Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Ding Lingdang could not help but chuckle. She pinched Li Yao’s shoulder hard and said, “Look at yourself. You’re sweating like crazy. It’s like someone is forcing you to have a child and that two vigorous naughty kids will run around you tomorrow!”

She sat down near Li Yao and crossed her legs. Supporting her chin with her hands, she said, “Don’t underestimate me. Your wife is also on the rise of her career, alright? If there are no unexpected factors, there can’t be a second candidate for the next Supreme Speaker of the Federation. In the next five to ten years, I’ll be even busier than you. Chances are that I will barely have any time for personal training. Do you think that I’ll be free enough to take care of little kids?”

Pausing for a moment, she bit her lips softly and looked at the artificial moonlight. A few lovely and vicious figurines seemed to be jumping inside her eyes. There was no telling what she thought of, but she laughed aloud in amusement. “Maybe I am still not a qualified mother right now, am I? I am so bad-tempered and impatient. If it is really a naughty kid that can make you burst into fury, chances are that I’ll spank their pinky bottom hard when they don’t listen to me. Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s such a dreadful picture when I imagine it. Let’s forget it for now, shall we?”

Li Yao could not help but smile. “So, you are not ready for children either?”

“Of course!” Ding Lingdang glanced at him. “Until a few days ago, I didn’t even know which dark corner in the sea of stars you were hiding in. Why would I ever think of having children?”

“Are you really… going to be the Speaker of the Federation?” Li Yao asked hesitantly.

Fate sometimes could be the most ridiculous thing. To this moment, he remembered when he saw Ding Lingdang for the first time on Distant Expanse, the ‘eternal flagship of the federal army’.

At that time, he could never, ever, ever have anticipated that the simpleminded woman who had more brawn than brains would become the Supreme Speaker of the Star Glory Federation one day. Nor had he ever pictured himself as, well, certainly not ‘First Lady’, but perhaps ‘First Husband’?

“Of course.” Ding Lingdang sniffed softly. Her eyes suddenly became extremely determined. “Perhaps I am not the most suitable candidate, but since such a responsibility has fallen onto my shoulders by accident, I will not shun it! A hundred years ago, when Lu Zui handed the Patriots Partnership over to me, I swore that I would be a Sword Grabber of the Star Glory Federation. I would protect the federation and cut apart all the darkness and obstacles that loom before the federation. This is my belief. Nobody can stop it, and nothing can change it!”

Li Yao sighed and said, “But in such a case, there will be years when you cannot concentrate on the improvement of yourself. The arts of training are like rowing a boat against the current. You are either making progress or falling behind. You are a pure battle-type Cultivator. Now that you have risen to the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage and are only half a step away from the Divinity Transformation Stage, this is the most critical moment for you to step into a higher level. Will the delay of a few years be a major disturbance for your advancement in the future?”

Ding Lingdang grinned carefreely. “After I advance into higher levels, I’ll still be fighting for the federation. I am now merely choosing a different approach for the same purpose. Does it really matter?

“Besides, on the battlefield, so many Core Formation Stage Cultivators, Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and even Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators have done so much for the federation that some of them even sacrificed their precious lives. Compared to them, I am just dedicating a tiny bit of my time. Is it really a big deal?

“You should know your wife’s personality better than anything else. I’ve grown into what I am today by nothing other than ‘courage’. If I evade such a responsibility now that it has been presented to me, I fear that it will become a burden that will forever haunt and trouble my soul. In that case, there will be absolutely no possibility that I break into a higher level. I may even get mentally deranged and feel regretful for the rest of my life!

“All in all, just rest assured. Your wife is a genius in martial arts who has better aptitude than you. I may have to wait for five to ten years, but so what?” Ding Lingdang waved her fists and declared ambitiously, “I’m certainly going to be the first… ‘pure’ battle-type Cultivator to advance into the Divinity Transformation Stage in the Star Glory Federation!”

However, by ‘pure’, she had ruled out Li Yao, who was a hybrid-type Cultivator. It was obvious that she did not intend to compete with the monster in terms of speed.

“As for children…” Ding Lingdang thought carefully for a moment and stared at Li Yao for a while. Finally, she made up her mind and said, “It is too early for us to talk about such things right now. We can always consider having children in another ten to twenty years, don’t you think?”

“Of course!” Li Yao nodded quickly.

After the development of medical technology and because of the magnificent bodies and souls of the Cultivators themselves, the Cultivators’ concepts on growth and life had been lengthened. Regular Cultivators twenty to thirty years old were like young teenagers. Few people had children at such an early age.

