you have the chance to choose. But after another few years of training, I’m afraid that you will never get to the Building Foundation Stage.

“My situation is different. I’d already been in the Building Foundation Stage before I started practicing the qi-trainers’ arts. Therefore, you cannot copy my experience.”

Wu Mayan punched hard one more time. Looking at his spiritual waves dispersing dozens of meters away, he wiped his sweat and nodded his head. “The decision has been made. Although Master and Father Xiong both want me to study in Heavenly Saints City, and I’m very interested in meeting the experts in space myself, I will probably never be a Cultivator. My path is destined to be the path of qi-trainers!

“What’s wrong with not being able to build the foundation?

“For five thousand years, the highest level of the Iron Plateau qi-trainers had always been the 99th level. Many people thought that the so-called 100th level did not exist and was just an ungrounded illusion. The 99th level was supposedly everyone’s limit!

“However, Father Xiong punched that ‘limit’ into pieces with his iron fists!

“If he could reach the 100th level, I think the 101st level, the 200th, the 500th, and the 1,000th are definitely reachable, too!”

“With your aptitude, a lot of people will be willing to guide you when we arrive in Heavenly Saints City. Chances are that you will have the chance to enter the Core Formation Stage in the next twenty years. Your capability wouldn’t be necessarily lower than that of the 100th level of the Refinement Stage,” Li Yao said.

“At the very least, the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, and the Divinity Transformation Stage are unambiguous and unmistakable. The journey to the 1,000th level of the Refinement Stage, in comparison, is long and full of terrors. Why do you have to choose such a path?”

Looking at the desert and mountains far away, Wu Mayan replied softly, “Because it is the path that Father Xiong wanted to walk on.”

Chapter 641: He Will Not Be Easy to Deal With

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Two months later, in the No. 6 space port of Heavenly Saints City…

“Achiu!”

Xie Anan sneezed. Her small nose shivered slightly, and she shrank further into her red coat, as if she were trying to bury herself in it.

As a star fortress, Heavenly Saints City maintained the climate and weather by magical equipment. It was possible to set the environment to a cozy temperature.

But people living in space often missed the seasonal changes on planets. Therefore, spring, summer, autumn, and winter were simulated on Heavenly Saints City. Occasionally, there was rain, snow, and fog.

It was the beginning of spring in Heavenly Saints City. Damp, cold wind was blowing in the scarce No. 6 space port and piercing into the collars and sleeves of the travelers through the tiniest gaps.

However, what really frustrated the young girl was not the weather but the grueling task that awaited her.

Xie Anan rubbed her hands and complained to Long Yunxin in a low voice.

“Really. There are so many students in our department. Why does it have to be me to welcome the visiting scholar?”

Xie Anan and Long Yunxin both came from noble families of refining that had a long history. They had been friends from a young age.

In the previous Skyhill Sword Seminar, both of them had been in touch with Li Yao. Long Yunxin had even been defeated by him.

Since she had been eliminated from the tournament too early, Long Yunxin naturally did not receive any offers from the three main crystal suit centers.

Thankfully, since her basic skills were quite good, and her family had a lot of connections in the circle of refiners, she had finally been accepted by the Refining Department of Flying Star University, her mother school, as an associate researcher. She was currently working in a renowned laboratory affiliated with the Refining Department.

Xie Anan, Long Yunxin, and four young refiners of the Refining Department of Flying Star University had come to the No. 6 space port in order to welcome a special visiting scholar.

The hundred exchange students from Iron Plateau had mostly arrived one month ago. The young people from a desolate planet had made quite a fuss and left a lot of funny tales when they first got to the most prosperous city of the Flying Star Sector.

The visiting scholar, Sand Scorpion, however, did not come with his compatriots. He was late by one month and did not arrive until today.

The Refining Department of Flying Star University had reached a preliminary consensus as to the treatment of the unique visiting scholar.

Although none of the professors and experts believed that Sand Scorpion was capable enough to be an actual contributor to the studies of refining in Flying Star University, everybody definitely wouldn’t say no if the guy decided to put his money into their projects.

It would be even better if the Iron Plateau natives, who were on his back, grew interested in the Refining Department of Flying Star University because of him and invested even more.

Therefore, it had been decided that he would be welcomed warmly.

With the prestige of Flying Star University in the world of Cultivators, it was almost a pilgrimage for the visiting scholars from other space zones when they came here. Visiting scholars, at best, would usually have someone from the school greet them at the space port.

But this time, four young teachers and researchers of the Refining Department had come to the space port to welcome the guest in person. It was unusually formal for Flying Star University.

Long Yunxin, unlike Xie Anan, had volunteered to come.

She hated boredom more than anything else and, therefore, was quite interested in the visiting scholar from Iron Plateau. She said with a smile, “It can’t be helped, Anan. You are the only one in our department who has met Sand Scorpion before. Since he saved your life, you are naturally the best candidate to welcome him today. Speaking of which, what kind of person is this best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau in your eyes?”

Xie Anan suddenly blushed.

Half a year ago, after the big explosion in the Skyhill Sword Seminar, she had been kidnapped and taken to Iron Plateau by the Temple of Immortals. It was ‘Sand Scorpion’ who had rescued her.

However, she had only seen ‘Sand Scorpion’ once in the valley and was handed over to the Great Horn Exo Society soon. She had never met him again before she left Iron Plateau.

However, there was a little secret in her heart.

When the twenty hostages were still held in prison, ‘Sand Scorpion’ had talked to her and learned the details from her mouth before the following operations were carried out.

Does he still remember me? Xie Anan thought to herself, only to be shocked by her idea.

She replied, her face red, “I—we weren’t freed until we reached some valley. My head was dizzy when he took off our facial covers, and I couldn’t see him clearly. I only remember that he was wearing a hideous armor, and his face was hidden by his messy hair. His voice was coarse, and he was quite mean. Before we caught our breath, he had already asked us to dig pits.

“However, we heard a lot of tales of Sand Scorpion from the Great Horn Exo Society later. It was said that he is a super expert who rose to fame recently on Iron Plateau. No one in all the six tribes had second opinion about his invincibility. Even the previous, previous best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau was slain by him!”

Xie Anan grimaced. “Such a brutal guy must not be messed with. Now I’m part of the reception work, what—what if I piss him off?”

The four young men chitchatting nearby came over and said with smiles, “Don’t be scared. We are all here for you. He is just another barbarian who has more brawns than brains!”

Although Xie Anan was a student and they were teachers, they were born in the noble families of refining, too, and had known each other since childhood. They had always considered her to be a little sister.

Therefore, they were not as restrained as normal teacher-student relationships.

The young refiner in the lead was as slender as a monkey and had a mole below his left eye. His name was Hou Zitao, and he specialized in guns boosted by spiritual energy. He had quite a few patents despite his young age and was a rising new star in the circle of refiners.

He joined Flying Star University five years ago, but he had been working as an assistant for other people and did not apply for his own project until this year. He was quite ambitious, planning to make a career out of the project.

He had never realized the importance of funding when he was an assistant. But now that he was leading a project team on his own, he immediately found that the arts of refining were too, too, too costly.

Flying Star University was never short of experts and professors. Thus, it was extremely difficult for a young genius like Hou Zitao to apply for research funds.

Naturally, when he heard that a silly yet rich landlord was coming to the Refining Department as a visiting scholar, Hou Zitao was the first to offer to join the reception team.

Hou Zitao smiled. “Anan, don’t think too much. Just go up there and say nice words to him for saving your life when he shows up. When he is overwhelmed with self-satisfaction, we’ll come close and adulate him to the point that he will forget his name. Then, we’ll show him the few projects that we’ve been working on. Awesome as the guy may be, he has nothing but muscles. Does he really know anything about refining? By then, hehehehe…”

Hou Zitao was smiling cunningly.

The other young refiners were more or less the same. They were all laughing and rubbing their fists, making plans to seize the rarely-seen opportunity to let the goose lay more golden eggs for them.

Long Yunxin sniffed and dragged Xie Anan to aside. Coldly eyeing the guys who were enjoying such fantasies, Long Yunxin lowered her voice and said, “Anan, don’t listen to the jibber-jabber of those people. Just do what you are asked to do and don’t presume that the man is really a wealthy idiot. It is not going to be easy to take advantage of him. In my opinion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau will not be easy to deal with!”

Xie Anan was dazed. “Sister Long, do you know Sand Scorpion?”

With a mysterious smile, Long Yunxin replied, “Of course I don’t. But I have a good friend in the Cross Wind Space Zone who told me a piece of shocking news yesterday!

“Anan, do you know why Sand Scorpion was delayed for so long?”

Xie Anan was still confused. “The Cross Wind Space Zone?”

“Yes. There’s a small family of Cultivators in the Cross Wind Space Zone known as the Wu family, who did not have many experts. One of the least famous noble families, I would say.”

Long Yunxin told the story merrily. “However, twenty years ago, a quite capable young expert named Wu Mafei emerged in the Wu family. He reached the high level of the Building Foundation Stage before he was forty years old. He joined the White Dragon Society, a fairly influential sect in the Cross Wind Space Zone, and became a pillar of the sect, making quite a fortune for his family.

“Too bad that the geniuses always seem to be cursed. A few years later, when Wu Mafei went to visit his in-laws with his wife and his child, they encountered space pirates and went missing.

“At that time, everyone thought that Wu Mafei and his next-of-kin were dead. The great fortune that Wu Mafei made and the insurance compensation that the White Dragon Society provided naturally fell into his other family members.

“The seniors of the Wu family were too old. But Wu Mafei had two brothers who claimed all the money.

“But as it turned out, although Wu Mafei perished, his only son Wu Mayan survived on Iron Plateau.

“Now that the communication between Iron Plateau natives and space residents has been reestablished, Wu Mayan naturally went back to the Cross Wind Space Zone to visit his family with his father’s ashes.

“However, his visit put the Wu family in an embarrassing situation. It had previously been an unknown family and only earned some fame by Wu Mafei’s hard work. Its prosperity later was based on Wu Mafei’s insurance, too!

“Now that Wu Mafei’s only son suddenly showed up, how should the assets of the Wu family be divided?”

Xie Anan listened to the story in confusion. She tilted her head and thought for a while. “Since Wu Mafei still has a son, his son is naturally the rightful heir to the compensation, pension, and the money that Wu Mafei earned previously.”

Long Yunxin smiled knowingly. “That’s common sense, but Wu Mafei’s two brothers have enjoyed his legacy for so many years. How could they bear to hand over everything that was once theirs?

“The communication has just begun. Iron Plateau is still a mysterious place for most space residents. Nobody knows much about the situation on Iron Plateau.

“When Wu Mayan went back, he looked like a teenager no more than fifteen years old, and his mother was a strengthless doctor. His uncles thought that they could take advantage of the widow and the fatherless child, and they planned to keep the legacy for themselves. According to my friend, they provided a very harsh agreement, trying to kick away the mother and the young man with petty benefits.

