by <unknown>
This was the other end of the teleportation formation which, to his surprise, was under a quaint sea!
Li Yao eyes were opened wide. He discovered that there was a faint brilliance above his head and Ding Lingdang, who was in front of him and happened to have her slim and slender leg close together like a robust mermaid.
He followed behind Ding Lingdang, moving his hands and feet forcefully as he strugglingly swam his way towards the sea surface.
This sea was very odd. As the density of the sea water was extremely high, Li Yao felt as though he was a fly that had been stuck in amber; no matter how he struggled, he could not escape.
Fortunately, it was not empty underwater; many flight stair-like ruins were also present and could be used as support.
Even if cultivators could hold their breath for a long time, after strenuous movements for five minutes, Li Yao was almost out of air as stars started revolving before his eyes.
"Gasp..."
Finally, Li Yao's head broke through the surface as he gasped for a mouthful of air which carried a fishy smell along with it.
Ding Lingdang too emerged next to him while also carrying a small, glittering, transparent crab on top of her head.
Having beaten her cheeks, an arrow of water shot out before she said with a smile:
"This is a world fragment called the 'Billowing Star Sea'. The density of the sea here is five times that of the Heaven Origin Sector and there are also invisible undercurrents which, for cultivation, is even better than the 'Small Grayfield'. Did you enjoy it?!"
"Indeed!"
Li Yao heaved a long sigh of relief. His entire body happened to be exhausted to the extreme, yet his spirit was very excited.
This world fragment, the Billowing Star Sea, was even more dangerous than the Small Grayfield!
Not only was the density of the seawater higher, making it strenuous to move under the sea, but there were also invisible undercurrents, which required him to unleash more than 100% of his effort and only they could he deal with it.
Had he not been running amidst the rubble carrying several tons weighing equipment every day, thereby training an extremely tyrannical body, he would have simply been unable to adhere even for a moment here!
If he could train in the Billowing Star Sea often, his body would definitely become even more terrifying, allowing him to carry even more wrecked magical equipment at once, thereby greatly increasing his efficiency in repairing and modifications.
Upon noticing Li Yao’s fascination, a smile bloomed upon Ding Lingdang's face: "Since even you say it is good, then I also don't have to feel sad. For this world fragment, I had spent an entire 500 million, and yet I only have the right to use it for a decade!"
"500 million? Are you that rich?" Li Yao was surprised.
Ding Lingdang pursed her lips:
"If only so! This is all in installments, and even for the down payment, I had to rely on the Young Teacher's Support Plan of the institute to borrow an interest-free loan. Even then, I have to pay 60-70 million annually!"
She swam to Li Yao's side as her face brighten up with joy: "As long as I can improve my strength, what does some money count for? Let alone 60-70 million, even 300-500 million can be earned in one trip to the depths of the Wasteland by hunting a few demon beasts. What is there to be afraid of!?"
"I guess that's right. Without high investment, how can one have high returns? When I have the money, I am going to buy two world fragments—one for training and I will turn the other into a private refining room!"
Li Yao indulged in flights of fantasies.
Ding Lingdang laughed, revealing her snow-white teeth: "For the refining room, you have to depend on yourself, but as for training, you can train here with me!"
"What?"
Li Yao was a little muddle-headed. The Billowing Star Sea, which was worth a couple hundred million, was open to him for free?
Ding Lingdang nodded. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "Li Yao, don't you blame me?"
"Blame you for what?" Li Yao had been surprised once again for a moment.
Due to the high density of Billowing Star Sea, Ding Lingdang freely floated above the surface, gazing at the writhing dark clouds in the sky as she said in a solemn tone, "Your dream is to become a master refiner. The Deep Sea University's Refining Department was the best place for you to go, yet because of me, you had chosen the Grand Desolate War Institution's Refining Department."
"And the Grand Desolate War Institution's Refining Department has now turned into this."
"After thinking about it carefully, had it not been for me, you would already be in Deep Sea University's Refining Department, triumphantly advancing towards your dream, instead of falling so low that you don't even have a crafting furnace."
"Even if you don't blame me, I still feel a little sorry for you. That’s why I am lending the Billowing Star Sea to you to train. Think of it as a small compensation to you."
Ding Lingdang had a dispirited look hung all over her face as she grabbed the small, transparent crab on top of her head and threw it far away dishearteningly.
A smiled appeared on Li Yao's face.
Gazing at the dark clouds in the sky as they took various shapes due to the fierce winds, he unhurriedly said, "Aren't I still triumphantly advancing towards my dream? Moreover, very soon, I will have a crafting furnace—a unique crafting furnace."
"Do you truly not blame me?"
"Of course, I don't blame you. I have elected this road on my own and it is very good. Whether it some Deep Sea University's Refining Department or some Supernova Jiang Sheng, one day, they will be blasted away by me!"
"Hahaha, now that's some ambition! Supernova Jiang Sheng, huh? When you are going to blow him away, just give me a message. I will help you punch him!"
As though a heavy burden had been lifted off of Ding Lingdang's shoulder, her entire body was a lot more at ease as she quickly started swimming around Li Yao.
"Right."
