Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The Land of Sins, the sinners, and Judgment Day that was imposed on everyone with the war that swept across the entire world due to extravagance, greediness, and lack of resources?

Perhaps, in an ordinary, self-secluding world, such a tragedy could have happened.

But this place was the Martial Meritocrats Sector, Blackstar the Great’s hometown, and the place that he hated and wanted to retaliate against most. Li Yao did not believe the story that the two young fellows told.

Or rather, the two young fellows did not know the truth themselves.

Li Yao continued to ask peacefully, “How do you know that?”

“Everybody says so. It’s because people a long, long time ago turned the world into a mess that our life today is so difficult.”

The young man Han Te sniffed. Gloom and pain flashed on his face, but he soon grinned and said, “However, it doesn’t matter how difficult life is and what it will become later. At the very least, we are alive at this moment, and you are alive, too. So, why do you care about ‘Judgment Day’ hundreds of years ago? No matter how dissatisfied you are, Judgment Day has already taken place. It is impossible to change the past; what matters is how we live in the present. Am I right?

“I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name Han Te. I am from the Village of Peace, which is the greatest village in the hundreds of square kilometers around. Neither the mutated beasts in the wilderness nor the other villages, and not even the most ruthless bandits, have the courage to mess with us because there are a lot of experts in our village. My master is the leader of the village and also the most awesome expert. He can blow up a skyscraper with one punch. This is Liu Li, my master’s daughter and my junior sister!

“How about it, old grandpa? Come back to the Village of Peace with us. Whether you can recall anything or not, my master will certainly find a place for you to settle in. My master always says that even the strongest expert cannot survive on their own in the Land of Sins. We have to support each other in order to live!”

After a long silence, Li Yao asked, “Why do you call me… ‘old grandpa’? You know that I’m old?”

Han Te was slightly dazed. Scratching his hair, he continued his smile, his teeth glowing. “Not exactly. However, there are a lot of cases like yours in the Land of Sins. Strangers of unknown backgrounds, or remaining souls hiding in various kinds of puppets, who have lost memories of the past but boast tremendous techniques that are of great aid for the villages. Perhaps the people who were found in the earliest phase were very old and therefore given the name ‘old grandpa’. Then, the tradition continued.”

“Do you have a lot of ‘old grandpas’ here just like me?” Li Yao asked.

“There are indeed a lot. Every village today has a few ‘old grandpas’ for self-protection.” Han Te thought for a moment and said, “However, most of the old grandpas fell from the sky. Few were actually dug out from beneath the ground like you. Perhaps there were a lot several hundred years ago until they were all excavated by other people. Hahaha. Anyways, I’ve never heard much about it before.”

“The old grandpas falling from the sky…” Li Yao recalled the fleet of the Imperium of True Human Beings again that sprayed tremendous materials toward the atmosphere from the orbit of the main planet of the Martial Meritocrats Sector.

Those materials did not look like common garbage. They did not appear to be powerful bombs, either.

However, it was indeed a possibility that some people who had been deprived of their memories were loaded into buffering cabins and thrown into the atmosphere.

Li Yao thought about asking the two little fellows if the old grandpas falling from the sky were sealed in silver coffins that spurted out buffer air currents or opened parachutes when they were close to the ground, and if the coffins were filled with sticky gel.

However, on second thought, if a lot of ‘old grandpas’ did exist in this place, he would certainly find out once he was outside. There was no need for him to ask the question in a hurry.

While he was pondering, the mental devil suddenly said, “I suddenly thought of something. The ‘Grandpa Plan’ in the Tinder Base was carried out under the guidance of Professor Mo Xuan, who had already been corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils back then.”

“So what?”

“In case you have forgotten,” the mental devil said, “‘Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan’ is not a simple combination of Professor Mo Xuan and extraterrestrial devils but has a lot of memory pieces of the star child, an elite scout from the Imperium of True Human Beings.

“Therefore, is it possible that some sort of ‘Grandpa Plan’ existed in the Imperium of True Human Beings in the first place, and Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan only duplicated it and made a second ‘Grandpa Plan’ in the Star Glory Federation with the prior knowledge?”

“Are you suggesting that the so-called ‘old grandpas’ were sent to the Martial Meritocrats Sector by the Immortal Cultivators on purpose? But why?” Li Yao asked.

“Didn’t you already learn from Su Changfa and Di Feiwen that the Martial Meritocrats Sector today had turned into a laboratory of new techniques and magical equipment for the Imperium of True Human Beings?” the mental devil remarked. “Everything we have seen in the Martial Meritocrats Sector after sneaking in fits their claim.

