by <unknown>
It was because there were these rules that society was able to be established, that the strong and the weak could be united!
The Star Glory Federation relied on precisely these sets of rules to reach unity between cultivators and the common folk, to face-off jointly against the Fiend Beasts and those that walk the Demonic path. The Federation would have long perished if these rules weren’t in place. Cultivators and commoners would be hostile enemies towards each other, and the state of the Federation would sink into volatility, like a sheet of scattered sand. How could they possibly hope to fight against the Demon Beasts and Demonic Cultivators if this were the case?
And so, Li Yao thought of this pretext to explain his own sudden increase in strength. He wasn’t worried about being exposed by others. Even if people discovered that he was lying, his secrets would not be exposed… In the world of cultivation, who doesn’t have a few hidden secrets?
Meng Jiang nodded his head as he accepted the fact that his bro for life had suddenly increased his strength. However, he wrinkled his brow as he asked, “But, is there a need for you to be this excessively vicious? You had already sent Zhao Liang to the ground, yet you still pulverized his left knee. Isn’t that too extreme? You don’t know how scary you looked when you lifted that barbell up. You basically looked like… a blood-thirsty monster!”
“I had to do it,” Li Yao explained, “You told me this morning the enormous power Helian Lie holds in this school and how he has many henchmen. Since I’ve already offended him, his underlings will certainly come searching for trouble. Zhao Liang is only the first of them!”
He paused for a moment, before continuing, “Zhao Liang is the lowest ranked student of the Important Class; he’s in last place. If I only knock him to the ground, do you think other people would be scared? Wouldn’t they continue coming one after another to cause me trouble? No matter how I fight, I would fall before a revolving wheel of war! But now, when Helian Lie’s gang sees Zhao Liang’s pair of knees and hear his painful shrieks, they would reconsider a little bit before looking for me. The vast majority of them might even shrink back.”
Meng Jiang fixed into a blank stare. He did not think that far. He had only felt that Li Yao’s actions were too excessive.
Li Yao patted the shoulder of his bro for life and said seriously, “Small Jiang, you know my background. You know that since I was a kid, I lived and grew up in the trash heap. In the world I grew up in, people could get in blood feuds over even a half-rotten banana. One time, I even saw two groups of people have a brawl over half a bag of cold meat buns. In the end, two people died. Two people died over half a bag of meat buns! Trust me. I grew up in this kind of environment, so I know how to deal with threats and trouble!”
“But, but....” Meng Jiang’s mind was a huge mess. All this time, he had never witnessed this other face of his bro for life.
Perhaps, this was Li Yao’s most genuine face.
Li Yao said flatly, “The experience of a dozen years of life in the waste treatment facility had taught me…When it comes to facing the threats of other people, it’s not that thing’s can’t be reasoned and that a compromise can’t be found. It’s that first, the opposition must be beaten to such a state that even their parents would not recognize them, then negotiations and compromise can proceed. Otherwise, things can’t be reasoned out and compromises can’t be made. Instead, you place yourself in a pot for others boil or steam! As for what happened today… When Zhao Liang first arrived, he wanted me to kneel before him. And he wanted to break 10 of my bones. I was already determined not to kneel, and I also did not want to have 10 of my bones broken. What other choice did I have besides to fight him to the bloody end?
Meng Jiang had a blank expression for quite a while, “I heard you say before that you had a nickname in the garbage dump. The Vulture. When I heard that I had my doubts. I thought you were just talking big. I believe you now.”
With a laugh, Li Yao said, “Yea man~. The me back then was ten times more vicious and a hundred times more crazy than the me now. I had no choice. I was just a kid who couldn’t even hold a knife steady. If I weren’t a bit vicious and crazy, how could I have fought for food from the mouths of the grownups? Later, I met my Old Man. He taught me many things, including social standards and rules. When I assimilated into ordinary society, I lost a bit of my edge. Anyway, my Old Man is long dead. When I encounter this sort of situation, I can act only in accordance to the instincts of the ‘Vulture’ in order to settle things~.”
