Empat Puluh Milenium Kultivasi - Chapter 125-149

Issuing deafening roars, a few dozen flying shuttles floated in the air. Such a group appeared overbearingly grand and imposing.

None of these flying shuttles were painted in the army-green color like the ones used by the federation army; instead, they were painted with alternating white and blue stripes, giving an appearance that looked like billowing rivers flowing towards the east.

On either side of the flying shuttle, every one of them had the word “Jiang” engraved upon it in a manner that was as flamboyant as flying dragons and dancing phoenixes.

“Whiz! Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!”

Over a hundred robust men wearing blue combat suits fiercely smashed onto the ground from a dozen meter high, thereby blasting pieces of stones in every direction and raising a cloud a dust.

In just the blink of an eye, over a hundred robust men had appeared around Li Yao.

The indifferent gaze, the gruesome temperament, and the straight look made them appear as if they were a group of puppets forged from metal.

The bodies of these people were surging with an overbearing, matchless, and awe-inspiring aura, whereas round after round of spirit threads coiled around their bodies, seemingly as if they simply had not even an iota of intention to retract them.

“Are all of them cultivators?” Li Yao’s pupil suddenly contracted.

In just one breath, the Jiang Family had mobilized over a hundred cultivators. Sure enough, the Jiang Family was second to none when it comes to tyranny in the Wasteland.

“Little Black, can you do it?”

Li Yao shook the backpack a bit as an idea to slip away emerged in his mind.

He had never put his life in someone else’s hand and had never let his life and death be at the mercy of others.

Although Guan Xiong had said the Jiang Family would not bother him, Li Yao had also refused to believe that the Jiang Family would have the guts to harm him, a “Class-1 Disabled Serviceman”, right in front of the federation army.

However, he still had no intention to let himself be surrounded by over a hundred cultivators from the Jiang Family.

Once he was encircled, he would no longer be able to retreat, and the only possibility left for him was to allow himself to be trampled upon.

Thus, no matter the reason the opposite party had come here for, the first thing he should to was to step out of the encirclement.

If the other side truly had some malicious intentions, then he would never allow himself to be caught without putting up a fight—it would be either them or him!

“Of course, I can do it!”

The Black Wing Sword in the backpack shook, eagerly wanting to give it a try.

At this moment, the group of over a hundred cultivators suddenly halted their footsteps. They did not form the encirclement but stood loosely, leaving Li Yao with a few dozen escape routes.

Bang!

From a flying shuttle, an indistinct chunk of flesh and blood was thrown down and heavily crashed into the ground. From what seemed to be the “mouth” came a blood-curdling screech.

A young girl, who had an extremely cold and detached temperament and was dressed in an ice-blue battle suit, jumped from the flying shuttle and gradually arrived in front of Li Yao. She was floating 2 meters above the ground, looking at Li Yao from high above.

Her aura seemed to be as strong as Ding Lingdang, while her temperament that was as cold as ice and frost was somewhat similar to Si Jiaxue.

The only difference was that Si Jiaxue was like an iceberg, whereas she was like an ice pick which could not be stopped by anyone.

An iceberg could not kill people, while an ice pick could instead pierce the heart in the blink of an eye and was able to take a person’s life.

“I am Jiang Bingyun, the roving supervisor of the Jiang Family. I am specifically responsible for supervising and punishing the descendants of the Jiang Family who have violated laws or regulations. To these degenerates of the Jiang Family, I impose the rules of the family upon them! Are you Li Yao?”

The ice pick-like girl asked in one sentence, but she didn’t even take a glance at Li Yao.

She also didn’t wait for Li Yao to reply and coldly said as she pointed right at the squirming mass of meat:

“This is Jiang Tao, who, as a cultivator facing a catastrophe, hesitated instead of pressing forward and had even wanted to use ordinary citizens as human shields so that he could escape.”

“Afterward, not only did he not come to regret his actions, he had even verbally abused and insulted the heroic sacrifices of many cultivators.”

“Our Jiang Family is an influential family in the Wasteland. Every bit of our family’s glory was earned through the fearless sacrifices of countless descendants of our Jiang Family on the battlefield. Only through bloody battles was the glory of our Jiang Family earned!”

“Jiang Tao’s actions had not only violated the bottom line of cultivators, but he had also violated the laws of our Jiang Family, bringing shame to the whole family.”

“Because of this, I, as the roving supervisor of Jiang Family, will judge him according to the rules of the family and will waste his spiritual energy, returning to his true form, an ordinary person. From now on, he would forever be unable to cultivate!”

“Fellow Daoist Li, you are the witness of the entire thing and have witnessed Jiang Tao’s poor behavior. Rumor has it that he had also used the Jiang Family’s influence to threaten you, so I thought it would be best for you to witness his punishments.”

Jiang Bingyun’s voice was as cold as a mass of ice that had been frozen for ten thousand years. She simply didn’t give an opportunity to intervene. Just as her voice faded away, with a flicker, she appeared next to the lump of flesh and blood.

The “lump” desperately squirmed and desperately cried:

“Jiang Bingyun, you can not do this to me! Can’t you give me an opportunity, just one opportunity? I was wrong, and I will not do something like this again! I have truly realized my mistake!”

Taking out an exquisite and delicate-looking, completely rounded saber that was carved from emerald jade and was no longer than the length of a palm from her bosom, Jiang Bingyun calmly said:

“Since it’s me, you should know… there is no second chance!”

Jiang Tao begged for a long time before suddenly roaring madly:

“Jiang Bingyun, don’t you dare! I am from the High Forest Branch of the Jiang Family, while you have long been separated from the Sky Mist Branch. Although you are a roving supervisor of the main branch, you don’t have the qualifications to make a move on me, who is from another branch. Only the roving supervisor of the High Forest Branch can judge me!”

“I guess you’re right! It is reasonable to say that it should be the roving supervisor of the High Forest Branch who should decide on your matter. However, they have been… intercepted by a group of ‘desert pirates’ on the way. Currently, they are preoccupied with them. If I have to guess, they would not arrive for another 2-3 hours, so you are left with me.”

Jiang Bingyun said without hesitation.

Jiang Tao’s pair of eyes were opened so wide they almost fell out of their sockets. His voice became incomparably desolate:

“Jiang Bingyun, you actually dare to intercept the roving supervisor of my High Forest Branch?! You are too audacious! Don’t you dare waste my spiritual energy! This father will definitely not let you go!”

“Oh.”

Jiang Bingyun unenthusiastically reacted as her jade saber flew and whizzed around Jiang Tao in circles before ruthlessly stabbing into Jiang Tao’s spiritual root!

“Chi chi chi chi chi chi!”

A large amount of spiritual energy gushed out from the back of the jade sword. It was like a pipe that was drawing all the spiritual energy out from Jiang Tao’s body and releasing it back into the heaven and earth!

“Ah—”

Jiang Tao’s wails resounded throughout the sky. It very much sounded like an evil spirit of netherworld struggling for its life in the netherworld

Jiang Bingyun flicked her little finger as a soundproof barrier enveloped Jiang Tao, immediately blocking his screams.

All Li Yao could see were the movements of Jiang Tao’s lips and his eyes turning white. His whole body twitched, and foam came out of his mouth. He was like a person who was struck by lightning over and over again; his body kept on twitching constantly as he lost control over his bladder and bowel.

Even Li Yao, the “vulture” who grew up in the magical equipment graveyard since childhood, felt his scalp tingle and could not bear to watch.

The whole thing lasted enough for half a minute. Only when blood began to trickle down from Jiang Tao’s eyes, nose, and ears did Jiang Bingyun withdraw her jade saber.

What was strange was that Jiang Tao’s forehead was as smooth as a mirror. His forehead was completely intact, and there was not a single trace of a jade saber having pierced his forehead.

Steam was constantly rising from his body. Besides the eyes that were occasionally moving, he held no semblance to a living person.

“Give him to the touring supervisor of the High Forest Branch. If Jiang Hong, that old devil, has anything to say, let him come see me!”

Jiang Bingyun spoke a few words before flying back to Li Yao. She still looked from high above, looking extremely cold and proud.

“Fellow Daoist Li, we have let you see the embarrassing side of our Jiang Family. As the saying goes, there is always a black sheep in every flock. Our Jiang Family has been developing in the Wasteland for hundreds of years. Besides the main branch, there are also eight major branches. It would not be strange to find a few degenerates in some of these branches.”

“I would like to thank you for acting in a just and generous manner by helping the Jiang Family teach this scum a lesson as well as expose his ugly side to the world!”

“You don’t need to worry. The High Forest Branch of the Jiang Family would not come looking for revenge. If Jiang Tao’s elders dare to even move even a single strand of your hair, then they would be looked down upon by my main branch!”

“In the future, if you need anything for cultivation, you can come to my Jiang Family’s Sky Mist Branch. This is my contact number…”

Getting straight to the point, Jiang Bingyun waved her hand as a ripple immediately appeared in the air. It was a spiritual crane messenger number.

“Splitting the air to form characters?” Li Yao was terrified.

All he could do was produce ripples if he punched the air.

However, to be able to actually form a string of numbers from the ripples in the air… such accurate control over her power was too horrifying.

Jiang Bingyun did all this as if it was a normal occurrence for her. Nodding her chin, she turned around without even taking a glance at Li Yao.

After a moment, over a hundred well-trained cultivators from the Jiang Family uniformly whizzed away.

Leaving grand and imposing tails of flames behind in the air which gradually spread open.

“Jiang Family…”

“For them to even apologize so ferociously and overbearingly… the influential families from the Wasteland sure are marvelous!”

Looking up to the sky, Li Yao heaved a long sigh.

‘God knows what year and what day it would be when I would be able to gather such a vast amount of force that would allow my, Floating Spear City’s Vulture Li Yao’s, family name, “Li”, to resound throughout the Heaven Origin Sector.’

…

After half a day, the inspection was finally finished. The crystal train had also been repaired, the defensive array glyphs were once again filled with spiritual energy, and a new armored coach was attached to the back of the train. Moreover, a few battle-type cultivators had been arranged to accompany them on the journey ahead.

The passengers who were full of complaints finally turned lively; the desolate train station was now filled with cheers of laughter.

They were about to leave. Traveling through the starry night without stop, they would directly reach their destination.

Ding Ying and Wei Qingqing came to see Li Yao off.

At the beginning, everyone’s destination was the Wild Waves City, but as humans and ghosts were completely opposite, they would have to part ways now.

Li Yao would continue his journey to the Wild Waves City, while the two would have to follow the other spectral cultivators to a school specially dedicated for spectral cultivators and would begin to learn how to become an ideal, moral, faithful, and loving ghost.

“Student Li Yao, you don’t need to be sad. Once we have learned how to be a ghost, we will still have the opportunity to meet again. Perhaps one day, we will fight side by side with each other!”

A heroic laughter came from Ding Yin’s spirit prosthetic body before he took out a jade chip from his bosom and inserted it into a port on the left side of his metal skull.

Only to hear a “buzzing” noise coming from inside the metal skull as the radiance of the jade chip also flickered.

After a moment, Ding Yin removed the jade chip and put it in Li Yao’s hand.

“Student Li Yao, I have read your information. I know you are Floating Spear City’s Champion of College Entrance Examination and also had the opportunity to enter Deep Sea University, but instead chose the Grand Desolate War Institution… Be that as it may, this type of courage and righteousness has made me admire you! I have nothing to give you, but this jade chip contains some of my notes from the time when I was researching weapon refining techniques. You can use them as reference. They should be very helpful when learning the basics.”

“Professor Ding, this gift is too precious!”

Li Yao felt a surge of warmth in his heart, while the jade chip in his palm felt incredibly hot.

Even though Ding Yin’s refining ability could not be called outstanding, he was still a respected theoretical expert in the refiners’ community who was especially good at researching basic theories.

His notes would, no doubt, help Li Yao lay the most solid theoretical foundation.

Ding Yin faintly smiled: “Student Li Yao, you are a genius. It’s my wish that you don’t waste your talent. Although the reputation of Grand Desolate War Institutions’ Refining Department is insignificant and is ranked last among the ‘Nine Elite Universities’, this, by no means, implies that its strength is only limited to this. Rather, this is also related to the different concepts of refining. That is to say, the ‘struggle over the great daos’ between schools.”

“Professor Zheng Xuan, who is the head of the Refining Department, is known as ‘Madman’ in the refiners’ circle. The refining concepts he insists on are completely different than that of the other ‘eight major refining departments’—in fact, they are polar opposites!”

“All because of this, he has always been unable to gain the recognition of the few major schools and authorities among the refiners’ community, which is why the Grand Desolate War Institution has fallen to such a level.”

“However, I have, on several occasions, dealt with Madman Zheng, and I feel that he is very strong. His concepts seem somewhat mad, but they are also innovative. He seems to be creating a system of his own.”

“Your talent is so outstanding, and not to mention that you have already awakened your spiritual roots, so you will definitely become his direct disciple. He will carefully groom you, and in addition to my notes, perhaps you would weave out a new yet unknown path!”

“That’s why you have to try hard! I heard that you have once boasted in public that you will lead the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department and challenge the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department one day—this kind of heroic utterance, even if it is inconceivable, as a man, you must do everything to achieve it!”

Ding Yin extended his metal fist and heavily punched Li Yao’s stomach. “If one day you truly lead the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department and challenge the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, I will certainly cheer and hoist flags for you from the back!”

“Professor Ding, then you have to prepare a super big flag so that it presents a magnificent appearance when you wave it!”

Just as Li Yao finished speaking, the two were smiling at each other.

“Little birdy!”

At this time, a chubby little girl who wore a pink skirt, revealing two chubby calves, upon noticing the spirit prosthetic body controlled by Wei Qingqing, had her big, fat eyes suddenly shine as she cried in an unclear voice. Breaking away from her mother’s hand, she clumsily ran towards Wei Qingqing.

Wei Qingqing spread her wings and danced around the little girl before finally perching on the little girl’s shoulder.

“Little birdy, little birdy, I am Dudu, what’s your name?” blinking her big eyes, the little girl naively asked.

“Hello Dudu, I am Qinqqing!” Wei Qingqing softly said.

“Wow, a talking bird! So awesome!”

Dudu puffed her cheeks, as though two apples had been stuffed in both sides of her mouth. Staring with wide-opened eyes, she carefully placed Wei Qingqing on her palm and tenderly said, “Qingqing, you are so beautiful and your voice is also very pleasant, can we be friends?”

“Yes, we can! Qingqing is also very happy to have a cute little sister like Dudu. From now on, we are good friends!” Wei Qingqing said with a laugh.

“Amazing! Mother, mother, look! I made a friend, it’s a talking bird!”

Dudu, with the little bluebird, ran towards her mother in excitement.

Wei Qingqing revealed an incredibly satisfied look in her crystal eyes while comfortably lying in the little girl’s arm.

Ding Yin watched the little girl’s back for a very long time.

Although he didn’t have tear glands, Li Yao saw his artificial crystal eyes sparkle.

“I have granddaughter twins who have turned four and a half this year. They are just as old as this little girl, and their smiles are also like this little girl’s. They are so cute and silly.”

Ding Yin said absent-mindedly. Suddenly, he changed the subject, “Student Li Yao, before we part, I want to tell you a secret.”

“To tell you the truth, on the crystal train, I wasn’t willing to come forward. I was the same as Jiang Tao. In my heart, I had tens of thousands of reasons to retreat.”

“However, in the end, I was not the same as Jiang Tao. He is just a student, a nameless newbie. Even if he badmouths us, it is not a big deal.”

“However, I am different. I can be considered to be a slightly reputed scholar in the refiners’ community, and I am also an elder of the Hidden God Valley. I have countless eyes pointed at me. The moment I flee instead of fighting, it would turn into a big scandal, and I don’t know how I would become an upright person in the future.”

“That’s why, even though I was not so willing to go forward, I still forcibly mustered up my courage and came forward, only to turn into a spectral cultivator in the end.”

“From the moment I was dead, I was also like Jiang Tao. Countless times, I have asked myself one question—was it worth it?”

“Was it worth it to sacrifice myself for a couple thousand ordinary citizen whom I don’t even know? Was it worth it for me to combust my life, smash my spirit, and forever live in this metal box? Was it worth it for me to be unable to be an ordinary husband, a father, and a grandfather?

“Until this moment, this question had always been lingering in my mind and had remained unanswered.”

“However, after I saw the cute smile on Dudu’s face, I found the answer.”

“It was worth it, it was totally worth it.”

“If someday, my granddaughter twins encounter a similar danger, I believe that there would be someone like me who would come forward to protect them, so that a carefree smile remains on their faces and they could live happily.”

“I firmly believe this.”

…

The crystal train gradually started moving, and soon, it left the endless army-green tents behind, replacing the scenery with a desolate desert that seemed to have no end.

This time, on the train, a single compartment had been allotted for Li Yao in accordance with the standard of the Class-1 Federation Disabled Servicemen.

Li Yao didn’t refuse. He very much needed to be alone to comfortably sink into the depths of his neural field and assimilate Ou Yezi’s memory fragments.

He could not wait to know whether there were any wonderful changes in his ability to assimilate memory fragments after he had awakened his spiritual root and advanced to a cultivator.

Locking the door, Li Yao laid down on the bed as he breathed evenly. The gap between each breath grew longer and longer, and soon, his soul heavily sunk into the depths of his neural field where the glittering tree of memories grew slowly.

“Sure enough, there are some changes!”

Li Yao’s soul shook in astonishment. At the central part of the tree of memories, which used to be pitch black, a few dozen “leaves” began to light up one by one and turned into memory fragments that could be assimilated!

In accordance with the former step by step assimilating speed, he was still far from lighting the memory fragments of this part.

He had never dreamt that along with his advancement to a cultivator, the number of memories he could assimilate would all of a sudden increase.

Upon carefully studying for some time, Li Yao discovered that the newly lit memories belonged to the days when Ou Yezi was a Refinement Stage disciple.

“Is the lighting of memory fragments dependent on my strength?”

“After I became a Refinement Stage cultivator, do I have the qualification to assimilate Ou Yezi’s memories as a Refinement Stage cultivator? If so, once I advanced to the Building Foundation Stage, will I be able to use Ou Yezi’s memories from the days when he was a Building Foundation Stage cultivator?”

This question could only be slowly answered with time. For the time being, Li Yao put it aside. With a sparkling gaze, he searched through the newly lit memory fragments, and soon, he was able to find the memory of the day which he had always been dreaming about day and night.

The memory belonged to the third day after Ou Yezi had become a cultivator. The Hundred Smelting Clan’s elder had brought the newcomers to the first floor of the Hundred Smelting Clan’s “Heavenly Refining Tower”!

The Heavenly Refining Tower was one of the most important restricted areas of the Hundred Smelting Clan and was also known as the “Scriptures Hall” in ordinary cultivation sects!

The Heavenly Refining Tower had a total of nine floors, each of which had multitudes of wondrous exercises and techniques, and what’s more, it even had a massive amount of refining books and notes that was as vast as the sea!

Li Yao cheerfully cried before his soul transformed into a stream of light and entered the memory fragment, finding himself amidst a group of newly advanced, low-level cultivators who were following the Hundred Smelting Clan’s Elder and arriving at the first floor of the mysterious Heavenly Refining Tower!

“Creak—”

The giant door of Heavenly Refining Tower gradually opened, revealing a narrow space with a radius of a dozen meters before the newly advanced cultivators. But as Li Yao stepped inside, a light gray mist rose around him and separated him from the rest.

“Whiz… Whiz… Whiz… Whiz…!”

A few dozen dusty book shelves surprisingly slid over from the gray mist and surrounded Li Yao.

Each bookshelf was stacked with low-level cultivation techniques that had been accumulated over the thousands of years by the Hundred Smelting Clan.

The most sophisticated body refining exercise, , that was used to help low-level cultivators temper their soul and body.

The

The that was derived from the Illusory Hand Pickpocketing Technique and was especially used to exercise flexibility of the fingers and increase one’s hand speed.

Every basic cultivation technique made Li Yao’s pair of eyes red, his breathing become ragged, and his heart pound like drums.

From the bookshelves, he took out the and lightly blew up on it, blowing away the dust that had accumulated on it. Then, with his head buried inside the book, he took a long, deep breath.

The ancient book had a faint aroma of sandalwood, which made him feel relaxed and happy; it was comfortable to the extreme.

Ruthlessly pinching his thighs, Li Yao focused his mind as he eagerly started reading.

His indulged himself in the Heavenly Refining Tower for an entire three days and three nights. Besides eating and the usual bodily requirements, for every minute and every second, he was assimilating Ou Yezi’s memories.

When he had finally, without complete comprehension, engraved the , , and a dozen other basic exercises and records of the Hundred Smelting Clan in his mind, the crystal train gradually started slowing down.

A desolate, primitive, majestic, and wide town appeared on the horizon.

“Ladies and gentlemen, in fifteen minutes, the train will arrive at its destination, Wild Waves City. Thank you for your cooperation. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience encountered during the journey. Goodbye and we wish you a pleasant stay!”

A gentle female voice resounded in every coach.

“I have finally reached the Grand Desolate War Institution. I had never dreamt that so much would happen on the way, and neither have I dreamt that I would become a cultivator before even having stepped into the university!”

“However, I can not be proud. The world is vast, and I have a long road ahead of me. Devil knows what wonderful things are waiting for me!”

Li Yao slightly smiled as he carried the Black Wing Sword and Dark Star Rock and stepped out of the train in large strides.

TLN:

[1] 离火 – Li Fire, I could have used plain fire but it would be different. The Li(离) is the symbol on the eight trigrams or bagua which means Fire. In Chinese culture, the trigrams are related to everything, from astronomy, astrology, geography, geomancy, anatomy, the family, to everything else.

[2] Translator’s Rambling—On a side note, as to why there are inconsistencies in the novel when there is always talk about memories. For example, he should not be shocked about Peng Hai’s shocking display of power, as he must have already seen it in the memories and so on. So, here is what I think: the dream he saw, I think, is just a rough pigmentation of Ou Yezi’s memories pertaining to the events that had the most impact on him. Like when he joined the sect, the torturous training, when he smelted his first weapon, or when he became a cultivator and so on. And once again reading Chapter 11, I came across a sentence which should clear the doubt—”The rate at which the dreamland unfolded grew faster and faster. It was like the blurred lightning speed of a crystal rail train. Only during important moments did the speed slow down, allowing Li Yao to clearly see their details”. Only a small part of the dream he saw clearly, while the rest was blurry besides the important detail. Like in this chapter, Li Yao very well remembered when Ou Yezi became cultivator and entered the Heavenly Refining Tower. However, he didn’t remember the techniques and exercises.

Wild Waves City.[1]

For a town which was hundreds of thousands of miles away from any oceans to be named “Wild Waves”, it seemed extremely strange.

However, when the passenger disembarked from the train, an “ocean” with waves that ran as high as they could get appeared in the distance behind the huge glass walls of the entrance.

To be precise, it was a vast expanse of Wasteland; because the rocks had been carried by the fierce winds for hundreds of millions of years, they had stacked upon each other, creating an appearance akin to waves upon waves. In other words, the rocks, after having been swept away by the wind, had solidified and turned into a sea of stones.

This sea of stones was painted with two colors—black and red.

The black color was the original color of the rock.

Whereas the red color was because of having been dyed with the blood of countless federation soldiers, cultivators, and demon beasts.

The blood of humans and demon beasts had so deeply perfused into the rocks that even if the rocks were smashed to pieces, one would still be able to find bits and pieces of scarlet amidst the black.

Wild Waves City was a lot different than the other cities of the Demon Beast Wasteland. Around Wild Waves City, there weren’t any military camps nor were there any towering walls protecting the city.

The humans living here didn’t need any city walls at all because, for a very long time, the demon beasts had not dared to invade this city.

On the contrary, the ones who needed to be protected the most by a solid wall were the enemies of Wild Waves City—even if they did have this protection, it would only buy them a few seconds, that’s all.

Because there wasn’t anybody or anything that could block the residents of Wild Waves City. Whether it was any kind of enclosing wall or the fangs and armor of demon beasts, there would be no effect—none at all.

This was precisely Wild Waves City.

The place where the Grand Desolate War Institution was located—a paradise for hot-blooded men!

Li Yao looked for a long time while standing behind the huge glass screen at the entrance. His heart was fluctuating up and down just like the sea of rocks made by the wind in the Wasteland.

Behind him were a couple hundred young boys and girls. They were a group of hot-blooded teenagers who had just disembarked from different trains and were all new students of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

They smiled at each other before confirming each other’s identities quickly. Everyone involuntarily raised their chests, as though they were all an inseparable group from this moment onward.

All the high-spirited young boys and girls very quickly got familiar with each other, and soon, they set forth, clattering at the entrance.

“Brother, I am from the Chaos Edge Hall, which student union are you from?”

“Ha ha ha! I am also from the Chaos Edge Hall. It seems we are family. Just a moment ago, looking at your thick arm, I thought you were from the Iron Fist Club!”

“You see that girl over there who is covered in many tattoos from head to toe? She is definitely a member of the Glyph Devils—not good, she heard us!”

On one hand, Li Yao was listening to the conversations of the students, while on the other, he was thinking about the information he had just learned from the freshman guide.

Before the Grand Desolate War Institution came into existence, it used to be a platform in the Demon Beast Wasteland where all kinds of warriors could exchange martial techniques, thus the Grand Desolate War Institution was rather free, the rules were loose, and it promoted a student autonomy.

It was not the professors who were in control of the various departments, but rather, it was the students. Every department’s student union was self-governed, and the professors were only there to guide them. As long as the students didn’t cross their bottom line, then they would generally not interfere with the operation of the student union.

The Iron Fist Club, the Chaos Edge Hall, the Glyph Devils, and the Lancets were the four strongest student unions established at the Grand Desolate War Institution.

The Iron Fist Club was a student union composed of body practitioners. They all disdained the use of any kind of weapon. Any student who was convinced that their body was the strongest magical equipment would join the Iron Fist Club. The members of the Iron Fist Club continuously charged towards the limits of their body, tempering their flesh and blood into an all-conquering killing machine.

The Chaos Edge Hall was a student union composed of sword cultivators. The students who joined the Chaos Edge Hall possessed superb skills in the usage of cold weapons, and their dreams were to become a first-rate sword immortal.

The Lancets were, instead, a student organization of the Medical Department.

At the beginning, Li Yao could not understand why there was a Medical Department at the Grand Desolate War Institution, especially one that was very high level to the point that it was on par with the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine in surgery, emergency treatment, and other fields.

Only after a careful explanation from the freshman manual did he come to understand.

The Grand Desolate War Institution was a combat school that specialized in nurturing warriors who zealously fought and was a university that encouraged its students to fight.

The students would definitely be subjected to all kinds of injuries while fighting, and it would not be strange in the least for them to be injured to the point that their life was hanging by a thread—whether it was the members of the Iron Fist Club or the Chaos Edge Hall, all of them were a bunch of madmen who didn’t fear death. Even if they were facing a demon beast who was ten times stronger than they were, they would still directly charged at it without even batting an eye.

Under these circumstances, a “Medical Department” appeared in the Grand Desolate War Institution which specialized in trauma treatment and were responsible for emergency treatment on the field.

Over the course of a couple hundred years, the Medical Department’s level continued to rise, so much that many of the patients who had suffered serious injuries on the battlefield which could not be cured by the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine would be sent for treatment to the surgical and orthopedic hospitals affiliated to the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Medical Department.

The doctors of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Medical Department specialized in the usage of a kind of scalpel that was as thin and as similar as a willow leaf to carry out the most sophisticated of operations. Over time, “Lancets” had become the synonym for the doctors of the Wasteland.

As for the Glyph Devils, their existences were even more surprising than that of the Lancets for Li Yao—to his surprise, it was a student organization of the Arts Department.

No matter how Li Yao racked his brain, he could not figure out why the Grand Desolate War Institution would have an “Arts Department”, especially one so strong that it had left his beloved “Refining Department” far behind.

The freshmen manual, yet again—broke the mystery.

In the cultivation world, there was an extremely mysterious ability called “Spirit Tattoo Technique”. Using this technique, one could draw hundreds of thousands of patterns that were infused with spirit glyphs all over their body. Without even having to cultivate, they would possess a powerful strength.

The cultivators who had mastered this kind of ability were revered as “Spirit Tattoo Artists”.

Let’s take the most common example—if a Spirit Tattoo Artist had drawn a flame which contained complex fire-type array glyphs on the hand of a cultivator, then when the cultivator punched with that very fist, he could spontaneously mobilize flame spiritual energy and blast it. He simply did not need to form any kinds of seals, chant any spell, or any other triggering conditions.

This was just the most common, the most low-level usage of spirit tattoos.

A true Spirit Tattoo Master Artist could marvelously draw over a hundred spirit glyphs in a small tattoo that was no bigger than a square inch. Moreover, it would completely fuse with blood vessels, perfectly integrating the tattoo with its user!

You could imagine that the Spirit Tattoo Artists were simply the strongest supporters of the body practitioners.

A body practitioner who had spirit tattoos drawn all over his body was absolutely a terrifying existence on the battlefield. Nobody knew what kind of frightening abilities he would come to possess after the tattoo had fused with his body.

For instance, the red-eyed officer who Li Yao had met on the crystal train was just a 1st level Building Foundation Stage cultivator. In truth, it was absolutely impossible for him to fly hundreds of meters high into the air in the blink of an eye.

However, the light wings tattooed on his back by the Spirit Tattoo Artists had allowed him to overdraft his life force and stimulate all the spiritual energy stored in the light wings at the last moments of his life, enabling him to soar into the clouds and launch an incomparably gorgeous strike!

The Grand Desolate War Institution’s Arts Department was a place that was dedicated to fostering Spirit Tattoo Artists. In the entire federation, it was a one of a kind department that could compete with the similar departments of Sky Fantasia Academy.

The Iron Fist Club, the Chaos Edge Hall, the Lancets, the Glyph Devils… These were the four student unions that were the backbone of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

80% of the university’s education funds and resources flowed into these four student unions, and they were given priority to the university’s best professors, courts, and equipment.

As for the remaining meager 20%, that was left for the other departments to compete for.

Most of the radicals even believed that the Grand Desolate War Institution was placed last among the “Nine Elite Universities” because they were being dragged down by a dozen other ordinary departments, believing that they might as well completely cut off these ordinary departments and only retain the Iron Fist Club, Chaos Edge Hall, Lancets, and the Glyph Devils. Maybe then their ranking could be a bit higher!

‘First of all, I need to bring the Refining Department to the same level as the four major departments…’ Li Yao thought.

At this time, sounds of light footsteps came from behind him. A boy with short hair that was no longer than an inch asked in awe:

“Excuse me, fellow student. Your spiritual energy fluctuations are very strong. You would not… happen to have already awakened your spiritual root and become a cultivator, right?”

“Wow!”

Just as he had said this, all the freshmen came over and looked at Li Yao in curiosity.

Everyone had long heard that the “Nine Elite Universities” was a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers and had innumerable geniuses gathered. They didn’t expect to see a monstrous talent in real life before they had even entered the campus!

Li Yao was feeling a little embarrassed from the hot and fiery gazes of everyone as he nodded: “Yes, but I’ve just awakened it, so my level is very low. I am just at the 1st level of the Refinement Stage, that’s all.”

“Just awakened…”

The body with short hair pondered for a moment, seemingly thinking about something. His eyebrows started twitching as he cried, “You would not happen to be that monster—who had awakened his spiritual root on a platform and then beat a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator to the point that he was so miserable that one could not bear to look at him?!”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment. He had not expected that this matter would have already spread so much.

Thus, all the freshmen became mad!

A contest between cultivators would set off fluctuations of spiritual energy that could not be perceived by ordinary people, but as these freshmen’s Spiritual Root Development Quotient was over 80%, they were naturally able to perceive it.

So everyone knew that on a temporary station, a small scuffle between two cultivators had taken place.

However, at that time, a majority of the people were being inspected, so they too didn’t know the exact details. They only knew that a recently awakened cultivator had beaten a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator into a pig—or perhaps a boneless, pickled pig head.

On the train, everyone was continuously discussing that the 1st level Refinement Stage cultivator was too fierce and wondering god knows where this monster had popped out from.

But how could they have expected that he would turn out to be their fellow student, and even more so a freshman who was just going to enter the Grand Desolate War Institution!?

At this moment, everyone had different kinds of looks in their eyes when gazing at Li Yao; their gazes were filled with envy, worship, fanaticism, and fear…

“The Grand Desolate War Institution is worthy of being the best combat institute in the federation. Even such a fierce person had chosen the Grand Desolate War Institution. I have certainly not enrolled in the wrong university!”

“Ah, the pressure is too great! In the future, we will be studying together with such a fierce student. How could we compare with such a monster?”

“Fellow student, you are thinking too much. Such a fierce person like him would, for sure, be personally guided by the ‘professors’ themselves, whereas ordinary freshmen like us will only get ‘lecturers’. We simply have nothing to compare!”

“Does anyone know whether he is actually a body practitioner or a sword cultivator?”

The short-haired boy’s face was full of worship as he said in excitement, “Fellow Student, if I can study together with you, then that would my greatest honor! Can you tell me—whether you are from the Iron Fist Club or the Chaos Edge Hall?”

Once this sentence exited his mouth, a majority of the students divided into two groups while maintaining their composure.

Most of the students on the left side had shiny skin that was reflecting a metal-like gloss. Furthermore, each and every joint was oddly big, their fists were flat, and when they clenched their fists, their fists were like warhammer that had been repeatedly tempered.

Whereas, most of the student on the right side had sharp as a blade looks in their eyes, their hands were covered in calluses, many of the students even had their fingerprints completely polished, and weapons of varying lengths hung on their waists.

They were the members of the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall respectively.

TLN:

[1] – You may all be wondering which city is this, or how come the name has been changed. Actually, the raws were like ‘furious waves city’, so for a better flow, we decided to change the name a bit, but as I read this chapter, it was mismatching with the first couple paragraphs of the chapter, so we have decided to change the name of ‘Wild Storm City’ to ‘Wild Waves City’. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Grand Desolate War Institution, which had taken root in the Demon Beast Wasteland, was a university that always advocated for combat and competition. As the two strongest student unions of the Grand Desolate War Institution, the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall had been fighting for various resources, and over the past century, had become mortal enemies who would stand in sharp opposition to each other.

Most of the time, the Iron Fist Club had slightly suppressed the Chaos Edge Hall, with the exception of a few decade ago when “Fiend Blade Peng Hai” was the president of the Chaos Edge Hall—or as one could also say, when he was the “president of the sword cultivators student union”. During those two years, the Chaos Edge Hall had suddenly risen to prominence.

