Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

” You’ve got the wrong guy! ” exclaimed Wu Mayan through lips that were as thick as sausages right now.

Xie Anan laughed. ”Are you kidding me? I’m a refiner, and I observe people’s hands first when I see them. Although your face has been utterly reshaped by Master Sand, the distribution of joints on your hands suggest that you are exactly Senior Brother Wu.”

Dumbfounded, Wu Mayan blurted, ”Who says that I was beaten by master? I ran into a wall by accident! Also, who is your senior brother? Don’t try to pull strings with me!”

He did not realize that he had acknowledged his identity.

Xie Anan chuckled. ”It’s not a shameful thing that one is taught a lesson by their master. What’s there to be ashamed of? You are an interesting kid.”

Wu Mayan burst into fury and was about to jump up when his wounds were torn open again. He grunted in pain. ”Xie—Xie Anan, don’t be outrageous. Who—who’s a kid?”

Xie Anan rubbed her hands and came close while smiling. ”Come here. Let me help you. I guarantee that your swelling will be gone in ten minutes.”

Wu Mayan did not buy it at all. His big face twisted again as he raised his eyebrow and shouted, ”Don’t come close. What are you doing? I warn you, Xie Anan—”

Wu Mayan was about to weep. Ten Xie Anans would be no match for him on a different occasion. But he had just been taught a hard lesson by Li Yao, and even his stomach was cramping because of it. There was no way that he could summon his strength at all.

Although Xie Anan was not a battle-type Cultivator, her strength was hundreds of times higher than before after practicing the Art of the Swallowing Whale and the Chaos Gale Hammer Technique under Li Yao’s guidance. Her hands were faster than ever, too.

As a result, she snatched Wu Mayan’s shoulders in the blink of an eye.

”Hiss—”

Wu Mayan was about to scream, but the excruciating pain that he expected did not come. Instead, he felt that his shoulders were itching.

Wherever Xie Anan’s hands reached, the agony all turned into warmth, like the bitter tea that was dissolving in the mouth and left aroma. He could not have felt more comfortable.

”Well—”

Wu Mayan widened his eyes. He did not anticipate that the silly woman would have such skills.

”How about it? Do you feel better?”

Xie Anan was trying to bond with her future Senior Brother, or rather, her ’little’ brother. She did her best to patch him up while she said with a smile, ”This is a secret art that Master Sand taught me. He said that it was excavated from a jade chip from the ancient Cultivation world forty thousand years ago and has amazing effects for quick recovery after training.

”Over the past half year, I’ve often been as miserable-looking as you. Therefore, Master Sand taught me the secret art so that I can be recovered faster and deal with the next day’s training.”

Wu Mayan was dazed. ”You’ve often been tortured by master, too? How could he bear to do that? Besides, aren’t you a refiner?”

Xie Anan raised her eyebrow and replied casually, ”In the past half year, you spent most of your time in the Battlesuit Department. It was me who was around Master Sand all the time. Your appearance today is nothing unusual for me.

”It’s true that I’m a refiner, but Master Sand said that the foundation of refining is a healthy body.

”Master Sand also said that my talents are not enough for me to become an ’intelligent’ refiner, but I could try to be a ’physical’ refiner and focus my attention on forging.

”He hesitated about the training in the beginning, too. But I asked him to increase the amount of training. I knew that I was not smart enough, and I am far from being an unparalleled genius like Senior Brother Wu. If I did not work harder, I would really stand no chance at all.”

Wu Mayan was silent.

The suffering of the tutorial battle half an hour ago was still scary for him right now when he thought of it. He was of a mind to run away immediately so that he would be saved from the torment tomorrow night.

He looked at Xie Anan carefully and found it hard to believe that such a girl who still had baby fat and looked like a doll could withstand his master’s brutal training methods.

”Why did you come here?”

Wu Mayan’s tone softened.

Xie Anan’s movement stopped briefly. She bit her lips and said, ”I’m here for Master Sand. Just now, I had a big fight with my family…”

Wu Mayan listened to the whole story, but he was a young man of fourteen after all, and he did not how to handle such matters.

”Is Master Sand inside?” Xie Anan looked at Wu Mayan in expectation with her watery eyes wide open.

Wu Mayan had never been stared at by a girl at such a short distance.

His face, which was no longer swollen, suddenly turned red again.

”Alright. Alright. A gentleman does not argue with a woman. I’m going to let you go this time.” Wu Mayan waved his hands in annoyance. ”Master is still training in the room. I’ll bring you in and say a few nice words for you later!”

”Really? Thank you, little Senior Brother!”

In ecstasy, Xie Anan’s hands pressed hard.

”Hiss—”

Two hot tears suddenly flowed out of Wu Mayan’s eyes, as he screamed desperately, ” Xie Anan! Were you my mortal energy in my previous life?”