“However, other than being the only son of Wu Mafei, Wu Mayan has yet another identity. He is the disciple of Sand Scorpion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau!

“Besides, Sand Scorpion went to the Cross Wind Space Zone together with Wu Mayan!”

Chapter 642: Glorious Sunlight Group

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

“Ah?”

Attracted by the story, Xie Anan exclaimed, “Sand Scorpion must be not easy to deal with. Since he could rise to fame in a world as lawless as Iron Plateau, he would definitely teach the Wu family a hard lesson!”

Long Yunxin blinked and said, “If he simply engaged in fights without thinking, I wouldn’t think so highly of him. He would merely have been another reckless man.

“However, according to my friend, through some methods, Sand Scorpion made the Wu family attack him first!”

“Were they crazy?” Xie Anan was quite surprised. “The man is the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. How could they be so foolish?”

“It was a good demonstration of Sand Scorpion’s cunningness.” Long Yunxin took a long breath and continued. “When Sand Scorpion just showed up, he didn’t reveal his identity, and he looked like a plain redneck. It was said that several members of the Wu family mocked him at the welcome party, but he did not respond or fight back. When a Cultivator of the Wu family challenged him, he turned it down with the excuse that he was injured and dedicated himself to the meat on the table. As a result, nobody thought much of him.

“There was no telling whether he really liked to keep a low profile or he was acting on purpose. If he was pretending the whole time, his mind is too treacherous.

“The Wu family is a third-rate family in the Cross Wind Space Zone after all, and they don’t really know any top secrets. How could they know that the redneck that they’d been laughing at was actually the best warrior on Iron Plateau?

“In the end, when conflict broke out between the two parties regarding the recognition of Wu Mafei’s legacy and the division of his assets, the Wu family was bewildered enough to ask three Building Foundation Stage Cultivators to deal with Sand Scorpion!

“Can you guess what happened?”

“What?” asked Xie Anan interestedly, her face red because of the coldness.

Long Yunxin extended her three fingers and waved them softly, as she replied, “Three Building Foundation Stage Cultivators were in crystal suits, fully armed.

“Sand Scorpion did not even use any weapon, much less a crystal suit. He crushed the three of them barehanded!”

“What!” Xie Anan gasped. “Defeating three Building Foundation Stage Cultivators without weapons? He is so terrifying?”

Long Yunxin was still in shock, too. “I couldn’t agree with you more. The news I got was that Sand Scorpion had a pair of hands like two devils. When his fists hit his opponent’s crystal suits, the crystal suit would turn into components, and part of the suit would be dissembled!”

Xie Anan’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “Dismantling a crystal suit emptyhanded? Unbelievable!”

Long Yunxin nodded in agreement. “The three Building Foundation Stage Cultivators were quite famous in the Cross Wind Space Zone, and yet, they suffered a humiliating defeat because of Sand Scorpion. Naturally, the entire Cross Wind Space Zone was shocked.

“It was not until this moment that Sand Scorpion told everybody who he actually was. He also formally accused the three Building Foundation Stage Cultivators to be assassins from the Temple of Immortals who had been ordered to kill him!

“The Wu family had thought that Sand Scorpion was just a Mr. Nobody, so they were all dumbfounded at the situation!

“Think about it. The cooperation between space residents and Iron Plateau natives had reached the most critical moment. Sand Scorpion was not only the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau but also a visiting scholar invited by Flying Star University. Neither of the two identities was something that the Wu family could mess around with!”

Xie Anan couldn’t help but chuckle. “They deserved it!”

Long Yunxin laughed, too. “Anyways, after the incident, most of the property of the Wu family returned to Wu Mayan. His two uncles who had ill intentions were saved of the punishment of going to jail, but they were eliminated from the decision-making circle of the family. They received a small pension and retired in embarrassment.

“Later, Wu Mayan reorganized the assets of the Wu family. Supported by his mother’s family, he established a new ‘Glorious Sunlight Group’. No sooner had it been founded than it started negotiating about cooperation and acquisition with a few sects in the transportation industry of the Cross Wind Space Zone, showing that the owner of the enterprise had a lot of resources!

“It was said that the Glorious Sunlight Group would take the trade between the space and Iron Plateau as their main business, and they will most likely monopolize many resources on Iron Plateau!”

“Wu Mayan is quite impressive. He is just a teenager, and he can already form such ambitious plans?” Xie Anan mumbled.

Long Yunxin snapped her forehead softly and smiled. “You dummy. Wu Mayan is not fifteen years old yet, and he has grown up on Iron Plateau. How much could he know about business? His mother’s family is best known for their medical arts and know little about corporate affairs, too. Besides, even though they were interested in the idea, they did not have the capital to establish the Glorious Sunlight Group! Sand Scorpion must be behind the endeavor.”

Xie Anan finally realized what this was all about. “Indeed. I’m told that Sand Scorpion is quite rich. Besides, since he is the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, his list of connections on Iron Plateau must be enormous, too. Good heavens. If the resources of an entire planet are monopolized by his Glorious Sunlight Group, his wealth will be intimidating!”

Long Yunxin nodded. “Yes. The real owner of the Glorious Sunlight Group is definitely Sand Scorpion. The resources of a major planet are too abundant. Even if he is not monopolizing all of them, a franchise of one tenth of the important resources is enough to make the Glorious Sunlight Group one of the top-tier organizations in the Flying Star Sector!

“However, what I was really awed was Sand Scorpion’s cunningness.

“Before, I thought the same with those people.” Long Yunxin nodded at the four daydreaming young refiners and chuckled. “I thought that, impressive as his title might be, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau would merely be a burly barbarian after all. With a few compliments and adulations, we would definitely get him to dance however we wanted.

“But after I was told of the incident, I was literally soaked in cold sweat. If Sand Scorpion was manipulating everybody and set up a trap for the Wu family to help Wu Mayan get his annoying uncles away, then his devices would be too scary!

“These four guys think that he is a fat lamb waiting to be butchered. They do not know that his wisdom is proportional to his wealth! Although they are trying to fool him right now, I bet they will be devoured by him without any bones left while they think they are taking advantage of him!”

Xie Anan’s face was even more twisted, as if she had just bitten a sour apple. She smiled bitterly. “Sister Long, after hearing your story, I’m even less willing to welcome the intimidating guy now!”

…

“Dear passengers, we are arriving at the No. 6 space port of the third orbital ring of Heavenly Saints City, our final destination. Please make sure your belongings are with you. The Feathered Snakes Brotherhood offer mind-refreshing pills for free for every passenger on board to ease your fatigue after such a long journey. The mind-refreshing pills are made of thirty-six valuable…”

Listening to the loud and clear advertisement, Li Yao stretched his arms and observed the view outside the cabin window with great interest, while he murmured to himself, “How splendid!”

He was in the middle of a carrier that was hundreds of meters long. Naturally, it was not a real cabin window next to him but a light beam where the real-time scenery that the crystal cameras captured of Heavenly Saints City was displayed.

It was not until this moment that Li Yao witnessed the magnificence and splendidness of the biggest metropolis of the Flying Star Sector in person.

Half an hour away, they passed the ninth and the tenth orbital rings, the two outmost residential areas of Heavenly Saints City.

Further outside, the eleventh and the twelfth orbital rings were still under construction.

Countless carriers and engineering starships towed the war remnants from various parts of the Flying Star Sector, which would then be refined in the space factories near Heavenly Saints City. Together with the components produced in asteroids and world fragments, they constituted new flesh and bones of Heavenly Saints City.

Thousands of workers collaborated with the automatic construction magical equipment. The scene reminded Li Yao of ants who were building their nests.

Thanks to the hard work of the workers, Heavenly Saints City was expanding at a visible speed. Instead of a dead object, it was likely an awesome giant beast that was roaming in the sea of stars.

Heavenly Saints City was made of a star fortress and ten orbital rings that surrounded it. The orbital rings were connected to each other by high-pressure vacuum tubes. There were many branches on the vacuum tubes and their ends were connected to countless smaller star fortresses.

At first glance, the city looked like a big tree with countless fruits on it.

They’d been floating in Heavenly Saints City for more than half an hour, and yet they still hadn’t reached the ‘third ring’ from the ‘tenth ring’. Hundreds of carriers had jammed the traffic ahead of them.

Li Yao stopped staring out the window and focused his attention on the desk in front of him.

On the desk was a common watch made of 462 components.

Li Yao tapped the desk with his right hand softly. He suddenly flipped his palm, and his spiritual energy surged out toward the watch. His fingers did not move, but the watch was dismantled into hundreds of components in the blink of an eye!”

Still can’t. My control over my spiritual energy is still too primitive. I cannot dismantle all of the components without touching the watch.

Li Yao slightly frowned.

It was extremely difficult to increase the hand speed after it surpassed the speed of sound. If he wanted a major breakthrough, he would have to break the limits of hands and operate on materials directly with his spiritual energy. That away, much more delicate control than hands would be achieved.

A Cultivator only had ten fingers, but they could form thousands of spiritual threads. If their every spiritual thread was nimbler than their fingers, their ‘hand speed’ would be increased by hundreds of times!

If the skill was adeptly grasped, it would not be impossible to dismantle a crystal suit or a starship barehanded.

Without feeling bored, Li Yao dismantled and assembled the watch time and time again. However, his thoughts suddenly flashed back to a month ago.

When he thought of everything that had happened in the Cross Wind Space Zone, he couldn’t help but feel funny.

As a man born in the magical equipment graveyard, he had never been fond of being in the spotlight. Lurking in an inconspicuous corner and waiting for the prey was the most comfortable style for him.

Therefore, he had refused to go to Heavenly Saints City with the exchange students, because a huge number of reporters were definitely going to show up wherever they arrived. He did not intend to waste his precious time on meaningless social activities.

As it happened, Wu Mayan was going to his hometown to scatter his birth father’s ashes, and Sha Yulan meant to visit her parents in the Cross Wind Space Zone, too. Therefore, Li Yao had decided to go with them. He had planned to go to Heavenly Saints City after all the family matters were settled.

He had been hoping to avoid trouble and had been keeping quite a low profile. However, trouble always seemed to come to him anyway.

Chapter 643: Welcome Gift!

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

The trip might not be as bad as I thought.

It was a pure coincidence that Li Yao went to the Cross Wind Space Zone. He had not planned to do so in the beginning. However, he had never been a man who liked to refuse other people. Since those two uncles of the Wu family had been seeking their own doom, how could he not fulfil their wish?

He had merely wanted to take back the legacy his disciple was entitled to in the beginning. However, after investigating, he found that the Wu family was mainly engaged in the transportation industry, and most of its assets were relatively new carriers.

When Wu Mafei, Wu Mayan’s birth father, was alive, he had been in charge of the transportation business of the White Dragon Society. After a few years of work, he had led his family into the transportation industry, too.

Despite his two brothers’ evil characters, they were quite seasoned in the business operations.

