Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Six days later, on a shabby carrier, Mu Ping bowed to the light beam and said to Li Yao solemnly, ”In front of us is the Temple of Lord Sea Stomper.”

Inside the light beam was the remnant of a cruiser more than three thousand meters long with defense rings around it. The head and the tail of it were both shattered, a clear sign that the cruiser wouldn’t be able to cruise anymore. The middle part of the cruiser was still intact and emitting seven-colored faint mystic rays.

Mu Ping explained, ”Lord Sea Stomper used to be a ’Sea Stomper’-level cruiser of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago. Right now, most of its structure is too damaged to repair. But many living quarters in the middle part of the starship are still functioning. Also, since defense is highlighted in the design of the starship of this particular model, the protective rings around it are still working and can release solid spiritual shields.

”Five hundred years ago, a fleet which was blown off course by a cosmic storm found the place accidentally and survived the disaster by hiding inside the protective rings. Since then, the place has become well known.

”Everybody says that the soul of the starship has become a divinity, guarding the residents in this area from the unseen world. This place is the best port around.

”As time’s gone by, the starship has become known as ’Lord Sea Stomper’ and the place in general is called ’Star Lord Temple’. It is the trading center of the dozens of space towns nearby. Many other people have moved into the living quarters of the starship, gradually turning it into a teeming town itself.”

”Fourth brother, offer incense to our Lord!”

A stout man answered and rubbed his hands on his linen trousers. Then, he typed quickly on the light beam. The carrier shivered and sent out three ivory light beams from its head to the front end of Lord Sea Stomper.

The three mystic rays were not aggressive at all; they carried the purest and most stable spiritual energy. After they pierced into the front end of Lord Sea Stomper, the hundreds of holes there all started glittering like countless blinking eyes, bringing out a sense of mystery.

Mu Ping and the townsfolk all shut their eyes and prayed.

”May Lord Sea Stomper watch over Black Iron Town and see that it is not disturbed by demon beasts, space pirates, or cosmic storms. It will be better if we can find more precious treasures in the ancient relic. If we make a fortune this year thanks to your help, we will definitely deliver you a water circulation system next year!”

Li Yao found it very amusing. As a determined modern Cultivator, he did not believe in the supernatural powers whose existences were hard to prove. He reached out to Mo Xuan during the time being.

Mo Xuan and the rest of the crew hadn’t idled around while Li Yao was staying in Black Iron Town. They had collected a lot of warship remnants in the ancient battlegrounds and covered Sparkle with them in a messy manner.

Right now, even if Mo Xuan were to park Sparkle right in front of Li Yao, he wouldn’t be able to recognize it.

Then, after riveting a bunch of other starship remnants, Mo Xuan drifted after Li Yao.

Battlegrounds were everywhere in the Flying Star Sector. Stirred by cosmic storms, countless remnants were floating in the sea of stars. Nobody would pay attention to them at all.

Li Yao exchanged the latest progress with Mu Xuan and his lot. Mu Xuan was quite interested in the refining style of the Flying Star Sector’s crystal suits, too. They agreed that they would start a large-scale telepathic thought transmission session to send the detailed information over when they arrived at a relatively safe location.

Right then, the carrier drew close to Star Lord Temple.

Li Yao could see that dozens of small carriers were docked in the port at the tail of Lord Sea Stomper. Another few carriers were entering the port slowly.

They all detected the carrier of Black Iron Town and emitted mystic rays in a fixed rhythm one after another, broadcasting their identity to the newcomer.

The carrier of Black Iron Town followed them and sent out its spiritual authorizations, before it entered the port slowly, too.

…

”Supreme Scorpion Sword Art, simple yet scaring! Remote learning through telepathic thoughts. Organized in small classes. One month of concentrated learning will be enough for you to learn the first three levels. The tuition fee is only 15,000 bucks. The first fifty students to sign up, for an additional 5,000 bucks, will receive a complimentary well-tempered Supreme Scorpion Sword which is 2.4 meters long with three venomous thorns embedded on the tip. A hundred percent true and authentic. Our headcount is limited. Come on and sign up if you are interested!”

”Skill cards. New skill cards have arrived!”

”Super skill cards produced by elders of Cheetah Teeth Sect, all Core Formation Stage Cultivators, containing an entire set of seventy-two deadly serial moves, are now available! Once you start the first move, you won’t be able to stop the following three minutes of storm-like attacks at all! Look. There are signatures of the elders of Cheetah Teeth Sect. They are totally authentic. Everybody is welcome to check them out in the branches of Cheetah Teeth Sect!”

”Do you want to be an unparalleled expert in the world? Are you eager to let your name resound in the Flying Star Sector? Do you want to fully appreciate the mysteries of the Cultivation world? Join Rumbling Thunder Union!

”Rumbling Thunder Union boasts both a long history and an immense capability right now! We have experience in the transportation industry, the mining industry, and the crystal suit refining industry. Right now, we have thirty-five starships in total, thirteen large-scale mines, and refining centers on four planets. Our comprehensive capability always ranks in the top twenty in the Flying Star Sector!

