Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The 3D image of the hospital behind Li Linghai gradually dimmed, replaced by a white-haired, healthy-looking, and high-spirited old man.

No. Except for his white hair and his sophisticated eyes, it was almost a vigorous middle-aged man, and his every movement was filled with exuberance.

“Dongfang Renxin, director of the Heavenly Star Hospital, vice-principal of the Medical University of the Imperium, deputy director of the Royal Society of Medical Science, one of the five hundred elders of the Imperium, and a doctor, a Meditation Healer, an herbalist, and a specialist of spiritual energy in the Divinity Transformation Stage. In the meantime, he is the biological brother of Dongfang Wang, the prime minister of the Imperium. He is already three hundred and ninety years old this year. You can’t tell that from his picture, can you?”

Pointing at the 3D light beam, Li Linghai said casually, “Two hundred years ago, Dongfang Renxin was already an exceptional specialist in foreign organ transplantation. He was best at eliminating the rejection reactions of the foreign materials, namely the demon beasts, the spiritual beasts, or the alien beasts, with human bodies so that the organs of the animals could be transplanted into a human body to build up their combat ability.

“In his most successful case, he replaced all the internal organs of a patient with the foreign organs from a demon beast. Later, the patient who was believed to be dying for sure lived another eighty-two years and even kept his Cultivation arts and capabilities before. In the end, he did not die of organ failures but got killed in a fight with other people.

“In other words, if he had taken care of himself in peace, he could’ve lived longer. The surgery of comprehensive foreign organ transplantation was definitely a huge success. It was much better than the regular replacements with artificial bodies.

“It is well known that the greatest headache in organ transplantation is the rejection reaction. The transplantations between human beings are still faced with severe rejection reactions, let alone those between a human being and a demon beast. But Dongfang Renxin solved the problem successfully and published multiple monographs. He also won the highest prize in medical studies in the Imperium with his achievements and was nominated as a director of the Royal Society of Medical Science.

“After he made a name for himself, he expanded his field of studies to the production of all kinds of drugs, trying to build the blood, bones, and cores of the magnificent demon beasts into the most effective strengthening drugs. As high-level Immortal Cultivators in the Divinity Transformation Stage, you should also know that the strengthening drugs made of biological materials have intense rejection reactions with the human body too. They need to be ‘purged’ slowly, and one might be seriously hurt after one moment of carelessness, right?

“It was exactly the problem that Dongfang Renxin tried to resolve. But no matter how perfectly he addressed the issue, the gap between mankind and beasts was still too huge, not to mention the alien beasts who were of totally different origins from human beings. The rejection reactions always existed.

“In practice, the organs of demon beasts that are perfectly in match with a patient’s body are rare to come by. The ratio of a match is often below 1/100,000, which means that if a patient with broken organs were to find Dongfang Renxin, Dongfang Renxin needs to filter a hundred thousand demon beasts to find a matching organ, and there is still no guarantee that he could find one.

“It means that such ‘foreign organ transplantation’ has a high threshold. Although Dongfang Renxin was adept at what he was doing, few people were privileged to enjoy the procedure. It became one of those fancy but useless arts.

“However, on a different methodology, human beings are beasts too, and they are not very different from general animals from the biological point of view. If the organs of demon beasts could be transplanted, those of humans could certainly be transplanted too. If demon beasts could be cooked for medicines, why couldn’t human beings? The cores of demon beasts are great tonics, and the spiritual roots and the cores of the Immortal Cultivators should be tonics too, with much fewer rejection reactions, right?”

Li Linghai licked her lips with a smile, as if she were enjoying it.

Even though everybody was a ruthless and ferocious Immortal Cultivator, they couldn’t help but feel a chill.

Li Yao took a deep breath dozens of times before he finally managed to calm himself down.

“Training is like rowing a boat against the current, and you are either making progress or falling back. Also, the higher levels you are, the more difficult it is to take another leap ahead. You have to maintain your level with countless efforts and resources. It is almost like a parabola. It is very easy to reach the apex, but it is terribly difficult to stay at the peak. The higher you reach, the faster you will fall. Regardless of your altitude, you will eventually plunge someday. Take yourselves for example, you must know the feeling of pressure at the high altitude very well, don’t you?”

Her hands in her back, Li Linghai continued coldly, “It is the law of nature to age and die. Training is all about going against nature’s will. When we are old and weary, it is inevitable that nature will get to us. Nobody can escape from such a destiny.

“Furthermore, ‘training’ and ‘power’ are essentially contradictory. Training highlights concentration and dedication, but if you are in power, you will be unavoidably occupied in all kinds of affairs, important ones and unimportant ones. You will likely spend twenty-four hours a day and 365 days a year in your work.

