Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

It was yet another great burden for Li Yao’s head.

When the incessant information inundated his brain, he felt that his brain was about to explode. But his hands couldn’t stop. He had to repeat the complicated assemble and maintenance work time and time again, until every procedure became muscle memory and were deeply etched to his nerve endings.

Li Yao hadn’t tasted the feeling of his fingers being scathed for years. Right now, when he had the experience again, he couldn’t help but feel that he was back to the past.

The feeling made him feel that a tiny sprout was growing out of the soil deep inside his soul.

The only thing that could almost be called a relief in an entire day was when he learnt the arts of breath and meditation after Gui Suishou, so that his body would train itself while he was unconscious in the hibernation state.

“All the functions of a human body can be divided into two parts, the conscious ones and the subconscious ones.

“Raising your hand, walking, blinking or opening the mouth are all controlled by the shallow consciousness. Even ordinary people can influence them free at will.”

Gui Suishou said, “But some other actions, say, the rhythm of the internal organs, the opening and closing of the pores, and the secretion of body fluids, are not controlled by the cerebrum but by the cerebellum and brainstem.

“Normally, it is very difficult for the ordinary people to control their own heartbeat and secretion of hormones. When they are anxious, their heartbeat will be faster, and they will sweat. When they are horrified, their hands and feet will be cold, and they will have goosebumps. Such phenomena are perfectly normal.

“The Cultivators, however, can control everything I said to some extent.

“The higher a Cultivator’s level is, the deeper their understanding and control over themselves will be, and the more organs and hormones they will be able to influence.

“If we consider a human body as a crystal processor with an operation system, then, the process in which the Cultivators break the physiological limits by training through their arts can be compared to the process in which the higher permissions, say, the administrator’s or even the developer’s, are gradually unlocked for the crystal processor. Eventually, the user is able to debug and edit the architecture and even the hardware itself, making the crystal processor work stably with a performance much better than previously.

“In other words, when a Cultivator is training himself and releasing the techniques, his body is actually ‘overclocking’!

“However, while ‘overclocking’ can significantly increase the work efficiency, there are serious side effects, too. To say the very least, the energy consumption will significantly rise. Or put in a more straightforward way, the Cultivator will be ‘burning their life and soul’!

“For a space journey that can possibly last a hundred years, what we really need is not ‘overclocking’ but ‘underclocking’. The real problem is how to maintain a Cultivator’s most vitality and Cultivation with the minimum energy cost, and how to make sure that they recover immediately after they are woken up!

“To achieve the purposes, we have to partly count on the ‘hibernation cabin’ and the circulative drugs, and partly rely on the Cultivators to perform the useful Cultivation arts unstoppably even if they are unconscious!

“Did you know, Li Yao? In fact, such a long-distance trip in hibernation is a good thing for you.”

Gui Suishou said in a smile.

“Oh? How so?”

Li Yao was rather curious.

“Both demons and human beings will have to rip apart the muscles and heal them time and time again during their training. For the experts who have advanced into the demon emperor state or the Nascent Soul Stag, none of them haven’t been recovered from heavy wounds before, have they?”

Gui Suishou said unhurriedly, “But how can there be no cost when you are breaking the limits of a body? Even the top sportsmen, who have the best teams to train and offer medical advice to them, are often rife with diseases when they retire, not to mention the Cultivators whose training amount is hundreds of times larger than that of the general sportsmen.

“Although invisible on the surface, tiny ‘cracks’ are packed inside the body of every Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and every demon emperor. Even their soul is often riddled with holes because of repetitive exploitation and burning. They are only supporting themselves with their belief!”

Li Yao blinked his eyes, “Is it so serious? Our self-recovery abilities are a hundred times better than the ordinary people’s. Take me for example. However heavy wounds I suffer, I will recuperate very soon, without any sequela whatsoever!”

“If you tear a piece of paper into halves, it may be repaired as perfectly as before by a pair of deft hands.”

Gui Suishou smiled, “But what if the paper is torn apart a hundred times, a thousand times, and ten thousand times?

“Don’t think that I’m exaggerating. The modern training theories have surpassed their counterparts in the age of the ancient Cultivators tens of thousands of years ago in many regards. But when it comes to the ‘art of health’, we are actually left far behind.

“Paying too much attention to training and little to health results to the ‘hidden wounds’ that are everywhere in the soul and the body. So, as you can see, the modern Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators can only live two to three hundred years. Those who are older than four hundred years are already rarely-seen. Just look at the Star Glory Federation. Has there ever been any Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator who lived more than four hundred years?

“But in the age of the ancient Cultivators, Cultivators four to five hundred years old were anything but unusual.

“Of course, one of the very important reasons is that the spiritual energy in the age of the ancient Cultivators was much more abundant than the present day.

“However, even if we take the factor into consideration, there should be a problem for a modern Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator to live another hundred years if they pay more attention to their health.

“Back to you. The problem is even more serious on you.”

