Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The three mysterious enemies mistook Li Yao for a common Cultivator in East Peace County.

Had they known that Li Yao was the notorious ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’, they would have fled as fast as they could instead of attacking.

The dozens of weapons mixed with howls and screams were darting toward his face, but Li Yao did not bat an eye. He merely curled his lips and snorted.

His immense spiritual energy immediately leaking out of the pores and rippled in front of him in thick waves, freezing all the weapons half a foot before his face!

“The ‘Fish Thorn Bone Piercing Stings’ from Flying Spirit Island?”

The weapons in front of his eyes appeared to be tiny sea urchins or thistles, but they were in fact made of the sharpest bone spurts of the deep-sea demon beasts and contained dozens of natural poisons. Emitting colorful, enticing colors and intoxicating smells, they were weapons unique to Flying Spirit Island.

When Li Yao was at the Purple Pole Sword Sect, he had familiarized himself with the famous magical equipment in the major sects in the world. Naturally, he knew a thing or two about such a weapon.

“Flying Spirit Island is located in the east ocean. How did their unique weapons fall into the hands of the Heaven Battering Army in the northwest?

“Besides, the main force of the Heaven Battering Army was just crushed by the Cultivators and the court at the end of last year. How did you train so many elites, sneak across so many states and counties from the northwest to the southeast, and cause trouble here?

“Who are you exactly? Speak now!”

Li Yao glanced at the three of them casually. His left hand behind his back, he opened his right hand easily and snatched the air.

The three mysterious enemies, after seeing that the dozens of Fish Thorn Bone Piercing Stings were fixed in midair by the target without any trouble, and realizing that they could not move the weapons at all however hard they exerted their telepathic thoughts, naturally knew that they had run into a tough opponent!

Li Yao’s casual glance at them made their heads dizzy and their blood freeze!

Look at each other, the three of them roared and leapt backward simultaneously, fleeing in three different directions.

Li Yao did not move at all. He extended his hand and pulled it backward heavily. Then, three invisible claws seemed to appear in the air. They snatched the three enemies’ necks and dragged them back brutally!

Crack, crack! Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The three of them were cramping, their heads raised high and their cervical vertebra exploding. There was nothing on their necks, but dents and bruises had appeared. They had been strangled by Li Yao with the invisible hands of spiritual energy!

Under the surging spiritual energy, the three of them were unable to maintain their hunched backs anymore. After a series of cracks, their bones and muscles bulged crazily, turning the three of them into tall, muscular men. They did not look like the feeble disaster victims at all now.

However, no matter how hard the three muscular men exerted their strength and summoned their spiritual energy, they were still clenched by Li Yao’s fists like three dead fish.

The ear-splitting explosions, the fiercely burning flames, and the weird scene on the street cast all the disaster victims nearby into disarray. They covered their heads with their hands and ran away.

“You are definitely not with the Heaven Battering Army.” Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao coldly demanded with absolute authority, “Who are you exactly? How did you get in touch with the army of ghouls? Speak now!”

The three muscular men’s faces were pale, and their bodies were cramping, but they gritted their teeth and said nothing.

“Nobody is talking? You are truly good soldiers. Then, let’s see if your bones are as tough as your tongue!”

Li Yao’s voice was gradually mixed with brutality. It sounded so cold that it was like a gale from the depths of hell.

“Well, you have choked their throat.” The mental devil was kind enough to remind him of that small detail.

Li Yao sniffed and threw one of the muscular men onto the ground heavily. He curled his fingers, and four Fish Thorn Bone Piercing Stings immediately rushed at him and darted into his elbows and knees, shattering all the joints!

The muscular man vomited blood. Then, he immediately began to scream desperately and jerked like a half-cooked shrimp!

Another three Fish Thorn Bone Piercing Stings were hovering around him maliciously under the attraction of Li Yao’s spiritual energy.

“You have two companions here. If you are unwilling to talk, I can always go and ask them!” Li Yao sneered.

“I’ll talk. I’ll talk!” The muscular man was weeping because of the excruciating pain. His voice was twisted and high-pitched as he replied, “We—we are indeed not with the Heaven Battering Army; we are the disciples of Flying Spirit Island! The Grand Mystery Sect, the Purple Pole Sword Sect, Flying Spirit Island, and the other major sects have joined hands to maraud the headquarters of the thirty-three sects while most of the Cultivators in East Peace County are hunting the army of ghouls and the city is not guarded!”

As if to prove what he said, some of the Cultivators were screaming far away in East Peace County. “Grand Mystery Sect! Purple Pole Sword Sect! Flying Spirit Island! Thunderstorm Valley! Monster Taming Pavilion! Gold Armor Clan! All you Cultivators from the central plateaus will die the most miserable death!”

It was a desperate curse from the Cultivators of East Peace County before their death.

