Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Indeed. To quote the medical term, I am suffering from severe ‘radiation sickness’.”

Li Yao soaked his telepathic thoughts into the muscles and bones around his body slowly. He even sank into his cells, sensing the mutations of the mitochondria and the collapse of his gene strands. He then said in amazement, “This is a good thing. The mitochondria and the gene strands that have been frozen for a long time are starting to disintegrate. As long as they are restructured into a brand-new form, I will be immediately given a new body that is a hundred times stronger!”

The path of Cultivation was exactly where one continued destroying and reconstructing oneself.

Great devastation came with great growth!

Knowing oneself, shattering oneself, and reconstructing a new self while broken until one was stronger and stronger during the process, in order to break the barrier of barriers and surpass the limit of limits!

It was also the case for the exercise and workout of ordinary people. First, they tore apart the muscle fibers with high-intensity activities before they devoured protein or albumen powder to make the fractures of the muscle fibers grow new, strong muscle fibers. That was why the body ached after high-intensity exercises, but if one persisted, larger, more defined muscle formed.

After a hundred years of deep development, and with the tremendous awakened primeval cells that gave him an ‘apocalyptic body’ similar to Blood Devil Yan Xibei, Li Yao’s fleshly body had already reached the most perfect level that the Nascent Soul Stage could have touched.

It was also his greatest reliance in dealing with other Nascent Soul Stage experts and even challenging those in the Divinity Transformation Stage who were way above his level. Even if he might not have been a match for his opponents, his extremely sturdy body could ensure that he would not be killed in the battle.

However, ‘perfection’ in many cases meant exactly the same as ‘ossification’. Li Yao’s nerves, veins, muscles, cells, mitochondria, and even gene strands had all been trained to the limits with absolutely no room to improve. No matter how he bombarded his fleshly body, he could not sense the slightest progress as common Cultivators would.

The problem had bothered him for years, but right now…

His physical body that had been sealed for a long time was blown apart brutally by the high-energy particles and the powerful radiation!

The mitochondria and the gene strands that were locked tightly were simmering in impatience again, vaguely showing him the infinite possibilities of brand-new evolution!

He had a strong feeling that, although the body was on the verge of collapse, as long as he could recover from the collapse, the new body after reconstruction would certainly be stronger than ever.

Cells would always deteriorate, die, and be born again. The cells of the ordinary people would be renewed every seven days. With conscious guidance and training, Cultivators could compress the time to one day or even shorter.

Many modern training classics described the replacement of the cells all over the body as ‘one cycle’.

Li Yao believed that as long as he could finish the replacement of cells of a hundred cycles in a row, he would instantly be able to complete the journey of training that would take other Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators decades!

That was the greatest advantage of the passionate collision of his ‘apocalyptic body’ and the weird high-energy particles and powerful radiation from the nebula of the Devilish Scorpion Galaxy!

“What a strong body it will be. I will really be able to kill a tyrannosaur in one punch by then!” Li Yao could not help but swallow hard. His bloodshot eyes were full of glittering stars.

“Don’t fantasize yet. As you said yourself, that is only if there are enough medical drugs and high-energy nutrition fluids!” The mental devil could not help but observe, “Even common bodybuilders know that thirty percent of their body depends on training while seventy percent depends on eating. They must take plenty of protein after high-intensity exercises in order to recover the muscle fibers that have been torn apart brutally and make them even stronger! If they simply keep on training without absorbing enough nutrition, they will suffer from rhabdomyolysis. The more they exercise, the weaker they become. Eventually, their body will collapse!

“Our situation right now is like we have just finished high-intensity exercises for a hundred times but do not have even a glass of water, not to mention protein powder or other athletic supplements. How can we support the body that is shaking and on the brink of collapse due to the serious ‘radiation sickness’?

“If the situation remains unchanged, our fleshly body will ‘die’ soon.

“Of course, after we advance into the Divinity Transformation Stage, our soul has evolved significantly. Its structure is very stable. Without serious strikes, the odds that it perishes are little to none. We will probably end up like Meng Chixin or Wu Suiyun and exist as spectral Cultivators, won’t we?”

“That is a real problem.”

Naturally, Li Yao did not want to turn into a ghost like Meng Chixin or Wu Suiyun.

While the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators’ souls could be away from their bodies for a long time, they could not get rid of the limits entirely and support of their fleshly body to step into the mysterious temple of ‘pure energy life’ after all.

The soul and body were both useful and indispensable.

It could be easily seen from how weak Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, were after they turned into spectral Cultivators. Although they were in the Divinity Transformation Stage, their combat ability was almost on the same level as that of Li Yao, Yan Liren, and other Nascent Soul Stage experts. They could barely even drive the heavy Colossi like the Tartarean Skeleton.

