Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Ahhhhhhh!”

All the refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet went mad.

The music blown out by the furnace was certainly not as pleasant as an orchestra of the real instruments, but it was indeed filled with passion and penetration. There was even the vibe of splashing and running melted steel in the middle of the smoke. To put it shortly, it was “heavy metal”!

Enshrouded in the heavy metal music, the refiners felt that their stomachs were being churned, as if they were in the middle of a tsunami of magma or dancing above ten thousand volcanoes. Even their own veins and nerves seemed to have turned into metals!

They were about to exhale smoke, cough sparks, and vomit orange, melted steel!

With his eyes half narrowed, Li Yao shook his head and dwelled in the resonation of his heart and the heart of the furnace. The music was getting more and more rhythmic and powerful, making the entire Dragon Abyss shake in the heavy metal together with Li Yao!

On the bridge, Li Linghai had been observing Li Yao through the surveillance light beam, but the unexpected metallic noises occupied the entire bridge too.

All the crew members and the leadership of the warship on the bridge couldn’t help but tap the beat with their feet, their fingertips seething beyond their control.

“What… What kind of technique of refining is this?”

Li Linghai asked in disbelief. “Another secret technique from the ancient times?”

“Well—”

Master Jin Tianzong was more or less shocked. “I don’t think so.”

“Look!”

Some refiners shrieked and pointed at the light beam that was displaying the internal status of the furnace.

It was the picture directly captured near the center of the furnace by the crystal cameras made of highly heatproof materials.

In the picture, the metal materials that were just delivered into the furnace had already been melted into clusters of fluids under the boost of the fuel and the catalysts that Li Yao had carefully selected. They looked like glittering orange pearls and even stars that nobody could look at directly.

As the exciting music went on, the most glamorous and gorgeous ripples spread out on the surface of the clusters of melted metals.

After the ripples spread to the limits, the melted metals blossomed like buds that had savored enough dews layer after layer, revealing the most sophisticated and accurate internal structure!

When every cluster of melted metals the size of a finger bloomed, almost a thousand patterned wrinkles were exposed from inside. Like the integration of countless runes, they emanated colorful brilliance.

Nine clusters of melted metals blossomed slowly, but the flowers that they produced were in different forms.

The blossom of the flowers and their final consolidation were naturally under the control of Li Yao’s spiritual energy and telepathic thoughts.

The flowers were in such marvelous forms, and there were nine of them at the same time. The nine metal flowers slowly revolved in the flames at the center of the furnace, each containing a thousand runes that resonated with each other without any mutual interference. It was indicative enough of Li Yao’s profound abilities in shaping.

It must be noted that this was just a random test on the performance of the furnace!

As the nine metal flowers blossomed to the maximum, the soul-stirring and mind-boggling heavy metal music reached the climax too.

The entire “Dragon Abyss” was almost dancing.

“Ho!”

Bulging his eyes, Li Yao stuck his right hand to the wall of the furnace for the first time and pressed it slowly, as if he were sealing his entire life and soul into the furnace!

“Hum!”

Inside the brain of every refiner, a huge bell was bashed heavily, resulting in ever-lasting noises in their head.

Their retinas were also affected by the reverberation between Li Yao and the furnace. The moment Li Yao pressed his hand, the previously dark furnace seemed to turn transparent, and all the internal structures were clearly visible. All the magical equipment units and tiny components were dissected, as if the furnace also turned into a giant metal flower that was blossoming slowly.

But in the next second, all the components that had split and blossomed were compressed back. As if entirely reborn, they were even more compact and flawless than before.

The heavy metal music came to an abrupt halt.

Li Yao took a breath in relief and looked at the furnace that had been tested by him in great satisfaction.

After being washed by the cooling liquids, the nine metal flowers were sent out from the discharge hole.

Because of the high integration of metals and crystals, the “flowers” were so full of exuberance that they did not look like single components but were themselves flawless magical equipment. Under the control of Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts, they all flew to midair and swirled slowly, emitting dazzling brilliance like a kaleidoscope, and the light poured to the ground like a waterfall.

Including Ye Qingyun, all the refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet were enchanted. They looked at the nine metal flowers hovering around Li Yao and then at the furnace, all bewildered.

There was no telling if it was their illusion, but they felt that the furnace had been through fundamental changes compared to a moment ago.

