Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao frowned. Looking at Dongfang Renxin’s panicked and shameless face, he couldn’t help but ask, “You are still trying to allure me in such a sleazy way when death is knocking the door? In order to make you stronger and more vigorous, you did not even let go of the heavily-wounded heroes who fought valiantly on the battlefield. Do you not feel that your methods are inappropriate at all?”

Dongfang Renxin’s eyes widened, and obscure laughter echoed from deep down his throat. Illuminated by the dim light, there was no telling whether he was a graceful expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage or a ferocious animal. He shouted desperately, “Inappropriate? What’s inappropriate? Only by making the strong stay strong can the barriers of evolution be broken!

“You and I are both in the Divinity Transformation Stage. Men as excellent as us are the pillars of our families and our country and the hope of mankind!

“If we can keep ourselves in the peak stage, we will be able to do a lot of things and make a lot of contributions to our country and our civilization! How many enemies can you kill with your combat ability? How many lives can I save with my brilliant medical arts?

“However, the goddamn longevity limits us. The stronger we are, the faster our lives will burn, and the shorter our lives will be! The best state in the Divinity Transformation Stage is like a shooting star. It can only last several decades at best!

“How is that enough for us to bring out light and heat, to make contributions to our country and civilization?

“Therefore, sacrificing the insignificant guys, transforming their blood, wisdom, and souls into nutrition that nurtures the epitomes of the civilization of mankind that are us so that we can make contributions to the civilization for hundreds of years longer; isn’t it only natural?

“Yes, it is true that I got the brains and even cores of a lot of heavily-wounded soldiers from the frontline, but so what? Those things helped me maintain my most exuberant energy and my keenest senses. They allowed me to perform surgeries one after another for ten days and ten nights in a row so that the lives of more people were saved!

“Sacrificing one to save a hundred is perfectly reasonable! After all, those people were prepared to be sacrificed since the day they walked into the battlefield. Their ending was no different from being blown up into pieces by the giant cannons on the starships. Is there any difference at all?”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao said slowly, “What you’ve been doing is completely in violation of the meaning of the true path of immortality.”

“No, what I have been walking on is the real and ultimate true path of immortality!”

Dongfang Renxin completely went mad. Veins protruded on his face one cluster after another, looming around his facial organs like countless earthworms. His face more twisted than ever, he declared, “Survival of the fittest is the most original and pure true path of immortality! You and I are both in the Divinity Transformation Stage. So, we are more qualified to survive than those in the Nascent Soul Stage, the Core Formation Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, and the Refinement Stage. We are the real dominators of this world. Those below the Divinity Transformation Stage are just ants! Are you really going against one—no, a group of people in the Divinity Transformation Stage just for some ants?”

Li Yao’s eyes cramped hard. He observed, “President Dongfang, you have lost your mind.”

“No, I haven’t. It’s you who never saw it through, or never dare to say it aloud even if you did! Hypocritical! You people are all too hypocritical!”

Dongfang Renxin shrieked, “We are both in the Divinity Transformation Stage. We are the new human beings above all mortals. We have even exceeded the category of human beings; we are ‘supermen’ that are more excellent than ‘hominoids’ and ‘true human beings’!

“We are supermen, we are true gods. We do not need to abide by the rules and morals of the mortals. The hominoids butcher livestock, the true human beings slaughter the hominoids, and the ‘supermen’ will swallow ‘true human beings’. Is there anything wrong with that?

“A world of Immortal Cultivators is exactly a place where men eat men! A person will be equally dead no matter if you kill them with blades, bullets, or teeth! Vulture Li Yao, I don’t believe that you never killed anyone that you shouldn’t have killed, looted somebody else’s training resources, or trapped other people with dirty tricks on your ascension to the Divinity Transformation Stage!

“The killing is all the same. I just went one step further after they were killed and swallowed those people. In such a way, the spiritual root, the gold core, and the lifelong Cultivation that they had gained through arduous training wouldn’t be wasted. Do you have any idea what a great sin it is to waste resources when resources are on such high demand?”

Li Yao sniffed and walked up close to Dongfang Renxin’s face, not moved at all.

Dongfang Renxin had already backed off to a corner and had nowhere to retreat at all. His face seemed to have been ignited by the flames that had jumped out of the deepest level of hell, making it more creepy than the experiment subjects in his secret research institute. With a hideous smile, he said, “Don’t you see? The life of most Immortal Cultivators is as meaningless as that of hominoids. Even if they are granted some strength, they will only use it to brutalize each other, and it will be wasted for nothing.