“How can you find out the greatest power and potential of a new technique or a piece of new magical equipment? Of course, it is an option to force the slaves of the Martial Meritocrats Sector to train and fight one another. However, will the slaves train themselves crazily from the bottom of their hearts when it is against their own will?

“You can lead a cow to a river, but you cannot force it to drink water. If it were me, I wouldn’t adopt such a simple and straightforward approach.

“I would find a way to create an extreme and secluded environment in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, forcing all the people there to have to compete with each other over the highly-insufficient resources.

“Strength. Strength is the only rule of the world. Everybody craves strength and will not hesitate to get strength whatever it takes.

“Then, I would ask some people to fall from the sky with the new techniques and new magical equipment to be tested, disseminating all the techniques and magical equipment. Instead of waiting for my coercion, the people there would practice the highly unstable techniques that have been just invented, driven by their survival instincts, or use the magical equipment that may have fatal shortcomings despite their amazing power.”

“Therefore,” Li Yao said, “the old planet of the Martial Meritocrats Sector, or the Land of Sins today, is an enormous test field for real-life weapons, and the ‘old grandpas from the sky’ are responsible for disseminating the techniques and magical equipment to be tested.”

“Yes. Perhaps, those ‘old grandpas’ do not know the first thing about their fate. Didn’t you hear what the brat named ‘Han Te’ said in the beginning? Most of the grandpas lost their memories, but they remembered all the techniques and secret arts clearly. They even knew the locations of some ‘treasuries’ and offered to teach the villagers the most incredible arts.

“This is highly unreasonable. If they lost all their memories, why could they still remember the techniques and secret arts? Even if they are aware of the techniques and secret arts based on their natural instincts, there is no reason they would teach other people all their skills and even reveal the most important treasuries, right?

“If there were only a few people who behaved like that, we might say that those ‘old grandpas’ were kind-hearted and generous. But if there are so many grandpas that every village has a couple, and they are all so selfless and friendly, it is simply too weird to be believed.

“I assume that the memories of the ‘old grandpas’ were mostly sealed or even cleared by the Immortal Cultivators before they were tossed into the atmosphere. They might also have been implanted with the knowledge of various unstable techniques and secret arts as well as the instructions to disseminate the knowledge!”

Li Yao pondered for a moment, with cold ripples spreading out of his soul.

Seeing that he was caught in a long silence, the two little fellows thought that he did not believe what they had said and was still hesitating.

They looked at each other. Liu Li nodded. Han Te cleared his throat and said, “If you don’t trust us, let me tell you a great secret. In fact, my master—Liu Li’s father and the leader of the Village of Peace—is also an old grandpa from the sky!”

“…What?”

Han Te grinned and blinked. He was about to talk when his body trembled, and his eyes narrowed into two lines. The rune arrays on his storm bolter glowed again, and the most dangerous spiritual energy was condensing around the barrel.

Liu Li exclaimed in shock. She picked up the flower that could purge the environment and quickly put her mask on.

Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu! Chiliu!

From the dark gaps in the ruins behind the three of them, an enormous lizard more than three meters tall, with a body as red as fire mixed with bright purple, circular stripes, crawled out and stared at them with its four dim, yellow eyes.

“It’s a Thunder Salamander. Judging from the color of the electric stripes, it seems to be a female one in the middle of the spawning period. This is getting tricky.”

Han Te was still on one knee and lowered half of his body down, glaring at the opponent like a young wolf that had just grown up. He said in a low voice, “Liu Li, the old grandpa has just woken up. Based on how feeble his remaining soul is, he must have little combat ability right now. You and the old grandpa will retreat slowly until you are a hundred meters away. Then, you will run to the exit as fast as you can. I will catch up with you very soon. As long as we reach outside, we will be safe. The Thunder Salamanders rarely leave the dark environment.”

“My little friend…” Li Yao said.

“Hush. Old grandpa,” Han Te interrupted, “I know that you must’ve been a very awesome expert in the past, or your remaining soul wouldn’t have survived to this day. It is a pity that the body you chose for yourself at the critical moment was too weak and has corroded over hundreds of years. You are certainly no match for the Thunder Salamander. Let’s get out of here first!”

“I know that,” Li Yao said. “I only want to remind you that there is another one that seems even greater than this beast crouching on the ruins to your left.”

“What!”

While the exclamations of the two young fellows were still echoing in the darkness, tremendous electric currents and fiery light like a volcano erupted from the ruins to the left of them.

In the middle of the chaotic lightning and fire, a ferocious shadow lunged at the three of them!