How should they put it? It was almost like the differences between the raw minerals that were just excavated from below the ground and the crystals that had been carefully polished. The furnace was now more delicate, elegant, profound, and impeccable, or to quote Li Yao’s words, “smoother” now.

Even the most insignificant air of smoke had been removed in Li Yao’s test just now. The furnace at this moment did not look like a tool of productivity but a cautiously-carved piece of artwork. Before the refining work officially began, everybody already had uncanny faith in it and believed that what was to be produced from the furnace would certainly be the most extraordinary weapons!

“Did you just…”

However arrogant and disobedient Ye Qingyun was, he could tell the difference of the furnace in Li Yao’s hands from when it was in his own. He immediately blushed and stammered in confusion.

“This is a way to test the furnace of my own invention.”

Li Yao said, “Testing the furnace is so much more than simply learning the performance parameters of the furnace. On one hand, you must feel the ‘spirit’ and the ’emotions’ of the furnace by examining the basic performance parameters. On the other hand, and more importantly, you have to pass your own ideas and determinations to the furnace in a certain way.

“For a refiner, the furnace is his best partner and must not be treated as a cold, lifeless object. Furnaces are alive with their own feelings and personalities. The real furnace-testing is about communicating with the furnace in depth, telling the furnace your belief, and winning the acknowledgment of the furnace.

“I am fond of music personally, and the road that I have chosen is somewhat related to music too. So, I had an in-depth communication with the furnace by the reverberation of music so that my heart and the heart of the furnace can be completely melted together. Only in such a way can I get the most perfect furnace to produce the most perfect components.”

The refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet all whispered in admiration.

Ye Qingyun couldn’t help but ask again, “The song just now was—”

“‘Orders of the General’.”

Li Yao said, “It is the heavy metal version of ‘Orders of the General’, which fitted the character of this furnace and my state of mind now.

“Today, I only have limited time, and the level of the furnace here is not particularly high either. If there is a chance in the future, I would like to communicate with the fellow Cultivators more often and play more classic music to the fellow Cultivators here through the furnace. It is going to be some sort of academic communication.”

Li Yao did not disguise his capabilities at all; he was even blatantly showing them.

It was because he was in the Imperium of True Human Beings, the world of the Immortal Cultivators.

The idea of survival of the fittest was certainly not restricted to the battle-type Immortal Cultivators. It was the same among the creation-type Immortal Cultivators.

Here, modesty and concession were meaningless.

Now that he was going to spend a long time next to Queen Li Linghai, Li Yao naturally needed to find an appropriate place for himself in case somebody came looking for trouble every other day.

In a way, a refiner in the Divinity Transformation Stage was even more valuable than a warrior in the Divinity Transformation Stage, because the former could provide technical support for countless experts in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage, thereby improving the top-tier fighters of the entire force significantly.

On the other hand, if the technical support of Queen Li Linghai and even the entire faction of the reformists, namely the maintenance of the most cutting-edge crystal suits and Colossi, was under Li Yao’s hands, wouldn’t he be able to do anything he wanted?

“Fellow Cultivator Ye, we can go and pick the crystal suits right now.”

Li Yao touched the metal flowers that were floating in midair. The nine metal flowers all began to shiver and turned into thousands of clear, thin petals that fell loosely like catkins.

In the middle of the metal petals, Li Yao smiled at the many refiners of the Deep Sea Fleet.

…

Soon, they arrived at the warehouse of advanced crystal suits on Dragon Abyss.

Dragon Abyss was Li Linghai’s flagship and her nest when she snuck in space away from the capital.

Naturally, Li Linghai’s treasures in the past decades had been stored here. The advanced crystal suits from various schools of the Imperium and even ancient relics were as good as those stored in the secret warehouses of the four Kurfürst families.

At this moment, Li Yao had become the center of the show. Surrounded by a large group of respectful refiners, he wandered amid a hundred silent metal statues.

The Imperium of True Human Beings had a long history. After inheriting and absorbing abundant legacies of the Star Ocean Imperium and the Star Ocean Republic, it had arrived at the peak of the technologies of crystal suits after a thousand years of development.

Every advanced crystal suit was like a piece of the most extraordinary artwork. Li Yao’s telepathic thoughts crawled through the gaps of the crystal suits and tasted the extraordinary, indescribable feelings. He was so fascinated that he almost couldn’t bear to drag himself away from the treasures.

However, out of everybody’s expectation, what he chose for Li Jialing, in the end, was not any of the few ultimate, most precious crystal suits, but—