However, after Fiend Blade Peng Hao graduated, Chaos Edge Hall gradually became dispirited.

Especially in recent years when “Ding Lingdang”, this ferocious dragon in human form, suddenly appeared and became the president of the Iron Fist Club, Chaos Edge Hall had simply been suppressed into a meat pie.

They were somehow maintaining their somewhat feeble existence as they wait for Ding Lingdang to graduate. Of course, Chaos Edge Hall hoped that they could make a comeback!

If Li Yao took the road of a sword cultivator, then Chaos Edge Hall would very likely rise again, and perhaps the brilliant and prosperous era of “Fiend Blade Peng Hai” would appear again.

And if Li Yao was a body practitioner, then it goes without saying that for the next couple years, Chaos Edge Hall could perhaps only follow behind the Iron Fist Club’s ass and take whatever was left behind!

Therefore, all the students were nervous to the extreme as their eyes were completely glued to Li Yao’s mouth, holding their breath, waiting for him to answer.

Li Yao scratched his head in embarrassment: “Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, I neither belong to the Iron Fist Club nor am I a member of the Chaos Edge Hall. I belong to… the Starfire Union.”

“Starfire Union—what’s that?”

Many of the freshmen blinked their eyes; for a long while, they didn’t react.

“Such a fierce person is actually not a member of the Iron Fist Club and Chaos Edge Hall? The Starfire Union sounds very domineering. Is it some hidden department in the Grand Desolate War Institution which specializes in recruiting super fierce people like him?”

“What hidden department? Do you think you are reading a novel? How could there be that kind of thing!?”

A few freshmen opened the freshman manual on their crystal processors and searched carefully. A moment later, they showed an extremely disappointed look, seemingly as if a petrification spell had been cast upon their bodies.

“What is it? What department does the Starfire Union belong to?” a student standing nearby curiously asked.

“It’s the… Refining Department!”

“Ah? The Refining Department that is called the worst department of the Grand Desolate War Institution?”

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Li Yao, already carrying the Dark Star Rock and the Black Wing Sword on his shoulder, walked out of the train station without even waiting for them to ask any more questions, leaving a tall and enigmatic back behind for everyone.

The short-haired boy patted the shoulder of the freshman who was as dumb as wooden chicken and said with a sigh:

“You don’t need to think too much about it. How could we know what goes inside the head of a straight A student?”

…

On a small square just outside the train station, the atmosphere was extremely cold and oppressive. A dozen groups of people, like an army, stood in an orderly manner, forming up a dozen close order formations.

Wherein, amidst every close order formation, a big banner fluttered.

They all came here to welcome the freshmen into their respective student union.

At the front, there was a group of over a hundred students whose average height was about two meters, with skin that exuded a metal-like gloss and eyes that were brimming with radiating vigor, much like countless glittering stars!

Their upper bodies were almost naked, thereby revealing their rock-like muscles. Most of them wore a set of thick armor, the majority of which was laden with bloodstains, weaved from beast skin. They simply looked like barbarians who ate raw flesh and drank the blood of animals!

Amidst this group of “barbarians”, a huge banner, whose flagpole appeared to be made of the dozen meter long spine of a huge demon beast, was hoisted. Painted upon this flag was a huge iron fist that was smashing the skull of a ferocious demon beast into pieces!

The image seemed to be exaggerated and was drawn in rough strokes; it simply seemed as if a brute and valiant soldier had arbitrarily painted it with his hands, yet it was filled with a majesty that seemed to make everyone’s blood boil and even set the onlookers’ fists ablaze.

This was the battle flag of the Iron Fist Club!

A robust, bald giant whose height exceeded 2.3 meters stood upright under the battle flag.

Even amidst the group of robust and muscular men, he could be called a crane standing amongst chickens.

It was as if a fierce mammoth had suddenly appeared amidst a group of iron-armored rhinos!

The giant had a vivid iron fist tattoo engraved on his bald head, and the tattoo was exactly the same as the image on the war flag. Although his entire body was covered in ferocious and grim tattoos, half of his body had been covered by leather armor. The partly hidden, partly visible appearance gave the impression of a ferocious tiger who had camouflaged itself very well slumbering in a jungle, making it even more terrifying.

“All body practitioners from the Combat Department, gather under the Iron Fist Flag!”

The Giant let out a terrifying shout that was just like billowing thunder propagating from the center of the close order formation.

“He is the president of the Iron Fist Club, Hua Tianxiong, an 11th level Refinement Stage expert. Rumor has it that by the virtue of the cultivation exercise he cultivates, the tattoo at the top of his head can be triggered once his anger rushes to his head, allowing his strength to soar to the peak of the 13th level Refinement Stage and maintaining it for a dozen seconds—such frightening strength is second only to the last president of the Iron Fist Club, Ding Lingdang!”

“If we follow such a fierce person, we can definitely get a lot of the resources allocated by the school!”

“Let’s go!”

The eyes of a dozen or so freshmen who had chosen the “Combat Department’s Body Practitioner Department” lit up with pleasure as they sprinted along the road and joined the ranks of the Iron Fist Club.

At the same time, a cold sound which seemed like the one coming from a poisonous snake also rang in ears of the freshmen.

“All the freshmen who have chosen the Sword Cultivator Department, likewise, gather under the Chaos Edge Hall’s war flag!”

This voice sounded a lot different than the earth shattering roar of Hua Tianxiong; it was like the voice of a monarch which did not seem to linger for too long and was like a fleeting glare of a sharp blade.

Li Yao gathered all his attention as his five senses, like a tide, spread open, and only then did he find an ordinary young man, who had a pale complexion and a slight hunchback figure, standing amidst a group of a hundred people that was right behind the Iron Fist Club.

All of these hundred or so people wore a light gray robe, and all of them, on their backs, waists, or in the cuffs or their boots… wherever one could carry a weapon, carried something that was akin to a stick that was wrapped in cloth and was emitting a faint, cold aura.

Their temperament was also much similar to these cloth wraps, seemingly extremely average, revealing not even an iota of their abilities.

However, only their eyes seemed to be occasionally twinkling like the stars in a manner akin to the naked edge of a sharp blade, making everyone shudder.

This slightly hunchback young man made Li Yao feel terribly cold. Just one glance at him and Li Yao felt like he had fallen into a cave of ice as he felt a slight sting coming from his bone marrow.

“He is Xu Ge, the president of the Chaos Edge Hall, an 11th level Refinement Stage sword cultivator. He is going to be our boss for the next few years. Let’s behave neatly so that we leave a good impression on him!”

A dozen or so freshmen who had chosen to become sword cultivators walked with heads held high and chest out as they joined the ranks of the Chaos Edge Hall.

Behind the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall were the Glyph Devils and the Lancets.

The member of Lancets were medical students, and a white coat was their standard uniform.

However, it was different than the ordinary white coats; the white coats they wore had a vivid bloody skeleton embroidered upon it. Amidst the fierce gales, the jaws of the bloody skeleton seemed to be laughing at death.

The members of the Glyph Devils, instead, wore an airtight robe that only revealed their face, which was completely engraved with tattoos. They were like colorful chameleons who were hiding their true appearance.

Only a few dozen freshmen were left after the Lancets and the Glyph Devils had received their freshmen, a majority of which looked ugly and repulsive and had pitiful strength.

These freshmen were those who had chosen the ordinary departments besides the four key departments.

Watching the other freshmen happily joining the four key departments one by one, these freshmen of the ordinary departments let out a sigh. They did not have any intention to conceal their envy and disappointment.

Standing amidst this group, Li Yao gave the impression of a grim wolf, whose fangs were stained with blood, standing amidst a group of pugs; it looked indescribably repulsive.

At this moment—

Li Yao’s glabella twitched. He suddenly felt that the air in front of him was a little strange.

A thought struck Li Yao’s mind as he spontaneously retreated a step, and at the same time, he slightly bent his knees while spiritual energy surged into his legs so that every strand of his muscles was ready to erupt at any moment.

At the very same moment Li Yao retreated, two black figures from within the group of Iron Fist Club and Chaos Edge Hall whizzed out like a flash and appeared before Li Yao.

They were precisely the bald giant, Hua Tianxiong, and the hunchback young boy, Xu Ge, both of whom were experts of the 11th level Refinement Stage!

A sliver of surprise appeared on the faces of the two at the same time. They had never expected that Li Yao’s senses would be so sharp that he could predict their appearance in advance.

“Very good, you, sure enough, are someone who Professor Ding has his eyes on!”

The bald giant, Hua Tianxiong, jovially laughed as he measured Li Yao from head to toe with a satisfied look in his eyes. Nodding his head, he said, “Student Li Yao, your reputation has already spread in the entire campus before you have even arrived at university. It would truly be a pity if someone like you, who has beaten a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator unarmed, is not developed in the direction of a body practitioner! You are always welcome to take a look at the Iron Fist Club. I and Master Ding Lingdang will always be waiting for you. If you are interested, it would not be difficult in the least to make a transfer!”

Before Li Yao could even respond, the hunchback Xu Ge sneered:

“Hua Tianxiong, Student Li Yao’s talent in refining is obvious to all. If he joined your Iron Fist Hall, wouldn’t it be truly wasteful? I, however, am different. I did not come here to ask Student Li Yao to join my Chaos Edge Hall. I just hope that Student Li Yao will consider developing in both departments. He could learn to refine as well as take the courses of a sword cultivator at the same time. It would not be difficult for him to take a ‘dual degree’!”

As Xu Ge took a glance at Li Yao, his eyes sparkled like a poisonous snake who had found a little green frog as he revealed his true intention:

“Of course, if Student Li Yao is willing to take the road of a sword cultivator, then we will still welcome you—I know student Li Yao has a senior brother-junior brother relationship with ‘Fiend Blade Peng Hai’. And as Senior Peng Hai was once the president of our Chaos Edge Hall, then this could be considered fate. Perhaps someday, Student Li Yao could possibly become the next president of Chaos Edge Hall and lead our Chaos Edge Hall to thoroughly pummel the Iron Fist Club, reproducing the brilliant era of ‘Fiend Blade Peng Hai’!”

Li Yao smiled:

“I appreciate the kindness of you two. Maybe in the future, I will consider it, but for now, I am a member of the Starfire Union!”

The look in his eyes was exceptionally firm; there was not a sliver of any signs that showed that he had been swayed by the two.

Hua Tianxiong and Xu Ge glanced at each other as both of them smiled at the same time.

Hua Tianxiong frankly said:

“Alright. We knew Student Li Yao would not be so easily convinced.”

Xu Ge opened his mouth as he said:

“However, once you study in the Refining Department for some time, you will then come to realize the difference between the resources allocated to the ordinary departments and the ones allocated to the four major departments. It is totally different, your talent will be completely wasted in the Refining Department.”

Hua Tianxiong continued:

“At that time, if you change your mind, please come to the Iron Fist Club at once. Whatever your conditions are, we will accept your transfer application anytime!”

“The same goes for us. The doors of our Chaos Edge Hall is always open to Student Li Yao!”

“Please go ahead!”

The two student union presidents cupped their hands above their chest before returning to their respective group. The Chaos Edge Hall and the Iron Fist Club, like two well-trained army troops, silently withdrew from the wide field.

Li Yao continued going forward, searching for the flag of the Starfire Union.

TLN:

Hi guys,

Sorry for the missing chapter on Saturday. I was all day out on Friday, which made me completely exhausted to even do anything, I just jumped right into my bed and slept like a log. The missed chapter will be either released by this evening or there will be a dual release on Monday. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.

The wide field which was just bustling with freshmen a moment ago had, very soon, turned desolate, as the freshmen continued to leave with their respective student union, leaving Li Yao along with 7-8 freshmen behind.

Apart from Li Yao, every one of them had a frown on their foreheads as a sigh of despair left their lips—all of them were the freshmen of the Refining Department.

“Oh! Where is everybody? Now, only we few brothers in hardship are left behind. The Refining Department deserves to be called the worst department of the Grand Desolate War Institution. Look, the guys who should have come to pick us up is even slower than the others, and even now, no one has appeared!”

A skinny black boy pursed his lips as a bitter smile dawned upon him.

His name was Huang Tong. His outgoing personality very soon eased up the atmosphere, allowing all the fellow sufferers to introduce themselves.

When everyone had introduced their names and hometowns to each other, Li Yao could finally not bear it any longer and asked the question that had been lingering over his heart for a while:

“Fellow brothers, why is everyone so depressed? Although the Refining Department is not very good, in the end, it is still one of the departments of the ‘Nine Elite Universities’ and could not be any worse than other colleges. After graduating, it is guaranteed that we will find a job, so what is it that’s making you all so depressed?”

Once he said this, everyone looked at each other before all of them looked at Li Yao with an incredibly strange gaze.

Li Yao felt goosebumps all over his body from their gazes and asked in surprise, “Did I say anything wrong?”

A mischievous smile crept on Huang Tong face:

“Fellow Student Li Yao, it seems that when you were filling in the matriculation form, you definitely were not well informed about Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.”

Li Yao frowned:

“Indeed, I didn’t have an in-depth understanding. I only knew that it was one of the worst departments in the ‘Nine Elite Universities’, so what about it? At most, the level of the university can be a bit low, but as long as we try hard, won’t we become successful? Like the old saying goes, the master teaches the trade, but the perfection of the apprentice’s skill depends on his own efforts!”

Huang Tong let a long sigh and said:

“Now we know that you definitely didn’t have any in-depth knowledge regarding the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. Otherwise, how could someone like you, who had topped the College Entrance Examination in his city, willingly walk into this quagmire?”

“Quagmire? I don’t understand!”

“Well, let me tell you, Student Li Yao. The biggest problem of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is not that its standard of teaching is low, but rather, the refining ideology is simply different than the mainstream in the refiners’ community today. The Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department follows a ‘non-mainstream’ view.”

“If we use the words of the ancient cultivation era forty millenniums ago—then in the of mainstream refiners, the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is an unorthodox school!”

“Unorthodox—is it that serious?” Li Yao was taken by surprise.

Huang Tong nodded and said, “It is even more serious than you can imagine. It is on a level that it could even spark a ‘struggle over the great daos’!”

“Struggle over the great daos?” A frown appeared on Li Yao’s forehead. It seemed it was very likely to be true, as Ding Yin too had said the same.

He recalled the conflict that was aroused between the professor of the Star Nebula University and the professor of the Federation’s First Military College on the Distance Expanse.

A debate over the “nature of spiritual energy” had sparked a “struggle over the great dao”, and the two were not far away from “taking it to a field”.

If a large crowd and numerous onlookers weren’t present at that moment, then they truly might have fought over it and may even have tried to take each other’s life.

Zheng Dongming had also explained to Li Yao that “cultivators” are precisely the “people who pursued the truth” and that every cultivator was unusually stubborn when upholding their own ideology.

Even if it was a cultivator who had a moderate temperament, once he was entangled in a “struggle over the great dao”, he would not show any restraints nor any compromise. Either the enemy believes his “truth”, or he would keep fighting until one of them ends up dead.

The “truth” was the foundation of a cultivator, whereas the “struggle over the great dao” was the biggest war for a cultivator. It was even more serious than the war with demons and devils, and there was no room for compromise.

“How does the mainstream ideology and the ‘truth’ believed by the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department differ? How could it even reach the level that it could spark a “struggle over the great daos’?”

Li Yao was truly having a difficult time understanding this.

Huang Tong let out a dry cough and explained:

“The so-called ‘struggle over the great daos’, to be precise, is a dispute between the elites and the grassroots.”

“The Deep Sea University, as the representative of the mainstream refining theory, follows the elite line. They believe that the more complex and compact the structure of a magical equipment is, then the more powerful and better it would be!”

“As for the production cost of refining such magical equipment, it would be too high. The complex nature of the structure also increases the failure rate. Meanwhile, the requirements to equip such magical equipment became more and more demanding… These problems for the mainstream refining theory seems small and were all insignificant.”

“In accordance with this ideology, the deciding point for winning a war rested on high-level cultivators, that’s why they do not hesitate to refine such powerful magical equipment at a high cost for Core Formation Stage experts and Nascent Soul Stage old devils. At most, they would only refine a few ordinary magical equipment for the Building Foundation Stage cultivators to use.”

“As for Refinement Stage cultivators and ordinary soldiers, it was believed that they are unable to affect the overall situation, and hence they were not worth the effort. The refiners don’t even pay a bit of attention to them.”

“This is the general view of the refiners’ community today. A vast majority of universities and refining sects also thinks the same.”

“Whereas, our institute’s Refining Department might be the only exception. As our institute originally rose to prominence from grassroots, special attention is paid to the battle force of low-level cultivators and ordinary soldiers.”

“According to the grassroots ideology, the deciding point for winning a war does not rest upon high-level cultivators. On the contrary, a sea of low-level cultivators and ordinary soldiers are the most crucial for winning a war.”

“So long as hundreds of thousands of Refinement Stage cultivators and ordinary soldiers are equipped with adequate magical equipment, even a Nascent Soul Stage old devil could similarly be pummeled to the ground under the attacks of tens of thousands of Refinement Stage cultivators, much like many ants biting an elephant to death!”

“From this point of view, the deciding factor for the standard of a magical equipment quality is obviously not its power.”

“For them, low production cost, simple structure, stable performance, resilience, and ease of repair were the key factors of the magical equipment! Instead of using heaven and earth treasures for raw materials, they used ordinary materials so that the equipment could be manufactured en mass on an assembly line. For such magical equipment, anyone could use it, and those from this point of view believe that this is what constitutes an undoubtedly good magical equipment!”

“You see, the elites’ and grassroots’ refining ideologies are polar opposites. It’s the most typical case of ‘struggle over the great daos’.”

“At present, the elites in the refiners’ community are those who follow the mainstream ideology. 90% of the refiners belongs to elites, while we, the grassroots, are regarded as ignorant barbarians. The magical equipment refined by the grassroots are even ridiculed to the point that they are even called fire plows and lumps of iron. The magical equipment refined by the grassroots are not even regarded as true magical equipment.”

“The person who could carry the grassroots on his shoulder is precisely the head of department of our department, Professor Mo Xuan. He almost single-handedly picked up the flag of the entire grassroots faction and adhered to the ideology of refining magical equipment for low-level cultivators and ordinary people. For the past few decades, he had never wavered and that’s why he also got the moniker ‘Madman’ in the refiners’ community.”

“The mainstream refiners’ community very much despises the students of ‘Mad Mo’. After we graduate, it is almost impossible for us to find a good job in the mainstream refiners’ community. The top five hundred sects in the federation even refuse to recruit the graduates of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. We can only go to some small sects or go to the army in the grassroots troop and do the most basic refining work. In short, our future is bleak.”

“The aforementioned is precisely the ‘struggle over the great dao’ in the refiners’ community. As long as anyone had a deeper understanding of this, no one would ever apply to the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.”

“Take me for example. Even in my dreams, I have never dreamt of studying refining. My first choice was actually the path of the Combat Department’s sword cultivator. However, I chose to ‘abide by the allocation’, and as my score was not enough to become sword cultivator, I was transferred to the Refining Department!”

“I did not want to come, but as I have already repeated two years, I really did not want to repeat for the third time and become a ’15th grader’. Wouldn’t that be too much of a disgrace? I had no alternative but to pinch my nose and come here.”

This statement of Huang Tong had garnered the sympathy of all the freshmen as everybody burst into a lively discussion.

“Same here! I also did not want to study some damn refining. It was my father who forced me to come. He says, at any rate, it is one of the ‘Nine Elite Universities’ and is still very prestigious!”

“Who would be willing to learn some grassroots refining techniques? I have already decided that if there is an opportunity, I will transfer to another department. Let alone the four major departments, even if it were an ordinary department, it would still be better than following ‘Mad Mo’!”

“Same here! Brothers, let’s work hard together to strive to transfer to another department as quickly as possible!”

Huang Tong thought that Li Yao was worried about his future when he saw Li Yao thinking about something. He could not help but laugh and say:

“Fellow Student Li Yao, what are you worried about? You are so strong that the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall had both invited you a moment ago. You can change your department anytime you wish. You don’t have to concern yourself with the rotten Refining Department.”

Li Yao stood in silence for a long time before he shook his head and said:

“Fellow Student Huang Tong, thanks a lot for your kind explanation. However, I have no intention of changing my department. On the contrary, after listening to your explanation, I think the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department might very well be the right choice for me—this refining ideology sits very well with me.”

Upon hearing his response, everyone was dumbfounded. They looked at him as if they were looking at some kind of monster.

Huang Tong said in astonishment, “Are you the same as ‘Mad Mo’? Do you also support the grassroots refining ideology?”

“Yes,” Li Yao frankly admitted.

After having assimilated a larger part of Ou Yezi’s memory fragments, a majority of Li Yao’s understanding of the refining branch had, knowingly or unknowingly, been tainted by the style of the ancient cultivators era from forty millenniums ago.

During the ancient cultivators era, there weren’t any magical equipment that were so complex like the Taiyi Lightning Railgun, which was refined using a couple hundred thousand components.

Even the masterwork weapons that could kill Spirit Transformation Stage monsters had at most a couple hundred components.

Therefore, Li Yao naturally advocated for the simple and straightforward refining ideology; he somewhat resisted complex and compact magical equipment.

More importantly…

Li Yao vaguely remembered that in the strange dream from very long time ago of the previous world he lived in, there used to be two superpowers which had two different designing concepts yet manufactured similar tyrannical weapons!

One was the “Soviet Style”!

And the other was the “German Style!”

The German Style weapons were like the elites’ magical equipment. The weapons were of complex and compact structure and had high production costs. Their production process was pretty complex, not to mention they had high requirements for their users.

And of course, they were extremely powerful.

Whereas, the Soviet Style weapons were like the grassroots magical equipment. The weapons were specially manufactured for human wave attacks. They did not have high requirements, and their structure was also simple and reliable. They had low manufacturing cost so that they could be mass produced in the simplest of workshops. They were built in a manner so that even the uneducated ordinary people and even the women could immediately use them.

Relying on powerful German Weapons, the former superpower had once conquered everywhere and engulfed almost half of the civilized world. At a tactical level, the former superpower had obtained one brilliant victory after another.

But on the strategic level…

The Soviet Style weapons that had a common structure, low manufacturing costs, were easy to operate, and were constantly produced in a steady stream from simple factories, forming an overwhelming steel army. A sea of boorish and uncivilized soldiers, who only had the courage but not the battle experience, after equipping these simple weapons, forcibly suppressed the German Style Weapons and the elite among the elite soldiers, and in the end, had even pushed them back. Those extremely exquisite German Weapons that were called a work of art were all completely smashed into pieces.

Li Yao’s motherland in the previous world also followed the Soviet Style to the limit. The weapons that were manufactured had low manufacturing costs and had an extremely ugly appearance; the weapons were simply rustic to the core. However, on the battlefield, the battle force they unleashed could, instead, be called “perverse”!

TLN:

The Soviet and German weapons in this chapter are all about World War II. The Germans weapons were exceptionally good, but they were harder to manufacture and maintain, whereas the Soviet weapons were simple and easy to produce and repair. In Russia, where it was extremely cold, the Soviet weapons were easy to maintain, while the German weapons, like tanks, had to keep running all night just to make it to the next day. And also, once the production facility of the German weapons was captured, it was quite difficult to establish another production facility, making it harder to maintain the supply to the front lines. All of this I found it on the internet, so correct me if I am wrong somewhere, as I have literally no idea about the processions of World War II to the minute details.

Li Yao seriously said as he thought of this:

“A Nascent Soul Stage devil could perhaps win a fight or even a battle.”

“But, just a few Nascent Soul Stage devils could never decisively win a war.”

“The Federation is not at all lacking in battle-type Nascent Soul Stage devils and neither are they lacking masterwork weapons, yet why don’t they dare to charge into the Blood Demon Sector and ravage the demon clan’s nest?”

“Is it not because there are too many low-level demon beasts residing in the Blood Demon Sector to the point that it is impossible for the Nascent Soul Stage devils to withstand their never-ending siege?”

“In my opinion, instead of consuming a lot of resources to refine one or two masterworks weapon for the Nascent Soul Stage devils, it would be better to refine many simple and reliable magical equipment for the ordinary soldiers and low-level cultivators. At that time, an army of thousands upon thousands of soldiers, perhaps even ‘a hundred million’ soldiers, could suppress anyone or anything in their path. Any demon king or demon general will be pummeled into their graves!”

“Everyone, please don’t lose your heart. If we work together, then maybe someday, the grassroots could become the mainstream in the refiners’ community. We could become highly respected professors!”

Li Yao chuckled as he pointed at the horizon and said, “Look, the members of the Starfire Union are here!”

Everyone turned their gaze towards the horizon as a huge, round flying shuttle flying in the clear blue sky appeared in their vision.

Its towering pitch black hull along with two wide and flat stabilizers that spread open on both its sides made it look like a big, ugly turtle.

“Is that a Turtle Car?”

Even Li Yao stood in a daze.

This Turtle Car was a big flying shuttle that was manufactured two centuries ago, and the sect which designed this model was a small, unknown sect. They had never experienced manufacturing a flying shuttle, let alone a large-scale flying shuttle that could carry over a hundred passengers.

Because they were unable to resolve the issues in some of the most crucial components, the flying shuttle that came out, in the end, looked very ugly, especially because the two stabilizers on both of its sides, which were added to resolve the stability issue, very much resembled the four feet of a turtle.

Looking from afar, it gave the impression of a giant turtle crawling in the sky.

Because of this, the flying shuttle had been named “Turtle Car”.

The Turtle Car, in the history of flying shuttles, was a classic. Because its shape was truly horrible, in countless textbooks, it had become a negative example. Li Yao had seen it in many textbooks and classic car magazines; however, this was the first time he had laid his eyes upon the real thing.

He felt that it was—uglier than he had even imagined!

This Turtle Car had a history of almost 200 years and seemed as if it would fall apart at any moment. When it flew over everyone’s head, everyone came to hear a “creak creak” noises, making everyone feel that it would fall apart into its basic components at a moment’s notice.

“Puff—”

The Turtle Car made a fart-like sound as it spurted a mass of white mist from underneath before slowly landing on the ground.

The “turtle shell” on both sides of the Turtle Car opened as a middle-aged woman, who was glowing with health, puffed up with arrogance, and carried a large flag, jumped down.

“Hello everyone, I am Yuan Manqiu, the associate professor of the Refining Department and also the instructor of the Starfire Union. From now on, everyone is a member of Starfire Union. Come on, welcome them, you, little bunnies. QUICKLY COME DOWN AND LINE UP TO WELCOME THEM!”

Yuan Manqiu, with one arm over her waist, while the other pointed inside the Turtle Car, yelled.

A dozen older students, who had a drowsy look and appeared like wraiths, walked out of the Turtle Car in single file as they lazily formed two rows and applauded without any ounce of sincerity:

“Welcome, everyone.”

Someone at the back of the row also whispered, “Welcome to the abyss of suffering!”

Yuan Manqiu had sharp ears. Once she heard this, her huge, two hundred kilogram figure that was akin to a meatball went around the second row, grabbed the ear of an older student, and angrily shouted, “Do you want to die!? Don’t just blurt out the truth!”

Li Yao was left completely dumbfounded. He rubbed his eyes and carefully looked at the flag that was carried by Yuan Manqiu on her shoulder.

The flag had a fiery red background with a burning crystal gear at the center. It was clearly the battle flag of the “Starfire Union”, the student union of Refining Department.

Could these people who didn’t know how to stand and sit properly—these miserable people who don’t resemble people, ghosts who don’t resemble ghosts—be their senior brothers? They were truly far away from the norm!?

And then, there was their instructor, who was so fat that even her neck wasn’t visible and wore a flaming, bright-colored robe. Pulling on the ear of the older student, her spittle flew as she swore. She was spirited to the extreme.

She was actually an associate professor of the Refining Department? Was she a Master Refiner?

Refiners were people who were obsessed with skills and never paid much attention to their appearance. For example, Ding Yin was a simple, bald middle-aged man.

However, their temperament was still very refined. They rarely opened their mouth, but once they do, one would only hear the deepest of knowledge coming out from their mouth.

How could this two hundred kilogram weighing middle-aged woman be a master refiner? From head to toe, she didn’t have the bearing of a master refiner; she was rather like the rudest and most unreasonable butcher in a flea market.

“See? Associate Professor Yuan Manqiu is the head of our department’s, Professor Mo Xuan’s, wife. Rumour has it that a couple decades ago, she was the most outstanding graduate of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department and was also the beauty of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department who was hailed as the ‘Deep Sea Goddess’.”

Huang Tong’s voice came from behind.

“What? She was the beauty of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, the Deep Sea Goddess?”

Li Yao’s jaw dropped in surprise.

“That’s right. Now, can you see how the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department destroys people? Even the ‘Deep Sea Goddess’ has been reduced to this. Once we freshmen join the Starfire Union, it would not even take us half a year before we would look the same as our senior brothers. We too would look like people who don’t look like people, ghosts that don’t resemble ghosts. That’s why you better think about it again and change departments together with us!”

Huang Tong kindly said.

The appearance of Yuan Manqiu and their senior brothers made everyone’s morale, which had already hit rock bottom, suddenly reach a negative number. Several freshmen looked at each other as a thought to withdraw from the institute and retake the exam hit their head.

Yuan Manqiu had also discovered that the atmosphere was a little strange. The fat on her sides trembled as she ruthlessly kicked the ass of the older student who had said “welcome to the abyss of suffering”. Putting a brilliant smile on her face as her facial features overlapped with each other in happiness, she walked toward the front in large strides before giving a bear hug to Li Yao.

No, no, no, it was not a bear hug. Li Yao was completely suppressed under the mountain of flesh and did not even have enough space to breathe.

“Welcome, Student Li Yao! We have made you wait!”

Yuan Manqiu was a Building Foundation Stage cultivator. Although she was not a battle-type cultivator, her vigorous spiritual energy was not something that Li Yao, who was at the 1st level of the Refinement Stage, could contend with. As if she were grabbing a chicken by the neck, she pulled Li Yao forward as she tried to cheer up several freshmen.”

“It seems that everyone is not excited. In fact, you all are somewhat unwilling and reluctant. Not only do you not have confidence in our Refining Department, but you also feel that the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is completely rotten, that you would not learn anything here, and that there is no future, right?”

“Wrong! You are completely wrong!”

Yuan Manqiu shook Li Yao with force as she continued, “Everyone, please look at him. Student Li Yao is the College Entrance Examination Champion in Floating Spear City, which is an important cultivation city of the federation. Moreover, he has also awakened his spiritual root before even stepping into the campus and had already become a powerful cultivator!”

“Such a super fierce person had even chosen our Refining Department. There must definitely be something here or do you think that he was impulsive, that he had lost his mind?”

‘If you shake me again, I will definitely lose my mind!’ Li Yao felt like weeping but had no tears.

Yuan Manqiu, with a beaming look, continued to try boosting the morale:

“Let me tell you! Student Li Yao did not just apply to our Refining Department, but he had also refused the invitation of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department in public and even openly and honestly issued a challenge to Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, saying that one day, he would seize the golden sign of ‘Holy Land of Refiners’ from them and hang it on our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department!”

“What do you think? Isn’t it hot-blooded? Isn’t it heroic? Isn’t it passionate? Since everyone is fellow students, why isn’t your hot-blood seething like your Fellow Student Li Yao? Why is your morale not as high as his?”

Not only did this statement not play any effect of cheering, but on the contrary, it had a side effect. All the freshmen let out a “wow”, and when they looked at Li Yao, the look in their eyes was as if they were looking at a madman.

“I did not hear it wrong, right? He wants to challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department and seize the title of ‘Holy Land of Refiners’?”

“He is joking, right?”

“So he was a little madman. I say, how can a normal person take the initiative to apply for the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department?”

“For the next couple of years, it is going to be lively. Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department has Mad Mo, then there is also a madwoman, and now a little madman has also appeared. So many insane people gathered at one place is simply not fit for us normal people!”

Li Yao’s face had turned very red, as if he was a crab who was being cooked: “Professor Yuan…”

Yuan Manqiu gave him a stare: “Don’t feel embarrassed. Since you had the courage to speak your dream out loud, you should not be afraid of others laughing at your dreams!”

“I am not embarrassed. Can you please let me down first? My feet are off the ground.”

“Oh! I am sorry, Student Li Yao. I was just too excited. You should know that Old Mo and I have been waiting for a good seedling like you, one who has talent in refining, for many years. You don’t need to worry. As long as you are willing to learn, Old Mo and I will certainly teach you everything that we have learned in our lives. The grassroots are truly lacking a new person like you!”

Yuan Manqiu said with great emotions.

“As for you lot…”

Yuan Manqiu swept a glance at the lifeless freshmen as she pursed her lips: “Wait for me to tell you all about the complete ‘Project Mystic Skeleton’ to you. You will then discover that you have made the best choice in your life. At that time, you would rather cut off your legs than to leave the Refining Department!”

“What’s Project Mystic Skeleton?”

All the freshmen raised their eyebrows. Although they did not understand, it sounded very powerful.

Yuan Manqiu blinked her eyes and said mysteriously:

“Why do you think we came so late? Why do you think that these little kittens are so dispirited, as if they had not slept for three straight days and three straight nights?”

“It was because all 577 professors and students of the Refining Department had all disregarded their meals and sleep for Project Mystic Skeleton, to the point that even extending their hand to welcome you all has become extremely difficult!”

“Once Project Mystic Skeleton is successful, it would certainly raise a revolutionary storm in the industry. By then, our department will become one of the strongest Refining Departments in the federation. Even if we can not rival Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, at the very least, we will be a level higher than Star Nebula University’s Refining Department!”

“You are not just boasting, right? Is it so formidable!?” All the freshmen had been incited by Yuan Manqiu. She had inspired a trace of morale.

“What exactly is Project Mystic Skeleton? Is it refining a powerful magical equipment?”

Huang Tong asked.

Yuan Manqiu smiled: “First… get on the car. I will tell you in the car!”

“On the car! Everyone, let’s get in the car!”

“Come on, I truly can not withdraw from the institute. I don’t want to leave and retake the exam. How can I live the life of those damn repeaters?”

“Anyway, let’s first go take a look. If it is no good, we can think of some way again. If Project Mystic Skeleton is, in one in million chance, truly as formidable as Professor Yuan had said, then we have picked up a treasure!”

The freshmen entered the Turtle Car in a single file line, while the older student followed behind them in weak spirit. After everyone was on board, Yuan Manqiu shoved herself in the shuttle.

“Creak!” The Turtle Car’s door, after having closed half-way, did not proceed anymore; it was not completely closed.

Yuan Manqiu let a kick fly as her elephant leg directly kicked the door.

“At the beginning, our Refining Department was not so short on funds that we could not even afford a new flying shuttle.