After Wu Mafei passed away, his two brothers had continued working in the transportation industry with the connections and capital that he had left behind. In honor of Wu Mafei, the White Dragon Society maintained the cooperation with the Wu family, too. For more than a decade, the family business had thrived. No wonder Wu Mayan’s two uncles were reluctant to let go of it.

After the investigation was done, Li Yao quickly thought of something and associated it with the scheme that had been on his mind recently.

Later, with evidence that the two uncles had hired muscle against himself and a series of clandestine arrangements, Li Yao kicked them out of the decision-making circle of the Wu family and helped Wu Mayan get back what should have been his all along.

Inside the Wu family, except for the two uncles, there were also many secondary members who were all quite familiar with the transportation industry. Li Yao appointed the dutiful, obedient ones and those who had been not favored by the two uncles because of their close relation with Wu Mafei as the new administration.

With that personnel as the foundation, as well as the tremendous resources that Li Yao had gained on Iron Plateau and the support of Sha Yulan’s family, the ‘Glorious Sunlight Group’ was established!

Li Yao was not scared that the Wu family would betray him, because the main advantage of the Glorious Sunlight Group was Li Yao and Wu Mayan’s connection with Iron Plateau and the monopolization of resources based on it.

Without the relationship, the ‘Glorious Sunlight Group’ would have been nothing.

Besides, Li Yao believed that everyone would understand the dire consequences of betraying him after witnessing him blow up three crystal suits barehanded.

Li Yao’s purpose of establishing the Glorious Sunlight Group was very simple. Firstly, he was hoping to make money through the trades between the Iron Plateau natives and space residents. The profits would support the refinement of his future planetary-level magical equipment and the search for the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

Because of the vastness of the space, it was a money-burning task to find a special constellation between the countless stars and locate its coordinates precisely.

Secondly, since the Glorious Sunlight Group was planning to transport goods for Iron Plateau natives and space residents, it was only reasonable that it established its own team of guards or even an Exo Society, considering the chaos in the Flying Star Sector.

It was a perfect excuse for Li Yao to assemble his own armed forces.

Maybe one day, the Exo Society under the name of the Glorious Sunlight Group would go back to the Heaven’s Origin Sector together with him!

Besides, right now, the newly established Glorious Sunlight Group was a great cover to hide a lot of secrets for him.

After the Glorious Sunlight Group was registered, Li Yao purchased a batch of secondhand carriers in the name of the company through online trade platforms. Many carriers had similar shapes to Sparkle.

Li Yao planned to modify the secondhand carriers to the point that they would look exactly like Sparkle. After that, he would dismantle one of the carriers and only keep its number.

In such a way, Sparkle would have a perfect disguise and become legalized. It would be able to cruise through the space routes openly. Nobody would notice anything wrong unless they boarded the starship and checked.

Other than that, Li Yao also purchased a lot of magical equipment for refiners under the name of the Glorious Sunlight Group, hoping to build the Glorious Sunlight Group’s own laboratory for Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators.

Mo Xuan, as the dean of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution in the old days, had waited for too long in the long journey in the sea of stars. He almost couldn’t wait to act now.

Li Yao had once discussed with them about establishing a branch of the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution in the Flying Star Sector. Right now, Li Yao had enough resources to fulfil his promise now.

The branch could be established under the name ‘Research Center of the Glorious Sunlight Group’.

The Glorious Sunlight Group has been born. Although it does not boast many carriers right now, considering our monopolization of Iron Plateau, which is a goose that lays golden eggs, many sects have already proposed cooperation. A lot of profit is waiting for us.

Selling the unpurifiable ores on Iron Plateau to the world fragments in space that have the technology to refine them alone is enough for us to make a fortune!

Therefore, the research funds shouldn’t be a problem.

As for Professor Mo Xuan, he was in charge of Project Mystic Skeleton all by himself and was one of the leading experts among the grassroots refiners. He is clearly not a nerd who knows nothing but research. With abundant resources, it should be a familiar job for him to establish and manage a research center.

Everything has been set on track. Very good. I can focus myself on training right now. I’m definitely going to form the ultimate core within five years!

The starship shivered slightly and docked at the space port.

Li Yao stretched his arms. His left hand moved softly, and the hundreds of components dancing in midair immediately rushed to his wrist, where they circled and assembled into a watch precisely.

The second hand was ticking accurately.

Li Yao walked to the exit amid other travelers.

Before, when his identity had been revealed in the Cross Wind Space Zone, the Cultivation sects there had suggested sending a starship to escort him to Heavenly Saints City.

Flying Star University had also proposed to pick him up in the Cross Wind Space Zone.

However, he had turned down the offers and decided to go to Heavenly Saints City on a regular carrier, after demanding that Flying Star University not to leak his whereabouts.

The trouble he was trying to avoid was not just reporters, who were literally everywhere, but also the Temple of Immortals, which was lurking in the darkness.

After the incidents on Iron Plateau, Li Yao had no doubt that his name was on the top of the blacklist of the Temple of Immortals.

Although he was not scared of the Temple of Immortals, it would be quite a bummer and a waste of his time, which he could’ve used for training, if a bunch of assassins were asking for his trouble all day.

Seeing no reporters outside the space port, Li Yao was greatly relieved. He squinted and looked for his ride.

Soon, he saw three men wearing the badge of Flying Star University.

However, the three of them seemed too muscular, and the aura around them was ten times sharper than that of common refiners.

The two parties looked at each other. The three men hesitated for a moment and raised their wrists to check the photo on their mini crystal processors before they finally strode toward him.

Li Yao frowned and thought to himself, Are you kidding me? Assassins of the Temple of Immortals are outrageous enough to do their job in Heavenly Saints City openly? No. Although the three of them look quite capable, they do not seem to be assassins.

“Master Sand, greetings!”

The three of them walked to Li Yao like three mobile radiation sources without hiding their provocative aura at all. The one in the lead was quite hefty and more than 2.2 meters tall, with acne all over his face, clearly a guy who wouldn’t enjoy a day until he had experienced a satisfying fight. He grinned and said, “I am Liao Guohui, a teacher of the Combat Department of Flying Star University. I’m from the Furious Bears Union!”

“My name is Cai Yu. I also work in Flying Star University.” The second young man, who was slender and looked like a snake, smiled and said, “I am a disciple of the Feathered Snakes Brotherhood.”

The third young man was stout, with a neck thicker than his head and a long bag on his back. His eyes were big, but his pupils were small, from which needle-like brilliance was beaming out. He eyed Li Yao up and down rudely and said, “I am Feng Kaixuan, a secondary researcher of the Flying Sword Department.

“I’m from the Heaven Wolves Fortress.”

Li Yao was dazed and realized what was going on. “Nice to meet you, fellow Cultivators. But I seem to recall that it is the Refining Department that was supposed to pick me up. Most of my research will be conducted in the Refining Department, too. I wonder…”

“Master Sand, you are the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, and the three of us are more or less known in the younger generation of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City, too.”

Snake-like young man Feng Kaixuan said in a smile, “We were all excited to learn that you were coming to Flying Star University as a visiting scholar. We thought that we finally would have the opportunity to experience the marvelous skills of the legendary qi-trainers. But we didn’t expect that you would choose to go to the Refining Department!

“However, it doesn’t matter. The main reason that the three of us have come here to greet you is to let you know that the Combat Department, the Battlesuit Department, the Flying Sword Department, and the other departments related to fighting welcome you to come at any moment to exchange our thoughts and ideas.

“The six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the six tribes of Iron Plateau are in a subtle relationship. Everybody knows that. But we are young people after all, and we should not refrain from talking to each other because of shadows of the past. Don’t you agree, Master Sand?”

Li Yao smiled. “Of course. I would like to communicate with the teachers and students of the Combat Department, the Flying Sword Department, and the Battlesuit Department if possible, too.”

Feng Kaixuan smiled and extended his hand to Li Yao. “Alright. We don’t have any other purposes. We are merely here to give Master Sand a warm welcome.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

Li Yao looked at Feng Kaixuan’s hand.

The right hand he extended seemed to be carved out of a huge rock. There was not the slightest hint of flesh and blood at all.

Li Yao did not say anything and simply shook his hand as if it were nothing unusual.

Feng Kaixuan’s face immediately froze.

As if suffering from an electric shock, his hairs all stood up.

Chapter 644: Your Fists Are Too Strong

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The bones all over Feng Kaixuan’s body was emitting crackling noises as if they were fireworks, his teeth clattering.

“What!”

Cai Yu was greatly surprised. He was hesitating whether or not he should interject, but then Li Yao let go of Feng Kaixuan’s hand and extended it toward him.

Cai Yu sniffed. Brutality suddenly shone in his eyes, as he extended his right hand, too.

He had made full preparations. Veins were bulging on his right hand, and electric arcs were vaguely dancing among his fingers!

The two hands grasped each other slowly but surely.

The electric arcs among Cai Yu’s fingers were crushed as if they were several ants.

Cai Yu grunted. The skin all over his body suddenly turned blood-red. His eyeballs protruded out and were soon occupied by the exponentially growing streaks of blood.

Li Yao was still smiling. He shook Cai Yu’s right hand for a while, before he let go of it and extended his hand toward Liao Guohui.

The hefty guy, Liao Guohui, was from the Combat Department. There were hints on his body that suggested he was a body practitioner or body fundamentalist. He was the strongest of the three when it came to empty-handed fights.

However, he was soaked in cold sweat when he saw what had become of his two good friends, whose capability was very close to his own. He did not dare underestimate the plain-looking best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. Gritting his teeth, he snatched Li Yao’s right hand with both of his giant hands while he bellowed, “Master Sand, welcome to Heavenly Saints City!”

BOOM!

The black hair on the two giant hands almost completely devoured Li Yao’s right hand.

Liao Guohui’s teeth were emitting rubbing noises; he was shaking Li Yao’s hand so hard that he was grinding his teeth into pieces.

Holding one hand with two hands. Other people who did not know what was going on might think that Li Yao had done Liao Guohui a great favor and that Liao Guohui was trying to express his gratitude by such a way of handshaking.

Li Yao frowned and couldn’t help but grunt. His muscles were rigid for a moment, before they were relieved again. In embarrassment, he said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, Mister Liao. You are too strong. I could not reserve anything.”

Liao Guohui stood stiffly as if he were a willow tree that had just been hit by lightning.

Li Yao’s right hand slithered out of Liao Guohui’s hands like a loach. He said solemnly once again. “I’m sorry, Mister Liao. It was not intentional. Your fists were really too strong!”

While talking, Li Yao nodded at the other young teachers, before he picked up his suitcase and strode off.

He soon merged in with other travelers, and none of them could see where he was anymore.

The fulminations inside Feng Kaixuan’s body did not die down until five seconds later. His cold sweat seemed to suggest that he’d been interrogated for three days and three nights. He managed to raise his right hand, only to discover that it was trembling violently beyond his control!

“Ho—horrifying! It was not a handshaking. I felt like my right hand was placed in the mouth of a demon beast that bit it hard!”

