Forty millenniums of cul.., p.424
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 424
Of course, Yan Xibei was not in the least bothered by the flies that were coming at him. But many of his veins and organs had just been reborn and were not suitable for a fierce fight yet!
"You are seeking your own death!"
Gnashing his teeth, Yan Xibei clutched a random qi-trainer with his bloody claw. The newborn mantis foreleg slashed brutally, and the qi-trainer's head immediately left his body!
He had no time to care about his plan now; he was merely venting his anger by slaughtering!
However, the miserable death of a qi-trainer made the other qi-trainers even more unbendable. They all charged at him in no fear of death at all!
Li Yao gritted his teeth and sprinted again. This time, his computational ability soared while he calculated the trajectories and strength of Yan Xibei's attacks accurately so that he could set himself in the most appropriate position.
When his saber slashed into Yan Xibei's insect body, the bloody claw snatched his heart precisely!
The attack almost pierced through his heart.
The second to last shackle of Black Spider Death Curse that had been hiding inside his heart disappeared after a weak scream!
This is the way!
Li Yao was overjoyed. He vomited blood but laughed as he guided his spiritual energy to repair the damaged heart and calculated the second chance.
Now is the time!
While Yan Xibei was holding one qi-trainer in each of his hands, Li Yao charged at Yan Xibei's face, his eyes shining coldly!
As he expected, Yan Xibei had been prepared for the potential attacks at his chest. The bloodstained spider threads interweaved into the sharpest net of defense, and a cluster of bloody mist rushed out at Li Yao's own chest!
In the depths of Li Yao's heart, a cluster of spiritual energy was long ready, too. It almost spurted out of his chest at the same time!
When the two streams of spiritual energy collided heavily, the last shackle in the middle was immediately burnt to ashes!
BOOM!
Li Yao was blown backward again, this time crashing into a drumming tank of the Giant Axe Tribe by accident. A dull noise echoed inside the big drum.
LUM DUM! LUM DUM LUM DUM LUM DUM!
Li Yao could hear nothing in the darkness except his own heartbeat, which was clearer and heavier than ever and sounded like blood-boiling drumming that was faster and faster!
The nine shackles of the Black Spider Death Curse had all been destroyed. He had regained the ability to liquefy his spiritual gas and advance into the Building Foundation Stage!
Li Yao grinned and laughed crazily and silently in the darkness. He summoned all his soul power and spread out all the spiritual gas inside his body!
The range of his surging spiritual gas was thirty square meters, forty square meters fifty square meters… Seventy, eighty!
"Huh?"
Harassed by the many qi-trainers, Yan Xibei was feeling upset when he suddenly sensed that a cluster of spiritual gas was expanding beyond his expectation.
The other qi-trainers also gazed at where Li Yao was in bewilderment.
They discovered that the cluster of spiritual gas did not stop expanding when it reached eighty square meters but continued spreading out!
"This is—"
Everybody gasped. A tiny spark was kindled in the bottom of their hearts. There was hope again!
Yan Xibei grinned hideously. "Xiong Wuji was in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, but he had to kneel down before me, too! Even if there is another one in the 100th level of the Refinement Stage, so what?"
Even though he was saying that, he still crawled toward Li Yao despite the collective attack of dozens of qi-trainers.
Li Yao gritted his teeth and expanded the range of his spiritual gas without caring about anything else. Eighty-six square meters, eighty-seven, eighty-eight!
Eighty-eight square meters, however, seemed to be his limits. After his range expanded to eighty-eight square meters, it was not able to move forward one inch, although the edge of his spiritual domain was quivering.
Yan Xibei burst into laughter. "Just the 88th level of the Refinement Stage!"
In his laughter, Li Yao took a deep, deep breath. He meditated on the hundreds of structures of the spiritual liquid, while he compressed, consolidated, and liquefied the enormous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage with his burning fighting will!
For common Cultivators, the 14th level of the Refinement State, or rather, the peak of the Refinement Stage, was the threshold where they could compress their spiritual gas into spiritual liquid thereby advancing into the Building Foundation Stage.
Then, what would happen if the tremendous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage was all condensed into spiritual liquid?
DUM! DUM DUM! DUM DUM DUM DUM!
There were no drummers on the tank, and yet it was drumming soul-stirringly, motivated by Li Yao's strength.
Li Yao's body seemed to have turned into an enormous swirl that absorbed all the spiritual gas nearby, and he condensed all of it into spiritual liquid through the high-speed revolutions.
Unstoppably, he broke through the low level, the middle level, and the high level of the Building Foundation Stage without any hinderance and advanced into the peak of the Building Foundation Stage effortlessly!
BOOM! BOOM BOOM!
Quite a few drums couldn't help it any longer and exploded after echoing their highest note!
But Li Yao's outburst had not stopped yet.
He sensed that there was boundless spiritual gas near him that he could continue compressing after he reached the peak of the Building Foundation Stage!
He was still far away from his limits!
"This is—"
Li Yao was both surprised and overjoyed. He made up his mind and continued compressing crazily.
The spiritual gas was compressed into spiritual liquid, and the spiritual liquid was showing the sign of consolidation under the high pressure!
