Forty millenniums of cul.., p.879
Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 879
Through such magical equipment, the ghosts would be able to be temporarily stored. After the battle was over, gear such as 'artificial bodies' that was usable for the ghosts would be created. The longevity of the ghosts would be significantly extended.
Such a remnant of a 'medical facility', after falling into the hands of human Cultivators and being installed with shabby control rune arrays and a fancy shell, turned into the Hundred Ghosts Edict, a piece of evil, vicious magical equipment where souls were confined.
Li Yao counted a hundred and nine souls from the Hundred Ghosts Edict.
Together with the dark ghosts attached to the thirty-six daggers and infiltrating into his body, the total number was two hundred and twenty-one.
They were merely the survivors.
It was not hard to imagine that even more souls of the children must have perished because of the infinite suffering when the daggers were forged. Chances were that three to five hundred children had been killed in total.
Li Yao was so angry that his gums were almost bleeding. He felt that Master Spiritual Vulture had died too easily and quickly.
He also found it tricky to deal with the souls of the children.
When the children were killed by Master Spiritual Vulture, they had generally been between three years old and seven years old. They were still at an innocent age and did not remember many things.
After Master Spiritual Vulture's repetitive torture and purification, their last remaining memories had been wiped out, too, and they were turned into pure, flawless paper.
It was impossible to send them back to their homes, which would also have been meaningless. Judging from the civilization level of the Sector, they were unlikely to live in peace as ghosts in the barbaric tribes of the desolate land.
Chances were that, in the forests where shamanism and evil spells prevailed, they would either perish soon or be captured by other malicious Cultivators and turned into 'gremlins' again!
Li Yao pondered for a long time and decided that he could only bring them with him while hoping that their aggressiveness could be more or less dissolved. One day, if he could take them back to the federation, they could probably still have a new life as orphans.
Thankfully, the Hundred Ghosts Edict was more than spacious enough to accommodate a few hundred souls of children, so he was spared that trouble.
After the problem of the children's souls were solved, Li Yao began to search Master Spiritual Vulture's Poisonous Dragon Cave carefully.
He found a crossroad right behind the altar, which led to a few minor caves.
This time, Li Yao raised his alert and groped for barriers inch by inch. As he expected, he discovered a few rather primitive traps.
Since the owner of the traps was dead, Li Yao met absolutely no trouble cracking the barriers.
The crossroad led to three minor caves.
The first one was a warehouse, in which plenty of provisions such as clean water and dehydrated meat was stored. The second one had a bed made of bones, suggesting that it must have been Master Spiritual Vulture's bedchamber. The third cave was a library. A lot of jade chips and mottled books were kept inside.
Li Yao also found a colorful silk bag made of weird materials that was not blackened at all in the temperature of hundreds of degrees where Master Spiritual Vulture was burnt into ashes. Inside the silk bag was a roughly made Cosmos Ring.
The crystal processor that he carried with him had been preinstalled with many programs to crack the barriers. After the Cosmos Ring was connected to the crystal processor, the programs automatically ran and cracked it by brute force. After only a few seconds, the primitive barriers were removed, and he became the new owner of the Cosmos Ring.
The items inside the Cosmos Ring, as well as the books and jade chips inside the library, gave Li Yao a general idea of the cave's background and why Master Spiritual Vulture had been living in seclusion here.
Chapter 1348: Differences Between Traditional Arts and Modern Ones |
After thorough communication with the Immortal Cultivator Su Changfa, Li Yao had learned some of the experience that the Imperium of True Human Beings had in the development of primeval relics.
In most cases, the explorers were not as lucky as the Star Glory Federation to excavate an intact 'Kunlun'.
After hundreds of thousands of years, most of the relics had already been excavated time and time again by the predecessors.
Excavating a relic of the ancient civilizations was somewhat similar to grave robbing. When the grave robber made their way into a grave from tens of thousands of years ago, they would most likely find the excrement of people of their trade left hundreds of years ago, instead of antiques and treasures.
It was exactly the case with this cave.
Perhaps, some hundred thousand years ago, a warehouse, a base, or a shelter of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan was once hidden underground here.
However, after the Pangu and Nuwa civilizations perished and humanity thrived, many Cultivators had visited the place and exploited most of the primeval relics.
Different from the grave robbers, most of the Cultivators would not run away the moment they grabbed the items they desired. On the contrary, they would claim the place and build it into their own residence.
Because of the natural canyon outside, it was easy for the spiritual energy to condense, and a very unique natural magnetic field was formed.
The river running straight down from the mountains also brought out the metal ions contained inside the mother lodes in the mountains, making the air here different from other places, which was beneficial for training.
Moreover, the place was quite remote, and the top of the canyon was blocked by overwhelming trees. Not only did they prevent the cave from being noticed, it was also very difficult for the spiritual waves inside to spread out. They were the best natural camouflage.
