Chapter 127
Wild Waves City.[1]
For a town which was hundreds of thousands of miles away from any oceans to be named “Wild Waves”, it seemed extremely strange.
However, when the passenger disembarked from the train, an “ocean” with waves that ran as high as they could get appeared in the distance behind the huge glass walls of the entrance.
To be precise, it was a vast expanse of Wasteland; because the rocks had been carried by the fierce winds for hundreds of millions of years, they had stacked upon each other, creating an appearance akin to waves upon waves. In other words, the rocks, after having been swept away by the wind, had solidified and turned into a sea of stones.
This sea of stones was painted with two colors—black and red.
The black color was the original color of the rock.
Whereas the red color was because of having been dyed with the blood of countless federation soldiers, cultivators, and demon beasts.
The blood of humans and demon beasts had so deeply perfused into the rocks that even if the rocks were smashed to pieces, one would still be able to find bits and pieces of scarlet amidst the black.
Wild Waves City was a lot different than the other cities of the Demon Beast Wasteland. Around Wild Waves City, there weren’t any military camps nor were there any towering walls protecting the city.
The humans living here didn’t need any city walls at all because, for a very long time, the demon beasts had not dared to invade this city.
On the contrary, the ones who needed to be protected the most by a solid wall were the enemies of Wild Waves City—even if they did have this protection, it would only buy them a few seconds, that’s all.
Because there wasn’t anybody or anything that could block the residents of Wild Waves City. Whether it was any kind of enclosing wall or the fangs and armor of demon beasts, there would be no effect—none at all.
This was precisely Wild Waves City.
The place where the Grand Desolate War Institution was located—a paradise for hot-blooded men!
Li Yao looked for a long time while standing behind the huge glass screen at the entrance. His heart was fluctuating up and down just like the sea of rocks made by the wind in the Wasteland.
Behind him were a couple hundred young boys and girls. They were a group of hot-blooded teenagers who had just disembarked from different trains and were all new students of the Grand Desolate War Institution.
They smiled at each other before confirming each other’s identities quickly. Everyone involuntarily raised their chests, as though they were all an inseparable group from this moment onward.
All the high-spirited young boys and girls very quickly got familiar with each other, and soon, they set forth, clattering at the entrance.
“Brother, I am from the Chaos Edge Hall, which student union are you from?”
“Ha ha ha! I am also from the Chaos Edge Hall. It seems we are family. Just a moment ago, looking at your thick arm, I thought you were from the Iron Fist Club!”
“You see that girl over there who is covered in many tattoos from head to toe? She is definitely a member of the Glyph Devils—not good, she heard us!”
On one hand, Li Yao was listening to the conversations of the students, while on the other, he was thinking about the information he had just learned from the freshman guide.
Before the Grand Desolate War Institution came into existence, it used to be a platform in the Demon Beast Wasteland where all kinds of warriors could exchange martial techniques, thus the Grand Desolate War Institution was rather free, the rules were loose, and it promoted a student autonomy.
It was not the professors who were in control of the various departments, but rather, it was the students. Every department’s student union was self-governed, and the professors were only there to guide them. As long as the students didn’t cross their bottom line, then they would generally not interfere with the operation of the student union.
The Iron Fist Club, the Chaos Edge Hall, the Glyph Devils, and the Lancets were the four strongest student unions established at the Grand Desolate War Institution.
The Iron Fist Club was a student union composed of body practitioners. They all disdained the use of any kind of weapon. Any student who was convinced that their body was the strongest magical equipment would join the Iron Fist Club. The members of the Iron Fist Club continuously charged towards the limits of their body, tempering their flesh and blood into an all-conquering killing machine.
The Chaos Edge Hall was a student union composed of sword cultivators. The students who joined the Chaos Edge Hall possessed superb skills in the usage of cold weapons, and their dreams were to become a first-rate sword immortal.
The Lancets were, instead, a student organization of the Medical Department.
At the beginning, Li Yao could not understand why there was a Medical Department at the Grand Desolate War Institution, especially one that was very high level to the point that it was on par with the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine in surgery, emergency treatment, and other fields.