When the spiritual liquid solidified, it would mean that he had arrived in the Core Formation Stage!
I'm going to break into the Core Formation Stage and slay this mother*cker!
Li Yao's eyes were crimson, and the skin all over his body was breaking apart. However, it was not blood that was seeping out of his wounds, but red brightness mixed with spiritual energy!
He decided to take his chances without caring about anything!
For common Cultivators, entering the Core Formation Stage was a hundred times more difficult than entering the Building Foundation Stage. Not only did they need to refill countless Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures before their attempt, they would also have to be guided with secret arts in the deep meditation state during the process, not to mention that they had to find a unique opportunity or timing. Even so, the chances of success were still slim.
Breaking into the Core Formation Stage in the middle of a fierce battle in high spirits after a vehement speech was almost something that would only appear in legends!
However, today, Li Yao was making a legend!
Consolidate! Consolidate! All the spiritual liquid, solidify now!
As more and more spiritual liquid flooded into his body, the swirl in the center of his abdomen was showing traces of solidification. His spine was numb and itching. Coldness was brushing the two ends of his spine like tides!
However—
Li Yao's eye suddenly bulged. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was unable to move.
He was not prepared for the Core Formation Stage after all.
Maybe, the tremendous spiritual gas of the 88th level of the Refinement Stage far exceeded the need to form the core. However, his brain was not developed enough to fully control the spiritual gas to transform it from the gas form into the liquid form bit by bit, and then from the liquid form into the solid form drop by drop until the spiritual liquid was melded together perfectly!
He was more like a 'dinosaur' among the Cultivators. His strength was enormous, but his brain was too small to make the best use of his strength!
Cr*p. I'm going to be mentally deranged!
Li Yao grunted. His computational ability surpassed his limits, and countless cerebral vessels immediately exploded. His brain went blank, and he completely lost control over the spiritual energy in his abdomen.
Boosted by the inertia of the revolution, spiritual liquid was still flooding into his chest and consolidating, but in a weird structure that looked extremely ugly. It did not seem to be a core, but more like a lump, a lump of spiritual energy beyond Li Yao's control that could potentially get him killed at any moment!
However, none of the outsiders knew anything about it.
They could only feel that Li Yao's aura continued improving inside the drumming tank until it reached a level that they couldn't comprehend at all!
The things happening to Li Yao were too extraordinary. Although Yan Xibei had learned a thing or two about the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage, and the Nascent Soul Stage after he joined the Temple of Immortals, he could barely understand Li Yao's current uncanny status.
But he did vaguely feel that 'Sand Scorpion' was about to form the core!
In cold sweat, Yan Xibei roared and summoned countless bloody claws to drive away the qi-trainers near him despite his unrecovered wounds.
Then, he charged at the drumming tank in a streak of redness!
"You want to form the core? Not so fast!"
Yan Xibei grinned hideously. The newborn scorpion tail, endowed with all the strength in the apocalyptic body, pierced at Li Yao's swollen abdomen!
Chapter 631: Simmer! Superlative! |
On the verge of mental derangement, Li Yao was quite befuddled. But he sensed the incoming danger out of instinct and crossed his arms to block the scorpion tail.
However, the enormous, apocalyptic strength inside the scorpion tail pierced into his abdomen, like a bolt of lightning, aimed right at the lump of spiritual energy that he had just condensed!
BOOM!
For a moment, Li Yao felt that a volcano was erupting inside his abdomen. The overwhelming spiritual energy spurted out like magma. All the disordered strength finally found a leak and escaped out of his body in a hurry!
Li Yao was finally back to himself. He was no longer in danger of mental derangement, but he had also come to the painful understanding that his core formation had failed!
Yan Xibei did not expect that such enormous and chaotic spiritual energy was concentrated in Li Yao's abdomen. Although his previous attack had pierced Li Yao's abdomen, the counterforce resulting from the outburst of spiritual energy had blown him away brutally. The newborn veins and nerves were a mess again!
Expanding his senses, Yan Xibei found Li Yao lying in the drumming like a balloon that had lost all the air. He couldn't help but burst into laughter. Without caring about his wounds, he spread out his arms. Bloody mists stayed on his arms for a while, before they flew into the sky and condensed into two giant bloody hands!
"Ho!"
Yan Xibei bellowed and slapped his hands brutally. The two giant hands smashed Li Yao like two mountains.
BOOM! BOOM!
After two earsplitting explosions, two giant handprints more than half a meter deep appeared on the more than ten square meters of ground around the drumming tank which had been crushed into a cluster of wasted iron!
Li Yao did not have the opportunity to jump out of the tank. He fell to one knee, with metal parts smothering him from various directions. The bones throughout his body were emitting cracking noises. Even breathing became very difficult for him.
"I failed…"
Li Yao smiled miserably. Blackness blinked in front of his eyes. Out of his expectation, it was not very painful. He only felt extremely fatigued.
He felt that it was not cold metal that were pressing him but a warm swamp whose black, thick mud was surrounding and swallowing him bit by bit.
