Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  "When a Cultivator claims that he trains himself by absorbing energy of nature, he will sound mysterious and look like a deity.

  "But if the Cultivator says that the accomplishment of his Cultivation is because he can eat eight bulls per meal, the ordinary people will revere him much less, won't they?"

  The students burst into laughter again.

  "On the other hand, the ancient Cultivators did not value cooperation as much as we modern Cultivators do. They were often involved in ostensible or clandestine internal conflicts and wouldn't show their real Cultivation arts to other people easily.

  "As the saying goes, the truth can be concluded with one sentence, but a lie needs thousands of words to cover up. Many billionaires nowadays are publishing their biographies and spreading the keys to their success by telling people how they built their empires from scratch.

  "But I don't think any of you believe that what they wrote are the real tricks to their fortunes, do you?

  "If so, why are you so confident that the ancient Cultivators would pass on the real techniques of Cultivation to their followers unselfishly?"

  DANG DANG DANG

  A crisp sound suddenly burst out.

  Li Yao waved his hand and said, "Alright, everybody. Class dismissed."

  "Master Sand!"

  Many students rose up from their seats, planning to ask Li Yao more questions.

  But Li Yao had dashed out of the multifunctional hall in advance and appeared in a quiet road elsewhere on campus one minute later.

  Almost at the same time, his mini crystal processor buzzed.

  Inside the light beam was a dark-gold, metal puppet that looked like a golden skull.

  Li Yao smiled. "Professor Mo."

  The golden skull was exactly Mo Xuan.

  Mo Xuan and the other spectral Cultivators from the Heaven's Origin Sector, after travelling here and there on Sparkle for almost one year, suddenly realized one day that there was no need for them to hide at all.

  They were in a weird life form right now, but there were spectral Cultivators in the Flying Star Sector, too, and they enjoyed almost the same rights as ordinary people just like the spectral Cultivators did in the Heaven's Origin Sector.

  Since the bodies of the five of them were made of liquid metal, it would be more than easy for them to crawl into metal puppets and disguise themselves as local spectral Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector!

  Considering the vastness of the Flying Star Sector, it was perfectly normal that several remote, unpopulated towns existed in the edges of a certain space zone.

  Cultivators ending up as spectral Cultivators with their bodies gone when they were faced with cosmic storms was nothing unusual, either.

  Therefore, after three months of planning, Mo Xuan and the other four spectral Cultivators appeared in broad daylight with new identities.

  It was barely possible to confirm the validness of one's identity in the boundless sea of stars. Also, since they were endorsed by the Glorious Sunlight Group, nobody would be suspicious about their identity at all.

  Professor Mo Xuan became the supervisor of the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center without any trouble as a spectral Cultivator. He had already showed up in several half-public social occasions.

  With his management, the construction of the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center had proceeded smoothly. After only half a year, two laboratories, one large and public and the other small and secretive, had been established.

  The public Glorious Sunlight Refining Center was headquartered in the Cross Wind Space Zone, with a branch in Heavenly Saints City, where a lot of research work on the Combat Ability Detector and the chain gun was conducted.

  Li Yao planned to develop it into one of the best refining centers of the Flying Star Sector in the future.

  As for the other laboratory, Li Yao and Mo Xuan had built the secret laboratory based on Sparkle, which was smaller in scale but had more advanced facilities.

  This place was their real center of refining. Only the one man and five ghosts from the Heaven's Origin Sector knew of its existence.

  The magical equipment that was not suitable to be made known to other people, as well as the further modification of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, would be worked on in that laboratory.

  Chapter 654: Master Is Back |

  "The chain gun is going to be a hit!" Professor Mo Xuan's metallic voice was filled with undisguisable joy. "A day ago, a carrier of the Glorious Sunlight Group was assaulted by the space pirates. The carrier 'happened' to be guarded by the Great Horn Exo Society, and five hundred prototypes of the Aurora Chain Gun 'happened' to be in the cargo!

  "In the end, the Great Horn Exo Society took out the chain guns in the cabin and fought the space pirates hard with them. They stalled the Blood Hand Pirate Gang, which ranked the 31st on Spider Den, until reinforcements arrived and eliminated the enemies altogether!

  "Such a satisfactory and dramatic victory is definitely worth reporting. Right now, all the journalists of the Cross Wind Space Zone have arrived in the area and are interviewing the Great Horn Exo Society. The newly-born Aurora Chain Gun is the unquestionable star of the show, too!"

  "Were we so lucky?" Li Yao was overjoyed, but he rolled his eyes and asked, "No. You must've prearranged everything, didn't you?"

  "Of course, we did. Such a series of coincidences could not happen at the same time," Professor Mo Xuan replied merrily. "Bai Kaixin, advisor of the Great Horn Exo Society, is truly an unpredictable man. He gathered a lot of intelligence in advance and inferred the route and personnel of the Blood Hand Pirate Gang. As it turned out, the pirate gang finally bit the bait after we wandered around in our route with a cargo of firearms for three days. This is the best advertisement for us!"

  "Bai Kaixin!"

