Chapter 356
Hearing his words, the other six Cultivators started breathing faster. There was desire in their eyes too.
As Cultivators, they might not crave for longevity. But they definitely hungered to be stronger beyond their limits and illuminate the entire world!
Improving, evolving, and advancing!
Those were the natural instincts of a Cultivator!
Gao Tieyi’s bright gold phantom nodded its head solemnly and declared unhesitatingly, “Of course!
“The Star Glory Federation never treats any hero unfairly who has made contributions to mankind!
“Exploration in the Occult Orbs can place the participants in deadly dangers which may even lead to irreversible injuries or even death!
“If you are courageous enough to be heroes of the federation, you will be able to be blessed with incomparable benefits!
“Firstly, in some Occult Orbs, a lot of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures exist, including many that are hardly seen in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and can only be found in the ancient books. As long as you are capable of excavating them, you will be entitled to absorb or refine them first.
“Some other Occult Orbs are natural paradises in which one day of your training equals to ten days or even a fortnight in the Heaven’s Origin Sector!
“However, most of the Occult Orbs cannot bring you benefits directly.
“Let’s say during one of your discoveries, you find an arsenal of the Star Ocean Imperium, or a fleet of starships. The powerful weapons and vehicles, of course, will not be your property.
“Another example. If you are asked to lay waste to the caves of an ancient legendary demon in an Occult Orb which can be traced back to the era of the Demon Beast Empire, you can hardly gain anything even though you will have to risk your lives in the mission, too.
“No worries. The founding fathers of Occult Orbs Fellowship have thought of the problem.
“To better motivate everyone to accept the missions of exploring the Occult Orbs, there is a critical concept in Occult Orbs Fellowship called ‘contribution points’.
“Your every operation will be converted into contribution points according to the difficulty of the task, outcome of the task, casualty rate, and other criteria.
“Contribution points are extremely useful in Occult Orbs Fellowship.
“To say the very least, Occult Orbs Fellowship has dug out a lot of magical equipment and weapons which are too advanced and sophisticated for us, the Cultivators from the Heaven’s Origin Sector, to comprehend. We don’t know how to replicate or manufacture them at all.
“Which means that almost every artifact in the Occult Orbs is unique.
“Such artifacts hardly appear in the outside world except for necessary purposes such as researching. They can only be redeemed by your contribution points here!
“Besides, the precious, rarely-seen Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the Heaven’s Origin Sector can be redeemed by your contribution points, too!
“Above Deacons, there are Nine Councilors in Occult Orbs Fellowship who are all peak experts at the Nascent Soul Stage. They stop by the headquarters and supervise everything in turn.
“For this month, Senior Yan Ba, the ‘Iron God’, is staying with us.
“You can even redeem your contribution points for some time to talk with the Nascent Soul State Cultivator face-to-face and be enlightened by them.”
“Hiss….”
Everyone gasped.
Li Yao’s heart was boiling.
The Nine Councilors were all at the Nascent Soul Stage. The best Cultivators of the Star Glory Federation were almost entirely gathered here.
As for Iron God Yan Ban, he was a legend in the world of Cultivators himself.
He had been an Elder of the Marvelous Fist Sect generations ago. But he withdrew from the affairs of his sect and focused his attention on Cultivation a hundred years ago.
Marvelous Fist Sect was a sect for body practitioners. Senior Yuan was a weird one among his fellows, because he was a rarely-seen ‘body fundamentalist’.
Most body practitioners, although claiming that their body was their weapon, did not reject ancillary magical equipment in a combat such as power knuckles and crystal suits designed for body practitioners.
After all, times had changed. Magical equipment nowadays was getting more and more advanced and easier to carry, which could significantly boost their potential.
But according to the conservative body practitioners, such a behavior was an out-and-out betrayal of the ideals of the body practitioners.
Among the conservative body practitioners, the most rigid ones never relied on any magical equipment. They fought by triggering the ultimate power hiding in the deepest depths of the human body.
Such people were the monks of the body practitioners. They were known as ‘body fundamentalists’.
Yan Ba was the best body fundamentalist in the world!
Using his bare hands, without any help of any magical equipment, he was enough to wield the strength of the Nascent Soul Stage. It was not hard to imagine how powerful his body was.
‘Contribution points can be traded for some quality time together with a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator? They’re so much more useful than the credits of the Grand Desolate War Institution!’
Li Yao was deep in thought.
With the Thousand Tempering Hundred Refining technique that he’d been training in, his body sturdiness was better than most people. Thanks to the tedious refining work every day, his physical strength was enormous, too. He was almost half a body practitioner.
If he could be given a chance to talk with Iron God Yan Ba and accept his enlightenment, wouldn’t that be awesome?
When he returned to the Grand Desolate War Institution, he could share Yan Ba’s words with Ding Lingdang. His girlfriend might be able to advance yet another level!
Seeing that the seven of them were all seething with desire, Gao Tieyi decided to add more oil to the fire. He waved his hand. Almost a hundred light beams flowed out of the bright gold figure.
They were the picture and introduction of all kinds of weapons, magical equipment, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Enshrouded in dazzling glamor, they were spinning in the small cabin slowly.
