Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“What’s going on?”

Li Yao extended his finger and pressed Zhang Daniu’s snow-white skin. He discovered that Zhang Daniu’s ‘body’ was not stiff at all. Instead, it was filled with the elasticity and tenacity of rubber.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Li Yao felt that Zhang Daniu’s body was getting fat at a visible speed, like a balloon that was being inflated.

Very soon, the black skin that had been corroded by the venom peeled off and turned into ink-like liquid. What appeared in front of Li Yao was a white-skinned stranger.

There was not a single hair on his body. His facial features were so shallow that they were barely visible, as if there was a goose egg on his head. Although he was dead, there was a vague smile on his face, as if he was glad that his enemy had been fooled.

This man, this man was not Zhang Daniu!

Another lightning flashed in the sky. Li Yao finally realized what was going on. He was infuriated.

As it turned out, he was the only one who had been fooled from the beginning to the end. In the soul-stirring secret war between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Ark Foundation, he was just an ignorant chess piece.

Biting his lips, Li Yao groped the body of the anonymous man and found something hard in his lower abdomen.

Not long after his heart stopped beating, the thing was automatically activated and sent out feeble electric waves.

If Li Yao’s guess was correct, this should be a device similar to a locator.

/

As he expected, it didn’t take long before he heard the rotors of a helicopter coming from the horizon. The sound came from the south. It shouldn’t be the pursuers, but the reinforcements. However, by now, Li Yao was no longer able to tell who was his enemy and who was his friend, and which side he should stand on.

…

In the evening, they reached an inconspicuous port in the neighboring country.

It was a typical ‘Banana Republic’, also known as a political chaos. The economy failed, the people’s livelihood declined, and the authorities had no control whatsoever. They could only empty the resources under their territory in exchange for the leftovers of the failed countries.

In the early decades, the country had been dominated by warlords and drug lords. Or rather, in the hot, humid, chaotic land, warlords and drug lords were always the same thing. Even the bloody scouts in the army had to rely on drugs to anesthetize their souls and maintain morale.

Over the past few years, although the authorities had been pushing forward with the help of the outside world, and the country had experienced a brief period of brightness and prosperity, the old forces were too deeply rooted to go back. Earthquakes, floods, storms, and tsunamis had pushed the country back to its original state.

Li Yao looked down at the land from the helicopter. He saw that the roads had been washed away by the flood, and the towns had been drowned by the mud. Countless people were running around like ants on a hot pan, but they could do nothing but watch the natural disasters coming at them. The country did not have the strong infrastructure of the northern neighbors, nor did it have the well-trained government soldiers who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the country. The people who were suffering were as humble as ants and grass.

However, the political ecology that was divided and riddled with holes was the best base for secret organizations such as the Ark Foundation. Superpowers were like fish in water when they were active in the hot and humid forest. They had infiltrated the organizations of some warlords in secret and even fostered their own local forces. The small port in front of them was already under the control of the Ark Foundation.

Since the catastrophe had cut off the connection between the port and the capital city, the authorities and the government army could barely look after themselves. The place had become an independent kingdom temporarily. The members of the Ark Foundation could march out and carry the coldly-shining weapons to their barges and cargo ships without any worries.

Li Yao met the grey mist lady again in the military camp outside the port.

It was said that the place used to belong to a certain magnate drug lord decades ago. The magnate drug lord considered the place to be his last nest. Although it looked plain on the surface, it was a complicated underground palace that looked like an ant nest and a honeycomb.

Naturally, even the most solid underground palace could not resist the infiltration of the super experts. Right now, this place was the biggest secret base of the Ark Foundation in Southeast Asia. No. At this moment, there was no need for ‘secrets’ at all. The Ark Foundation was preparing for the final battle.

After a day of absence, the grey mist lady’s face was much paler than before. There was not the slightest hint of color on her face. Her breathing was feeble, too, as if she had suffered serious internal injuries.

Behind her stood Sparda, who only had one arm left. Even his remaining arm was bandaged in blood, and his face was as pale as paper.

Li Yao had been furious and had made up his mind to curse the moment he saw the grey mist lady. He would even grab her collar and teach her a lesson. Then, he would tell her word by word, “I’m done!”

However, seeing that the grey mist lady and Sparda were both so seriously wounded and did not know where to start, he was dazed for a long time before he asked, “Where are the ‘Seven Gods’?”

“Sacrificed.”

