by <unknown>
It was just that, during its long journey, when it flew past the Iron Plateau Space Zone, it detected a certain kind of civilization in this place and was triggered.
The eggs of apocalypse outbreaks made even less sense.
To deal with the outbreak of one egg of apocalypse, the six tribes of Iron Plateau had to work and fight together with all their available soldiers.
If the purpose of the apocalypse was destruction, the outbreaks of ten eggs of apocalypse would do the job very easily!
Also, the heritage concealed inside the meteorites of apocalypse was like free knowledge that had been sent on purpose.
Only by learning the battle skills of the Titan Warriors was it possible to live on in the harsh environment shaped by the apocalypse and defeat the brutal, bizarre beasts created by the apocalypse!
Apocalypses. What were the purpose of the mysterious apocalypses?
Li Yao quickly thought of the Grand Blue Planet, a primordial great world where all species originated billions of years ago.
Before mankind appeared, many species on the Grand Blue Planet had grasped Cultivation techniques, and they had encountered apocalypses countless times.
When Li Yao received the spiritual seed of Yan Ba, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and a body fundamentalist, he had seen mottled pictures deep inside his cells left by the prehistoric experts.
In the legends, billions of years ago, dinosaurs had dominated the Grand Blue Planet. Among them, the tyrannosaurs discovered the mysteries of Cultivation and grasped powerful techniques!
It was said that the tyrannosaurs had been able to create a new world or clutch the moon in their prime.
They had created a once-flourishing civilization of dinosaurs and called themselves the 'Pangu Clan'!
The ultimate expert of the tyrannosaurs was known as 'Pangu'!
From the research of archeologists of various generations, it was verified that the Pangu Clan had been able to alter the surface and atmosphere of planets on a large scale and collect resources from the satellites of the Grand Blue Planet. Therefore, their claim of 'creating a new world and clutching the moon' was not entirely bragging.
It was the earliest civilization to human beings' knowledge that had been proven. There had been certain experts before the Pangu Clan, but they had only been strong personally, possibly due to fortuitous incidents, and had never led a really developed civilization.
Therefore, human beings regarded the Pangu civilization as the source of the civilization of mankind. Legends of Pangu establishing new worlds had been passed on generation after generation.
However, the Pangu civilization had been overturned by an apocalypse while it was blooming.
After the Pangu civilization, several other civilizations had replaced one another on the Grand Blue Planet. But then the second apocalypse arrived.
This time, it was not meteors, but an Ice Age that lowered the temperature of the entire planet by dozens of degrees for millions of years!
The prolonged Ice Age almost obliterated all civilizations. It was not until tens of millions of years after the Ice Age that mankind gradually rose up and walked out of the Grand Blue Planet and the primordial world. The civilization of mankind had thus branched and blossomed in the boundless cosmos!
When he heard the stories before, Li Yao had simply thought that the two apocalypses destroyed countless species and civilizations.
But now that he reflected on it, he discovered that, although the first apocalypse terminated the Pangu civilization, it had given birth to billions of brand new species in the millions of years to come, many of which had learned the arts of Cultivation. Countless experts and powerful civilizations had been born!
After the second apocalypse, the species and civilizations were all wiped out, but mankind—the strongest species in the battles amid the sea of stars—was created. They developed a brilliant Cultivation civilization and expanded their territory from a single planet to the entire universe!
It appeared that the civilizations born after each apocalypse were always stronger than their predecessors.
However, in the era of the Star Ocean Imperium, many worlds had failed to resist apocalypses, and their whole planets had been destroyed. In such cases, there would absolutely be no following civilizations.
The contradictory findings cast Li Yao in a maze of thought. He couldn't figure out the logic at all.
Xiong Wuji patted his shoulder firmly and said, "Never mind. It doesn't matter what the apocalypses really are. All for survival, and survival is all. Try your best to train yourself and blow it up brutally!"
From that day on, Li Yao set off on the path of insane training again.
His training sessions were more tiresome than those of any other qi-trainers, even including Xiong Wuji.
During the day, he would put on the True Qi Locks and inject spiritual gas under twenty times the standard pressure into his body, and he would simultaneously improve his physical strength with barbells tons of weight. He was also engaged in speed training, namely sprinting and turning, and combat training, with a weight of almost a ton bound to himself. Each day, he would do his training for seven to eight hours without any rest.
In order to fill his stomach, Li Yao often devoured an entire bull during two training sessions!
After expanding his veins, Li Yao would go to the secret chamber in the deepest part of the temple of techniques that stored the knowledge of the Titan Warriors and appear in the Titan Illusionary Land in a meditative state.
Every heart fossil of the Titan Warriors represented a different memory piece. The larger a heart was, the higher the position that the Titan Warrior had once been, the stronger they had been, and the gorier and more brutal their memory piece was.
The other qi-trainers could often only bear to meditate for half an hour. They had to quit after half an hour, or it would be too much of a burden for their brains, and they might become mentally deranged. In the worst cases, their own memories would be jumbled with the memories of the Titan Warriors, and they would become monsters who knew nothing except killing.
