Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Bai Xinghe nodded and quickly replied, “Correct. In order to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage, Yan Xinjian levied and looted on Spider Den. He annihilated a lot of pirate gangs with the excuse that they violated the ‘Ten Sword Rules’ before collecting all their resources. Naturally, he made a lot of enemies. There were even more who behaved nicely and obediently but were in fact merely scared of the tremendous soldiers under his control.

“It was not a small task to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage from the Nascent Soul Stage. Three to five years were already rarely seen. During the breakthrough, the Cultivator needs to be totally focused. They have absolutely no time or energy to care about other affairs.

“If Yan Xinjian did not show up on the ground for several years, his power would definitely be assumed, and the reign of iron and blood built by him would collapse. When other space pirates learned that he was hiding below the ground doing his training, they would definitely do anything they could to sabotage his endeavor to enter the Divinity Transformation Stage.

“During the period when a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator broke into the Divinity Transformation Stage, it was like a caterpillar in a cocoon waiting to become a butterfly. It was the most vulnerable time of their life. They had to pass through all kinds of difficulties and were prone to heavy wounds or mental derangement at any time.

“If his enemies suddenly marched into his training room when Yan Xibei was mentally deranged, it was not hard to guess what would happen next.

“Therefore, in order to advance into the Divinity Transformation Stage successfully, Yan Xinjian made full preparations. Not only did he establish a secret training room ten thousand meters below the surface, he also set up multiple lethal traps based on the original fortress.

“Yan Xinjian created ‘Ten Sword Rules’ when he governed Spider Den. He was quite merciful to his prey in space, but to the space pirates on his side, he was cruel and ruthless and would butcher them easily.

“Many space pirates at that time complained about his petty kindness. Hundreds of years later, many people in the world of Cultivators still hold him in high regard, insisting that he at least had a certain mortal standard.

“But they did not know that Yan Xinjian was so tough on the space pirates and performed purges every once in a while partly in order to accumulate wealth and resources quickly, which were necessary for his breakthrough into the Divinity Transformation Stage, and partly, as well as more importantly, to execute all the insiders with the purges as the disguise.

“After everybody who knew the secret training room and the underground traps was wiped out, Yan Xinjian ‘died abruptly’!

“But in reality, he secluded himself underground for the breakthrough into the Divinity Transformation Stage!”

Li Yao was hooked and couldn’t help but ask, “If so, the anecdote should be a top secret. How do you know it?”

Bai Xinghe smiled and said, “I found some of Yan Xinjian’s notes from the super crystal processors of the Star Prier’s House. He set the notes to be automatically unlocked and readable three hundred years after he entered the secret training room.

“If somebody entered the Star Prier’s House and activated the super crystal processors within three hundred years, not only would they have no access to the notes, all the traps in the underground fortress would be triggered immediately and destroy everything!”

Li Yao thought through the whole thing very quickly.

Whether the breakthrough to the Divinity Transformation Stage succeeded or failed, the answer would be revealed within a hundred years.

If Yan Xinjian successfully advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage, he should have ended his seclusion in several decades. By then, he could always modify or delete his notes, and he could have governed Spider Den again as the ‘best expert of the Flying Star Sector’.

If he did not turn on the super crystal processors three hundred years later, there was only one possibility, which was that he was dead.

The breakthrough from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Divinity Transformation Stage was a risky process. Even without the influence of the apocalypses, the success rate was no higher than 10%. Yan Xinjian probably left those notes in order to leave his legacy for the latecomers. Many high-level Cultivators would do similar things for total strangers when they were striving to enter a higher level.

“The notes that I received marked the secret training room and the locations of the traps in great detail,” Bai Xinghe said. “It also recorded part of Yan Xinjian’s secret arts and techniques. However, according to the notes, most of Yan Xinjian’s magical equipment and techniques were stored in his secret training room. He hoped that those who were fortunate enough to read the notes could open his secret training room and become his real successor!”

Li Yao suddenly beamed with joy. “So, you are indeed Yan Xinjian’s successor!”

Bai Xinghe sneered and shook his head. “No, I am not. I did not open Yan Xinjian’s secret training room.”

Li Yao was dumbfounded.

The secret training room of a Cultivator in the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage equaled to his treasury. There must have been immeasurable benefits hidden inside. Yet, Bai Xinghe, the space pirate who made his living from others’ fortunes, chose not to open it?

“Why?”

Bai Xinghe replied coldly, “Because I didn’t believe in Yan Xinjian.

“When I was young, I once considered the ‘supreme space pirate’ as my role model and went through a lot of trouble to collect information about him.

“After cross-checking the files and the notes he left, I felt more and more alarmed as I studied deeper.

“On the surface, all the files stated that Yan Xinjian ran away from Heavenly Saints City and ended up on Spider Den because his wife cheated on him. The man burst into a fury and slew countless people.