The lady in the grey mist said casually, “We didn’t know that the hunter had an undying body. His capability is already higher than that of the ultimate awakeners. If Uncle Hui hadn’t sacrificed himself, none of us would have been able to run away from the hunter.

“What—”

Li Yao was rendered speechless. The image of the middle-aged man in red jeans with a beer belly appeared in his mind again. He was silent for a long time, before he took a deep breath and gnashed his teeth. “You lied to me. That was not Zhang Daniu!”

“Yes, it is true that we are not escorting the author of ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivator’, but a special awakener named ‘Bizarre Face’ in the foundation.

The grey mist lady said, “Believe it or not, I didn’t know until the last moment, and Uncle Hui didn’t know until the moment of his death.”

“…Why?”

Li Yao asked solemnly.

“Don’t you already know the answer to that question?

The grey mist lady replied casually, “Ghost cat.”

“Undercover?”

Li Yao rolled his eyes. “You knew that the ghost cat was a spy that the ‘apocalypse’ planted in the ‘Ark’.

“At first, we were only suspicious. Besides the ghost cat, we also have a long list of suspects, including you. Don’t be surprised. Isn’t it suspicious that someone like you, who has awakened a powerful ability out of nowhere and is actively trying to get in touch with Zhang Daniu?”

The grey mist lady said, “As I said before, the enemy has the method to precisely strike the core of our organization. We cannot be too cautious if we want to deal with them.

“So—”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, “Why don’t you split into two groups, one real and the other false? The elite troops that we gathered along the way and fled south through the train with great fanfare was just a bait to lure the enemy so that the hunters would chase after them and cover the escape of the real Zhang Daniu?”

“Not two ways, but three ways. It was not just to cover Zhang Daniu’s safe retreat, but also to clear the nails that the ‘apocalypse’ nailed into the ‘Ark’.

The grey mist lady said, “Other than the ghost cat, two spies were exposed during the operation and have been taken care of by us. The rest of them proved their loyalty with their actions and were qualified to board the ‘Ark’ to meet the Red Pole. It is a necessary procedure for the ultimate victory. We have no other options whether you forgive us or not.

Li Yao didn’t know what to say when the guy was so straightforward. He thought for a moment and said, “So, Zhang Daniu has been evacuated safely?”

“Yes. He has boarded the starship and will meet the ‘Ark’ soon.”

“Zhang Daniu is indeed the key to the war,” the grey mist lady said. “Both the ‘Ark’ and the ‘apocalypse’ have to get their hands on him or kill him. Even the Red Pole has to reveal its traces and direct the operation in person, which gives the ‘apocalypse’ and even the will of the earth an opportunity.

“I should’ve told you that, for some reason, the ‘will of the earth’ was forced to restart because of a war that took place in the universe. The Red Pole seized the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and prepared to deal a fatal blow to the will of the earth when it was forced to restart.

“According to the Red Pole Star, at the level of the universal war, the will of the earth has been stalled by the attackers from the outside world. The two parties are in a temporary impasse. Almost all of their strength must be focused on each other. Therefore, it is impossible to obliterate the Ark Foundation and the Red Pole Star themselves on a large scale. It will consume too much energy and lead to the total collapse of the universal war. Therefore, precision strikes and decapitation tactics are the only options.

“The so-called ‘targeted drugs’ must be placed around the cancer cells precisely in order to eliminate the cancer cells without hurting the normal cells. If the cancer cells are never found, it will be useless no matter how effective the targeted drugs are. It is also the reason why the Red Pole Star has to hide itself deep under the ocean and why the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the will of the earth are trying to lock onto him at any cost.

“Red Pole has been hiding behind the scenes for several years. Even we don’t know his real whereabouts. The operation to ‘escort’ the author of ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivator’ is his only chance to expose himself. How can the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the will of the earth let go of such an opportunity? And how can we be so careless as to screen and screen those who might be close to Red Pole?

“Are you clear now?”

Li Yao asked coldly.

“Almost done. Student Li Yao, please follow me.”

The grey mist lady brought Li Yao to a warehouse in the military camp.

An iron chain was dangling from the beam at the center of the warehouse. A woman was tied up by it. It was the ghost cat that had assassinated ‘Zhang Daniu’ when Li Yao was not paying attention.

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. He did not expect that the woman had been captured by the Ark Foundation. It seemed that Red Pole had indeed deployed a dragnet and prepared for all possibilities.