If one trained in the small 'natural paradise', it would be very difficult for them to be found out unless they were unlucky.
For tens of thousands of years, many predecessors had developed the residence. While consuming the heritage of the Pangu civilization inside, they had left detailed notes of their training, their Cultivation arts and techniques, and even their flying swords and magical equipment.
As time went by, more and more items were accumulated, making the cave rarer and rarer.
When Master Spiritual Vulture found the cave, there were in fact few heritages of the Pangu civilization. The only things that he found were some enormous bones from the Pangu Clan and a half arm armor.
However, he did find more than ten classics and notebooks left by his predecessors, as well as a lot of materials for refining.
Master Spiritual Vulture considered the items to be ultimate treasures and had been lurking in this place, learning the Cultivation arts while forging his evil daggers with the last remains of the Pangu Clan's armor.
It was a pity that most of the notes that he left were for training purposes. The guy did not mention anything about his life or the customs of the local area.
From the guy's narration, Li Yao could only tell that he had been living in seclusion for at least fifty years, during which time he had grasped almost fifty magnificent techniques left by the predecessors and forged thirty-six daggers. His purpose was to forge eighty-one daggers before he announced his grand return to the world.
It was a pity that he had been pummeled to death by an alien Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator before he fulfilled his ambitions!
According to the notes, Li Yao carefully examined the collections inside the cave.
He was not very interested in the legendary 'unparalleled techniques'.
After swallowing Ou Yezi's memory pieces, Li Yao had already gained access to the Heavenly Refining Tower of the Hundred Smelting Sect in the world of ancient Cultivators.
There were too many secret techniques that the Hundred Smelting Sect acquired for all kinds of marvelous weapons with other major sects.
Li Yao was no stranger to ancient classics. He had also practiced quite a few ancient arts according to Ou Yezi's memories. He had never found them to be particularly extraordinary.
In the modern Cultivation theories, 'unparalleled techniques' were far less important than in the medieval Cultivation world.
As the saying goes, you can only learn by doing. In the eyes of the modern Cultivators, the classics were nothing more than 'textbooks'.
Reciting all the textbooks would not make a person a great scholar.
Etching Economics, Accountancy, Finance, Stock Investment Theories, and other theoretical books written by the specialists into one's head would not make them a billionaire in a year and a half, either.
Finding a jade chip, or a few ancient books, living in a cave for decades, and returning as an invincible expert. How could it be as simple as that?
The so-called 'amazing arts' were merely tools to lay a solid foundation. Even if one's foundation was solid enough for them to pursue further, there was still a long way ahead!
Besides, in the eyes of modern people, the arts and techniques of the ancient Cultivators were not qualified even for 'textbooks'.
On one hand, the ancient Cultivators could not get rid of the superstitions about deities. They were almost all traditionalists and believed that the older, the better, and the more original, the better. They probably thought that even a chamber pot of an ancient sage was more awesome than a flying sword of their age.
Due to their mental restrictions, they had absolutely no doubt about the ancient classics. They only knew how to learn from the predecessors but did not know how to make revisions. Naturally, in many cases, they were like the idiots who cut their feet in order to fit in their shoes.
Anything would not make any sense when occultism was involved. All the ancient techniques were perfect. If their power could not be brought out, it was not because there was something wrong with the techniques but because they were not practicing the techniques well. Even if their every hair was exactly the same as depicted in the classics, it would still be because they were not 'sincere' enough.
If everybody thought in such a way, how could they expect to make any progress?
On the other hand, the ancient Cultivators also had the tendency to isolate themselves. After they found a great book of techniques, they often considered it as a rarely-seen treasure and feared that somebody else would rob them of their belongings.
Therefore, they often hid the news and trained themselves in seclusion in an unpopulated land.
What they did not know was that any knowledge and theory in the world was born during communications. Only when everybody exchanged their opinions and thoughts would the sparks of wisdom be triggered. It was the only way to verify the advantages of a Cultivation art and find out its shortcomings.
Not communicating with others, without a systematic environment for theoretical discussions, they would train in forests, underground caves, or islands on their own. They did not know why their Cultivation worked out or why it did not. When they were slightly mentally deranged, they considered the phenomenon as the 'enlightenment from the deities'. Together with other mysteries and exaggerations, that would be their training notes or introductions to techniques.
If such books were buried below the ground for thousands of years and found by the posterior Cultivators again, they would be new 'ancient techniques' that were worshipped and blindly trusted again.
After such a vicious cycle of tens of thousands of years, most of the techniques that had been passed on were absurd and packed with flaws. In many cases, they were not even as useful as the Physical Education classes in the middle and elementary schools in the federation.
The PE classes were never to be underestimated. They were the collections of the wisdom of the fighters and the medical experts from the entire federation with consideration of the essence of the ancient combat arts. They were the best approaches for one to build up the body and stimulate the growth of cells!
