Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The qi-trainers of both teams were putting on their armor; the two teams’ armor were designed completely differently.

The armor for the thin qi-trainers on the left was smaller and lighter. All the joints were exposed to the air, and the plates were connected by soft tubes, with a lot of the True Qi containers that Li Yao had seen previously on the train added to them.

Attached to everyone’s back were pairs of foldable iron wings, which were full of spiritual gas tubes. At the ends of the wings were small holes from which white steam were popping out.

The qi-trainers jumped and warmed up their bodies. As their spiritual gas surged out, their wings opened and closed, and when their wings stretched to the limits, a lot of spiritual gas spurted out and pushed them up more than ten meters into the sky, where they would hover for around five seconds.

When the qi-trainers stopped in midair, the iron wings continued folding and changing the angle of the spurting spiritual gas, allowing them to perform small-scale movements nonstop. They were altering their postures and dashing in the air, showcasing their incredible agility.

Li Yao’s eyes suddenly shone. Such jet armor was no less swift than crystal suits!

Wu Mayan explained very proudly, “This is the Fierce Storm Assault Team, an elite squad made of thin, soft-boned qi-trainers. The armor they are wearing is special jet armor. They have been training in the air nimbly since they were very young. With sufficient spiritual gas, they can fight in midair for an entire hour!”

The members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team were all using relatively narrow double swords that were also installed with a jet acceleration system. As their spiritual energy surged out, the swords glittered and produced deafening sonic explosions, as if supersonic armed shuttles were passing by. Their aura was truly dominating.

The muscular giants on the right, in the meantime, had put on thick, heavy black iron armor.

Their armor seemed to be made of several enormous shields and couldn’t have looked more magnificent. They were already taller than other people without the armors. But in the armor, they were all more than three meters tall and were literally moving iron towers!

Dozens of True Qi containers were attached to each black iron armor, too. Facilitated by the spiritual gas, the gears between plates continued spinning, which was the only reason they could turn their joints freely and move forward in a set of armor weighing hundreds of kilograms.

The black iron armor focused more on the arms. Spiritual gas tubes were entangled among the layered plates like thick man-made muscle fibers. When their spiritual gas surged out, their iron fists collided into each other brutally, releasing cacophonous noises.

Countless hooks were placed on the rough surface of the armor, where almost a hundred long-grip grenades were hanging. Through the chains driven by spiritual gas, they could be sent into the qi-trainers’ hands very easily.

One of the muscular men picked up a ‘Wolf Fang’ and weighed it in his hand. He then suddenly extended his arm and threw the grenade forward. Dozens of air currents spurted out of the gaps on the arms. Pushed by them, the grenade was tossed thousands of meters away!

Li Yao’s eyes were keen enough to see that a row of targets was placed at the end of the test field, thousands of meters away.

The targets were not large in the first place. Observed from thousands of meters away, they were as insignificant as beans. But the grenade hit the bull’s eye precisely!

The shell of the grenade was riddled with sharp thorns, which allowed it to pierce deep into the target. In the blink of an eye, the grenade exploded and blew the target into pieces!

“Hooo!”

The muscular man was very satisfied. He bellowed, waving his arm that was even thicker than Li Yao’s waist.

Wu Mayan was in awe as he said, “This is the Iron Bears Detonation Team, another elite squad of the Furious Bears Tribe! They are all giants with infinite strength and experts in throwing grenades. When a battle is caught in a stalemate and we cannot make any progress, or when we are faced with super strong demon beasts, the Iron Bears Detonation Team always leads the charge!

“Equipped with the most powerful iron shield armor of the tribe, with hundreds of Wolf Fangs, they can crush any demon beasts when they rush close and bombard them!

“Fierce Storm and Iron Bears are the strongest combat units of the Furious Bears Tribe!

“Every young man in the tribe dreams of being admitted by one of the two elite teams one day!

“I used to dream of becoming a guard on the airships. But when I learned of the existence of such elite squads, I made up my mind that I would join one of them and maybe become a captain one day!

“My foster father Xiong Wuji was once the captain of the Iron Bears Detonation Team. Although he was neither tall nor strong, he was extremely crazy during battles and ran in the front with absolutely no fear of death. He even detonated the grenades right on his armor several times! That was why he was called ‘the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau’.

“But I’m even leaner than him, and I doubt that I will ever be taller than 1.8 meters in my life. It seems more likely that I will join the Fierce Wind Assault Team!”

While talking, the two elite squads had finished preparing their equipment. The competitive test soon began!

The rule of the test was very simple. There was a circle in the middle of the spacious test field. In the center of the circle was a red flag. The two sides would sprint at the circle at the same time. Whichever side snatched the red flag and brought it back to the ‘home camp’ of their side would be the winner.

