Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Having just seen the impassioned recording of the qi-trainers banishing the spacers five thousand years ago, Li Yao was truly shocked by Xiong Wuji’s proposal. “What did you say?”

“Iron Plateau cannot hold on much longer.”

Xiong Wuji was entirely emotionless. Every muscle on his face was as tough as steel, as he explained, “For countless years, the Iron Plateau natives have been struggling, reproducing, and expanding. The east part of the continent below our feet is almost entirely occupied by us. Our society seems to be prosperous and blooming!

“But in fact, we’ve reached the limit of our expansion and the peak of our development. What awaits us is a path leading straight down to the hell!

“The most critical problem is the lack of resources.

“Every battle against the apocalypse consumes tremendous resources. To deal with the battle of the apocalypse that just happened, all the mother lodes near Furious Bears City have been emptied in order to produce enough war machines and crystal bombs, but the equipment was mostly wrecked in the battle.

“The trophies we collected from the apocalyptic beasts are far from enough to make up for the loss.

“The other five tribes are in a similar situation to the Furious Bears Tribe. All the existent mother lodes will be drained in the new few decades. If they want to excavate more resources, they will have to establish new mines and towns far from the main cities.

“However, building new mines and towns and protecting the supply line between such locations and the main city will consume a lot of resources itself. The scourge of the demon beasts on the way must be taken into account, too. One moment of carelessness may result in tremendous losses!

“The leaders of the six tribes are well aware of the situation. Judging from the trend of our development, the best we can do is to persist for several decades and resist another ten or so apocalypse outbreaks. Then, we will run out of resources and have no way to continue walking on the old path.

“Everybody has been considering how to solve the problem. They have proposed many insights such as improving our technology in excavation and tempering so that we can make use of the mother lodes deeper below the ground.

“But whatever method we employ, they all demand the investment of tremendous time and resources. The upgrade of technology cannot be completed within one day. Dozens of years, or even hundreds of years, and the hard work of several generations are mandatory for the process, not to mention that we might be walking on the wrong path and have to correct our mistakes every now and then.

“However, we have neither time nor resources.

“The outbreaks of the eggs of apocalypse every ten years or so have forced us to spend all our available resources to cope with it. The harassment of the demon beasts has been a major headache for us, too. We don’t have the resources to begin research that could potentially last a hundred years!

“Before, it always baffled me why the eggs of apocalypse broke out in such a weird pattern. But after I listened to your assumption, I’ve figured out everything now!

“The purpose of the outbreaks of the eggs of apocalypse is to act as ‘technology blockers’. They block all possibilities of advancement in our basic technology and coerced us to pour our resources into the war and improve ourselves in the pattern that they have set up!

“When such ‘improvement’ continues for thousands of years, everything about the civilization of mankind will be abandoned, and we will be adept at the mode of war of the Titan Warriors. Maybe, to quote you, ‘we’ will be transformed into ‘them’ at that time!”

While talking, Xiong Wuji’s body started shivering slightly.

Sha Yulan was behind him, with her hands placed on his shoulders. There was panic her eyes, too.

“I understand now. I understand everything now.”

Xiong Wuji mumbled to himself, “I was always curious about one thing when I was training in the Titan Illusionary Land. Titan Warriors were a species that preferred slaughtering to construction. Then why did they boast such finely-made weapons? Many of their weapons were made of special alloys based on technology that was far more advanced than ours. Such weapons were indicative of a high industrialization level!

“Now that I think about it, it might be related to the ‘eggs of apocalypse’!

“Eggs of apocalypse, as well as the insects we see in the Titan Illusionary Land, are possibly the tools of production for the Titan Warriors!

“They herd the insects just like we herd cows and sheep!

“They stabbed the eggs of apocalypse deep underground where the eggs would grow weird ‘roots’ to collect the resources in the mother lodes. Then, a lot of apocalyptic beasts would be born!

“Such apocalyptic beasts were the best metal manufacturers. They could eliminate the impurities inside the raw minerals by inexplicable biochemical reactions so that the purest metals could be retrieved. They could even combine several different kinds of metal and turn them into super alloys!

“Not to mention that the apocalyptic beasts were themselves Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that contained tremendous spiritual energy!

“The Titan Warriors have been herding such apocalyptic beasts. Then, when the time is right, they detonate the eggs of apocalypse, slay the apocalyptic beasts, and collect the super alloys and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures inside the bodies of the beasts to arm themselves!

“I assume that this is the paradigm of survival for the Titan Warriors’ civilization!

“Right now, the Titan Warriors are guiding us to give up mankind’s way of life and embark on their path!”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao nodded quickly. “That’s very reasonable. Gathering the resources deep underground with eggs of apocalypse and slaying the apocalyptic beasts after they have purified and melted the resources will not only satisfy the Titan Warriors’ lust for killing but also provide them with profound resources!

