Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The mental devil screamed and writhed crazily like a leech that had been thrown into salt, but Li Yao’s belief became more and more brilliant, determined and pure in his exultant laughter.

The brightness congregated into an overwhelming giant with the innocent face of a baby deep inside his brain!

The ‘soul baby’ punched and kicked, further blowing the mental devil into smithereens and laughing. “Stop wasting your time. My belief will not be shaken by you!

“Even if somebody in the leadership of the federation is setting me up, they must be in the minority. The only reason they are setting me up in such a way is because they are scared of me!

“They are scared of me not because my personal capability in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage but because they know clearly that all my friends support me and 99% of the federal citizens trust me. As long as the real me shows up, their scheme will be immediately sabotaged!

“That’s why they have been trying everything they can to stop the real Li Yao from showing up!

“But no matter how hard they set me up, and after all the dirty moves they played, what now? Ding Lingdang still trusts me regardless of everything!

“I am not dead yet. I can still tell everybody in the federation the truth!

“Hehe. Those shameless scumbags spoke evil of me and claimed that I was possessed by the Blood Stripe Virus. If I cannot control my dark side and really go on a killing spree slaughtering the innocent, that will be exactly what they are expecting me to do. I will be at their mercy and eventually bend to them!

“Weak? Being unable to control your anger, hatred, passion, and brutality. Submitting to your dark side. Completely falling into the abyss. That’s the real weakness!

“Therefore, you can go to hell!”

BOOM!

A million tons of crystal bombs seemed to be detonated inside Li Yao’s brain. The overwhelming golden tide swept across all his brain cells and completely suppressed the bloody waves. Every one of his brain cells was glittering spectacularly like the most brilliant pearl!

Li Yao felt that thunder was echoing inside his brain. Countless streaks of lightning seemed to be cleansing every vein and nerve in his body. He felt that his head was clearer than ever, and his body could not have been more comfortable!

The ‘second brain’ at his tailbone was bursting out thunderous sounds, too, resonating with his main brain. When the two waves of thunder crashed into each other hard, they turned into a sound that resembled the cry of a baby!

Li Yao was dazed. He took a long breath but still could not tame his ecstasy!

[Could—could—could it be—

[The sign of the Nascent Soul Stage?

In the path of a Cultivator, advancement always came with setbacks. After breaking into the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage, he had been engaged in a lot of fierce battles, but he did not meet much trouble. Even when he was ambushed on all sides, it was his body that always got hurt. His heart and soul were never questioned on a deep level.

Without prodigious devastation, one could never learn their heart completely.

After he returned to the Heaven’s Origin Sector and got involved in such a mysterious and unpredictable scheme, his soul had fallen into the dark, boundless abyss.

But at the last moment, he managed to shoulder the pressure and soared to the sky again from the abyss. Finally, his belief had an amazing breakthrough. The horn for the march to the Nascent Soul Stage had been blown. There was a chance that he could become a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator below the age of fifty, an unprecedented achievement in the history of the Star Glory Federation!

Li Yao laughed again. Was this what people said to be a ‘silver lining’?

Advancing into the Nascent Soul Stage was the biggest dream for every Cultivator. However, the difference between the peak of the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage did not lie in the force of one’s punch or the speed of one’s movement. It depended on whether or not one could find their true self.

The ultimate purpose of Cultivation was to find one’s most real side and defend, spread, and abide by it throughout one’s life!

Every Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator had their own story. They all ascended to the stage after unique experiences. It was exactly because of the unique experience that their belief boasted a different will from other people’s!

Li Yao suddenly felt that what delighted him most was not that he had seen the threshold of the Nascent Soul Stage, but—

His love had lived up to his trust, and he had climbed out of the abyss in his heart at the moment, living up to her trust, too!

At a corner of the medical camp, Li Yao sat cross-legged and ripped off the bandage that entangled his left eye.

The blood red in his both eyes was gone, replaced by darkness that bordered on transparency. His eyes were nether deep nor intimidating, but they gave a very comfortable feeling, as if the resolution and smile there would stay forever.

Taking a long breath, Li Yao felt that he was like a sprout that had just pierced out of the soil, reborn.

Looking at the distance, he discovered that many volunteers had come to the medical camp while he was fighting with himself.

They were all the residents living nearby. Some of them were children, and some were seniors almost two hundred years old. They brought food, clothes, and blankets from their homes. One of them even brought a new flag.

The Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag at the center of the Federal Square was burnt and riddled with holes. However, in the small temporary medical camp, a new Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag was rising slowly!

The night fell. The sky was occupied by darkness.

But dark as the sky might be, it could never drown the flag that was flapping in the wind.

