Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“The pure white mice are the smallest in number. They do not like to participate in the competitions among mice. Their favorite thing is to mumble alone in the corners.

“Sometimes, I listen to them carefully and find that they are recalling their past with their wife hundreds of years ago.

“At that time, Yan Xinjian was not the vice commander of the coalition fleet of the six sects of Heavenly Saints City yet. He was merely a talented, ambitious young man. Since he devoted most of resources to training, life was quite difficult for him. He only managed to climb higher and higher with the encouragement and support of his wife.

“Every time they get to the end of their story, the pure white mice always sob in grief. Occasionally, when they are too sad, they even run to the front of other mice and yell, ‘You killed her. It was you who killed my wife!’

“Naturally, they end up being ripped apart by other mice, and their remaining soul turns into a streak of whiteness looking for a new mouse to possess.

“Several times, I also saw the pure white mice drag out ignorant female mice from the cage, hug them and murmur, ‘Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu’, regarding them as their ‘wife’.

“Those female mice were not possessed by any soul. They were the most ordinary animals. They could not do anything despite their hard struggles. Other ‘clones’ of Yan Xinjian all burst into laughter when they saw this.

“I felt quite uncomfortable seeing what happened to them. Finally, one day, I drove away mice in other colors and built a small house for the pure white mice with the materials that I specially prepared. I then established defense rune arrays around the house so that the mice that stood for the guilt and shame in Yan Xinjian’s heart could live in peace temporarily.”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 356.

“Without me knowing it, it’s been more than a year.

“There have been no sounds outside at all over the past year. I don’t know whether or not Lei Dalu and Bai Kaixin successfully ran away or if people of the Temple of Immortals were all annihilated.

“However, neither of the two parties should know that I’m in this place.

“Bai Xinghe was the only one who knew the secret of Yan Xinjian’s secret training room. Also, the two Lustful Rock Spider went on a rampage and buried the entrance to the secret training room with abundant rocks in their fury.

“There are no magical equipment or techniques in the underground fortress. Even if some members of the Temple of Immortals escaped, there should be no reason for them to excavate the underground fortress on a large scale, given the tremendous manpower and resources required.

“Therefore, I can train myself without worry here.

“After one year of training, although my Cultivation is still in the superlative height of the Building Foundation Stage, my combat ability and my battle sense have undergone drastic changes.

“By my estimation, they are at least twice as good as one year ago!

“I’ve been absorbing the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that Yan Xinjian left with the Art of the Swallowing Whale every day, and my body of flesh and blood have both been upgraded in amazing ways.

“As for the techniques that Yan Xinjian left, except for those that only people above the Core Formation Stage can practice, I’ve studied almost all of them. When I compared them with the techniques that I knew before, I was greatly inspired by the similarities and differences between them.

“Maybe, on the same day next year, I’ll be advancing into the Core Formation Stage!”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 577.

“Today, Yan Xinjian’s clones had an unprecedented war.

“In fact, there had been signs of war since days ago. The mice collected a lot of food and crystals, which was quite unusual for them. They then crafted countless ‘flying swords’ that looked like needles and strengthened their ‘castles’. Even the red mice that were often very bad-tempered went quiet.

“However, since my training came to the crucial moment, I didn’t have time to pay attention to the mice.

“When I noticed it, the war between the mice had already begun. The red mice seemed to be planning to destroy all the other mice once and for all.

“At the end of the war, every party involved left almost a thousand bodies. Hundreds of Yan Xinjian’s remaining souls were broken apart. The remaining souls that still existed were extremely lackluster and looked like shaking candles that were about to burn out.

“I even saw that one of Yan Xinjian’s remaining souls tried to possess a mouse, only to fly out in half a minute after crawling into the mouse’s ear. It was even more pitiful after the endeavor.

“That remnant of Yan Xinjian’s soul had been weakened to such a point that it could not guarantee to possess a mouse now.

“I suddenly realized why the war had broken out.

“Yan Xinjian’s doom has come.

“His remaining soul was too weak to be weakened any further. It will perish completely within a year and a half.”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 701.

“Anxious. Anxious. I’m very anxious!

“My capability is now so strong!

“I can punch a thousand times in one minute under fifty times the standard gravity. The blast from my fists can trigger a force of thousands of kilograms up to three meters away. With a telepathic thought, the weight of thousands of kilograms can be condensed in an area the size of my fingertip!