“In such a way, the Titan Warriors can get a huge amount of super metal without any industry and craft indestructible weapons with the materials!

“It is indeed particularly suitable for the Titan Warriors!”

Xiong Wuji gnashed his teeth and said, “There’s more to it.

“In the Titan Illusionary Land, I turned into a Titan Warrior several times that was hiding inside giant creatures, which were thousands of meters long and looked like enormous beetles. I was jumping from one planet to another and going on new killing sprees!

“It’s possible that such enormous beetles are the ‘interstellar warships’ for the Titan Warriors. They swallow one planet after another like locusts in such vehicles!”

Li Yao added, “I’ve had similar experiences!”

Xiong Wuji said, “Maybe, in thousands of years, when all the Iron Plateau natives are transformed into new Titan Warriors, they will grasp the method to produce such ‘warship beetles’, too. They will collect the underground resources with the eggs of apocalypse and create countless warship beetles, and then—

“They will sabotage the entire Flying Star Sector!”

Li Yao subconsciously shivered. “Although it does not have any proof, your theory sounds rather plausible. The appetite of the Titan Warriors is definitely much bigger than a single planet!”

Xiong Wuji smiled bitterly and replied, “Do you understand now why I propose to get in touch with the space residents despite all the possible opposition?

“The heritage of the Titan Warriors’ civilization is like thick ink, while Iron Plateau is like a glass of water.

“If you pour the ink into the glass, all the water will be corrupted before long.

“However, the human civilization of the Flying Star Sector as a whole, which has expanded to every corner of this constellation, is like the pond in front of us!

“Thick as the ink may be, it will disappear once it is poured into the pond.

“In such a case, the Titan Warriors won’t be able to transform us. Instead, the civilization of mankind will swallow theirs completely!

“This is a war!

“Maybe the Titan Warriors’ civilization perished billions of years ago, and maybe it was millions of lightyears away from us!

“But still, this is a war between two civilizations, spread out over infinite time and space!

“If the Iron Plateau natives continue secluding ourselves and refuse to get in touch with the outside world, we will be transformed by the Titan Warriors sooner or later. Eventually, the entire Flying Star Sector and even other human civilizations beyond this constellation will be jeopardized!

“However, I believe that, as long as the wisdom of the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents is combined, we will definitely figure out a way to unravel the mysteries of the Titan Warriors’ civilization and find out the techniques of resource collection and reproduction of creatures behind the eggs of apocalypse!

“By then, the Titan Warriors’ civilization will be entirely swallowed by us. We will become even stronger than right now!”

Xiong Wuji’s eyes were glittering. Although he was steady on the giant green rock, Li Yao had the feeling that he was even mightier than when he had fought against the calamity-level beast!

A war between two civilizations across billions of years and hundreds of lightyears!

Li Yao was so shocked by the groundbreaking hypothesis that he found it hard to breathe.

He also understood better why Xiong Wuji, the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau and the strongest man on the planet, was proposing to get in touch with the space residents who had once been considered ‘traitors’.

Li Yao asked, “Chief Xiong, what are you planning to do?”

Xiong Wuji pondered for a moment. Then he smiled bitterly. “The chasm between Iron Plateau natives and space residents has become too deep and wide over the years. The icy wall cannot be thawed within one day.

“In fact, about two thousand years ago, the space residents sent representatives to Iron Plateau, hoping to restore communication between the two parties.

“But the resources on Iron Plateau were relatively abundant at that time. Also, our predecessors had made continuous breakthroughs on the path of qi-training from the 50th level to the 70th and even to the 90th.

“Everybody thought that we could make breakthroughs without any constraint. We would surpass the 100th level, the 500th level, and the 1000th level in no time.

“Therefore, the predecessors at that time discarded the space residents’ request on the spot and dismissed all the representatives.

“After that, the starships of the space residents were forced to land on Iron Plateau many times.

“You also know that most of the area on Iron Plateau is surging ocean and the Dark Continent, both of which are not under our control.

“Even within the area under the control of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, deserts and demon beasts dominate most of it. We can only ensure that the towns and the transportation lines are secure.

“Therefore, the passengers on those starships did not last long They were either swallowed by demon beasts or slain by the savages in the Dark Continent.

“Then rumors spread far and wide. The space residents began to consider Iron Plateau a forbidden area for Cultivators and us to be barbarians who feasted upon raw meat and blood!

“Such a stereotype cannot be changed shortly. I plan to send a delegation to space to get in touch with the space residents first so that they will see what the Iron Plateau natives today actually look like.

“If possible, we can make some deals by exchanging our unique techniques or resources!

“After we take the first step and our wariness is mostly relieved, we can start negotiating about interacting on a larger scale!

“Li Yao, if you are willing to, I want you to join the delegation as the intermediary between the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents!”