  Li Yao rubbed his face, recalling Bai Kaixin, who was always frowning in depression. He never knew what to say.

  Over the past half year since the Glorious Sunlight Group was established, the cooperation between them and the Great Horn Exo Society had grown deeper and deeper. Supported by the Glorious Sunlight Group as well as Iron Plateau, the Great Horn Exo Society expanded like a balloon being injected with air. Most of the guardian work for the Glorious Sunlight Group was taken care of by them, too.

  After only half a year, the Great Horn Exo Society had grown from an unknown middle-sized Exo Society to one of the greatest Exo Societies of the Flying Star Sector—at least in terms of scale.

  The 'chain gun', a piece of new magical equipment co-developed by Li Yao and Hou Zitao, targeted ordinary people and low-level Cultivators as the potential customers. It was perfect for the Great Horn Exo Society as a standard weapon.

  Li Yao did not expect that Bai Kaixin would have arranged everything in advance and offered him such a big gift in return!

  When the battle of the annihilation of the Blood Hand Pirate Gang was disseminated to various space zones via the Spiritual Nexus, many people grew interested in the eccentric magical equipment that the Great Horn Exo Society carried with them.

  At first look, such magical equipment was a storm bolter with a relatively thick barrel.

  However, the underside of the front end of the gun was embedded with coldly-blinking sawtooth. There was a transformation trigger at the rear of the gun, too.

  When the transformation trigger was touched, the folded gunstock would be unfolded and turn into a strengthening plugin, which would fix the gun onto the arm. In the end, the gun would become a sharp single-edged chainsword.

  The Great Horn Exo Society were still exultant after a fierce battle. When they were interviewed by the journalists, they all waved their new weapons with pride and demonstrated the usage of the weapon toward the journalists without exhaustion.

  In a few days, the new magical equipment named 'Aurora Chain Gun' was known by everybody as the hundreds of videos of the interviews spread out.

  Some magical equipment magazines praised the chain gun.

  "From the trad
itional perspective, remote attack and melee attack are often difficult to be melded together perfectly. A soldier often has to carry a gun as well as a chainsword or a vibration saber.

  "However, the enemy they are faced with are either thick-skinned demon beasts or heavily-armored Exos. Not only are they incapable of killing their enemy with the remote firepower, their enemy are also extremely fast and can cover their entire shooting range in the blink of an eye.

  "In a real-life battle, it is often the case that your enemy will show up right in front of your nose the second after you aim at your enemy and shoot them.

  "The super experts can, of course, throw away the storm bolter and pick up their chainsword in less than one second.

  "However, for the low-level Cultivators and ordinary people, they will be caught in an awkward situation.

  "Although the invention of Aurora Chain Gun does not solve the problem perfectly, it has introduced a relatively practical approach, to say the very least. Judging from the fierce battle that happened in the edge of the Cross Wind Space Zone, the Aurora Chain Sword will be a piece of magical equipment popular among low-level Cultivators.

  "From many demonstration videos, we can clearly see that, while the members of the Great Horn Exo Society were opening fire at their targets, the embedded sawtooth in the front end of the gun had already started revolving rapidly. When the rune arrays on the sawtooth were triggered, sharp light blades were generated on the surface of the gun.

  "Special sensors have been installed to the front end of the chain gun, too, which allow it to detect the object that is coming close in advance.

  "When the object is ten meters away from the gun, the embedded sawtooth will jet out automatically, and the gunstock at the back will restructure itself and turn into a plugin to stabilize the gun on the arm of the Exo. As a result, the gun will be switched to the 'melee mode' seamlessly.

  "The user will need to do nothing except to stab forward with their chain gun, and the enemy that is lunging close will be sending themselves to the edge of the blade!"

  While there were compliments, there were also criticisms.

  Many conservative magazines and websites expressed restrained suspicions about the new magical equipment.

  "The chain gun indeed boasts an excellent design, but its structure is too complicated and coupling. The fault rate is going to be very high.

  "The manufacturer of the Aurora Chain Gun was an unknown before now, nor was it ever engaged in the magical equipment business.

  "It had no products whatsoever until half a month ago when the Combat Ability Detector was released.

  "Although the Combat Ability Detector has been well-accepted on market, ancillary magical equipment and aggressive magical equipment are two entirely different fields.

  "It remains to be seen whether or not such a small company is supervised by an excellent master of refining who can watch over the assembly line of such a piece of precise magical equipment."

  The two opinions both had a lot of supporters. Together with the flames that someone fanned intentionally, news about the chain gun was all over the Spiritual Nexus.

  The Aurora Chain Gun was not officially released yet, but it had received much more attention than other magical equipment developers could dream of.

  After several days, a journalist from one media outlet finally located the investor of the small company. He wrote a column article with a quite eye-catching title.

  "Rise of a Giant—An Exploration of the Glorious Sunlight Group!"

  "Over the past half year, many people in the world of Cultivators have heard the name of the 'Glorious Sunlight Group', a conglomerate with Iron Plateau's backing that has monopolized the sales of certain minerals from Iron Plateau.

