Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Alright. Please relax and watch the clock. Watch the hour, minute, and second hand.”

Holding the watchchain, Dream Traveler dangled the watch in front of Li Yao and shook it.

Li Yao gazed at the pocket watch and entered a mysterious trance. Everything in front of him seemed familiar—the dim light of the pointer, the clicking sounds of the mechanical structure, the howling storm outside, the position of everyone around him, their breathing and heartbeat, and the 432 mosquitoes hovering around the lights.

Yes, every detail was correct.

“Blood-black nothingness begins to weave a network.

Dream Traveler’s voice was very gentle.

The spell put Li Yao in a dream and teleported him to the memory pieces from a long time ago.

The data that had not been completely cleared in the reincarnation cycle was reassembled into illusionary and real worlds. He saw himself rushing in the labyrinths and battlefields of cities, fighting for freedom and hope and even sacrificing his own life time and time again.

“As it turned out, I have always been a ‘Prison Breaker’. The five, no, ten reincarnations in the past have always been the same.

Li Yao suddenly realized something.

However…

He suddenly turned around and gazed at the burning horizon in the distance. He felt that something was missing.

Right, where was the silver ball that appeared in his dream? The thing that was tied to the back of his head like a balloon had vanished.

However, it was an unimportant thing. Li Yao shook his head hard and soon forgot it. Guided by Dream Traveler, he focused his attention on the more ancient past and awakened more memories and abilities.

He did not know how long he had been wandering in the memories of his previous life. Maybe it was not until he and Dream Traveler ran out of their soul power that everything around him gradually turned fuzzy and twisted. He seemed to have been dragged back to a long tunnel and returned to the real world of this life, to a port warehouse somewhere in Southeast Asia.

“Li Yao? Li Yao!”

He heard someone calling him.

/

“That’s right.”

His eyes suddenly turned sharp. “There is no doubt that I am Li Yao!”

“Congratulations on passing the final test!”

The room was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. All the awakeners of the Ark Foundation walked out of the shadows with sincere smiles on their faces. Traveler Dream even took the initiative to help Li Yao up. “I didn’t know that you were such a determined ‘Prisoner’. You have even been the core member of the resistance in several reincarnations. You are much stronger than us. No wonder you are already stronger than the ‘Ultimate One’ when you just woke up and can fight evenly with the hunters in this life.

“Welcome to the Ark Foundation. Oh, wait. I should be welcoming you back, ‘Prison Breaker Li Yao’!”

“I…”

Li Yao blinked. The suspicion deep inside his eyes disappeared quickly and was replaced by a vague smile. “You don’t have a fifth test?”

“Now that Dream Traveler has perceived your loyalty after ten reincarnations, there is no need for more tests.

The grey mist lady apologized, “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have doubted the stance of such a determined prison breaker. But please understand that this is to ensure our absolute safety. After all, the assassins of the Heaven’s Origin Sector must’ve tried everything they could to sneak into our organization. Anyone who is likely to get in touch with Red Pole will have to go through the same rigorous tests.

“Our previous caution was because we had no choice. Right now, we are the closest and most reliable comrades. I hope that we can fight side by side until the end and fight for true freedom and hope!”

The grey mist lady extended her hand to Li Yao.

Li Yao hesitated for a moment, but he strode forward and hugged the stranger.

“Of course, we will succeed!”

He was not a narrow-minded man. In such an apocalyptic environment, he could understand the wariness of his opponent. Now that they had made things clear and won each other’s trust, there was no need to be angry over such a trivial matter.

The grey mist lady did not expect Li Yao to be so frank. She was even happier. Sparda burst into laughter behind her and hugged Li Yao, patting Li Yao’s back hard with his remaining arm. “Welcome back, Prison Breaker Li Yao. I have a feeling that we will be the best brothers!”

“Yes.”

Li Yao looked at Sparda’s beaming face and felt that something was not right. But he could not think of anything right now and could only nod. “We are brothers!”

“My name is ‘Black Panther’. Welcome back, Prison Breaker Li Yao!”

“My name is ‘Purple Electric’. Welcome back, Prison Breaker Li Yao!”

“My name is ‘Deep Flash’. Welcome back, Prison Breaker Li Yao!”

The awakened Cultivators who had been hiding in the shadows went forward and hugged Li Yao, too. They let go of all their wariness and laughed, with the hope of victory shining deep inside their eyes.