Still in shock, Feng Kaixuan looked at his good buddy Cai Yu next to him. The redness over Cai Yu’s body had only just faded, but his right hand, with which he had shaken Li Yao’s hand, was expanding at a visible speed until it was three times the usual size. It was translucent and an alarming red, like a weird balloon.

“I—I can’t feel my right hand now. Is that guy a human being? Even the few Core Formation Stage Cultivators in our department are not as intimidating as this!”

Cai Yu’s face collapsed while he gazed at his right hand in disbelief.

Feng Kaixuan touched his palm gently, and he immediately screamed like a pig being butchered.

The two of them looked at each other in bewilderment, as if they were in a match of cold sweat.

The freezing wind blowing in the space port was almost turning them into ice creams.

“Brother Liao is indeed the strongest of us!” Feng Kaixuan took a breath and commented, “As expected of a man from the Combat Department. You drew with such a monster in a head-on clash!”

He seemed to forget that Liao Guohui had held Li Yao’s one hand with two hands of his own.

“The best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau has indeed got something about him. We were too careless. Thankfully, Brother Liao managed to defeat the guy in the end. Otherwise, it would’ve been a major disgrace for us today!”

Cai Yu took out a can and sprayed the medication on his right hand carefully. A moment later, he suddenly found something weird. “Brother Liao, why are you not moving?”

Feng Kaixuan patted Liao Guohui’s shoulder, “Right. Brother Liao, why did he apologize to you in the end and say that you were too strong? What does that mean? You had a slim advantage?”

“Don’t touch me!” Liao Guohui shouted, but there was no time. Feng Kaixuan’s hand had already landed on his shoulder.

Huala!

Liao Guohui’s body trembled. Interconnecting cracks now appeared on the ground three square meters around his feet.

Below his feet, the ground had crumbled to pieces, making him look several centimeters shorter than he should have!

That was not the end. As the cracks appeared below his feet, countless streams of spiritual gas suddenly burst out of Liao Guohui’s body. His long robe bulged out at first into what seemed to be a ball, before all of his clothes, including his pants and underwear, exploded with earsplitting noises. The tattered clothes were flying crazily in midair and barely any remained on his body.

In the coldness of spring, the young teacher, Liao Guohui of the Combat Department of Flying Star University, glared at his two companions in the No. 6 space port, which was teeming with people, naked.

The cold wind was kind enough to put a layer of goosebumps on him.

Feng Kaixuan and Cai Yu were dumbfounded. They looked at Liao Guohui’s goosebumps with the utmost fear.

Liao Guohui’s face was more hideous than when he was crying. His voice coarse, he explained, “He meant that he did not hold back at all because I was too strong. That is why he said sorry.”

“Ah!”

At this moment, several travelers noticed Liao Guohui’s eccentric appearance and exclaimed in shock.

…

The five young refiners of the Refining Department of Flying Star University, and Xie Anan, were holding a large sign saying ‘Master Sand’. They looked at the crowds in eagerness.

A 3D picture was projected from Hou Zitao’s mini crystal processor.

The man in the picture was standing proudly on a bloody dais built by the bones of demon beasts. He was wearing glamorous clothes refined out of demon bones and hides, with a colorful crown made of feathers on his head. The most eye-catching part about him was his right shoulder, which had a demon tusk more than a meter long attached. It was daunting, brutal, and savage!

Below the helmet was an extremely rough face full of beards. His eyes seemed to be eating people alive, making people too scared to look at him even though it was merely a picture.

“How is he still not here?” Hou Zitao stood on his toes and looked around. “Such a distinguishing style should be very easy for us to notice.”

Seeing the picture of ‘Sand Scorpion, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’, Xie Anan was even more scared. She hid herself behind Long Yunxin and said, “Sister Long, that can’t be right. Last time I saw Sand Scorpion, he did not seem be dressed like that. Is he really so horrifying?”

“This is the formalwear that he wore when he recruited his disciple.” Long Yunxin comforted her, although she was not so sure herself. “He wouldn’t wear such ostentatious clothes in daily life, would he?”

“Not good!” Hou Zitao frowned. “I may have found several young teachers of the Combat Department and the Battlesuit Department. I was told that some young teachers from the departments who were raised up in the six sects of Heavenly Saints City did not buy Sand Scorpion’s title as the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. They’ve been planning to teach Sand Scorpion a lesson for a long time. Did they come here to ask for his trouble?”

“Where are they?”

Long Yunxin and Xie Anan looked at where Hou Zitao was pointing, only to see Liao Guohui, who was barely wearing anything and holding his legs so hard that he might’ve been postponing his urination for two hours. The man was so ashamed that he seemed to be willing to dive into the ground at any point.

Xie Anan exclaimed in shock and immediately blushed.

Long Yunxin coughed hard. “Well. Isn’t—isn’t he Liao Guohui from the Combat Department? I recall that he is one of the strongest experts in the younger generation of the Furious Bears Union. But I didn’t know that he was a fan of public exposure?”

While everybody looked at each other in bewilderment and confusion, Li Yao walked toward them with a smile.

He did not see the sign of ‘Master Sand’, but he saw Xie Anan.

He had met the girl both in the Skyhill Sword Seminar and on Iron Plateau. The two of them were quite connected.

Li Yao walked up to them and said with a smile, “Greetings, everyone. Nice to meet you again, Xie Anan. I am Sand Scorpion.”

Everybody was dazed, their eyes blinking.

Standing in front of them was a plain young man, so unattractive that there were no good points about him at all.

He was wearing a grey wind coat whose sleeves had cracked because of long-time rubbing. Inside the wind coat was a sweater that was very comfortable but the opposite of expensive. On his feet were boots full of cracks. The only adornment on his body was the glittering watch on his wrist, but it was one of the cheapest brands on the market.

Below his messy hair was a face devoid of any characteristics. However, his face was shaved clean, to the point that one might say too clean.

At first glance, one would think he was an out-and-out white-collar worker. If he were to put on sportswear, nobody would doubt him if he claimed that he was a college student!

Such an ordinary-looking, unattractive young man was like a totally different person from the fearsome, majestic best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau in the picture!

Li Yao saw the picture on Hou Zitao’s mini crystal processor, too. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly.

The photo had been taken during the ceremony where he recruited Wu Mayan as his disciple. Xiong Wuji had insisted that it should be an unprecedented gala of the Furious Bears Tribe and demanded that he put on the glamorous formalwear made of demon bones and hides according to the traditions of the six tribes of Iron Plateau. Even his beard was stimulated through secret arts so that it could grow faster. Xiong Wuji had said that it was how the best warrior of Iron Plateau should look.

Li Yao had thought that, since he was about to leave Iron Plateau, he might as well take the opportunity to boost the morale of the qi-trainers.

However, after he left Iron Plateau and returned to space, he realized that his pose in the recruitment ceremony had become the official portrait of ‘the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’. Whenever the media mentioned him, it would always be the barbaric and primitive picture that came with his name.

Chapter 645: A Real Master

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Li Yao had found it hilarious in the beginning, but he soon realized that it might not be a bad outcome. If he shaved his face clean and put on ordinary clothes in space, nobody would recognize who he was if they did not observe him carefully and have a pair of keen eyes. A lot of his trouble could be saved.

After he entered the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage, his control over the muscles throughout his body became more delicate than before. He could even slightly change the shape of his bones.

Li Yao’s current face was vastly different from when he participated in the Skyhill Sword Seminar. It was even more ordinary right now. He had also changed his hands a little bit. Therefore, Xie Anan failed to recognize him.

The girl blinked and felt a familiar scent from the guy ‘Sand Scorpion’, as if she had seen him a long, long time ago. Her face flushed, she said, “Nice to meet you, too, Master Sand Scorpion. I didn’t think that you would still remember me.”

Li Yao smiled. “Of course I do. It was thanks to your calmness on Iron Plateau that the following rescue mission was carried out successfully.”

However, his words made Xie Anan’s face even redder. She lowered her head and looked at her feet while she thought to herself, He still remembers me.

Hou Zitao finally came back to himself. He was secretly delighted because Sand Scorpion did not appear to be an unfriendly guy. He immediately signaled to his companions and put on a sunny smile, while he said, “Master Sand, nice to meet you. I’m Hou Zitao from the Refining Department. I volunteered to greet you when I was told that you were coming to the Refining Department as a visiting scholar.

“Everybody knows that Master Sand Scorpion is the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, but few of them are aware that you are adept at the arts of refining, too. We’ve all seen the 3D photos and structural designs of the True Qi armors, True Qi blades, and crystal bombs modified by you. They are indeed quite sophisticated and can be described as top-tier in many regards! We can’t wait to share our research programs with Master Sand and hear your enlightenment!

“Take the program that I’ve been working on for example. I feel that Cultivators nowadays do not have a good solution to the alternation of remote magical equipment and melee magical equipment yet.

“When a gun runs out of ammo or crystal cells, it becomes completely useless. On the other hand, sabers and swords cannot attack the enemy in a long distance.

“A Cultivator often has to bring a gun as well as a melee weapon in order to meet the need of both remote and melee combat. In regard of load, logistics, and maintenance, such a design is a great burden!

“Therefore, I’m preparing to devise a super weapon that combines remote magical equipment and melee magical equipment so that the problem can be solved once and for all. The burden for Cultivators and logistics will be greatly relieved!

“You know that the Temple of Immortals and space pirates have been running rampant recently. Our supply lines have been seriously affected by them. If such super weapons are successfully developed, the returns will be very promising!

“If you are interested, Master Sand, you are welcome to my laboratory any time. We can even research together!

“Truth be told, my research has already entered the most crucial procedure. As long as the last sum of investment is in position, our first prototype will be produced shortly, and it is only a matter of time before they are mass-produced!”

Li Yao smiled. “You are too courteous, Master Hou. Despite your young age, you’ve published five papers in ‘Bimonthly Journal of the Gunnery Association’ and ‘Light Magical Equipment Studies’ and are well-acknowledged as an expert in regards of guns.

“I’ve read all your papers. Your modification plan of ‘Icy Flames Explosive Bullets’, in which you proposed to mix the spiritual energy of the ice class and that of the fire class before it is released to make the best of the mechanism of thermal expansion and contraction, gave me a lot of insights. The formulas and rune arrays you mentioned in your article were of tremendous help to me.

“However, I’m not the best at the gun-type magical equipment, and I do not know much about the arts of shooting. Of course, we can exchange our ideas and thoughts, but I wouldn’t be bold enough to call my words enlightenment.”

Hearing his words, Hou Zitao and the other young refiners were greatly surprised. They had thought that Sand Scorpion was an idiot who knew nothing about refining, and yet he could comment on Hou Zitao’s paper?

The four of them looked at each other in bewilderment. They had been planning to brag about themselves, but they were uncertain of the newcomer’s knowledge right now and did not know whether or not they should stick to their plan.

Li Yao smiled casually. After the deal of cooperation between Flying Star University and Iron Plateau was settled, he had been authorized to read the files and papers of the Refining Department of Flying Star University.

