Forty millenniums of cul.., p.128
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 128
In addition, there were battle merits for killing Mystic Chameleons and a large number of low-level demon beasts, as well as merits for suppressing the entire stock trading center, then there were also the battle merits accumulated from the previous battles.
All in all, when all of Li Yao's military achievements in the Verdant Tarn City battle were converted into credits, they surpassed 10,000 and reached a terrifying number of 16,993, which compared to the credits acquired during the previous semester was quite a lot!
Adding the previous credits, Li Yao's total credits were 23,749.
Had it not been for Li Yao procuring various magical equipment as well as raw materials, for which a large number of credits were spent, the total number of credits would have surpassed the 25,000 mark.
Even so, it was still an astonishing figure.
Even Ding Lingdang and Peng Hai had not achieved such terrifying result till the second half of the 1st year.
Li Yao had already set a record as the fastest scorer in last two decades of Grand Desolate War Institution.
"Amazing, this time my luck was too good."
Li Yao slightly smiled, from the 20,000 or so credits, a vast majority came from killing the Six-Armed Naga during the last battle.
The Six-Armed Naga was a low-level Demon General, whose strength was comparable to a low-level Building Foundation Stage cultivator. Compared to him, who was just a low-level Refinement Stage cultivator, there was too big of a gap.
He was an epitome of the weak overcoming the strong. Not only had he put a demon beast that was far stronger than him to death, he had also rescued his five teammates. When these factors were finally calculated, the subsequent bonus reward was an astronomical figure.
The system finally showed a long list of information on military exploits, and at the end, presented him with three choices.
First, it was converting all the military achievements into credits, which amounted to 16,993 credits.
Second, he could convert a certain percentage of his military achievements into a lump sum.
Some of the money was awarded by the nation itself.
The Star Glory Federation was in a state of war year around, thus, among all the taxes, the most important was the "National Defense Tax".
While the National Defense Tax on one side was used as military expenditure, on the other, it used to set up a special fund which provided rewards to the non-military personnel depending on the strength of the demon beast they hunted.
In addition, the demon beasts' body was also very valuable.
The Six-Armed Naga goes without saying. Although its flesh and blood were charred, its snake bile, heart, and other similar organs were precious heaven and earth treasures.
Even low-level Demon Soldiers had valuable parts. The Black Armored Saber Mantis’ incomparably sharp saber-like limb was a rare material.
After the battlefield was cleaned by the army, all the corpses of the demon beasts would then be collected and sorted out, which after being processed could be taken out for sale.
And finally, a small part of the total income would be turned over to the federation, while the majority of the money was allocated to the staff participating in the battle in accordance with the merits recorded in the battle video.
It was also an another way to promote the enthusiasm to fight.
Or else, the cultivators who came all the way and busted their asses may fall due to the slightest bit of inattentiveness.
It would be too much to ask the people to live up to justice without a little bit of reward.
The third option was to acquire materials.
Obviously, if Li Yao was interested in some material, let's say if he was in need of Six-Armed Naga's bile for cultivation, after he had filed an application for it, the snake bile would be returned to him, and the subsequent money or credits awarded would be a little less.
What it's gonna be? Credits, money, or materials?
Li Yao sunk into thought before he chose to convert all the merits to the credits.
At present, he was really not short of money as there was the scholarship and the special allowance provided as a result of him being the Federation's 1st Class Disabled Servicemen. In addition, he didn't have to pay the tuition fees too.
As for the materials from the demon beasts like the Six-Armed Naga and the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, they were not too beneficial to him.
Credits, they were more precious than the money and materials.
With more than 20,000 credits, he could apply for some high-rank courses of Combat Department, cultivate powerful superior exercises, and tread further on the road of cultivation. In the future, he might even earn hundreds of millions.
Imagining the better days ahead, Li Yao grinned as he switched to the forum interface.
The battle of Verdant Tarn City was everyone's focus of attention. Every day, the students who had not participated in the battle watch the progress of the war through the network. The university had specially opened up a Verdant Tarn City battle zone section in the forum, which was a place where the battle situation was discussed.
The students were highly excited. Over thousands of posts were made just within a few days, where every post had hundreds of thousands of threads.
Among which, many posts' main topic was none other than Li Yao!
"Wow! A freshman vs Armored Snapping Turtle! Damn, so strong! He has so neatly blasted the demon beasts!"
"Crazy! This is completely crazy! Just a Refinement Stage student can confront a Six-Armed Naga head-on with a Six Barrel Rotary Cannon!"
"Vulture Li Yao? What's so good about him?"
Posts just like these were jampacked with battle videos of Li Yao. Even some people had dug out the videos from the Limit Challenge Competition at the Devil Scaly Dragon Island. The awe-inspiring fame of "Vulture Li Yao" had already spread through the entire Grand Desolate War Institution. Even some of the cultivation sects located at the Wild Waves City had heard of a ruthless freshman who had carried ten Hellfire-Lightnings with him!
In a moment, Li Yao had become a famous figure who was known to all of the residents of the Wild Waves City. His fame had completely covered the special enrolled students like Zhao Tianchong's and Lu Tieshan.