“Right. Under the guidance of Dream Traveler, other than restoring more memories, the awakened can often restore more abilities.

The grey mist lady said to Li Yao, “How do you feel right now? Do you remember anything that can be used in a battlefield?”

“Well…”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao walked to a container not far away and opened his right hand, while he grasped his right wrist with his left hand.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for Li Yao’s performance.

Li Yao felt that his vitality was expanding to an area of three to five square meters. He seemed to have turned into an indomitable giant. Everything within three to five square meters was under his control.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao scratched the container with his right hand, which was burning because of the rubbing of his blood. The container immediately shrieked in earsplitting metal noises. Then, as if it had been savaged by an invisible 10,000-ton hydraulic press, it was compressed into a cluster of scrap iron no more than one meter in diameter!

The warehouse was silent. Everyone was dumbfounded.

It must be noted that the standard container was more than six meters long and more than two meters in both width and height. Although the shell of the container was not made of super alloys, it was still made of solid metal that was packed with goods.

Yet, Li Yao had compressed it into a one-meter radius with the crushing force. What kind of terrifying strength was that?

For a moment, everybody was looking at Li Yao weirdly. Thankfully, the four tests proved his stance and loyalty and convinced him that he was on their side. Otherwise, they would’ve been in real trouble!

However, on second thought, if he hadn’t been blessed with such a terrifying ability, he wouldn’t have been favored by Red Pole. Red Pole must have known how strong he was before he was fully awakened. He truly deserved to be the leader who had everything under his control!

“Excellent!”

Sparda was overjoyed. He exclaimed, “We are about to wage a final war against the Heaven’s Origin Sector and even the entire Earth, and we’ve received such strong reinforcements as Li Yao. It seems that we will be the winners of the war!”

Hearing that, the other awakened Cultivators all nodded.

They had lost too many times, and the enemy was too strong on paper. They really needed to grasp every straw to prove their stance and courage.

Huchi. Huchi. Huchi…

The ‘void crush’ had drained all of Li Yao’s strength temporarily. Or rather, he seemed to have performed a technique that was hundreds of times more unbelievable than the ‘void crush’ just now, which had drained his brain and body. He was not able to hold on any longer.

“Quickly replenish Li Yao’s energy.”

The grey mist lady said, “I’ll send the test result to the ‘Ark’ right now. The modification of the cargo ship is almost complete. We will be able to set off to the depths of the ocean in three to five hours!”

…

They sailed for three days and three nights on a modified cargo ship named ‘Lucky Star’ and gradually reached the depths of the ocean.

It was not a bad idea to avoid natural disasters on the ocean.

In the boundless ocean, many sea areas were still forbidden areas for human beings. There was no need to worry that they might run into enemies whose stance was unclear. The bottomless seawater could carry too much energy, or rather, change the original appearance of the ocean. An earthshaking storm would consume ten times more energy than on land or in shallow waters.

None of the fatal disasters in the land cities, such as the collapse of buildings caused by earthquakes, or the flooding that brought mud and rocks, could have happened in this place.

Even if a storm did come, the specially-modified cargo ships would be able to survive it with their own weight.

Perhaps because the ‘will of the earth’ had dedicated most of its time and energy to dealing with the human beings on land, the martyrs, Lucky Star had not encountered any apocalyptic storms over the past three days. Although the journey had been bumpy, most of the crew members were Awakeners and were not scared of anything.

With the help of Dream Traveler, Li Yao had snuck into the depths of his memories a few times and awakened even more powerful abilities. At the same time, he also ate food that was dozens of times more than what a normal Awakener would eat.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but he felt ill at ease. Something was bothering him and distracting him.

That day, when he had just sat on the iron chair and prepared to take the Dream Traveler’s test, he had heard the sound of glass bullets.

He had never heard such a weird sound before. It was beyond description, but it did not sound like an illusion, either.

No…

On second thought, it was not because he had never heard it before, but because he seemed to have heard a similar sound somewhere. Yes, he must have heard it before. Since childhood, he had heard the sound of glass more than once.

But where was it exactly?

Li Yao suddenly discovered something very strange.

He was sure, sure, sure that he had heard the sound of glass marbles falling from upstairs many times. But when he thought about it carefully, he could not remember when or where he had heard the damn sound of glass marbles!