Other than the confidential projects, most of the projects were accessible to public. Their relative files could be bought on academic websites.

Of course, the core data was kept secret. But for an expert like Li Yao, he could still infer a lot of things from the publicly published papers.

Although he had been staying in the Cross Wind Space Zone over the past month, he had a basic understanding about the studies of every expert and professor in the Refining Department of Flying Star University right now.

Solo magical equipment was a field that he was quite interested in, too. Since it somewhat overlapped with Hou Zitao’s studies, Li Yao had spent quite some time studying the guy’s theories.

Li Yao smiled and said, “Master Hou, it is an interesting idea to combine remote magical equipment with melee magical equipment. However, although the methodology you choose is not wrong, you’ve increased a lot of unnecessary difficulties for yourself. Technologically speaking, combining vibration sabers and spiritual guns is too complicated and too costly, if the plan succeeds at all.”

Hou Zitao was greatly shocked. He took a step back and blurted out, “There are so many kinds of melee magical equipment. How did you know that I was going to combine vibration sabers with spiritual guns?”

Li Yao explained, “The latest paper you wrote elaborated on the application of ‘Mid Noon Electricity Brewer’, an ancient rune array, in modern magical equipment.

“As far as I know, this particular rune array’s efficiency of storing and releasing thunder is extremely low, and it has many other shortcomings. Even in the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago, it was never an excellent rune array and has been forsaken for a long time.

“Such a rune array is definitely a good choice if you want to improve the damage of the weapon with the power of thunder.

“The weak magnetic field generated by the ancient rune array is also an excellent buffer to offset the shaking resulting from vibrations.

“With consideration of other studies that you’ve been working on, I speculated that you were trying to combine vibration sabers with spiritual guns. However, the high-frequency vibration of the saber would lead to the violent quakes of the barrel. You were looking for a special buffer material or rune array to offset the vibration without affecting the precision of shooting and the damage of the saber.”

Hou Zitao was dumbfounded. A drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

That was exactly his idea. Sand Scorpion had guessed his modification plan based on a few papers he had written even though the guy had been living on the desolate Iron Plateau the whole time?

That—that’s too monstrous! Who said that he was a silly, wealthy bumpkin who was readily foolable?

Besides, the Mid Noon Electricity Brewer was a very ancient, unpopular rune array, with a low efficiency in both the storage and the release of thunderbolts. In the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago, dozens of rune arrays of the thunder class shared similar functions and could replace it. Therefore, even the ancient Cultivators did not use such a rune array much. Its inheritance had been lost since long ago!

Hou Zitao had only learned about the existence of such a rune array and the special buffering ability it could offer from a mysterious refiner named ‘Fiend Star’ on the Spiritual Nexus by accident. That was the starting point of all his studies.

However, this Sand Scorpion knew the Mid Noon Electricity Brewer, too? Unbelievable!

Hou Zitao instantly put on a serious countenance and asked respectfully, “Master Sand, do you think the approach is wrong?”

“It is not wrong, but it is too difficult and costly.”

Li Yao explained patiently, “The Mid Noon Electricity Brewer is an ancient rune array from tens of thousands of years ago after all. The structure of the rune array is very primitive, and its stability extremely low. To make sure that it functions steadily on guns, you will have to add another few stabilizing rune arrays for it and even establish a 3D rune array group. Like this, for example.”

Li Yao thought for a moment. Since it was just a casual chitchat instead of a formal discussion, he decided to save himself of the trouble of summoning a light beam. He simply condensed his spiritual energy on his right hand and waved in midair.

Ripples immediately appeared in the air as if it were water.

Li Yao extended dozens of spiritual threads from his fingertips and left traces on the airwaves. Within a breath, more than twenty formulas and structural designs revealed themselves in the air.

Hiss!

Everyone was stunned at the translucent strokes condensed by spiritual gas that were emerging in the air and could not move their eyes away from them.

They all had seen such a technique before. The better of them could also draw runes in the air with their spiritual energy as the ink.

However, the runes they drew would soon disappear like a drop of water dispersing on paper.

Sand Scorpion’s runes in midair, on the other hand, were extremely clear, as if they had been written with a pen. They did not scatter for a long time!

How high is this guy’s Cultivation?

Everyone was greatly shocked.

Hou Zitao was the most shocked one of all, because he found that Sand Scorpion had written a series of formulas quickly and casually related to issues that had bothered him for a long time. They would solve the critical problem at hand completely!

While reading all the formulas, Hou Zitao felt that he had eaten a mouthful of mustard. Coldness was piercing his skull. He did not just feel enlightened; he felt that his brains were being rebuilt!

These—these formulas can be used to calculate the perfect structure of rune arrays for the super weapon combining the vibration sabers and spiritual guns!

Hou Zitao did not even know what to say. He stammered, “Master Sand Scorpion, you’ve thought through it since long ago.”

After only one minute, he was already addressing ‘Master Sand Scorpion’ sincerely now.

Li Yao, on the other hand, frowned and shook his head. “No. As I said, the approach is too complicated.

“Look, if you adopt such an approach and utilize such a complicate rune array group as a buffer, your final product will definitely have a huge, heavy unit toward the front.

“The most important factor for guns and blades is balance. This redundant unit will be like a lump. Wherever it grows, the balance of the weapon will be seriously affected.

“Not to mention that the buffer unit will also consume a lot of spiritual energy, which means that the working time of the weapon will be significantly reduced.

“There’s also the fault rate. I believe that Master Hou must have seen it, too. Because of the designing principles, the fault rate of the buffer unit will be quite high.”

“Indeed.”

Soaked in sweat, Hou Zitao nodded his head, although he did not actually see a damn thing.

“Combining remote magical equipment and melee magical equipment is for the purpose of reducing the weight and the cost of spiritual energy, as well as easing logistics. But such a malformed weapon with a great lump on it will not achieve the goal. It is not hard to estimate that such weapons will be kept in laboratories after their prototypes are born. They will never be mass-produced, and even if they are, nobody will purchase them,” Li Yao concluded.

Chapter 646: Chain Gun?

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

Hou Zitao seemed to have been punched right in the chest. His face was extremely pale.

He had always been an enthusiastic and outgoing man, otherwise he wouldn’t have been asked to greet Li Yao.

But, however enthusiastic he was, he was still quite depressed when Li Yao asserted that his research would only be paperwork.

The other young refiners were greatly shocked to see the formulas that Li Yao provided, too. But their studies were not focused on gun-type magical equipment, and they found many formulas very confusing.

However, they could tell from Hou Zitao’s expression that he had been completely awed.

“Sister Long.”

Xie Anan dragged Long Yunxin back and asked in a low voice, “Is Sand Scorpion very skilled in refining, too? I don’t understand the formulas he listed nor the buffer rune array group that he constructed just now.”

Long Yunxin was silent for a moment, before she replied, “I can only understand one third of them. But judging from Hou Zitao’s reaction, they seem to have blown his mind!”

Hou Zitao’s eyes were bloodshot. He scanned Li Yao’s formulas for a long time, while his pale face gradually turned red. He tried to find a loophole in theories but failed to come up with anything. In the end, he smiled bitterly. “Thanks for the enlightenment, Master Sand Scorpion. You were right. Based on the technology level of the Flying Star Sector right now, it is indeed impossible to minimize the buffer unit without affecting its usability. My approach has been wrong since the very beginning. It appears to be a dead end to combine guns and blades!”

The redness on his face faded instantly, replaced by dull gray, and his back slouched.

“Not necessarily.”

Li Yao blew at the air softly, and the patterns that he had just drawn immediately dispersed. He explained solemnly, “The vibration saber is not an option. But have you ever considered chainswords? Chainswords deal damage by revolving and cutting. The quakes from the weapon are much gentler than those from the vibration saber. Combining chainswords and spiritual guns into brand new ‘chain guns’ could be an excellent approach.”

Hou Zitao shook his head and replied gloomily, “Chainsword, vibration saber, and heat axe. I have considered all the classic melee magical equipment. But of the three of them, the vibration saber is the simplest in structure. As for chainswords, they are too complicated to be combined with spiritual guns.”

Li Yao smiled casually and drew another ten drafts in midair while he continued speaking. “Master Hou, these are some structural designs that I devised during my spare time. They can possibly combine a chainsword with a spiritual gun. Feel free to offer your input.”

Hou Zitao glanced at the drafts and was immediately dazed. His two eyes seemed to have turned into bloody mouths trying to devour all the designs.

“Your papers gave me a lot of insights. Truth be told, I’d been meaning to refine a piece of magical equipment that combines remote magical equipment and melee magical equipment. However, I was not familiar with the structure of spiritual guns and, therefore, never started the real work,” Li Yao said.

“I’ve read the preliminary reports of your research, and I think it is quite mature already. Even if you didn’t come to greet me, I would have gone to you in person someday. But I’m wondering, what’s your opinion about my approach?”

Hou Zitao was dazed. “What are the rune arrays utilized in the structural designs? How come I never saw them before?”

Li Yao smiled and said, “They are some of the ancient rune arrays that I found in the relics of Iron Plateau. They must’ve been left by our predecessors in the era of the Flying Star coalition government five thousand years ago.”

“That’s the golden era before the apocalypse,” Hou Zitao gasped.

Li Yao nodded. “Indeed. Honestly speaking, the overall level of refining of Iron Plateau is far from that of the Cultivators in space. But as for myself, I experienced a lot of adventures when I was young and discovered knowledge from the ancient times. Therefore, I’m in possession of many secret arts that other people may have no idea about.”

“That explains a lot!”

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, but they found it understandable on second thought.

Although Iron Plateau was a desolate area at present, it had been the pivot of the Flying Star Sector five thousand years ago. Heritages of the past buried in certain underground relics would definitely be very normal.

No wonder Sand Scorpion was so impressive.

Hou Zitao scratched his head and mumbled, “However, feeble as the quakes of chainswords may be, they will still affect the precision of the guns without the buffer units. How are we going to handle that?”

“Master Hou, I’m afraid that you’ve got it wrong,” Li Yao said. “I don’t think we need to focus on precision and damage at the same time. Even if such ‘chain guns’ are really developed, no real experts would be interested in them.

“It’s clear that such a combinative weapon will be neither as sharp as real swords nor as precise as guns.

“For real experts, they will pursue the most professional magical equipment instead of such combinative weapons.

“However, how many real experts are out there? Ordinary people and low-level Cultivators are the majority.

“Right now, the entire Flying Star Sector is anxious. Before, a fleet of carriers only needed one or two guardian starships or a few Exos on board to protect them. But they wish for every crew member on board to be a soldier at the moment. Nobody feels assured unless they have a weapon in their hand.

“Such chain guns should be made for them when successfully developed. Therefore, it is unnecessary to pursue precision. As long as the cost and the fault rate are reduced, it should be good enough.