However, it was different for Li Yao, who had been born with weird, foreign 'earth' memories and had experienced Ou Yezi's memory pieces. The structure of his brain was different from that of a common Cultivator's, and his soul was extremely solid. Naturally, he was not scared that he would be affected by the Titan Warriors' memories.
Each night, he would spent almost ten hours in the secret chamber and learn the battle skills of the Titan Warriors greedily from their heart fossils.
They were a species born for fighting.
They did not have the dazzling Cultivation techniques as mankind did; they focused all their attention on the training of 'fighting will'. They could manipulate and enhance their spiritual energy by increasing their fighting will and transform everything into the purest strength and damage eventually!
All the memory pieces were battles, battles, and more battles!
Most of the time, they were fighting hard against a certain kind of insect. But they were occasionally killing each other until their blood ran dry when they couldn't find an enemy for a long time.
In the beginning, Li Yao had thought that they were fighting the insects to invade or defend their land.
But later, Li Yao realized that the purpose of their fighting was fighting, and that fighting was their everything!
Note: Pangu is the creator of universe in Chinese mythology, but he is not a dinosaur :)
Chapter 571: Li Yao's New Technique |
As the apocalypse was coming, most of the experts of the Furious Bears Tribe had been summoned to the desert to practice their battle formations. The advanced chamber was often empty and almost became Li Yao's personal training room.
Except for the manager, Xiong Wuji, and a few other people, nobody knew that a monster named Li Yao was getting stronger and stronger below the temple of techniques.
Five days after starting his training, a shocki
ng discovery excited the entire Furious Bears City!
It was said that Xiong Wuji had found a relic that was deeply buried in an underground cave by accident while he was training in the desert. It seemed to have been left by an expert a thousand years ago. Most of the expert's belongings had eroded, but the schematics of a sonic sword and one for Wolf Fang remained intact.
The two designs gave the refiners of the weapon factory of Furious Bears City tremendous inspiration and helped them develop faster sonic swords and Wolf Fangs that could deal more damage!
Although it was not possible to upgrade everybody's gear due to the limited time, the elites of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and the Iron Bears Detonation Team were able to switch to stronger magical equipment before the apocalypse!
Everyone in Furious Bears City was seething with exhilaration because of the discovery. They believed that it was a propitious omen!
It was needless to say that they were actually Li Yao's masterpieces.
As an expert in melee magical equipment and crystal bombs, he had come up with more than ten modification plans after he disassembled the old sonic swords and Wolf Fangs and analyzed them carefully.
The only problem was that he had to draft a plan that was not difficult and could be put into use by the weapon factory immediately. That was why he was delayed for a couple of days.
But if he had simply offered his modification plan to the weapon factory, somebody was bound to become suspicious of him. Therefore, he and Xiong Wuji came up with the story.
Calling it 'treasure from a thousand years ago' would not only eliminate the doubt of the refiners of the Furious Bears Tribe who would accept it gladly but also boost the morale of the tribe.
After he demonstrated unparalleled performance during his training and completed the modification blueprints of the two kinds of fundamental magical equipment, Xiong Wuji's attitude toward him changed greatly. He was really considered a negotiable partner right now.
The two of them often chatted and exchanged knowledge with each other. Xiong Wuji brought out a lot of personal understanding about qi-trainers' expertise, while Li Yao presented many secret arts and techniques from the Cultivators. They both learned a lot and quite enjoyed the sharing.
Wu Mayan, who had always considered himself a young genius, was totally awed when he witnessed Li Yao's unbelievably horrifying training process. He was worshipping Li Yao and even asking to become his disciple.
Li Yao found it very funny. He did not want to be too involved, but since the young man was harassing him day and night, he simply gave him a cruel training plan and told him that he would consider the idea if the young man could persist.
He had thought that the young man would give up shortly. But as it turned out, although he was crying and screaming during each training session, he actually made it to the end every time, however disgraceful he looked. Wu Mayan eyed Li Yao as if he were a devil after each training session, but when Li Yao appeared in the training chamber next day in the morning, he always found that Wu Mayan had come in advance and was helping to clean up his training equipment.
The young man's stubbornness during his training reminded Li Yao of himself a couple of years ago. He suddenly felt that it was not a bad idea to recruit a disciple.
Twenty-five days later…
According to the observation of the wizard of the Furious Bears Tribe, who had experienced multiple outbreaks of the apocalypse, the eggs were about to be mature and would explode in the next week.
The battle against the apocalypse was about to commence!
Inside the advanced training chamber deep below the temple of techniques, Li Yao put the heavy barbells back onto the shelf with a huge 'clang'. He felt that his legs were soft and couldn't help but gag with his two hands holding the floor.
But the previous crazy training had completely consumed the residue of food in his stomach. He gagged for a long time, only to throw out some saliva.
Li Yao's face was pale, his body cramping. The sweat almost congregated into a lake, and his hands and legs were shivering softly.
Taking more than ten deep breaths, he finally regained control of his limbs. He gritted his teeth and stood up, before he observed himself through a giant mirror next to him.
One last training procedure. I must carry on!