Many people believed him to be stronger than Ding Lingdang and Peng Hai back in their days, but even more believed that regardless of whether Li Yao was stronger than the two during their time in college, his craziness at the very least was far more than theirs.
After all, whether it was Ding Lingdang or Peng Hai, they had never carried ten Hellfire-Lightnings along with them to the battlefield like they were walking in their own backyard!
The students of Grand Desolate War Institution held strong lunatics in awe and veneration even more so than they revered the strong. Many people held Li Yao in admiration to the point that they would be willing to throw themselves at his feet. Some even secretly reckoned that maybe no one could stop Li Yao from amassing 40,000 credits, and subsequently creating an unprecedented record!
Having seen these posts, the corned of Li Yao's lips involuntarily rose as he began giggling in an exaggerated manner.
How could the hot-blooded youth not have some vanity?
Li Yao sighed in self-satisfaction as he thought of the irony of life; just last year he was still struggling with the idea of whether he could be accepted into a good university or not, just like wandering in the vast and dark cosmos, where he could not see any sign of light at his front. The Nine Elite Universities were like stars hanging above the clouds, simply out of his reach.
Whereas in just one year, he had become a famous figure of the Grand Desolate War Institution. It was like quickly running on the road of his dream.
What's it going to be like after another year?
Li Yao felt extremely excited as he let his thoughts run wild.
At this time, a hubbub suddenly came from outside before Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan happily came running inside the tent while dancing and shouting:
"Victory! We have won!"
"The beast tide was pushed back and the wormhole is also sealed!"
"We have not only completely won, we have also captured a Demon King!"
"Li Yao, hurry up! A regiment is about to drag the captured Demon King from the underground. Let's quickly go and see the Demon King!"
At first, Li Yao was taken by surprise before he jumped high up in the air as he vigorously waved his fists, giving rise to seven subsequent waves in the air:
"A live Demon King? Awesome!"
After the bloody battle at the stock trading center, where the three went through fire and water together, a deep friendship was forged. Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan did not put any airs of being special recruited students in front of Li Yao. The three with their arms around each other made their way out while laughing.
The news of victory sent dozens of campsites in ebullition as everyone gathered to celebrate.
Whether it was low-level cultivators or young soldiers in the army, everyone swarmed outside to watch the spectacle. The soldiers could barely curb their excitement. As for the local cultivators, they could not control themselves as well as the soldiers. Many among which were raising cries of cheers, shooting in the air, some even launched their flying swords in the air, covering the sky in resplendent colors as they clashed with each other, bursting forth with colorful fireworks one by one.
"Victory! We won!"
"Hip-hip-hurray, hip-hip-hurray!"
"So what if it's a Demon King? If he dares to intrude upon our Heaven Origin Sector, he will be captured!"
Li Yao and the three somehow climbed their way atop the crystal tank as they stood on their tiptoes to watch.
Under the brilliant lights, a team with soaring killing intent gradually walked from afar.
"Look, our team is triumphantly returning from underground. Wow, so many high-rank demon clan experts are captured!"
Chapter 185: Lawful Punishment |
At the forefront of the parade walking in, there were twenty cultivators, each armored from head to toe in a crystal suit. They were at the very least in the Building Foundation Stage, and after the boost from the crystal suit, they gave off the impression of twenty torches burning through the sky that were absorbing powerful spiritual energy waves all the time.
The spiritual roots of low-level cultivators like Li Yao felt an absolute pressure as their pores sealed up in the blink of an eye, not daring to release even a single spirit thread.
And the intense killing intent emanating from them was not intentional at all, but rather due to fighting a bloody battle repeatedly in the dark and dreary underground with the demon beasts. Their spirit was naturally shrouded in a layer of fiendish aura.
It was as if they had gone through hundreds of battles, killing everything in their wake, causing the fiendish aura to materialize. When it was used on the battlefield to kill, it was a hundred times sharper than the spiritual energy itself.
Regardless of the fact that their crystal suits were incomplete, ladened with blood stains, or the fact that a majority of the crystal suits' joints and exquisite glyphs were corroded...
Li Yao's eyes when looking at them were filled with envy and jealousy. He wanted to run over to them, snatch a suit, and don it.
The twenty crystal suit cultivators walked in an ostentatious and awe-inspiring manner. Following them were ten trucks that sent demonic energy soaring to the sky and had thick liquid dripping from every opening. They were filled with demon beasts' corpses.
This was the just first batch. There were still a large number of demon beasts' corpses remaining underground which had to be dealt with as soon as possible. Otherwise, an epidemic would soon follow, which was nothing to joke about.
The convoys of trucks transporting the demon beasts' corpses were followed by crystal tanks that were pulling large iron cages one after another. Each iron cage had hundreds of array glyphs carved upon them, countless crystals inlaid on their bases, and crackling lightning arcs running between the railings.
Imprisoned inside the cages were powerful demon beasts who were restless upon finding themselves being displayed to the human onlookers. They were rampaging more violently than the lightning itself, desperately jumping up and down, struggling with all they had.