Swoosh!

The Fierce Storm Assault Team was best known for their speed and agility. Hardly had the test begun when several qi-trainers jumped to the sky and sprinted forward, flapping the iron wings on their jet armor.

Their remaining teammates, while rushing on the ground, were also accelerating with their jet armor in a zigzag pattern that looked like white lightning.

By the time their opponents had gotten started, many of them had already rushed into the circle.

Members of the Iron Bears Detonation Team were all wearing heavy armor. Their speed was low, but they had their own tricks, too.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Dozens of Wolf Fangs darted at the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team quickly and brutally as if they had eyes!

Some of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team dodged the grenades with their jet armor, while some others waved their sonic swords and unleashed high-pressure spiritual gas to blow up the grenades before they approached.

But the Iron Bears Detonation Team indeed excelled at the usage of Wolf Fangs. Some of the grenades hit each other in midair and altered each other’s direction, and some of them exploded in advance; the resulting blast not only changed the trajectory of the other Wolf Fangs nearby but also improved their speed!

Several Wolf Fangs broke the defense of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and exploded right beside them.

The team members grunted and fell out of the sky with sharp thorns stabbed into their bodies.

Li Yao’s eyes almost bulged out. He did not expect that they would be using real grenades during a test!

The Wolf Fangs were indeed powerful. The broken shrapnel penetrated through the spiritual shields and armor of the members of the Fierce Storm Assault Team. Although they were not seriously wounded, they were still bleeding fast because of the broken shells.

Wu Mayan saw Li Yao’s surprise and explained matter-of-factly, “This is typical for the daily training of the Furious Bears Tribe. It can be quite dangerous, but how can you expect to fight the ferocious demon beasts if you cannot stand such training?

“Not just the two elite squads, even the everyday training of the common qi-trainers is extremely painful and perilous. Many people give it up because they’ve had enough of it every day. Some people grit their teeth through it, only to become mentally deranged and to be forced to quit.

“My mom said that you were going to do the qi-trainer’s training tomorrow. You must be very careful about it. It’s not a joke!”

While they were talking, the two torrents of steel crashed into each other!

The Fierce Storm Assault Team was swift and nimble like a lightning, and the Iron Bears Detonation Team was heavy and strong like rumbling thunder.

The competition between the lightning and the thunder was heated from the moment it began.

Countless Wolf Fangs exploded brutally. Dozens of sonic swords ripped apart the air simultaneously!

Li Yao greatly enjoyed their performance.

Speaking of the combat ability of the Refinement Stage, the qi-trainers on Iron Plateau had apparently achieved the best of it.

If a hundred qi-trainers of Iron Plateau and a hundred Refinement Stage Cultivators from space were engaged in a match, Li Yao would definitely bet on the former!

While observing the summit confrontation of two elite teams, Li Yao contemplated on the modification plans of sonic swords and Wolf Fangs.

He was dwelling in his own world, when Wu Mayan suddenly exclaimed in shock and he discovered that a black object was coming right at his face!

As it turned out, one grenade was bashed away by a member of the Fierce Storm Assault Team and darted precisely at his head!

BOOM!

Before he realized what was going on, the Wolf Fang had exploded. Hundreds of broken pieces formed a hurricane of metals and swept over!

Li Yao’s pupils shrank to the size of needle tips. He entered the super perceptive state instantly and increased his brain cell activity to 500%!

In the super perceptive state, time seemed to have been slowed down to one fifth of its original speed, and the air turned extremely thick. Every broken piece almost came to a halt.

Li Yao could clearly see the trajectory of each piece and calculate their new routes when they crashed into each other, before he figured out the best dodging plan at present.

He moved his left leg and planned to slide backwards three meters, only to run into Wu Mayan heavily.

The young man had noticed the incoming Wolf Fang earlier and tried to jump close and drag him away even though it was equally dangerous for him!

This little guy!

Li Yao was somewhat moved and found it hilarious. The perfect route of dodging had been blocked by his young friend!

He gritted his teeth and further increased his brain cell activity. His eyes immediately became bloodshot, several of his cerebral vessels exploded, and he was soaked in sweat!

When the shrapnel reached them, he slightly moved toward the left and grabbed Wu Mayan’s sleeve. In the end, both of them fell to the ground!

The two dodging movements happened really fast. In other people’s eyes, he was merely shocked and fell to the ground in fear.

But in Li Yao’s precise calculation, it was the safest dodging plan available. His shoulder and right arm would be hit by two broken pieces, but Wu Mayan would be unhurt.

However, just as he fell to the ground hurriedly, a white figure dashed close, with a sword in hand that turned into hundreds of phantom-like shadows and blew away all the broken pieces!