Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Then, what can we do?” With tears inside her eyes, Liu Li crossed her hands and begged like a lost cat. “Senior, please save my brother. Whatever you ask for as payment, we will certainly try our best to get it for you as long as we are capable of it!”

After thinking for a moment, Li Yao said, “I have never considered myself a doctor. Treating illnesses is not my specialty. However, your senior brother’s illness is just a minor problem. He can always drop Lightning Strangle and switch to another technique of the thunder class that is safer and steadier.

“What I’m more concerned about is your father and his master.

“I don’t know if your father’s serious illness is related to Lightning Strangle, but I do know that anybody practicing such an art will have a high risk of ruining their nerves, veins, and muscle fibers if they do not practice some ancillary arts that can help discharge the waste of the cells.

“If your father has practiced for decades with the most remarkable expertise, his condition will certainly be much more severe than your senior brother’s. The ’embolism of spiritual energy’ that has accumulated over a long time will have filled all the critical parts inside his body. Should there be an attack, it won’t be a surprise even if your father is killed on the spot.”

“What!” Liu Li covered her mouth in disbelief and stepped back, falling to the ground. She could not help but burst into tears.

“Senior!” Sweating in anxiety, Han Te crawled to Li Yao and said, “It doesn’t matter whether I recover or not, but please help my master. He really is a good man. Everybody in the thousand square kilometers around knows that. The lives of the thousands of people in the Village of Peace depend on his protection!”

“Like I said just now, I am not a doctor,” Li Yao peacefully said, “and I haven’t even met your master before. This is just my speculation based on the circulation of your spiritual energy. Perhaps there are some other reasons that caused your master’s illness. In that case, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to help at all.

“If his condition is solely because of Lightning Strangle, however, I may be able to come up with some methods to gradually recover the health of you and your mater. I can even help you improve Lightning Strangle and figure out a way to discharge the waste of the mitochondria.

“But there is really nothing I can do about your junior sister’s problem.”

Hearing that Li Yao was willing to help them, Han Te and Liu Li were about to weep tears of joy when Li Yao suddenly changed the topic to Liu Li. The two of them were dazed at the same time.

Han Te stammered, “What—What problem does my junior sister have?”

“Her problem is a hundred times graver than yours.”

Li Yao moved the crystal cameras to Liu Li. With the red lights flashing, he said, “Little girl, tell me, have you been feeling a vague headache every once in a while for the past half a year? Not the kind of stinging pain, but pain like your head has been split apart from the middle and somebody is tearing your hair to two sides. The pain should be like a narrow line that penetrates your entire face, and the most painful point is the tip of your nose, right?”

“Who told you that?” As if greatly stimulated, Han Te shook his head hard and declared, “My junior sister doesn’t have that!”

“I…” Liu Li had a pale face that was full of shock. “I indeed have such a condition. The pain attacks every couple of days. How did you know, senior?”

“What?” Han Te jumped to his feet and exclaimed in anxiety, waving his hands hard. “Isn’t it exactly the same condition that my masteress had? Liu Li, why—why did you never tell me or master?”

“I did not want to worry you…” The girl lowered her head. Biting her lips softly, she played with her fingers and said, “At first, I thought it was my imagination. After all, the pain was weak and barely noticeable. But recently, it has been attacking more and more often, and the pain is much more obvious. I thought about telling you, but dad fell sick, and the annual Bliss Ceremony is going to take place soon. Whether or not the Village of Peace can survive the next year all depends on the Bliss Ceremony. I did not want to distract you at such a moment and thought I could tell you afterward.”

“You…”

The young man almost cried, but having nowhere to vent his anger, he could only punch the ground hard. The electric arcs were running, and the broken stones were flying everywhere.

Li Yao observed them quietly. “What, your masteress had the same condition?”

“Yes, senior,” Han Te said gloomily. “Liu Li’s mother passed away five years ago. The year before her death, she had the exact symptoms you described. She had serious headaches as if somebody was sawing her head in half with a burning axe, and the tip of the nose was the most painful point!”

“If so,” Li Yao continued, “Liu Li and her mother must have practiced the same technique, which changes the structures of part of their brain cells to significantly increase the intensity of the brainwaves. As a result, a controllable field of brainwaves is formed out of their body. By altering the intensity, structure, and frequency of the field, they can interfere with their friends or foes’ spiritual energy, healing friends, increasing allies’ strength, or disrupting the foes’ techniques, right?”