However, every time they touched the cages, they would be stuck by a bolt of lightning, causing them to grimace in pain while their scales stood erect. The air was filled with a faint stench.
"These are all Demon Generals. This time, we have captured a total of nineteen Demon Generals; it was truly difficult!"
Zhao Tianchong said while laughing.
Li Yao looked fixedly and noticed that the Demon Generals in the cages were completely different from the low-level demon beasts such as Demon Soldiers. Most of them appeared to be similar to humans.
Especially their eyes; in them, one could clearly find panic, anger, hatred, and a sharp killing intent.
Even though some of these particularly aggressive Demon Generals were repeatedly struck by lightning, so much that their bodies were laden with deep wounds where even the bones were visible, they did not care and cast a deadly glare upon the cultivators and soldiers nearby.
As though they would tear the humans into pieces just with that brutal gaze.
"Even such aggressive Demon Generals are captured. It's quite difficult to imagine how intense the underground battle was!"
Li Yao clucked his tongue in marvel, he could not help but feel a bit ashamed.
Just a while ago, when he got to see the posts about him, he was getting all proud and mighty; believing himself to be quite formidable for being able to kill a grievously injured Demon General.
Now, he only got to realize how big of a gap was actually there between him and a true expert.
If he had entered the underground battlefield, perhaps he would not have been able to hold on for one short hour before getting crushed into nothing but slag.
"I am still not strong enough!"
"At present, I only have just an itsy-bitsy bit of reputation in the Grand Desolate War Institution. Everyone is only optimistic about by potential, nothing more, nothing less!"
"In this vast cultivation world, I am just an insignificant figure, who doesn’t even have the qualifications to participate in the underground battle!"
"I have to become stronger as soon as possible! At the very least, I have to enter the Building Foundation Stage even earlier than Ding Lingdang and Senior Brother Peng. Only then would I have the qualifications to participate in the undoubted battles in the world of cultivation!"
Li Yao silently pondered. Suddenly, Lu Tieshan nudged him a bit:
"Demon King is here!"
Li Yao turned excited as he stood on his tiptoes and stretched his neck to gaze far away.
Even before he could see the Demon King, his line of sight was taken away by an ugly-looking, long-bulbous-nosed man who in some ways resembled a pekinese.
This person wasn't wearing a crystal suit, he was just draped in a loose linen robe, while his hands were hidden inside wide sleeves.
He was all secretive and low-key; very difficult for anyone to find his true colors. Nevertheless, the air around him was stronger than the cultivators who had donned crystal suits.
In particular, his long sleeves seemed as though they were hiding a terrifying blade. Even though Li Yao was hundreds of meters away from him, he could still feel the dangerous aura emitted by that blade.
"Is it a saber?"
From the vague outline mapped on the sleeve, this person was apparently carrying a saber-type magical equipment.
At present, Li Yao was researching sabers, and thus, his gaze focused involuntarily upon that man's sleeve as it was attracted by that peerless saber hidden inside.
Having stared at that man's sleeve for three seconds, Li Yao suddenly felt his scalp tingle, as if an invisible saber was launched from within that man's sleeve towards him, sweeping away everything in its path before it struck dead right upon his throat!
"Ah!"
Li Yao could not help but scream as he tottered and retreated two steps back; almost falling off the crystal tank.
The sudden burst of pain he felt coming from his throat was so real that goosebumps had exploded all over his body as his hands covered his throat, while cold sweat oozed out from his forehead. He felt as though he had died once!
Zhao Tianchong and Lu Tieshan took a glance at him with a bewildered look in their eyes. They could not understand why Li Yao suddenly went limp.
Hundreds of meters away, the bulbous-nosed man felt the oddity of Li Yao as he calmly glanced at him before his eyes flickered with a sliver of surprise.
"That man is Long Wenhui, an illustrious demon beast hunter of wasteland and the vice president of Hundred Saber Alliance. He is in the Core Formation Stage and was one of the peak battle forces in the battle of Verdant Tarn City. He is also the one who captured the Demon King!"
Zhao Tianchong introduced.
"So he was a Core Formation Stage powerhouse, no wonder his strength was so tyrannical. I just spied on him a bit, but it felt like I had been cut by a blade. I was simply unable to block!"
Li Yao still had a lingering fear. If he had known that he was a Core Formation Stage expert, how could he have dared to peep at his blade?
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao stabilized his mind before he narrowed his eyes as he tried to peer behind Long Wenhui.
Behind Long Wenhui was two crystal tanks side by side that were dragging an enormous transparent cage. All the railings had been forged using crystals which were not only engraved with dense glyphs on the surface, but had numerous micro-array glyphs which were floating within the crystal. They glowed with ever-changing brilliance.
Within the cage stood an over two-meter tall humanoid monster with a body covered in light blue scales. It had a long and narrow tail, clear and distinguishable facial features which seemed like a distorted human face, and two horns on either side of its head that were pointed towards the sky. The horn on the left side was broken and a light golden liquid was flowing out.