“Old Mo and I have invested the majority of our funds into Project Mystic Skeleton, which is why we are unable to make ends meet.”

“However, everyone can rest assured. Once Project Mystic Skeleton is complete, we will certainly set off a storm. At that time, not only will the institute allocate a lot of funds to us, but various cultivation sects will also fight over the opportunity to cooperate with us, and even the army will possibly approach us to purchase our magical equipment. Money would simply not be a problem!”

“By then, I’ll provide every student who remained in the Refining Department with enough money to buy a luxurious flying shuttle to play with!”

The more Yuan Manqiu spoke, the more excited she got. She could not control herself and started dancing with joy.

As for the students, their mood was not that high. Everyone dumbfoundedly stared at her with somewhat blurred gazes.

Yuan Manqiu stretched the corners of her lips as she poured spiritual energy into the propulsion drive on the right side of the driver’s seat.

The Turtle Car fiercely swayed a bit before it let out a “Clink Clink Clink Clink” and then violently started shaking. It shook left and right but never did it move forward.

“Damn, there is a problem with the Propulsion Array Glyphs. If I’m right, then the spiritual energy transmission shaft is worn out, resulting in the spiritual energy not 100% being converted into mechanical energy.”

Yuan Manqiu muttered a few words, laid down on the floor, and stuck up her big ass as she glued her ear on the hood of the propulsion drive to hear for a while and narrowed her eyes to discern the operating condition of over a hundred spirit glyphs inside the propulsion drive. Afterward, she stood up and patted her ass. Suddenly, she stretched out her five fingers and ruthlessly smacked a palm on the propulsion drive!

“Smack!”

After she had smacked with her palm, the shaking of the shuttle weakened a bit, and even the “Clank Clank Clank Clank” noise had turned into “Woh Woh Woh Woh” noise; however, it still didn’t show any signs of starting.

Yuan Manqiu’s eyes opened widely as her cheeks puffed up before she fiercely let a kick fly and shouted, “Take off!”

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

After a smack and a kick, the Propulsion Array Glyphs finally started functioning normally.

The spiritual energy between the array glyphs started running smoothly, and all the Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs and the Jet Propulsion Array Glyphs underneath and at the rear of the Turtle Car bloomed with a dim brilliance.

The Turtle Car staggered along as it rose up into the air and flew forward. Even as it flew, it would move up and down in the air.

All the freshmen were flabbergasted.

The older students, on the other hand, were accustomed to seeing such things. Many of them had already fallen asleep, some of whom even started snoring.

Yuan Manqiu clapped her hands in pride and self-satisfaction:

“See? This is exactly the ultimate trick in the bag of refiners! If there is a magical equipment which can’t be repaired no matter how you repair it, when you have exhausted all the methods to no avail, then try to smack it or ruthlessly kick it! Often, this method will make it miraculously work!”

“Like what I did a moment ago, a coupled with an can awaken even a rotten magical equipment. Everyone, don’t you worry! In the future, when I have the time, I will teach it to everyone!”

While speaking, the Turtle Car drove into the urban area of Wild Waves City.

Wild Waves City was an academic city and was entirely built from the support of the Grand Desolate War Institution, and as such, the urban area was precisely the campus of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

Wild Waves City was the home of hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom were tyrannical cultivators and veteran martial artists who had rich fighting experience.

Apart from official students of the Grand Desolate War Institution, there were also exchange students from other universities, trainees of major cultivation sects who had been carefully picked, and special forces sent by the army for special training as well.

There were even auditing students who had meager strength yet were burning with ambition.

In addition, there were also cultivation sects who specialized in close combat like “Devil Fist Sect” and “Hundred Saber Alliance” that were stationed in Wild Waves City and had set up a hall and cultivation ground here.

This big city in the Wasteland that had the strength of hundreds of thousands of people appeared to be particularly lively and noisy, but that was not all; above all of this, it gave off an unrestrained feeling that was accompanied by madness, something which was missing in the cities of the southeast region.

A majority of the freshmen of the Grand Desolate War Institution came from mid-sized towns in the Demon Beast Wasteland, many of whom had never seen such a big, flourishing city. One by one, each and every one of them glued their face to the window so much so that their nose almost pressed flat as they gaze afar with wide-opened eyes.

“Look, there are so many floating mountains!”

“Wild Waves City is divided into a lot of levels. It is simply a three-dimensional city!”

The freshmen clicked their tongue in wonder, and some even exclaimed in admiration.

In the space above Wild Waves City, over a hundred mountains were floated in the air. Their Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs released a large amount of spiritual energy like tides that even distorted the air, creating ripples one after another, which gave the impression of a world of dreams, as if a paradise had fallen in the world of mortals.

Some of these floating mountains retained their oldest form and appeared as if a mountain peak had been uprooted and floated in the air. On their surface, there were pavilions and buildings that had been exquisitely carved and beautifully painted, while streams of water flowed under the small bridges.

Waterfalls that were tumbling down these floating mountain sprayed the water everywhere around them, eventually turning into a blurry mist which gave birth to rainbows in no time.

Whereas, some of the floating mountains evidently had traces of being artificially constructed, as if they were huge buildings that were floating in the sky.

Some were like tall and lofty palaces, some were like ancient and firm pyramids, while others were modeled after modern skyscrapers.

There were a few floating mountains which were cast from the purest of metals to give a post-modern style. Like the crystal battleships that roamed between the universe, these floating mountains soared even through the atmospheric layers as they docked in the space over Wild Waves City!

A vast majority of these floating mountains were connected using transparent tubes, wherein there were countless capsules-like objects that were moving as swiftly as the wind and lightning.

Each of these “capsules” had a few passengers riding inside as they shuttled between the floating mountains in an astonishing speed.

However, most people still chose flying shuttles over the capsules to travel between the floating mountains.

Some of the powerful cultivators simply rode their flying swords to travel as their entire bodies were wrapped in colorful streams of light that were constantly releasing a resplendent brilliance, leaving behind a trail of rainbows in the blue curtain of the sky. They were traveling in a free and unrestrained manner.

“Those cultivators who are riding their sword should be the professors of Grand Desolate War Institution, right? God knows when I will be personally taught by the ‘professors’!” A few freshmen sighed with emotions in succession.

A freshman suddenly remembered as he raised his hand and asked, “Professor Yuan, can you now tell us what exactly is Project Mystic Skeleton?”

Just as these words left his mouth, every freshman’s eyes lit up.

Everyone was an ambitious teenager who did not wish to dawdle their days in a waste department only to find a random job after their graduation—that would be too unworthy for themselves!

Yuan Manqiu slightly smiled and cleared her throat:

“Alright, since you are all interested, I will carefully explain it to you. However, before I explain, Student Li Yao, can you please tell everyone the universal concept of ‘Crystal Suit!”

Li Yao was taken aback a bit. He had never expected that Yuan Manqiu would suddenly point his name.

However, the concept of crystal suits was not the least bit profound. Not to mention cultivators, even if it were the ordinary people, they had seen it on the news, and it was even used in many virtual reality games.

Li Yao, as an experienced magical equipment fan, was naturally not unaware of it.

He formed a speech in his mind before pouring out in fervor:

“The crystal suit is not just a magical equipment that is like a common armor. On the contrary, it is an offensive-type, defense-type, camouflage-type, maneuvering-type, reconnaissance-type magical equipment… All kinds of magical equipment, after having integrated together with the assistance of powerful military crystal processors, is finally refined into a combat suit.”

“An excellent crystal suit is equivalent to the most powerful flying sword and an impregnable armor which has the fastest propulsion array glyphs as well as a reconnaissance magical equipment whose detection system has the largest range… It is a piece of magical equipment which has all kinds of magical equipment perfectly combined together to meet all the needs that a cultivator requires during a fight. Furthermore, it also provides adequate support of spiritual energy reserves as well as calculation ability!”

“A crystal suit could not only geometrically elevate the battle force of a cultivator, but above all, it could extend the time which a cultivator could keep fighting, and even more so, it could allow a cultivator to adapt to a variety of complex terrains during a fight.”

“Whether you are in a foreign sector filled with demonic energy and devil energy, in space or place which lacks oxygen, or a world fragment that lacks spiritual energy, as long as they are equipped with a crystal suit, the cultivators could unleash their full power and destroy everything in their path!”

“Therefore, the crystal suit is known as the ‘King of Modern Magical Equipment’. Some people also describe it as the ‘Magical Equipment Among Magical Equipment’. Among all magical equipment, it is the one which is the most complex, the most expensive, the one which is most difficult to refine, and the one which after having successfully refined becomes the strongest magical equipment!”

“At the end of the Great Dark Age, mankind began to combine various magical equipment and had refined the very first crystal suit.”

“Countless weak Refinement Stage cultivators, after having their battle force elevated with the help of the crystal suit to a level comparable to Building Foundation Stage cultivators, formed a huge army of crystal suited-soldiers. Only then was mankind able to overcome the demon clan and acquire a second life!”

“Even today, cultivators who are equipped with crystal suit are still the main force of mankind who fight with demon beasts. Only if they wore crystal suits would they be able to go toe-to-toe with demon generals who possess tyrannical battle force, demon kinds, and notorious and powerful devil path cultivators!”

Li Yao explained the crystal suit’s definition, principles, and history tirelessly. He even listed several classic crystal suit models.

Although many of the freshmen knew some of the knowledge related to crystal suits, it was not so detailed and comprehensive. Everyone heard it in relish and watched with utmost concentration.

Yuan Manqiu repeatedly nodded her head before she smiled and said:

“Very good. Student Li Yao’s explanation is very comprehensive. However, you have given so many advantages of the crystal suit. Can you list two disadvantages?”

Li Yao pondered for a bit before he shook his head and said:

“The crystal suit is the most powerful magical equipment in the modern cultivation world. Its offense and defense is completely balanced. It’s an individual magical equipment which provides the strongest continuous fighting ability. For sure, from the point of the refining level, it can be divided into high and low levels, but if I have to point out any fatal flaws, then I can not tell. I can only say that it has regretful disadvantages.”

“First, the production cost of refining crystal suit is very high. Even a crystal suit of the most common structure would cost at least 500 million, and this is just the basic. If you want to carry a few flying swords, then it would be even more expensive.”

“The refining cost of some of the high-rank crystal suit designed to be equipped by Golden Core Stage cultivator or Nascent Soul Stage monsters is comparable to a crystal battleship. Furthermore, its maintenance and repair cost is exceedingly high—it is simply a behemoth that swallows gold!”

“Second, in the process of refining a crystal suit, a large number of heaven and earth treasures are consumed. It’s one thing that these materials are exorbitant in price, but most importantly, many of its raw materials are very scarce and there is simply no price for them. Even with all the money in the world, one could not buy them!”

TLN:

Hi guys,

One of you suggested, Mystic Bone sounds nice rather than Profound Skeleton. So we have decided to change the name to Mystic Skeleton. Also, the crystal armor we have sometimes mentioned in the past has been changed to crystal suit. As for the no release on tuesday, I will make it up by today or tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience, I was in bit of a jam.

Thank you for reading the novel.

“For example, in order to refine the well-known, heavy-class crystal armor of the cultivation world, the ‘Tai Hao Battle Suit’, ‘Tai Hao Stone’, which is extremely rare and precious, is required. This Tai Hao Stone is a meteorite from outer space and is so rare that it only falls once every five centuries in the Heaven Origin Sector. In other words, it is only possible to refine one Tai Hao Battlesuit. If one wants to refine another one, it is absolutely impossible!”[1]

“These two points together are the reason that a vast majority of crystal suits are unable to be mass-produced. Crystal suits are scarce in number, and in the battlefield, only the commanders and commandos can wear it.”

“If the price of crystal suits was a little cheaper and its design was a little simpler, thereby reducing the difficulty of refining them by a bit as well as allowing them to be mass-produced and available to every cultivator, the crystal suit army of the Star Sea Imperium Era would once again reappear. Not to mention leveling the Demon Beast Wasteland, even the Blood Demon Sector could be steamrolled all the way. Any demon general or demon king would be swallowed by the mankind’s waves of steel one after another.”

Yuan Manqiu smile became more and more mysterious.

“Very good, Student Li Yao. You have completely pointed out the two major problems of refining crystal suits. Anyone who could resolve these two problems—that is to say, a low-priced crystal suit that could be mass-produced—will set off a storm in the industry and even change the face of the entire cultivation world’s battling style!”

After thinking for a moment, Li Yao suddenly came to understood what Yuan Manqiu was trying to say. He suddenly jumped up:

“Is our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department amidst the process of refining a new crystal suit? One that is low-priced and can be mass-produced?”

Once these words were out, all the freshmen were in an uproar.

Anyone who could be admitted to the Nine Elite Universities was definitely not a fool. Everyone, very soon, realized that once the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department was successful in refining “crystal suits that could be mass-produced”, big waves would set off.

Forget the others, just the army would order 3,000-5,000 in one breath. No, no, no, just 2,000 was enough to produce an astronomical profit, which would be enough to elevate the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department into one of the strongest Refining Departments in the federation.

“Is it true, Professor Yuan? Even for Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, it is very difficult to refine a crystal suit that could be mass-produced. Can we actually do it?”

“Low-price? How low is it? Can it cost less 300 million?”

“Are you not going to use heaven and earth treasures? But many of the key components of crystal suits are very sophisticated. They have special requirements for the tensile strength and spiritual energy conductivity, which only a few heaven and earth treasures could fulfill. Wouldn’t ordinary material simply be unable to bear the load? Wouldn’t they just disintegrate once the load is slightly above their limit?”

A lively discussion burst forth amongst the freshmen. Their faces beamed with delight, and their morale, all of a sudden, pushed through the limit; the lifeless look which was hung on their faces had now completely disappeared.

Striking while the iron was hot, Yuan Manqiu, wearing a smile on her face, said:

“It’s true! As early as twenty years ago, when Old Mo and I were exploring a vestige in the Wasteland, we inadvertently found a fragment of a jade chip. After a decade or so of analysis, we were finally able to analyze some precious information stored within it and discovered a refining technique to refine a low-level crystal suit from the Star Sea Imperium Era. However, it was incomplete and was missing many of the most crucial steps and procedures.”

“Wow!”

The eyes of all the freshmen, including Li Yao’s, lit up.

At the dawn of the Great Dark Age, the greatest and strongest cultivator of mankind, the “Emperor”, was born and later founded the Star Sea Imperium across the universe.

That period was the peak of mankind’s cultivation technologies. There were endless formidable cultivators and tyrannical magical equipment.

Unfortunately, during the “Armageddon Rebellion”, the Emperor’s strongest clone, “Blood God”, after having been corrupted by the Extraterrestrial Devils, fell to the devil’s path. The Emperor’s clone became the strongest devil cultivator known as “Mad Armageddon”, and the cultivation world was razed by the flames of the second civil war.

Razed by the flames of war for a successive 1,000 years, the Star Sea Imperium was eventually destroyed, as a result of which various cultivation technologies suffered a disastrous decline. The level of the cultivation civilization regressed by at least a thousand years.

As far as the current Heaven Origin Sector was concerned, even a jade chip fragment from the Star Sea Imperium Era was downright a priceless treasure.

Yuan Manqiu was completely satisfied by the freshmen’s reaction. She continued:

“About a decade ago, Old Mo and I established a research team which struggled day and night to overcome the difficulties and hoped to apply the technology from the jade chip fragment into modern crystal suits so that we could produce a low-priced, ordinary-level crystal suit that could be mass-produced.”

“Five years ago, we finally had a breakthrough, so we assembled all the professors and students of the Refining Department to form a team of refiners and poured all our funds into it.”

“At present, we have already refined a fair share of the key components, and the overall structure is also almost built. The most difficult part of the entire project has already been resolved, reaching a completion rate of over 90%. As long as we put in our efforts, we will soon succeed!”

“Today was the day when we were going to test the most crucial ‘Super Compressed Crystal Reactor’, and as such, all the students and professors of the Refining Department were gathered in the Refining Workshop. That’s why we neglected you all.”

“However, as long as the Crystal Reactor is operating perfectly, we will be able to charge the crystal suits with spiritual energy in a steady stream, thereby making the entire project 99% complete!”

“As Old Mo is the leader of the entire project and the one who had first found the jade chip fragment, and also because he and I poured all our funds into the project, we decided to use the ‘Xuan’ character from his name for the project and called this project “Project Mystic Skeleton’, while the crystal suit that is going to be mass-produced will be called ‘Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit’.”

“Our target is to decrease the refining cost of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to be under… 100 million!”

“Everyone, I invite you all to take part in the ‘Project Mystic Skelton’ and set off a massive storm in the cultivation world, one which will sweep the world!”

Yuan Manqiu, with her head held high, said proudly.

“Wow…”

Once she finished speaking, all the freshmen were finally moved. One after another, it was as if everyone was had been injected with energy and were beaming with joy; they were all in high spirits!

What was 100 million?

The price of some of the top-grade armed flying shuttles, such as the higher versions of the Mystic Bird Battle Shuttles and the Crimson Flame Battle Shuttles, were close to 100 million. In addition to its speed being faster, the battle force of such flying shuttles was absolutely higher than that of a crystal suit.

Prior to the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the cheapest crystal suit was worth over 500 million and that was just a training model. It wasn’t equipped with any notable offensive magical equipment.

Before, spending an amount of 500 million could only arm a single cultivator, but now, it could arm at least five cultivators!

Even if the performance of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was worse than other crystal suits, the numerical advantage of five or maybe even ten could make up for the large difference in its performance.

Needless to say, some of the slightly higher grade crystal suits could cost a couple hundred million, a few billion, or maybe even more than ten billion.

If the same amount was spent on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, an entire battalion could be armed with ease!

Yuan Manqiu was absolutely right. If Project Mystic Skeleton was truly successful, then as certain as the sun rising in the east, it was a revolutionary crystal suit which would set off an earth-shattering and heaven-encompassing storm in the cultivation world—it could even change the face of the currently existing battle style of cultivators!

By then, every low-level cultivator would not hesitate to buy a Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, and the army, even more so, would send a large order at once!

The Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department did not even need to truly manufacture the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuits. They would just have to provide authorization to the army or other cultivation sects for them to refine it, and just from the “licensing fee”, they would be able to earn massive profits.

“Now, do you understand that applying for the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department was the correct choice!? As long as we are truly successful in refining the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department would absolutely jump into one of the top Refining Department in the federation!”

Li Yao’s face revealed a look of delight as he secretly pondered.

The other freshmen too were all grinning ear to ear; they were extremely excited.

Whereas the whirring and snoring sounds of the older students could still be heard without end.

However, in the eyes of the freshmen, even if oil was smeared all over their clothes, they started to look cuter—after all, everyone was working hard for “Project Mystic skeleton”!

Completing the project a day earlier would relieve them from their misery a day earlier!

Very soon, after crossing half of Wild Waves City, passing through the imposing Iron Fist Club and Chaos Edge Hall, and crossing a group of ginormous floating mountains, the flying shuttle arrived at a somewhat dilapidated and gloomy region.

This was like an old district of Wild Waves City; the buildings on the ground were dilapidated and the paint on the walls was peeling off, revealing the rugged surface of the bricks.

Seven to eight floating mountains were floating all alone in the sky. The size of these mountains was a lap shorter than the mountains at the center of the city.

One of the floating mountains seemed to have some problem with its Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs and was losing a lot of spiritual energy, which was leaking in the form of heat energy.

And in order to stop the heat radiating, a cooling pond was installed next to the Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs, resulting in a large amount of steam gushing out, filling the entire sky, and making the atmosphere look rather bad.

“Look! That’s our school building. Don’t be fooled by its inconspicuous appearance. Inside, it is instead a very advanced lab, refining workshop, and a small smelting room, all of which could fulfill the most basic requirements of refining. Like the saying goes, even though a sparrow is small, it still has all its organs!”

Yuan Manqiu, pointing at a round floating mountain, said.

This floating mountain simply had no style at all; it was as if classical, modern, and futuristic styles had been casually blended together. Purely from a practical point of view, it was like they only cared about the function and did not consider the artistic view. It simply gave off the misconception that a big lump of waste was floating in the sky.

If Yuan Manqiu had not given them that speech a while ago, presumably, almost half of these freshmen would have thought of transferring departments after looking at the school building.

However, at this moment, everyone was extremely excited. After they were immersed in the completion of Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, they were imagining the flourishing and glorious Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.

“Even this floating mountain was built after Old Mo and I used hard and soft tactics on the Dean for several years. Only then was the funding provided. Because the funds were insufficient, that’s why it looks a little ugly… but it does not matter! As long as we succeed in refining the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, we will surely build a super-huge floating mountain, one that is bigger than even the main school building of the Combat Department!”

Yuan Manqiu ruthlessly waved her fists as she said in an impassioned manner.

Li Yao’s fingers started to itch after he was touched by her enthusiasm. He could not wait to fly to this “Junk Mountain” and start working on refining the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit together with Professor Mo Xuan!

“As long as we succeed in refining the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, astronomical funding and overwhelming resources will be poured into the Refining Department. In just a few years, Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department will be a major department just like the Combat Department, and within ten years, we will certainly have the opportunity to run shoulder to shoulder with the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. By then…”

“BOOM!”

While Li Yao and the others were immersed in the happy fantasy, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly rang in their ears.

A fiery brilliance shot to the sky as a mushroom cloud, which was like the arms of an octopus, spread in all direction, wrapping the entire floating mountain

TLN:

[1] Tai Hao Emperor is one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the mythological rulers of Ancient China. More could be found here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sovereigns_and_Five_Emperors

“Quickly get on the ground! Everyone, get on the ground!” Li Yao screamed before he threw himself onto the ground.

However, it was too late! Before everyone could react, shockwaves from the explosion, like frightful billows and terrifying waves, blew the Turtle Car 300-400 meters away, ruthlessly smashing it into a four story tall building before the Turtle Car rolled and crashed into the ground!

Despite the Shock Mitigation Array Glyphs installed all over the Turtle Car, many of the people still collided with the walls seven to eight times and became confused and disoriented. A fair number of freshmen had even lost their consciousness.

Many of the people who had lost their consciousness had their faces covered with blood, while others even had their tendons torn and had their bones broken as painful groans were heard without stop in the Turtle Car.

Li Yao was one of the few students who had not been injured. He crawled his way to the Propulsion Drive and tried to hear the situation inside for a while before he determined that the Propulsion Array Glyphs were completely destroyed. Only after determining that the chance of the leaking spiritual energy leading into a chain of explosion was unlikely did he crawl his way out of the broken window and blankly stare at the sky.

In the sky, on the right side of the floating mountain, a giant hole with a diameter of a few dozen meters was blown out, from which a fiery green brilliance was gushing out, releasing a pungent smell in the air.

And inside the floating mountain, a chain of muffled explosions was still ringing; it was akin to the peals of thunder one would hear when he had buried himself under the blanket. The explosions were still continuing.

After a while, billowing black smoke was spraying out from every window and every gap on the floating mountain, gathering into a terrifying and ominous beast of black smoke in the sky.

The Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs underneath the floating mountain began to die one by one.

Under the gravitational pull, the floating mountain tilted towards the left as it slowly fell towards the ground.

Because a part of the Anti-Gravity Array Glyphs was still operational, the two sides of the junk floating mountain were under a different gravitational pull. A small part of the floating mountain was forcibly torn because of the intense and opposing gravity.

Countless broken debris, which was also mixed in with several silhouettes that were moving their hand and legs, caved in. Some of the people were trying to escape by riding their flying sword, yet they were swallowed by the consecutive explosions, painting a scene that was too ghastly to look at.

The entire ordeal lasted for half a minute before the main body of the floating mountain finally crashed into the ground, raising an endless cloud of dust and stones, which gave the misconception of a volcanic eruption.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amidst the storm of dust, three pillars of green fire soared to the sky. An even more terrifying chain of explosions had occurred inside the floating mountain.

When Li Yao had his eyes opened wide and mouth agape, Yuan Manqiu too somehow crawled her way out of the flying shuttle.

Her face was covered in blood, and the expression on her face as she stared right at the empty sky was uglier than a ghost itself.

“Old Mo!”

After a moment, Yuan Manqiu let out a heartbreaking shrill as she threw caution to the wind and bolted right towards the place where the floating mountain had crashed.

…

After seven days, a very rare drizzle hit Wild Waves City, where the rainwater seemed to be a bit acidic.

The region where the floating mountain had crashed was already cleared.

In order to take precautions against the crashing of a floating mountain, under every floating mountain, there weren’t too many houses built, and the houses that were in the vicinity were also installed with powerful defensive array glyphs.

So this incident didn’t cause too many casualties for the residents who were living on the ground, just a few dozen buildings had become unstable and were declared as dangerous because of the shockwaves and were simply demolished to remove trouble.

However, the floating junk mountain was completely scrapped.

Through the investigation of a dozen high-level cultivators, the accident this time had been determined as an experimental failure.

From simulating the scene of the accident, the accident occurred when Professor Mo Xuan was leading the entire team in doing installation work of the Super Compressed Crystal Reactor.

To be precise, the Crystal Reactor was the Propulsion Core of the crystal suit. The crystal, which contained an immense amount of powerful spiritual energy after having been compressed as much as hundred times, was installed in a palm-sized reactor, which would drive the crystal suit for a long time during a fight.

It was conceivable that once the Crystal Reactor had a problem, the crystal which was compressed to the extreme would, in the blink of an eye, return to its original size and release incomparably unstable spiritual energy that could destroy everything within a radius of few hundred meters.

The accident this time was exactly this kind of situation.

What was even worse was because of the shortage of funds, the Refining Department’s floating mountain was small in size, and its crystal warehouse was not much farther away from the refining workshop.

The very moment the explosion occurred, the shockwaves continuously ran through seven layers of walls, and the walls, which were all built from metal with defensive array glyphs inlaid inside, were, just like paper, shredded into pieces. A tide of unstable spiritual energy swept through the crystal warehouse in the blink of an eye, leading to a series of earth-shattering explosions!

From the series of explosion, the entire floating mountain was eventually destroyed. Countless precious materials and magical equipment turned into scraps, priceless experimental materials and data were buried in the rubble, and even the 90% completed Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit melted into slag.

Project Mystic Skeleton returned to zero in just one second.

And this was just 1% of the total loss.

Project Mystic Skeleton was the only hope of the Refining Department, and as such, all the elites—including the head of the department, Professor Mo Xuan, a majority of faculty as well as the most experienced senior students—were all present in the refining workshop when the Crystal Reactor was being installed.

They were all killed in the explosion.

The spiritual energy tide, like a hurricane, swept everything away; every cell and every wisp of residual soul was torn to pieces.

Not to mention surviving the explosions, even if they wished to rescue a few wisps of residual souls to convert them into spectral cultivators, that was rendered impossible.

Even if the professors and students weren’t present inside the refining workshop, so long as they were present in the floating mountain, every one of them suffered the disastrous effect of the spiritual energy waves, which ranged from fainting to seriously injured and immediately dying on the spot. The scene was too ghastly to look at.

Only Yuan Manqiu and a dozen older students who, because of their low level, had to leave to welcome the freshmen were lucky to escape this disaster.

They were simply not enough to sustain a department; one could even say that the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department was—completely finished!

Seven days after the disaster.

The location of the Refining Department had completely turned to ruins.

At the beginning, the institute was ready to clean up this region, and the usable resources buried within the rubble could be re-used. The institute truly could not bear to let them be buried in the rubble; however, Yuan Manqiu forcibly stopped them.

She insisted that there were many precious experimental data and material buried in the rubble, which contained all the hope of them reconstructing the Refining Department. She absolutely didn’t allow anyone to move the rubble, not even a rivet was allowed.

Yuan Manqiu was like a crazed mother elephant who was defending every inch of soil in her domain, and the dean too was unable to take her away.

At the center of the rubble, a tiny statue was placed, one which was similar to a skeleton of a War God that had melted halfway.

With its bare arms spread towards the sky, its black hole-like mouth emitted a furious roar towards the endless sky.

This was the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit that was being developed by the Refining Department.

It was a condensed form of painstaking effort and will of all the professors and students of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department, which had turned into slag in the explosion instead, thereby losing its purpose for refining.

Now, it could only be placed as a monument to commemorate the people who had sacrificed themselves on the road of cultivation.

A solemn memorial was held before the statue.

Every department’s student union, including the Iron Fist Club, Chaos Edge Hall, Lancets, Glyph Devils… had sent a representative to send their condolences.

Most of the institute’s professors and all the management staff were also gathered here.

Even though the Refining Department was a waste department that was not worth mentioning in the Grand Desolate War Institution, even if many professors and students had thought to revoke the Refining Department…

But for the Refining Department to completely disappear from the face of the earth in such a way, this was just too cruel!

“Today, we are gathered here to commemorate some of the great students and cultivators who, in order to defend human civilisation, ventured in the endless mystery of the cultivation world, vigorously immersed themselves in research and cultivation for days and nights, spent all their sweat and blood, and even paid for it with their valuable lives and souls!”

Underneath the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit statue, Grand Desolate War Institution’s dean, Xiong Baili, said in sadness.

Xiong Baili was a legendary figure in the Grand Desolate War Institution. Rumor has it that when he was young, his strength as a battle-type cultivator had already broken through to the peak level of the Core Formation Stage. In the Demon Beast Wasteland, he commanded winds and clouds, swept through everything in his path, and got the moniker “Volcano”!

However, during a beast tide outbreak, he was heavily surrounded. For an entire day and night, he directly clashed with the beast tide.

Although he had killed thousands upon thousands of demon beasts, he had excessively overdrafted his spiritual energy and was also poisoned by over thirty different kinds of demonic poison, corroding his eight extra meridians, as a result of which, his strength had suffered a disastrous decline, rendering him no longer fit for battle.

However, he did not give up. With amazing perseverance and talent, he, much to everyone’s surprise, turned into an admin-type cultivator from a battle-type cultivator. Furthermore, his strength had also recovered to the intermediate level of the Core Formation Stage!

Because of this legendary experience, Xiong Baili enjoyed very high prestige in the Grand Desolate War Institution. Even the experts who were stronger than him assented cordially for him to assume the post of the dean of the institute.

Rumor has it that Xiong Baili was ambitious and was hell bent on raising the Grand Desolate War Institution into one of the three super universities among the “Nine Elite Universities”. At the very least, he wanted to get rid of the current predicament where the Grand Desolate War Institution ranked last among the “Nine Elite Universities”.

And his idea was to strengthen the four major departments and to weaken or even dismiss all the waste departments, and as such, all the resources were poured into the four major departments for development.

Even though he thought like this, in the wake of this tragedy, Xiong Baili could not help but feel dejected.

Next to the dean stood Yuan Manqiu, who wore a black robe and had a pale complexion as she kept staring at the wreckage of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, seemingly wanting to forcibly take that wreckage down from the pedestal.

During these seven days, she had almost never slept as she frantically rummaged through the rubble. She had become a lot more haggard but also a little thinner. One could vaguely find a slight shadow of the “Deep Sea Goddess” from a few decades ago.

Watching her undergo a complete transformation from her previous appearance in these seven days, Li Yao was a little absent-minded.

In these seven days, almost without any ounce of sleep, Li Yao unleashed all of his special abilities which he had learned in the Magical Equipment Graveyard as he cleaned up the rubble together with Yuan Manqiu, rescuing a lot of precious jade chips, books, training equipment, and heaven and earth treasures that were buried under the rubble.

Even though Li Yao had tempered himself with the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique, which he had learned from the memory fragments, at this moment, he was unable to hold on and was shaky and unsteady.

“The Refining Department is only left with an associate professor and a few dozen students who have mediocre strength. What am I going to do in the future?”

Contemplated Li Yao.

At this point, someone from behind lightly poked him. When he turned around, it was the freshman, Huang Tong.

Huang Tong was active amongst the freshmen. He was particularly outgoing; not even a few days had passed, yet he had become one with the older students and had also made a lot of friends outside the department. He was very well informed.

Huang Tong gave a wink to Li Yao: “Li Yao, what do you think? Which department are you actually going to transfer to? The Iron Fist Club or the Chaos Edge Hall?”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment: “What do you mean?”

He once again took a glance at the few remaining freshmen and older students of the Refining Department, who had gathered together beside Huang Tong. Although a sad look hung on their faces, they could not hide their aspirations in the depths of their eyes.

Huang Tong’s eyebrows twitched:

“You still don’t know? Right, you have been collecting the resources buried under the rubble, so you may not have heard, but—the Refining Department is about to be dismissed!”

“What did you say?”

Li Yao stared with wide-opened eyes; his face was full of astonishment.

Huang Tong pursed his lips as he disapprovingly said, “For crying out loud—isn’t that obvious!? From the very beginning, our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department was weak and was notorious as the worst department among the ‘Nine Elite Universities’. The entire department was painstakingly supported by one person alone, who was none other than Professor Mo Xuan.”

“Even if it was Professor Mo Xuan, he did not have any good reputation in the refiners’ community, which is where he got the moniker ‘Madman’!”

“Now, not only him but even a few slightly skilled and reputed professors and all the elite students have been killed by the explosion, leaving an associate professor along with rookies like us behind. Tell me, do you think our Refining Department has any future?”

“This—”

This was the very same problem Li Yao had also been thinking about.

The blow this time was truly serious. It could be said that the Refining Department was completely annihilated.

Huang Tong smacked his lips: “For a long time, the institute believed that only the four major departments should remain and that it would be better to have as few ordinary departments as possible. Only in such a manner could they promote the academic level of the institute.”

“Even if no accident had taken place in the Refining Department, many would still clamor to abolish the Refining Department every year, not to mention that such a tragic accident had occurred and had blown away more than half of the Refining Department. It would be impossible for them not to abolish the department.”

“And from what I hear, the institute’s management has already decided to officially announce it after the memorial service. Apart from the four major departments, for which they have to go through an examination, the students of the Refining Department can unconditionally choose other departments to transfer to!”

Only now did Li Yao come to understand why these students were beaming with delight.

The Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution was a department which had the lowest cut-off marks, so if they arbitrarily choose any department other than the Refining Department, that would be a significant upgrade.

So to say, even if they closed their eyes and randomly chose a department, they would have made a killing.

A vast majority of the Refining Department’s student were here because they had no choice, not because they liked refining. Naturally, man struggles upwards as water flows downwards.[1]

Li Yao also could not say that their choice was wrong. After all, everyone had to consider their own future.

However, if the Refining Department was truly abolished, then where should he go from here?

“Is it going to be abolished? Is there no room for recovery? Can’t we recruit professors again? Can’t the school building be rebuilt?!” said Li Yao insipidly.

