Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

On the bridge of Dragon Abyss, Queen Li Linghai was talking to the maintenance workshop through the short-distance communication system.

Every detail in the maintenance workshop was reflected clearly by the panoramic light beam around her, as if she were exactly in the middle of the maintenance workshop.

The Colossi were ultimate weapons that could change the course of a battle. An additional Colossus was of great help for the expansion of the Deep Sea Fleet and the force of the “reformists”. How could Li Linghai have ignored the issues about the maintenance and upgrade of the Tempest God?

On the light beam, with the Tempest God as the background, on the floating maintenance platform where almost a hundred multipurpose mechanical arms were floating stood an old man with yellow-and-brown hair. He had a wrinkled face and a pair of shining eyes from which dark golden magma seemed to be splattering out all the time.

The old man looked particularly weird.

Interconnected scars could be found on his face, his body, and all his skin that was exposed to the air.

The scars were very narrow, as if they were cut by daggers as thin as hair.

But they were all over his body, like a dense chessboard, cutting his skin and his flesh into pieces.

The body that was on the brink of collapse, however, was tied by golden threads tightly and covered in a thin, clear, and soft armor, which had many interfaces that could be connected to abundant artificial limbs and strengthening components.

It seemed that the old man had suffered very serious damage. If it weren’t for the fixation of the set of weird devices, he would’ve collapsed into a pile of bleeding meat.

The man was naturally Jin Tianzong, a master of refining and a specialist of the crystal suits and the Colossi who could almost be called a “national treasure” and who used to be quite famous among the refiners of the Imperium!

“You want me to investigate his lineage in refining?”

On the light beam, Jin Tianzong looked at Li Linghai suspiciously. His eyebrows furrowed hard, not disguising his dissatisfaction with being interrupted while he was studying the Colossus.

“Yes. Thank you for your trouble, Master Jin.”

Li Linghai was rather respectful of such a national treasure who was also the director of magical equipment in the Deep Sea Fleet after her vehement invitation. She explained, “It is very easy for an extraordinary warrior who has received professional training to conceal the lineage of their battle skills, but for a refiner, many skills and habits in refining can never be changed.

“Master Jin is one of the best seniors in the circle of refiners in the Imperium. I believe no tricks can deceive your keen eyes.

“I want to know the lineage of this ‘Vulture Li Yao’ in regard to refining. Which of the many schools of refining in the Imperium does he come from, or maybe… he doesn’t belong to any of them?”

“Not belonging to any of the schools? How is it possible?”

Jin Tianzong was amused. “The arts of refining are different from fighting. It requires abundant practice, the enlightenment of great teachers, and neat teamwork. A battle-type Immortal Cultivator may be able to train and grow with the treasures from a certain relic, but a refiner must have their own school. The more awesome a refiner is, the more obvious his style will be. I haven’t heard of the name ‘Vulture Li Yao’ before, but maybe that is because he does not dare to use his real name now that he is joining the Deep Sea Fleet. How good is he probably?”

“Very good.”

Pondering for a moment, Li Linghai said, “However, it is possible that he is not a professional refiner but has only learned some skills to maintain crystal suits and Colossi. I don’t think he has remarkable expertise in refining.”

“Maintain the Colossi?”

Jin Tianzong’s eyes beamed with interest. He said, “If he is not bragging but really capable of repairing and maintaining a Colossus, it is already quite extraordinary. He must be from one of the best refining sects of the Imperium. There’s no reason why I can’t figure out where he came from.

“Hehe. After I come to the Deep Sea Fleet at Your Grace’s invitation, I haven’t helped Your Grace accomplish anything great yet. Even the maintenance of a Colossus has so many stumbles and falls. I truly feel embarrassed.

“While I cannot accomplish the great things, such little things shouldn’t be a problem. Please rest assured, Your Grace. I’ll certainly figure out his origins and backgrounds!”

As he approached the end, Jin Tianzong’s face was already full of frustration.

Li Linghai said in a hurry, “You must not blame yourself, Master Jin. In fact, I should be the one who feels embarrassed here. When I invited Master Jin to join the Deep Sea Fleet, I promised that I would provide state-of-the-art training facilities and laboratories for Master Jin and recruit the best refining team step by step so that you could finish the research that you did not finish in the Imperial Polytechnical University.

“But to this day, the construction of the laboratories and the configuration of the refining team have not been completed yet, and this has delayed Master Jin’s research as well as stopping you from carrying out 100% of your abilities. This is truly my fault.”

Jin Tianzong was more or less moved.

