Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

”It seems you are very interested in my personal collection, aren’t you? This is a model of the black spot ants’ home. Delicate, like glittering coral, is it not?”

Huangpu Shiyi held the model in his hands carefully and touched it with a fascinated expression, as he explained, ”Black spot ants are the architects among ants. They can build up a complicated, labyrinth-like giant home deep underground. Each home can accommodate millions of ants, dozens of times more than regular ant homes can. Such a splendid ant home is a piece of intriguing artwork.

”However, black spot ants prefer to build their homes in the dry and fragile soil, and the pathways inside their home are extremely delicate and feeble, too. The tiniest force from the outside is already enough to make part of the ant nest collapse.

”Do you want to know how the humans studied the black spot ants’ homes and how the most perfect model without the slightest flaw was created?

”It’s very simple.

”You melt aluminum, you find an entrance of the ant home, and your pour the aluminum down. It will naturally reach every corner of the ant home.

”When the liquid aluminum cools down and turned solid again, you uproot it as one whole piece. It will be what you are witnessing right now. Delicate, immaculate, and brilliant. It will go on for thousands of years without rotting and will be granted the ultimate ’immortality’!

”As for the millions of ants inside the ant home, they were, of course, melted by the aluminum liquid and killed without leaving any traces.

”I bought this model from a female student of Flying Star University through the Spiritual Nexus.

”I investigated the little girl thoroughly and found that she was kind, innocent, and diligent.

”She used to be an ordinary girl in a remote town at the edge of the Flying Star Sector. Her parents were both peasants, and her mother had been ill in bed all year around. With unbelievable determination, she took care of her mother and did part-time jobs to get more income for her family, while she continued reading and training. Despite all the unfavorable conditions, she awakened her spiritual root and was admitted by Flying Star University!

”She was as hard-working as before when she went to college. She got full scholarships every year. Although her family was anything but rich, she always donated much of her scholarship to the people whose lives were even more difficult than hers.

”She sold this particular model online because she was raising money to help a child in her hometown, who suffered from a serious heart disease, secure a new heart for transplanting.

”In her hometown, all the folk said that such a girl was a goddess walking on the earth.

”Li Yao, my young friend, do you think, for the black spot ants, the girl is a divinity or a devil?”

Li Yao was silent.

Huangpu Shiyi leaned forward. His smiling face drew close to Li Yao from the other side of the platform, as he said lightheartedly, ”It doesn’t matter whether she is a divinity or a devil. The only way that the ants transmit information is through waving their antennas.

”Let’s say one of the ants was standing right in front of the girl and shouted—as loud as it could—’You are a crazy devil, you ruined my homeland and you killed my family. I’m not going to let go of you. I’m going to get the most brutal revenge, even at the cost of my life!’

”However, from the girl’s point of view, she only saw that an ant was waving its antennas crazily.

”In fact, if the girl wasn’t scrutinizing this particular ant with a magnifying lens, she might not know that it was waving its antennas at all!”

Huangpu Xiaoya sat back and stared at Li Yao with a smile.

What disappointed him was that Li Yao was utterly emotionless. He only turned at the model of the monkey and asked, ”What is this?”

Huangpu Shiyi put the ant home back and picked up the model of the monkey. He touched the monkey’s head and said softly, ”This is a brown-tailed snub-nosed monkey, one of the most commonly-seen monkeys. They are everywhere in the Flying Star Sector. You may have seen them in many world fragments, too.

”Early in the days of the Star Ocean Imperium, the research-type Cultivators had already begun to study the mysteries of genes. Do you know what genes are?”

Li Yao nodded. ”I do.

”In the legends, the ancestors of human beings were the greatest species in the primordial era, such as tyrannosaurs, Megalodons, Sarcosuchus, Eight-Armed Golden Apes, and so on!

”Despite the amazing techniques that the greatest species had, they were doomed to extinction by the wear and tear of time and the strikes of countless apocalypses.

”Before their extinction, they had condensed the essence of the experience of their entire species into an information stream and sent it into their designated successors.

”Such information is known as ’genetic information’.

”Human beings are the descents of countless primordial species. Our cells contain the genetic information that has been passed on from billions of years ago.

”This genetic information is like mysterious helical chains that interweaved into our life and soul.

”Genetic information is the foundations of our life and the heritage we acquired from our earliest ancestors.

”Therefore, the genetic information hidden in the deepest part of our cells is known as ’Gene Chains’.”

Huangpu Shiyi nodded in approval. ”Excellent. You know the definition of genes very well! But do you know the latest conclusion of the Flying Star Sector’s experts about the difference in genes between humans and monkeys?”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow.

Huangpu Shiyi smiled and extended two of his fingers. ”Two percent.