Huang Tong chuckled as he shook his head and said:

“Fellow Student Li Yao, to rebuild the Refining Department with words alone is impossible—it needs money! An astronomical sum is needed to just build a huge floating mountain that has various smelting workshops, refining workshops, and laboratories. Even 18 billion is not enough!”

“Generally, a university has three main sources of funding. The first is the education fund provided by the Federation government. However, it is so little that it can only be used to decorate the facade a bit, that’s all.”

“Second is the sponsoring of various cultivation sects.”

“The Nine Elite Universities is sponsored by many powerful and flourishing cultivation sects from behind. For example, our Grand Desolate War Institution has powerful combat sects like the Devil Fist Sect and the Hundred Saber Alliance sponsoring us from behind.”

“Naturally, those who are spending money would definitely sponsor the department they like. For instance, the Devil Fist Sect would definitely spend their money on the Iron Fist Club, whereas the Hundred Saber Alliance, for sure, would sponsor the Chaos Edge Hall. It is impossible to misappropriate the money to rebuild the Refining Department, and you can understand why they won’t, right?”

“The third is each department supporting themselves using their own unique skills.”

“For example, student unions from the Combat Department like the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall would often form a coalition between the students and the army to hunt demon beasts deep within the Wasteland together.”

“Whereas, the Glyph Devils are open to the public and provide tattoo services for money. Due to the fame of the Glyph Devils, many cultivators come and spend a huge sum of money to ask the Glyph Devils’ members to tattoo them.”

“As for the Lancets, it goes without saying that in the field of surgery and orthopedics, the Lancets is second to none in the federation. God knows how much money they make every day.”

“Besides the small part paid to the institute as management fees, every penny they earn is used to fill the coffers of their respective department.”

“Any department that wanted to build a new floating mountain or do some revolutionary project would have to gather the funds from here and there. A part of the fund would often come from the institute, who would take out a part of the government education fund it has received. Some of the funds would come from the sponsoring of the familiar cultivation sects, while a small part would be taken from the department’s small treasury, and finally, the remaining funds would come from the project leader’s own pockets.”

“What does the Refining Department have? The institute is not at all optimistic and hence they have no intention to invest a single penny on the department. As for familiar sects, we don’t have any, so forget about sponsors. As for our treasury, that goes without saying—and I have even heard that Professor Mo Xuan went bankrupt for Project Mystic Skeleton. He had poured his entire fortune into the project and had even borrowed a huge sum from many. So, where is the money?”

Li Yao gritted his teeth so much that they were aching.

From Huang Tong’s words, he found that the problem was extremely serious.

At this point, his eyelids madly started twitching.

The four spirit threads that were slumbering inside his forehead also became restless. He felt as if they were ready to come out at any moment.

Li Yao’s intuition pointed at the sky where he saw a huge, disc-shaped flying shuttle quietly floating in the clear blue sky.

This flying shuttle happened to be a work of art; its hull was exquisite to the extreme, seemingly as if it was a work of nature itself, as if gentle breezes had congealed into a flying shuttle.

It was as if it has completely fused with the air to the point that if one’s line of sight was not affixed upon it, then nobody would be able to perceive its existence.

And once Li Yao’s line of sight landed on it, it released an incomparably profound aura in the blink of an eye.

It was unfathomable just like the sea itself, so much so that one could not help but have an impulse to bow in worship.

“That’s the flying shuttle of Deep Sea University!” Huang Tong let out a “Wow!” in admiration.

The deep as sea flying shuttle quietly glided to above everyone’s head.

It was obviously moving at a high-speed, yet it gave everyone a “static” feeling, as if it was not at all flying, but rather, the entire world was attracted by it. This kind of feeling made everyone’s scalp tingle.

Deep Sea University’s refining ability was strong. From this small flying alone, they could get a glimpse or two of its depth.

Three men who were dressed in silver-white robes gradually landed on the ground and solemnly walked towards the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit statue.

They were the representatives of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

Even though Deep Sea University’s Refining Department belonged to the elite camp and Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department belonged to the grassroots camp, and even though they were occasionally engaged in a “struggle over the great daos” because of the clashing ideologies between the two…

At the end of the day, all of them were still members of the cultivation world and refiners as well. Under this kind of situation, the other party would always come to give their condolences.

Standing at the forefront was a man who was about thirty years old and wore an oval metal ring on his face that happened to completely cover his pair of eyes. The metal ring was inlaid with 18 glistening blue crystals, giving the misconception that they were 18 eyes of some strange monster.

This was very special spectacles. It should be some kind of high-rank magical equipment.

“He is none other than Supernova Jiang Sheng, the most outstanding newcomer of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department in past two decades. I had never thought that he would personally come to participate in the memorial. This time, Deep Sea University seems to be sincere,” Huang Tong said in a small voice.

“He is Jiang Sheng?!” Li Yao narrowed his eyes.

It was not the first time that he had heard of Supernova Jiang Sheng.

When he was still in Floating Spear City, Professor Xie Tingxian, in order to attract him, had once guaranteed that Deep Sea University would use everything at its disposal to nurture him into the “Second Supernova Jiang Sheng”.

Later, Li Yao had also browsed information about Jiang Sheng. He was a rising star in the refiners’ community who was hailed as the most gifted refiner amongst the younger generation.

He had graduated from Deep Sea University and was a direct disciple of Chu Xiuhong. He was also the only one who Chu Xiuhong had passed her mantle to. Even before the age of 30, he had refined a fair share of powerful magical equipment that had shaken the cultivation world and had become the youngest associate professor of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

Because he was unusually brilliant and talented, his rising speed was just like a nova explosion, so everyone in the refiners’ community called him—Supernova!

Right now, because the time he has spent in cultivation was shorter than others, he could be considered to be lacking maturity.

However, many people believed that after a few decades, he would become the leader of the entire refiners’ community within the Heaven Origin Sector—he would be the most powerful Master Refiner!

Li Yao eyes flickered with undisguised flames when he gazed at the back of Supernova Jiang Sheng.

However, he quickly moved his line of sight.

Right now, Supernova Jiang Sheng had already accomplished both fame and success, caused a sensation in the federation, and was an associate professor of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

As for him, he was just a nameless newbie who was just a freshman of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department and nothing more.

And even the poor Refining Department was on the verge of getting abolished.

The difference in status between the two was… extremely huge!

At present, he did not have the qualifications and the strength to challenge Jiang Sheng.

For now, he still needed to accumulate strength and conceal his talons and fangs till the appropriate time.

Jiang Sheng and the three professors of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department walked in front of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit statue and gave a shallow bow, thereafter they walked up to Xiong Baili’s and Yuan Manqiu’s side before they started conversing in a low voice.

The students of the Refining Department had their own thoughts, many of whom started discussing in turns about which department they would choose in high spirits. No one was concerned about the arrival of Jiang Sheng.

Li Yao too started pondering about how he was going to walk on the road of cultivation in the future. God knows how long after he suddenly heard a sound of dispute.

As he raised his head to look, he saw Jiang Sheng and Yuan Manqiu had gone to a secluded place and were talking in a low voice. They were talking rapidly and an agitated look hung on their faces.

Li Yao’s heart was stirred. He took a few steps towards the two as he attentively listened to a word or two coming along the wind.

Jiang Sheng said:

“Senior Sister Yuan, you are the most outstanding graduate of Deep Sea University’s Refining Department before me and are also the direct disciple whom Teacher Chu is most proud of. This time, Teacher Chu is sincerely inviting you to come back. As long as you are willing, you can return to Deep Sea University regardless of any conditions, but why are you so stubborn? Why are you flatly refusing?”

Yuan Manqiu coldly said:

“Junior Brother Jiang, please go back and tell teacher that as early as twenty years ago, we have parted ways because of different refining ideologies. I have taken a different road, and now, I am the acting dean of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. I am not at all interested in going back to the Deep Sea University to be a teacher, please thank teacher for her kind intentions.”

Jiang Sheng heaved a sigh and said:

“Senior Sister Yuan, in all likelihood, Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is going to be abolished. Even if it is not abolished now, then next year, it will be forcibly abolished by the association. Why are you wasting a year? Once you join Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, there are many projects waiting for you to take charge of. Resources, staff, heaven and earth treasures… you can have everything which is a hundred times better than that of here.”

Yuan Manqiu was silent for a moment before she said in a gentle tone:

“Perhaps Deep Sea University’s conditions are truly good, but only at the Grand Desolate War Institution can I continue… Project Mystic Skeleton!”

[1] It is very normal to pursue their own ideals, for a good life.

Jiang Sheng was surprised for a moment before bursting into laughter:

“Senior Sister Yuan, after all this, you still haven’t given up on Project Mystic Skeleton? Do you still want to refine a low-cost, mass-producible crystal suit? Don’t you know that Project Mystic Skeleton has become a big joke in the refiners’ community for a long time? From the get-go, no one was optimistic about you. Including our Deep Sea University, many people had sincerely tried to persuade you that the tensile strength of ordinary materials is low and simply can not withstand the ultrahigh impacts of spiritual energy. If they are not heaven and earth treasures, then it is impossible. Your insistence has even led to such a tragedy. This is truly…”

“That’s enough!”

Yuan Manqiu suddenly raised her voice and said as she stressed each word, “That’s right, the attempt this time was a failure and many have died, even Old Mo.”

“But, so what?”

“From the very beginning, the road of cultivation is full of hardships and danger, and death could take us at any moment. Every year, God knows how many cultivators lose their lives in the Demon Beast Wasteland, yet does no one dare to tread the Demon Beast Wasteland?”

“Cultivators should be fearless of death, and if afraid, then do not cultivate. If Old Mo and I were afraid of death, we would have lived a peaceful and normal life for a hundred years like ordinary people. There was no need for us to lose all of our fortunes just for some Project Mystic Skeleton! By our strength, we could have lived an extravagant life with wealth and glory, but we didn’t!”

“Although Old Mo is now dead, I am still living, am I not? The attempt this time had led to a failure, but nevertheless, I have also obtained valuable data and have learned some things. Next time, I will definitely not make the same mistake.”

“In any case, I will persevere. I will refine the true Mystic Skeleton Battle Suit, and at that time, I will naturally come to Deep Sea University’s Refining Department and exchange pointers with you!”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Shen helplessly sighed:

“Alright. Since Senior Sister Yuan has said so, I can only go back and report it to teacher faithfully. Nonetheless, as your junior brother, I must remind Senior Sister Yuan one thing.”

“Senior Sister Yuan, the most important thing right now is not to refine some Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, but rather, it is to somehow protect Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department.”

“The Nine Elite Universities are the most prestigious universities recognized by the federation government, and as such, the annual funding and resources provided by the federation government are far more than any other universities, thus there is a very high requirement for the quality of education as well as the standards of the departments.”

“Every year, the department of education will evaluate all departments of the Nine Elite Universities.”

“If our Refining Department can not even foster a single registered refiner, then that would mean that the quality of education of our university’s Refining Department is terrible and that we are simply not worthy of the title of ‘Nine Elite Universities’.”

“At that time, the department of education will revoke the university’s qualifications.”

“Now, you are only left with these shrimp soldiers and crab generals[1] or freshmen who had just entered. It’s not that simple to foster a registered refiner out of them in just one year’s time.”

Yuan Manqiu stiffly said, “Junior Brother Jiang, let me worry about it, it’s none of your business. Let’s part ways here.”

Jiang Sheng nodded:

“Alright, Senior Sister Yuan. We are all cultivators who are seeking the truth, so although you and I have different refining ideologies, I heartily wish you success in refining the Mystic Skeleton Armor that can be mass-produced.”

“Then, I will completely blow it away using the crystal suit that is refined by me.”

Jiang Sheng tone was very calm, as if it was not a threat but stating a very common fact.

Having said this, he nodded to Yuan Manqiu before turning around and walking towards the flying shuttle.

At this point, he arbitrarily swept a glance at Li Yao’s direction. The eighteen crystals on the metal ring suddenly lit up.

Jiang Sheng slightly smiled as he walked towards Li Yao.

“You must be Li Yao, Floating Spear City’s Champion of College Entrance Examination who Professor Xie Tingxian is very optimistic about? I am Deep Sea University’s Refining Department associate professor, Jiang Sheng, a descendant of Jiang Family and the distant cousin of Jiang Tao.”

“A Jiang Family descendant!” These three words made Li Yao’s pupil suddenly contract as he instinctively took a step back.

Jiang Sheng seemed to be oblivious to Li Yao’s wariness as he continued, “Student Li Yao, thank you very much. Jiang Tao, who fled from battle, was nothing more than a bandit who had no courage. He is simply the shame of our Jiang Family, so thank you for enforcing justice and helping us clean up our Jiang Family. I will always keep this great act of kindness in mind.”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment. He had never imagined that Jiang Sheng had the intention to say this.

Jiang Sheng burst into laughter: “What’s the matter? Did you think that I came looking for trouble? Student Li Yao, you are thinking too much. Not to mention Jiang Tao, that scumbag who was simply seeking his own death, even if it was another descendant of the Jiang Family, I have no interest in helping them raise their head. I am someone who is obsessed technology, and as such, in my eyes, only refining techniques are worth fighting for. I don’t have any interest in family or relatives. Those things are too silly. They are simply not worth it for me to waste even half a second.”

Li Yao heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Professor Jiang, you are…”

Jiang Sheng’s attitude suddenly changed. A smile still hung on his mouth, but his temperament, in the blink of an eye, suddenly became incomparably cold and gloomy as he said:

“However, although I have no interest in family, and even if you, Student Li Yao, turned the Jiang Family upside down, I will still remain indifferent. But you really should not have insulted the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. My feelings for the university are a hundred times deeper than my family!”

Li Yao was baffled: “When did I insult the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department?”

He was very clear how strong the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department was, and he even held some fear. The “Holy Land of Refiners”—this title wasn’t just for show.

Let alone insulting it, he never even looked down on Deep Sea University’s Refining Department.

Jiang Sheng indifferently said, “You have said that you will lead the Grand Desolate War Institution and challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department—in my opinion, that is like a toad jumping out to challenge a lion. Tell me, is that not an insult to the lion?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes: “Professor Jiang, you mean to say, my Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department is like a toad who doesn’t even have the qualifications to challenge your lion-like university? And we shouldn’t even have any idea, even if it’s just a thought is an insult to your university?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. You are intelligent, Student Li Yao.” Jiang Sheng showed a smile which was like a warm and gentle breeze caressing your cheeks.

“…”

Li Yao was rendered speechless.

Supernova Jiang Sheng was truly acting like a direct disciple of Chu Xiuhong should; he did not place anyone in his eyes.

“However—”

Jiang Sheng changed the topic of the conversation as a smile once again bloomed on his face: “As the saying goes, young people make mistakes and the gods will forgive everything. You are young, impulsive, hot-blooded, naive, and you will occasionally say nonsense. There is nothing wrong in itself. I will give you an opportunity to repent.”

Jiang Sheng raised his thumb as he pointed at the deformed Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit behind him: “Student Li Yao, here is the opportunity. You have seen the condition of Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. Perhaps the Refining Department would soon be abolished, so if you were to remain here, you would be wasting your talent.”

“If you are willing, I can think of some way to transfer you to Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. At the beginning, you will enter as an auditing student, and later, I will think of some way to officially enroll you into Deep Sea University’s Refining Department. What do you think?”

Li Yao remained silent.

At this very moment, Yuan Manqiu’s loud voice echoed in his ear.

“Cultivators should be fearless of death, and if afraid, then do not cultivate!”

“In any case, I will persevere. I will refine the true Mystic Skeleton Battle Suit!”

A slight frown appeared on Jiang Sheng’s glabella: “Student Li Yao, this is your last opportunity. Not every young man is fortunate like you, who has the opportunity to correct his mistakes. As long as you nod, I will personally become your teacher and guide you to the correct road of refining. Isn’t that better than staying in this pile of waste?”

“As for your proclamation that you will one day challenge Deep Sea University’s Refining Department, everyone knows that it is just the nonsense of a young man. Who would take it to heart? Everyone is frivolous in their youth, so everybody will understand. As long as you achieve success and win recognition, no one will laugh at you.”

“Pile of waste…”

Li Yao pondered for a long time while gazing at the distant Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. At last, he shook his head:

“I’m sorry, Professor Jiang. I am someone who had come out from a pile of waste. For a majority of my childhood, I have only survived by relying on scraps gathered from piles of waste, so I think that this ‘pile of waste’ is rather suitable for me.”

Jiang Sheng took a deep glance at him before he nodded and said:

“Alright, I will still say this: I wish you and Senior Sister Yuan success in refining the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit. I also want to see how the legendary, mass-producible crystal suit would look like. But first of all, try to think of a way to keep this pile of waste, Student Li Yao.”

Jiang Sheng, without turning his head, started directly walking towards the flying shuttle before it silently floated away, just like how they had arrived.

…

After about an hour later, the memorial finally came to an end.

However, the doubts and suspicion in the hearts of the students from the Refining Department still hadn’t been cleared.

So everyone kept on staring at Dean Xiong Baili anxiously.

The decision to determine the life and death of Refining Department was in his hand.

Seemingly sensing the too-impatient-to-wait mood of the students, Dean Xiong Baili, after the others left, assembled all the remaining students of the Refining Department to announce a very significant decision.

And the professors of the various department, who stood behind Xiong Baili, looked at the students below the stage with an extremely strange look.

It seemed that from this moment on, they were going to pick the talented student whom they favored.

“It seems that the Refining Department is truly going to be abolished. The professors from the various departments are going to pick students.”

Huang Tong, who stood behind Li Yao, said in a low voice.

Li Yao took a glance at Yuan Manqiu.

Yuan Manqiu remained expressionless, but her eyes were like two burning red coals.

Xiong Baili took a step forward and directly got to the point:

“Students of the Refining Department, you may have heard some rumors like the institute was preparing to abolish Refining Department, which is indeed correct. I will not hide it from you. At the beginning, the management had indeed decided upon this.”

“After all, the Refining Department’s losses were very serious. Not only was the floating mountain destroyed, but the Refining Department is only left with a single professor, Associate Professor Yuan Manqiu. Whether it is the facilities or the faculty, the Refining Department is lacking in both.”

“The institute has limited funding and all the facilities need to be rebuilt, which makes it impossible to invest a lot of resources for the rebuilding of the Refining Department within a short period of time.

“Originally, you students have undergone all kinds of hardships and difficulties in order to enter the Grand Desolate Institution, which is hailed as one of the ‘Nine Elite Universities’, and I, as the dean of the institute, am responsible for every student’s future.”

“So, the institute had originally decided to abolish the Refining Department, and the students could transfer to other departments.”

“However, Professor Yuan Manqiu kept on insisting that there is a hope in rebuilding the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department. She had said that—our Grand Desolate War Institution’s tradition has always been to never abandon, to never give up, and if there was even a single soldier left to fight, grit your teeth, straighten your back, and carry the battle flag!”

“What she had said is right. Our Grand Desolate War Institution is indeed different than the other ‘Eight Elite Universities’. As long as you are willing to fight, we will give you an opportunity to fight, and we will absolutely not abandon you! This is exactly the spirit of our Grand Desolate War Institution! For several hundred years, we have always been acting like this!”

“So, we have finally decided that we will give all the student an opportunity to choose. The fate of the Refining Department—is in your hand!”

TLN:

[1] Useless troops.

“If there is a student who is willing to stay in the Refining Department to continue his or her studies, then we will welcome them for sure. Every department has already reached an agreement that all basic training facilities will be open for the students from the Refining Department. At the same time, the resources and the budget which is due to the Refining Department will continue to be provided.”

“And if any student feels that the Refining Department isn’t enough to realize your dream, the institute will still support that student and every department will be open to them. We will give everyone the opportunity to transfer to another department.”

“The choice is in your hand. As Professor Yuan had said, even if there is a single soldier left, as long as there is a student who is willing to stay in the Refining Department, the Institute will adhere to its principle. We will not abandon you, we will not give up on you, and we will continue to support you!”

“However, let me make it clear. If the Refining Department still has not produced a single student who could pass the Refiners’ Registration Examination after a year, the Refining Department will then be forcibly abolished by the department of education, and as such, the student who had chosen the Refining Department would have wasted a year in vain.”

“And I will also solemnly swear that if there is a student who is able to pass the Refiners’ Registration Examination and become a true refiner after a year, then it would mean that Professor Yuan was right. I will then do everything in my power to help the Refining Department strive for more resources, so not only would the Refining Department be rebuilt, but the Refining Department which will be built would be ten times stronger than the past!”

“In the name of the dean of the Grand Desolate War Institute, I, Dean Xiong Baili, promise you this.”

“Now, the students can make their choice!”

Xiong Baili’s speech was like a lump of ice smashing into a boiling hot frying pan, which burst into a “crackling” noise on the spot.

A freshman who had just entered the institute impatiently shouted as if he was set on fire:

“Dean, I want to transfer!”

“Yes, Dean, we have already thought about this. We are all freshmen and we simply haven’t learned any refining, so we request the dean to transfer us as early as possible, lest we give any trouble to Professor Yuan.”

From the beginning, these freshmen had only chosen the Refining Department because they had no other choice but to do so; it was their final alternative. And now, as the Refining Department had turned to such a ghastly place in front of their eyes, who would be foolish enough to still head into the abyss of suffering? If they had the opportunity, they would definitely transfer to another department!

Yuan Manqiu had already prepared herself for the freshmen’s reaction. From the start, she too did not want the freshmen to remain, and even if they stayed, it would be a waste.

Yuan Manqiu’s gaze turned towards several of the older students who could be considered to have good qualifications.

The older students were even more at a loss. They may not like refining, but they had, after all, poured a lot of their time and efforts into it, and if they wanted to change their road of cultivation now, their past efforts would go down the drain.

However, how could Professor Yuan, one person alone, support the entire Refining Department?

“Zhao Ming, you have been learning refining for three years already and your level is highest amongst them all. I have high expectations for you to become a registered refiner next year, so why don’t you stay in the Refining Department?!”

Yuan Manqiu sent an invitation to a boy.

Zhao Ming hesitated for a bit as he somewhat tried to dodge her gaze; he did not dare to look straight into Yuan Manqiu’s eye. He shook his head and said, “I am sorry, Professor Yuan. After thinking about it, I have decided to transfer to another department.”

“Why?” Yuan Manqiu was stupefied.

Zhao Ming honestly replied, “In the past, there was Professor Mo Xuan along with many other professors, which gave me some confidence to become a registered refiner. But now, only you alone, Professor Yuan, is left, and we don’t even have a refining workshop. I am not sure whether I can pass next year, so why should I waste a year? It’s time for me to cut my losses and change tracks as early as possible for the better tomorrow.”

Zhao Ming paused for a bit before he lowered his head in embarrassment: “I am really sorry, Professor Yuan. A few days ago, my father came to know about this, and I have been chatting with him online for the past few days. My family also thinks the same.”

“It’s alright, it is really alright. You must definitely listen to your family, and you don’t need to overthink it. Study whatever you wish to study, I will support you!”

Yuan Manqiu forced a smile before her gaze turned towards a girl who had somewhat rough skin.

A sliver of an ashamed look flashed past her eyes as she lowered her head; she did not speak a word.

Yuan Manqiu’s complexion turned even more ugly. One by one, she swept a glance at the other older students, who did not dare to look her straight in the eyes, not even a single one.

Everyone was either bowing their head as they looked at their own shoes or raised their head to count the clouds in the sky.

“Isn’t there a single student who is… willing to stay in the Refining Department?” Yuan Manqiu said in low voice.

Xiong Baili heaved a sigh as he also found it somewhat hard to bear. He earnestly said, “Professor Yuan, you don’t need to worry. Even if the Refining Department is abolished, the institute could always use a refiner. There is definitely a place for you here.”

He lightly patted Yuan Manqiu’s shoulder before his gaze turned towards the students below the stage as he said in a loud voice that was akin to a great bell, “Alright, since everyone has decided so, then I… If there is any student who has anything to say, please raise your hand! Please be patient, as for the specific rules of transferring departments, I will announce it to you soon.”

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

A few dozen gazes turned towards Li Yao, who had raised his hand.

“Dean, you misunderstood. I do not want to ask about the rules of transferring departments. I wish to remain in the Refining Department and follow Professor Yuan in order to learn refining,” Li Yao said in a loud voice.

“What did you say?”

Xiong Baili was stupefied, all the professors were stupefied, all the student were stupefied.

Yuan Manqiu’s back, all of a sudden, straightened up, and her whole body was shining like a shining Buddha.

…

After an hour.

Apart from Li Yao and Yuan Manqiu, everyone had left the Refining Department.

Li Yao, who was sitting under the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, set his eyes at the wreckage around him, which was very similar to the Magical Equipment Graveyard.

Everyone, in their childhood, would have some absurd dream.

Some people would dream of quietly sneaking into an amusement park so that they would not have to line up for rides, allowing them to play to their heart’s content.

Whereas, some people would dream of entering a supermarket which had no one inside, where all the goods were brilliantly arranged on the shelf, so that whatever you wanted to take, you could take it, and whatever you wanted to eat, you could directly open the package.

When Li Yao was 6-7 years old, just for a meat bun or a rusted, broken sword, he would have to engage in a life-or-death struggle with a dozen robust adults.

At that time, his greatest dream was: if someday, a huge junkyard with no other scavenger but him alone appeared so that he could discover treasure to his heart’s content, how nice would that be?

He had never imagined that his dream would come true in such a way today.

For the past seven days, he had only cleared up a small part, thus there were still many things buried in the rubble.

Whether it was damaged magical equipment, jade chip fragments, or experimental data, in Li Yao’s eyes, they were all priceless treasures whose worth was equivalent to a city.

If it was the Refining Department of the past, then it would have been simply impossible for a freshman like him to instantly get started.

But now, everything belonged to him. Whatever he wanted to study was something he could.

Because, the entire Refining Department only had one student and that was him.

He had become the president of the Star Fire Union as well as the eldest senior brother of the Refining Department!

“Teachers, fellow students, all of you rest assured. I will definitely complete your unfinished business. Your concepts will definitely flourish, and the name of our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department will shake the entire world!”

Li Yao respectfully bowed at the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit wreckage.

God knows why, when he first laid his eyes on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, he felt a wisp of a cordial feeling towards it

This crystal suit’s design was very consistent with his taste.

It was common, coarse, and wild, and it looked kind of violent, which was completely different from those popular, fashionable, light, and gorgeous crystal suits.

Even though half of it had been melted, it still gave the impression of a tenacious warrior who was struggling to stand up to fight the enemy, to smash the enemy’s head, and to bite the enemy’s throat.

And most importantly…

Li Yao had a strange feeling. Seemingly sensing a slight fluctuation transmitting from the depths of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, it was as if something was slumbering within.

Or perhaps, it was the spirit, hope, and indomitable will to fight of all the Refining Department’s students and professors!

Yuan Manqiu quietly stood on one side.

When she saw flickers of fire appear in Li Yao’s eyes as he faced the wrecked Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, her face revealed a smile of understanding.

She formed a spell as a spirit seal shot out and submerged into Li Yao’s neural field.

“This spirit seal grants you Level-2 privilege in the Refining Department, something which only a ‘lecturer’-level teacher could have and is second only to the privileges of us professors.”

“You now have 80% of the privileges of the Refining Department with this spirit seal. Now, you can open a vast majority of jade chips and a vast majority of magical equipment will not resist you as well. In short, you can use whatever you can find here in the rubble as you wish!”

Yuan Manqiu sighed and said:

“Who would have thought that everyone would choose to leave and the final one who was going to remain would be a freshman? Student Li Yao, since you believed in me, I will also not treat you unfairly. Perhaps after a year, the Refining Department will truly be abolished; however, in this one year, I will use everything to foster you so that you can learn as many things as possible, which would help you pave a better road for the future.”

Li Yao slightly smiled while touching his forehead: “Teacher, don’t you believe that I can become a registered refiner in a year?”

Refiner was one of the most important professions in the cultivation world, and a registered refiner was a refiner who had been approved by the Refiners’ Association and a standard refiner approved by the federation government.

The Refiners’ Registration Examination was one of the most difficult qualification tests of the several professions in the cultivation world, with an annual passing rate of less than 10%. Many refiners after a decade or even a few decades would be unable to have the word “registered” added to the front of their title.

Strictly speaking, every one of them didn’t even have the qualifications to call themselves “refiners”!

Li Yao did not lose confidence.

Although the Refining Department had turned into rubble, as someone who grew up in the Magical Equipment Graveyard, he felt a great pleasure in finding treasures with his own hands from the ruins.

In these seven days, he had already unearthed many jade chips from the ruins, some of which were videos of classes given by the professors and some contained refining data and information stored by the professors, which for him were of great help.

‘With the experienced Professor Yuan Manqiu’s guidance along with the many tutorials and refining data left by the professors as well as Ou Yezi’s memory fragments… if I train madly in this one year, I am sure I will be able to become a registered refiner!’

Li Yao secretly made a resolution in his heart.

Yuan Manqiu seriously said, “Perhaps you are truly talented and can advance by leaps and bounds within one year, but currently, you do not even have the qualifications to take part in the examination.”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment before he scratched his head: “What are the qualifications required so that I could take the Refiners’ Registration Examination?”

Li Yao came to understand only after Yuan Manqiu’s explanation.

The Refiners’ Registration Examination was one of the most difficult qualification tests amongst all professions. Many prestigious academic authorities would be invited every year to be examiners, not to mention that a tremendous amount of heaven and earth treasures would be consumed during the exam.

If any Tom, Dick, or Harry could take the exam, while the wasted time of a Master Refiner could be considered as nothing significant and the squandering of heaven and earth treasures could also be considered as nothing, but if in a one in a million chance, a refining accident which leads to a spiritual energy explosion took place, then how could that be written off?

So for someone to register for the exam, there were certain requirements such as work experience, assurance from the sect, university recommendation, and so forth.

Yuan Manqiu said, “In accordance with our institute’s regulations, for someone to take the qualification test for any profession whatsoever, they must have 40,000 credits. Only then would the institute write a letter of recommendation.”

“40,000 credits?”

Li Yao blinked his eyes. Although he did not know how big amount was that, it sounded like a lot.

Yuan Manqiu nodded: “Maybe you can’t understand the notion of 40,000 credits, but you should know of the two genius students—Peng Hai and Ding Lingdang—who had enrolled in our institute in the last two decades. To acquire these 40,000 credits, even Ding Lingdang had taken two years, while Peng Hai took one and a half year. Aside from them, nobody else had been able to accomplish this in two years.”

Li Yao stood in amazement as if he was thinking about something.

Yuan Manqiu patted his shoulder: “Now do you understand? In short, we don’t need to think too much about it. In this one year, I will do my utmost to teach you. I hope that you will learn everything seriously, and whatever happens in one year, at least you have fought all out. You will not be left with the slightest bit of regret!”

“Come on, I will take you to pick some components. You need to assemble a crystal processor which has incredible computational power. It would provide a tremendous help in cultivation.”

Li Yao followed Yuan Manqiu to the edge of the ruins where there was a delipidated, three-floored building.

This was the temporary school building of the Refining Department as well as the library, dormitory, canteen, and the training room.

In his heart, Li Yao was, however, constantly wondering:

‘So even Senior Brother Peng had taken one and half year to complete 40,000 credits!? This is truly awesome.’

‘But, so what?’

‘I have once said that I will definitely chase Senior Brother Peng’s footsteps. It starts from this moment on.’

‘In this one year, I will definitely surpass Ding Lingdang and Fiend Blade Peng Hai and complete 40,000 credits. Afterward… I will become a true refiner!”

‘At that time, I will restart Project Mystic Skeleton and refine a true Mystic Skeleton Battle Suit with teacher, setting off a super strong storm in the cultivation world!”

A long time after they left.

The afterglow of the sunset gradually swept past the ruins as a dark curtain gradually enveloped the land bit by bit.

The wrecked Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit stood still quietly in the dark, as though it was a tombstone.

Suddenly—

A speck of a starry shimmer jumped out from the depths of the eye sockets of the wreckage.

A speck of starry shimmer which was a hundred times dimmer than the glow of a firefly.

The starry brilliance was flickering and faltering as if its faint phosphorescence would extinguish at any moment.

Following that, a second speck, a third speck, a fourth speck…

Many starry shimmers jumped out, speckling the air. Altogether, over a hundred incomparably feeble shimmers struggled, danced, and glittered as they weaved into a bunch of feeble flames which tried everything to manipulate the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to break away from its pedestal.

However, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit’s main frame had completely melted, and the joints in its steel frame had fused together. No matter how much effort these starry shimmers put forth, they were unable to move even a single inch.

“Creak—”

Finally, they were able to move the little finger of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, slightly deforming it by 0.1 mm.

This action consumed too much of the starry shimmers’ spiritual energy, causing a sound to spread out from the depths of the wreckage; perhaps it was the sound of over a hundred faint sighs.

Over a hundred starry shimmers flared before they returned to slumber in the depths of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.

The depths of the eye sockets once again turned hollow, and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit once again reverted back into a monument which was staring at the pitch black ruins.

…

At night, will-o-the-wisps-like specks of radiance rose and speckled the sky above the ruins.

This was the remaining chaotic spiritual energy from the explosion surging out. It gave off the misconception of fireflies spreading out everywhere as they casually danced in the air.

In the three-floored building, Li Yao, in a completely content manner, looked at his just finished work.

It was a debilitated, stationary-type crystal processor system which had occupied half of the entire room; it was an out-and-out colossus.

All of the materials from which this crystal processor was assembled from were found in the ruins, a majority of which were the fragments of professional crystal processors and quasi-military level crystal processors used by the professors, all of whose computational power was astonishing. Even if it was given to a third-grade sect, its level was enough to become their master crystal processor.

This was the benefit of joining the Refining Department. If it was any other department, they would absolutely not allow a freshman to have access to such advanced crystal processor components.

And in the ruins of the Refining Department, there were still many wrecked precious magical equipment which Li Yao could play with as he wished.

Although this ugly, colossal crystal processor looked ordinary, it could increase the computational power of the mini-crystal processor which he was currently wearing by a hundred times, which was enough to perfectly launch huge amounts of telepathic thoughts, like the “Federation Cultivators’ Nexus”.

Its only drawback was that its cooling system was huge, making it impossible to carry, thus it had to be fixed inside a room.

However, this drawback was nothing to Li Yao. The mini-crystal processor he wore had gone through slight modifications which allowed him to link the mini-crystal processor with the huge crystal processor so that the huge crystal processor’s transmitter could transmit telepathic thoughts to the mini-crystal processor.

As a result, the mini-crystal processor had become the display terminal of the huge crystal processor. All the computation power that was needed to carry out processing was done by the huge crystal processor and the result was then displayed by the mini-crystal processor.

As long as he did not leave the campus of the institute, the system would always work. No matter where he went, he could enjoy the assistance of computation power that was comparable to the main crystal processor of a battleship.