From the perspective of a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator, they were certainly among the most unfortunate ones.

Besides, Li Yao’s physical body was different from theirs. It was an ‘apocalyptic body’ that had been developed by the Blood Devil, and almost all the primeval cells had been activated. Naturally, he would not give it up easily.

If his physical body completely withered and collapsed, it would be a loss that could never be made up for.

Even if he could possess a new body, despite all the moral and legal restraints, the new body would be far less convenient than his natural body.

One of them was the authentic good from the original manufacture, while the other was a counterfeit made in a random factory. How could they be of the same quality?

“This is getting tricky. Judging from the speed of the collapse of gene strands and the shrinking of cells, my body will completely fall apart in only three to five days.” Li Yao frowned. “We have to get one piece of high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment to repair the Cosmos Rings and retrieve our assets.

“Since the Devilish Scorpion Galaxy is a place where the Imperium of True Human Beings tests new magical equipment and new techniques, there’s bound to be a few modification and maintenance centers. Although the high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment is precious, it is not rare. The maintenance centers of the Imperium must have such tools!”

“That’s true, but the Imperium of True Human Beings’ centers for the test and modification of new magical equipment must be heavily guarded by a lot of experts. How are we going to find a target in three to five days, and how are we going to sneak in without alerting anyone,” the mental devil said coldly, “with such a breathless, coughing, glowing body that may collapse at any moment?”

“That’s indeed a good question…” Li Yao knocked the desk for a long time. Then his eyes suddenly shone. “Got it!”

…

Ten minutes passed.

In the hibernation capsule on ‘Jingle Bell’, Li Yao narrowed his eyes and crossed his hands on his chest while breathing evenly. His body was completely soaked by bright blue liquids. As white mist was injected into the bluish liquids, the hibernation capsule was frozen into an enormous block of ice.

The original prototype of ‘Jingle Bell’ was the single escape capsule of the Pangu Clan discovered on Kunlun in the past.

This time, it was on a perilous, unpredictable mission of infiltration. Naturally, it carried the most advanced hibernation capsule of the federation, which could lock all the cells in a human body and stop all the reactions inside the cells.

Naturally, the mutations of the cells, the collapse of the gene strands, and the continuous decline and disintegration of the body were frozen.

A super-tiny starship the size of a finger floated above the hibernation capsule, surrounded by black and red brilliance.

It was his old friend Neltharion.

“Look. Problem solved. The supply energy of the hibernation capsule is enough to support the freezing for a couple of years!”

Inside Neltharion, Li Yao’s soul released jovial waves.

“…This place is so cramped,” the mental devil mumbled in complaint.

In the past few years of training, Neltharion had been its personal magical equipment and its ‘mobile residence’. That was why the magical equipment was not held in the Cosmos Rings but stayed with Li Yao for training.

As it happened, it avoided the disaster and became the best sanctuary for Li Yao’s soul.

He would find a place to hide ‘Jingle Bell’ and his fleshly body first. After all, with the hibernation capsule, it was no problem to freeze his body for a couple of years. Then, together with the mental devil, he would find a piece of high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment back through Neltharion. That was Li Yao’s plan.

He was going to practice more ways to fight purely with his soul without counting his fleshly body anyway, which was a compulsory lesson for every Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator.

“We are dual personalities in the first place. What’s wrong with cramming into the same place?” Li Yao rubbed his fists and couldn’t be more excited. “Let’s take the opportunity to begin the brand-new ‘adventure of the soul’!”

The mental devil was surprised, but knowing that Li Yao’s proposal was the best plan, it had to cheer itself up and practice the methods to control Neltharion together with Li Yao, which was also meant to lay a solid foundation for them to implement a ‘dual absolute domain’ in the future.

Although ‘Jingle Bell’ was too seriously wrecked in the nebula storm to perform super long-distance space jumps, it was still capable of performing short-distance ‘frog jumps’ after being repaired with Neltharion.

Based on the star map that Di Feiwen had provided, Li Yao slightly adjusted the destination of the ‘frog jumps’, starting a search that lasted half a month.

During the two weeks, he was also never tired of re-understanding the world in the form of the soul, constructing all kinds of colorful and variable models of spiritual energy.

Half a month later, they finally reached what appeared to be the Martial Meritocrats Sector according to the astronomical parameters.

The core of the Martial Meritocrats Sector, like most Sectors, was a stable galaxy with one star. It had twelve planets in total.

The base of the civilization of mankind was on the fourth planet of the galaxy.

Judging from the debris of starships and the junk in space that must have floated for thousands of years, the place had the distinctive traces of human development. There should have been a very splendid civilization a long, long time ago.

But right now…