Only after a careful explanation from the freshman manual did he come to understand.
The Grand Desolate War Institution was a combat school that specialized in nurturing warriors who zealously fought and was a university that encouraged its students to fight.
The students would definitely be subjected to all kinds of injuries while fighting, and it would not be strange in the least for them to be injured to the point that their life was hanging by a thread—whether it was the members of the Iron Fist Club or the Chaos Edge Hall, all of them were a bunch of madmen who didn’t fear death. Even if they were facing a demon beast who was ten times stronger than they were, they would still directly charged at it without even batting an eye.
Under these circumstances, a “Medical Department” appeared in the Grand Desolate War Institution which specialized in trauma treatment and were responsible for emergency treatment on the field.
Over the course of a couple hundred years, the Medical Department’s level continued to rise, so much that many of the patients who had suffered serious injuries on the battlefield which could not be cured by the Empyrean Capital School of Medicine would be sent for treatment to the surgical and orthopedic hospitals affiliated to the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Medical Department.
The doctors of the Grand Desolate War Institution’s Medical Department specialized in the usage of a kind of scalpel that was as thin and as similar as a willow leaf to carry out the most sophisticated of operations. Over time, “Lancets” had become the synonym for the doctors of the Wasteland.
As for the Glyph Devils, their existences were even more surprising than that of the Lancets for Li Yao—to his surprise, it was a student organization of the Arts Department.
No matter how Li Yao racked his brain, he could not figure out why the Grand Desolate War Institution would have an “Arts Department”, especially one so strong that it had left his beloved “Refining Department” far behind.
The freshmen manual, yet again—broke the mystery.
In the cultivation world, there was an extremely mysterious ability called “Spirit Tattoo Technique”. Using this technique, one could draw hundreds of thousands of patterns that were infused with spirit glyphs all over their body. Without even having to cultivate, they would possess a powerful strength.
The cultivators who had mastered this kind of ability were revered as “Spirit Tattoo Artists”.
Let’s take the most common example—if a Spirit Tattoo Artist had drawn a flame which contained complex fire-type array glyphs on the hand of a cultivator, then when the cultivator punched with that very fist, he could spontaneously mobilize flame spiritual energy and blast it. He simply did not need to form any kinds of seals, chant any spell, or any other triggering conditions.
This was just the most common, the most low-level usage of spirit tattoos.
A true Spirit Tattoo Master Artist could marvelously draw over a hundred spirit glyphs in a small tattoo that was no bigger than a square inch. Moreover, it would completely fuse with blood vessels, perfectly integrating the tattoo with its user!
You could imagine that the Spirit Tattoo Artists were simply the strongest supporters of the body practitioners.
A body practitioner who had spirit tattoos drawn all over his body was absolutely a terrifying existence on the battlefield. Nobody knew what kind of frightening abilities he would come to possess after the tattoo had fused with his body.
For instance, the red-eyed officer who Li Yao had met on the crystal train was just a 1st level Building Foundation Stage cultivator. In truth, it was absolutely impossible for him to fly hundreds of meters high into the air in the blink of an eye.
However, the light wings tattooed on his back by the Spirit Tattoo Artists had allowed him to overdraft his life force and stimulate all the spiritual energy stored in the light wings at the last moments of his life, enabling him to soar into the clouds and launch an incomparably gorgeous strike!
The Grand Desolate War Institution’s Arts Department was a place that was dedicated to fostering Spirit Tattoo Artists. In the entire federation, it was a one of a kind department that could compete with the similar departments of Sky Fantasia Academy.
The Iron Fist Club, the Chaos Edge Hall, the Lancets, the Glyph Devils… These were the four student unions that were the backbone of the Grand Desolate War Institution.
80% of the university’s education funds and resources flowed into these four student unions, and they were given priority to the university’s best professors, courts, and equipment.
As for the remaining meager 20%, that was left for the other departments to compete for.