Li Yao suddenly found something very interesting.

99.99% of the night sky was purely black. Only a few stars were shining there.

However, when someone raised their head, the first thing that they noticed would certainly be the shining stars but not the dark sky!

“Uncle—”

A lively young boy, wearing a volunteer’s badge on his chest, was holding a blanket painted with a teddy bear and looking at him. “Why were you shaking and sweating so hard a moment ago? Are you still scared?”

Li Yao was dazed. Scratching his head, he was going to say something when the boy covered the blanket on him and patted his shoulder, comforting him solemnly. “There, there. Mom and Dad said that the bad guys have been driven away. It’s okay now.”

Li Yao could not help but feel amused.

The boy thought for a moment and took out a toy from his pocket. He hesitated for a moment, but he still handed it over to Li Yao in the end. “Uncle, if you are still scared, I can lend him to you. He is a very awesome Ultra-Level Federal Hero. The bad guys will never dare to come close to you if he is with you!

“However, when you are not scared, you must return him to me. This is my favorite hero!”

Li Yao took over the toy. He felt that his eyes were blurred again.

The toy in his hand was tall, majestic, and handsome. He was wearing an eye-catching combat suit with a double-edged chainsword on his waist. The Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars badge on his chest was glittering!

The toy did not look like him at all!

Li Yao’s nose flapped. Looking at the boy’s hopeful eyes, he again felt fortunate that he had not been swallowed by darkness a moment ago.

There might be such jackasses in the leadership of the federation, but so what?

It was not those guys that he was trying to protect but those who trusted him, admired him, and needed him!

“Thank you, buddy.” Li Yao scratched the boy’s nose and smiled. “With the protection of this Vulture Li Yao, I will never be scared anymore!”

“Vulture Li Yao?” The boy blinked in confusion. He pouted his lips and said, “This is ‘King Kong’ Gao Longze, the Ultra-Level Federal Hero from a hundred and thirty years ago. He isn’t Vulture Li Yao. Vulture Li Yao is too plain-looking. I didn’t buy him.

“King Kong Gao Longze is the most awesome hero in the federation. He is much stronger than Vulture Li Yao. He will certainly protect you well, Uncle!”

“Okay.” Li Yao wiped his sweat and opened his palm, observing the toy carefully for a second time.

‘King Kong’ Gao Longze, the Ultra-Level Federal Hero before him, was staring at him with a pair of strict eyes, as if he were saying, [Hey, young man. All the ‘Ultra-Level Federal Heroes’ are dead now, except for you. You are shouldering all our glory and hope. Do not ever cower away. Bring our strength and blow up those scumbags!

Li Yao clenched the toy hard in his hands and silently swore to himself, [Rest assured, Senior Gao. I will certainly not dishonor the title of Ultra-Level Federal Hero. I will unveil all those scumbags with your support and blow them into smithereens!]

Crack!

He crushed the toy’s neck.

“…” The boy.

“…” Li Yao.

“Uncle, you—you—”

“Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Uncle will do a magic trick for you. Look. I now put it below the blanket. One, two, three. Voila!”

Li Yao removed the super glue from his Cosmos Ring and stuck the toy’s head back to its neck.

With the expertise of the master of refining, naturally, he repaired such a children’s toy flawlessly.

The boy was delighted again and took back his toy. After patting Li Yao’s shoulder again like a little grown-up, he left.

After the boy left, deep inside Li Yao’s head, the mental devil that was only the size of a fingernail slowly woke up.

“What—what happened to me?” the mental devil asked with an innocent face, its big eyes blinking in confusion.

Li Yao glared at him coldly.

“Did I try to swallow your soul and control your body again?” The mental devil was greatly surprised.

Li Yao nodded silently.

“You may find this hard to believe.” The mental devil brazenly tried to spin a tale. “In fact, this must be what has happened. I am a good guy who has sworn to live in peace with you, but there is a mental devil that is residing in my heart. Occasionally, it will jump out and control me. When I am controlled by it, I will be mean and aggressive and no longer as kind and innocent as I usually am. I turned into a wicked, atrocious, bad mental devil. That was why I tried to swallow your soul!

“But right now, the bad mental devil has been beaten back by you, and the kind and innocent good mental devil is back. This is all your credit. Thank you for saving my life!”

“Okay, I got it now,” Li Yao said. “So, you are a mental devil, and there is a mental devil in your heart. It was under the control of the mental devil in the mental devil that you revealed your hideous appearance and tried to devour me, wasn’t it?”

“Exactly,” the mental devil replied solemnly. “You are truly smart, mister. I feel comforted now.”

“… Do you think I’m a f*cking idiot?”