Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao’s eyes surged out like a flooding river, destroying, swallowing, and drowning everything in his way!

Qi Zhongdao’s eyes, however, were like a boundless ocean. No matter how rampant the flood was, it would vanish into nothingness after it ran into the ocean.

Boom!

A giant noise echoed inside Li Yao’s head. The world around him seemed to have disappeared, replace by an empty universe in front of his eyes. ‘Iron Saint’ Qi Zhongdao’s spirit had turned into horizontal and vertical iron rulers that interweaved into a chess board, a shackle, and a cage, suppressing his soul and imprisoning him with Qi Zhongdao’s ‘rules’!

What immense mental power!

Li Yao was greatly amazed.

But he did not know that Qi Zhongdao was ten times more shocked than him!

As one of the leading people in the Great Qian Dynasty, Qi Zhongdao knew a thing or two about all the top experts in the entire Ancient Sages Sector. The faces, features, and favorite techniques of the three hundred or so Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were all in his mind. He had evaluated what kind of tough people he might run into in the battle to overwhelm the Purple Pole Sword Sect and drafted corresponding plans.

When Li Yao first landed, he did not think too much of the newcomer.

Unlike other people, he gave Li Yao a higher estimation and regarded Li Yao as an overseas unaffiliated Cultivator who had made significant progress in training by accident and had perhaps reached the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage, which was why the Purple Pole Sword Sect valued him so much.

However, it was just the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage!

When Li Yao observed him blatantly from afar, he still did not think too much of the overseas unaffiliated Cultivator. He merely intended to suppress the guy with part of his telepathic thoughts so that the guy would retreat.

But he did not expect that mysterious unaffiliated Cultivator’s soul to be so powerful!

The guy was like a boa, a falcon, a tiger, or even a primeval beast like a tyrannosaur, when he raged, roared, and savaged inside the cage condensed by Qi Zhongdao’s spirit, determined to break free from it!

Huala!

Qi Zhongdao’s cage, shackle, and chess board were finally showing cracks.

Li Yao’s boa, falcon, and tiger took the opportunity to run out, but they were heavily wounded and moaning!

The two of them retreated their eyes almost at the same time.

Li Yao’s nose was bleeding, and there was no way that he could stop it.

He did not intend to stop it, either, but merely took a step back and lowered his head to observe where he had been standing.

Two deep footprints had been left on the ground there. A series of tiny cracks could be found around the footprints, too.

They were a sign that he was unable to control his spiritual energy precisely because of the blast to his soul.

Impressive!

Li Yao finally sniffed the blood in his nose and raised his thumb for Qi Zhongdao in his heart.

After the brief collision of eyes, he was already able to basically estimate Qi Zhongdao’s capabilities. The guy should be similar to, if not slightly stronger than, Xiao Xuance, the enemy with the highest combat ability that Li Yao had ever come across so far.

Xiao Xuance had once been the best expert of the Flying Star Sector. He was close to the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage, and his capabilities were immeasurable!

Years ago, it was with the collective attack of seven Cultivators, six in the Nascent Soul Stage and one in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage, that they managed to kill Xiao Xuance luckily!

The other opponents that he had dealt with, such as Bai Xinghe, Jin Tuyi, Elder Nether Spring, Lu Zui, or Zhou Hengdao, were perhaps better than Xiao Xuance in terms of their leadership, schemes, and wisdom. Yet, when it came to ‘absolute combat ability’, they were still far from Xiao Xuance!

As expected of the leading person of this world. Under the obsolete training system that is tens of thousands of years behind that of the outside world, he has Cultivated to such an astonishing level. How unbelievable!

Li Yao’s eyeballs shivered quickly. Hundreds of virtual battles between him and Qi Zhongdao surfaced inside his brain as he estimated his odds of success. The more he calculated, the more excited he became!

Qi Zhongdao was in a much better condition than Li Yao was. He was barely affected on the surface, but he was nonetheless shocked in his heart.

The collision of their eyes happened fast. Both of them were super experts when it came to manipulating spiritual energy. The confrontation of their soul power was so secret that even the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators around Qi Zhongdao had sensed nothing. They merely felt that Qi Zhongdao was suddenly a bit ill at ease.

Qi Zhongdao narrowed his eyes. An unnatural wave flashed on his dark and slim face as he asked in a low voice, “Who’s that fellow Cultivator over there?”

The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators looked at each other in bewilderment. They looked at Li Yao again but failed to recognize him. At first, they thought that he was an overseas unaffiliated Cultivator that Purple Pole Sword Sect had invited to help the battle. But judging from the communication between him and Ling Lanyin a moment ago, things seemed to have changed. He was not necessarily taking the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s side, perhaps because he was intimidated by them.

Only an elder of the Gold Armor Clan fell into deep thought. He stated that he seemed to have seen the guy in the southwest a long time ago. The air around the guy was familiar to him despite the vast changes in the guy’s appearance. However, he failed to recall the guy’s name. The guy did not seem to be anyone famous.

“A long time ago, in the southwest?”

