Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Fine.” Li Yao shrugged. It seemed that he could only compete with Jiang Shaoyang some other time.

When he thought about that, Li Yao somehow felt ashamed because he felt that he had… cheated in the competition with Jiang Shaoyang.

It was true that the arts of refining in the federation had witnessed explosive development in the past hundred years thanks to Kunlun, the four new Sectors, and the techniques from the center of the cosmos brought by Firefly. Jiang Shaoyang, as one of the best talents in the circle of refiners, was certainly standing at the top of the revolutionary tide.

Li Yao, in comparison, had spent most of his time in hibernation. The only time that Li Yao had been dedicated to the arcs of refining was the last year.

Ostensibly speaking, Li Yao did not seem to be at an advantage. He was like the hare who was sleeping all the time in the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.

However…

In the last year, Li Yao had spent most of his time inside an intact warship of the Nuwa Clan whose most cabins were still complete. There were almost twenty brand-new Colossi, more than fifty remnants of the Colossi in different forms, and countless pieces of cutting-edge magical equipment of the primeval era waiting to be studied by him!

Li Yao had absolutely no doubt about the potential, creativity, and speed of development of the civilization of mankind.

However, the civilization of mankind was still a young civilization that was maturing. Compared to the Pangu civilization and the Nuwa civilization, it was still an imitator and a chaser, which was also an undeniable fact.

The Colossi were the ultimate weapons in the sea of stars and the essence of the highest technologies of the Nuwa Clan. In the federation a hundred years ago, with only the five jumbled Colossi excavated from Kunlun, as well as the tremendous rusted pieces, the overall technology of magical equipment had already made significant progress.

As for the debris that Li Yao had found on the Nuwa warship, even if it could not be restored to as good as new, it was certainly preserved in much better conditions and had a high research value!

The most critical factor was that Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, had helped Li Yao find dozens of jade chips that contained the maintenance manuals for the Colossi!

It was like one, no, dozens of tutors of the Nuwa Clan had taught Li Yao to diagnose and maintain dozens of different Colossi!

For those with a lower Cultivation or a shallower understanding about the arts of refining, it might have been impossible for them to realize the true value of the Colossi.

However, before Li Yao went into the Nuwa warship, he had already been a refiner in the Nascent Soul Stage. For a Cultivator at his level, they could often make a hundred deductions after they learned one piece of knowledge. Sometimes, what they were short of was just the direction to work in.

Maintaining and debugging the Colossi, as well as analyzing almost a hundred primeval treasures, had made him step into the ultimate hall of the arts of refining on the shoulders of giants!

To make an inappropriate metaphor, the best refiners in the federation such as ‘Solar Eclipse’ Jiang Shaoyang were like the most talented and diligent students who had access to ten thousand simulation examination papers for the College Entrance Exam drafted by the best teachers. They studied the examination papers for a whole year, and they were confident that they would get a full score in the exam!

As for Li Yao… he did not dare guarantee that he would certainly be more smart or diligent than Jiang Shaoyang. He did not have much time to finish as many simulation examination papers, either. He also was not confident that he could certainly achieve a full score in all the subjects in the exam.

However, he did spend half a month in the laboratory of a few college professors, where he received the personal enlightenment of the college professors and their notes and memoirs. In the end, he was finally able to understand, however difficultly, the papers and the research projects of the professors. That was all.

It was the essential difference between Li Yao and Jiang Shaoyang right now.

Looking at the ‘Phantom Butterfly’ devised by Jiang Shaoyang for the last time, Li Yao took out a hundred coins from his pocket and bought an inventory of the latest magical equipment and materials on sale from the vending machine.

Such an inventory was often stored in jade chips. As long as they were inserted into the portable crystal processor, more than a hundred thousand pages of introductions to magical equipment and materials would be triggered. From blades to guns to crystal suits, and even including the civil magical equipment such as luxury shuttles, everything was included.

If one was interested in magical equipment such as a crystal suit, they could find the introduction and the specific parameters in the inventory. Then, they could experience the crystal suit in person through the virtual cabin. Once they were satisfied, they could ask for the item to be delivered and have a live test in the test field. It was an approach that had maximized the efficiency and minimized trade costs.

Shua…

The light beam was blinking quickly as Li Yao read through the rows of crystal suits.

The crystal suits suitable for Core Formation Stage Cultivators and Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are all advanced products. None of them are cheap. Also, I have to prepare three very powerful battle-oriented artificial bodies for Meng Chixin, Wu Suiyun, and Wan Mingzhu. Such goods must be rare and very expensive because of the limited market!

There’s no telling whether or not Long Yangjun’s operation is going smoothly and how much money they can get.

To reduce uncertainty, let me take a look at the components, units, and secondhand crystal suits!

It was not money that bothered Li Yao.

But just like all the other masters of refining, he had an occupational habit, which was that he considered buying a whole crystal suit to be an insult to his expertise.

Buying a framework or a secondhand product, before filing, polishing, and strengthening in person, was the more favorable approach for an ‘Armadominus’.