Li Yao suddenly thought of something: "Sister Ling, if I want to keep the Refining Department, I need to gather 40,000 credits within one year, which is a little troublesome. In the past, you had taken two years to acquire 40,000 credits and Senior Brother Peng had taken only one and a half year to do so. Do the two of you have some sort of secret method?"
Ding Lingdang thought for a while before she said with a frown, "Senior Brother Peng and I were both students of the Combat Department, so we had many high credits specialized courses to choose from."
"I did it almost the same way as him. For the first year, I madly studied the specialized courses for one year and first gathered 10,000 credits."
"The first 10,000 credits are the most crucial. Once you have reached 10,000 credits, you can choose high-difficulty missions and go to the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts."
"If you are lucky and hunt a powerful demon beast, you will have the opportunity to receive a couple thousand credits, and even over ten thousand credits is quite possible!"
"With the completion of three to five high-difficulty missions, you will have then acquired 40,000 credits."
Li Yao was absorbed in his thoughts: "So I have to do everything possible to obtain 10,000 credits first?"
"That's right. The first 10,000 credits are most important. Once you have 10,000 credits in hand, as long as you are strong enough and your luck is good, then you can acquire the later credits very quickly."
Ding Lingdang patted Li Yao's shoulder as she laughed and said, "Don't be anxious. We will slowly think of some way. In any case, there is more than one way to do the same thing, so for now, you should first cultivate in the Billowing Star Sea. I'm afraid that even if you want to go the depths of the Wasteland to hunt demon beasts, without a powerful body, it would be no good."
Li Yao nodded.
Even if he joined a team as a support with the identity of a refiner, his battle strength would still be too inferior.
And in case that he hel
d back the team, then no one would be willing to team up with him next time.
"Alright, you train here for a while first. This is a Repelling Water Bead. When you are truly out of the air, you can infuse it with your spiritual energy to stimulate it and that will allow you repel the invasion of seawater. In the meantime, I will go and post a mission. Once I am finished, I will accompany you after I return."
Ding Lingdang, while speaking, dived under the sea.
Li Yao happened to have sharp ears. When he heard the word "mission", his eyes suddenly turned red as he hastily stopped her: "Wait, what kind of mission are you going to post?"
"I have just established my foundation. Although my level has improved, I am still not quite well-versed with the use of various abilities. I have just learned a few really overbearing exercises, so I need to temper myself, and for that, I need a training partner who will help me consolidate my level!"
"How many credits?"
Having heard the two words "training partner", Li Yao's eyes lit up.
In the Militant Wolf Slayers cultivation gym of the underground ghost city, he was once a training partner of Fiend Blade Peng Hai.
This was his old line of work!
"The credits are rather high. For every minute, I will pay 10 credits to whoever can bear indiscriminate bombing; however, I have high requirements for the training partner, so it would not be so easy to find him."
Ding Lingdang said with a frown. She had been upset over this very matter. Finding a good training partner was even harder than finding a good husband.
"10 credits for every 10 minutes?"
Li Yao's excitement had reached the zenith to the point that flames were shooting out his nose. Having stretched out half his body out of the seawater, he took a beautiful pose to flex his muscles: "Sister Ling, how about me? I can take a beating! Even Senior Brother Peng wasn't able to knock me down!"
"You?"
Ding Lingdang could not hold back her laughter as she poked him with her slender fingers, pushing Li Yao pack into the sea.
"Don't be conceited. Do you think a task where you can earn 10 credits for one minute is that simple? Senior Brother Peng could not knock you down because he was just using 5% of his strength."
"My training partner, on the other hand, has to face of an indiscriminate bombing of at least 80% of my power. To put it bluntly, you are simply..."
"Too weak?" Li Yao unwillingly said.
"Not too weak—you are a glass jaw!"
Chapter 153: Falcon King Soaring Into the Sky in One Leap |
"Glass? Jaw?"
"Hei hei!" Li Yao happened to be laughing mischievously as a mysterious look crept over his face: "Sister Ling, guess what level I am currently at."
Ding Lingdang swept a couple of glances over him before she casually said, "At the temporary station when you had just awakened your spirit roots, you had beaten the sh*t out of a 3rd level Refinement Stage cultivator, so your talent is pretty good. If I have to guess, then after madly cultivating for these few months, you must have advanced by another level, so you are now in the 2nd level of Refinement Stage, right?"
"Nope!"
Just as his voice faded away, she suddenly came to notice that there was something strange. She stared with wide-open eyes as a sliver of a red glow flickered in the depths of her eyes: "You are in—the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage!"
Ding Lingdang was pleasantly surprised as she ruthlessly clutched Li Yao's arm: "Awesome! In just the half year I have not seen you, you have broken through to the 3rd level of the Refinement Stage!"
Li Yao grimaced in pain, yet a smiling look could not remain hidden in the depths of his eyes: "It seems that I have trained well in the [Soul Converging Technique]. Even Sister Ling had been deceived! There is a small island over there, let me show you my strength!"
A few reefs were scattered at the corner of the Billowing Star Sea, the smallest of which was only enough for a foothold, while the largest was 30 to 50 meters in diameter and had jagged rocks of grotesque shapes, much like the jagged teeth of a dog.
