Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong held their breath as they observed Li Yao’s reaction nervously.

For many tall and muscular men in the Furious Bears Tribe, they would already be crying and begging for mercy when one fifth the standard pressure was imposed on them.

There was nothing but indifference on Li Yao’s face. He blinked his eyes and looked back peacefully.

Wu Mayan looked at Fu Dong in bewilderment. He then stood on his toes so that he could check the pressure meter on Li Yao’s shackles and hear the shrieking spiritual gas from the joints of the tools. He remarked confusedly, ”There’s nothing wrong. It is one third the standard pressure. What’s going on? Uncle Sand Scorpion. Do you not feel anything?”

Li Yao shook his head.

No, that was not entirely true. He felt like ten thousand feathers were brushing his body and making him itch. They were like dragonflies stopping by the surface of a pond and had dispersed before he had enjoyed enough.

Fu Dong made up his mind and span the gear again to change the standard pressure!

Li Yao frowned. He finally sensed clearly that feeble currents were flooding into his body from his wrists and ankles and roaming among his internal organs and his twenty major veins.

However, the air currents were too weak. He felt that somebody was gently tickling him. He was unfulfilled, and the eagerness deep in his blood was aroused.

”Still nothing? Does it not hurt?”

Wu Mayan was dazed. He remembered what had happened to him when he was faced with the standard pressure for the first time. He had felt that he was being skinned and almost jumped up and crashed into the ceiling!

Fu Dong was somewhat surprised, too. ”Breathing and heartbeat are normal. Eyes are clear, too. You must’ve received training with True Qi Locks before, right?”

Li Yao shook his head emotionlessly, showing that he had forgotten everything.

Wu Mayan’s eyes suddenly shone. He exclaimed, ”That must be the case! Uncle Sand Scorpion is probably an expert of one of the other tribes and has received training with True Qi Locks before. That’s why you can hold back the pain!”

Is this pain?

Li Yao did not think so at all.

In Ou Yezi’s memory fragments, to practice the ancient arts of refining, he had ruthlessly tortured himself countless times.

The Thousand Fingers Soft Bones Technique alone, which was for the purpose of improving the nimbleness of fingers, required breaking one’s fingers repetitively, shattering them and restoring them with secret medicines.

Some of the other training techniques even demanded that he put his hand in boiling medical drugs until they were cooked, and they were boiled again and again after they recovered. Only in such a way could the freshest skin and flesh be created, and the sensation of the hands be maximized.

His Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique had also been improved many a time when he was practicing with Ding Lingdang. Ding Lingdang had never showed any mercy when she was in a fight, and it was often terribly painful for him.

To further improve the speed and sensation of the hands, he had even conducted the cruelest training with the Purple Ring Sword Ants!

They would often say that fingers were connected to the heart, but for him, the pain of dozens of Purple Ring Sword Ants biting him simultaneously was something that he could only vaguely feel.

He had thought that such pain was not thrilling enough and fed virulent poison to the Purple Ring Sword Ants in order to increase the pain.

The more pain he was in, the faster he would improve!

The standard pressure felt like stinging from a grass tip for Li Yao. It was absolutely not worth mentioning and felt more like itching than aching.

He did not like itching.

Therefore, he simply extended his hand and span the gear hard. The switch was set to five times the standard pressure immediately.

Hiss—

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong both gasped, but there had been no time for them to stop him. They were beaming with amazement.

Li Yao grunted. He felt that the spiritual gas was crowding into his body like scorching magma and finally caused some pain for him.

He had tasted pain of exactly the same degree every time he was warming up before a training session. The familiar feeling made his lips curl, and he grinned in satisfaction.

Now we’re talking.

Li Yao squinted, as if he was enjoying a delicious meal. He continued adjusting the valve and increased the pressure of the spiritual gas to six times, seven times, eight times…

In the observation room next door, Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan were both dumbfounded. Their faces were almost kissing the glass, and they failed to come up with any remarks for a long time.

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong did not know Li Yao’s background. They thought that he had received True Qi Locks training before, and therefore, could still accept everything they saw, however shocked they were.

But Xiong Wuji and Sha Yulan knew clearly that Li Yao was a Cultivator from space. How could he endure such pain on his first try?

Seeing that Li Yao had set the valve to more than ten times the standard pressure, Xiong Wuji was greatly stunned. He glanced at Sha Yulan in confusion and asked, ”Didn’t you say that the training methods of the Cultivators in space are all very mild and orthodox? But I seriously doubt his training was ’mild and orthodox’. His face seems to suggest that he is quite enjoying the suffering!”

Sha Yulan was as befuddled as him. She mumbled, ”I don’t understand. I’ve never seen such a weird Cultivator before!”

Hu—

Li Yao finally stopped at thirteen times the standard pressure. He took a long breath and exhaled in content. A mouthful of white steam dashed out like an arrow that was as swift as the spiritual gas escaping from the joints of the magical equipment!

This was not his limits yet. But since this was only his first try, he would like to take it slowly and progressively.

The muscles all over Li Yao’s body protruded out. His thick veins appeared like raging blue dragons. Yet, his countenance was as indifferent as before. Except for the occasional twitching of his eyes, there were absolutely no signs that he was in excruciating pain!