“However, as I studied the files carefully, I found anomalies and came to a different conclusion.

“Yan Xinjian’s wife might have cheated on him, or she might not have. It doesn’t matter. What mattered was that Yan Xinjian was likely to have received a map, or at least the scraps of a map, of the underground fortress of Spider Den earlier.

“Otherwise, how could Yan Xinjian, as an outsider, find the entrance to the core area of the underground fortress in only one and a half years, when the local space pirates on Spider failed to find it for hundreds of years?

“Therefore, his wife cheating on him was probably only his excuse. In such a way, he could escape to Spider Den without raising the suspicion of the space pirates!

“It was even possible that the battle of Spider Den was manipulated by him in person, too!

“Think about it. Yan Xinjian ran to Spider Den alone. However capable he was, would the ferocious, disobedient space pirates really listen to his command?

“Only when the coalition fleet of the Cultivators approached could the value of him, the man who was most familiar with the starships of the Cultivators, be maximized. That was why he was granted with the temporary right to command many pirate gangs on Spider Den!

“Yan Xinjian gradually rose to power during the protracted war. All the space pirates who objected to him or doubted him got killed in the bloody battles.

“After years of war, the Cultivators were finally defeated and retreated without a victory, but the space pirates suffered equally heavy losses. Many pirate gangs were wasted or crippled. The best experts among space pirates were mostly killed. The one who got the most benefits was Yan Xinjian!

“He turned from a desperate deserter into the supreme ruler of Spider Den!

“The world of Cultivators and Spider Den were both tricked by him while knowing nothing of it. The man was indeed cunning and strategical!

“Would such a terrifying man really pass on his legacy to latecomers?

“Naturally, normal people may think that, since Yan Xinjian was likely to be killed, his last words might not be harmful. It was not a strange idea that the deceased left some benefits for the latecomers so that they could pass on their will.

“But was Yan Xinjian normal people?

“I did not dare take the risk. In my life, I was never scared of anybody, even when I was surrounded by Cultivators, outnumbered ten to one. But after learning of Yan Xinjian’s doings, I felt goosebumps all over my body.

“My intuition told me to keep as far away from anything related to Yan Xinjian as possible!

“Therefore, although I discovered Yan Xinjian’s secret training room, and I knew that his legacy and secret treasures were probably hidden inside, I gritted my teeth and made up my mind that I would not open it for the rest of my life!”

Cold sweat appeared on Li Yao’s forehead as he heard the story.

It was definitely true that none of the people who left their names in history and whose influence lasted to this day were easy to deal with.

If Yan Xinjian were really behind the curtain of everything, the resolution and schemes of the ‘supreme space pirate’ were indeed appalling.

Li Yao couldn’t help but recall the residence of Skeleton Dragon on Boneyard.

At that time, Skeleton Dragon was also luring the new generations with secret treasures for the purpose of breaking the barriers and returning to the world!

Although Yan Xinjian was probably long dead, who could say for sure what was on the mind of the old monsters in the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage?

It was possible that the notes he had left in the super crystal processors were really bait to fool the latecomers into opening the secret training room!

However, Yan Xinjian must never have foreseen that, after hundreds of years of waiting, it was another man who was as resolute as himself named Bai Xinghe who discovered the notes, and that he could refrain from succumbing to such huge temptations!

Maybe, this was a five-hundred-year battle between the ‘supreme space pirate’ and the ‘Pirate Potentate’!

“So, you did not open Yan Xinjian’s secret training room but merely took control over the traps he made? That explains a lot. You have indeed never deployed any traps below the ground. The Immortal Cultivators would never even think that they will be faced with the most terrifying traps designed by the supreme space pirate himself!” Li Yao said.

Bai Xinghe smiled bitterly. “Not the Immortal Cultivators, but us. The traps have been activated. Nobody is going to run away!”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. “When did you activate the traps?”

“I didn’t have to,” Bai Xinghe replied. “The trigger system of the traps is very complicated. By taking the total weight of everybody in the underground fortress, the heat and spiritual waves they emit, the waste gas they breath out as well as other factors into account, after a series of precise calculations, as long as the trigger system determines that a lot of intruders have entered the core area, especially the main warehouse at the bottom level, all the traps will be activated immediately!

“Therefore, the traps have been activated now. Nobody is going to stop them!”

Li Yao blinked fast. “Why can’t I feel anything?”

Bai Xinghe sighed and said, “Do you remember the Nether River that we leapt across seven days ago? The Star Prier’s House uses the water of the river as its source of energy. Yan Xinjian’s traps are based on the Nether River, too.

“Once the traps are activated, the critical parts around the Nether River will be blown up immediately. The route of the Nether River will change, and the water will pour into the underground fortress and devour it!”