They were no fools. It was impossible for the Heaven Battering Army to have been rebuilt to such a degree and to sneak across the entire Great Qian Dynasty to East Peace County without alarming anyone when it had been crushed not long ago and Heaven Battering King Qi Changsheng was allegedly the only one who escaped!

They all thought that the six major sects were looting them insanely under the disguise of the Heaven Battering Army, just like the Black Devil Cult slaughtered and plundered under the name of the White Lotus Cult!

However, Li Yao did not believe any of that!

“Is there anybody who uses the typical magical equipment of their sect when they are doing illegal business? Were you scared that other people would not figure out that you are not from the Heaven Battering Army?

“Besides, there is a certain air of killing and obedience in you, which can only be raised in a formal army. Neither the peasant rebellions such as the Heaven Battering Army nor the noble sects such as the Grand Mystery Sect and the Purple Pole Sword Sect are capable of bringing up such soldiers!

“You are Cultivators from the military!

“There are only two forces in the entire world that boast such a powerful army. You are either from the imperial guards of the Great Qian Dynasty or the Ghost Qin!”

Li Yao’s fingers were flipping, and the three Fish Thorn Bone Piercing Stings were rotating faster and faster and closer and closer to the captive’s face. He demanded, “Speak now. Do you work for Emperor Phoenix or Han Baling?”

The faces of the three muscular men blanched. Then, determination suddenly beamed out of their eyes. When Li Yao realized that it was not good, they had already put on a mysterious smile, and their cheeks turned pale. Their pupils and their whites blended into a greenish mess!

The three muscular men were as dead as anyone could ever be. Even their souls had no more ripples. Li Yao could find absolutely no information of use!

What a thorough drug for suicide and what a weird way to kill themselves!

Li Yao looked awful as he secretly cursed in his heart.

Of course, he knew that the guys who were assigned to such a secret mission would be the most resolute soldiers.

Therefore, after he captured them, he had leaked his spiritual energy to every part of their body, ensuring that their every joint and muscle was absolutely under his control.

Then, how did they die?

Li Yao opened the mouth of one of the muscular men and observed the lining of his mouth carefully.

There should have been a molar on the left side of his mouth, but it had been replaced by an artificial jade tooth. A tiny hole had been cut in the tooth.

If one did not observe carefully, the artificial tooth could easily pass for a real tooth because they were almost identical.

Li Yao extended a thread of spiritual energy into the artificial tooth through the hole and sensed the residue of the poison as he expected. The triggering method of the poison was even more blood-freezing.

The approaches of suicide for most soldiers had to be ‘triggered’, which meant that when the time that they had to sacrifice themselves came, they would crush the poison container with a certain special movement, say, biting hard or pushing their tongue, and swallow the poison, thereby terminating their life.

The shortcoming of such approaches was that they would not be able to activate the poison containers when their bones and muscles were controlled by an expert such as Li Yao.

The poison container inside the artificial tooth, in comparison, adopted an ‘anti-triggered’ design. The soldiers would have to press their artificial tooth with the tongue after special training to ensure that the poison container was not activated. As long as they were sloppy, and the pressure between the tip of the tongue and the artificial tooth had a slight change, the poison container would release the poison automatically. No additional movements were required at all!

As far as Li Yao knew, such a cruel and unpredictable suicidal approach was the favorite of one of the forces in the Ancient Sages Sector.

Ghost Character, led by the eunuch Wang Xi, which was claimed to be the most powerful espionage and assassination group in the Ancient Sages Sector!

It’s Wang Xi? The damn eunuch who has been hiding for an entire year finally can’t contain himself any longer and is stirring up trouble again?

Li Yao thought quickly and examined the faces of the three dead persons carefully. He felt that their bones seemed to have been weirdly modified in order to cover something.

Their zygoma should’ve been higher, and they should be typical northerners!

And here. Their ears…

Li Yao rubbed the ear of a dead person and removed some mud the color of flesh. A few tiny holes immediately appeared on the ear of the dead soldier.

He did the same to the other two victims. As he expected, the ears of the three dead soldiers were all full of holes, suggesting that they used to wear earrings a lot.

The Cultivators in the central plateaus did not have such a custom. No men would ever wear earrings.

Only the middle-aged men of Ghost Qin from the Dark Cloud Prairies had the habit of wearing gold, clanging earrings. The higher their position was, the larger their earrings would be. The women, in contrast, were only allowed to wear inconspicuous pendants.

The three dead persons were from Ghost Qin.

No wonder they had the intense air of the military men. Ghost Qin did not have any Cultivation sects. All the Cultivators were soldiers in the first place.

A bunch of Cultivators from Ghost Qin, with the suicidal magical equipment that belongs to Wang Xi’s Ghost Character, pretending to be disciples of the six major sects in disguise as the Heaven Battering Army and working together with Mother White Lotus. What are they up to exactly?