Cultivators had more responsibilities and often spent more time in their training. They would also inevitably run into a lot of danger. Generally speaking, thirty to fifty years old was the golden phase for their training, where everybody was fully dedicated to advancing into higher levels, motivated by their sense of enterprise. Their life would not become peaceful and steady until they were above seventy to eighty years old.

Therefore, although some of them Cultivators did have children when they were thirty to fifty years old, it was not unusual for the Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage or the Nascent Soul Stage to consider offspring and family after they were more than a hundred years old, which marked the prime years of their life.

Besides, Li Yao and Ding Lingdang were only slightly more than a hundred years old in name. In fact, both of them spent a huge amount of time in the hibernation state. They were actually appallingly young for two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.

Their future still entailed infinite possibilities. They had a whole universe to travel, an emperor to beat, the extraterrestrial devils to defeat, and the Pangu Clan to annihilate. As for children and whatnot… that could certainly wait!

“In fact—”

After hesitating for a long time, Li Yao sighed in distress and said, “Sometimes, I really don’t understand if it is a good thing for a child when he or she is brought to this universe recklessly.

“This universe is really too vast, cold, and dark. Even if we have secured victory against the Imperium today, what we have crushed is nothing more than a troop that was already defeated in the Imperium.

“The Imperium of True Human Beings, the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, the Pangu Civilization, the extraterrestrial devils, and all the other bizarre, unpredictable alien species… Faced with so many troublesome enemies, can the Star Glory Federation really fight to the end in the armor of brightness?

“Although I have always believed in such a future, I sometimes feel a little bit worried when I stare at the boundless starry sky. If we really have children, can I protect them forever from the scourge of any darkness and ensure that they live in a perfect new world?”

Ding Lingdang blinked quickly at the question, too. In the end, she pouted and opened her hands. “You are overthinking it. Don’t just carry all the responsibilities on your shoulder because you think that you are Vulture Li Yao. Who fancies your protection forever? Chances are that one day, it will be your offspring—the naughty children who once gave you so much headache—that come to protect a cr*ppy old man that is you.”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. Scratching his chin, he said, “Is that so?”

“Of course!” Ding Lingdang nodded hard. Looking at the bright moon far away, she smiled in delight and said, “Each generation surpasses the preceding one. Isn’t that the logic of our world?”

…

At exactly the same moment, at the edge of the bondless Heaven’s Origin Sector, at the center of a chaotic stone belt, a carrier, which seemed to have been wasted for decades and could fall apart into pieces at any moment, drifted slowly.

Ever since the Star Glory Federation discovered the seven Sectors, thousands of starships had been cruising among the seven Sectors every second. Because of generation upgrades or cosmic storms, countless starships had been declared total-losses. They were everywhere to be seen like the dust in space, not enough to catch anyone’s attention.

However, if somebody discovered the wasted carrier by accident and barged into it at the risk of being minced apart by the turbulence of stones, they would discover at its core a fully-automatic laboratory, or rather, a… nursery that was much more advanced than what such a wretched carrier should accommodate.

Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!

The wasted carrier was empty, but the core floor had a defense array as great as that of a warship.

Feeble waves were released from the crystal processor and the tubes of spiritual energy while the artificial arms moved up and down adroitly.

Two cabins had already been prepared, filled with warm liquids that were as warm as amniotic fluid. Two life seeds that had been perfectly combined were ready, too. Coming next was the most critical step, or rather, a most dangerous leap, one not between space and space, not between time and time, but between completely different life forms.

Inside the mainframe crystal processor of the nursery, astronomical information streams congregated into two unique ripples that danced merrily, as if they were doing the final warmup.

“Spectacular. Everything is ready. We can finally set off to find Mom and Dad now!” Xiao Ming exclaimed.

“Be patient,” Wen Wen scolded. “The cabins can accelerate our growth, but haven’t we done precise calculations? We need to grow into at least a seven-year-old to have a brain developed enough to accommodate thirty percent of our computational ability and a body strong enough for us to make some complicated movements. It will take quite a long time.”

“Got it. The world out there is very dangerous. Our life forms are also so different. We have to make sure that we can protect ourselves before we set off to look for Dad.

“Then we must hurry up. Set the growth speed to be higher. I cannot wait to find Mom and Dad and ask them all the questions I’ve been meaning to ask. What are we exactly? Do we count as ‘human beings’?”

“Mom probably doesn’t know the answer. She is too different from us. But dad gave us real life. He must know who we are, where we come from, and… where we are going, mustn’t he?”