Meng Jiang let out a sigh, “I understand now after hearing you, Little Devil. You had no other option. But other than me, people would take you as a kid tooting his horn and that you are being too aggressive.”
“Aggressive? Of course, I have to be aggressive!” Li Yao’s nostrils flared. He spoke, objecting, “We who live in the Artifact Grave must work to eat as scavengers. We live in the now, not the future, for who knows what type of priceless treasure we may salvage in the next minute… only to have, the minute after, it’s spiritual energy explode so greatly that nothing remains! So for us scavengers, as soon we have power, we must immediately act with aggression. I won’t wait till the next second to be aggressive if I can be aggressive now. I won’t act with 90% aggression if I can act with 100% aggression! If I don’t be aggressive when I have this strength, if I continue laying low… What if I dropped dead in the next second? Wouldn’t it all have been a waste? It’s like winning 5 million credits in the lottery. Say you don’t spend it to live a life of luxury. You would rather stick it in the bank. What if right after you deposited your money, you get hit by a flying shuttle and die!? You’ve been wronged even as a ghost!”
Meng Jiang conceded saying, “Okay okay, since you’re this confident, you can act aggressively. But did the thought of Helian Lie using his family’s influence to make you quit school ever cross your mind? What will you do then?”
“I don’t have to remain here, there are other places I can be. Crimson Nimbus Second is not the only school under the skies. At worst, I will just switch schools. Even if I don’t go to school, the Federation still lets citizens enter privately in the university examinations. The procedure is just a little bit more troublesome! If Helian Lie applies pressure for me to quit school, I’ll just let him fulfill that wish. After all, why not? There’s a long future ahead. He and I will still have our beautiful youthfulness!” Li Yao’s eyes produced a vicious aura as he spoke nonchalantly.
While these two were talking, a short, thin, weak figure tottered towards them.
“It’s a teacher!” Meng Jiang said in light voice and pulled Li Yao to stand up, jumping off of a short wall by the bushes.
“Isn’t that Old Sun, the school’s warehouse logistics manager? What did he come here for?” Li Yao stared confused.
Chapter 29: Fiend Blade Forger |
The old fogey who walked over had a thinning head of white hair, ashen white seemingly-cataract eyes, a hunchbacked posture, and a shortness of breath. A gust of wind could practically topple him.
Li Yao remembered that when school started, he and his fellow students had gone to the warehouse to get their uniforms. He had met this old fogey once before at that time.
“Even though he’s only a warehouse manager, I’ve heard that over 70 years ago, this old fogey ‘Sun Biao’ was the school’s Combat Skills Teacher and was a tremendous and extraordinary expert. His foresight for talent was extremely fierce. He found quite a few cultivation geniuses and was the one who discovered Fiend Blade Peng Hai from the slums, recognizing that the boy at the time was out of the ordinary. He was the one who had Peng Hai specially admitted! Even though he's already over 150 years old and is practically retired having quit teaching 10 years ago, he felt too restless at home, so he continues working at this school as he’s done for all his life. This time as the warehouse logistics manager to kill time. At first glance, he looks completely ordinary with his emancipated figure, but his reputation holds great influence in this school. E
ven Headmaster Baldy Zhao has to show him a bit of face!” Meng Jiang was the school’s king of gossip and rumors, letting out a flood of words to explain to Li Yao.
“The man who unearthed Fiend Blade Peng Hai!” said Li Yao with deep veneration.
“I never thought Old Sun would appear. It seems that things may have changed for the better. Remember, he’s an old man so if you’re a bit clever about it, you may be able to get off scot-free and avert disaster. Go on, hurry!” Meng Jiang pushed Li Yao hard, but suddenly said, “Wait wait!”
“Huh?” Li Yao stood and stopped.
“Little Devil, you said just a moment ago that when facing the threats of opponents, one must first fight to the bloody end. Then one can negotiate and reach compromise. Your words sounded very grand.... But, what if you and your opponent can’t come to peace with each other?” Meng Jiang was pondering over Li Yao’s words all this time. The more he thought, the more he felt the words were cool, awesome, and domineering, but he felt something was a bit off somewhere in those words. And now, he had realized what it was.