“Moreover, we can even utilize the quakes when chainswords are spinning to increase the dispersion of bullets in order to make up for the shortcoming that ordinary people cannot shoot precisely. Of course, many new rune arrays will have to be utilized. I need to think more carefully about them. We can discuss later.”

Because of his engagement in Project Mystic Skeleton, Li Yao was quite experienced in the research and development of MP magical equipment. Since he was a believer of the grassroots ideologies, he knew better than anybody else what mattered most for a piece of MP magical equipment.

“Believe me,” Li Yao smiled at Hou Zitao, “Master Hou, the most important thing for us right now is time. If we can provide the prototype of such magical equipment, it will definitely be a hit and even become a bestseller in the Flying Star Sector!”

Hou Zitao rolled his eyes and was about to comment, when one of his companions suddenly pushed him aside and said, “Master Sand Scorpion, nice to meet you. I am Ning Changfeng from the Refining Department. My main research field is defensive magical equipment. Look, I’ve run into a minor problem lately…”

Half way through his speech, another young refiner came close and said, “Master Sand Scorpion…”

Xie Anan and Long Yunxin looked at each other in bewilderment. Long Yunxin gnashed her teeth. “What a bunch of losers!”

She strode forward, too, and crammed in the crowd, before she put on the most charming smile and said gracefully, “Master Sand Scorpion, greetings. My name Long Yunxin. I am…”

What the heck!

Xie Anan was rendered speechless, and her lips were pouting.

It would normally have taken half an hour to travel from the No. 6 space port to the Refining Department of Flying Star University by shuttle.

But they spent an hour and a half on the road.

It was not because of a traffic jam, but because the young refiners were discussing issues regarding refining with Master Sand Scorpion.

When the shuttle slowly landed, Hou Zitao and the rest of them had already started worshipping Li Yao.

Without being reminded, they would have completely forgotten that they were welcoming an idiotic magnate from Iron Plateau who had more brawns than brains. They already considered Li Yao to be a real master of refining!

Hou Zitao bowed and said in adulation, “Master Sand Scorpion. This way, please. Watch your head. We are arriving at the No. 1 refining center of the Refining Department of Flying Star University.”

Li Yao observed the scenery in front of him with great interest.

Flying Star University truly deserved to be one of the two best colleges of the Flying Star Sector. The campus was quite beautiful. He felt like he was in the middle of a forest park. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but grass, trees, and hills. Quite a few tiny and delicate floating mountains were drifting in the sky. Some waterfalls were pouring down, pushing over the sparkling drops of water together with the aroma of soil. The environment was truly entertaining.

If he did not raise his head, he might have forgotten that he was inside an enormous circular space station.

The entire Flying Star Sector was located in the third orbital ring of Heavenly Saints City. The place he was at was actually in a cylindrical structure. Therefore, Li Yao noticed that the land on the horizon gradually leaned upwards and extended over his head.

Whichever direction he was going to, he would reach the ‘above’ of where he was standing right now and return to exactly the same spot if he continued walking.

Raising his head, he found vivid blue sky and white clouds.

However, Li Yao was aware that they were all illusions made by magical equipment. If the illusions were gone, he would see forests and buildings dangling down from the dome of the high sky.

In the eyes of the residents there, he was also ‘dangling’ and attracted by the man-made gravity field.

“Nice to meet you, Master Sand.”

In the hall of the No.1 refining center, Wei Wenyao, dean of the department, greeted him with a smile.

But his eyes became somewhat weird as he glanced over at the five refiners who were apparently flattering the one they had picked up. He was secretly wondering what was going on.

Although he had asked them to be warm, their behavior was a bit too much, considering that their purpose was merely some research funds. Where were the manners of an expert?

The thoughts rolled around for a while in his mind, but Wei Wenyao quickly averted his eyes and said with a smile, “It must’ve been an exhausting trip, Master Sand. Do excuse us. We were supposed to prepare a welcome party for you, but since the Temple of Immortals went on a rampage, the researchers here have been quite tense. Everybody is occupied in their refining projects when they are not teaching students. They’ve been working day and night, and it’s becoming normal for them to not have any sleep for ten days. Therefore, they really don’t have the time to greet you.”

Chapter 647: [Chapter 647?]

“You are too kind, Dean Wei.”

Li Yao knew that Wei Wenyao was speaking the truth. Real scholars and Cultivators did not have so much time for social activities. It was more usual that they complained that they did not have enough time.

Li Yao had similar experiences, too. If his training had entered the most crucial procedure and he was asked to abandon his work in order to welcome an unfamiliar guest, he wouldn’t have been too happy about it, either.

“Dean Wei, I do not like formalities, either. Just consider me a regular visiting scholar. Miss Xie Anan can stay and show me around, but Master Hou and Miss Long both have new ideas that they are desperate to test out. There’s no need to waste their time,” Li Yao said.

“Oh?”

Wei Wenyao was dazed for a moment. Seeing the ecstasy and eagerness on their faces, he was quite surprised because it was different from what he had imagined.

Hou Zitao, Long Yunxin, and the rest of them looked at each other. They bade farewell to Li Yao respectfully before they nodded at Wei Wenyao and rushed out of the room in the blink of an eye. Wei Wenyao was even more surprised.

Wei Wenyao thought for a moment and asked, “I wonder, is there any particular project that you would like to work on?”

Generally speaking, common visitors had already reached out to an expert or professor in Flying Star University and discussed the possibility of their cooperation before they came to the college. The experts and professors of Flying Star University often filed applications and invited the visiting scholars to come.

Naturally, before their arrival, their research field had been mostly fixed.

But Li Yao was an exception. Wei Wenyao did not have high expectations for his skill in refining, either. He was merely posing a random question.

“I’m very interested in the studies of middle- and small-sized magical equipment in your department, especially that related to crystal suits. I know several experts in your department to be authorities of the trade. Their laboratories are among the most famous laboratories in the Flying Star Sector. Can I pay a visit to those laboratories first?” Li Yao asked.

He activated the light beam and listed the laboratories that he wanted to visit.

Wei Wenyao glanced at them and coughed. “Some of them are available, but some of them are conducting important experiments today and will not be open in the coming few days. You can visit them later.”

However, he was not telling the truth.

Although many middle-aged and young refiners in the Refining Department welcomed Li Yao’s arrival, some real big shots did not think too highly of the unfamiliar guest.

Those authorities were as respected as Wei Wenyao in the circle of refiners, if not more. They were quite famous and never in lack of patrons.

Many of them were elders or even previous leaders of certain sects, or the masters of a noble family of refining. They were never short of funding.

Such people valued their honor and integrity more than anything, and there was no way that they would open their laboratories to a barbarian from a godforsaken planet.

Naturally, Wei Wenyao wouldn’t be so blunt as to tell Li Yao that.

He picked several laboratories in Li Yao’s list whose owners he had talked to before. He then settled the visiting hours with Li Yao, before he sent the detailed information and routes to Li Yao’s and Xie Anan’s mini crystal processors.

After that, Li Yao started touring the No. 1 refining center with Xie Anan as his guide.

Flying Star University truly deserved to the one of the two supreme colleges in the Flying Star Sector. The No. 1 refining center alone was larger than the entire Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution in Li Yao’s memory. The myriad of glamorous magical equipment he saw in certain open laboratories could almost have been compared to the booth of the Refining Department of Deep Sea University.

The finely-made tools and facilities inside the professional refining chambers were great eye-openers for Li Yao, who was greatly enjoying himself.

Many of the tools and facilities had been developed by Flying Star University itself. The sophisticated technology involved in them completely hooked Li Yao.

His style was quite a surprise for the owners of the laboratories, too, because it was beyond their expectation.

However, the refiners all secretly chuckled when they saw that Li Yao was so horny that he was about to jump onto the magical equipment. Bumpkins were bumpkins after all! He must have never seen anything so fantastic!

In more than half a day, Li Yao visited nine laboratories with great interest, but he still felt that he was not entirely satisfied.

Xie Anan, on the other hand, couldn’t take it any longer. She apologized to Li Yao, blushing, and hurried to go to the bathroom.

Li Yao roamed in the hallway joyfully, his hands behind his back. Many pictures of classic magical equipment were hanging on the walls of the hallway. They were fine artworks and worth appreciating.

After enjoying three pictures, his eyes suddenly brushed past a close door, on the top of which, two magnificent words were written: ‘Ares Laboratory’.

Li Yao suddenly thought of something.

The owner of the laboratory was Xue Yuanxin, one of the top experts in crystal suits in the Flying Star Sector. He had been the First Armadominus in Red Line School, one of the three main crystal suit centers, in his early years and devised quite a few classic crystal suits, many of which were still equipped by a large number of Cultivators even today.

After leaving the Red Line School, Xue Yuanxin joined Flying Star University. He had dedicated himself to the development of Ares Extensions, a different field, instead of continuing crafting crystal suits.

“The damage of normal crystal suits cannot satisfy my imagination now. Only the Ares Extensions can possibly realize my dream of blowing up a starship with one punch!”

That was Xue Yuanxin’s answer when the reporters asked him.

Crystal suits were Li Yao’s specialty, too. He also had firsthand experience on building an Ares Extension on Iron Plateau. However, he had never learned the arts of the Ares Extensions systematically after all. The ‘Apocalypse Extension’ he had refined last time were merely a simple amalgamation of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, which was the biggest reason Yan Xibei had destroyed it so easily.

If all the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had been carefully concerted and a real Ares Extension crafted, Li Yao estimated that Yan Xibei would’ve been suppressed by him directly.

Therefore, this Master Xue Yuanxin was on the top of the list of experts that he wanted to communicate with.

It was a pity that Master Xue was in the middle of an important experiment today, and his laboratory was closed.

Li Yao sighed, not without regret. He was about to leave, when he suddenly sensed very weak shaking.

He sniffed and smelled a vague uncanny scent.

Advanced laboratories were mostly soundproof and fully-enclosed. If he could feel weak quakes in the hallway, an enormous shaking must have taken place inside the Ares Laboratory. Together with the uncanny scent and the violent spiritual energy of the fire class, Li Yao inferred that a small explosion had occurred inside the laboratory.

As he expected, a moment later, the red light on the top of the Ares Laboratory started blinking, and the door glided to the sideways. A cluster of white smoke mixed with flames flooded out of the room.

Many refiners who had dust all over their faces ran out while coughing. Some of them were spraying foam and water with antifire magical equipment. The flames were quickly put out, but the vaporized water made the spot even foggier.

The practice of refining could be really dangerous; explosions were nothing but normal. The refiners were anxious but not disordered. They extinguished the fire in a neat fashion according to the standard procedure.

Li Yao did not want to interject. Every laboratory had its own regulations and exigency plans in case of explosions. Who should run away, who should hide themselves, and who was responsible for putting out the fire were all listed clearly in the plans.

If an outsider barged in recklessly, not only would they be of no help, they would also disrupt the pace of the team.

However, while he was watching them doing their job, he suddenly felt weird waves from inside the laboratory. A sense of danger pierced through his soul like an invisible venomous sting!