”There are many kinds of monkeys. Some of the monkeys have more different genes compared to humans’. The difference can be above 3%. Some particularly smart monkeys, who can learn how to crack open nuts with simple tools by themselves, only have a genetic difference from humans of 1.7%. By estimation, monkey genes as a whole are only 2% different compared to human beings’!”

Li Yao said, ”So?”

Huangpu Shiyi’s smile suddenly turned extremely hideous. After a brief pause, he continued, one word after another. ”Do you want to know how big the genetic difference between ordinary people and Cultivators is?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes to such a degree that they became two shining lines.

Huangpu Shiyi didn’t tell him the answer. He sniffed and, touching the head of the monkey, remarked, ”The most important thing about Cultivation is to find your true self and to realize what a unique existence you are in the dark universe! I placed the two personal collections on this platform. Every day, when I see them while I am working, I can always understand something new from them.

”Li Yao, I’m very happy that you’ve been dwelling in the game that I carefully prepared.

”The game was meant for Huangpu Xiaoya, but you gave me a bigger surprise by cracking so many crystal cameras and eavesdroppers in half of the time that I expected!

”From your expression, I can tell that you and I are the same type of people. We are born for magical equipment, which is our world, our universe, and our sea of stars!

”Come on. Join the Temple of Immortals and become an Immortal Cultivator. I do think very highly of you, and I’m willing to recruit you as my first, and perhaps last, disciple. You will be able to learn all my expertise!”

Weird brilliance beamed out of Huangpu Shiyi’s eyes. He extended his withered hands toward Li Yao.

Li Yao’s eyes stopped briefly at his hands, as he suddenly sneered in derision. His face turned crazy and disobedient, as he said, ”Huangpu Shiyi, you are right about one thing. I don’t care about the difference between Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators. The death of the ordinary people whom I barely knew had nothing to do with me whatsoever.

”My dream is to become the strongest refiner in the universe and to refine the most terrifying, the most violent, and the most dominating magical equipment. Everybody in the sea of stars will hear the name of Li Yao. Every star in the sky will tremor in fear at the brilliance of my magical equipment!

”However, even though you are adept at theories, what makes you think you are qualified to be my master with your useless hands?”

Huangpu Shiyi’s pupils suddenly shrank.

Li Yao suddenly changed his tone and said, ”Unless, of course, you prove yourself to be capable enough first!”

Huangpu Shiyi burst into laughter. ”The shuttle that fooled you was not evident enough?”

”No. That was far from enough.”

Li Yao continued, ”Besides, you are asking me to change my side and betray the Cultivators. Chances are that I will be hunted by them and have to hide in darkness in the future instead of receiving the cheers and admiration of thousands of people. You’ll have to pay me some ’down payment’ first.

”I’m not some juvenile whom you can deceive with some metal garbage, a model of a monkey, and some bulls*it.

”In the place where I grew up, even a glass of water recycled from urine or a tin of man-made air had to be traded with real money. Your fancy speech meant absolutely nothing to me!”

Huangpu Shiyi slapped the platform and said, ”Very soon, Immortal Cultivators will appear in front of mortals in broad daylight. Billions of people will kneel before us and worship us! You will get however many cheers you want by then!

”But it’s reasonable that you don’t believe it for now. Tell me, what ’down payment’ do you have in mind right now?”

Li Yao licked his lips and put on a greedy face. ”You showed Huangpu Xiaoya and me the scenes of the explosions in the Skyhill Domain. From the picture, I could tell that the serial explosions took place in multiple locations at the same time and resulted in tremendous damage!

”Even though there were not many Core Formation Stage Cultivators in the Skyhill Domain, their level of alertness must’ve been at the maximum, considering that it was the time of Skyhill Sword Seminar after all.

”Although you successfully infiltrated and installed bombs right before their eyes without being discovered, the bombs wouldn’t have been too numerous, and their size must’ve been small.

”My conclusion is that you had bombs whose size is disproportional to their damage.

”In the meantime, you had an expert of explosions on your side who knew how to deploy the bombs to maximize the potential damage by taking advantage of the structural weak points of the environment. The damage of the bombs could be brought up by hundreds of times in such a way. Therefore, you destroyed two floating mountains with just several bombs!

”If my guess is correct, this expert of explosions was yourself?”

Huangpu Shiyi laughed and bragged, ”Yes. I’ve always believed that crystal bombs are the strongest magical equipment. Their power is limitless, and when it is fully and instantly unleashed, even an expert multiple times stronger than you might be slain easily in a single breath!

”Although I am not a battle-type Cultivator, hundreds of renowned Cultivators have been killed by my crystal bombs!”

Eagerness was shining in Li Yao’s eyes, as he blurted, ”I’ve always believed so, ever since I was a kid! Crystal bombs are the best magical equipment! So, teach me everything you know about crystal bombs!”