“That’s more like it!”

Li Yao took a deep breath and rubbed his hand. He could not wait to start up the huge, stationary-type crystal processor.

A huge spiritual energy tide spread out in every direction with a “buzzing” noise, giving him a feeling as though he was slowly being submerged in the sea. Following that, the entire room was immersed in a colorful radiance as a 3D hologram gradually appeared. Thousands of star-like, vivid icons circled around him, giving off an appearance of being inside a sea of stars.

“The huge crystal processor’s computational power is really awesome. Just the start-up hologram is so cool. I wonder if this crystal processor can start the ‘Federation Cultivators’ Nexus’ at its highest settings?”

Li Yao let loose his imagination.

However, at present, he didn’t have the time to play around, as he needed to clearly understand the credit system.

You could say that getting 40,000 credits in a year was a race against time.

Li Yao suppressed his excitement as he gazed at a very crude and wild icon.

The icon consisted of an iron fist which was laden with rust and smeared in blood with a crossed sword and saber in the back—this was the emblem of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

With a move of his thought, all kinds of colorful lights with varying brightness and contrast spread around as they expanded into a completely new, semi-transparent world.

Li Yao had logged into the Wasteland Battle Network!

The Wasteland Battle Network was not as simple as the internal network of a university.

Hundreds of years ago, during the time when the Wasteland was covered in bloodshed, grassroots martial artists first built the Wasteland Battle Network through which they exchanged, compared notes, traded, and did gathering like activities. Afterward, with the Wasteland Battle Network acting as the foundation, the Grand Desolate War Institution was founded.

One could even say that the “Wasteland Battle Network” was the Grand Desolate War Institution’s predecessor and foundation. 50% of the studies and training of the students could be completed through the Wasteland Battle Network. Even the “Federation Cultivators’ Nexus” had taken a lot of good points from the “Wasteland Battle Network” and gradually improved to the current system.

“Roar! Roar!”

Roars of demon beasts immediately floated into Li Yao’s ear one after another, and his nose even seemed to get a whiff of the desolate stench of the Wasteland. Before his eyes, a red tide spreading in the wilderness-like scene appeared.

Countless experts were cultivating, fighting, hunting, and teaching in the wilderness. It was the same as the “Half-step Great Illusionary Land”; however, the Wasteland Battle Network had simulated an environment that was even more detailed than that of the Federation Cultivators’ Nexus.

Not only was the visuals improved, but even the auditory, the olfactory, and the somatosensory systems had been stimulated to the extreme.

Li Yao knew that it was all because of him using the huge crystal processor which had tremendous computational power and enabled him to run the Wasteland Battle Network at its highest configuration. That was the only reason why it was possible to simulate such perfect sound and light effect.

If he had logged onto the Federation Cultivators’ Nexus at this moment, then he would have similarly entered an incomparably detailed, infinitely wonderful, new world.

“According to teacher, after I have logged into the Wasteland Battle Network, I will naturally know the basic rules and regulations as well as how to get the credits. I wonder what I should do next? Is an assistant-like thing going to appear?”

Li Yao, filled with interest, wandered around the Wasteland as he watched powerful experts fight with system simulated demon beasts at a distant while wondering to himself.

At this moment, a gorgeous blood-colored crystal suddenly floated over to the top of his head, upon which had the word “credits” engraved.

A voice suddenly rang in his ear:

“Student Li Yao, do you want to learn all the information regarding credits?”

Li Yao subconsciously nodded his head before the “Crack” sound of the blood color crystal splitting into countless information fragments resounded as they submerged into Li Yao’s neural field.

In the blink of an eye, Li Yao felt that there was something extra in his memories. Upon carefully searching his memories, much to his surprise, he recalled many sections regarding Grand Desolate War Institution’s credit system.

It was like at some time in the past, someone had given him a full night and day course that carefully explained to him the credit system.

“Such brilliant telepathic thoughts transmission technology!”

Li Yao praised. As he recalled the information that had just submerged into his neural field, he discovered that credits played a very important role in the Grand Desolate War Institute and was most crucial for studies and training.

“If you have credits, you can wander the entire world, but if you don’t have credits, you can’t even move an inch.” This was the true portrayal of the Grand Desolate War Institution.

For freshmen who had just entered the institute, the dormitory provided by the institute free of charge was no better than a pigsty, similarly the food provided was like pig wash, the uniforms were like beggar clothes, and the little cultivation resources provided were the size of a fingernail.

Do you want to eat delicacies? Please pay credits!

Do you want to sleep in a royal palace-like mansion? Please pay credits!

Do you want many cultivation resources? Do you want high-ranked training facilities? Please pay credits!

Even a lot of professional courses established by powerful experts required one to pay a certain amount of credits and only then could he or she study. Moreover, once you are unable to pass the exam, these credits would entirely go down the drain!

In short, if anyone wants to become a true powerful expert, it was necessary for him to use every trick in his sleeves to earn as many credits as possible and then use these very credits to acquire many resources, and after repeating the same thing again and again, you would become strong step by step!

And as the institute which is most concerned about combat within the federation, the procedure of earning credits was certainly not as simple as attending classes. One could even say that earning credits using conventional methods like attending classes or taking exams was like a drop in the bucket.

The true leading method was still open trading and combat!

The so-called open trading was none other than the students using their own abilities to exchange for credits.

An example would be the students of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Cultural Department, the Spirit Tattoo Artists who were proficient in Spirit Tattoo Technique.

When a student of the Combat Department wanted to engrave a spirit tattoo onto their body, they would go to the students of the Cultural Department and use their credits to buy services.

Likewise, when the students of the Cultural Department wished to acquire some kind of special demon beast blood to concoct “Tattoo Ink”, they would post a mission and put forward “credits as rewards”, and naturally, there would be many students from the Combat Department willing to go the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts.

And just in case, if the Combat Department’s student who went hunting for demon beasts were out of luck and received an injury, they could always spend their credits to ask the Medical Department students to treat them.

Li Yao, as a student of the Refining Department, could likewise repair others’ magical equipment or could even use magical equipment which he himself had refined to exchange them for credits—of course, since he was just a nameless newbie, others would be inclined to not buy the magical equipment refined by him. They would rather spend a bit of their money to buy sabers and flying swords from sects like the “Hundred Saber Alliance”. This was the way of the world.

From time to time, even the institute would post a variety of joint demon beast hunting missions with the sarmy as well as various sects. A large-scale mission would often have thousands of students from the Grand Desolate War Institution in addition to thousands of soldiers and experts from cultivation sects. In wake of such a march that was no different than a hot knife cutting through butter, even tyrannical demon beasts would flee at the very first sight.

Participating in such missions, not only would the students rake in a lot of credits, but along the way, with professors casting marvelous and unique skills and the mission itself, it would instill fighting experience into the students, allowing them to unconsciously master many abilities. Compared to having being taught stereotypically in the classroom, this way was much more effective.

These ways to earn credits were only open and aboveboard.

In private, many students liked betting; they would use their credits to start arena contests where not only would both participating sides bet many credits, but even the bystanders could use their insights and their experiences to determine the outcome and bet on one of the fighters.

This was a common practice among the students of the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall. Every day, many students from the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall would step onto the arena and go all out to the point that it was either “you die or I die”. However, the management of both sides’ student unions was very strict; seldom would the grudges on the arena be carried down the stage. And in order to encourage the students to exert themselves to cultivate, the school too would not stop it at all.

However…

“All these combat missions and open trading are only for the older students who have attained over 1,000 credits.”

“Any student whose credits are lower than 1,000 are considered freshmen and can only take ‘basic theoretical courses’ to earn credits. Only when your total credits have amounted to 1,000 can you truly be able to live the wonderful life of the institute.”

These two pieces of information emerged from the depths of his mind. After slightly reflecting upon this, Li Yao felt it was only right and natural.

It would be impossible for freshmen who had just embarked on their university life to have even a bit of credits; they were out-and-out paupers, so how could they trade or bet in a fight?

Even if they wanted to go to the depths of the Wasteland to hunt, perhaps others would find them “cumbersome”. Who would be willing to fight with demon beasts where life and death was a matter of moments when there was a snotty nosed brat standing next to you?

Basically, freshmen had to lay their foundation, and only after solidifying their foundation could they think about entering the actual combat ring.

“Then, I have to choose some basic theory courses so that I could acquire 1,000 credits as soon as possible!”

Li Yao burned with impatience, but much to his dismay, when he carefully searched for information regarding “basic theory courses” in his mind, he could not find any.

“Why isn’t there any information on basic theory courses?”

Just as he muttered these words, a second diamond-shaped red crystal floated in the sky upon which “basic theory courses” undulated in small characters. With a “crack!”, the crystal split into pieces before they submerged into Li Yao’s brain from the top of his head.

Suddenly, Li Yao recalled over a hundred pieces of information regarding basic theory courses.

The Grand Desolate War Institution’s courses had been divided into basic theory courses and specialized courses.

The basic courses were not divided by departments, and all basic courses were open to students from all departments. Usually, these courses didn’t have a professor teaching them and were simply available on the Wasteland Battle Network, which had been devised in advance using telepathic thoughts.

Even exams were conducted on the Wasteland Battle Network. Moreover, the students could be tested at any time they so wished. Even if Li Yao took the courses at this moment, he could take the exam right away and could immediately earn the credits if he so passed.

However, every month, a student could only take the exam three times for the same course.

Moreover, even if you clear the exam, the credits provided from the basic theory courses were very low and was around 3-5 credits per course.

Of course, students could earn more credits from the specialized courses, but in order to take the specialized courses, the student would first have to spend credits to apply. Some specialized courses taught by powerful experts required one to spend a couple hundred credits, and even over 1,000 credits was possible.

And once one failed these specialized courses, those credits would go down the drain.

Thence, Li Yao, this pauper, could only honestly take the free basic theory courses.

“Although a cultivator’s computational speed, memory, and integrative thinking ability were a dozen times better than an ordinary person, it would still take 3-5 days for each basic theory course, and within these 3-5 days, I could only earn a few credits. Wouldn’t it take almost a year to gather 1,000 credits?”

The root of Li Yao’s teeth began to get sore.

He discovered that gathering 40,000 credits in one year was simply an impossible task!

According to the institute’s curriculum, under normal circumstances, it was indeed the case. After a freshman entered the institute, it would take him one or two years to finish the basic theory courses before he could get rid of the “freshman” status and truly take part in actual combat and open trading.

Li Yao, instead, had to take just one month for what others would take one year to finish and only then would it be possible to somehow gather 40,000 credits in one year. Wasn’t it just wishful thinking?

“Hey, Battle Ranking? What the hell is Battle Ranking?”

Li Yao, who was anxious, suddenly found very dazzling words among the information.

“The institute, in order to encourage the student to train madly, has set a ‘Wasteland Battle Ranking’ through which the students who have earned the most credits can get various rewards!”

“Whereas, for the freshman who have entered the institute for no more than a year, there was a ‘Newcomer Ranking’. At the end of every month, the top 100 students, top 10 students, top 3 students, and the top student who have earned the most credits will receive additional rewards respectively.”

“For the freshmen, the first month in the institute was extremely important. Whoever finishes the most basic theory courses in the first month and stand out among the tens of thousands of other freshmen—the one who is ranked first in the ‘Newcomer Ranking’—will be directly granted a reward of 1,000 credits!”

First on the Newcomer Ranking!

1,000 credits!

With this, he could directly enter open trading and actual combat ring!

Li Yao’s blood started boiling, his eyes turned crimson, and he could not wait to shout one or two times to release the excitement bubbling in his heart.

“If I want to gather 40,000 credits in a year, first and foremost, I need to become first in the Newcomer Ranking to get the 1,000 credit reward so that I could conduct open trading and enter the true combat ring. Only then could I unleash my specialty and madly zoom through courses!”

“Battle Ranking, quickly show me the Battle Ranking! Let me see who my competitors are? Who exactly are the experts here?”

Even though the Grand Desolate War Institution was popular in the southeastern region, there were still major towns and cities in the north which housed countless cultivation geniuses of the Wasteland. In their own hometown, they were akin to feathers of a phoenix and horns of unicorns.

However, for the 40,000 credits, in order to become a registered refiner, in order to make the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit soar into the ninth heaven, Li Yao could only do all he could so that he could steamroll these “feathers of the phoenix and horns of the unicorns”.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

When Li Yao muttered “Newcomer Ranking”, a glittering list immediately emerged in front of him.

It had already been seven days since the institute had opened. Ordinary students might still be adapting to university life, but as far as these cultivation geniuses were concerned, the maddening blood battle had already begun!

Names of many students had already appeared on the Newcomer Ranking and were decorated with several credits after. The top most student has already earned 14 credits.

In other words, in this period of seven days, this person had already passed 4-5 basic theory courses, with an average of almost one course per day. He was truly worthy of being a one in ten thousand cultivation genius!

“Zhao Tianchong, Lu Tieshan, Gu Feixuan, Wen Ruorong…”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes as he etched these four names into his mind.

Zhao Tianchong was none other than the cultivation genius who had acquired 14 credits, while the remaining three each had 11 credits, thereby tying for second place.

These four had credits which was already in two digits, marking a much larger difference than the other students. They should be the best among the best freshmen of this year, and they were also Li Yao’s biggest competitors for the next month.

“However, what the hell is this Hidden Dragon Hall?”

Li Yao discovered that all of their names were followed by two annotations; the first was the name of the student union they belonged too.

Li Yao’s name itself was followed by “Starfire Union”. Furthermore, it was glittering and overflowing with colorful lights to highlight his “extraordinary” identity as the “Starfire Union’s President”.

The four cultivation geniuses respectively came from the four major departments, but their names were also decorated with “Hidden Dragon Hall” at the very end.

The third crystal that bore the “Hidden Dragon Hall” characters floated over and split open over the top of his head, following which a realization immediately dawned upon him.

“So it was like this. The Hidden Dragon Hall is a training camp for ‘specially recruited students’.”

“Members of the Hidden Dragon Hall are all cultivation genius who have displayed outstanding performances during the Limit Challenge Competition and were later specially recruited by the Grand Desolate War Institution.”

“They did not have to take the College Entrance Examination, so in these 3-4 months, they had gathered at the institute and were undergoing special training.”

“These specially recruited students are far more powerful than the ordinary students. Each one of them is a monstrous genius, and they regard themselves very highly and consider themselves to be ‘hidden dragon’. They simply disdain competing with ordinary students.”

“The indeed had the ability to be proud. Every month, the top 100 positions of the Newcomer Ranking is occupied by these ‘hidden dragon’, and only 3-5 ordinary students could pave a way to the 70-80 positions at most.”

“And there was none who could make it to the top 10.”

“However, this year…”

Li Yao licked his lips as round after round of ripples gushed out from the depths of his eyes. His blood seemed to have changed into a hot steam.

“Let’s see whether it will be you, these hidden dragons, or me, the vulture who would finally soar into the sky and sweep the winds and clouds!”

Having punched out, Li Yao started silently pondering with all his concentration:

“Bring up all the basic theory courses, no matter what difficulty level it is! The higher the credits, the better it is!”

Countless translucent and diamond-shaped crystals flew to his front from all sides; each crystal bore the details of one course along with an evaluation of the seniors.

“Although the is tedious to learn, it is a prerequisite to many courses. Furthermore, it is rather easy and has a passing rate of 92%. It is advisable for everyone to take this course.”

” is very good. After learning this basic theory course, you can learn the true , which is an overbearing marksmanship created after repeated revisions by countless experts in the army. Once you are successful in learning it, you will be invincible against those on the same level!”

“There is nothing to say of . It is a very ordinary exercise; however, there will be many junior sisters from the Cultural Department learning together with you. Understand junior brothers—senior brothers can only help you up till here!”

Li Yao had a hearty laugh as he continued browsing.

He first selected more than twenty refining theory courses recommended by Yuan Manqiu, including , , , , so on and so forth.

Although there were many courses, they did not pose too much pressure on him.

After all, Li Yao was not an ignorant novice. When the old man was still alive, he had already taught him sufficient basic knowledge, not to mention Ding Yin’s notes had given him a comprehensive understanding of refining techniques.

In addition, the goes without saying—it was simply free credits.

Supposedly, after one month of study, he could definitely amass all the credits.

However, if he so wished to steamroll those “feathers of a phoenix and horns of the unicorns” from the Hidden Dragon Hall, the Refining Department’s basic theory courses were simply far from enough.

Li Yao gazed at the vast world and used more than half an hour to choose about 30 courses.

“The credits of these courses are very high, and moreover, their application is very broad. They are all somehow related to core problems of the road of cultivation.”

“For instance, this <9 Heavenly Tribulations> explains the source of ‘heavenly tribulation’ and how to guard against it.”

“Even if it is not for credits, I should seriously learn it. Who knows? One day, I might become a Nascent Soul Stage old monster. Even figures more mightier than Nascent Soul Stage cultivators might encounter heavenly tribulations.”

“Hey, this actually has a 5-star importance. It could go neck and neck with many specialized course, and fellow students’ evaluation of this course is also very high. Maybe I should learn first!”

With a move of Li Yao’s thought, a diamond-shaped crystal which bore suddenly flared up before it broke into countless fragments, giving off the misconception that there were thousands upon thousands of crystal butterflies dancing around him as the fragments weaved a completely new world.

It was a scene of a typical medieval cultivation world where mountains and rivers could be seen far away while there were pavilions, buildings, and halls nearby.

A middle-aged cultivator who had a well-trained figure emotionlessly stood in front of Li Yao.

This middle-aged man was purely constructed from the fragments of telepathic thoughts; he simply didn’t exist in real life. He was only here to teach the quintessence of the pertaining to a couple dozen Grand Desolate War Institution professors’ knowledge from over the past century.”

The middle-aged cultivator talked very fast; from time to time, his speech was also mixed in with the transmission of telepathic thoughts. A peerless tide of thoughts surged forth into Li Yao’s brain.

What gave Li Yao a profound impression was the three big trees that were burning at the center of the forest.

The first tree had the branches burning bit by bit.

The second tree, however, had the entire top of the tree burning.

The third tree instead burned from the top of the tree to the trunk, and even the roots underground were also burning. Very soon, the whole tree had been burned into coke.

The middle-aged man faintly said, “These three trees represent ordinary people, low-level cultivators, and high-level cultivators.”

“The vitality of ordinary people is tremendously feeble, so the consumption of their vitality per second is also very small. Their vitality flows like a mere trickle which would remain calm forever.”

We cultivators, on the other hand, could stimulate the hidden potential of our bodies to the extreme and break past the limits one after another, and even blast a way towards a completely new path of evolution. Every second and every minute, the vitality we consume is more than hundred times than that of ordinary people.”

“Like the second and third tree, which are burning from inside out, although they can emit inexhaustible light and heat in an instant, they could easily burn away themselves completely.”

“The higher the state and the deeper the cultivation level, the fiercer you will burn and the faster you will consume your vitality.”

“In the ancient cultivation world, many peerless experts whose cultivation had reached the limit could completely burn themselves, and subsequently after various kinds of visions, they would completely vanish. The ancient cultivators called it ‘Breaking the Space’.”

“But we modern cultivators know that it was nothing but burning our vitality away, burning ourselves alive to death.”

“If you want to avoid burning away your vitality, you can not maintain your strongest state all the time. Instead, you have to alternate between tension and relaxation; you have to remain calm at normal times and be prompt when taking action.”

“So, even if it is Nascent Soul Stage old monster, he would not remain in the Nascent Soul Stage at every moment and every second. If he did so, he will very easily completely burn through his entire life. It would simply be an act of suicide.”

“They would often restrain their vigor and would look no different than Building Foundation Stage or Refinement Stage cultivators.”

“Some skilled, peerless experts can even accomplish a state where not even a trickle of their life force leaks out, suppressing their strength to 0.01%. A true Nascent Soul Stage old monster will look like a feeble, ordinary person. Even if telepathic thoughts of other experts scan through them, they will not find an ounce of difference.”

“Under this kind of state, their life force passes very slowly, and theoretically, they could live for 300-500 years, and perhaps even longer!”

“And if they need to, they can transform in the blink of an eye in accordance to the different combat scenarios. They could jump to different levels one by one, from the Refinement Stage, Foundation Building Stage, Golden Core stage to even the strongest Nascent Soul Stage!”

“In their strongest state, their attack force is 100,000 times stronger than their weakest state. It would be as if they were not the same person—as if an ant has evolved into a ferocious dragon in the blink of an eye!”

“Soul converging techniques teach you how to suppress your strength—the ability to transform!”

“Soul converging techniques, breathing exercises, and utilization exercises are also known as the three basic techniques of the cultivation world. Once you have learned a soul converging technique, not only can you warm and nourish your ife flame, it can also prevent others to see your actual situation, allowing you to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing and play pig to eat the tiger. It is truly a marvelous and essential skill for you to walk in the cultivation world!”

Having finished the introduction, the middle-aged cultivator waved his hand before numerous streams of light submerged into Li Yao’s brain, which was the basic theoretical stuff regarding soul converging techniques.

Just like the breathing exercises, soul converging techniques was just a general designation for techniques. Various sects had their own soul converging techniques. The Grand Desolate War Institution likewise had a total of a couple hundred different soul converging techniques, with each of them having different features and practicing methods. The students could freely choose as they wish.

Among this basic theory course, Li Yao got to clearly understand the origin, creators, features, advantages, and disadvantages of over a hundred soul converging techniques.

As a couple 100,000 thoughts submerged into his brain in the blink of an eye, Li Yao felt as if his brain was going to explode; he felt dizzy as he constantly complained.

When he withdrew himself from the knowledge of soul converging techniques, he felt everything was revolving and faintly felt nausea.

“Awful, I truly can not bear so many thoughts submerging into my brain all of a sudden.”

“This is just the concepts of soul converging techniques forced into my brain, I still do not completely understand them. I guess it would take at least 3-5 days before I could master it, and only then will I have the hope to pass the exam.”

“No, if it will be 3-5 days just for learning one course, I can only earn 20-30 credits in one month at most. How am I going to compete with those specially recruited students? Not to mention the first in Newcomer Ranking, it would be impossible for me to make it to the top 100!”

Li Yao was quite anxious.

The Low-Rank Soul Converging Techniques could not be described as difficult among the basic theory courses, but the telepathic thoughts it had were truly too many and even included the origin, development history, and evolution of the sect. Some courses even included many cultivation experiences of seniors which would very likely to appear in the exam.

Even if it was a cultivator who had tremendous computational speed, to completely understand one, they would—just like him—need to spend 3-5 days.

It was simply impossible to learn a couple dozen courses in one month’s time.

“The learning efficiency is truly low. I wonder if there are any cultivation facility which could promote the learning efficiency!”

Li Yao was somewhat distressed.

At this moment, a diamond-shaped crystal congealed over the top of his head; at the center of which had “Super Perception Cabin”.

After it split open, Li Yao suddenly discovered that the institute surprisingly had a cultivation equipment called “Super Perception Cabin” which could promote the learning efficiency by 300%.

Practicing a second inside of the Super Perception Cabin was equivalent to practicing 3-4 seconds outside; it was like the time was being stretched—it was incredibly mysterious!

“Is there such an overbearing cultivation equipment? Then wouldn’t one month be equivalent to three months?”

Li Yao, who was completely immersed in his happiness, completely ignored the restrictions and drawbacks of the “Super Perception Cabin” and excitedly checked the location of the equipment.

The Super Perception Cabin was a very common cultivation equipment. All the major departments had it installed. The Refining Department also used to have it; however, it was destroyed in the explosion.

But as all the departments had made a commitment that the students of Refining Department are welcomed anytime to use their training facilities, they would act fairly to everyone.

“Let’s check out the Combat Department first!”

Li Yao discovered that the Combat Department had over a hundred Super Perception Cabin installed. It was a large-scale facility, and the distance was also not far away. He immediately decided to first go to the Combat Department to try his luck.

He could not wait to withdraw from the Wasteland Battle Network. Looking at the Black Wing Sword like a cheerful dog running around him, Li Yao’s complexion changed. He raised a finger.

“If I have to ride you, let’s talk first—the highest speed can not be more than the 1/3rd of the speed of sound. You are not allowed to suddenly stop and change directions, you are not allowed to abruptly go up and down, you are not allowed to do a 360 degrees barrel roll, and you are also not allowed to suddenly brake! Start gently and brake softly, fly as slow as possible, ok?”

The Black Wing Sword’s tip repeatedly moved up and down as though a dog was cheerfully wagging its tail, saying: “Okay, okay, okay!”

“That’s more like it.”

Li Yao linked the mini-crystal processor with the static type crystal processor before he awkwardly climbed onto the Black Wing Sword.

When thunderous roaring sounds came from the back of Black Wing Sword, he had an ominous premonition. Just as he was about to jump down, he had already started flying.

“Damn you, Little Black, I am not going to believe you ever again!”

Li Yao’s roars were however completely torn apart by the fierce winds.

….

Despite the fact that it was already late at night, a dozen floating mountains of the combat department were brightly lit, as though it was daytime.

“The major departments and the ordinary departments are really different. Each profession has a dozen floating mountain, and even the smallest mountain is 3-5 times bigger than the floating mountain that our Refining Department once had!”

“However, it’s alright. Someday, the Refining Department will have 10, 20, 50 floating mountains. I will build a sky city in the sky of the Grand Desolate War Institution, and then it will be worthy of the title ‘Holy Land of Refiners’!”

On the flying sword landing platform of a floating mountain, Li Yao stroked his messy hair and walked inside with his head held high.

This floating mountain belonged to Iron Fist Club, and despite it being midnight, the floating mountain was hustling and bustling with people inside. Its atmosphere was filled with an intense masculine taste, and sounds of striking could be heard without a breath of respite.

As Li Yao walked inside, a few sharp gazes converged on him.

He wore the uniform of the Refining Department, on which there was a burning crystal gear engraved on his chest, appearing to be particularly striking among the tall and robust members of the Iron Fist Club.

Very quickly, someone recognized him.

“He’s Li Yao, the only student of the Refining Department.”

“So he’s the one who would rather die than change departments? So whether the Refining Department will exist or be abolished rests on his shoulders?”

“Do not underestimate him! This guy is very ruthless. Rumor has it that when he had just awakened, he had beaten the crap out of a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator. Our Iron Fist Club’s instructor, Teacher Ding Lingdang, is sparing no effort to recruit him!”

A dozen fierce men with robust muscles who were drenched in sweat surrounded him.

A 2 meter tall bronze-skinned, fierce-looking man walked in large strides before Li Yao as he lowered his head and sized him up. Pursing his lips into a smile, he said:

“Are you Li Yao?”

Li Yao frowned. He slightly bent his legs, and his leg muscles shivered in high frequency, which was unable to be discerned with naked eyes, seemingly taking the pose at which he could kick the other guy’s crotch at any moment, thereby breaking the other guy’s attack.

However, his face bore calmness as he smiled and said, “That’s right, and you are…”

The robust man raised his bowl-sized fist and ruthlessly smashed on his iron cast and copper plated chest. The subsequent sound was as though a stone had struck a piece of metal as he shouted:

“I am Zhang Chuang and am also a freshman like you. I am Southern Desert City’s champion of the College Entrance Examination. Student Li Yao, I—admire you!”

“What?”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. What sort of strategy was this?

Zhan Chuang stretched out his leaf-fan sized, giant palm and forcefully smacked Li Yao on the shoulder as he said in a loud voice:

“We all know that the Refining Department had an accident and we have also heard of your choice. We all admire you. We feel that you represent the spirit of the Grand Desolate War Institution—regardless of victory or defeat, as long as even one soldier is left standing, we will fight to the end!”

“That’s right!”

Another ugly freshman came forward and roared while waving his fist, “Although everyone knows that the Refining Department can never hold on after a year, you still chose to remain without a shred of hesitation to go all out to struggle and fight!”

“This kind of spirit is exactly the persistence that our Grand Desolate War Institution has passed down for hundreds of years. We can lose and even die, but we will never surrender!”

“Come on, Fellow Student Li Yao!”

A third hunk forced his way over: “No matter the final outcome, in this year, burn your life away, exert your utmost strength to shine so that you don’t leave the slightest bit of regret! All the members of our Iron Fist Club completely support you!”

“For your dream, fight till the end!”

“Even if the Refining Department is abolished next year, it is well worth it!”

“Whatever you need, just say. We all know that cultivation is not easy. We are all brothers, and we don’t have any bad intentions!”

One by one, seemingly ferocious-looking hunks started shouting all at once.

Li Yao was stunned for a while and didn’t know what to say.

On the other hand, he was feeling warmer and warmer in his heart. A sincere smile soon crept up on his lips.

He sincerely bowed and said from the bottom of his heart, “Thank you for all your support. I will definitely do my best!”

“Alright! Since Fellow Student Li Yao has arrived on such late at night, you definitely want to use the training facilities here, right? Everyone disperse, don’t you all have your own training to do? I will show Fellow Student Li Yao around!”

Zhang Chuang held quite a bit of prestige amongst the freshmen. After everyone dispersed, he accompanied Li Yao to the depths of the floating mountain.

When he came to know why Li Yao had come here, his ugly and ferocious-looking face revealed a sliver of bewilderment.

“The Super Perception Cabin is not some popular training equipment. You can use it any way you like, but don’t expect too much of its effect!”

After having Zhang Chuang explain it, only then did Li Yao realize how foolish he had been.

The principle of the Super Perception Cabin was completely opposite to that of the “Deep Sleep Chamber”. The latter could forcefully inhibit the activity of human brain cells, thereby making one enter a deep sleeping state. In this state, one hour of sleep was equivalent to 3-5 hours of normal sleep.

Super Perception Cabin, on the other hand, would stimulate its user’s brain cells activity through special array glyphs and crystals. The activity of one’s brain cells would be enhanced to 300%, thereby improving the learning efficiency.

This method was a bit like injecting stimulants into the brain. One could support it for at most 20-30 minutes.

Following after which the brain cells would be overactive, ultimately resulting in Qigong deviation. Although its degree was very light, it would still be a bit troublesome to deal with.

Moreover, it was only enhancing the brain cell activity to 300%. The body would remain the same as before, which would give birth to a very serious dissonance between the physical and mental activities.

Often, the brain would issue a command, but the body would be unable to respond in time, making it feel like one was paralyzed.

So, the Super Perception Cabin was only suitable for learning the basic theory course; it was not at all suitable for training.

And it was only the freshman who would use it and that too for no more than half an hour, as the older students simply did not spare it a glance.

“We are here.”

Zhang Chuang brought Li Yao to a dilapidated training room, on the walls of which were a few dozen large, pupa-like structure—they were precisely the Super Perception Cabins.

Through the crystal glass window, one could see that a majority of the pupa-like structures were empty, and only a few pupae had a student sitting cross-legged inside.

These students had been stimulated with a secret method and had their brain cell activity elevated to 300%. They appeared to be particularly stimulated; each and every one of their faces were red to their ears, their eyes were completely bloodshot, and they were saying something without being able to stop.

Suddenly, Li Yao noticed that there was something wrong with a student in the upper left large pupa.

He was talking faster and faster, and his complexion was getting more hideous by the second. The blue veins on his forehead was slightly bulging, and finally, blood gushed out with a “splash”.

“Damn! Cabin No. 27 student’s brain cells are overactive. He is going to have Qigong deviation!”

“Whoosh!” The door of Cabin No. 27 opened as a couple personnels swooped to the cabin and carried the unconscious student out.

Zhang Chuang smiled and said, “Fellow Student Li Yao, what do you think? Do you still dare to try?”

Li Yao’s eyes flickered as he nodded his head.

“Whoosh…”

The cabin door behind Li Yao gradually closed, sealing him inside the big pupa.

Following that, a personnel activated the array glyphs on the outside as over a hundred crystals embedded inside the large pupa were completely illuminated.

A milky-white radiance flowed through the engravings and fused constantly before they gathered into dazzling spirit glyphs one after another.

“Lub dub, lub dub, lub dub, lub… dub, lub… dub…”

Li Yao felt his heart beat getting slower and slower as his breaths became longer and longer.

“Brain cell activity, 150%!”

He realized that it was not his heartbeat which was getting slower, but rather, it was his thought process which was getting quicker; his body rhythm was unable to keep up with his thought process.

“Brain cell activity, 200%!”

Li Yao felt as if someone was prying open the top of his head and pouring scalding hot oil into his brain, which was producing “crackling” sounds.

Countless glimpses of scenes suddenly emerged before his eyes as multitudes of sounds also rang in his ears.

They were the residual memories from a decade ago which were upturning from the depths of his brain. Even the memories where a wolfhound was chasing him when he was seven years old had surfaced.

“Brain cell activity, 250%!”

Li Yao blinked his eyes. His pupils gradually expanded as they slowly occupied his entire eye sockets. One after another, like specks of light, incredibly deep thoughts in the depths of his neural field flashed, collided, shredded, and intertwined with each other as they were stretched into countless threads of light before weaving into an intricate web where each node bore numerous information fragments of .

A castle of thoughts was quickly being built in Li Yao’s mind.

“Brain cell activity, 331%!”

This was the limit.

Li Yao felt as if he was standing on a higher dimension as he overlooked the just built information castle of . Every single detail had emerged on every single thought and every thread of information of Soul Converging Techniques. He could grasp all the details with a single glance.

This kind of brainstorming pleasure made him unable to control himself. He was completely immersed in the ocean of , where he was happily wandering. He completely forgot the passage of time.

5 minutes, 10 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes.

Suddenly—

Li Yao’s pupil fiercely contracted to the size of a needle tip before it once again expanded to the limit.

His brain cell activity was increasing by the minute, he was getting more and more excited, and his thoughts were flashing quicker and quicker. He felt as if countless flying shuttles, which he was unable to catch no matter what he did, were whizzing out from the depths of his neural field.

“Boom!”

The castle of thoughts suddenly collapsed and raised overwhelming frightening billows and terrifying waves, where every wave carried a seemingly inexhaustible amount of memories, while the vast majority of them were useless information. For instance, what he ate on the noon of the third day after his ninth birthday. He started to recall everything that was useless!

Li Yao let out wheezing sounds, and the corner of his eyes madly twitched as he bit his lips to the point that the blood was flowing out.

“This is bad! My brain cells are overactive, I am going to have Qigong deviation!”

“Once I have Qigong deviation, it will take me at least a day to recover, during which my spirit will be weakened, my memory will decline, and I will not be able to concentrate. I will simply be unable to cultivate.

“I can never let this happen! I must find a way to resolve this!”

Everything before his eyes had blurred, and countless resplendent scenes collided with each other. Li Yao seemed to be hearing “cracking” sounds of his brain cells bursting open like popcorn. Every time they exploded, an overwhelming amount of useless memories would burst forth.