Solemnly, Qi Zhongdao thought hard for a moment. He was about to have somebody look into the issue when a lot of Cultivators on the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s side began exclaiming.

‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren had shown up!

Including Li Yao and Qi Zhongdao, all the Cultivators focused their attention on the ‘Sword Maniac’ whose sword arts were claimed to be unparalleled in the world!

Li Yao did not even have time to wipe the blood from his nose. Allowing his chest to be stained by the blood, he stood tall and looked at the banners of the Purple Pole Sword Sect. The two crossed banners were like a gate, and a figure that was too short and small slowly walked out of the gate toward the ‘bullseye’ in the sword test field one step after another.

So, it is true…

Li Yao was absent-minded for a moment.

The rumors that he had heard were true. Sword Maniac Yan Liren, who was equally qualified to compete for the title of the best expert of the Ancient Sages Sector, was actually a dwarf!

He was no more than 1.3 meters tall. His body was already short and fat enough, but his head was exceptionally round and huge. His limbs were thick and short. At first glance, he was like a giant white gourd with a watermelon piled on it.

He was wearing a bright purple robe and covered in tiny, delicate armor. A short, mini sword was dangling from his waist, too. The robe, the armor, and the sword all looked like children’s toys.

What was more, the sheath of the tiny sword was fully embedded with pearls, agates, emeralds, and all the other fancy common jewelries that was devoid of spiritual energy. The weapon could not have looked more flamboyant.

For Cultivators, the description of ‘flamboyant’ was certainly not a compliment.

Yan Liren’s head was completely bald. He did not have a single hair. Even his eyebrows had been entirely plucked, making his head look like a big, round bead.

His eyes seemed to be stuck looking upward. He was neither glancing at the crowd nor looking at his most formidable opponent. Instead, he was staring at the ever-changing clouds in the sky while he mumbled to himself and calculated with both hands quickly. There was no telling what he was measuring.

His idiotic appearance when his attention was focused easily made other people think that he was a maniac.

When Yan Liren showed up, the whole field fell silent.

Unlike when Li Yao arrived, no matter how dishonorable Yan Liren looked, no matter how eccentric he was acting, and no matter how everybody on the spot was craving to split the Purple Pole Sword Sect’s enormous interests, none of them dared to say anything or scorn him to his face.

It was the deterrence of a super expert!

In the utmost silence, Li Yao was the only one who narrowed his eyes and looked at Yan Liren in exactly the same way that he looked at Qi Zhongdao a moment ago.

However, Yan Liren sensed none of it. He continued walking forward, not bothering to look at Li Yao at all, still focused on his clouds!

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently.

Yan Liren was an expert qualified to fight against Qi Zhongdao. There was no way that he could not sense Li Yao’s provocative eyes.

His non-reaction when he obviously could sense it only suggested one thing.

Yan Liren’s belief was extremely firm.

Since he was about to fight against Qi Zhongdao, all his spirit, will, and computational ability was concentrated on the battle.

Everyone and everything that was irrelevant to the battle, however strong and serious, could not distract him!

In comparison to Yan Liren’s non-reaction, Qi Zhongdao spared his attention just now to look back at him. The gap of their levels were apparent!

Shocked, Li Yao exclaimed subconsciously, “Qi Zhongdao is going to fail!”

For Cultivators at their level, the immensity of spiritual energy or its release efficiency was not the decisive factors in a battle. A lot of other mysterious factors, including their belief and determination, played an important role.

Yan Liren was undistracted. There was but the upcoming battle in his eyes.

Yan Liren had perhaps been the only one in Qi Zhongdao’s eyes a moment ago. However, since he had been disturbed by Li Yao, how could he win the fight when he could not focus his attention?

Li Yao secretly sighed to himself. He planned to have a few virtual battles with the data of the two top experts that he had collected just now.

It was both a way of training and great entertainment for the mind.

But somebody suddenly demanded him angrily. “Who are you exactly, Fellow Cultivator? The battle between Master Righteous One and the Sword Maniac has not begun yet. The result is not known. Why are you shooting from the hip and ruining our morale?”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. He looked back, only to discover that five Cultivators in black robes that were similar to the style of Grand Mystery Sect’s attire were glaring at him.

As it turned out, when he was shocked by Yan Liren’s concentration just now, he had shouted out loud subconsciously.

The Cultivators around all had keen senses. He was not controlling his volume, either. Naturally, a lot of people caught what he said.

“The Grand Mystery Sect is the greatest sect in the world, and Master Righteous One is the role model of all Cultivators. Naturally, he won’t hold you for your irresponsible remarks!”

The blue-robed Cultivator in the lead was a man whose face was yellow. He crossed his fists to Li Yao sloppily before he sneered, “I am Xie Xinghuo of the Spiritual Mountain Sect, which is directly related to the Grand Mystery Sect. If I may speak on behalf of the confused Cultivators here, I want to ask you, Fellow Cultivator, forgetting that you called Master Righteous One by his name disrespectfully, on what grounds did you claim that Master will fail? Is it because your eyes are keen enough to have noticed a certain anomaly or because you have been instructed to instigate trouble here?”