”Rumbling Thunder Union is headquartered on the super starship ’Rumbling Thunder’. Not only does the starship have unimaginable firepower and an amazingly high speed, it is also installed with a one-hundred percent real simulation of the natural environment. There are many attractions in the living quarters, including lakes, beaches, and hills. You will feel that you are standing in a natural paradise instead of floating in the sea of stars!

”Right now, we sincerely invite promising young men below the age of eighteen with a Spirit Actualization Quotient higher than 80% as our intern disciples. The length of internship will be three years, during which time your living expenses will be covered, and you will be enlightened by the real masters. Once your spiritual root is awakened, you will be registered as an official disciple! Even if your spiritual root isn’t awakened in three years, you will still have the opportunity to work in the Rumbling Thunder Group with a decent salary!”

Half a day later, as Li Yao walked through the packed streets of Star Lord Temple, watching the colorfully blinking light beams in the air, hearing the tempting commercials, and even smelling the vague scent of the delicious food, his lips curled up without him knowing.

The feeling… was so familiar.

It was the time of the monthly kermis. A lot of visitors had come to this place. At least ten thousand people were roaming on the street.

Outside of the starship, it was cold, lonely space. Inside Star Lord Temple, it was a lively world of laughter and happiness.

In a trance, Li Yao felt like he was back to a certain underground city of the Heaven’s Origin Sector.

They were both raucous, noisy, and chaotic. But they were equally vigorous, too.

At this moment, Li Yao bade farewell to the folks of Black Iron Town.

As a gesture of gratitude, Mayor Mu Ping had given him a large sum of money after the shell of the giant crab had been sold.

Li Yao was a newcomer to the world and literally cash-strapped. Therefore, he’d accepted Mu Ping’s generosity, which had met his urgent need.

Firstly, he bought an old wrist crystal processor in a second-hand crystal processor store.

The Flying Star Sector was much more advanced than the Heaven’s Origin Sector in minimalizing the crystal processor. The wrist crystal processor was very light and thin, just like a watch.

Then, Li Yao visited a store named ’Know-All’, a special shop that did not sell concrete goods but the latest news.

Since the area of Star Lord Temple was too far away from the central zone of the Flying Star Sector, it often lost connection to the Spiritual Nexus. Therefore, such news stores were opened in many remote villages and towns which were often short of information.

The residents in such places could go to a news store and browse the latest news in the outside world at the cost of a tiny bit of money.

The news would usually be fully updated on a monthly or bimonthly basis. Considering the vastness of the Flying Star Sector, it could almost be called timely.

Sitting in a corner of the news store, Li Yao turned on four light beams in front him and skimmed the news at a speed that wouldn’t shock the fellow readers around him.

The news from the central zone of the constellation gave him a much deeper understanding of the Flying Star Sector.

Most of the news contained briefs about cosmic storms or meteorite cascades in certain coordinates or about the newly found space swirls in certain other coordinates.

It appeared that the anomalies in space were of paramount importance for the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector which lived on sailing through the sea of stars.

Li Yao also saw a lot of news about the assaults of space pirates, the latest rank of pirate gangs, and the most wanted list with their respective bounties.

The most wanted list was brimming with names, each of which represented loads of appalling murders. The perils of cruising through the sea of stars couldn’t be clearer.

There wasn’t much news about the scourge of demon beasts and the demonic Cultivators, suggesting that these two hazards only appeared sporadically and that they were less threatening than space pirates.

But what Li Yao was most concerned about was the general capability of the Cultivators in the Flying Star Sector and that of the top ones.

If this was a world where there were too many Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Cultivators, he would have to tuck his tail between his legs and behave nicely however ambitious he was.

Thankfully, after browsing through all the news, he didn’t find enough evidence to support the hypothesis. Several names of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were brought up in the news, but in a very respectful tone. The leaders and elders of many famous sects seemed to be only at the Core Formation Stage, too.

As for the Divine Transformation Stage Cultivators that were even stronger than the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, Li Yao read about none of them in the recent news.

This is rather odd. The spiritual energy of the Flying Star Sector is clearly much more abundant than that of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Why are the number and capability of the top Cultivators of the two worlds so similar?

Li Yao pondered the question while he continued reading the news.

Half an hour later, he came to an uncertain conclusion.

It was true that the spiritual energy of the Flying Star Sector was more abundant. But since this place was an ancient battleground where a large number of relics of starships and magical equipment had been left, the Cultivators of this sector attached more importance to the creation and utilization of magical equipment.

After dedicating most of its manpower, resources, and time to the refinement of magical equipment, the Flying Star Sector was blessed with an extraordinarily advanced and popularized crystal suit system. This was a world where crystal suits mattered most. Most of their training and combat theories featured crystal suits as the core.

In comparison, the Heaven’s Origin Sector did not have enough resources nor were there enough ancient relics to excavate. Therefore, crystal suits were never promoted on a large scale. Most Cultivators still highlighted the training of themselves and considered crystal suits to be auxiliary tools.

As a result, although the resources of the two Sectors were not even, the top experts of them were of similar level.

However, it was also possible that the stronger experts of the Flying Star Sector had been training in seclusion recently and therefore did not appear in the news that Li Yao read.