“However, if the strength is all focused on the people in the Divinity Transformation Stage who are the real elites and rulers, we will be able to use the strength to do things that are more meaningful, or even to break into the levels that have never been visited before. Wake up! We are both in the Divinity Transformation Stage. We should not attack each other but should find a way to rule over the ants together!”

Li Yao smiled. “You talked so persuasively that I was almost convinced. However, even if what you said just now is perfectly true and reasonable, how can you explain the surgery you performed today? You polished the spiritual root of a mediocre young man with the brains and bodies of dozens of training geniuses, just because the mediocre young man had a powerful father or grandfather? Was it in line with the ‘original’ true path of immortality that you just described?”

Dongfang Renxin was so eloquent a moment ago that he seemed determined to persist to the end of the debate.

Li Yao’s sentence, however, was like a punch of an iron fist right on his face. He stuttered for a long time, only to come up with no rebuttal.

Li Yao said, “Save it. You know that I won’t let go of you today.”

“I know… I know…”

Dongfang Renxin immediately withered like a balloon whose air had just leaked. A moment later, with brutality beaming out of his eyes, he grimaced. “Now that this is just another power struggle, just don’t pretend that you are serving the cause of justice. It’s disgusting!

“You and I are both well aware that I am not the only one studying the secret techniques of ‘cannibal training’. Are any of the four Kurfürst families and the forces at the edge of the Imperium not studying similar techniques and killing countless Immortal Cultivators in secret?

“However, hehe, those guys are too idiotic to come up with such incredible arts. Only I can develop the unprecedented, unparalleled secret techniques that can change the entire world thanks to the inspirations of the ancient classics!

“You have no idea what you are messing with, Vulture Li Yao. You think that a few leaders of the Dongfang family are the only ones who tasted the feeling of ‘cannibal training’? Hahahaha. You will be terribly wrong if you think so. The enormity of my clients far exceeds your imagination. You can’t afford to piss them off. Even if you are backed by Li Linghai and all the reformists, you will have to concede in the end and even join the game!

“You think that you can annihilate me because you have captured me? That is the greatest joke in the world!

“You can’t destroy me. It is possible for you to destroy Dongfang Wang, but you can never destroy me! The most precious thing in the world is technology. Does any of the leadership of the four Kurfürst families who are hundreds of years old not want to live another five hundred years? Only I can help them with that!

“Therefore, even if you have destroyed my secret research institute, so what? Before long, under the protection of the four families and even your queen, I will change my name and establish a bigger, more advanced institute in an enjoyable, inconspicuous place under a different identity. By then, you might be crying and begging me to strengthen yourself!

“Therefore, you’d better mind what you are doing right now, because we will meet again sooner or later. Remember that!”

After a long hesitation, Li Yao said, “The four families have really been indulging and even endorsing your ‘cannibal training?”

“The four families, the emperor, and the queen; is there any difference among them?”

Dongfang Renxin laughed crazily. “In a man-eat-man world, if you don’t eat other people, other people will eat you. Is there a third approach?”

Li Yao was silent for a moment before he asked again, “Are your medical arts really so brilliant?”

After a brief daze, Dongfang Renxin was overjoyed. He nodded his head quickly and said, “Of course, of course. I can give you a hundred times more strength!”

“Your offer was ten times a moment ago, and it has grown to a hundred times so quickly?”

With a casual smile, Li Yao said, “Alright. Since your medical arts are brilliant, I’ll give you an opportunity.”

Hardly had he concluded his sentence when he suddenly kicked Dongfang Renxin right in the chest brutally!

The kick was both fast and heavy. Li Yao also activated the power rune array below the foot of the crystal suit when he kicked. The high-heated exhaust flames immediately blackened the flesh on Dongfang Renxin’s chest.

“Ahhhh!”

In excruciating pain, Dongfang Renxin cried miserably.

Without changing his expression, Li Yao kicked Dongfang Renxin’s limbs and joints as quickly as bolts of lightning without stopping. Very soon, all his bones had been blown into smithereens, but the nerves of pain were not affected at all. As a result, Dongfang Renxin was still able to taste the most intense agony.

In only half a minute, Dongfang Renxin turned into a pile of mud on the ground. He couldn’t do anything anymore except for breathing hard on the ground and glaring at Li Yao in hatred.

“I almost forgot. Your soul is so powerful that it may escape to an artificial body even if your current body is broken and shattered, and you may hurt even more people.”

Grinning, Li Yao extended a finger and stuck it to the center of Dongfang Renxin’s forehead. Then, he leaned to the man’s ear and said in a low voice, “Right now, I am about to damage your brain, cripple your spiritual root, and tear apart your soul. If your medical arts are so brilliant, why don’t you try to cure yourself under such circumstances? I’ll let you go if you can cure yourself!”