Li Yao was quite surprised. “How serious?”

“You entered the Nascent Soul Stage too early.”

Gui Suishou, “Do not think that it is necessarily a good thing that you entered the Nascent Soul Stage so early. Have you ever heard the tale of ‘pulling up seedlings to help them grow’? Everybody’s body and soul have their own patterns. Although it is the significance of Cultivation to break the patterns and to defy nature’s will, the retaliation of the patterns are also unavoidable for any Cultivator!

“You are only slightly more than thirty years old right now. Among the Cultivators, you are like an elementary school student. But you have successfully advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage through bloody battles. Behind your ostensible magnificence, there are already countless tiny cracks inside your body and soul, which will eventually escalate into internal wounds and corrode your longevity. As a result, you will also perish much earlier than you should!

“Over the past five years, has it ever occurred to you that your level could barely be upgraded however hard you trained, and that your blood was simmering and your Cultivation was unstable once in a while?”

Bulging his eyes, Li Yao nodded his head quickly, “Yes, exactly. I thought that it was because I was new to the Nascent Soul Stage and I wasn’t used to it yet!”

“If you don’t pay attention to it, I guarantee that you will die before you are two hundred years old, or even a hundred and fifty.”

Gui Suishou said casually, “Just like the ‘young prodigies’ recorded in the history books who rose to fame at an early stage only to flash and be gone forever like a shooting star on a night sky.”

Li Yao grew serious.

He was not interested in the meaningless longevity. But it was true that he wanted to lengthen his short life as much as possible, so that he would have a chance to visit the Imperium, the Covenant Alliance, and even the outer universe beyond the three thousand Sectors, where he would explore the secrets of the primeval civilizations such as Pangu, Nuwa and Chaos.

Gui Suishou was the oldest individual in the three Sectors. He must have a special understand on the arts of health.

“Master Gui, then how should I heal myself?”

Li Yao asked respectfully.

“That’s why I said the prolonged interstellar journey is a good thing for you.”

Gui Suishou said in a smile, “Since you are generous enough to ask the Glorious Sunlight Group to sponsor my ‘Monument Plan’ greatly, as part of the deal, I will teach you the whole ‘Great Dream Tortoise Hibernation Art’ and the tricks in the training without any reserve in the next two months.

“The art will not only make your body and soul enter the ‘extreme underclocking’ state, where the activities of your cells and mitochondria will be almost frozen to the absolute zero, but also repair your ‘hidden wounds’ caused in the fierce battles over the past dozen years without you knowing!

“I believe that the hidden wounds in your body will be generally cleaned up after a hibernation of decades.”

“Thank you for your wholehearted tutelage, Master Gui!”

Bowing deeply, Li Yao suddenly thought of something else. “Right, Master Gui. If what you say is true, and that the earlier you enter the Nascent Soul Stage, the more serious the hidden wounds inside your body will be, won’t my wife be very dangerous, too?

“If the Glorious Sunlight Group increase the investment on the ‘Monument Plan’ by 20%, can you give some enlightenment on my wife, too, regarding the tricks and mysteries in the art?”

Gui Suishou smiled kindly and gently, “Hehehehe. Our friendship is too sacred for such a cheesy thing as money. But if my young friend insists, an increase of 40% will do.”

“It’s a deal then!”

Li Yao snapped his finger.

This time, he would have no more worries.

After receiving Ding Lingdang and Iron God Yan Bu’s training to build up his body, Professor Mo Xuan and Supernova Jiang Sheng’s training on the arts of refining, Guo Chunfeng’s training on the intelligence subjects, and Gui Suishou’s training on the hibernation skills, Li Yao welcomed an unexpected teacher.

Su Changfa, the Immortal Cultivator.

“Senior Su, I didn’t know that you would contribute to the ‘Heavenly Road Plan’. This rather goes against your usual style, doesn’t it?”

Li Yao exclaimed.

“What’s strange about this?”

Su Changfa said unhurriedly, “After hearing the news about the dark nebula, even I was rather curious, because judging from its location and its distance from the center of the cosmos, it belongs to neither the territory of the Imperium nor that of the Covenant Alliance!

“It means that the existence who sent a signal to you is not the Imperium, not the Covenant Alliance, but a force that none of us know!

“There’s no telling whether the force is a friend or a foe yet. It may jeopardize the interests of the Imperium of True Human Beings as much as it may jeopardize the interests of the Blood Demon Sector!

“It is especially so when an expedition army from the Imperium of True Human Beings is marching over aggressively and probably passing near the dark nebula. Who knows what may happen?

“If a terrifying existence is indeed lurking inside the dark nebula, and it captures the entire expedition army of the Imperium, from which it figures out the tremendous information and the coordinates about the Imperium of True Human Beings, will it go backwards and march towards the Imperium’s homeland?

“With that in mind, same as you, I want to figure out what the mysterious world hiding in the darkness really is!”