Gradually, he could no longer sense his limbs and his facial organs. Even his breathing and heartbeat became slow. Like an insect that was mired in amber, he slowly gave up struggling.
However, stinging feelings were still stimulating the deepest part of his brain.
They were… fighting will that looked like sparks, the last fighting will from all the qi-trainers nearby in the state of reverberation!
When the qi-trainers saw that the drumming tank Li Yao was in had been completely crushed, they thought that Li Yao had been killed and simply lunged at the enemy with no consideration for their own safety!
Their capability had hit rock bottom, but their fighting will had bounced to the peak when they were hopeless!
"Born in Iron Plateau, die in Iron Plateau!"
There was no telling who uttered the eight words first, but they were like a spell that made the exhausted warriors, whose spiritual gas had run dry and who were supposed to never stand up again, manage to struggle to their feet and support each other. They stared at Yan Xibei and moved inch by inch toward him as if their eyes were their crutches!
"You truly have no fear of death. Then you might as well die now!"
Yan Xibei manipulated the bloody hands and waved the scorpion tails and mantis forelegs to continue the slaughter while he shouted loud.
Motivated by such intense fighting willing, Li Yao's withered heart expanded again.
His fighting will extended out like hundreds of tentacles and sensed every other qi-trainer's fighting will!
Whenever he touched the burning fighting will of a qi-trainer, his own fighting will would increase a little bit, and when his fighting will had been expanded to the limits, he suddenly discovered something.
The chaotic spiritual energy spurting out of his abdomen was still spinning around him slowly. It was fluctuating at the same frequency as the vibration of his soul, and it was even under his control!
Li Yao's nearly pure black eyes constricted violently. Two stars seemed to have exploded in the center of his pupils. His fighting will continued soaring and broke the limit of all limits!
He gritted his teeth and stood on his feet silently against the steel that was pressing his head!
"This is—"
The eyes of everyone present bulged as they gawked at the scrapped tank in disbelief.
They all sensed that a tremendous force was slowly rising from the remains of the tank!
"What!"
Yan Xibei burst into fury. He took a deep breath and spat a mouthful of blood and sprayed the blood evenly on his two hands.
His hands, which were now mixed with purple auras, slapped again heavily. With a long screeching noise, the remains of the tank were crumbled into an iron ball by him!
However, spiritual energy was still spreading out of the gaps of the iron ball like tides.
Although it was in the liquid form, it seemed to be in an extremely high temperature and was boiling.
The boiling spiritual liquid turned into spiritual gas and expanded. When the spiritual gas reached a certain boundary, it cooled down and consolidated into spiritual liquid again. The process was repeated incessantly, and a great circulation was formed!
No qi-trainer knew what was going on.
Most of the Cultivators of the Great Horn Exo Society were unconscious. Only a few of them vaguely sensed an enormous strength as if a storm was brewing.
Lei Dalu, as the Cultivator at the highest level involved in the battle, was the only one who could feel the entire process of the formal changes and the circulation of spiritual energy.
However, even Lei Dalu had never seen such a weird phenomenon.
The Building Foundation Stage Cultivators could liquefy their spiritual energy, and when the liquefied spiritual energy was compressed to the minimum into the solid state, they would enter the Core Formation Stage.
However, nobody had ever thought what would happen if the spiritual liquid was boiled instead of being solidified.
BOOM! CRACK!
Dozens of bolts of lightning illuminated the sky at the same time as if they sensed that a strong being had appeared on the ground.
With the lightning as the background, the iron ball exploded like a crystal bomb, revealing a shining figure in the center!
It was exactly Li Yao!
He was still wearing the ragged Sky Scorpion Armor. But every plate was now entangled by spiritual energy and emitting flowing brightness as if they were made of translucent jade.
Stirred by the spiritual energy, his hair seemed to have grown significantly. It had been a mess on his head before, but right now, it was erect like swords, with gold brightness rooted at the end!
Purple electric arcs were dancing around him, overlapping and colliding now and then. Dazzling brilliance was released!
Yan Xibei was more than angry. His scorpion tail shook violently in a 'pa' sound, sending a cluster of weird redness out toward Li Yao's face, surpassing the speed of sound instantly!
But Li Yao snatched it at the last moment and crushed it to pieces!
It was a crimson venomous sting!
"That's impossible!" Yan Xibei lost his calmness. "What level is this? Even peak of the Building Foundation Stage should be no match for me!"
Li Yao took a deep breath and looked at his hands in confusion. He warmed up his fingers, sensing the new changes that had happened to his body.
It was quite weird that, although he had failed to form the core and a large hole was left in his abdomen, resulting in a huge mess within his body, he was now able to manipulate the dispersing spiritual energy with his immense fighting will. He could even boil the spiritual liquid escaping from his body into the gas form and absorb it again!
As the circulation went on faster and faster, his strength became higher and higher!
"This is not the peak of the Building Foundation Stage."
Li Yao's eyes were shining brighter and brighter, as he mumbled to himself, "I have surpassed the peak of the Building Foundation Stage. Just like…
"Just like the predecessors of Iron Plateau who broke the limits and created the superlative height of the Refinement Stage beyond the peak of it!