“I can survive for dozens of seconds in an environment of almost a thousand degrees, naked. Even if the environment suddenly shifts to minus two hundred degrees, I won’t even bat an eye, and 30% of my combat ability will still remain!

“In the ancient classics of training, it was described that high-level Cultivators were ‘unwavering in front of flood or fire’. That must be what I’m currently experiencing!

“But why can I never find an opportunity to form the core?”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 733.

“The red mice have gone extinct today. The ambitions deep inside Yan Xinjian’s heart are finally gone.

“Barely any mice in other colors are alive now. As for the pure white mice, there is only the last of them.

“For some reason, as Yan Xinjian’s remaining soul perished bit by bit, I was gradually grasped by desperation, too, and I did not have the courage to imagine what my life would be like once all the remaining souls were gone.

“Maybe, deep in my mind, I considered his remaining soul as someone alive, no matter how evil and sordid he was.

“Once the ‘someone’ died, I would be the only person in this room.

“Can I really succeed in forming the core? Will I ever get out of this place?

“Today, I asked myself in the mirror such questions.

“A weird thing happened!

“The me in the mirror looked like a totally different person. His left eye was emitting demonic red brightness, and he nodded his head affirmatively with a mysterious smile on his face.

“I was greatly shocked and shook my head hard. When my mind was clear again, I looked at the mirror, only to discover that—

“There was no mirror.

“I was merely talking to myself against a wall.”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 809.

“I feel that I’m now mired in a weird swirl.

“My strength continues expanding, but my Cultivation does not rise accordingly.

“Recently, I’ve been feeling that my brain is not enough to control every part of my body. I often make attacking movements subconsciously, like a tyrannosaur driven by the lust of killing whose brain is only the size of a peanut.

“Is this mental derangement?

“I’ve read a lot of books, including those left by Yan Xinjian and the ancient classics in the Heavenly Refining Tower deep inside my brain. I searched for the symptoms of mental derangement when a Cultivator was about to break into a higher level.

“I discovered that the anomalies that happened to me were different from the normal symptoms of mental derangement.

“But anyway, I cannot continue training in such a way. Something serious is definitely going to happen to me if I go on!

“After a long period of consideration, I’ve decided today that I’ll put my training on hold for now.

“After all, my combat ability is dozens of times higher than that of the peak of the Building Foundation Stage in common sense. Since so many Cultivators in the peak of the Building Foundation Stage have formed their cores with a lesser combat ability, the obstacle that blocks me from forming the core should not be my body.

“Of course, I will not idle by ten thousand meters below the ground. Don’t forget that I’m a hybrid-type Cultivator. Other than talent in combats, I’m also gifted at creation!

“I’ve stopped worrying about the ways to form the core and brought out the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the Dragon King Battlesuit, and the Unparalleled Extension. I plan to study how to combine the two super crystal suits and the most advanced Ares Extension of the Flying Star Sector.

“Many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in Yan Xinjian’s training room are not absorbable. Leaving them below the ground will be the greatest waste ever.

“I’m planning to craft the best crystal suit of the Flying Star Sector, the Heaven’s Origin Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector with those Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures as well as the key components on the two super crystal suits.

“Then, based on the crystal suit, I will build a tailor-made Unparalleled Extension for myself!

“Mystic Skeleton plus Dragon King, Unparalleled in the sea of stars. Just thinking about them is enough to make me thrilled!”

…

Li Yao’s training log. Day 1000.

“What a nice surprise!

“Since I gave up the pursuit of absolute strength when I sensed the untamable desire for killing deep inside my heart half a year ago, I’ve been polishing my mind by refining crystal suits.

“The combination of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and the Dragon King Battlesuit went very well. Also, during the arduous tasks of designing and forging day after day, I could clearly feel that my mind was cleansed and perfected.

“As a result, last night, when I completed the design of a critical valve of the strengthened crystal reactor, I suddenly felt that my spine was itching so hard that I could barely resist. My limbs and internal organs seemed to have turned into endless dragons flooding into my spine and then gathering at the end of my spine!

“I had the feeling that the end of my spine was ‘expanding’.

“I knew that the evolution had begun!

“My ‘second brain’ is awakening, maturing, and taking shape!

“When the ancient Cultivators strove for a higher level, they often valued ‘opportunity’ or ‘spur of the moment’. In fact, such feelings were just the reactions between their brand-new organs and the surrounding spiritual energy.

“This is my opportunity!

“Better late than never. I’m going to have everything prepared in three days and advance into the Core Formation Stage officially!”