…

The following morning, before dawn, the artificial sky was still dark.

The area where the Edge Sharpeners’ Meeting was held, on the other hand, was illuminated by countless lights.

The forum for refiners that was held once every five years was too good an opportunity to miss. Many refiners gathered and talked with each other all night long without sleeping at all.

In his decades of life as a refiner, Xie Qianhe had bartered with countless people. But it had been a long time since he was so nervous before the exchange. He paced back and forth anxiously in front of the door of the refining workshop.

That day, seven refiners would be exchanging techniques with Sand Scorpion. Naturally, they could not go inside the room together and had to communicate with Sand Scorpion privately in a fully-enclosed environment one by one.

According to the rules, integrity was of paramount importance in the competition between refiners. Before the exchange of techniques, both parties would swear a Blood Oath and sign a contract stating that they would not inform the process and the result of the barter to any third party, and that the techniques they saw would be kept to themselves if grasped and could not be taught to anybody else.

Master Xue Yuanxin, as a renowned expert, was invited as the Observer of today’s barter.

Therefore, the few refiners ahead of Xie Qianhe all remained absolutely silent after they went out. They kept their mouths shut and stood still with a mysterious face.

Xie Qianhe felt like a cat was scratching his heart. He was going to ask, but he found it hard to open his mouth.

However, from the shock and bewilderment that occasionally leaked out of their eyes, he had vaguely sensed that Sand Scorpion’s skills were beyond their expectations.

A while later, the airtight door of the refining workshop was opened. A cluster of high-pressure gas immediately spurted out from inside.

”Here comes Fellow Cultivator Yin!”

Yin Yuanhua, who had just bartered with Sand Scorpion in the room, was also a specialist from the Silver Heart School. He was Xie Qianhe’s colleague and they were quite close.

Xie Qianhe hurried to go forward and ask, ”Old Yin—”

Master Xue Yuanxin, who was standing to the side, coughed slightly.

Yin Yuanhua was wearing a complicated countenance with both amazement and confusion. He said, ”Old Xie, it’s your turn to appreciate Fellow Cultivator Sand’s methods now.”

Xie Qianhe was refreshed. He took a long breath and strode into the refining workshop.

The airtight door was closed behind him. The gears on the two sides of the door slowly pumped away the air in the room and blocked the workshop from the outside world. The entire space was filled with steady, unreactive gas.

In the middle of the workshop was a ball-shaped floating furnace. Hundreds of shining materials were placed in the open warehouses on the two sides.

Sand Scorpion was sitting right behind the furnace.

The heat emitted from the furnace twisted the rays of light and made his body look somewhat unpredictable.

Xie Qianhe observed the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau carefully and realized that he was much younger than he had imagined. Besides, he did not have the calm and casual demeanor on Master Huangpu.

On the contrary, his hair was messy, and his eyes were red and hollowed. His lips were cracked, suggesting that he hadn’t drunk anything for a long time.

There was nothing but emptiness in Sand Scorpion’s eyes, which seemed to have pierced into the thick wall of the furnace and extended into the bouncing flames. He was mumbling to himself and calculating something wholeheartedly.

It was only when Xie Qianhe coughed that Sand Scorpion raised his head and glanced at him.

Xie Qianhe shuddered and felt that his eyes were cold and crazy.

Although it was merely a competition between refiners, he felt that he was faced with a hungry, ferocious beast, and that one of them would have to die.

An absurd idea suddenly popped up in Xie Qianhe’s mind.

He had heard tales where the ancient refiners would spend ten years day and night in forging an unparalleled sword. They would jump into the furnace and offer themselves as sacrifices so that the sharpest blades in the world could be born!

He had found it hard to imagine what kind of insane refiners would do such things.

But at that moment, he suddenly felt that if there were such refiners, their appearance and spirits would be exactly the same as Sand Scorpion!

Xie Qianhe felt that his lips were dry. He said, somewhat in embarrassment, ”Fellow Cultivator Sand, thank you for saving my daughter. My daughter also told me that you went through a lot of trouble giving her enlightenments recently…”

”Fellow Cultivator Xie.”

Li Yao was still dwelling in the soul-stirring competition of refining skills a moment ago.

The few refiners who had gone in moments earlier were all experts among experts. The marvelous skills that they demonstrated had given him great satisfaction, as if he had enjoyed a delicious meal.

His computational ability had soared to the maximum, making his head look like a rapidly-functioning, burning mainframe crystal processor, while he analyzed the techniques he had just seen crazily.

He was still hungry at this moment, and there was no time for small talk at all.

Crazy brilliance suddenly beamed out of Li Yao’s deep eyes, as he yelled, ”Let’s talk about the irrelevant stuff outside. Refining is the only theme in this place!”