Master Spiritual Vulture, as well as the previous ancient Cultivators who had once occupied the cave, were both the victims of said training system and the inflictors of the system without knowing it.
Li Yao browsed through the Cultivation books they left behind. They were not entirely devoid of shining points, but the essence had all been covered by tremendous dregs.
If anybody trained according to such arts, they would be exactly like Master Spiritual Vulture, who appeared to be something at first look but in fact had a lot of redundant actions. They would never survive a real battle.
In short, compared to the modern Cultivation system, the biggest problem with the ancient Cultivators was their unprofessionalism!
However, right now, Li Yao had to study and learn a thing or two about the 'unprofessional' ancient techniques.
As a great expert above the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage, and having practiced a lot of ancient techniques through Ou Yezi's memory pieces before himself, it was not difficult at all for him to learn the techniques, especially when he was not really grasping the techniques but simply simulating the visual and sound effects when such techniques were performed.
Li Yao was doing it for, of course, only one purpose, which was to impersonate the unlucky 'Master Spiritual Vulture'.
Li Yao's ultimate goal was to break into the core ruling circle of this Sector, where he would observe the nature, stance of the super experts, and the functioning social system of the world before determining whether the Sector could be allied with or even integrated.
Even if an alliance was not an option, it was still a good thing to hire a team of Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, or even higher levels as the oversea legion of the Star Glory Federation.
If he could not even achieve that, he had to stop the Imperium of True Human Beings from recruiting the Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, or possibly in the Divinity Transformation Stage.
To break into the core circle of this Sector and impose his influence, the identity as a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was necessary.
If he was in the Building Foundation Stage or the Core Formation Stage, which of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators would bother listening to him?
Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were not weeds in a farmland that could grow out of nowhere. If he travelled in the world as a brand-new Nascent Soul Stage, somebody would certainly question his background, his sect, and his family, which were difficult to fabricate.
The unfortunate 'Master Spiritual Vulture', on the other hand, was not a bad identity at all.
First of all, he was a Cultivator from the barbarians. So, it would be quite understandable if he did not know the social customs and the traditions of the Cultivators, or if he had a weird accent, after he went to the central plateaus.
Secondly, the unlucky guy had lived in seclusion there for at least fifty years. Judging from the notes that he had left behind, in case others grew suspicious of him, he had even faked his own 'abrupt death' before he went into seclusion.
It would be perfectly normal if such an old monster was pretentious or even sensitive about his identity after he returned to the human world again.
Chapter 1349: Whereabouts of the Appeasing Army |
In the end, according to the experience in Ou Yezi's memory pieces, the barbaric Cultivators from the desolate land at the edge of the civilization were generally radical and had their uncanny quirks. They were not restricted by the rules of the noble sects, either. Therefore, other people would not come to mess around with them easily.
Pretending to be such an antagonistic guy would save him a lot of effort.
Li Yao was a great expert in camouflage in the first place. He had also made thorough preparations for the exploration and brought all kinds of tools and drugs, which could even change his appearance and physique in the cellar level. It was not a challenge for him to impersonate a guy who had vanished more than fifty years ago.
But before he completely figured out the guy's background, Li Yao did not intend to completely pretend to be Master Spiritual Vulture himself.
If the guy was a public enemy for the Cultivators, or he once pissed off great experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage, Li Yao would have been a victim of his own schemes.
Therefore, Li Yao made other plans.
…
Night fell.
The top of the long, narrow canyon was covered by the flourishing trees. When it was broad daylight outside, it was nothing but horror and darkness inside the canyon.
What was odd was that, when the night came and the two moons—one slightly blue and the other pale—were shining, the canyon was soaked in silver clouds when the gentle brilliance flowed through the tree leaves like soft smoke.
Li Yao was sitting cross-legged in midair.
The Hundred Ghosts Edict was floating in front of him, as if attracted by an invisible string.
Exactly like what Master Spiritual Vulture had done, he spurted two streams of white light from his nostrils, which were attached to the surface of the badge and touched it softly. All the souls of the children confined inside were unleashed so that they could build up themselves by absorbing the essence of the moonlight.
Before, every time Master Spiritual Vulture summoned them and allowed them to absorb the essence of the moonlight, he would torture and savage them in order to stimulate their aggressiveness.
Of course, Li Yao would not do such things. Instead, he was slowly washing the aggressiveness off with his own mild spiritual energy and the peaceful moonlight.
It was an arduous task that demanded both time and focus, and it could not be stopped any day. It would do no good to Li Yao's personal training.
However, that was where his belief and the spirit of the federation lay, which were their greatest reliance in the competition against the Imperium of True Human Beings. Naturally, Li Yao could not turn a blind eye to the souls of the children who would inevitably grow into fearsome wraiths if he did nothing.