Although the master of refining was somewhat taciturn because he was completely devoted to the world of refining, and he was best known for his “impartialness” in the Imperial Polytechnical University, he was still deeply touched by Li Linghai’s respect for him.

“There is no need to comfort me, Your Grace. Nobody knows one’s problem better than oneself. You and I both know what our greatest problem is right now.”

On the light beam, Jin Tianzong raised his broken hands that had been connected by brute force. With intense sorrow beaming out of his face, he said hoarsely, “While there are a lot of theoretical studies in the world of refining, it is a discipline that highlights practice after all. The hands are the life for a refiner, and the senses are their soul. My body has been reduced to such conditions that it can only be supported by this ‘Heavenly Silk Jade Clothes’, or it will collapse at any minute. How can I carry out the best abilities like when I was in my peak state?

“Before… when I was heavily wounded and lost all my reputation, ending up as the greatest ‘joke’ and ‘fraud’ in the circle of refiners, I was so frustrated that I only wanted to kill myself. It was Your Grace’s repetitive, sincere invitations that the fire of my life was reignited.

“After I came to Your Grace’s Deep Sea Fleet, I never thought to return to the peak state either. I only hoped to teach my lifelong knowledge to the refiners here and help Your Grace build an elite team of refining that can be compared to the refiners in the Imperial University, the Imperial Polytechnical University, and the Imperial Advanced College of Metallurgy. Then, I would die without regrets.

“So, the improvement of the refining team’s stagnation and the slow increase of their technical expertise are all the faults of me as the ‘director of magical equipment’. You are not responsible for that at all, Your Grace.

“Your Grace has already done the best that can be done in terms of training facilities and the supply of precious materials. Right now, our hardware environment is absolutely as good as the Refining Department of the Imperial Polytechnical University, and we are even more or less better than our competitors in regard to certain precious materials and facilities. Even I don’t know where you got so many precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from, Your Grace.

“However, please understand that a team cannot be built overnight, Your Grace. To raise an excellent refiner, however extraordinarily talented they are, it will still require decades of hard work.

“If we are to recruit talents from outside, who will be willing to abandon the high-paying positions in renowned academies or the Kurfürst families, the stable environment, and the honors in the academic world for the unknown, clandestine Deep Sea Fleet, if they don’t have special reasons?”

“You are quite right, Master Jin. To build a top-tier refining center, facilities and teamwork are both necessary. It is easy to build training facilities, but the construction of a team of elite refiners is truly our greatest headache right now. In that regard, I’m afraid that Master Jin and I have to work on it together and see what we can do.”

Pondering for a moment, Li Linghai asked, “Right, how is Ye Qingyun, your first assistant, right now? Before he came to the Deep Sea University, he was one of the best refiners in the younger generation in the Imperium.”

“Ye Qingyun is good, but just good. He still lacks experience, and he still needs to work harder.”

Jin Tianzong said, “Most importantly of all, the young man is too arrogant and cranky. Sometimes, he also hopes to achieve his purpose through unconventional approaches, which is not a good thing for the improvement of his expertise in refining.”

“Well…”

Li Linghai said with a bitter smile, “It seems that there are too many unorthodox guys whose styles in refining are whimsical if not insane in our team.

“That does make sense on second thought. The specialists and scholars who can be devoted to their studies without being distracted by fancy, groundless ideas are naturally living comfortable lives in renowned academic establishments and the four Kurfürst families. Why on earth would they risk joining the Deep Sea Fleet?

“Those who are willing to join the Deep Sea Fleet are all ambitious adventurers. I’ll have to ask Master Jin to spend more time on perfecting the team.”

“Please rest assured, Your Grace.”

Jin Tianzong said, “I have nothing to return Your Grace’s favors except for my loyalty and devotion.”

“You can rest assured too, Master Jin.”

The flames that could burn everything were ignited in Li Linghai’s eyes again. She said, “I will live up to your expectations as long as you live up to mine. One day, I will avenge you and help you take everything back. The pain that those people enforced on you will be returned to them a hundred times more!”

Jin Tianzong’s eyes flashed. He said solemnly, “I don’t care much about revenge or taking back everything. If possible, I only want to prove to the entire universe that the ‘hybrid crystal suits’ are absolutely possible, and they are the future!

“I am right, and the specialists of the Imperial University, the Imperial Polytechnical University, the Imperial Advanced College of Metallurgy, and so many refining centers and magical equipment research institutions are all wrong!”

“I believe in Master Jin.”

Li Linghai said, “Whatever you need, I’ll certainly do my best to get it for you.”

Looking at his wounded and broken hands for a long time, Jin Tianzong sighed softly with a bitter smile. “I… need a miracle.”