Li Yao turned to the section for the secondhand crystal suits.

The Dragon Snake Space Zone was a lawless, chaotic place where the strong preyed on the weak. The number of totally wasted crystal suits was shockingly high.

In the magical equipment store of Fish Dragon City, a lot of crystal suits that were seriously damaged were sold at a very cheap price.

Depending on their conditions and odds of being repaired, the secondhand crystal suits were mostly divided into seventy percent new, fifty percent new, and other levels. Those ragged crystal suits that bordered on garbage were often as cheap as garbage.

“This is—”

Li Yao did not expect to meet anything precious in this place, and he was browsing through the inventory randomly. However, one of the broken crystal suits that popped up out of nowhere made his eyes shine. He even gasped subconsciously.

It was a thirty percent new, first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which was the generic model for the army of the Old Federation that Professor Yuan Manqiu and he had developed together back when he was still in the Refining Department of the Grand Desolate War Institution!

Looking at the crystal suit on the 3D light beam, which was riddled with holes but not collapsing, like a skeleton soldier that had crawled out of the deepest depths of hell, Li Yao felt like crying as so many memories flowed back into his heart.

He did not expect that he would meet such an old friend again in this place after a hundred years!

Rotating the light beam and scanning the first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit from every angle, Li Yao discovered that while the plate armor and the engine units were mostly ruined, the fundamental framework was almost intact. The price of the crystal suit was very low, too. Therefore, Li Yao placed an order through the inventory without any hesitation. He then selected the strengthening components that were ten times more expensive than the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit itself and rented a maintenance workshop of the highest level at a fortune!

He had decided that he would use the first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit if needed!

It was his commitment!

…

Three hours passed.

Swaggering into the crystal suit test center in the renewed first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Li Yao was smiling delightedly, enjoying the fun that nobody else knew anything about.

It seemed quite weird and eye-catching to wander on the battlefield in an antique crystal suit from more than a hundred years ago.

Even the natives of the Ancient Sages Sector such as Meng Chixin, as long as they had the shallowest understanding about the crystal suits, would be suspicious about his choice.

However, the minor obstacle was no trouble at all for Li Yao.

Over the past hundred years, the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, as the most classic model of crystal suits in the federation, had been continuously improving and upgrading. Li Yao purchased the plate armor and the components of some of the new models of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, changing the appearance of the first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit into that of the thirteenth-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which was a relatively new model.

Naturally, from the crystal reactor to the power rune arrays to the attack magical equipment, most of the units had been replaced with vastly better counterparts. All the parameters and performances had soared, but the original feedback of the first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was kept as much as possible. Such redundant modifications were certainly incomprehensible for those who were not the crazy fans of magical equipment and the most passionate refiners.

What a hardcore sense of operation! What unbuffered counterforce! What humming noises from the crystal processor! What waves of heat from the crystal processor to the spine to the internal organs! This is a real crystal suit! This is the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit!

Li Yao could not have enjoyed himself more. While narrowing his eyes and enjoying the most basic movements, he scanned the high-level crystal suits rushing past him performing the glamourous, ultimate skills, like a raptor under the skin of a lamb watching a bunch of lions, tigers, and hungry wolves casually.

A thousand battles scenes were exploding inside Li Yao’s brain. All of them were the deductions that he made according to the parameters of the high-level crystal suits.

Well. If I activate the combat ability of the Core Formation Stage, with the enhancement of the first-generation Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, I should be able to completely destroy the ‘Ghost’, whose breastplate and legs have been strengthened!

Huh. This crystal suit that is packed with flying swords all over the body does not look bad. It is similar to the ‘Sword Torrent Battlesuit’ in my memory. By my calculation, according to the thirty percent of the combat ability its master is displaying, I should be able to take care of it in eleven seconds!

This one, nine seconds! This one, fifteen seconds! All the five on this side combined… one minute thirty-three seconds to one minute forty-five seconds!

Right then—

Hiu!

A bluish crystal suit that was almost translucent sprinted past the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit!

Li Yao raised an eyebrow in great interest.

I have never seen a crystal suit in such a style before. It boasts the essence of refining of the four new Sectors and the air from the center of the cosmos. To combine the styles of almost ten different schools not only requires an expertise in designing but also manual crafting skills. This is not bad!

Huh. The overall feeling is similar to the ‘Phantom Butterfly’ that Jiang Shaoyang designs, except a bit immature. Is it made by his assistant or his true disciple?

Well done, Jiang Shaoyang. Even your disciple has a masterpiece now!

The Exo in the crystal suit is rather tough, too. Judging from his footsteps, it will take me one minute and three seconds to destroy him and his crystal suit if I use the combat ability of only the Core Formation Stage!

While Li Yao was appreciating the crystal suit in great amazement, the bluish crystal suit that was like soft smoke suddenly halted at one end of the test field.

The Exo took off his helmet, revealing an angry face that was full of scars. He roared toward a few maintainers who hurried to him, “No. Something is wrong with the crystal suit!”