Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  "Your ancestors lived in the Grand Desolate Plateau a thousand years ago," Han Tulu declared loudly, "but the ancestors of human being owned the entire sea of stars forty thousand years ago! The traces of activity of human beings left forty thousand years ago can still be found on the Grand Desolate Plateau! There are countless exhumed relics that can prove that. How are you going to justify yourself?"

  Suo Chaolong laughed coldly. "Alright, let's leave the history aside. In the past ten years, the crystal warships of the Star Glory Federation have been getting into the water like dumplings. Your productivity of crystal suits is even higher than a rabbit's fertility. Your military budget has been increased by thirty to fifty percent every year. Do not even tell me that you are actually peace-lovers, merely trying defend your own home, and you never planned to invade the Blood Demon Sector!"

  Suo Chaolong pointed at the medal at the center of Han Tuhu's hat. "The one you've got is the 'Level 2 Red Star Medal' of the federal army, right? According to the 'Military Credit Act' of the federal government, those who receive a 'Level 2 Red Star Medal' will be given twenty acres of Level 5 land in the Blood Demon Sector.

  "Hehe. The 'Military Credit Act' was passed a hundred years ago. Right now, it has gone through dozens of amendments. Almost every blade of grass and tree of the Blood Demon Sector has been divided!

  "I know for a fact that a lot of Cultivation sects of the Star Glory Federation are purchasing the 'future land' on a large scale from the veterans who have enough military credit. There are even land futures and shares that are tradable on the market.

  "If I may ask, how are you going to get your twenty acres of land if you do not invade the Blood Demon Sector? If it is nothing but an honor, do those Cultivation sects have nothing better to do than purchasing the ungrounded 'exploitation rights of future land'?

  "Therefore, just admit it. You want to swallow us as much as we want to swallow you. It's just that the Blood Demon Sector took action first. Survival of the fittest is the law of the universe. Do not think that human beings are more righteous and lenient than demons!"

  Blushing, Han Tuhu gnashed his teeth. "Do not compare the great civilization of mankind to the atrocious civilization of demons!"

  Suo Chaolong was amused. He pointed his canine teeth and said, "After I was tortured dozens of times by the scumbags, I still managed to keep some of the features of the demons. As for you, are you even similar to a human being? Just look at your pathetic portrait in your pee! You are shameless enough to say 'great civilization of mankind'?

  "Hey, Han Tuhu. I've been meaning to ask you a question for a long time.

  "Do you really think you are even a human being?"

  Yaksha are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure, and wilderness. They appear in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts, as well as ancient and medieval era temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia as guardian deities. (Wikipedia)

  Chapter 935: Fisticuffs! |

  His words were obviously the last thing that Han Tuhu wanted to hear. Every red hair of the muscular man who looked like a yaksha was jumping crazily like flames, and the veins on his temples bulged out like a tightened longbow. He turned into a black hurricane and lunged toward Suo Chaolong!

  BOOM!

  The two muscular guys collided brutally like two titans.

  Although they did not have magical equipment or weapons, their strength was unbelievably high. Every one of their attacks broke the sonic barrier and raised an overwhelming snowstorm!

  Now that the two leaders were fighting hard, naturally, their subordinates behind them would rather not idle by. They all cracked their knuckles and came at each other.

  What confused Li Yao most was that many soldiers of the federal arm were showing the distinctive features of demons along with inhuman roars.

  Meanwhile, many demons were surrounded by vague spiritual energy when their blood was boiling, and their muscles were bulging out.

  This is… rather chaotic.

  Li Yao did not even know how he should comment on the battle between the two teams of captives.

  Those captives were truly strong. Judging in the standard of the Cultivators, even the weakest of them were in the high level of the Refinement Stage, and most of them were in and above the Building Foundation Stage. As for the two leaders, namely Han Tuhu and Suo Chaolong, they were even in the Core Formation Stage!

  They're almost another Nether World Watch!

  Li Yao pondered for a moment and basically sorted through the origins of the captives.

  The 'Flying Tigers Legion', commanded by Han Tuhu, and the 'Blood Lion Battalion', commanded by Suo Chaolong, were certainly the elite troops of the two parties in the war.

  At the end of the Battle of Dawn, the coalition army of the demon race that marched into the Heaven's Origin Sector collapsed. The Blood Lion Battalion was probably in charge of covering the retreat, and the Flying Tigers Legion was leading the charge and attacking them all the time. Both of them suffered heavy casualties in the Dark Desolate Domain.

  But they did not know that the 'Battle of Dawn' was merely Elder Nether Spring's scheme to get more test subjects.

  The Blood Lion Battalion and the Flying Tigers Legion, both of which heavily wounded, naturally became the best prey and were fished up by Elder Nether Spring. Eventually, they were secretly shipped to this place.

  Here, they had all gone through the harshest of experiments. Most of the soldiers had been killed. The lucky survivors who gritted their teeth through the multiple modifications were certainly the strongest of them.

  Because of the enhancement of the weird strengthening drugs and techniques, their capability had soared exponentially. That was why such tough captives existed!