Inside the bronze mirror, his upper body was naked, with multiple layers of True Qi Locks imposed on it. All the True Qi Locks had been modified and tempered by him. Delicate circuits could be found on their surface.
Since he had been training for a long time underground, which was devoid of sunlight, his skin was much fairer than before, and his body size seemed to have shrunk. The large clusters of muscles on his body were now narrower and more exquisite. Even the female warriors in the tribe seemed to be stronger than him.
However, compared to the angry, sinewy men of the tribe, his muscle fibers were clear and distinguishable. When he exerted his strength, his body seemed to have been decorated with gorgeous stripes that seemed to be flowing and appeared quite beautiful.
Summon my fighting will! Release the soaring fighting will in the form of brain waves and manipulate the spiritual energy with them to strengthen my body!
Li Yao meditated on the Titan Warriors' technique of raising their fighting will. Intense waves were unleashed from the depths of his brain. His muscle fibers spread out like ripples and changed continuously into fuzzy patterns.
On his back, the muscles, shaped like an upside-down triangle, seemed to have formed an angrily roaring face!
This was the brand-new technique that Li Yao perceived in the Titan Illusionary Land!
The skin of the Titan Warriors boasted special colorful stripes that could change into various patterns. Just like the spiritual tattoos on Cultivators, the patterns could enhance one's spiritual energy and increase the combat ability of one's body!
Of course, there were no stripes on Li Yao's skin. Even if he asked somebody to make a tattoo for him, the adornment was still unchangeable and could only perform a single technique.
However, he had realized something after his last discussion with Xiong Wuji.
The qi-trainers of Iron Plateau had evolved, generation after generation, over five thousand years, which had blessed them with such strong bodies. Together with the reverberation of their fighting will, they had definitely reached the limits in regard to the utilization of muscles.
In one short month, he could never be as physically strong as Xiong Wuji however hard he trained himself.
If so, why shouldn't he walk on a different path by improving the agility of muscle fibers instead of their hardness so that he could control his muscles with his spiritual threads to draw the patterns?
Drawing runes with muscle fibers!
This was the brand-new technique that Li Yao had thought of.
After more than ten days of testing, based on the observation of how the Titan Warriors made use of their battle patterns, he was certain that the method was feasible!
"HOOOO!"
Li Yao's eyes were bloodshot. His long hair, which hadn't been cut for quite a few months, fluttered. Streams of spiritual gas surged out in the tiny training chamber and terrified the barbells in the corner, which were emitting weird noises. They even formed visible swirls and circled him crazily!
Finally!
With the help of the muscle stripes, when my fighting will soared and my spiritual gas surged, I surpassed the peak of the Refinement Stage and reached the superlative height of the Refinement Stage that other Cultivators in space have never entered!
Li Yao smiled. The fatigue from the previous harsh training session was entirely gone. The furious spiritual gas flooding into his body seemed to have turned into an afternoon breeze in summer for him.
He walked to the front of an iron target and started the final training with the most basic punching.
A thousand punches. Begin!
This was the scene that Wei Changsheng and his fellow membe
rs of the Iron Bears Detonation Team saw when they entered the training chamber.
A booth had been established in a corner of the spacious advanced training chamber. It was enclosed with large tempered glass, through which one could vaguely see that a 'stout' man was punching something in True Qi Locks.
However, he seemed to be exhausted. After each punch, he would have to stop for a moment and breathe heavily, if not gagging.
His face was extremely twisted, too, indicating that he was being tortured inhumanly.
Fu Dong, manager of the training chamber, was sitting in the outside, his eyes half closed. He seemed to have become used to everything here.
Wei Changsheng was greatly surprised. The advanced training chamber was almost exclusively reserved for the elites of the Iron Bears Detonation Team and the Fierce Storm Assault Team. However, they barely came to this place because they had been bettering their teamwork in the desert over the previous month.
How come there was a personal training booth right now?
Even Shi Meng, captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team, and Xiong Zhenzhen, captain of the Fierce Storm Assault Team, did not have such a privilege!
Wei Changsheng's face suddenly turned gloomy. It was not about himself. But on what grounds was this unfamiliar short man entitled to a personal booth if Captain Shi Meng, whom he admired most, was not?
He did not dare express his discontent openly in front of Fu Dong. Therefore, he managed to fake a smile and asked, "Uncle Fu, what is this all about?"
Fu Dong did not even bother to raise his eyebrow. He replied, "This training chamber has been specially modified under Boss Xiong's instruction. Nobody is to enter Sand Scorpion's personal booth, but you are free to do your practice in the outside."
Chief Xiong's instructions?
Wei Changsheng was secretly startled. He was about to ask more when he suddenly smelt an intense aroma of meat.
One of the members of Iron Bears Detonation Team exclaimed in joy, "It's the meat of Silver Striped Boars! Yummy yummy!"
Silver Striped Boars were rarely-seen demon beasts in the desert. Their meat was delicious and contained abundant spiritual energy. However, their number was small, and they were often very vigilant. They did make delicious food, but it was very difficult to capture them. Even experts like themselves hardly had the opportunity to enjoy them.