“If you can’t make peace, then just run. If you can’t lose them by running, then stall. If you can’t halt by stalling, then you can always just die~!” Li Yao rolled his eyes at his bro for life and walked towards warehouse manager Sun Biao.
He was taller than Sun Biao by a full head. When he stood right in front of Sun Biao, all he could see was the sparse hair on the top of a head. The top of the head was covered in liver spots and looked normal with nothing out of the ordinary.
Actually, Li Yao was at the peak of nervousness with his heart beating wildly... The man who unearthed Fiend Blade Peng Hai was in front of him!
Sun Biao tilted his neck. It seemed that his neck muscles weren’t too good for he used some effort to slant his head. Sun Biao sized up Li Yao carefully and attentively for a long time.
The expression in his eyes was like that of a feverish gourmet eyeing a fresh, tender juicy piece of veal. He stared at Li Yao until Li Yao’s scalp was turning numb and Li Yao’s back had chills before he slowly said, “Not bad, scattering that gym chalk!”
Li Yao was caught off-guard and stared blankly. He couldn’t help but reveal a smile. He also felt that using the gym chalk was a good move; it allowed him to seize the advantage and secure a narrow victory.
Otherwise, in a fair fight against Zhao Liang with his Actualization Quotient of 60%, the outcome of which one of them would be beaten into a pig’s head would not be certain!
“However...” Sun Biao took the conversation for a turn and reached out two dried up fingers of his. “If it was me, I wouldn’t have used gym chalk, but rather the iron shavings in the sandbags. As long as enough strength is applied, if there is a direct collision with the retina, it would cause the opponent to lose his vision completely! Then I would scatter iron nails all over the floor. And since my opponent wouldn’t be able to see, he would step all over them and have his foot be absolutely pierced! Of course, this wouldn’t result in death. But when it comes to these sorts of good darling babies who’ve grown in a sheltered environment, their greatest fear is pain. This would certainly cause them to lose all mobility! With the loss of both vision and mobility, all I would need is two seconds to get rid of him!”
Li Yao was dumbstruck hearing Sun Biao. It took a long time before awakening from his stupor. He couldn’t help debating, “But the circumstances were dire. It’s already not bad of me to be able to sneakingly grab a handful of gym chalk. How can there be time to break open a sand bag to get the iron shavings inside? The iron nails are even more ridiculous. Where in the gymnasium are there great quantities of iron nails for me to scatter?”
Sun Biao laughed two evil “ha ha’s”, saying, “As a fighting expert, one must take every second of the 24 hour day to make preparations for battle. Iron shavings, iron nails, and other miscellaneous oddities should absolutely already be carried on your person. Even if you’re taking a shower, you still need to have an iron nail wedged in your ass. You lack even this most fundamental of preparations, and you still dare to come out and fight with others at this school!?”
Li Yao was speechless for a time. He felt all of a sudden that this old fogey was more despicable and shameful than himself by a hundredfold.
Sun Biao gave a cold snort. He continued by saying, “However nowadays, the number of youngsters who can truly fight are dwindling~ I see that you have some potential I suppose. Walk. Let’s go to my place. Chat and keep this old fogey company!”
After all was said, he turned around. With two hands held behind his back, he walked to the warehouse.
Li Yao hesitated for a moment and followed obediently behind the old fogey.
Then he discovered something strange… Sun Biao looked to be unsteady and wavering, shifting with small steps. A single sneezed seemed to be able to topple him. But his speed was not the least bit slow. And, it seemed that he had eyes on the back of his head, for he adjusted his speed according to Li Yao’s. He maintained a distance of 5 meters in front of Li Yao from beginning to end.
Li Yao could not believe he couldn’t catch up to Sun Biao. He clenched his teeth and directly used the Spirit Serpent Footwork Technique, running into a small sprint.
As always, Sun Biao had his pair of hands clasped behind his back and walked with unsteady steps.
But no matter how much Li Yao increased his speed, even to the point of causing his head to sweat in steam, he was completely incapable of cutting the distance by even a hair!