Most of the radicals even believed that the Grand Desolate War Institution was placed last among the “Nine Elite Universities” because they were being dragged down by a dozen other ordinary departments, believing that they might as well completely cut off these ordinary departments and only retain the Iron Fist Club, Chaos Edge Hall, Lancets, and the Glyph Devils. Maybe then their ranking could be a bit higher!
‘First of all, I need to bring the Refining Department to the same level as the four major departments…’ Li Yao thought.
At this time, sounds of light footsteps came from behind him. A boy with short hair that was no longer than an inch asked in awe:
“Excuse me, fellow student. Your spiritual energy fluctuations are very strong. You would not… happen to have already awakened your spiritual root and become a cultivator, right?”
“Wow!”
Just as he had said this, all the freshmen came over and looked at Li Yao in curiosity.
Everyone had long heard that the “Nine Elite Universities” was a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers and had innumerable geniuses gathered. They didn’t expect to see a monstrous talent in real life before they had even entered the campus!
Li Yao was feeling a little embarrassed from the hot and fiery gazes of everyone as he nodded: “Yes, but I’ve just awakened it, so my level is very low. I am just at the 1st level of the Refinement Stage, that’s all.”
“Just awakened…”
The body with short hair pondered for a moment, seemingly thinking about something. His eyebrows started twitching as he cried, “You would not happen to be that monster—who had awakened his spiritual root on a platform and then beat a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator to the point that he was so miserable that one could not bear to look at him?!”
Li Yao was surprised for a moment. He had not expected that this matter would have already spread so much.
Thus, all the freshmen became mad!
A contest between cultivators would set off fluctuations of spiritual energy that could not be perceived by ordinary people, but as these freshmen’s Spiritual Root Development Quotient was over 80%, they were naturally able to perceive it.
So everyone knew that on a temporary station, a small scuffle between two cultivators had taken place.
However, at that time, a majority of the people were being inspected, so they too didn’t know the exact details. They only knew that a recently awakened cultivator had beaten a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator into a pig—or perhaps a boneless, pickled pig head.
On the train, everyone was continuously discussing that the 1st level Refinement Stage cultivator was too fierce and wondering god knows where this monster had popped out from.
But how could they have expected that he would turn out to be their fellow student, and even more so a freshman who was just going to enter the Grand Desolate War Institution!?
At this moment, everyone had different kinds of looks in their eyes when gazing at Li Yao; their gazes were filled with envy, worship, fanaticism, and fear…
“The Grand Desolate War Institution is worthy of being the best combat institute in the federation. Even such a fierce person had chosen the Grand Desolate War Institution. I have certainly not enrolled in the wrong university!”
“Ah, the pressure is too great! In the future, we will be studying together with such a fierce student. How could we compare with such a monster?”
“Fellow student, you are thinking too much. Such a fierce person like him would, for sure, be personally guided by the ‘professors’ themselves, whereas ordinary freshmen like us will only get ‘lecturers’. We simply have nothing to compare!”
“Does anyone know whether he is actually a body practitioner or a sword cultivator?”
The short-haired boy’s face was full of worship as he said in excitement, “Fellow Student, if I can study together with you, then that would my greatest honor! Can you tell me—whether you are from the Iron Fist Club or the Chaos Edge Hall?”
Once this sentence exited his mouth, a majority of the students divided into two groups while maintaining their composure.
Most of the students on the left side had shiny skin that was reflecting a metal-like gloss. Furthermore, each and every joint was oddly big, their fists were flat, and when they clenched their fists, their fists were like warhammer that had been repeatedly tempered.
Whereas, most of the student on the right side had sharp as a blade looks in their eyes, their hands were covered in calluses, many of the students even had their fingerprints completely polished, and weapons of varying lengths hung on their waists.
They were the members of the Iron Fist Club and the Chaos Edge Hall respectively.
TLN:
[1] – You may all be wondering which city is this, or how come the name has been changed. Actually, the raws were like ‘furious waves city’, so for a better flow, we decided to change the name a bit, but as I read this chapter, it was mismatching with the first couple paragraphs of the chapter, so we have decided to change the name of ‘Wild Storm City’ to ‘Wild Waves City’. Sorry for the inconvenience.