Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“When biochemistry developed to the peak point, terrifying existences known as ‘biochemical beasts’ were invented!

“Training genes can be dangerous because the world of hereditary information is as vast as an ocean and utterly unpredictable. There is no telling what kind of changes would happen to somebody when they activate part of their dormant genes. They might grow scales all over their body, and they become as tough as iron, but they also might suddenly turn into a pool of pus and die a miserable death. It is possible that their appearance might not change at all, but their breathing organ might no longer be compatible with the air. As a result, they would suffocate even though the air is plenty.

“Therefore, we all tread lightly during our training and never dare to unlock the gene strands randomly.

“But biochemical beasts are different. They are the artificial creatures made through combining the genes of dozens of stronger demon beasts. They do not have the ability to think or self-awareness, and they can be connected to the user through nerves or brainwaves, which essentially makes them ‘clones’ of the user.

“On the biochemical beasts, the imagination and creativity of the experts of genetics and cytology are no longer restricted. Therefore, such terrifying weapons that are as magnificent as the primeval animals have been invented!

“When a demon is connected to a biochemical beast, their combat ability is multiplied, and if it is a top-tier biochemical beast, their combat ability could even be enhanced by ten times!” Jin Xinyue said delightedly.

Li Yao frowned and, pondering for a moment, said, “When I chased after the prince of the Nether Spring Kingdom and almost killed him, an enormous centipede that was dozens of meters of long crawled out of the earth. It had three bloody horns on its head that were spurting poisonous gas with a sweet smell. Then, the prince of the Nether Spring Kingdom crammed into the head of the centipede, and the two of them seemed to meld into one. Was it a biochemical beast?”

Jin Xinyue shuddered and gasped. “Yes. That was the ‘Red-Horned Centipede’, a biochemical beast personally brewed by Elder Nether Spring. It is one of the strongest biochemical beasts of the Blood Demon Sector. I did not know that Elder Nether Spring was resolute enough to deploy such a precious weapon! What then? Did you kill Yuan Du and the Red-Horned Centipede in the end, senior?”

Li Yao shook his head. “I didn’t. I slashed at the centipede and chopped off one of the red horns on its head. Then, it spurted out a cluster of intense fog and escaped with the coverage of the fog.

“I was more interested in the item that you were all fighting over, so I chose to go after you and ignored the little bug.”

Jin Xinyue secretly clicked her tongue. Yuan Du was a middle-level demon king. With the enhancement of the ‘Red-Horned Centipede’, he could certainly fight a high-level demon king. She did not expect that the guy would only be able to run away desperately under the threat of the old monster, and even the venomous horn of his biochemical beast had been removed.

The old monster was indeed unfathomably strong!

With a brilliant smile on her face, Jin Xinyue clapped her hands and said, “You are indeed invincible with your amazing skills, senior. With a cough of yours, Yuan Du could only be scared out of his wits. If you have access to a few super biochemical beasts and build them into your ‘clones’, which you can manipulate as if they are your body parts, I cannot imagine how strong you will be by then!”

Li Yao chuckled for a moment but suddenly stopped smiling. He said coldly, “There’s no need to flatter me. In fact, all your talk is merely meant to trigger my interest in the modern theories of training so that I will escort you back to the Gold Crow Kingdom safely and even join your father’s side against the Nether Spring Kingdom, right?”

Jin Xinyue smiled even more brilliantly as she replied, “Your eyes are indeed keen, senior. I knew that I could not hide my intention in front of you.”

Li Yao snorted and said, “After listening to what you’ve just said, I’m indeed quite curious about the modern theories of training. It seems that forty thousand years is truly a long time. The world has completely changed!

“It’s not impossible for me to escort you back to the Gold Crow Kingdom. Joining the war between you and the Heaven’s Origin Sector is my wish, too. Although you have not mentioned it yet, I’m very curious what kind of experts are in the world of Cultivators now waiting to be butchered by me and how powerful the so-called crystal suits are. Are they enough to resist one attack?

“However, you must tell me everything that you know honestly. If I discover that you are keeping anything to yourself, hehehehe…”

The intimidating killing intent around him made Jin Xinyue shudder violently again. She hurried to kneel down and swore that she did not dare to.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and said, “I did not kill the prince of the Nether Spring Kingdom. He must’ve returned already with news about us. I do not think that Elder Nether Spring will let us walk out of the Hundred Desolation Mountain easily.

“He is just a demon emperor. Of course, I’m not scared of him, but with the mutations inside your body, you are quite a nuisance now.”

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao opened his right hand and summoned a fire out of nowhere before he patted the fire into the top of Jin Xinyue’s skull.

A hot stream immediately flooded into Jin Xinyue’s brain.

Jin Xinyue was so scared that she was almost peeing. She thought that the temperamental monster was determined to kill her.

She was about to exclaim and run away when she sensed that she was not harmed at all. Instead, with the hot stream flooding into her body, brand new strength was woken up inside her internal organs.