“Not good!”

Li Yao’s pupils suddenly constricted. He stomped on the ground so hard that his boots turned into powder and left two shallow traces on the floor, before he turned into a streak of darkness and darted into the laboratory!

The laboratory was almost a thousand square meters, with a hollow in the middle that was more than twenty meters deep. It occupied quite a few floors of the refining center.

A ball-like furnace was revolving slowly under the influence of the magnetic field in the hollow at the center of the laboratory, supported by anti-gravity rune arrays.

It was ‘Gold Ball XII’, an advanced floating furnace and one of the top-tier furnaces in the Flying Star Sector. It was most suitable for refining solo magical equipment such as blades, crystal suits, or strengthening components.

But at that moment, a crack more than two meters long had appeared on the left side of ‘Gold Ball’, from which colorful steam was jetting out. Li Yao couldn’t help but feel pitiful, seeing the miserable appearance.

In the middle of the smoke, many refiners wearing heatproof suits were spraying foam with cylinder-shaped antifire magical equipment. The purple foam contained abundant spiritual energy of the water class and could neutralize the high temperature. They were very mild and wouldn’t affect most Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

One of them glared at Li Yao. “It is dangerous here. Get out!”

“Of course, it is dangerous!”

Having no time to explain anything, Li Yao summoned his spiritual energy to form a cluster of high-pressure gas around him to avoid the invasion of heat, before he condensed a thin layer of spiritual energy around his body as if he had put on a silver shining armor.

While everybody’s exclaimed, Li Yao dashed into the gold ball in a streak of brightness.

“Ah!”

Everybody exclaimed once more in shock.

Right now, the temperature inside the furnace was still more than 1,000 degrees. Even iron would be melted. But the man had rushed into it even without a crystal suit. He was merely committing suicide!

However, how could they have stopped him even if they wanted to with their capability?

Before they came back to themselves, Li Yao had already crawled out of the gold ball, with two objects about to be melted in his hands that were enveloped in his spiritual gas. He kept them far away from each other while he shouted at everyone, “Spray the cooling liquids!”

Li Yao’s voice contained unstoppable strength like a sharp axe. Everybody shuddered and sprayed cooling liquids on the objects.

It was not until the two objects were enshrouded by purple icy fog and the irritating spiritual energy inside of them gradually calmed down that Li Yao took a long breath in relief. His clothes had been soaked in sweat, and he found it hard to stand on his feet.

It was too dangerous. That one second just now had been even more dangerous than the moment when he confronted Yan Xibei!

Chapter 648: Tortoise and Snake Locking the Mountain

 

Translator: flycrane01 | Editor: Millman97

Although Li Yao was not aware of the specific composition of the two clusters of materials, he did sense the subtle reaction between them. Once they were melted and mixed, an even more intense explosion was definitely going to be triggered, even releasing fatal gas!

The moment Li Yao rushed into the furnace, the two clusters of materials were about to be melted!

The dumbfounded refiners nearby had no idea that they’d been on the doorstep of hell a while ago.

Hardly had Li Yao taken a breath in relief when he heard a coarse, high-pitched scream from the depths of the smoke, as if a hen had been grabbed by the neck. “Hurry to run. The combination of venomous dragon bone marrow and Heavenly Fire Crystals is very likely to cause an explosion. Run away, now!”

A short, grey-haired old man rushed out of the smoke. His clothes had been singed black by the flames, and his messy white hair was stuck to his big forehead. He was short and slender. His limbs were like four rods, but his head was exceptionally big, taking up almost half of his body.

Veins were bulging from the old man’s forehead. His pupils seemed to be squeezing blood to put out the fire. He was about to crawl into the furnace without caring about anything, when Li Yao was quick enough to stop him.

“Master Xue, I’ve separated the Heavenly Fire Crystals and the bone marrows of venomous dragons and cooled them down to below 500 degrees.”

Li Yao had seen Xue Yuanxin’s photo on the Spiritual Nexus and watched a few lecture videos made by him. He knew that the unattractive little old man in front of him was one of the best crystal suit designers in the Flying Star Sector.

He also realized what the materials that he had just separated were.

He did not know much about the so-called venomous dragon bone marrow, because there were many kinds of dragon-type demon beasts, hundreds of which carried deadly poison and could be called ‘venomous dragons’. Since Li Yao did not know exactly which type of dragon Xue Yuanxin was experimenting with, he naturally had no idea what attributes the marrows had.

However, Li Yao was very familiar with the material ‘Heavenly Fire Crystals’, which was a type of marrow crystal of the fire class with special characteristics.

Although it belonged to the fire class, it boasted tremendous heatproof abilities. The higher the temperature it was in, the more stable it would become. It wouldn’t explode even if the environment was in a temperature of more than 2,000 degrees.

However, Heavenly Fire Crystals would undergo uncanny changes if they were heated to a temperature between 1,350 degrees and 1,450 degrees for more than ten seconds, giving birth to a new material named ‘Fire Destroyer Crystals’. During the process, ninety percent of the spiritual energy contained inside the marrow crystals would be released instantly and lead to very serious explosions!

Although Li Yao did not know what the venomous dragon bone marrow was exactly, it must have been carrying deadly poison based on its name. The explosions of the Heavenly Fire Crystals could’ve vaporized the venomous dragon bone marrow and turned it into fatal gas!

Li Yao estimated that the furnace was supposed to improve the temperature from several hundred degrees to more than 1,800 degrees instantly, and there would be no time for the Heavenly Fire Crystals to initiate any chemical reactions. It would remain steady until the refining process was done.

But the experiment had gone wrong. A minor explosion had taken place inside the furnace in the beginning, resulting in a crack on the surface of the furnace that could not maintain the high temperature anymore.

As the steam jetted out, the temperature inside the furnace dropped to around 1,400 degrees. The Heavenly Fire Crystals reached the threshold of mutation, and a great disaster was almost caused.

“Separated? That’s good. It’s great that they are separated!”

Two lines of blood spilled out of Xue Yuanxin’s ears. He seemed to have been injured in the previous accident. His eyes glanced at Li Yao in confusion but did not stop there for long. He staggered to a corner of the laboratory and sat on the ground. Holding his head in his hands, he mumbled, “What’s happening? I’ve tested all the formulas time and time again. There’s no way that they can possibly go wrong. Why was so much gas generated that the furnace was overwhelmed? Where did the gas come from?”

Li Yao’s interest was aroused. He drew close to the old man and looked. A giant light beam was floating in front of Xue Yuanxin. The light beam was packed with formulas and equations in the minimum font size as well as several structural designs and flowcharts.

It appeared that he was trying to refine a new material.

Material science was not Li Yao’s specialty. The formulas and equations that Xue Yuanxin had written were extremely sophisticated, too. Li Yao’s head went dizzy as he read them. Eventually, he managed to distinguish the six main materials and the thirty-seven subsidiary materials that Xue Yuanxin employed to build the new material.

However, although Li Yao was not good at theories in the science of materials, he had witnessed the combination of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures countless times in Ou Yezi’s memory pieces, and he was quite familiar with the scent and color of the flames when they were refined.

Li Yao recalled the view inside the furnace and commented uncertainly, “Master Xue, when I was in the furnace just now, I seemed to smell the ash of leaves of the eucalypt trees. By logic, the forty materials that you selected wouldn’t produce such an odor no matter what.

“As far as I know, the materials that tend to trigger such a smell in high temperature include the Heavenly Flourishment Wood, the Sea Tiger Tusk, the Blue Cloud Vine, the Green Spirit Stone, among a few others.

“If I may point out, the Green Spirit Stone always accompanies the Green Hellish Ancient Bronze, and they are sometimes mixed together.

“Normal purification procedures can hardly remove all the Green Spirit Stones from the Green Hellish Ancient Bronze.

“The way I see it, you’ve employed a lot of Green Hellish Ancient Bronze as the base material in your experiment. Is it possible that some Green Spirit Stone was mixed in and was released in the high temperature? The enormous gas the stone releases instantly could surpass the pressure limit of the furnace very quickly.”

Xue Yuanxin was dazed for a moment. “You understand my formulas?”

Then, his eyes bulged wide, and he slapped his thighs in ecstasy, while he said, “Yes. It’s possible. Very possible! The Green Spirit Stones will have reactions with Fire Phoenix Glass when they are heated to more than 2,000 degrees! The Green Fire Glass Gas will be produced, and its volume will be expanded by thousands of times instantly!

“My calculations are correct. It was the purification of the Green Hellish Ancient Bronze that went wrong. Otherwise, I would’ve successfully refined the ‘Super Bendable Steel’! Cough-cough-cough.”

“Super Bendable Steel?”

Li Yao was greatly interested. It sounded like a whole new material.

Considering that Master Xue Yuanxin was supervising the experiment in person and the forty or so kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures employed in the experiment were all invaluable, the new material seemed very interesting.

Xue Yuanxin finally eyed Li Yao up and down, before he blurted, “Who are you? Are you one of my students?”

Li Yao coughed. He had read the guy’s introduction on the Spiritual Nexus and knew the top-tier master of refining in the Flying Star Sector was adept at his specialty but quite jumbled in daily life. It was said that he could not remember his students’ names even if they had been studying under him for years. Or rather, he did not bother to remember their names at all.

Li Yao scratched his nose and said, “I was merely passing by when I sensed the anomaly in your refining furnace. I took the chance to crawl in and separate the two materials. That’s all.”

“Your senses are keen enough for you to discover the anomaly of the two materials? And you can locate the source of the problem by the scent of the materials?” Xue Yuanxin was quite interested. He observed Li Yao carefully for a while, before he pointed at the light beam like a kid who was showing off his toy. “I’m refining a new material named ‘Super Bendable Steel’. As its name suggests, it is a very flexible material, but it is also as tough as steel!

“The greatest feature of the material is that it can absorb and store energy!

“If my calculations are correct, the material can absorb seventy percent of the energy resulting from the enemy’s attack and store it. When enough energy is accumulated, the user can unleash all of it with a telepathic thought and return the enemy’s attack to them!

“If such a material is successfully refined and employed to the ‘Unparalleled Extension’ that I developed recently, it will become the most awesome Ares Extension in the history of the Flying Star Sector!”

“Absorbing and storing seventy percent of the attack in the material to make use of for the counterattack?” Li Yao gasped. If such a material was really successfully refined, it would definitely be the most precious treasure even if it could only be used once.

The Ares Extension based on such materials deserved to be called ‘Unparalleled’!

Xue Yuanxin chuckled in satisfaction. He tapped the light beam and displayed several drafts. “This is the Unparalleled Extension!”

Li Yao was deeply attracted by it after one glance. Although they were the simplest drafts, and perhaps graffiti in the eyes of outsiders, Li Yao sensed the essence of the design as an expert!

“The Tortoise and Snake Locking the Mountain framework!” Li Yao blurted out. “I haven’t seen such an ancient framework on crystal suits and strengthening plugins for a long time. Such a framework boasts extraordinary speed and agility, but its biggest shortcoming is the weak defense.