Li Yao, who stood barefooted on the sharp reef with his ten toes spread apart and deeply rooted into the rock much like the claws of a falcon, remained completely motionless even under the havoc of the powerful sea breeze.
Taking a deep breath, the glint in Li Yao's eyes was completely converged as though there were two deep wells, one could not find even the slightest bit of emotions.
Suddenly, squatting down, he stretched both his hands as back as he could as he moved his fingers to take the form of a claw as if he was a falcon—or a vulture—who was ready to soar into the sky!
The eyes of Ding Lingdang, who stood on another reef not too far away, lit up:
"Soul Igniting Law?"
Soul Igniting Law was an extension of the Soul Converging Technique.
The Soul Converging Technique taught the cultivators how to restrain their soul and was an ability to seal the life force of a cultivator.
The Soul Igniting Law, on the other hand, was just the opposite; it was a technique which allowed a cultivator to stimulate their soul to the limit in the blink of an eye, burning their life to their heart's content, and release an almost inexhaustible amount of light and heat to illuminate the entire universe!
In other words, the Soul Igniting Law taught the cultivators how to—metamorphosize!
Usually, one used the Soul Converging Technique to restrain their soul and lock their life force.
And in a case of an emergency, using the Soul Igniting Law would ignite the fire of life in the blink of an eye, allowing one to have superhuman abilities.
This was the battle mode of a cultivator.
Ding Lingdang was inexplicably excited in her heart; she was simply more excited than when she had just learned a Soul Igniting Law in the past.
And just like the Soul Converging Techniques, the Soul Igniting Laws was a collective name. There were hundreds of prevailing Soul Igniting Laws in the Heaven Origin Sector.
The Soul Igniting Law Li Yao was cultivating was called [Soaring Into Heaven in One Leap]!
The principle of this Soul Igniting Law was to imagine yourself as a falcon imprisoned in iron chains in the depths of a mountain valley.
While the other birds were freely flying in the sky amidst the clouds and playing along with the winds, the falcon which had been locked by iron chains could only stretch its neck and silently look at just a small piece of the sky from the desolate valley.
The iron chains locking it were very tight, deeply embedded into its flesh and blood; the falcon could not flutter its feathers in the least.
Over the years, it remained completely motionless, no more than like a piece of rock. The iron chains seemed to have imprisoned the falcon's spirit.
Even though it would occasionally watch its kinds sweeping past the sky as they let out cheerful chirps, its eyes seemed to be transfixed, revealing not even the slightest bit of movements within them.
But in secret...
Every second, it was growing!
Every second, it was madly accumulating its power!
Every second, its desire to use its wings to break the stars and suns was soaring to the highest heaven!
Finally, one day, when it had accumulated enough power, the falcon fiercely flapped its wings, breaking the iron chains and blasting the shackles imprisoning it as it let out a sharp cry which resounded throughout the heaven. As it soared into the sky with one flap, raising a hurricane that spanned over tens of thousands of kilometers, it became the king of all falcons.
Soaring into the sky in one leap!
Becoming the king of falcons in one go!
Li Yao's pair of eyes, which were completely calm and serene like a still, ancient well, suddenly flickered; the look in his eyes that remained dim, in just one tenth of a second, became as sharp as a falcon's.
A large amount of spiritual energy surged out from his every pore and took the form of feathers; the light-gray feathers,
whose edges sketched out gilded edges, gave off an impression of a shocking power slumbering within.
"Cawwww!"
"Cawwww! Cawwww!"
From next to Li Yao came sounds that were as sharp as a falcon's screeches.
These were the sounds from the sudden expansion of spiritual energy, which produced ripples and friction in the air, leading to sounds like that of a raging storm.
"4th level of the Refinement Stage!"
Ding Lingdang simply couldn't believe the scene before her eyes. Her pair of pretty eyes flickered with perplexion as she muttered, "Mobilization of energy taking a form, you can actually simulate the beginning step of the creation of heaven and earth! This state can only be possible at the 4th level of the Refinement Stage, yet you can actually do this? How long has it been since you have awakened your spirit roots?"
"Hahahaha!"
Li Yao, who got praises from Ding Lingdang, felt as if he had just eaten honey in his heart. The little image of an expert he had somehow created, in the blink of an eye, was destroyed with his unbridled laughter.
"That's right, I am in the 4th level of the Refinement Stage. What do you think? Is it enough to fight with you!?"
Over these few months, apart from frantically absorbing the theoretical knowledge in the Heavenly Refining Tower, he would also run left and right amidst the ruins while carrying several tons of wrecked magical equipment. Meanwhile, his computation speed soared to the limit as he drew multiple modification plans.
In addition, he was the only pampered child of the Refining Department, so various resources were left for him to use. Just the crystals he used were ten times of that of any ordinary freshman.
Under such frantic cultivation, he finally broke through to the 4th level of the Refinement Stage three days ago!
"In a few months, you, from an ordinary person, had suddenly turned into a 4th level Refinement Stage cultivator—you are even faster than me! My insight is truly good. In just one glance, I had picked a purebred horse like you from the mules!"