“They’re all treasures from the Occult Orbs. Just take a look. With enough contribution points, it’s possible that you can get any of them!”
“Wow!”
“Ahhhh!”
“Hiss!”
Li Yao’s six companions were all exclaiming in astonishment.
Li Yao’s own pupils were widened, too, while he felt like drooling.
‘This ‘Ultimate Void Obliterator’ can blow up the space directly and constitute a space gap without a sound. The enemy’s body will be torn apart in silence!
‘This ‘Hounding Soul Tracer’ has tracking abilities. As long as the features of the enemy, such as their scent, soul wave, voice frequency, etc., are input into it, it will be automatically triggered when the enemy is fifty kilometers nearby and fly to the enemy before it is detonated!
‘And this is ‘Shadow Fiend Ring’. Put on the forehead, it can be activated with a telepathic thought. Not only does it boast stealth ability, it can also launch powerful mental attacks which can interfere with the brain of the enemy by blocking the information transmission between the retina and the optic nerves, so that the enemy will not know that they see something when they see something.
‘More importantly, it can function on enemies who are way stronger than the wearer!
‘Magical equipment from the era of the Star Ocean Imperium is indeed powerful, mysterious, and immeasurable. It is indeed the culmination of the Cultivation civilization. Even artifacts from 40,000 years ago can’t be any better than that!
‘I can’t wait any longer to dismantle the magical equipment into pieces right now and study them carefully!’
“Huh. What’s this?
“Shredded Fire Lotus, Silver Cup Flower, Burning Phoenix Crystal, Gold Cicada Fruit… So many extinct Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!”
Li Yao finally couldn’t contain himself any longer. He started exclaiming in disbelief together with the other six Cultivators.
The inventory of the treasures listed many Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that had never been seen in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Even the Hundred Smelting Clan 40,000 years ago had classified them as ‘Extremely Rare’.
Li Yao had lost hope and thought that there was no way that he could find such materials. He never expected that he would ever see them in reality.
For a moment, Li Yao’s mind was greatly stirred.
‘I’m going to get those materials!
‘Many marvelous weapons recorded in Ou Yezi’s memory pieces cannot be refined without them!
‘With such materials, I will be able to further strengthen the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, the Vulcan Machine Guns and the Boiled Blood Wind Slashing Saber. They will be more powerful, majestic, and dominating!’
Brightness that was so dense that it seemed to be a real existence beamed out of their eyes.
“It seems that you’ve all made up your mind.” Gao Tieyi smiled.
The seven of them looked at each other and nodded their heads solemnly together like seven slashing sabers.
“Then just sign the contract now.”
Gao Tieyi waved his hand. Seven brilliantly shining virtual contracts flowed out of his bright gold image.
Activating the spiritual energy, Li Yao pulled one of the contracts to him and read it carefully with his telepathic thoughts.
There was not anything special about the clauses. They merely stated that the signees had decided to join Occult Orbs Fellowship of their own will, that they fully acknowledged the perils and crises which exploring the Occult Orbs entailed, and that they were prepared for any accident, including their own death.
However, according to the subsequent terms, Occult Orbs Fellowship had brought a huge amount of catastrophic insurance for all its members.
The three insurance companies were all affiliates of top 10 sects of the federation, whose credibility was quite reliable.
The policies were detailed and covered almost everything.
If Li Yao was seriously wounded in the Occult Orbs, he could live the rest of his life comfortably with the insurance indemnity.
If he was killed, not only would a large sum of compensation be payed to the beneficiary, one or two of his kids designated by him would also be sent to the sects that the insurance companies belong to and taught by the top experts there. They might even have the opportunity to join the sects and become core disciples.
Many experts did not care much about money. They merely hoped that their descendants would flourish.
The insurance had solved their problem perfectly.
There were also detailed formulas to distribute the benefits gained in the Occult Star Orbs fairly in the contract.
Firstly, the cost to launch the star shuttle would be deducted. A small proportion of the benefits would go to a particular fund for the future development of Occult Orbs Fellowship.
Then, a large proportion of the benefits would be used for charity work, including infrastructure construction, public education, subsidies for the disabled, etc.
What was left of the benefits would be converted to contribution points and go to the explorers, which they could trade for secret treasures or meetings with the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator at their will.
It was a very reasonable contract that protected the interest of the explorers, boosted their enthusiasm, and ensured the sustainable development of Occult Orbs Fellowship so that larger and more star shuttles and launch bases could be built in the future.
In the meantime, the ordinary people of the Star Glory Federation would benefit from their endeavor, too.
Li Yao was very satisfied. He stamped his spiritual seal on the contract without any hesitation.
As for the beneficiary of the policies, Li Yao wrote two names after consideration.
Half of the compensation would be used to establish a fund and help the poor children of Floating Spear City, his hometown, to Cultivate.
The other half of the compensation would be left to Ding Lingdang. She was going to need a lot of money if she wanted to reach a higher level.
Gao Tieyi glanced at the contract when Li Yao sent it back. There was a hint of bewilderment in his eyes when he looked at Li Yao again in a strange way.