“But if the ‘Super Bendable Steel’ is successfully developed and covers the Tortoise and Snake Locking the Mountain framework like flesh and blood, the shortcoming of the weak defense could be resolved once and for all!

“As expected of Master Xue. This is very impressive. You’ve thought of a framework that can make the best of the Super Bendable Steel when you are refining it!”

This time, it was Xue Yuanxin who was surprised.

‘Tortoise and Snake Locking the Mountain’ was based on ‘Tortoise and Snake Blocking the River’, an ancient array forty thousand years ago. It had grown mature in the Star Ocean Imperium and was adopted by many crystal suits.

However, because of its weak defense, it had never been the mainstream framework of crystal suits or strengthening plugins.

Today, few people knew the existence of such a framework.

Even several experienced refiners that Xue Yuanxin taught himself had never heard of the framework before. When Xue Yuanxin was planning to devise the new Ares Extension based on the framework, everybody had been baffled and failed to appreciate the beauty of it until he explained carefully.

He did not expect that the young man would see through it in such a short time!

“Who are you exactly?” Xue Yuanxin squinted and looked at Li Yao’s face carefully for a while, only to discover that he was still a stranger. The master of refining scratched his white hair in embarrassment and said, “Are you a new teacher at the Refining Department? A researcher? Whose laboratory are you working in?”

Li Yao grinned and replied, “Master Xue, my name is Sand Scorpion. I’m a visiting scholar, and I’ve just arrived. I haven’t picked a laboratory yet.”

“Sand Scorpion?” Xue Yuanxin frowned. He scratched his scarce white hair and thought hard for a while. Finally, his eyes shone, and he exclaimed, “The idiotic magnate from Iron Plateau who knows nothing?”

Chapter 649: Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting

Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97

An hour later, in a special ward of the No. 1 hospital of Flying Star University, Xie Anan watched the summit confrontation of two refiners, one old and the other young, in complete bewilderment.

Li Yao and Xue Yuanxin each had a light beam floating in front of them. They were elaborating on their theories while they drew structural designs and equations on the light beams without halting to contemplate at all, as if the models and formulas had been stored on their fingertips, waiting to spurt out, since a long time ago!

Xie Anan blinked hard and tried to follow their conversation, but however hard she listened to them, the only thing that she could be sure of was that they were talking about issues regarding refining.

As for what the issues were exactly, she did not have the slightest idea.

What are they talking about?

Xie Anan was confused. She felt that she was five years old again, when she had listened to the seniors of her family discussing the arts of refining at dinner table.

Tilting her head and biting her fingers, she failed to figure out why things ended up like this after she went to the bathroom.

“I failed.”

Li Yao took a long breath in relief and said sincerely, “Master Xue Yuanxin, you truly deserve your fame. You have a profound understanding about the minimalization of power rune arrays at ten times sonic speed. The plans you proposed are more mature, reliable, and… elegant. Yes. That’s the word. The distribution of your power rune arrays is very elegant!

“Taking this round into consideration, I lost eight of the ten questions. Master Xue, you have my admiration!”

It was not until Xie Anan heard it that she realized the two of them had debated with each other on ten conundrums about the arts of refining.

Not expecting that Li Yao could win two of them, Xie Anan bulged her big eyes and gazed at Li Yao in disbelief like a squirrel that had seen a pineapple.

Xue Yuanxin’s head was buried in bandages, which made his head even larger. His long and narrow neck almost couldn’t support the head any longer and was shivering.

He observed Li Yao carefully again and said after a long sigh, “Other than the few old monsters in the circle of refiners, it’s been a long time since I exchanged my ideas and thoughts with someone else. It is true that the new generation will invariably surpass the old!

“Don’t presume that I did not see through your plan. Your proposal of the power rune arrays at ten times sonic speed looks simple, rough, and somewhat against common sense, but such a distribution could boost the utilization rate of crystals allowing the speed to be accelerated to maximum instantly!

“If super high-quality crystals with a purity more than 99% are used as the fuel, I estimate that your power rune array can accelerate to more than twelve times the speed of sound from zero within ten seconds!

“Our plans are based on different designing principles. My plan is thorough and rational, and your plan is radical and even somewhat insane.

“Although I don’t think that ordinary crystal suits and Exos can withstand such a high acceleration, since we said that we were merely talking about theoretical possibilities with no consideration for practical implementation, we drew even with each other in the last round. You don’t need to flatter me!”

Li Yao was quite startled hearing that.

Minimalizing the large-scale power rune arrays that were suitable for crystal warships so that they could be applied to crystal suits was his specialty.

This power rune array that had been crazily modified with a low reliability and yet could burst into thirteen times the speed of sound in a moment was a design tailor-made for himself and prepared to be installed on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit in the future.

The materials of common crystal suits were too weak to withstand fierce battles at such a high speed; they would likely break apart in midair.

Common Exos could not withstand the tremendous counterforce, either. The brain would lose a lot of blood, resulting in the potential loss of their sight or even the constriction of their cerebral vessels, which might lead to a coma!

However, such a design was not a problem for the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, refined out of the body tissues of Skeleton Dragon, and Li Yao, who was half a body practitioner and had been Cultivating with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique.

It was his own reserved design. He did not expect that Xue Yuanxin could see through it after such a short time and inferred the maximum performance based on the structural designs!

This unattractive old man was really scary!

Seeing that Li Yao did not object, Xue Yuanxin burst into laughter. But a while later, he suddenly changed his face color and started cursing. “Damn you, Wei Wenyao. Due to his inconclusive investigation, I almost thought that you were really an idiotic magnate and missed out on meeting a genius!

“How about this, Little Sand?”

With a sunny smile, Xue Yuanxin moved his giant head close. “You said that you haven’t picked a main research field in Flying Star University. Are you planning to join a laboratory or to do pure theoretical research?”

Li Yao replied frankly, “I haven’t decided the specific direction yet. But I’m mostly interested in solo combat magical equipment. Besides, as you witnessed just now, I’m better at practical work than theories. Therefore, I will probably join a laboratory, that is, if anybody is willing to accept me.”

Xue Yuanxin found it amusing. “With your expertise, you’re worrying that nobody is going to accept you? Forget it. Just come to my Ares Laboratory! As I’ve told you just now, I have two projects at hand. One of them is the refinement of the special material ‘Super Bendable Steel’, and the other is its application to a new Ares Extension in order to craft the best Ares Extension in the Flying Star Sector—the Unparalleled Extension!

“Are you interested?”

Standing aside, Xie Anan was dumbfounded. She was shouting in her heart, Master Xue is inviting Sand Scorpion to join his projects!

Everybody in the Refining Department of Flying Star University knew that, although Master Xue Yuanxin was approachable in daily life and never refused the questions of students even if they were just in the freshman year, the Ares Laboratory was his most precious treasure. Every researcher in the laboratory had been carefully selected and screened. They were the best elites in the field of refining.

Many researchers in the laboratory had the ability to conduct their own research independently. But they were still willing to work under Master Xue Yuanxin so that they could learn more from him.

But today, Master Xue was extending an invitation promptly. That was quite new!

Seeing that Li Yao did not give any response, Xue Yuanxin thought that he had other ideas and continued. “Truth be told, the thing I like most about you is not your theoretical background, but your skill in real operations based on natural instincts! None of my disciples foresaw the possible explosion of the venomous dragon bone marrow and Heavenly Fire Crystals. You were merely passing by from outside and yet you could locate the problem!

“Such intuition cannot be taught in a school. One can only expect to slowly accumulate it after thousands of instances of actual refining work. I have no idea how you got such instincts. You are truly an out-and-out monster!

“I am too old to conduct the lengthy refining jobs in person right now. I had a disciple whom I’d taught for more than twenty years, but he passed away unfortunately in the riot of the Temple of Immortals.

“If he were alive, the purification of the Green Hellish Ancient Bronze would not have gone wrong.

“If you are willing to join the Ares Laboratory, you will be asked to be in charge of the crucial work in either the Super Bendable Steel project or the Unparalleled Extension project, and you will be the third refiner, or even the second refiner, only below me, of the entire project. How does it sound?”

“I’m afraid that you misunderstood me, Master Xue,” Li Yao said. “I am rather willing to join the Ares Laboratory, but I’ve made a deal with Hou Zitao, Long Yunxin, and a few young refiners in the department, and I will probably spend some of my time on their projects.

“Moreover, my own personal laboratory is under construction at present, and I will probably carry out a few minor projects in them. I’m afraid that I won’t be fully dedicated to the development of the Super Bendable Steel and the Unparalleled Extension. Do you mind, Master Xue?”

Xie Anan’s heart was beating fast. She did not know that Sand Scorpion was planning to build his own laboratory at such a young age!

Xue Yuanxin smiled and said, “That is not a big deal. We are in the middle of a crisis. Every refiner has a handful of projects to take care of. Even I have to guide the work of another six laboratories other than managing the Ares Laboratory.

“Your personal laboratory? Sounds interesting. Just tell me if you ever need anything, and I’ll see if I can help.”

Li Yao was overjoyed.

What he hoped to establish was the most advanced refining center. The experimental facilities and magical equipment in such a refining center were sometimes unpurchaseable even if one had enough money.

Over the last couple of days, he had asked Lei Dalu, the Wu family, and the Sha family to buy the equipment through their connections. But since they were not in the circle of refiners, it was not easy for them to find the best place for the purchase.

“Sure,” Li Yao replied quickly. “If Master Xue trusts my ability, I will definitely live up to your expectations and do my best in the development of the Super Bendable Steel and the Unparalleled Extension!”

“Excellent!” Xue Yuanxin’s face was beaming with joy. “If so, it is very possible that we will succeed in completing the two projects before the Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting in half a year’s time and awe every one of them there!”

Li Yao raised an eyebrow. “Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting?”

Xue Yuanxin nodded his head. “The Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting is a gala of refiners in the Flying Star Sector that is held every five years. All the renowned refiners will participate. They will comment on the latest magical equipment developed over the past five years and discuss the possibilities of future magical equipment.

“The Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting this year will be even more unique. It will be the largest one over the recent hundred years.

“The scourge of space pirates and the rise of the Temple of Immortals have terribly affected the entire Flying Star Sector. Every trade has been considering the solutions to the hazards. Of course, the refiners are no exceptions.

“That will be theme of the Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting this year. We will discuss what kind of magical equipment can potentially contain the Temple of Immortals and annihilate the space pirates lurking on Spider Den!

“It is said that several refining proposals on a planetary-level, or even quasi-stellar-level, will be put forward in the meeting. The representatives in the circle of refiners and the delegates from the six sects of Heavenly Saints City and the other important sects will gather together and discuss the feasibility of the proposals. Then, after the most excellent proposal is selected, all the resources of the Flying Star Sector will be devoted to it!”

“Quasi-stellar-level magical equipment!” Li Yao gasped and swallowed hard.