Staring at Li Yao in bewilderment, Han Te could not have admired the mysterious senior who had been buried for hundreds of years more. “Senior, you are truly prophetic. I do not know if their brain cells have been through any unusual changes, but it is true that Liu Li and my masteress mainly practice the same technique, the Heavenly Heart Transformation. It can calm allies down, boost their spiritual energy, accelerate their recovery, and increase their damage. It can also disrupt enemy movement and stop the enemy’s techniques before they are performed. It is one of the best ancillary techniques that highlights both attack and defense. It’s awesome!”

“It is indeed very impressive, especially for the performer of the art.” Li Yao sneered. “Practicing such a technique will keep one’s brain cells in a state of high-frequency vibration at all times. It is almost as if high-energy microwaves are penetrating through their brains all the time. Brain lesions are almost certain. Also, once the illness progresses, the victims will be dead for sure. The odds are little to none that their souls will be left behind, turning them into spectral Cultivators.”

Hearing his cold diagnosis, Liu Li seemed to have accepted her fate. She sat on the ground without saying anything and simply smiled at Han Te with her pale face, as if she were begging him to not worry about him.

The young man’s face, however, turned so red that ten thousand arrows of blood seemed to be shooting out. He suddenly kneeled before Li Yao and held back his tears, pleading, “Senior, please help my master and my junior sister. Just like you helped me, treat them and cleanse the poison and waste inside their bodies. As long as you are willing to give us a hand, senior, I will agree to any condition. Whatever you ask for, I will try my best to get it for you!”

The indicators on Li Yao dimmed. There was a brief silence before he said, “Yours is a simple problem where your mitochondria’s waste cannot be discharged, but your junior sister’s problem is a very severe one that concerns brain damage and mutations. How can they be the same?

“The brain is the most mysterious and delicate organ in a human body—how do you expect to fix the problem by shooting a few holes and letting out blood?

“Yes. Brain cells do not have a sense of pain themselves. Your junior sister’s dull pain right now is probably caused by the high cranial pressure. Opening her skull to reduce the cranial pressure can temporarily relieve her of the pain, but it does not remove the root of the problem. Your junior sister’s body is still growing at her age. Since brain mutations have taken place, the problem cannot be fixed by simply stopping practicing the Heavenly Heart Transformation. It’s best that you ask some professional brain doctors and Meditation Healers to treat her.”

Han Te was completely confused. “Our place is rather remote. Few doctors ever dropped by. As for ‘Meditation Healers’, what are they?”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. Thinking for a moment, he said, “How about this? Since your junior sister’s problem is her unsteady field of brainwaves, maybe I can help her craft a special helmet first with appropriate tools and parts. After she puts it on, it will temporarily prevent her brain from further mutating. But it won’t be an ultimate solution. You will have to figure out a way to find a real expert in the meantime.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much, senior!” Han Te felt both worried and delighted. Finally, sticky tears flowed out of his eyes. Holding Liu Li’s hand, he hesitated for a moment and said, “Senior, do you…”

Instead of waiting for him to finish, Li Yao said, “I can help you, but you must help me, too. Let’s make a deal.

“As you have seen, I… only have part of my remaining soul left. I have been buried for hundreds of years and lost all my memories. I do not know anything of my past or the new era. You will work as my guides to help me get to know the new world.”

“Of course!” Seeing that Li Yao had agreed to help him, the young man regained his vigor that resembled a jumping monkey again. Bashing his chest hard, he said, “You can count on us for that. Please come back to the Village of Peace with us. We will certainly help you to get familiar with the world and be integrated into the Land of Sins!”

Li Yao smiled and said, “One other thing. I do not want anybody else to know my real identity yet, not even your master. To him, you can say that you have picked up a common spiritual puppet for cleaning and maintenance purposes from the ruins, and you will perform random modifications and upgrades on it. Is there a problem?”

The young man and the girl looked at each other and nodded at the same time. “Of course not!”

After some thought, Han Te carefully said, “We can pretend that we have picked up a Universal Janitor in front of the outsiders, but how should we address you in private, senior? Do you still remember your name?”

“I vaguely recall that there is a ‘Yao’ in my name. Therefore, you may call me ‘Grandpa Yao’.”

“Hey,” the mental devil said gloomily next to Li Yao’s soul. “Do you not feel any sense of shame when you say such a nauseating name?”