Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Huh. It seems that I will have to spend some time in seclusion now,” Li Yao said, not bothered at all.

When advancing into the Divinity Transformation Stage from the Nascent Soul Stage, especially through such a violent and straightforward approach by resisting the nebula storm, it was perfectly normal for the fleshly body to be seriously wrecked.

There was never room for new things if the old things were not shattered. How could his body keep up with his expanded soul if it was not entirely reborn?

In the ancient times, after a Cultivator made a breakthrough of a major level, their soul and their body would often be weaker than ever. They would choose to spend a few years in seclusion to slowly nurture their body with all kinds of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and elixirs so that their fleshly body could gradually be adapted to the brand-new level and strength.

Li Yao boasted the most advanced training equipment, medical facilities, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the entire federation. Although his physical body had endured excessive radiation, he was not too worried about it but considered it a great opportunity for new training.

“One can never be too prepared. I’ll find an uninhabited planet with appropriate gravity nearby and take a rest for a couple of days before I set off to find ‘Starlight’ and ‘the lost Cultivator’!”

Shua!

Li Yao’s soul returned to his body. He immediately sensed the extreme pain, fatigue, and lack of strength in his body.

Extending his arms, he noticed that his muscles were withering at a visible rate. The veins that were as vigorous as boas had dried, like earthworms under the scorching sun.

Even the messy hair above his head was dangling down, with their endings turning gray.

The training to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage was too crazily. The strength deep inside my cells has fully been exploited. I was penetrated by the high-energy particles repetitively and bathed in powerful radiation for such a long time. No wonder my body is so weak!

Thankfully, I brought enough Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, medical drugs, and high-energy nutrition fluids that are directly absorbable for the body. After I replace all the cells inside my body, my body will be ten times stronger once it’s reborn!

How I look forward to it!

Li Yao smiled and licked his dry lips. Retreating the Tartarean Skeleton into the Cosmos Ring and returning to ‘Jingle Bell’, he set the automatic cruise mode first and then tried to retrieve the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, the medical drugs, and the high-energy nutrition fluids from his Cosmos Rings.

A weird thing happened!

All the Cosmos Rings were like the most common rings and did not respond to his call at all.

When his telepathic thoughts tried to enter the Cosmos Rings, they seemed to be hitting an iron plate. It was impossible for them to get in at all, much less pull the materials out of the Cosmos Rings.

Li Yao’s smile immediately froze. His cold sweat was running down along his wrinkled skin.

This can’t be true. All the Cosmos Rings… are broken?

Turning around to look at the empty cabin behind him, Li Yao’s face turned extremely pale.

Super long-distance space jumps consumed a lot of fuel. Every additional gram of weight might cost astronomically more fuel.

Therefore, before he took off, they had simplified ‘Jingle Bell’ again and again until there was nothing to be reduced. Most of the assets that he needed were stored inside the Cosmos Rings!

In other words, if he could not retrieve the assets from his Cosmos Rings, he would be an abjectly destitute man!

“Look at this. What did I tell you just now?” the mental devil said gloomily. “I knew that we couldn’t be so lucky. Something is certainly happening!”

“Quiet!” Li Yao’s face was gloomy before it turned as dark as ink.

He was in an awkward situation.

If it were any other time, it might not be a big deal to lose most of the assets in the Cosmos Rings. He could totally sneak into the patrolling fleets of the Imperium of True Human Beings to get what he needed.

However, in order to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage perfectly, he had used up almost all the strength of his soul and fleshly body. His physical body had also been scourged by intense particles and radiation, and he was in dire need of abundant Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and high-energy nutrition fluids to save his life!

It was almost like he had turned into a tyrannosaur from a velociraptor. Yes. In the long term, his combat ability had been more than multiplied, but his appetite had grown by dozens of times, too, and he was being starved right now.

Also, in order to complete the metamorphosis, his bones were broken, his muscles were torn apart, and he was riddled with wounds. He desperately needed to devour tremendous prey to feed the fleshly body that had expanded by dozens of times, the brand-new slaughtering machine!

Li Yao took a deep breath and sat down before the maintenance desk. Putting all the Cosmos Rings on the desk, and then putting on multiple glasses, he examined them wholeheartedly for a long time, before he finally took a breath in relief and looked less awful than before.

“How is it?” the mental devil asked nervously.

“It is not a serious problem. Two circuits of spiritual energy on the chip that controls the ‘retrieve command’ are burnt. All the assets are still inside, except that none of them can be retrieved right now.”

After pondering for a moment, Li Yao coughed heavily again. “This is a rare fault. It must be noted that the Cosmos Rings and jade chips are all highly sturdy magical equipment with good resistance to blasts and shocks. I have never seen such a fault before. There must be a reason all the Cosmos Rings have the same problem.