“Is it a high-level footwork technique? Or is it a kind of spatial warping cultivator technique?” Li Yao was astonished down to his core.
To the side, a few students slowly walked at a snail's pace across them. It was only then did Li Yao suddenly realize. It wasn't that Sun Biao was walking very fast, but rather he was moving extremely slow!
He was clearly using the Spirit Serpent Technique to its peak hurricane like speed, but he hadn't even ran 10 meters after running for a long time. All that time, before the other students crossed paths with him, he did not have the slightest clue that something was wrong.
“Could it be an illusionary mental attack?” Li Yao's scalp turned numb. He finally understood just how unfathomable Sun Biao was. He stopped his technique and followed obediently behind Sun Biao with his tail in between his legs, not daring to act carelessly or rashly.
Something strange happened when he stopped using the footwork technique. The speed of the two had inconceivably sped up. There were over a thousand meters of distance between the ninth gym and the warehouse, but they were able to see the big door of the warehouse after only a minute of walking.
The warehouse was a small building filled and piled with dust. Peeling paint was on quite a few places on the walls, exposing the yellowish brown bricks inside. Overall, the appearance was a bit ugly.
The building did not appear to be big, but a whole universe seemed to be contained inside. At the 7th turn and 8th detour, after passing by piles of goods and items, a shocking sight appeared in front of Li Yao’s eyes — a standard stadium-sized essence Cultivation Field.
Dumbbells, barbells, pec fly machines, squat machines, strength tester machines, crystal clay gel humanoid training dummies… It contained all sorts of cultivation equipment that one could ever need.
However, the majority of the equipment were dozen-year-old models. The finish was coarse, black, and full of rusted spots. They let out a rough and doughty air.
Dust covered every cultivation equipment entirely. It seemed that it had been a long time since they were last used.
They walked to the center of the cultivation field. Sun Biao turned around and did something that Li Yao would have never expected no matter how much he guessed.
This retired old teacher was 150 years old. He unearthed Fiend Blade Peng Hai. He was a person of great reputation and prestige. Yet unexpectedly he faced Li Yao and bowed solemnly. His voice turned incomparably serious as he said, “First and foremost. Student Li Y
ao, please accept my apologies.”
Chapter 30: You Are So Arrogant~ |
“Sun, Teacher Sun. Sir, what are you doing?” Li Yao was confused and flustered. He stepped forward, intending to help Sun Biao up. But he never thought that this old fogey would be as immovable as casted metal that continued to maintain its bowed form. No matter how much Li Yao tried, Sun Biao would not move.
Sun Biao was still bending over when he said seriously, “This school is meant for discovering talent and is a place where talented people are fostered. Your overall combat strength isn’t too outstanding, but you possess the combat awareness like that of a keen beast, and you have an abundance of combat experience as well. Indeed, you are a sapling that’s worth nurturing. However, our school was unable to unearth you from the Common Class a bit earlier, wasting and harming a great amount of your youth. This was a neglect of duty by all members of our teaching faculty and staff. So, I can only represent our school in giving you an apology. Student Li Yao, I am truly sorry.”
Li Yao’s mouth was gaping open. He truly did not how to respond. He was indescribably touched from the depths of his heart.
“Is this the mettle of a true ‘teacher’?”
Li Yao had never met a teacher like Sun Biao. No wonder Sun Biao was the man who was able to unearth Fiend Blade Peng Hai!
“Then…” Sun Biao finally rose and once again a frivolous expression appeared on his face. A fanatical flame burned in the depths of his eyes. “Kid, have you heard of the Federation’s Youth Limit Challenge?”
Li Yao’s pupils suddenly shrunk back and he subconsciously nodded his head. His heart rate sped up abruptly.
Of course, he had heard of it before. The Federation’s Youth Limit Challenge Competition was held jointly between the Federal Army and the Nine Elite Universities. It was a large-scale competition that was meant to unearth cultivation geniuses. The competition was held every year around two months before the university exams, with a scope that encompassed the whole nation. It was comprised of several hundred competition arenas that ran simultaneously. This Youth Cultivation Competition was the Federation’s oldest tradition.