“Memories…”

A thought struck Li Yao’s mind; he suddenly seemed to grasp something.

He gathered a trace of his remaining consciousness, and with all his strength, he rushed into the depths of his brain towards Ou Yezi’s tree of memories!

“Boom!”

The moment his consciousness was going the collapse, a bright light flashed before Li Yao’s eyes and his consciousness appeared inside the Heavenly Refining Tower of Hundred Smelting Clan from forty millenniums ago.

“Pooh…”

Li Yao let out a long deep breath. This was the memory world of Ou Yezi. Even if a storm was raging through at the outside world, it would simply be unable to invade this place.

“My guess was right. Ou Yezi’s soul is so huge that it can absolutely withstand the side effects of 300% brain cell activity. This place is going to be my safe haven. I can hide here for 3-5 minutes before going out, and I shouldn’t have any Qigong deviation then.”

Having thought of this, Li Yao crossed his legs and steadily sat at the center of the Heavenly Refining Tower’s first level where he studied the over and over again for 10 minutes. Only then did he calmly and collectedly leave the memory fragments and made his consciousness resurface as he returned to the real world.

Sure enough, beside a little headache, he was no longer in an uncontrollable state; he was not going to have Qigong deviation.

“Fortunately I finally found a way. It seems that the ‘Super Perception Cabin’ has a great hidden danger, so I can not overuse it.”

Li Yao secretly praised his luck.

When he swept a glance at the corner of the hologram which was displaying the time, his entire body was suddenly stupefied.

“What!? Only a minute has elapsed in the real world?”

“That’s not right. I have obviously stayed for a dozen minutes in Ou Yezi’s memories.”

“The passage of time of the memory world and the real world is in a ratio of 3:1. Three minutes in the memory world is equivalent to one minute in the real world.”

“Why has it increased by 3.3 times, reaching a ratio of 10:1?”

“Did the passage of time in the memory fragment slow down by three times because my brain’s cell activity was elevated to 331%?”

Li Yao’s heart beat like drums.

Once this conjecture was verified, then he would have ten times more cultivation time than an ordinary person.

“In that case, even the abstruse basic theory course will not be difficult for me. Not only will I be able to learn all the basic theory courses in the Grand Desolate War Institution, but I will still be left with quite a bit of time to research the refining records in the Heavenly Refining Tower!”

Li Yao licked his lip, his eyelids drooped down as he withdrew his mind, and once again, his consciousness sunk into the deep recesses of his neural field to where the Tree of Memories was present.

“Whoosh!”

Li Yao, once again, appeared at the bottom most level of the Heavenly Refining Tower. Surrounding him, there was an overwhelming amount of bookshelves that cited innumerable low-level exercises and refining records of the Hundred Smelting Clan.

The corner of Li Yao’s lips curled up as he took out the from the bookshelf.

A sword was the greatest weapon among all, and if one wanted to learn refining, they would first have to learn how to forge swords. Thus, in the ancient cultivation world, refiners were also known as “Sword Forgers”.

This contained the classical refining process of 13 kinds of flying swords. Every one of the flying swords’ process contained a few dozen crucial refining techniques.

Once one has completely learned the , even if one was at the basic rudimentary level, that alone would allow him to refine some of the most common flying swords.

Although the thirteen flying swords were simple, the telepathic thoughts it embodied were as vast as the sea and seemed to be inexhaustible. After Li Yao had acquired this refining record, he had always wanted to study it, but he didn’t have the time to painstakingly learn and did not dare to give it a try casually.

Now that he had such an opportunity, the endless mysteries of the ancient flying sword was a feast for his eyes, allowing him to enjoy it to his heart’s content!

“Whoosh, whoosh…”

At the bottom most level of the Heavenly Refining Tower, only the sounds of page flipping could be heard.

At first, Li Yao was planning to just have a look, but not long after, he was completely immersed in this lustrous and dazzling, breathtaking and mysterious world of ancient flying swords, completely forgetting everything else.

Real world, after three hours, dawn was about to arrive.

The cultivation gym was still hustling and bustling as countless students who had stayed all night were still ecstatically venting their strength.

“Bam bam! Bam bam bam!”

On Zhang Chuang’s body, every strand of muscles was as though crystals were exploding; like a mad gorilla, he continuously bombarded the punching target with explosive power, and the Strength Testing Machine swayed as if it was on the verge of collapsing.

“Brother Chuang, it’s bad! Quickly come and take a look at the Super Perception Cabin!” a fellow student sent the message.

“What’s going on? Did someone have Qigong deviation again? Isn’t that pretty normal? Every two or three days, someone will have Qigong deviation in the Super Perception Cabin. It’ll be fine if we just haul him for treatment,” Zhang Chuang disapprovingly said.

Although he was a freshman, he was a citywide College Entrance Examination Champion. Apart from the specially recruited students, he could be regarded as the strongest student, so he served as a small leader in the Iron Fist Club and was responsible for managing the chores in the cultivation gym at night.

“No, it’s Li Yao…” the student wanted to say something but hesitated.

“Fellow Student Li Yao? Right, when did he leave? Since I was too engrossed in cultivation, I probably didn’t notice him leave.” Zhang Chuang grabbed a towel to wipe off the sweat.

“He, he still hasn’t left… he is still in the Super Perception Cabin,” the student stammered as he replied.

“What?”

“Bang!” Zhang Chuang had actually made the towel burst as he forcibly squeezed it.

He raised his eyebrows and furiously stared as he roared, “What the hell were you doing!? Do you want him to die? An ordinary person can have Qigong deviation after just staying for half an hour in the Super Perception Cabin. He’s been staying in there for three hours—three frigging hours! His brain must be fried! You truly are, truly are—”

Zhang Chuang ruthlessly threw what remained of the towel before he exerted strength in his legs and bolted. On one side, he was running, while on the other, he was showering curses, raining curses down upon the personnel.

“Brother Chuang, calm down. It’s really not like what you are imagining. In short, it is very strange. When you are there, you will know ‘cause even if I told you now, you will absolutely not believe me!”

“Shut the fuck up! I, Zhang Chuang, am from a family of cultivators. Since I was three years old, I have started to touch the lustrous and dazzling world of cultivation, so what kind strange things I have not seen?”

Zhang Chuang roared as he increased his speed, and in a little while, arrived at the scene.

Afterward, he discovered things were truly super strange!

Three personnel and a dozen students; all stood dumb like wooden chickens before a Super Perception Cabin as they peered inside with a rather fearful look in their eyes. It was as if it was not some human cultivating inside the Super Perception Training but rather some demon god!

“What’s the matter? Why are staring at the Super Perception Cabin? Are you still not going to get the person out?! Do you really want him to die!?”

Zhang Chuang furiously pushed everyone aside and grabbed the collar of a student.

“Brother Chuang, first hear me out. Fellow Student Li Yao has indeed been staying inside for three hours; however, aside from the spike in blood pressure and heartbeat just after the first one and half hour, his physiological index remained normal and hasn’t exceeded past the normal value even a bit. Because of this, we didn’t pay any attention to it, but when we noticed him, about three hours had already passed!”

“What!?”

Zhang Chuang’s eyes were so wide-opened that they looked as if they were the eyes of a bull: “Are you joking with me? His brain cell activity has been elevated to 300% for almost 3 hours, and yet you say his physiological index is still very normal? Is he a human or a demon beast? Even if he is a demon beast, it will not be so excessive!”

The student, who had his entire faced splattered with Zhang Chuang’s saliva, said completely bewildered, “I am not finished. Not only was Fellow Student Li Yao’s physiological index extremely normal, but his heartbeat, pulse, and respiratory rate were all 70% of the standard value. We usually call this state… deep sleep!”

“WHAT!?”

Zhang Chuang’s roar almost burst opened the roof. He thunderously roared as he ruthlessly shook the pitiful student, “Do you not know why this thing is called ‘Super Perception Cabin’? It is precisely because this thing can allow someone to enter a Super! Perception! State!”

“Now you are telling me that someone who has brain cell activity of 300%, who is in a frigging SUPER PERCEPTIVE STATE, is in DEEP SLEEP!? Is there something wrong with your tongue, or am I hearing things wrongly?”

The student forcefully smiled: “Brother Chuang, there is nothing wrong with my tongue and there is nothing wrong with your hearing. Even I suspect that there is something really wrong with my eyes!”

Zhang Chuang spat a mouthful of saliva before he shoved everyone and pasted his nose on the transparent crystal window as he peered inside with wide-opened eyes.

He kept on staring for a while!

However, Li Yao, who sat in cross-legged position at the center of the pupa, had a trace of a strange smile on his face. His expression was completely calm, and much to his dismay, there was drool trickling down the corner of his mouth as he made faint snoring sounds.

All this points to one thing and one thing only, and that was he was in a deep sleep state.

From the high-speed movement of his eyes, it was quite clear that he was immersed in an incredibly wonderful dream!

“Brother Chuang, Fellow Student Li Yao has remained in this state for an entire three hours already,” the student faintly added this sentence.

Zhang Chuang was completely stupefied. He dumbfoundedly stared for a long while before he could finally recover to the state of being able to respond.

After suppressing for a while, he vented out, “Fuck, this brat is really asleep!”

…

From this day onwards, a legend appeared in the Grand Desolate War Institution.

A legend of a “God of Sleeping”!

According to the legend, the God of Sleeping was endowed with a unique talent by virtue of which he could sleep at any place. He also had a very eccentric hobby, and he especially liked to sleep in a Super Perception Cabin.

While others would have their brains fried in the Super Perception Cabin when learning the basic theoretical knowledge in madness, one could always find the God of Sleeping in a nearby pupa with a smile, sound asleep, and he would sleep for the most of the day.

This kind of self-complacent appearance simply made everyone unsure whether to laugh or cry—if he truly lacked sleep, why didn’t he enter the Deep Sleep Chamber instead of making such a huge scene?

“Maybe he has too much pressure or maybe there is something wrong with his brain, causing all stimulation to his brain cells to be unable to rouse him?”

“It’s possible. After all, he is facing a task which is impossible. He has to gather 40,000 credits in one year and become a registered refiner afterwards. Only then will he be able to protect the Refining Department. Such a task is terrible—it is simply beyond reach!”

“How many credits does he have anyway?”

“I checked the Battle Ranking and it’s… zero! He still hasn’t taken any tests!”

“What?”

These kinds of rumors were flying at every corner of the campus.

But no matter who it was, they dared not to take it out with Li Yao.

In the end, cultivators were different from ordinary people. Many students were from families of cultivators which have a profound heritage, and they have all learned priceless, wondrous, and mysterious skills

And some people had fortuitous encounter in their childhood, had beheaded strange beasts, eaten some strange fruit, or inadvertently acquired some peerless ability… In the world of cultivation, this was a pretty common occurrence.

If they imprudently went and asked, “Hey, fellow student, why can you enter deep sleep in the Super Perception Cabin? What kind of fortuitous encounter did you have? Why don’t you open the outlook of everyone?”

If such words left their mouth, even if Li Yao beat the crap out of him on the spot, no one would sympathize with him.

As for the faculty, they, even more so, weren’t concerned over this matter. A university was completely different from a high school; in high school, teachers might act like stewards and run after students all day, but in university, if a student was willing to learn, then the professors would do their utmost to teach; however, if a student snored all day long, then that was his freedom and no one would interfere.

After all, everyone was an adult. One must pave their own path step by step.

And as for Yuan Manqiu, she was pretty much busy reconstructing the Refining Department and was out on a trip to contact the scattered grassroots refiners. She simply didn’t have any time to be concerned with these trivial things—she believed that Li Yao would take at least 2-3 months to learn all the basic theory courses!

Li Yao was like a weed that spared no effort to grow under the rubble where no one could see.

One day… two days… three days…

Every day, he would spend 12 hours in the Super Perception Cabin.

While everyone thought that he was snoring, he was actually immersed in the depths of the Heavenly Refining Tower where he directed all his attention to learning the 100 basic theory courses.

In the real world, where ten days had passed, in the Heavenly Refining Tower, three months had passed, during which Li Yao had finally chewed, absorbed, thoroughly memorized, and understood 88 basic theory courses!

Afterward, he turned his gaze towards the higher-rank theoretical scriptures.

His target was to use half a month in the real world—5 months in the Heavenly Refining Tower—to thoroughly read over a majority of the scriptures.

Even if he was unable to understand, he would have engraved them deeply in his brain, which would lay a solid foundation for the next step in cultivation!

First and foremost, Li Yao began reading the jade chips which he had unearthed from the rubble.

These jade chips were a unique kind of magical equipment which were dedicated to storing telepathic thoughts and could often go through vicissitudes of 1,000 years. Its structure was extremely sturdy and was also engraved with special array glyphs which ensured that the telepathic thoughts stored within could never be extinguished.

Thus, even after experiencing such a huge explosion, many of the jade chips were perfectly fine.

A majority of the jade chips had cultivation data and refining processes stored which Li Yao was unable to completely analyze, even with his current strength.

However, a small part of these jade chips had notes, refining experience, as well as theoretical monographs written by various seniors stored within.

Suffice to say, countless 10,000 feet high refining theories of the entire grassroots faction was built on these unremarkable “cornerstones”.

These jade chips were altogether different from Ding Yin’s jade chip.

Ding Yin was a refiner who had profound knowledge in mainstream refining. His refining ideology paid more emphasis on the elite faction, but it just so happens that his explanations had a very solid basis and gave everyone a reasonable and impeccable feeling.

As he dwelled on the theories of the two factions at the same time, no matter which faction it was, both of them presented themselves as a deluge of heavenly flowers, highlighting their wonderful points, and happened to go neck and neck with each other. It was like watching a pinnacle duel between two experts, making Li Yao feel overwhelmed and dazzled.

And that’s not all.

In the Heavenly Refining Tower, Li Yao also came in contact with refining knowledge from the ancient cultivation world of 40,000 years ago.

Ancient refining concepts and the modern ones were two schools which were diametrically contradictory. Although both sides advocated for a simple and straightforward approach, when it came to spiritual energy entwining and conversion, there was a big difference, and a part of the core array glyph structure and usage were also diametrically opposite.

As luck would have it, at the most intense moment of the pinnacle duel between the “two experts”, a third “ancient expert” butted in and hit out, so the original complex situation had been comprehensively upgraded.

Later, the situation would often change. Just as Li Yao deeply admired Ding Yin’s point of view which he believed to be an irrefutable truth…

He would find another way in the jade chips left behind by the grassroots faction refiners which were supported by massive data and was even more comprehensive, concise, and irrefutable—it was simply truth among the truth.

And when Li Yao just nodded and accepted this point of view, suddenly, he would discover a “new” point of view in the ancient books from forty millenniums ago which seemed to be… more concise, clear, and irrefutable and appeared to be as unshakable as one plus one equals two!

Just like this, the theoretical foundation which Li Yao had built in a day would be completely wrecked in an hour, and the firm conviction that he built in that one hour would then be even more ruthlessly broken into pieces within a second.

For an entirety of half a month, his theoretical foundation was broken and constructed again and again. This kind of painful and happy feeling was even more annoying than experiencing fire and ice [1]; he wanted to express but could not vent out.

Finally…

The mad theoretical study came to an end. Only one day was left before the month was over.

11:50 PM, just one day and 10 minutes were left before the deadline for the Newcomer Ranking.

Currently, in the Newcomer Ranking, powerhouses were like clouds; they were everywhere. The top 100 had almost acquired over a hundred credits. Suffice to say, in just one month, they had almost studied 50 or so theory courses.

Meanwhile, the top cultivation geniuses, much to everyone’s dismay and reasoning, had acquired 200 credits.

And among the top 100, 90% of the students had their names decorated with glittering “Hidden Dragon Hall” at the back.

They were all specially recruited students and were hidden dragons who were like feathers of a phoenix and horns of unicorns in their hometown.

As for Li Yao…

His name simply didn’t make an appearance in the Newcomer Ranking. For this one month, he was immersed in bitter penance in the Heavenly Refining Tower where he was confused to the point of dizziness and was even not far away from vomiting blood from the diametrically opposed refining theories. He simply couldn’t spare any attention to take some trifling exam.

So his total credits were nothing but zero.

“In the Wasteland Battle Network, the basic theory test can be carried out by telepathic thoughts transmission where I can transmit hundreds of thoughts in a second. I guess 10 minutes is enough for an exam.”

“I still have an entire day left. I am going to blast off 88 basic theory courses… one by one!”

Inside a three-floor high dilapidated building next to the ruins of the Refining Department, sitting cross-legged amidst a pile of jade chips, Li Yao’s jet black eyes flickered with radiant light.

The Black Wing Sword lazily flew above his head.

Two spider-shaped puppet beasts quickly shuttled through as they separated the jade chips according to their class and placed them on a special bookshelf.

Over this past month, besides madly studying theoretical knowledge in the Heavenly Refining Tower, he was also insanely scavenging wastes in the ruins.

Jade chips and serious damaged magical equipment components; regardless of whether they were useful or not, as long as they were not completely melted down into an iron lump, Li Yao would retrieve it from the rubble. He was making every minute count to repair, and even when he was taking a dump, his hands were busy with fiddling with several dozen components.

On one side, he was accumulating some assets for the Refining Department, while on the other side, he was also trying to put the refining theories he had just learned into practice, testing things to find out which kind of theory was most suitable for him.

In any case, there were an inexhaustible amount of spare parts which he could squander as he wished.

These two spider puppet beasts which were specifically used to organize and maintain the jade chips had been recovered by Li Yao in accordance with the ancient refining concepts and grassroots refining concepts respectively. At first glance, there was nothing different about them; however, there were actually small differences in the core powering glyphs which utilized two different kinds of spiritual energy conversion models.

Li Yao was trying to test which model had the highest conversion rate and consumed the least amount of spiritual energy, as well as which had a longer lifespan.

If he could gather enough components, then he would be able to chew off a bit more of the jade chip that was given by Ding Yin. Li Yao also wanted to use the elite faction’s method to recover a puppet beast of the same model so that he could put together three of them and compare. Only then would he be able to get to a conclusion.

After a month of in-depth study, Li Yao was no longer an ignorant child who didn’t know how high the heavens were and how deep the earth was. In general, he still insisted on the ideology of the grassroots faction, but he also acknowledged that the elites’ ideology indeed had some unique places which were enough to make it the mainstream refining method for hundreds of years; it was not at all an unearned reputation.

Perhaps one day, he could fuse the ancient refining techniques and the elites’ refining concepts with the grassroots’ concept and create a second-to-none “Fiend Star Style” refining technique.

However, for now…

A strange smile crept over Li Yao’s face as four red spirit threads drilled out of his glabella and silently thrust towards the Black Wind Sword.

Just as his spirit threads charged out, four black spirit threads also charged out from the Black Wing Sword and directly cut off Li Yao’s spirit threads.

Red and black; altogether, the eight spirit threads were like eight flying swords that were having a dogfight as they waged an intense and bloody battle that was invisible to the naked-eye.

Compared to a month ago, Li Yao’s spirit threads were thicker and more flexible, and their reach was also longer.

However, the spirit threads stretching out from the Black Wind Sword were even thicker and more flexible. Both sides clashed with each other in the air, during which offense and defense were changing within seconds—the fight was well-matched!

Li Yao slightly smiled as terrifying spiritual energy coursed through all over his body and finally gathered at his spiritual root. Surprisingly, a 5th… 6th… 7th spirit thread appeared.

Finally, the number of spiritual threads that had emerged from Li Yao’s spiritual roots had reached as many as ten, and each spirit thread had a reach of 12-13 meters!

An emergence of 10 spirit threads from the spiritual roots with every thread being 10 meters long was precisely—the sign of having entered the 2nd level of the Refinement Stage!

And… this was not all!

When the 10 red spirit threads swarmed over and surrounded the Black Wing Sword, suddenly, a strange distortion appeared in the air as every spirit thread turned back by ninety degrees, drawing a standard right angle before they intertwined with each other and weaved an airtight dragnet.

The spirit threads bent by 90 degrees to form a standard right angle, which was simply impossible for it to naturally happen in the world. It was a clear proof that the cultivators’ manipulation of their spirit threads had reached a degree where they were like arms and fingers of the cultivator and could be manipulated as they wished.

In other words, Li Yao had already broken through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage.

In this one month, after having refined and absorbed a tremendous amount of demonic energy, which he had engulfed from the battlefield, as well as staying day and night in the Super Perception Cabin, where his brain cell activity was enhanced to 331% for a long period of time, his soul had unknowingly grown stronger.

In addition, he and Black Wing Sword had accidentally thought of this “spirit thread fighting” training, which allowed them to launch their spirit threads and fight it out with each other at leisure.

Using this way of training spirit threads, not only did it make their spirit threads thicker, more agile, longer, faster, and sturdier than any ordinary cultivator’s spirit threads, but the rate of engulfing spiritual energy had also greatly increased.

Although many descendants of wealthy and great families could break through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage before the age of twenty by relying on the massive amount of resources…

But for a nameless newbie like Li Yao, who had no background, to advance to the 3rd level Refinement Stage in just a short period of one month, it was absolutely a miracle.

Having swept a glance at the spirit clock, which showed that it was just 12 o’clock, on the wall, Li Yao retracted his spirit threads and licked his lips. He could not wait to log into the Wasteland Battle Network.

With the arrival of the end of the month, the competition of the Newcomer Ranking had entered a new phase of intensity. The scene of the battle network had also changed; the sky had turned blood-red while soul-stirring war drums rang everywhere, making everyone’s blood seethe and anxious to give it a try.

With a move of Li Yao’s thought, when he deeply thought of one word “Exam”…

Numerous streams of light swarmed over from every direction as they turned into 88 blood-red diamond crystal.

Every diamond crystal bore a tremendous amount of telepathic thoughts which represented each of the 88 exams.

Li Yao arbitrarily swept a glance around before his gaze gathered at a clear diamond crystal at one corner. This blood-red crystal immediately started shaking.

“Freshman Li Yao, are you sure you want to take the exam for ?”

“I’m sure!”

“Crack!”

The blood-red crystal split open into thousands upon thousands of blood colored fragments above his head before they started rotating at a high-speed around him and transformed into a mysterious and wondrous scene.

Li Yao stood in the air. Beneath his foot was an endless abyss. Countless swallows flew amidst the fierce winds, whereas a few transparent phantom flying swallows acted as “stepping stones” as they performed an incredibly ingenious agility technique. Woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh! They gave off a misconception of fairies flying in the wind.

“First of all, please use your thoughts to describe the source and the heritage of the .”

Amidst the wind, a gentle voice floated over.

Li Yao’s spirit was shaken before he began to answer!
TLN:

[1] Fire and Ice here means Fire and Ice Blowjob where two different temperature of liquids are taken in the mouth alternatively to increase sexual pleasure. For more information please refer to Google Guru.

At 5:00 PM, 1,000 meters above from the ground, the sky was covered with red clouds as resplendent lights blazed across the dusk sky.

This place was one of the highest floating mountains in Grand Desolate War Institution and was also a terribly harsh training camp known as—the Hidden Dragon Hall!

Those who accepted the special training here regarded themselves as hidden dragons who would one day soar into the sky and command the wind and clouds.

This was not arrogance but confidence because they were the most outstanding students that could be found in the entire Heaven Origin Sector. They were the best among the millions of teenagers in the federation, and in their eyes, the College Entrance Examination was nothing more than child’s play. For them, they simply felt that it was beneath their dignity to take part in such an examination!

Most of all, the hundreds of students gathered here were all specially recruited students who have shown shocking displays of prowess in the Limit Challenge Competition!

At the edge of the floating mountain was a convex-shaped terrace, upon which stood four charismatic and powerful youths facing the wind who were exuding a radiance that was as sharp as a saber.

Zhao Tianchong was a freshman of the Chaos Edge Hall whose parents were loose cultivators; they were not affiliated with any sect or clan but lived a free life of hunting demon beast in the depths of the Wasteland.

In his infancy, he was on his mother’s back when she hunted and killed demon beasts. While everyone else was sucking milk, he was instead drinking the blood of demons.

At the age of 11, he had personally beheaded a demon beast. Before the age of 19, he was already in the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage, greatly surpassing Fiend Blade Peng Hai’s legacy.

Li Tieshan was a member of the Iron Fist Club who was from the Devil Fist Sect. His father was a Building Foundation Stage cultivator of the Devil Fist Sect who had unfortunately fallen in battle against a beast tide.

He was fostered by many elders of the Devil Fist Sect. Since childhood, he had accepted the harshest of combat training, and although he was half a year younger than Zhao Tianchong, he had also broken through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage.

Glyph Devils’ freshman Gu Feixuan and Lancets’ freshman Wen Ruorong were both from a family of cultivators, with at least one of their parents being a cultivator, thus they inherently possessed a powerful bloodline, and to top it off, since their childhood, they had undergone an incomparably terrifying training. They carried a corona of “genius” for every step they took on the road of their growth!

“Zhao Tianchong, I… lost!”

Lu Tieshan said in a bit raucous tone; his voice, however, secretly harbored a sliver of excitement.

Although he was only 18 years old, he almost seemed to appear as if he was 38 years old. His entire body was like a rock which had been chiseled away by sand and wind for centuries. His pair of fists, in particular, was covered in intricate lines which gave off the appearance that they were covered in a layer of dragon scales.

“The four of us are the strongest freshman of the Hidden Dragon Hall. We have long decided to go head to head to see who is the best, and the result is that the three of us have gained 203 credits while only you have scored 205 credits. Everyone has finished taking the exams for all the courses, and as only a few hours are left until the end of the month, it seems that you are the irrefutable champion of the Newcomer Ranking—you are the strongest freshman of the Grand Desolate War Institution!”

Li Tieshan paused a bit. His eyes radiated with a sharp gleam as he continued, “Brilliant, brilliant, very brilliant! Since childhood, I have grown up in the Devil Fist Sect, and in the sect, it can be said that I had many peers but none who could inspire all my fighting spirit. Often, I would only use 80% of my strength, and that would be enough to completely blast them off. Such a life was really tasteless and too boring! I had never thought that just as I would enter the campus, I will get to taste defeat—this taste is really good!”

Narrowing his eyes and swaying his stout fingers, he stressed each and every word, “Zhao Tianchong, you have completely stimulated my fighting spirit. Next month, I will give it 200% to madly cultivate and become the champion of the next month Newcomer Ranking—it will definitely not be you!”

The target of his words, Zhao Tianchong, who had a tall and thin stature and had a gloomy look, had yet to respond when a teenager next to him, whose face was covered in tattoos, burst into laughter: “Lu Tieshan, you can not forget me and Wen Ruorong. The credits scored by us are no less than yours!”

“Right!”

The only girl among the four people, Wen Ruorong, who was wearing a willow long skirt, slightly smiled. Her voice was very gentle, but when she spoke, her words were as sharp as a lancet: “Ever since I was young, no matter what sort of competition it was, I would always completely suppress my opponents by a large margin. Among my peers, not one person could bear to have 3-5 bouts with me! I had never imagined that today, there would suddenly appear three and one that has even surpassed me! Interesting, it is truly interesting. I am looking forward to the university life more and more!”

Only at this moment, Zhao Tianchong coldly said, “You are all welcome to challenge me anytime, I also want to try… the taste of defeat!”

The four people started at each other before they all smiled at the same time.

They were all cultivation geniuses and were not afraid of competition. What they feared the most was a lack of opponents. The feeling of drawing their swords only to find nothing around them was truly lonely.

Now that so many competitors who were not only rivals but friends as well had appeared all of a sudden, it was truly the best!

“I heard Teacher Ding Lingdang speak of a fellow student named Li Yao among the freshmen whose strength is extremely good and is enough to go head to head with you and I. For a long time, I have been looking forward to it, but who would have thought that after the accident of Refining Department, he would quiet down and now there isn’t even a sound of him.”

Lu Tieshan said with a bit of regret.

A contemptuous smile appeared on Gu Feixuan’s face: “It’s very normal. High school and university are completely different. Many students are outstanding in the high school, but when they enter the university, they will become quiet. It is because their fundamentals are only at the high school level!”

Wen Ruorong also put on a contemptuous look:

“I have also heard of him. Isn’t he the so-called God of Sleeping? In fact, the level of strength is one thing and that of effort is another! I am not discriminating against students who are poor. After all, some people are talented and some are not, but as long as they work hard with all their effort, then it would be enough! But he is doing absolutely nothing! All day, he is passing his time sleeping. This is nothing but escaping reality! Does he think that by sleeping, he will be able to regain the Refining Department? From what I hear, he did his utmost and asked teacher Ding Lingdang to decrease the cut-off marks for him to enter. Teacher Ding Lingdang can be considered as a legendary figure in the Grand Desolate War Institution, so how come she missed it and recruited such a waste who does not have the slightest bit of fighting spirit?”

When the four of them were making frivolous remarks about Li Yao, suddenly, a sharp scream floated over from a terrace not far away from them: “What? I was kicked out of the top 100? Impossible!”

Li Tieshan raised his eyebrow as he said with surprise, “It’s Cao Jiang. Didn’t he just enter the top 100? If I remember correctly, there was quite a big difference between him and the 101st student; it was a difference of 7-8 credits. He had actually been caught up to so quickly? This kid’s luck is truly bad.”

If one could squeeze into the top 100 in the Newcomer Ranking, he would earn various incentives. It was completely different from the 101st place, which was why Cao Jiang let out such a heartbreaking cry.

Lu Tieshan pursed his lips into a smile as he shouted, “Cao Jiang, come here!”

Not long after, a dark-skinned boy with a moderate physique wearing a long face appeared before the four cultivation geniuses.

Until now, Cao Jiang still hadn’t recovered from his surprise. His eyes were completely bloodshot, and he appeared as if could not wait to bite off two credits from anyone.

“Cao Jiang, now do you understand that there are hidden geniuses in this school and experts are like clouds here? There isn’t just us from the Hidden Dragon Hall. Even among the ordinary students, there are many champions of College Entrance Examination. Take Zhang Chuang, the Southern Desert City’s Champion of College Entrance Examination, for example. His strength is almost comparable with the specially recruited students of the Hidden Dragon Hall and gives many of us a run for our money! It is very normal for you to be kicked out of the Newcomer Ranking!”

Lu Tieshan slammed a fist on Cao Jiang’s chest as he laughed and said, “There is no need to get disheartened. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t make it to the ranking. Next month, why don’t you madly train together with me and then go kill like a man?”

At the beginning, Cao Jiang was a little bit depressed, but when heard Lu Tieshan speak, he had pretty much come around and stuck his tongue out: “Madly train with Elder Brother Tie Shan? I don’t want to die!”

Just as these words escaped his mouth, everyone burst into laughter.

Lu Tieshan casually asked, “Right, who was it that squeezed you out of the ranking? Was it a specially recruited student or an ordinary student? If I remember correctly, wasn’t there a pretty wide margin between you and several other students behind you? How come someone suddenly broke out?”

Cao Jiang scratched his head as he said in confusion, “It was not the people behind me who had caught up. It was… Li Yao.”

“Li Yao?”

Lu Tieshan blinked his eyes. This name sounded so familiar. it was still on the tip of his tongue just a moment, but how could that be possible?

“Which Li Yao?”

“Is there anyone else? It is the Refining Department’s only student, the God of Sleeping—Li Yao!”

“What!?”

The complexion on Lu Tieshan, Zhao Tianchon, Gu Feixuan, and Wen Ruorong happened to change at the same time.

Especially Wen Ruorong, her cheeks seemed to be burning.

She started up the crystal processor in a flurry to check the Newcomer Ranking while muttering, “It can’t be, did I blame him unjustly?”

Gu Feixuan said in embarrassment, “It seems Teacher Ding Lingdang’s vision was right. This brat is really something. I know there are some people who don’t like to take the test just after learning the course and like taking all the test together after they have learned all the courses. They believe that they can thoroughly grasp the theories this way. I guess Li Yao is such a person.”

Just as her voice faded away, she noticed Wen Ruorong turn pale as she dumbfoundedly stared at the hologram. Her mouth was puffed up as though two quail eggs had been stuffed in her mouth.

“Isn’t it just the 100th place? Is there any reason for you to be so scared? Although we specially recruited students are relatively stronger, it is necessary for us to give way to ordinary students. We can not occupy all of the top 100 rankings in the Newcomer Ranking, right? Hahahaha!”

Gu Feixuan lightly laughed; not at all had he taken this matter to heart.

“No, it’s not the 100th place,” Wen Ruorong stammered.

“Well?”

“It’s 90—no, it’s 87!”

“This is nothing. After entering the top 100, everyone’s credit is almost the same, so it’s very normal to take over a dozen students after taking a test.”

“But, Li Yao… he, he, he still has 30 exams left!”

“What?” Gu Feixuang screamed at the top of his lungs.

Not long after, screams could be heard coming from every corner of the Hidden Dragon Hall, seeming as if a terrifying plague was spreading.

“What? I have fallen in ranking? Who is so insane to take the exam when the month is soon about to end and also taking so many credits in one deep breath? Li Yao? Li Yao!”

“Dammit, I am kicked out of 70th place!”

“Is there some mistake? Why am I kicked out of 50th place?”

87… 69… 53… 37…

Li Yao was like an extremely accurate clock; every 10 minutes, his credits would change once, and every time the change occurred, he would jump in the Newcomer Ranking by a few positions. Several specially recruited students of the Hidden Dragon Hall were kicked out of their position, hurling them far behind.

After five hours, 10 o’clock at the night.

A deathly silence had taken over Hidden Dragon Hall. Over a hundred specially recruited students had assembled at a large stage at the top of the floating mountain where their eyes were glued at a huge hologram before them.

No one dared to say anything and didn’t even dare to breathe loudly. On the stage which was accommodating over a hundred students, it was so calm that one could even hear their heartbeats.

Everyone’s heart was beating to the extreme.

Because on the glittering Newcomer Ranking, Li Yao’s name, which was like a hot knife cutting through butter, had made its way to the top 10 and appeared just below the name of the four cultivation genius, firmly occupying the fifth position. The remaining “hidden dragons” had been hurled beyond the highest heaven.

Moreover…

“Woosh!”

Li Yao’s name was flashing in madness. After passing another exam, he had amassed 204 credits, leaping over Lu Tieshan’s, Gu Feixuan’s and Wen Ruorong’s head and was just a step away from Zhao Tianchong!

The three cultivation geniuses from cultivators’ families had been directly blown away!

“…” Lu Tieshan was rendered speechless.

“This madman!” Gu Feixuan repeatedly cried.

“This is too abnormal! How does this guy’s brain actually work? I really want to dissect it!” No matter how Wen Ruorong wracked her brain, she could not figure it out.