  In the snow world, the captives, despite their lack of weapons, were fighting hard as if they were in crystal suits and biochemical beasts. Li Yao was shocked and curious.

  The captives are too strong to be trapped by the triple defenses of the frost thorns, the high-voltage electric web, and the demonic plants. There are bound to be more restraints!

  Odd. Why is the Nether World Watch not stopping the fight between the captives? There are guards everywhere on the towers around.

  Right. They must be testing the battle data of the captives in a natural environment.

  The captives belong to two different groups that are at loggerheads. If they are in conflict, preferably with some of them killed, it will be easier for the management of the Nether World Watch.

  Classifying the captives into different groups that were hostile to each other and placing them together was an old trick in the prison to balance the prisoners in the internal strife. The pressure on the guards would be significantly reduced.

  After a five-minute-long fierce battle, there was blood everywhere on the snowy land. Finally, the guards of the Nether World Watch in the towers blew their whistles lazily. Circles of electric arcs swirled fast along the spiritual stripes and spiraled from the bottom of the hundred and eight bronze pillars. When they reached the top of the pillars, they spurted out quickly and hit the locks on the necks, wrists, and ankles of the captives precisely!

  Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

  The locks turned out to boast the ability of enhancing the power of the electric arcs. The electric arcs that were shot at them instantly split off into thousands more and covered all the captives like an overwhelming electric web!

  With the boost of the hundred and eight bronze pillars, the electric arcs were being generated unceasingly at a higher and higher voltage. The uncanny attraction force grabbed all the captives.

  The captives who were relatively weaker were already foaming because of the electric shot.

  The leaders of captives that were mauling each other felt goosebumps all over their bodies, too.

  Stimulated by the super high-voltage electric arcs, they were not able to launch any effective attacks
at all and simply punched each other like mobs on the street.

  In the end, they both collapsed and cramped while they were punching each other.

  The ground of the northeast corner of the captive camp sank down slightly and split apart, revealing a pathway leading underground.

  A lot of soldiers of the Nether World Watch in heavy armor walked onto the field to clean up the mess. The captives had all been electrified into cramping shrimps on the ground and put up no resistance at all.

  Li Yao took the opportunity to fly Neltharion underground.

  He had basically grasped the functioning mechanism of the ancient rune array. To trigger such intense electric arcs, a great number of crystals of the lightning class must have been stored somewhere below the ground as the core of the array.

  He would need to find the core and sabotage it!

  …

  Half a day later, Neltharion returned exactly the same way as it left. After a series of soul-stirring infiltration operations, it was finally back to the interrogation chamber where the Fire Ant King was being held.

  The Fire Ant King's body was expanding like a sea cucumber that had been soaked for too long. The 'Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle' had been deeply embedded into his skin, which was now almost transparent.

  He was in quite low spirits, like a towel that had been completely dried.

  'Mad Medic' Lu Wuxin was not here, which was quite a relief for Li Yao.

  "Are you alright?" Li Yao reestablished the communication with the Fire Ant King.

  "For now," the Fire Ant King wrote rather lethargically. "But I may be not in three days. Lu Wuxin is ten times more skilled than eight years ago. He can directly stimulate my braincells and search my soul. Within three days, I'm going to confess everything that I know, including the existence of you!

  "So, cut the useless stuff and get straight to the point. What have you found?"

  "I have found out why Elder Nether Spring did not reach out to you for a frank cooperation in the beginning. It is because he never meant to create 'a third life form'," Li Yao replied quickly. "What he has been trying to create is just a bunch of loyal slaves. Also, the death rate of the scary modification is shockingly high. It is above 95%, for both human beings and demons."

  Li Yao told the Fire Ant King everything that he had seen in the 'Demon God Virus Research Center' honestly.

  The Fire Ant King listened attentively and gave no reply.

  However, Li Yao sensed that his somewhat devastated eyes were focused again.

  "What's your plan?" The strokes of the Fire Ant King were tough again.

  "At the north part of the island is a large camp of captives. Thousands of captives, including the soldiers of the Blade of Chaos, are locked inside. Altogether, there are nine layers of barriers above and below the ground. However, I may be able to find a way to crack the most important one!"

  Li Yao pondered while he said, "To achieve our purpose, the captives will be the key. It will be more convenient for me to rescue you if the captives are freed first and distract the Nether World Watch's attention. Then, we will be able to find the mainframe crystal processor and the biochemical brain of the place and figure out Elder Nether Spring's entire plan!

  "However, there are also almost a thousand federal soldiers among the captives. They are all my compatriots, and I have to get them out. It is unnegotiable."

  "Continue," the Fire Ant King said.

  "The crucial part of our escape plan is the vehicle," Li Yao said. "To get out of the place, we will have to drive a devilish warship. But neither me nor the federal soldiers know the first thing about how to pilot a devilish warship."

  "It is not going to be a problem," the Fire Ant King said. "Many of my subordinates know how to pilot a devilish warship. If there is no other choice, I can try my best to steer one, too."

  "That's good." Li Yao nodded and said, "There's also one other problem. The thousand federal soldiers are too eye-catching in the Blood Demon Sector. They will need a place where they can hide before they find a way back to the Heaven's Origin Sector."