Li Yao reflected on the pictures of capillary vessels that had been etched to his brain just now wholeheartedly. He then observed his body with his soul while his spiritual threads extended and guided the spiritual gas charging into his body precisely toward where the capillary vessels were located.

Increasing the capacity of spiritual gas by building a thousand Bridge Veins!

Wu Mayan was truly shocked.

He was also able to withstand fifteen times the standard pressure now. However, beyond ten times the standard pressure, the agony that felt like ten thousand ants biting his heart was still too much for him. Even if he could concentrate his attention, he would still be grimacing and screaming during his training, his face twisted, and would in no way be nearly as tranquil as Li Yao was right now.

The little monster, who had always considered himself to be a resolute man, shouted in disbelief, ”Uncle Sand Scorpion, do you not know what pain is?”

Li Yao was not bothered by him, and he was focused on the thousands of streams of rampant spiritual gas inside his body. He felt that he still hadn’t enjoyed enough yet, and therefore simply walked to the corner of the chamber where the training equipment was placed.

He had his own daily work-out plan and did not require the supervision from other people.

He warmed up himself at first with 800-kg barbells casually before he ran at the highest speed for three minutes. When Li Yao felt that his body had been woken up, he started the real training.

Swoosh!

His left arm turned into a grey shadow and thrashed forward like an iron whip, immediately raising the sound of air being ripped apart. A small swirl appeared right in front of the first, before two fulminations echoed on the target, the first being the explosion of the swirl and the second resulting from the actual collision!

Pa! Pa!

The gap between the two noises was very brief, as if two serial Wolf Fangs had been detonated simultaneously. The earsplitting noises resonated inside the spacious training chamber and did not die down for a long time.

My capillary vessels have been filled with spiritual gas. When I punch, I feel that a tide is surging out together with my fist. The feeling is quite marvelous!

Li Yao grinned. He recalled the agonizing days in the outdated training field of the Crimson Nimbus Second High School where he had been sweating and training with the special vest under the guidance of Mister Sun Biao.

The insufferable days in the past were more vivid than ever today. He felt that he was drinking a cup of cold beer that became the most gratifying stream when it entered his stomach!

One punch. One punch. Another punch.

Carrying more than a thousand kilograms of weight, with untamable spiritual gas savaging his body, Li Yao started his daily training.

After each punch, his muscle fibers and capillary vessels were torn apart, but they were quickly mended by the spiritual energy the very next moment. The feeling of getting stronger gave him ultimate pleasure.

Without him knowing anything, the iron target in front of him had been left with two deep traces of fists.

Li Yao took a long breath and finally stopped. His fists had no protection, so they were now soaked in blood and sweat, which were dripping to the ground steadily.

He raised his head to check the time. An hour had passed while he had summoned his spiritual energy and trained crazily.

Wu Mayan had watched him to train for an entire hour with his shocked expression unchanged. He stuttered, ”Un—Uncle Sand Scorpion. Are you done with your training?”

Brutal man! Absolutely a super brutal man!

During the expansion of veins with spiritual gas, the pain would grow exponentially as the training process proceeded.

The training sessions of the expansion of veins for normal qi-trainers were usually around half an hour. They would have to take a brief rest between each session. He did not expect that Uncle Sand Scorpion would be so tough that he could persist for an entire hour!

Li Yao shook his head. He waved his hands and said, ”The gas has run out.”

”What?”

Wu Mayan and Fu Dong were both flabbergasted. ”Eight high-level True Qi containers have been used up in only one hour?”

…

Li Yao spent five hours in the training chamber. Except for the half hour when he consumed food crazily, he devoted all his time to training at the highest intensity and sabotaged the barbells and iron blocks, which weighed hundreds of kilograms, to the point that they sounded like were about to break apart.

Eventually, he used up 42 high-level True Qi containers and increased the pressure to seventeen times the standard pressure!

Even Fu Dong, the manager of the training chamber who had always thought that he had seen everything, was extremely shocked, much less Wu Mayan. The young man had completely forgotten what happened in the test field yesterday and almost started worshipping Li Yao as a god!

When the training was done, Li Yao did not return to the hospital with Wu Mayan, because Fu Dong told him that someone else was waiting for him on the fourteenth floor below ground.

It was Xiong Wuji.

The deeper he went, the fewer traces of man-made architecture could be found. The minus fourteenth floor was essentially a natural underground cave, with mysterious and dark pathways leading to everywhere. Giant iron doors were embedded to the crude walls of the cave.

Clang! Clang!

Countless ferocious animals seemed to have been locked in the depths of the cave. They were bashing the heavy and thick iron doors with all their might.

Roars resembling those of primordial beasts leaked out from the gaps under the iron doors and raged in the pathways, making the ears of everyone who heard them sore.

”This is the most special training chamber in the temple of techniques. Only those with distinguished performances in the first test are qualified to enter this place!”

The pathway was almost blocked by the high and mighty Xiong Wuji, who said coldly, ”It is even safe to say that this is where the qi-trainers do their real training!”