“Were they burnt by the high-energy particles and the powerful radiation because of the blast in the nebula storm?

“It is impossible. For the long journey, all the Cosmos Rings that I carried have been through multiple examinations and tests. High-energy particles and powerful radiation are just an everyday scenario that must’ve been taken into consideration. There’s no way they could’ve caused such a fault.

“Was the scourge of the high-energy particles and the powerful radiation only part of the reason? In addition, there were the massive spiritual waves unleashed when I broke into the Divinity Transformation Stage from the Nascent Soul Stage. When the three types of energy collided, did they generate serious interference to such circuits on the Cosmos Rings, forcing them to overload and burn?”

Li Yao scratched his chin and thought for a long time. That was the only possibility.

The matter and energy spurted out of the nebula of the Devilish Scorpion Galaxy were unpredictable and contained multiple impurities. Nobody knew what kind of effect they would have on the Cosmos Rings.

The spiritual waves unleashed in the moment when a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator broke into the Divinity Transformation Stage could sometimes attract the ‘minor apocalypse’ thousands of kilometers away. It was indicative enough of their intensity.

When the two strengths collided brutally, they might have caused interference of a certain degree to the Cosmos Rings. It was indeed a possibility.

It was a shame that the Star Glory Federation had never recorded any Cultivator breaking into the Divinity Transformation Stage in a nebula storm.

Even if there were such records, the matter and energy released by different nebulas were vastly different. Therefore, Li Yao could not have learned the consequences of his attempt at all.

Even if he did, he would not have changed his mind at all with the opportunity he had and the emergency he was in.

Whatever the price was, it was worthwhile to break into the Divinity Transformation Stage in an almost immaculate way without being struck by a minor apocalypse!

“You seem rather confident and calm,” the mental devil said. “So, you can fix the problem, right?”

“Of course.” Li Yao grinned assuredly.

For him, such highly-precise magical equipment like ‘Cosmos Ring’ had indeed been tricky a long time ago. But now that he had advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage, his senses were much keener than before. Besides, the Cosmos Rings were not completely worn out. It was just a piece of cake to fix the problem.

Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao painted hundreds of structural designs and maintenance drafts inside his head in a moment. “Other than the slightly high demand on accuracy, the problem is not serious at all. As long as I have a piece of ancillary maintenance magical equipment that can perform high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning, I can fix the problem in no time!”

“Then, did we bring the ‘high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment’ with us?” the mental devil asked.

“Of course we did!” Li Yao clapped his hands. “Since I was going to the enemy’s rear on my own, I naturally took every detail into consideration. How could I not have brought high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment? Here. It is just inside this Cosmos Ring!”

“…” The mental devil.

“…” Li Yao.

“Correct me if I am wrong, but to fix the problem of not being able to retrieve any object from your Cosmos Rings, you want to retrieve the ‘high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment’ from a Cosmos Ring that cannot release any objects because its circuits are broken?”

“Basically, yes!”

“Then, without the ‘high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment’, is it possible at all for you to repair them with the maintenance devices that you have?”

“With the honor and dignity of an experienced master of refining, I assure you that it is absolutely impossible!” Li Yao said. “These are Cosmos Rings that we are talking about. If crystal suits are the ‘king of magical equipment’ in the general sense, the Cosmos Rings are the absolute kings in the field of super tiny magical equipment. Look at those rune arrays. They are ten times smaller than grains of rice, and they even overlap with each other in different layers. They are far more precise than the limits of human eyes and human hands. If you could repair them with only a few random screwdrivers, they would not be called Cosmos Rings at all!”

“…Okay.”

“Don’t look at me in such a sad and angry way, alright?” Li Yao said. “Did I really have a choice? I didn’t! You saw what happened, too. Should I have ignored the rare opportunity to ascend into the Divinity Transformation Stage instead of trying my best? We failed last time. If we’d chickened out again, we never would have had a chance to enter the Divinity Transformation Stage!

“In the end, we have broken into the Divinity Transformation Stage perfectly. With the disguise of the nebula storm, we even avoided the strike of the minor apocalypse that probably would’ve happened! We were so unbelievably lucky. Right now, we have only run into some minor problems. That is… Cough, cough. Cough, cough, cough, cough!”

Li Yao coughed out bluish blood. Then he discovered that blue, fluorescent spots were growing on his hands, arms, and body.

“If I may remind you…” The mental devil ground its teeth. “Your… no, our body has suffered excessive radiation and the repetitive penetration of unknown particles. The cells have shut down on a large scale and are in dire need of tremendous medical drugs and high-energy nutrition fluids for treatment and strengthening. Most of such things are locked inside the Cosmos Rings, too!”