  "But beyond everyone's expectations, the Glorious Sunlight Group did not stop on trades. It has been also marching into the magical equipment industry at a sprinting speed!

  "As the journalists of this magazine pursued further into the matter, we discovered that the Combat Ability Detector, which has been quite a hit recently, was the first magical equipment developed by the Glorious Sunlight Group!

  "The Aurora Chain Gun, another piece of new magical equipment that appeared out of nowhere and raised a heated discussion on the Spiritual Nexus, is co-produced by the Glorious Sunlight Group and Flying Star University!

  "It is worth mentioning that the two pieces of magical equipment received a large number of orders from Iron Plateau the moment they were revealed!

  "Therefore, it is not hard to imagine that, backed by an entire planet and tens of thousands of qi-trainers on it, the Glorious Sunlight Group will not only become a giant in trade but also an unneglectable rising power in the magical equipment industry!

  "However, according to the information that this magazine gathered from various resources, the supervisor of the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center is Mo Xuan, an unknown refiner.

  "Sand Scorpion, the biggest shareholder of the Glorious Sunlight Group and known to be the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, does not have any masterpieces so far despite his claim that he is passionate about refining.

  "With their understanding about refining, can they produce such delicate magical equipment as the Combat Ability Detector and the chain gun?

  "Is it possible that somebody else is hiding behind the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center?

  "Later, the journalists of this magazine will visit the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center in person and reveal the answer for you!"

  This article deepened the sense of mystery surrounding the Glorious Sunlight Group, which had already been mysterious enough. For a moment, everybody in the circle of refiners was talking about 'Glorious Sunlight'.

  Three days later, a piece of even more shocking news raised a riot among the refiners!

  Master Fiend Star, an expert adept at classical refining theories, reappeared after vanishing for more than half a year!

  Moreover, he showed up with a very detailed and professional article analyzing the two pieces of new magical equipment released by the Glorious Sunlight Group in terms of their structure, performance, and the rune arrays employed.

  After reading the explanation of Master Fiend Star, the fans of magical equipment finally learned that the seemingly cheap Combat Ability Detector and the Aurora Chain Gun had utilized many ancient rune arrays and models from forty thousand years ago. They were actually quite sophisticated from the technological perspective!

  Some people questioned if Master Fiend Star had written the article because he was paid. Some other people were asking about his relationship with the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center.

  Master Fiend Star thanked everybody for their sincere concern about himself over the past half year at first. Then he expressed his apology for his disappearance. Although he did not admit his relationship with the Glorious Sunlight Group, he did not deny it, either. Instead, there was a clear hint between the lines that he was cooperating with the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center closely!

  This news raised even more discussion.

  The classical refining theories put forward by Master Fiend Star had been confirmed and even applied to many kinds of magical equipment by quite a few refiners after the one year.

  The expertise of Master Fiend Star was well acknowledged in the circle of refiners, too.

  If the Glorious Sunlight Refining Center was actually led by Master Fiend Star, it was not unusual that such two pieces of magical equipment, which employed a lot of classical refining theories, were developed.

  "These are two masterpieces that Master Fiend Star worked hard on in seclusion for half a year!"

  Somebody even made such a bold assumption on the Spiritual Nexus.

  Chapter 655: Hard and Soft, the Unparalleled Extension |

  After much exposure, the two pieces of magical equipment were not only known by all the Cultivators but also highly expected by ordinary people.

  With the chaos in the Flying Star Sector, many
remote space towns had established their own militia or guard team. Their demand for magical equipment had soared.

  The Combat Ability Detector had only just started being manufactured. Since the colossal order from Iron Plateau had to be finished first, it went out of stock on the official website very quickly.

  The Aurora Chain Gun was still in the field test phase. It was a battle-related magical equipment that concerned the life and death of the user. Therefore, it could only be perfected and finalized with the data accumulated in the tests.

  However, some of the prototypes were put on market through various channels.

  The Cultivators who received the prototypes mostly recorded their own tests and uploaded them to the Spiritual Nexus.

  Some of them were even publishing tutorial videos with titles like '24 Moves for the Chain Gun', 'True Knowledge of the Chain Gun', and such.

  For the time being, the two pieces of magical equipment were both barely available on market. One could not buy them even if they had loads of money!

  However, Li Yao did not have time to enjoy the fever.

  All his attention was now focused on a different piece of magical equipment.

  Inside the Ares Laboratory, more than twenty refiners, including Li Yao and Xue Yuanxin, were holding their breath and staring at a set of strengthening plugins on the test platform, which was bound by countless electric arcs.

  The set of plugins were a light grey, bordering on transparent. It looked quite unattractive, like a frozen cloud.

  On the other side of the test platform, ten pieces of aggressive magical equipment were being charged.

  Dazzling, colorful light balls were continuously condensing at the dark heads of the barrels and the front ends of the rails with blood-freezing hissing sounds.

  Suddenly—

  Swoosh!

  The balls of lightning restricted by three rails expanded to such an extent that they darted out with an earsplitting explosion and crashed in the Ares Explosion in a purple streak!