This—this is the secret technique through which the Cultivators and demons forty thousand years ago assessed the expertise and aptitude of their disciples!

Jin Xinyue quickly realized what was going on.

Forty thousand years ago, the demon race had only just risen and was deeply connected to the Cultivators. On many occasions, the demons were like the Cultivators’ students. They learned everything from their teachers crazily.

Therefore, the greatest experts of the demons at that time, besides their naturally-endowed talents, were all adept at the secret arts of the Cultivators. If they polymorphed into human beings, they would look divine and elegant, absolutely no different from real high-level Cultivators.

Jin Xinyue had an absurd thought when she was tested with the ancient bone-touching technique. She was wondering if it was her who travelled through time instead of the old monster.

But Li Yao was ten times more shocked than Jin Xinyue was.

Odd. Really odd. Why are there such immense spiritual waves inside her body?

Li Yao sensed the tremendous spiritual energy stored inside Jin Xinyue’s body. It filled her internal organs and every vessel and nerve. Part of the spiritual energy was even condensed in her lower abdomen where it was spinning slowly and forming what appeared to be a core!

“I—”

Under Li Yao’s guidance, Jin Xinyue gradually perceived the new strength inside her body, too. She thought of a possibility and was dumbfounded.

Li Yao made the conclusion for her. “It seems that the weird drug only changed the forms of your cells but did not remove your strength from you. Your strength is now demonstrated in a completely different way. That’s all.

“In the past, you were a demon king.

“After the transformation, you have become a Cultivator at the corresponding level—the Core Formation Stage.

“Of course, it is only in terms of the immensity of spiritual energy. You don’t know the first thing about the utilization of spiritual energy and are absolutely no match for a real Core Formation Stage Cultivators. Even Building Foundation Stage Cultivators could defeat you easily. You are like a three-year-old who has unbelievable physical strength, but that does not mean that you can fight a real warrior.”

Jin Xinyue was relieved at first. In the Blood Demon Sector, where the strong preyed on the weak, strength meant everything. It was not the most terrible thing to turn into a human being, but if she lost her strength, she would be a fish on the chopping block, at the mercy of anybody. It would be a better ending for her if she killed herself right now under such circumstances.

Her strength remained, but it had been shifted to a different paradigm. It was the greatest news for her today.

However, there was still one problem. How exactly should she utilize the strength?

Li Yao observed her ever-changing facial expressions casually. It was not until Jin Xinyue came back to herself and looked at her earnestly that he retrieved ten or so high-purity crystals from his Cosmos Ring unhurriedly.

With his left hand behind his back, Li Yao raised a stream of invisible spiritual energy that made the crystals float in midair without support.

With the stimulation of the spiritual energy, the crystals crashed and polished each other. Powder spluttered like a hazy mist. The most solid crystals seemed to have turned into the softest plaster. Their forms changed continuously until they split into delicate components in the end.

Brilliance suddenly shined in Li Yao’s eyes. He closed his hand, and all the components were combined together after cracking noises into a vintage jade chip.

Shua!

Seven-colored fire rose up inside Li Yao’s palm, which seared the jade from top to bottom. In the end, the fire did not die down but dashed into the jade chip like a small dragon, turning into colorful, glamorous stripes on the surface of the jade chip.

After only a few seconds of refining, the jade chip was translucent and as smooth as oil. It also boasted a vigorous air, as if it had been polished by a craftsman for ten days and ten night and worn as a pendant for decades. It looked like an out-and-out ancient treasure!

Jin Xinyue was truly shocked!

If she had not seen it with her own eyes, she certainly would have mistaken the jade chip for an ancient treasure that had just been excavated from some ruins. She never would have believed that it had been refined just now with only one hand!

This is definitely the most standard, professional method of ancient refining. It is not something that modern demons or human beings can grasp!

Besides, he was only using one hand, and he has crafted an ancient jade chip after only several minutes!

So horrifying! So skillful! So unbelievable!

Jin Xinyue was so shocked that she was soaked in cold sweat again.

She was aware that professions were ambiguous in the ancient times forty thousand years ago. At that time, the Cultivators and the demons were all full-profession experts. They could refine as proficiently as they could kill.

If the old monster had just woken up recently after a sleep of forty thousand years, it was not strange that he knew the secret arts of the Cultivators and the methods of refining.

But even the experts of refining in ancient times might not have been able to produce a jade chip singlehandedly in only several minutes!

Li Yao touched the jade chip to his forehead, and his telepathic thoughts flooded in like a tide.

The capacity of the ancient jade chips was small, but they were convenient to use. The information could be stored or wiped as long as they were stuck to the forehead.

Li Yao retrieved a few classics hidden in the Heavenly Refining Tower from Ou Yezi’s memory pieces and transcribed them to the jade chip before he tossed the jade chip to Jin Xinyue casually.

“There are some crude training methods in the jade chip, which I retrieved after killing several Cultivators. Take a look at them.”