“To keep yourself at the peak state, you have to spend at least half of your time training in seclusion, but if you do seclude yourself for twelve hours in training every day, how can you control your power, how can you command your subordinates, and how do you process your daily affairs? Wouldn’t your subordinates manipulate you easily and turn you into a figurehead?

“Do any of you not have such troubles?”

“Your words do make sense, Your Grace.”

Li Linghai spoke exactly what had been troubling all of them. Lei Chenghu said, “To be honest, ever since I became the commander of the Third Battle Area, I had been drowned by the battle reports from the frontline every second and occupied in the most bizarre affairs in the entire fleet and the entire battle area. I barely had any time of my own that I could use for meditation, summary, and training. Both my body and my soul were seriously exhausted.

“Although I am still in the Divinity Transformation Stage right now, I am just counting on my accumulations in the past, and I do not dare to activate the computational ability of the Divinity Transformation Stage easily. If I continue to burn and exhaust myself like this, I don’t know how long I will be able to stay in the Divinity Transformation Stage as I grow older.”

Even Li Yao had the same feelings.

He was young and in his prime years, and his combat ability was still in the phase of rising. After he came to the Imperium, he had a series of adventures and found many unusual treasures, such as the “Imperial Fire Pearl”, which kept his level soaring all the time.

But Li Yao also knew very clearly that his level was like a flying sword that was raging skyward unstoppably. It required the incessant supply of energy for continuous acceleration. As long as the energy ran out, or so much as it was insufficient, he would certainly fall.

The universe was eternal, and the trainers were nothing but the brilliant yet momentary fireworks. They might shine dazzlingly for a short while, but they would eventually die down.

Why could Li Yao have been on a rampage in the capital on the Gold Vulture, as if he were absolutely invincible? Was there really nobody stronger than him?

Of course, that was not true. There were countless experts in the four Kurfürst families. Apart from Li Linghai, there were too many experts whose combat ability exceeded Li Yao’s. But those experts must’ve been at least three hundred years old if they had advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage through normal methods of training. They were uncles and seniors, and their bones were all too old. Why on earth would they fight Li Yao unless it was absolutely necessary? Even if they did take down Li Yao after all the trouble, it was possible that they would die very soon after they returned home because they were exhausted in the battle.

Leaving aside the hibernation time, Li Yao’s real age was less than a hundred years old. He was arguably the youngest battle-type expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage in the entire universe. The advantage of his young age was his greatest reliance for him to show off blatantly!

To stay at the peak state all the time and remain a Divinity Transformation Stage expert as long as possible when they entered the level was truly the ultimate dream that all the trainers in history had pursued!

Li Linghai said calmly, “You all agree that for the high-level Immortal Cultivators who are powerful but who are getting old, it is terribly troublesome for them to maintain their level. Take ‘Silver Fox’ Li Jiande, the patriarch of the Li family, for example. After he became the prime minister of the Imperium, he suffered mental derangement because of too many insignificant affairs, and he eventually fell from the Divining Branching State.

“Although everything he did later was perhaps a show, it was absolutely true that he was once heavily wounded.

“But what about the Dongfang family? Do you not feel that it is weird if you think about it carefully? In the recent hundred years, a lot of experts from the previous generations of the Dongfang family stayed in their peak state. Accidents of severe injuries are rarely reported. Some of them are even advancing into higher levels when they are more than three hundred years old!

“In terms of ‘average peak duration’, the experts of the Dongfang family are apparently longer than the experts of the other three families. If we can stay at the peak for fifty years, they can stay there for a hundred years!

“On the other hand, the ‘talented children’ of the Dongfang family are emerging at an astonishing ratio in the recent hundred years too. Some of them are even one-in-a-hundred-years geniuses in training. In the matches held within the four Kurfürst families, the young people of the Dongfang family have won the championships for many years in a row. They are known as the ‘golden generation’.“It is exactly because of the vigorous seniors and the rising juniors that the Dongfang family has been expanding continuously until it is far stronger than any of the other three families today. Have you ever considered the reason for that?”

Lei Chenghu said solemnly, “Your Grace, are you trying to say that somebody in the Dongfang family is engaged in ‘cannibal training’?”

“‘Cannibal training’? That is a neat summary!”

Li Linghai said in a smile, “Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. Headed by Dongfang Renxin, there is a secret research team that specially helps the leadership of the Dongfang family and their offspring with the ‘cannibal training’. That is how the Dongfang family grew into what it is today!”

Lei Chenghu took a deep breath. “This is an important matter that requires solid evidence. Where did you get such appalling intelligence, Your Grace?”

Pondering for a moment, Li Linghai said, “Such confidential information naturally couldn’t have been retrieved from the outside world. It was from the sources within the Dongfang family.”

Lei Chenghu frowned and said, “Why would anybody from the Dongfang family leak such intelligence? Aren’t they destroying their family?”