The other specially recruited students were in an incomparable frenzy. Just after a second, the deathly silence was broken and everyone started seething!

“There is no mistake—this guy is insane! He has actually cleared 87 courses in one day and that too with a passing rate of 100%!”

“Furthermore, he had only taken 10 minutes to clear each exam. It suffices to say that his telepathic thoughts transmission ability is very strong and he has at the very least reached the 2nd level of the Refinement Stage!”

“Isn’t he the God of Sleeping? Not a day goes by that anyone doesn’t find him snoring in the Super Conception Cabin, so how come he is so strong?”

“He had already blown away three of the four experts of our Hidden Dragon Hall. Right now, only Zhao Tianchong alone is left. There is only a difference of one credit between them, and Li Yao is still left with one final exam. Is he… also going to blow away Zhao Tianchong?”

“T-that’s impossible, right? That’s too big of a joke!”

“Woosh woosh woosh woosh!”

Every specially recruited student’s gaze gathered at Zhao Tianchong. They wanted to find some clues from Zhao Tianchong’s expression.

Nevertheless, Zhao Tianchong was still cold, gloomy, taciturn, calm, and collected; he didn’t even bat a lid.

A trickle of cold sweat appeared on his forehead; his heart had instead deeply betrayed him.

While over a hundred “hidden dragon” had been deeply shocked by Li Yao’s spectacular performance, Li Yao, on the other hand, had cold sweat trickling down his forehead and his heart was in a turmoil.

He was in the midst of taking the final exam in the Wasteland Battle Network.

The reason the cold sweat had appeared was definitely not because the exam was highly difficult. On the contrary, it was too simple!

The course he was taking the exam for was called .

It sounded rife with cliches; it was a course that appeared large but impractical. It quite seemed that as long as one shouted a few remarks like “I’m a righteous cultivator and my sword is always ready to be drawn to help when I see injustice during my travels”, “The blood of the strong must flow for the weak”, or “The depraved and the degenerates need to be punished”, anyone could pass.

Furthermore, it was written as such in the textbooks as well.

And even after taking half of the exam, the content was also almost the same. It seemed that it was just sending you free credits.

However, the passing rate of this course was as low as 32%!

“It shouldn’t be like this. If one just has to speak some remarks that are full of heroism, then everyone should be able to pass. No one would not say ‘If I saw some injustice during my travels, my sword is ready to be drawn to help the weak’, right? Why is the passing rate only 32%?”

On one side, Li Yao was answering, while on the other, he was quickly thinking.

Fortunately, there was a lot of time left, thus he could slowly ponder and answer.

The one who was presiding over the exam was a middle-aged, awe-inspiring, righteous cultivator who had straight eyebrows which were slanting upwards and outwards and eyes which were bright and shining like stars. He was the very construct which had been generated from numerous telepathic thoughts and appeared to be the epitome of a standard chivalrous heroic figure. He especially appeared warmhearted and considerate, like the ones who would behead three to five villainous degenerates before going to bed every night.

He seemed to be extremely satisfied with Li Yao’s previous answer. He nodded and concluded, “Good, good, your answers are very good. So the righteous people must eradicate the bullies and assist the weak, and safeguard justice because we are chivalrous. We have righteous ardor, right?”

Li Yao was just about to nod before his heart suddenly started pounding. He unwittingly replied, “This is only one reason!”

“Oh?”

The “chivalrous hero” was exceptionally surprised: “What’s the other?”

“The reason we must eliminate the bullies and help the downtrodden, protect justice, and even pay for it with our lives… it all because—upholding justice is beneficial to us!”

Li Yao sorted out his thoughts as he quickly answered.

“What are the benefits?” the chivalrous hero’s eyes shone with a bright gleam as he asked back.

“What is justice? In my opinion, justice is social order, it is civilized law! We cultivators are vested beneficiaries in the existing social order. We enjoy the greatest benefits which this order brings us, so of course, we have to safeguard it!”

“Vested beneficiaries? Please explain!”

The smile on the chivalrous hero’s face vanished as an expressionless look appeared on his face. It seemed that he was a bit dissatisfied by Li Yao because he was talking about interest instead of talking about right or wrong.

As the words had already left Li Yao’s mouth, it was just like an arrow which had been fitted on a bow-string and had to be released. He could only bite the bullet and speak:

“In the current social order of the Star Glory Federation, we, the cultivators, are the elites among all trades and professions. Whether it is reputation, status, or income, it is higher than ordinary citizens. Not to mention that ordinary citizens respect us from the bottom of their heart, and they too desire to become cultivators. Through the ages, this is the most suitable set of social order for cultivators. No matter who wants to break this social order, we can not allow him to succeed. Furthermore, he must be treated as a degenerate and a devil cultivator who has to be beheaded—this is justice!”

“In the ancient cultivation world of forty millenniums ago, we similarly had the same lofty status and we were respected. But still, not many ancient cultivators had a strong sense of justice, nor did they make sacrifices for the weak!” The chivalrous hero coldly smiled.

“Wrong. Ordinary people in the ancient cultivation world simply feared us. They didn’t have the slightest bit of respect, not to mention the cultivators from the ancient cultivation world didn’t live as comfortably as we modern cultivators do!”

Li Yao mustered up his courage and loudly said, “Take me for example. I am only a low-level Refinement Stage cultivator who had just entered the cultivation world. If I was in the ancient era, I would be treated like a slave who was at the beck and call of some high-level cultivator. And once I rose to prominence or found some heaven and earth treasure, I must put up my guard against others who would be coming to kill me or seize the treasure. Furthermore, I would have to scheme against my peers. It was a time when each and every one thought of stepping on someone else’s head to climb, and it was a time when everyone was willing to stab you in the back as many times as they could. Every day, you would be in a state of anxiety, during which you would not have any appetite, be unable to sleep soundly, and can’t even leisurely take a dump. How could anyone cultivate the truth?”

“The modern era, on the other hand, is different. Civilization has progressed now. An insignificant Refinement Stage cultivator like myself can freely and happily research the profound mysteries of truth and find my great dao in the highest institute of the country. Even if I found some profound and peerless technique or some heaven and earth treasure, no one would dare to blatantly kill me to seize the treasure. Whoever dared to try would become the enemy of the entire federation!”

“In this kind of environment, I can boldly cultivate at ease, due to which the efficiency is as much as a hundredfold higher compared to the ancient era! For sure, it would be a lot better if I become a high-level cultivator in the end, and even if not, even if I remain in the Refinement Stage for my entire life, it would still alright. After I am out in society, like before, I can still find a decent job and live a happy and satisfactory life.”

“Now, tell me. Isn’t a social order which can allow me to live freely and happily worthy for me to defend?”

The chivalrous hero maintained his composure: “You are right. However, we can still divide society into two parts. Among the cultivator, we can talk about morality, laws, and justice, whereas for the ant-like ordinary people, we can squeeze them dry like slaves, force them to collect resources, gather wealth, and use them as much as we can to our satisfaction. This kind of social order can similarly allow us to live comfortably and we wouldn’t need to bear the slightest bit of responsibility, wouldn’t this be much better?”

“Nope, it is not good at all. Not to mention, slavery and the feudal system is inefficient. It is not suitable for the advanced cultivation civilization. And most of all, we also have one huge competitor—the devil cultivators! If ordinary people are really desperate, they really don’t need to rely on cultivators and could just use blood sacrifice to entice heavenly devils to come, whereupon hundreds of thousands of residents of an entire town would be demonized one by one. Not to mention a few cultivators, even if it was an entire cultivation sect, they can engulf everyone to the point that not even a slag is left!”

“Hei hei, hei hei hei hei!”

Having heard his reply, the chivalrous hero suddenly burst into a sinister laughter.

With a flash, the bright and shining atmosphere turned into a gloomy and terrifying cave, while the chivalrous hero also transformed into an evil figure whose hair was hanging loose and had skulls hanging around his neck.

“If it is like this, then we should simply shed all pretenses of cordiality and become devil cultivators one after another! The more devil cultivators there are, the better it is. We can do anything we wish, take anything we want, and live a free and unfettered life to the extreme!”

Li Yao blinked his eyes and said, “Can a shop which had been selling bread for a few decades suddenly start selling pasta and compete with a nearby shop who has been selling pasta since the ancestral generation?”

The chivalrous hero was surprised for a moment. He was a construct which had been created from telepathic thoughts of countless experts and was unable to respond to such a strange question. He asked dully, “What?”

Li Yao explained:

“It is not impossible for us cultivators to turn into devil cultivators; however, the opposite side has been cultivating devil’s path for a few dozen millenniums and have already accumulated a wealth of experience. Whereas, we are just beginners who are cultivating devil’s path for the first time, so how could we compete with the other side?”

“We are like the shop which has been selling bread for a few decades who, upon noticing that the pasta shop next to us is flourishing, switched to selling pasta. How could we compete with them? Not to mention, the pasta shop is not necessarily flourishing! After all, in the 3,000 boundless universes, cultivators are still in the main trend, whereas devil cultivators are nothing but stray dogs!”

The chivalrous hero remained silent for a moment:

“You mean to say, we set out to be tigers but end up as dogs. If we cultivators turn into devil cultivators, we will be worse than devil cultivators, will simply be unable to compete with authentic devil cultivators, and can only become the lowest of rungs in the devil world?”

“That’s for sure. Take you for example:/— do you think that having messy hair and a few skulls hanging around your neck and switching off the lights will make you a devil cultivator? How can it be so simple?! Devil cultivators are the ones who tempt ordinary people. How can you even tempt anyone with that ghastly appearance of yours!?”

Li Yao looked up and down at the chivalrous hero before he shook his head again and again: “It is only us cultivators who call evil and depraved cultivators as devil cultivators. They will definitely not call themselves as ‘devils’. I have heard that some devil cultivators even call themselves ‘immortal cultivators’ and say that they walk on the road of true immortality. Even if they have tenebrum energy around them or have some ugly and hideous appearance because of cultivating evil techniques, in front of ordinary people, they would transform themselves into charismatic and robust figures and would take the shape where a halo is overflowing from them. Only this way will it be significantly handier to entice ordinary people!”

The chivalrous hero turned silent.

In the depths of the dark cave, a swaying candle light drew very, very long shadows of the two.

“Bang Bang!” Li Yao’s heart kept on pounding.

His answer from a moment ago was just a reactionary remark; he was just playing by the ear. When he recalled, he discovered that there were a lot of oversights.

If the invigilator was hell-bent on finding faults, then he would definitely be unable to do anything.

After a moment, a transformation once again took place in the environment around the two, returning the two once again to the previous summit of the hill where there was a gentle breeze, a blue sky, and fresh air. The chivalrous hero also reverted back into his awe-inspiring, righteous appearance.

“Congratulation, Student Li Yao. The course, you… pass! You got three credits!”

Li Yao’s heartbeat slowed down in a moment. He was wild with joy to the point that he could run three laps around the chivalrous hero. He unwittingly blurted out, “H-have I truly passed? Were my answers correct?”

The chivalrous hero shook his head with a smile:

“No, everyone’s understanding of the word ‘chivalry’ is different. The laws of the cultivation civilization are profound and abstruse, so how can there be any correct answer?”

“No doubt there were some bright points in your claims, while some are just lame arguments and perverted logic.”

“However, this course is not about some correct answer. Rather, it is to see your own understanding of the word ‘chivalry’. As long as it is not a verbatim of textbooks or some big and empty words, as long as they are substantive and constructive words, then you pass.”

“Unfortunately, too many students only know the dogma of the books and spoke of some nonsense like ‘I have a strong sense of justice and our generation’s duty is to help the weak’. In that case, it is better to fail them.”

“As for the true understanding of the word ‘chivalry’, how can you and I explain it clearly in a word or two? Fortunately, you have a lifetime to find its meaning. I hope that someday, you can find your own answer!”

“Good luck, Student Li Yao!”

The illusionary realm suddenly broke into fragments, whereupon Li Yao returned to the main world of the Wasteland Battle Network.

Three pieces of glittering diamond crystals whizzed over from the sky and quickly submerged into his body.

A clear and melodious female voice rang in his mind:

“Student Li Yao, you have passed the exam and have obtained three credits. Your cumulative credits are 207. In the Newcomer Ranking, you are ranked… first!”

The very instant the three light-gold, diamond-shaped crystal submerged into Li Yao’s body, a change also took place in the huge holographic image on the topmost floor of the Hidden Dragon Hall.

Li Yao’s name, which was shining brightly and overflowing with resplendent colors, after slightly shaking for a moment, jumped up with an unstoppable momentum and pushed Zhao Tianchong’s name underneath it

An exclamation of surprise burst forth in the Hidden Dragon Hall, whereupon it fell into a complete silence.

Over a hundred specially recruited students stared at each other, not knowing how to speak under such a perplexing and complicated mood.

Meanwhile, Zhao Tianchong kept on staring at Li Yao’s name for a very long time; his scorching gaze seemed to have some kind of essence, seemingly as if it was a pair of swords which could pierce two transparent holes into the holographic screen.

After half minute, a trickle of cold sweat finally rolled down his forehead to his chin, and his tight facial muscles finally relaxed as the sharp look in his eyes changed to a burning look.

It was the kind of fiery look one would have when he encountered a pretty good opponent in a game of chess.

“In fact…”

Gu Feixuan was stunned for a long time before he reluctantly said, “There is still 4-5 hours left until the end of this month. Zhao Tianchong, even though it might take you two hours to thoroughly read a textbook, you should pick seven or eight theory courses and use the next two hour to take the exams. Afterwards, you can leave everything to luck. Maybe you will luck out on one or two courses, in which case this brat would not be first in the Newcomer Ranking!”

Zhao Tianchong had now completely restored to a calm demeanor, and the look in his eyes was neither sharp nor as fiery as before; it was a kind of indifferent look. All his emotions had been sealed in the depths of his light-gray eyes.

He calmly said, “Maybe it will be possible, but is it necessary?”

Gu Feixuan was stupefied: “What do you mean? That’s the first position in the Newcomer Ranking!”

Zhao Tianchong unenthusiastically smiled:

“For the very first month, the first position in the Newcomer Ranking only means that Li Yao is comparatively good at learning theoretical knowledge. I grew up in the Wasteland, so I paid more attention to combat rather than theory!”

“What’s the point of competing to the end in basic theory courses?”

“There is a lot of time ahead of us. When we enter a real combat ring, then the amount of credits I will have will be so much that they will absolutely steamroll him. I will definitely suppress him!”

Gu Feixuan stared blankly for a long time before an itching-to-give-it-a-try look emerged in his eyes as he nodded and said:

“You are right. There’s still a very long university life ahead of us, and what’s most important is the combat ring. No matter how good he is at learning theory, he is nothing more than a nerd.”

“I am afraid his fighting skills are just as good as his theory. Are you forgetting that he had blown away a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator right when he had just awakened his spirit root?!”

Lu Tieshan pursed his lips into a smile as he gently rubbed his fists while looking at Li Yao’s name: “Teacher Ding Lingdang indeed has a pretty good eye for people. Fellow Student Li Yao is truly one terrifying monster—he is a worthy rival for me to set my entire fighting spirit ablaze!”

“I truly want to dissect this monster’s brain…” Wen Ruorong faintly sighed and said.

…

Li Yao, who was still immersed in the Wasteland Battle Network, was totally oblivious to the fact that the four strongest freshmen of the Hidden Dragon Hall were already treating him as their rival.

Along with the toll of the 24 o’clock bell, he stood at the first position of the Newcomer Ranking, whereupon a thousand glittering diamond crystals, like rain, poured down from the sky and whizzed into his body.

His cumulative credits had now reached 1,207. Although there was still a long way from 40,000 credits, when all is said and done, he had taken the first solid step.

“Bang!”

A sound which was akin to the glass shattering into pieces rang in his ear, following which the Wasteland Battle Network became even clearer as seven or eight translucent regions emerged around him; namely, they were the mission area, trading zone, arena, professional course area, and the open trading zone!

From this moment on, just like the senior students, he could freely choose difficult professional courses, complete various kinds of missions, and even go to the arena to compete with numerous powerhouses. There were now various kinds of ways available for him to madly sweep through the credits!

Seeing all this, Li Yao’s eyes were dazzled, and he didn’t know from where to start. Licking his lips, just as he was about to take an in-depth look, a message suddenly popped out from the corner of the battle network.

“Teacher has returned? And she also bought a small-scale, second-hand crafting furnace?”

Li Yao was wild with joy. He immediately logged out of the Wasteland Battle Network as he bolted towards a huge edifice at the other end of the ruins right away.

The edifice had hundreds of years of history; it used to be a warehouse for storing dangerous goods, so it was built particularly sturdy. It had a double wall structure, in between which reinforced defensive array glyphs had also been engraved.

Even when the floating mountain had collapsed, it did not shake even the slightest bit.

Li Yao and Yuan Manqiu had long discussed that this huge warehouse would be renovated to the central most important building of the Refining Department—the refining room!

At the center of this empty warehouse stood a towering 3 meter high small-scale crafting furnace. Although it was an antique refining equipment from over a century ago and although its pitch-black appearance was not particularly attractive, at any rate, it could still refine some of the most common magical equipment.

Lying next to the crafting furnace were two lazy Soaring Roars.

Yuan Manqiu was radiating with happiness as she ordered the workers to unload a dozen huge wooden crates before she untied their constraints, whereupon tens of thousands of magical equipment components poured down onto the floor.

These components were all fittings of the crafting furnace. At the moment, the crafting furnace was nothing more than an iron shell. For it to function normally, it had to first be completely assembled before a huge amount of crystals can be used to activate its array glyphs.

“Old Jiang, I have to really thank you. Your Mountain Sea Sect has truly solved my pressing needs by selling this crafting furnace at such a low price!”

Yuan Manqiu expressed her gratitude to a handsome middle-aged refiner via the spiritual crane messenger.

His name was Jiang Wenbo and he was the logistics supervisor of the Mountain Sea Sect as well as a refiner of the grassroots faction.

Just because they were both from the same faction, he had offered a second-hand crafting furnace to the Grand Desolate War Institution at a bargain price.

Jiang Wenbo broke into laughter and said:

“Big Sis, don’t mention it. This crafting furnace has already been in use for 150 years, so not only have the components deformed from age, but its technology can also not keep up with modern technology and is unable to refine the latest powerful equipment. We have already stopped using it for a long time. So if it can help you even a little bit, then it couldn’t be any better!”

As Li Yao stepped into the warehouse, he was deeply attracted by the shadow of the crafting furnace.

Although it was just an empty shell and all its components were lying here and there, Li Yao’s heart started racing when he thought of the countless peerless equipment he would be able to refine in this guy’s stomach. He could not wait to give it a hug.

“This is a 1st generation Tai’e crafting furnace. Although it is over a century old and its performance parameters are relatively low, it is fairly well-maintained and can be used for low-intensity operations without a hitch, which is enough for a beginner like you to refine some of the most common magical equipment!”

Yuan Manqiu enthusiastically said. When she saw the radiating gaze of her disciple and his itching-to-give-it-a-try look, she smiled and knocked on Li Yao’s head.

“However, if you want to use this crafting furnace, it is not that simple! At the very least, you have to first learn the basics!”

“You can’t run before you learn how to walk; otherwise, you will run your head against a wall!”

“From what I hear, you have gotten yourself the moniker ‘God of Sleeping’ in the institute, what is this about? Didn’t I explain the basic theory courses to you? Why didn’t you concentrate on your studies? How many courses did you pass? Five? Ten?”

Yuan Manqiu was tired and exhausted from the trip and all her heart was on the crafting furnace, so she didn’t care to check the Newcomer Ranking.

Li Yao swallowed a mouthful of saliva and his gaze never left the crafting furnace as he casually replied, “I scored 207 points.”

Yuan Manqiu was stupefied. Her face, which had a completely grim look, bloomed as she vigorously patted Li Yao’s shoulder.

“Good, good! The entire institute has tens of thousands of freshmen, yet you have unexpectedly jumped to the 207th position. This is very good. It seems I have underestimated you. I must revise your learning program!”

“Uh, teacher, I’m not in the 207th position. I have earned 207 credits. I am first in the Newcomer Ranking.” Li Yao was a bit embarrassed.

“En, good, good… what? What did you say!? You have earned 207 credits? First in the Newcomer Ranking?”

Yuan Manqiu was flabbergasted. Her entire face was like fermenting bread which kept on growing bigger and bigger. She was stunned for a good while before she started up the crystal processor and swept a glance in a flurry.

When she discovered that Li Yao had actually passed 88 courses in one go, including all the basic refining theory courses, she uttered a cry which was even louder and piercing than that of a shrill scream.

“Humm!”

“Humm!”

The two Soaring Roars had been so much scared by her that they were trembling, and the workers on the back of the Soaring Roars, even more so, had been scared to death, causing even a fair share of them to almost fall off. In a hurry, they had grabbed hold of the long hair of the Soaring Roars and were swinging to and fro.

Yuan Manqiu, without even paying attention to these, started running at once.

Seeing this, Li Yao was dumbfounded: “Teacher, where are you going?”

Yuan Manqiu was flushed red to her ears. It seemed as if she was heavily drunk and was dancing with joy as she spoke incoherently:

“I, I am going to look for the Dean! With your achievement, the dean will have to throw us 10% more resources! I will also go find the faculties of the other departments so that they would release some tasks related to refining! There is hope, there is hope for the Refining Department! Yes—!”

When she had run for a couple dozen meters, she came running back with a gust of wind:

“This is the blueprint and the assembling procedure for the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace. First, learn these. The outer ring components are relatively simple, so you can try assembling them. If you don’t understand something, just wait till I return. I will teach you then.”

Having stuffed a jade chip in Li Yao’s arm, Yuan Manqiu, like a sandstorm, ran out of the warehouse and jumped onto a dilapidated flying shuttle before she drove it towards the administrative district.

It was still quite early before dawn and the dean was most definitely asleep in his house; however, how could Yuan Manqiu, with her temper, give much attention to such things? She could not wait to place a voice amplifying glyph in the administrative district and roar:

“My student is first in the entire institute!”

After 10 minutes, the overloaded flying shuttle appeared in the sky over the administrative district accompanied by “creak creak” sounds.

Yuan Manqiu aligned the flying shuttle at the living cottage of Dean Xiong Baili, and just as she was about to go down, her crystal processor started shaking.

The Mountain Sea Sect’s logistic supervisor, Jiang Wenbo, had sent her a spiritual crane message, asking for a video chat.

“Big Sis, this is truly embarrassing. I have made a mistake. The jade chip I gave you doesn’t include the blueprints of the 1st Generation ‘Tai’e’ crafting furnace.”

On one side, Jiang Wenbo bitterly smiled, while on the other, explained.

The 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace was truly an antique and its blueprint had long been thrown to god knows where.

Jiang Wenbo had sent a message to the “Empyrean Terminus Sect”, which was the original manufacturer of the 1st Generation Tai’e crafting furnace, and asked them to send the blueprint.

This model of crafting furnace had been discontinued for over a century already, so after looking for a long time, the disciple of the Empyrean Terminus Sect had inadvertently sent the blueprints and assembling manual of the “2nd Generation Tai’e” crafting furnace.

Although these two model had the same root and 90% of their components could be used in both cases, some of the core components were completely different and their assembling procedure was also quite different.

The Empyrean Terminus Sect’s disciple, after having discovered this problem, immediately notified Jiang Wenbo who then contacted Yuan Manqiu.

“It’s alright, I have still yet to start assembling it. I am letting my disciple study it a bit first. By my estimate, with his strength, it will take him a day and a night for him to be finished with the outer components. It is impossible for him to touch the core components!”

Yuan Manqiu jovially laughed and did not place this matter in her heart at all. Aiming at Dean Xiong Baili’s villa, she fiercely plunged down.

“Dean, quickly wake up! I have good news, I have very good news!”

TLN:

Hi guys,

I just came across an information as I was translating this chapter. I was looking to find some alternate for the name when I came across it. Although it is completely unrelated, this shed some light on where the name of the furnace comes from.

This is a information I got from wiki:-

Ou Yezi was a legendary master of sword-making in the Spring and Autumn period. According to Yuejueshu, he forged five treasured swords for Gan Jiang and King Zhao of Chu, named, respectively, Zhanlu (湛卢), Juque (巨阙), Shengxie (胜邪), Yuchang (鱼肠) and Chunjun (纯钧). He also made three swords for King Goujian of Yue, named Longyuan (龙渊), Tai’e (泰阿) and Gongbu (工布).

So Tai’e names is derived from here. That’s my take.

“Thanks for your hard work everyone, I will take it from here. You can go back early and rest!”

After sending the porters away, Li Yao prepared common assembling tools and also brought a vat of ice cold water and an ice maker.

An ice maker was an equipment which bore mini freezing array glyphs inside, which could continue to provide ice cubes in a steady stream as long as it was connected to a water pipe.

“Splash…”

Li Yao plunged his head into the water bucket which had ice cubes floating inside, whereupon the ice cold water completely cooled down his burning hot brain.

Following that, he first took a look at the yellow jade chip with a gaze that was much like that of a little boy who had found his favorite toy. Then, he affectionately stared at the 1st Generation Tai’e furnace.

In his eyes, the pitch-black furnace had turned into a charming and elegant, young girl who had lowered her head as a shy look completely covered her face.

One which made him so horny that his blood vessels expanded energetically. He could not wait to immediately push “her” down and savor “her” most secretive and charming places to his heart’s content.

Li Yao’s heart was astir; he was truly unable to withhold the agitation and excitement in his heart.

Ever since childhood, he had only repaired magical equipment which had been crafted by others. No matter how quick and nimble his hands were, he was just dancing on the floors that were set by others.

But now that he had this crafting furnace, even though it was second-hand, even if its performance was far from the current era’s, even if a majority of its core components were worn out…

At least he could craft magical equipment in accordance with his own will!

“After painstakingly studying the basic theories of all three schools for half a year, whether it is the grassroots faction, the elite faction, or the classical school from forty millenniums ago, I have them deeply engraved in my brain.”

“The , all the more so, had been tossed and turned by me to the point that I have thoroughly memorized it. The crafting procedures of every ancient sword are known to me by heart!”

“Although these ancient swords’ performance is far below that of today’s, many of the refining principles used are very common. I can collect the blueprints and refining procedures of some of the modern flying swords and refine a unique flying sword—my very own flying sword by combining the two!”

“But first of all, I must assemble this furnace. Only with a powerful crafting furnace will I be able to craft a matchless magical equipment!”

Holding the ice-cold water in his hands, Li Yao washed his face. He still felt that it was not enough to satisfy him, so he simply grabbed two ice cubes and stuffed them into his mouth, making “crunch crunch” noises as he chewed them into pieces.

Afterward, he inserted the jade chip into the mini crystal processor.

His mini crystal processor was connected with the huge crystal processor that was about a kilometer away via telepathic thoughts transmissions. Its computing power was far more than any ordinary, mini crystal processor, ranging to a couple dozen times.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”

Like exploding stars, over a hundred translucent golden blueprints appeared above his head in the blink of an eye before gradually starting to revolve around him.

And as his gaze focused on a blueprint, the blueprint continued to enlarge as it turned into a 3-dimensional blueprint.

Everything was down to the minute details, and even the component’s length, width, height, and the material’s tensile strength were marked clearly. The amount of information contained was as vast as the sea; it simply could not be measured.

“Such a huge amount of telepathic thoughts! Each blueprint contains tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of thoughts. If I had not painstakingly studied in the Heavenly Refining Tower for so long, let alone assembling it, I’m afraid I would feel dizzy just by taking a glance at it. I would be unable to stand!”

Li Yao had never imagined that an antique furnace from a century ago would have such an intrinsic structure. Li Yao exclaimed to his heart’s content before he started studying with all his concentration.

“Lub dub… lub dub… lub… dub…”

Along with the passage of each minute and second, his pupils suddenly started shaking slightly as they expanded towards the outside bit by bit while his heartbeat became slower and slower.

No, it was not his heartbeat that was getting slower; on the contrary, his brain cell activity was constantly increasing and his thought process was getting sharper and sharper. Meanwhile, the pulse of various organs in his body could not keep up with his thoughts!

“I’ve entered the super perceptive state!” The corners of Li Yao’s eyes twitched.

These were the after effects of using the Super Perception Cabin so frequently and for extended periods of time.

The Super Perception Cabin seemed to be an extremely wonderful magical equipment, but soon after it was created, they found out that it had serious flaws and out-and-out had little value.

As far as Refinement Stage and Building Foundation Stage cultivators were concerned, their soul wasn’t strong enough, so they were unable to enter the super perceptive state where their brain cell activity was 300% for a long period of time. At most, they could stay for half an hour before they had Qigong deviation.

And as far as Golden Core Stage powerhouses and Nascent Soul Stage old monsters were concerned, their brain had already reached the point where everything followed according to their single thought. They had hundreds of mystical abilities through which they could stimulate their brain to secrete hormones and enter the “super perceptive state” at any time, so why would they ever need to use some Super Perception Cabin!?

Therefore, after a couple thousand of this magical equipment, which had little value, had been manufactured, they had been completely forsaken. Only at the most prestigious universities in the country, like the Grand Desolate War Institution, could these equipment be found. As for ordinary cultivation sects, they had already stopped using it.

Even at the Grand Desolate War Institution, ordinary students would occasionally use it for half an hour.

Never had there been someone like Li Yao who would use it for a dozen hours.

Therefore, nobody, not even the sect that had created the Super Perception Cabin, had imagined that using the Super Perception Cabin for a long time would actually bring about such strange after effects.

Li Yao had inadvertently discovered that in his day-to-day life, as long as he particularly concentrated and completely immersed himself in something for more than 10 minutes, his brain cell activity would unwittingly increase. In other words, even without the help of the Super Perception Cabin, he could still enter the “super perceptive state”!

However, this was not necessarily a good thing.

In his day-to-day life, it was impossible for him to seek refuge in the depths of Ou Yezi’s memories all the time. He needed to resist the various side effects of the super perceptive state on his own.

This kind of feeling where he felt that someone was prying open the top of his head and pouring scalding hot oil into it was no joke.

And even more so, under the super perceptive state, only his brain cell had been over activated. Meanwhile, there were no changes to his body, which gave birth to a serious dissonance between his brain and his body.

The brain was issuing instructions like crazy, but his body was too lazy to keep up with them; his nerve endings were completely ignoring his brain’s thunderous shouts.

For several days, he would stumble on the road. He was living the life of a child who was crippled.

After adapting for half a month, he could barely control himself so that he won’t enter the super perception state easily.

Even if he inadvertently activated the super perceptive state, he could only maintain 150% brain cell activity

And even so, he could only hold on for five minutes, after which he would have to forcibly terminate this state.

And afterward, he would have to take rest for at least three hours. Only after letting his brain “cool down” for a long time could he once again enter the super perceptive state.

And once he let things take their own course and let his brain cell activity explode to its limit, 331%, perhaps he could not even hold on for a minute.

“Whatever. Since I have entered the super perceptive state, I should take advantage of these five minutes to see everything clearly!”

Li Yao rubbed two ice cubes on his temple, and as he lightly rubbed, the burning sensation in his brain subsided a little.

One by one, a starry brilliance shone in the depths of his eyes.

Each starry brilliance represented the panoramic view of a blueprint.

Because his brain cells were overactive, without him knowing, his face was as if he was burning with a fever and was blood-red.

The two hard ice cubes quickly melted away. Meanwhile, the ice water had yet to roll down from his cheeks before it evaporated, producing a light-gray steam around his head.

After five minutes.

“Dammit, I have reached the limit!”

Li Yao’s entire face was convulsing as he jumped to the water vat nearby with a growl and ruthlessly plunged his head into it.

“Hisss—”

It made an ear-piercing whizz, one that was as if a piece of burning red coal had been thrown into a water bucket. A large number of the ice cubes that were floating in the water melted away, giving rise to a large amount of steam.

Using the biting cold from the ice cold water, Li Yao forcibly terminated the super perceptive state.

“This is too exciting!”

“Super perception state of 150% brain cell activity is truly exciting!”

“It seems that I have to continuously train with madness. If I am able to someday stimulate the brain cell activity to 331%—the limit of super perception state—at any time, then even if it is just for 3-5 minutes, wouldn’t that mean I can go head-to-head with Golden Core Stage powerhouses and Nascent Soul Stage old monsters?”

Chewing the ice cubes, Li Yao let loose his imagination.

“There is still a long way to go. Anyway, the most important part is to first assemble this furnace so that I can craft some peerless equipment and sell them for as many credits as possible and collect 40,000 credits as soon as possible!”

Having remained in the super perception state for five minutes, Li Yao had a complete panoramic view of all the blueprints and assembling procedures.

As he narrowed his eyes a bit, his computation ability soared to the limit!

No doubt, this was the moment of truth for the results of painstakingly studying in the Heavenly Refining Tower for half a year. Li Yao’s eyes frantically started rotating.

In the depths of his brain, over a hundred 3-dimensional blueprints collided with each other; it was as if over a hundred glass houses collided with each other and smashed into pieces before they once again formed a new and towering building of crystal!

The structure and the assembling process of the 1st generation Tai’e crafting furnace had been completely grasped by Li Yao!

“Let’s start!”

Li Yao’s eyes flickered with a sharp gleam as he exerted strength into both his legs, causing his calf to swell to double its original size. In an instant, he leaped into the air, rotated, and ruthlessly smashed into the grounds. Meanwhile, as though they were scimitars, the thumbs from both his hands had been drawn out.

Relying on his two thumbs, he firmly stood upside down.

“Snap!”

With the flip of his two thumbs, he, while “upside down”, leaped into the air before he once again landed on the ground; however, this time, his body was supported by his index fingers.

Next, it was the middle fingers, the ring fingers, and finally the little fingers.

“Warm up is finished!”

In this way, he could stimulate the potential of his 10 fingers in the shortest amount of time. This was the most secretive technique among the , which was used by ancient thieves to train their fingers.

“Snap, snap, snap snap!”

Li Yao freely moved his 10 fingers a bit. His ten fingers seemed to have no bones; sometimes his fingers were as short as though they had only one phalange, while other times, they would fiercely shoot out like knives and emit grating howls as they pierced through the wind.

“Let’s see… which unit is it gonna be?”

Each stack of magical equipment components represented a complete unit. When each and every unit had been completely assembled and connected to the furnace with the crystal tubes, then the assembling would be completely finished.

With a flash, Li Yao appeared in the front of a heap of components on the west side.

These components could be assembled into a high-temperature heater which had flame array glyphs engraved inside. Through this unit, the furnace could be heated to 3000 degrees in the blink of an eye, which was enough to melt and refine a vast majority of heaven and earth treasures.

“Let’s start with you!”