  "Void Turmoil City at present is certainly in turmoil," the Fire Ant King said. "There is no way that we can return to that place. However, the Blade of Chaos has another few secret hideouts. We can stay in one of them and lay low for a while."

  Li Yao narrowed his eyes. "Should I trust you?"

  "If you have been speaking the truth, you should," the Fire Ant King said. "Like you, I do not want my compatriots to become walking dead or slaves that are at somebody else's mercy.

  "Besides, you do not have a second choice other than to believe in me, just like I do not have a second choice other than to believe in the human expert that jumped out of nowhere, you!

  "If you are with Elder Nether Spring and your appearance was but an excellent play that he drafted for the purpose to breaking into the secret hideouts of the Blade of Chaos, I have no choice but to step into the trap now!"

  Li Yao laughed. The Fire Ant King did have a point.

  "Alright. I have basically grasped the structure of the captive camp and the underground facilities. I will need one day to prepare the magical equipment and the weapons we need." Li Yao told him his whole plan. "In one day, I will fly the fully-armed Neltharion into the depths of the captive camp to sabotage the pivot of the barriers and free all the captives.

  "The riot of the captives will certain distract the attention of most of the soldiers of the Nether World Watch. Later, I will crawl out of where I am hiding right now and rescue you. Following which, we look for the core secrets saved in the mainframe crystal processor or the biochemical brain. I will deal with the crystal processor, and you, the biochemical brain. Any questions?"

  "No."

  "Eventually, we will steal a devilish warship and blow up the remaining ones before we take off with all the captives. The critical problem is, how much of your capability can be restored?"

  The Fire Ant King sniffed and said, "If I activate all the strengthening drugs inside my body, my combat ability can be restored to near the demon emperor stage. However, there will be nothing I can do if the 'Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle' on my body is not cracked."

  "A combat ability near the demon emperor stage is good enough. As for the 'Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle', we will have to try our luck. Please check your watch and activate all your strengthening drugs inside your body on time, Fire Ant King!" Li Yao cracked his knuckles. "Starting from now, in 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 58 seconds, we are going to make it big!"

  Chapter 936: Bombs, More Bombs! |

  An hour later, Neltharion returned to the warehouse of biochemical beasts, which was on the minus twenty-sixth floor of the 'Nether World'.

  At this moment, Li Yao finally had the chance to crawl out of the super corrosive stomach of the lightning boa.

  He did not forget to leave several 'souvenirs' in the throat of the lightning boa.

  If the lightning boa was used by the Nether World Watch in a battle in the future, the outcome would certainly be very 'touching'.

  Neltharion hovered above the warehouse of biochemical beasts and located nine surveillance biochemical eyes in total. After calculating all their angles, Li Yao held his breath for half a minute before moving the button on the cover inch by inch with his magnetic magical equipment and Neltharion. Finally, he was out of the beast.

  Like a ghost, before the biochemical eye turned toward him, he dashed out of the biochemical beast container and hid in the narrow gap between two containers, breathing in silence.

  He had constricted his bones and muscles, making himself no larger than a cat, in order to leave enough space for his arm. His fingers were vibrating at a high frequency of more than five thousand times per second. Very soon, the scent of something being burnt could vaguely be smelled.

  It was the scent of his skin being slightly roasted due to the high-frequency rubbing against the hair.

  It was Li Yao's warm-up.

 
The warm-up is done. Now start the preparations!

  Li Yao blinked. Golden colors were flash quickly in the depths of his eyes.

  Now that he was in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage, he could project whatever was his mind to his retinas. He could 'see' hundreds of light beams before him.

  On the illusionary light beams, the map of the island above and below the ground, the forty-seven hypothetical structures of the 'Venomous Scorpion Bone Biting Shackle', and the inventory of the three hundred items that he was planning to modify and assemble were all displayed clearly and orderly.

  All the images were jumping and changing quickly on his retinas. Li Yao divided his computational ability into computation, analysis, and combination simultaneously.

  One third of his computational ability was integrating the 3D map of the 'Nether World' and simulating all the scenarios that he could possibly run into in the operation tomorrow by means of war-games.

  Li Yao assumed that the standard force of the enemy was 'five thousand soldiers of the Nether World Watch and three experts in the demon emperor stage—Lu Wuxin, Despot and Swirl'. Then, he improved the difficulty of the game by thirty percent on such a basis while he calculated his plan and countermeasures under various circumstances.

  One third of his computational ability was trying to recall the refining style of 'Solar Eclipse' Jiang Shaoyang and the traditional style of the Refining Department of Deep Sea University.

  Although Jiang Shaoyang had made remarkable progress compared to the past, the habits and techniques that he had developed since childhood were too deeply rooted to be wiped out, even if they could be covered temporarily.

  Li Yao was now an expert in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage and a master of refining. But some of his habits still showed traces of the magical equipment graveyard where he learned the arts of refining in the beginning.

  What Li Yao was going to do was look for the familiar style that Jiang Shaoyang covered up before he found a way to counterattack!