The outer ring of Li Yao’s pupil seemed to be surrounded by a golden ring; it was the ring which was created when over a hundred star-like blueprints gathered together in the depths of his eyes. In the blink of an eye, both his hands turned almost invisible as two groups of ash-gray fog appeared, enveloping thousands of magical equipment components.

TLN:

Sorry for the unexpected delay, I was out for a checkup, which resulted in delayed translation and hence delayed editing. Sorry about that, another chapter will be added along with monday’s chapter. Thank you for your patience.

“Crack Crack!”

Over this past month, Li Yao had been unearthing the treasures buried in the rubble with fanaticism. His maintenance ability was way stronger than that of the past when he was in the magical equipment graveyard, and his hand speed for doing high-intensity maintenance work had also soared to an inconceivable level!

Not to mention the fact that he was now a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator, so in addition to his hands, there were also ten spirit threads which he could mobilize as he wished with a moment’s thought.

“Whoosh!”

Ten spirit threads stretched out from his forehead and spread to each and every direction, each of which wrapped around a rivet respectively and hurled them into the storm set off by his hands.

Generally, a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator was still a low-level cultivator, thus the strength of his spirit threads was very low and they were unable to move objects.

However, as Li Yao had been constantly training his spirit threads with the Black Wing Sword’s, they had become longer, thicker, and sturdier.

Although they were still unable to do heavy lifting, moving some small components and rivets was quite easy.

Not to mention that apart from him, he also had the help of the Black Wing Sword, this monstrous magical equipment!

“Little Black, find me a few No.7 rivets please!”

On one side, Li Yao was assembling, while on the other, he was shouting.

Following that, ten black spirit threads charged out from the Black Wing Sword, who was hovering in the air. The spirit threads were like dancing tentacles which plunged into the messy stack of components at a lightning fast speed and accurately found the components Li Yao required.

If there was an ordinary person standing next to them watching with his naked eyes at this moment, he would see a dream-like scene—both of Li Yao’s hands had turned into two tornadoes as many small components were as though they were being sucked in by some magic, causing them to make a headlong rush into the storm!

After half an hour—

“It’s done!”

The scattered magical equipment components on the ground had disappeared, and what replaced them was an octagonal, diamond-shaped unit. Li Yao’s eyes seemed to radiate with a hungry look, radiating an enchanting gleam.

Li Yao had no time to appreciate, as his pair of hands were bright red as blood; it was as though he had just finished tempering them in flames.

He immediately plunged his hands into the vat of water.

“Hiss—”

Steam immediately rose from the ice-cold water.

Li Yao felt that even his bone marrow was burning and not even the ice cold water was able to quell its burning. Having added a crystal into the ice maker and activated the freezing array glyphs to the limit, he stuffed both his hands inside.

“Humm…”

The ice maker started shaking madly. Very quickly, a layer of frost condensed on Li Yao’s hands, which was then immediately melted by the heat rising from the depths of his hand.

Only after repeatedly condensing and melting again and again for 4-5 times did Li Yao finally heave a long sigh of relief.

Despite his body being extremely exhausted, especially his hands, which had reached the point where each and every strand of muscle was torn…

His soul was excited to the limit and it seemed as if True Samadhi Fire was about to shoot out from his eyes!

“Next is… the cooler!”

In the refining process, many magical equipment required the temperature to be dropped from thousands of degrees to zero in the blink of an eye so that it could make the internal constituents crystallize and allow the equipment to withstand the powerful impact of the array glyphs.

Therefore, the cooler was also crucial and it very well defined the quality of a crafting furnace.

Gathering all ten fingers together, Li Yao brought them to his mouth and blew air upon them before he began the second round of crazy assembling!

For the next four hours, Li Yao didn’t take a break for even a second and had even evaporated two tanks of ice-cold water for cooling.

Before the advent of dawn, he had finally completed all the assembling of the eight units!

The heater, cooler, compressor, anti-gravity unit, lightning unit… Eight units, like stars surrounding the moon, fanned out around the furnace.

Li Yao’s pair of eyes had turned crimson as blood tears were quickly flowing out from the corners of his eyes.

Li Yao, however, was completely oblivious to it. Scooping out ice-cold water, he poured it on his head.

“Calm down, I have to calm down. I am only finished with the eight units. What comes next is the crucial most part. I have to use the core components to connect these eight units and integrate them with the main furnace!”

“This is the most important step. Whether the furnace can unleash 100% of its ability depends on this step!”

Li Yao took a long, deep breath as he scooped out a couple dozen ice cubes using the ladle and poured it over his head while he began analyzing the core components.

“What?”

Li Yao blinked his eyes as a sliver of a perplexed look appeared in the depth of his eyes.

“There is something wrong here! Why are these core components inconsistent with that in the blueprints?”

Still believing it to be his mistake, Li Yao placed all the core components separately and once again carefully examined the blueprints. Even after looking for a long while, he was still confused.

“Clearly, the components marked in the blueprint are more advanced and more sophisticated.”

“And the components before me are comparatively crude and backward. Although they both have quite the similar refining style, they are simply not the same set of components.”

Supporting his cheek with his palm, Li Yao pondered for a while. Meanwhile, the ice cubes that were poured on his head had completely melted, and the resulting water trickled down his cheeks and dripped onto the floor, making “drip drip drip” sounds.

“I understand! This furnace had an accident sometime in the past, and as a result, its core components were damaged. Therefore, to make do, they had improvised and imitated these components. That’s why they are far worse than that in the blueprints.”

Li Yao lightly smacked his forehead.

‘This is troublesome. The components do not match the blueprints, making the assembling procedures completely insignificant. What to do now?’

‘Shall I wait for teacher to return?’

Li Yao dismissed this notion at the very first moment it appeared in his mind.

What a joke! Li Yao was someone who would slaughter God if he encountered God, kill Buddha if he encountered Buddha on the road of assembling this furnace. Not to mention the fact of how happy and delighted he was when he first laid his eyes upon it.

It was like he had lured a girl onto the bed and even stripped off her pants. How could he stop abruptly at this moment?

How could that be possible?!

“Since the arrow is already fitted to the bowstring, it must be released. If I don’t have the blueprints, then I will draw my own. If I don’t have the assembling procedures, then I will deduce them myself!”

Firming his heart, Li Yao pulled out the jade chip from the mini crystal processor and threw it on one side before he launched a blank blueprint template. His thoughts moved at a lightning fast speed as he drew all the core components into the empty template via telepathic thoughts transmission.

It looked a little like a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, where one could see thousands of pieces coming in contact with each other as they tried to draw a perfect 3-dimensional diagram. One could only imagine how hard it was!

Fortunately, Li Yao still had a secret trick up his sleeve.

“The three hours cool down period is already over. I can once again enter the super perceptive state!”

Li Yao pursed his lips into a smile. As he concentrated with all his heart, his temples once again madly started twitching, seemingly as if an inexhaustible amount of thoughts were stimulated as they clashed and spilled out from the depths of his brain!

After half an hour, during which god knows how many times he had poured ice-cold water over his head, a new translucent blueprint finally appeared in the hologram.

Li Yao was feeling dizzy and cold sweat broke out all over his body. He could barely move his lips as he somehow drew a smile that was even more miserable than when one was crying before a deep frown appeared over his glabella.

“This is still wrong!”

“There should not be any problems with this blueprint, and I have even deduced the subsequent assembling process. But the problem is…”

“If this blueprint is correct, then after I have assembled the furnace, the performance will be far less than what is demonstrated by the original blueprint!”

“If the true 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace can give a performance of 70 points, then this makeshift thing could give at most 40 points!”

“This won’t do! Its performance is far worse.”

“The 1st Gen Tai’e furnace was already an antique from a century ago, and now after these improvisations, its various performance parameters are rotten to the core. How am I supposed to refine some matchless masterworks?”

Li Yao quickly did some calculations.

In accordance with the blueprints that were given by Yuan Manqiu, the 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace could reach a temperature of 3,000 degrees in under a minute, and its limit temperature was 4,100 degrees!

Whereas in accordance with blueprints drawn by him, using these dilapidated components, it could only reach a temperature of 2,400 degrees in under 2 minutes, while its limit temperature was 2,900 degrees!

A temperature of 2,900 degrees was unable to melt even the cores of many demon beasts!

“This is not the crafting furnace I want! I have to modify it! But even a clever housewife can not cook a meal without rice. I don’t have sturdier components which will increase the performance, so how am I going to improve it?”

Having pondered for a while, a spark suddenly flashed in Li Yao’s eyes, illuminating his forehead.

“I do have them!”

“The Refining Department used to have a dozen crafting furnaces. Although they had been destroyed in the explosion, their wreckage is still buried under the rubble, all of which had been retrieved by me!”

“The oldest of these crafting furnace dates back to a century ago, and some of them are the latest model from a decade ago whose performance is unimaginably higher than that of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace!”

“Although they have become a wreck, they still have many usable components which can be removed and installed on 1st Gen Tai’e. In that case, would I not be able to assemble an…”

“Unparalleled Super Modified 1st Gen Tai’e Crafting Furnace!?”

Li Yao, without even taking a breath of respite, immediately charged towards the warehouse where he had stored the wrecked crafting furnaces.

While running, he was quickly doing calculations in his brain, figuring out which components of the wreckage could be disassembled and fitted into the 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace.

Over this past month, these wrecked crafting furnaces had been tossed about by him many times for research, so he clearly knew everything about them down to the minute details. He simply didn’t need to think; translucent diagrams of components jumped out from the depths of his brain one after another.

When he finally arrived at the warehouse where the wrecked crafting furnaces were stored, four to five kinds of modifying plans had already appeared in his mind.

The overall performance of 1st Gen Tai’e furnace had been improved to 130%.

If he chose the most radical, most difficult, and riskiest plan, it was possible to increase the overall performance to 210%!

“Whooossssh!”

Li Yao, like a mad devil, charged into the warehouse.

A crafting furnace itself weighed a few tons or a couple dozen tons and some could even weigh over a hundred tons. Even if they had been wrecked, they were still exceptionally heavy; it was impossible for Li Yao to tow all the wreckage.

He simply dismantled them, removing the components he required, and used a forklift truck for towing them away.

The forklift truck was originally a manned equipment, but as its performance was quite low, it was simply unable to move while carrying such heavy magical equipment components.

Li Yao found a few thick iron cables and asked the Black Wing Sword to pull hard from the front.

How could the Black Wing Sword be willing to do work? It jumped three feet into the air in anger. Li Yao showered him with praises and promised that in the future, he would help it oil three times a day and give it a high purity crystal for it to engulf. Only in this way was he able to barely make it work like a horse.

After an hour, large piles of variegated components of different shapes and sizes were scattered around the 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace.

“Next… is the time to witness the miracle!”

The Grand Desolate War Institution had a dozen crafting furnace that had been purchased from different sects and clans in different periods, a couple of which were even self-created. Thus, whether it was the style or the spiritual energy operating principle, everything was vastly different.

However, since the founding of the Star Glory Federation, in order to meet the requirements of large-scale battles, every cultivation sect had always followed the “MECS(Magical Equipment Components Standard)” system.

With regards to basic components such as rivets, screws, gears, bearings, and so on and so forth, every sect didn’t need to implement their own and everyone utilized a uniform standard.

As for the core components, their interface and specification were also identical to the greatest extent so as to ensure perfect compatibility.

The magical equipment of X sect could engrave the array glyphs of Y sect and use the crystals purified by the Z sect to run; only in such a way could the cultivation world exploit its potential during the war, thereby winning the battle of survival for the human race against the demon clan!

“Which plan should I use? Safe or radical?”

After hesitating for three seconds, Li Yao firmed his heart.

“Either don’t fight or fight to the end!”

“The radical plan it is! Using the advanced magical equipment components, I will strive for ultimate performance!”

The idea was good, but when he started implementing in reality, he encountered a variety of unexpected difficulties.

Some of which was due to lack of theoretical research, some due to inexperience in modifying magical equipment, and most of which was due to a lack of rich spiritual energy, thereby making Li Yao unable to engrave profound and complex powerful array glyphs onto them.

Several times, Li Yao thought of giving up and thought of switching to a safe modifying plan.

But when he imagined the 40,000 credits waiting ahead of him, he clenched his teeth and persevered!

If he encountered a problem which he was unable to solve using grassroots theories, then he would try the elite theories and the classical ways.

If he encountered powerful array glyphs which he was unable to engrave, then he would engrave seven or eight identical, low-level array glyphs and connect them in series.

If he encountered a conflict between two units which he was unable to resolve, he would add 17-18 plug-in units with stabilizing array glyphs, and then in these stabilizing plug-in units, he would once again add four to five stabilizing plug-in units, like patches upon patches, to provide layers upon layers of reinforcement.

After three hours, when he was finished assembling the furnace, it was completely beyond recognition. It gave off the appearance of a monster which had been “transformed by a devil”.

Around the main pitch-black furnace, there was a chaotic mess of hundreds of thick crystal cables connected to twelve units that were improvised using rivets, gears, stabilizing array glyphs, and other components.

For Li Yao, the original eight units were simply not powerful enough, thus he forcibly added four powerful units that he had dismantled from the wrecked furnaces.

At first glance, the crafting furnace looked as though it had just been wrecked by a Nascent Soul Stage old devil; it was completely a pile of scrap.

However, as far as Li Yao was concerned, the more he looked, the more he liked it and the more he found it perfect. He rushed to take out a turtle shell-like equipment at once.

This was a Shock Wave Oscilloscope, which could produce a unique spiritual wave specifically designed to analyze large-scale magical equipment consisting of multiple units and check whether it was properly installed.

If it was perfectly installed, the flow of spiritual energy between the various units would be very smooth, and as a result, the spiritual wave after circulating around all the units would again return back to the Shock Wave Oscilloscope whereupon a green light would light up.

Once the green light was lit, it meant that the equipment had been successfully installed and could be put to use as long as the anchoring and sealing array glyphs were engraved.

If there was some mistake, then the spiritual wave would explode and the magical equipment would scatter from the shock; however, it would not destroy the components, allowing the refiner to assemble it a second time.

“For heaven’s sake, please be successful!”

Li Yao mumbled some words. His eyes were wide open as he started the Show Wave Oscilloscope.

…

Yuan Manqiu was in an exceptionally good mood.

After using hard and soft tactics for the whole night at the dean’s residence, she was finally able to obtain an extra 5% of resources.

Although it did not seem to be much, don’t forget that the original budget was arranged for hundreds of professors and students to use. Currently, the Refining Department was only left with one student, Li Yao, so an extra 5% resource was enough to fatten him.

Afterward, she once again sought out a few familiar professors and inquired about Li Yao’s performance over this past month in a roundabout manner. The more she inquired, the more she found that he was unfathomable and had great potential that could be developed.

At the beginning, she was ready to return to the Refining Department at first light; however, she suddenly changed her mind.

The 1st Gen Tai’e furnace was a magical equipment from a century ago. One could say that its structure was complex yet not complex, simple yet not simple. It could be considered as a unique test to assess Li Yao’s practical ability. She wanted to see when Li Yao would be actually able to discover that the core components were inconsistent with the blueprints.

After having unexpectedly waited for a long time, she still didn’t receive Li Yao’s message even by noon.

“Has he still not found the mistake?”

Yuan Manqiu couldn’t sit still. Moving her fat ass, she walked towards the refining room.

While walking, she was having a conversation with Jiang Wenbo, the logistics supervisor of the Mountain Sea Sect, via the spiritual crane messenger while the latter was sending the correct blueprints of the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace.

“Big Sis, the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace is too old. The technology used by many of the assembling processes are from 100 years ago. There are several arrays which are outdated and are out of use. Let alone studying them, the youths of today would have never laid their eyes upon them, and yet you have taken these things to test your disciple, isn’t this simply too much?” Jiang Wenbo complacently said.

Yuan Manqiu slightly smiled:

“For ordinary people, I suppose it is too much, but my disciple is marvelous and I have high hopes for him. How about we make a bet? I bet that he has at least completely assembled five units.”

Jiang Wenbo thought otherwise:

“Big Sis, you are too confident. No matter how monstrously talented he is, he is still a freshman. Three—he has completed at most three units!”

Yuan Manqiu nodded: “Alright, the refining room is just ahead. We will know the answer soon enough. As for the bet, that is—”

“BOOM!”

A loud noise interrupted her.

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo were flabbergasted at the same time.

The two were veteran refiners, so naturally, just from the noise, they had recognized that it was noise made by the Shock Wave Oscilloscope.

“What the hell is he doing? Has that brat actually assembled the entire furnace? Is that why he’s using the Shock Wave Oscilloscope?”

“However, it seems he failed?”

“Even if he failed, he still might be a monstrous genius! Even without the correct blueprints and assembling procedures, he had still assembled it, which was just like a blind man riding a horse. Even if he assembled it incorrectly, it doesn’t matter!”

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo took a glance at each other before she sped up her footsteps.

The warehouse was a total mess; the furnace had completely collapsed and was rolling over at the corner of a wall, whereas thousands upon thousands of magical equipment components were scattered all over the floor, giving off the impression as though two tornadoes had passed through here.

Li Yao, who was sitting in a corner, had a lifeless look hanging over his face:

“How could it fail? It should be perfectly connected, why was the spiritual energy blocked?”

Jiang Wenbo was tremendously surprised:

“Big Sis, you have an incredible disciple. He had actually assembled the entire furnace. However, since he had used the wrong blueprints, he had naturally failed!”

Yuan Manqiu was also very excited. She knew she had picked up a treasure.

So what he failed? If it was anyone else, they would have far worse practical ability than him and might not even have the qualifications to fail, as they could not even assemble the equipment from the start!

“Li Yao, did you just assemble the furnace and then use Shock Wave Oscilloscope to check it?”

Yuan Manqiu asked in a shaky voice.

Li Yao desolately replied, “Yes, teacher. I thought I had assembled it perfectly and had analyzed every connection completely, and every detail was simply perfect, but in the end, I still failed!”

Li Yao heaved a deep sigh as he dispiritedly said, “The world of magical equipment is truly mysterious—too abstruse, too wonderful. I still have many things to learn. I should not have overestimated myself!”

“It’s alright, it’s completely alright!”

Yuan Manqiu was wild with joy: “The 1st Gen Tai’e furnace was created over a century ago, and there are several difficulties in its assembling processes. They are out your ability, so it is very normal for you to fail. Don’t be disappointed. In my opinion, you are already very strong!”

She sat down next to Li Yao and patted her disciple’s shoulder: “Come, tell me about your assembling process from start to finish. Old Jiang and I will check them a bit. Right, this is Professor Jiang Wenbo. He is a veteran refiner with rich experience.”

“Good afternoon, Professor Jiang!” Mustering up his spirit, Li Yao gave a bow at the holographic screen.

“It’s alright, there is no need to be overly courteous. When Big Sis told me you were a genius, I didn’t believe it, but now, seeing that you can even assemble the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace, even I’m inclined to believe. Come, young man, tell me how you really assemble it!”

Jiang Wenbo was also excited.

“Alright!”

A frown appeared on Li Yao’s glabella as he recalled and honestly started narrating, “At the beginning, everything was going without a hitch. After I had assembled the eight units in four hours…”

“What!?”

Jiang Wenbo could not help but interrupt him: “You only spent four hours to assemble the eight units? Oh! Keep on going!”

Li Yao was surprised for a moment when he noticed the complexion of the two, which was a little weird, seemingly as if he had done something extraordinary, but after sorting out his thoughts: “When I was assembling the core components, I found that the core components were inconsistent with the blueprints, so I threw the blueprints on one side and drew the blueprints according to the actual structure. Afterward, I deduced the assembling procedures…”

“What!?”

This time, it was Yuan Manqiu who shouted. “You drew the blueprints according to these components and also deduced the assembling processes? Quickly, quickly show me the blueprints you have drawn!”

Li Yao suspiciously swept a glance at the two as he muttered in his heart: ‘These two are veteran refiners, so how can they be shocked at everything and interrupt me at every sentence?’

From the crystal processor, he launched the blueprints that he had drawn as well as the assembling processes that he had deduced and presented them to the two veteran refiners.

The two swept a glance and drew in a lump of cold air at the same time.

On the way, the two had already studied the blueprints of 1st Gen Tai’e furnace for a long time and had thoroughly etched the most crucial parts into their mind. At first glance, they knew that the blueprints drawn by Li Yao were completely correct, and the assembling processes were also roughly identical!

“T-this is simply…”

Jiang Wenbo was a little muddle-headed. His lips shook for a long time, but he could not speak another word.

A freshman who had just entered university, who was still a high-school student a couple months back, much to his surprise, had drawn the blueprints from scratch just by relying on some scattered components, and he had even deduced the assembling processes!

‘Did this brat start learning to assemble magical equipment from the womb?’

Yuan Manqiu, even more so, was excited to the point that she was trembling. Every strand of her facial muscles was moving up and down. Raising her eyebrows, she screamed, “What’s going on!? Since you have drawn the blueprints and even deduced the assembling processes, how can you fail? Quick, quick, quick, tell me what did you next, do not miss any details!”

“Next I…”

Li Yao cleared his throat: “I analyzed the blueprints a bit and discovered that the subsequently assembled furnace will have poor performance, so I thought of modifying it.”

“I had a thermostat chip from a 7th Gen Redglow crafting furnace, a spirit suppressor from a 5th Gen Profound Truth crafting furnace, as well as a quite intact anti-gravity unit from a Sapphirinus crafting furnace, also…”

He reported tongue-twister-like names of over hundred kinds of components, then he brought up a couple dozen blueprints on the hologram.

“Using these components, I developed five sets of modifying plans, all of which are here. Professors, please take a look.”

“In fact, if I assembled it using the most secure plan, I might have succeeded. Everything is my fault. I was too impatient, too proud. I thought light of magical equipment and chose the most radical plan.”

“I think that the difficulty of the radical plan mainly lies in engraving the stabilizing array glyphs.”

“I am unable to engrave powerful, high-level stabilizing array glyphs with my current strength, so in the end, I thought of a way, a secret method which I had inadvertently found in ancient records. Using this method, I superimposed several low-level stabilizing array glyphs. Professors, please take a look. The spiritual energy operating principle of the superimposed array glyphs is like this…”

“Afterward, by using two crystal bypass switches created using elite faction ideology, you can change its spiritual energy intertwining mode to simulate the effect of high-level stabilizing array glyphs.”

“In accordance with this idea, the final completed blueprint is this and spiritual energy flow chart is this… professors, please take a look. Here, here and here, these are the most important parts which I had reinforced. In theory, I should not have failed!”

“I have wracked my brain but still could not understand. Professors, please give me pointers, tell me where the problem actually lies.”

For a whole ten minutes, Li Yao explained. Only after he finished did he eagerly stare at the two veteran refiners.

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo were both dumbstruck. They directly stared at the couple dozen ever-dancing blueprints and spiritual energy flow charts in the air.

Fierce-looking diagrams of all shapes and sizes repeatedly exploded in the depths of the two’s brain. The two veteran refiners’ brains were completely fried!

Dizziness!

Suprise!

Unimaginable!

The two felt as though tens of thousands of iron scaled horses were galloping in their minds. Boom Boom Boom Boom! A thunderstorm was surging in the depths of their mind—they had completely lost the ability to think!

Both were experts who had been in the refiners’ circle for a couple of decades. Yuan Manqiu, even more so, used to be a student of the Deep Sea University’s Refining Department and had received the most rigorous and orthodox academic training, so what kind of strange things had they not seen? What kind of monstrous geniuses had they not encountered?

However, when it came to a freak like Li Yao, let alone seeing one, the two have never even heard of one!

Even more so, his lightning fast assembling speed, as well as the fact that he had drawn a complete blueprint from scratch just by relying on disassembled components while simultaneously deducing the assembling procedures and developing a few modifying plans…

In the opinion of these two veteran refiners, just the “safest” modifying plan was already radical to the extreme.

And the so called “radical” set, in their opinion, was simply… ‘perverse’!

The 1st Gen Tai’e furnace was an antique equipment from a century ago, while the crafting furnaces at the Grand Desolation War Institution’s Refining Department were rather advanced and new, thus the performance of their various components was extremely good.

Using such resilient components to modify the 1st Gen Tai’e furnace was like asking a couple dozen Nascent Soul Stage old devils to control a magical equipment which was specially designed for arming a Refinement Stage cultivator. How difficult it was to implement such ideas was just one of the thing; the main point was—the concept.

Besides an extremely insane madman, no one would even think of doing such a thing!

And not only had Li Yao thought about it, he had even done it. Furthermore, everything was nice and authentic, and looking at those modified blueprints and spiritual energy flow charts drawn by him, at least 95% of the structure had no problems and could work flawlessly!

“Is this kid really a freshman that’s not even 20 years old?”

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo glanced at each other and found that both their eyes were madly flickering like frightening billows and terrifying waves.

Yuan Manqiu took a long, long, long, long, deep breath and was doing her utmost to control her ugly and grim-looking face as she said while pointing at the spiritual energy flow chart:

“Your idea is very creative; however, according to this flow chart, your heater and cooler are too close. The water type spiritual energy and fire type spiritual energy surging out from the respective units will be amplified via the same spiritual energy amplifier, due to which the alternating hot and cold will lead to thermal expansion and contraction. Will it not lead to structural deformation!?”

“Probably not.”

Li Yao was completely oblivious to the astonishing changes that had taken place on the two professors’ visage, as his mind was completely preoccupied with the modification of the crafting furnace as he said whatever came to mind: “The thermal expansion and contraction has been a big problem for many refiners throughout the ages. Many magical equipment, in the process of starting up, have to go through sudden heating and cooling. Once the thermal expansion and contraction sets in, the deformation of components is a matter of time and may lead to dissipation of spiritual energy, resulting in unnecessary waste, or in the worst case, leading to a spiritual energy tide, which would eventually lead to an explosion.”

“Specialized magical equipment like the main body of crafting furnace, which had been crafted using special material and undergone tempering again and again, remain unaffected by extremely varying temperature.”

“However, as early as the ancient cultivation world of forty millenniums ago, the head of Blue Dawn Clan’s Western Mountain Hall, Elder Xihua, proposed a Fire and Water Sub-Source Array Glyph which could perfectly resolve the problem of thermal expansion and contraction.”

“But at that time, as the various spiritual energy models and algorithms were extremely backward, the Fire and Water Sub-Source only remained at the theoretical stage.”

“It was only during the modern cultivation world when various spiritual energy models and algorithms emerged in an endless stream was it possible to construct a Fire and Water Sub-Source Array Glyph using the Micro-Particle Algorithm proposed by the 7th generation leader of the Sky Stone Valley, Senior Daoist Xuanzhen, in his work from 322 years ago.”

“Of course, I am just a beginner freshman, so how can I thoroughly understand a high-level algorithm like the Micro-Particle Algorithm, which requires a tremendous amount of computational ability?”

“I had no choice but to use the Mustard Seed Algorithm proposed by Daoist Miaomiao in his thesis 155 years ago as well as the Solar Corona Nine Algorithms proposed by Reverend Yufeng in his paper 22 years ago to make up for the parts of Micro-Particle Algorithm which I could not understand. Doing such, I was barely able to construct the Fire and Water Sub-Source Array Glyphs.”

“Could the three algorithms be incompatible, leading to instability in the array glyphs constructed by me? Yes, this must be the problem!”

While Li Yao kept on talking, his eyes immediately flickered with an intelligent gleam as he heavily slapped his forehead and launched the telepathic thoughts calculator of the crystal processor. With the move of his thoughts at a lightning fast speed, a series of dazzling formulas appeared on the hologram, which rapidly expanded at an alarming rate.

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo took a glance at each other before Jiang Wenbo spoke in a hushed tone, “Big Sis, let’s go!”

Yuan Manqiu nodded and left the warehouse on her tiptoes.

Jiang Wenbo heaved a long sigh of relief. He was stunned for a long while before a bitter smile appeared on his lips as he said:

“Big Sis, what in the bloody hell is ? How come I have never heard of it?”

Jiang Wenbo, a refiner who had to do various tasks in the sect, paid more emphasis on actual practice. It was simply impossible for him to thoroughly understand all the theories in the cultivation world.

Yuan Manqiu was still in a bit of trance:

” is a conjecture proposed by Reverend Yufeng. He believed that the sunspots eruption is a kind of particularly intense spiritual energy tide explosion that can be analyzed using the spiritual tide explosion model. Using the powerful spiritual energy that erupted from the sunspot eruption, he believed it was possible to use it to cultivate.”

“Solar Corona Nine Algorithms are the nine algorithms which he used to analyze the sunspot eruptions.”

“However, the theory was not widely acknowledged in the world of cultivation and remained only as a ‘hypothesis’. It’s a very unconventional theory, but even I have only taken a cursory glance or two and had not done any in-depth study at all.”

Jiang Wenbo drew in a lump of cold air: “If it’s an unconventional hypothesis, then how come that brat has seen it?”

“It’s more than that!”

Yuan Manqiu desolately said, “I do know a little of the few modern algorithms he talked about, but I have never heard of the Blue Dawn Clan’s Elder Xihua from forty millenniums ago. Not to mention coming in contact with his theories, I have never even heard of any Fire and Water Sub-Source Array Glyph!”

Jiang Wenbo was dumbfounded: “Even you don’t know?”

Yuan Manqiu thoughtfully nodded her head: “Yes, although the modifying plans proposed by him were inadequate in many places, rash, ingenuous, and based on assumptions at many steps, a typical example of ignorance is bliss, but…”

“What’s important is the approach!”

“God knows where that little devil saw so many theoretical classics, ancient, modern, grassroots, elites, and what not—some of which even I am not aware of.”

“I only know that his refining ideas are absolutely broad, so broad that it could be called perverse!”

“This is one monstrous genius. If he is not trained well and if we let him take his own course, it is very likely that all he would do would be submerging himself in the fantastic peaks of his ideas, turning into nothing but a rhetoric theorist.”

“However, as long as he assiduously dives into studies and thoroughly comprehends the quintessence of refining, if these perverse ideas could be turned into a reality…”

Yuan Manqiu did not continue and just gazed far away into the depths of the rubble.

At the center of the ruins, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit stood like an undead god of war, concealing its talons and fangs, retracting its wings, waiting for the day when it would soar into the sky and give rise to wind and thunder that would sweep the entire cultivation world!

‘Old Mo, can you see? This is the freshman of our Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department! With such a student, the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Refining Department will definitely rise!’

Yuan Manqiu secretly said in her mind.

“Now, what should we do…” asked Jiang Wenbo.

Yuan Manqiu smiled: “Of course, we should quickly study the theory proposed by Elder Xihua, and there is also . Otherwise, we will not be able to answer any questions, and if a teacher is not as good as his student, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

“Right, right, let’s quickly study!”

After an hour, when the two returned to the warehouse in high spirits, Li Yao had already jam-packed more than 20 holograms with ant-like characters.

“Professors!”

When he noticed the two’s arrival, Li Yao was excited to the extreme. He sprang up on his feet and said with heartfelt admiration, “Teacher, you are really awesome! I have painstakingly pondered for such a long time but never found the problem; however, with just one sentence, teacher had actually pointed it out.”

“Oh?”

Yuan Manqiu and Jiang Wenbo stared at each other.

Li Yao said in an excited tone, “After you have left, I once again verified the three algorithms and found that the Mustard Seed Algorithm has limited applications. For sure, the Mustard Seed Algorithm can be applied at the micro level without a hitch, but if applied on the macro level, it is necessary to add very complex correctional parameters. Otherwise, it would lead to an extremely small error. Although this error in itself wouldn’t pose any problems, but after it is amplified by the Micro-Particle Algorithm, it would have serious repercussions!”

“I have repeatedly deduced several times but could not find the best solution, so I had to give up on the idea of using the Fire and Water Sub-Source and could only place the heater and cooler farther apart!”

“I only came to such conclusion after such a long time, but teacher, you had found the problem with only one glance. Brilliant, teacher, you are really brilliant!”

“However, as the two units are so far apart now, they have to rely on crystal cables to transmit spiritual energy, so it is a bit slow!”

“Professors, as you already know, during the refining of numerous heaven and earth treasure, it is necessary to drop the furnace temperature from high temperatures like 2,000-3,000 degrees to subzero temperatures within the blink of an eye in order to intentionally create the effect of thermal expansion and contraction. Only in such a way could we produce changes in the internal structure of heaven and earth materials!”

“The shorter the duration of temperature change, the more resilient the refined product would be!”

“I pondered for a long time when I suddenly recalled that Elder Fangmu from the Profound Sect of forty millenniums ago had once mentioned an ideal array glyph for controlling the temperature in an alchemical furnace in his alchemy notes !”

“Although this kind of ideal state of array glyphs is unable to be achieved in the ancient era, it could be achieved in the modern era where there are multitudes of algorithms available. We can use the Heaven and Hell Algorithm proposed by Daoist Wu of Celestial Premier Sect 188 years ago in , as well as the No Heart No Limit Algorithm proposed by Master Wuxin 92 years ago in to forcibly construct it!”

“Of course, to forcibly construct this kind of ideal array glyph, we would need to utilize a tremendous amount of computational power, which is something that cannot be constructed by just relying on one’s brain. However, don’t we have a high-performance, large-scale crystal processor? With the crystal processor calculating for three days and three nights, we will definitely be able to create the perfect array glyphs for controlling the furnace temperature. Hei hei hei hei. By then, the strongest 1st Gen Tai’e crafting furnace of the cultivation world will be born!”

“Professors, please take a look. All the deduction processes are here. Can you check whether I have made any low-level errors this time?”

Li Yao was overwhelmed with anxiety. Blinking his eyes, he glanced at the two veteran refiners with an anticipatory look.

Yuan Manqiu, while keeping a poker face, turned her sleek, fat face towards Jiang Wenbo.

Jiang Wenbo, in a calm and collected manner, carefully looked for a long time as he repeatedly nodded: “Very good, very good, your deduced… structure is well-defined, well-arranged, and the data is full and accurate, concise and clear. It is very beautiful. Each level is pushing another level forward like spilled mercury, giving a hearty and satisfactory feeling. As something proposed by a freshman, it is already perfect; however, there are several places which we can discuss. For example…”

He suddenly turned around and made an “Oh” to someone as an apologetic look appeared on his face: “Sorry, Student Li Yao, there is a sudden emergency meeting. We will talk about it again next time! Young man, you are very good, very promising, I have high hopes for you! Professor Yuan is a well-known expert in the refining field. If you study hard under her guidance, you will absolutely have a promising future!”

“Click!”

The hologram went black. Jiang Wenbo disconnected and ran away.

Li Yao was surprised for a moment before he turned his fervent gaze towards Yuan Manqiu.