by <unknown>
"Lingdang, Vulture, Yan Zi, your personal strengths are relatively better. Try to collect some magical equipment from the center of the map.
"If you are engaged with a formidable enemy, don't be held up by them for too long. It's our top priority to gather together!"
"Understood!"
"Let's move out!"
Among the rocks that were rising and collapsing, the six members of Team Blue Bronze acted quickly. Li Yao and his other two teammates rushed to the center of the map, in case other people took away all the magical equipment and they had to fight bare-handed.
'Look, it's Vulture Li Yao of Team Blue Bronze!'
'He is just at the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage. As a refiner, he is best at fighting with magical equipment and in crystal suits. Right now, he has nothing at his disposal. This is his weakest moment!"
The two Orb Patrollers had been confronting each other fiercely.
Now that Li Yao appeared out of nowhere, the two of them immediately thought that this was a good opportunity to secure one score from a push-over. They glanced at each other and, crushing the stones below their feet into pieces, charged at Li Yao simultaneously with one on the left and one on the right!
Chapter 394: Central Zone |
Li Yao grinned hideously. Instead of running away in a flurry as they had expected, he rushed toward them, crushing rocks to dust with every step he took.
After each step, his momentum and dominance rose a lot!
The two Orb Patrollers felt that a quickly accelerating tyrannosaur was charging at their face.
Although the earthquake was continuing, Li Yao's blowing stones to pieces with his feet apparently gave them more shock.
'He has no weapon in his hands. Why is he so confident? Does he have any other trump cards?'
'Over the past month, whose memory fragments has he been absorbing? And what kind of new skill has he learnt?'
If there were only of them here, they would certainly grit their teeth and attack Li Yao anyway.
But since the two Orb Patrollers belonged to different Teams, they were in competition themselves. Subconsciously, they hoped that the other one would test Li Yao's capability first. As a result, they both slowed down and spared most of their computational ability calculating hundreds of defense plans against the potential opponent.
Li Yao's speed remained on the rise. The rocks that he stepped on exploded into pieces, leaving a trail of smoke behind him, as if a crystal train made of sandstorm were sweeping over.
Seeing that the two of them were intending to back off, Li Yao sneered, "Get out of the way if you don't want to die!"
"Swoosh!"
Li Yao penetrated through between the two Orb Patrollers in a streak of black light. When he passed by them, he sprayed the rock powder and the scattered stones all over the two Orb Patrollers' faces.
They were not expecting this, and there was no time to distinguish what he was spraying. Therefore, they chose the safest plan simultaneously by leaping backwards!
The dragon of smoke passed them and, after a few turns, continued marching toward the central zone of Thousand Mountains Domain.
Li Yao's evil laughter could be heard from the front of the smoke.
"Thank you for clearing the way!"
The two Orb Patrollers were dazed for a moment. Then they realized that they'd been fooled by Li Yao, who was just bluffing and trying to run away without any intention of fighting at all.
"Asshole!"
They blushed in embarrassment and fury, before they sped up again and followed Li Yao's tracks.
Yet, the trail of smoke was moving at an amazingly fast speed. The two Orb Patrollers only managed to catch up to it by fully activating their swiftness skills. The anger of being conned had made them lose their minds. One of them knocked off a cone-shaped rock and kicked it away, which darted to the path in front of Li Yao where he was rushing.
Regardless of whether Li Yao decided to bypass it or to crush it, he would be hindered briefly.
Delighted, the Orb Patroller charged into the smoke like a hungry tiger seeking a lamb.
Yet, there was nothing in front of his eyes. Their prey had vanished into thin air.
Suddenly, a sharp coldness pricked his back. Li Yao no longer seemed to be as bigheaded and dominating as just now. He was enveloped in an air of bleakness and darkness, while he dashed out quietly like a shark in the undersea.
"BAM!"
The spiritual shield protecting the Orb Patroller was broken into smithereens immediately. Then, it was quickly regenerated and put on a mild green color.
He entered in the short protective period, during which time he could not attack or be attacked.
But his mind was in chaos.
"When did Li Yao run to my back?
"He was apparently bare-handed. Yet, he blew up my spiritual shield in one punch and killed me once?
"Isn't he a refiner who is best at explosive magical equipment and battle saber techniques? Why?!"
The other Orb Patroller was much more prudent. He had sensed that something was wrong inside the smoke that Li Yao created, and therefore he didn't enter it at all.
As it turned out, half a second later, it was Li Yao who walked out of the smoke slowly.
He was as thin as before. But every muscle on his arms were bulging, like clusters of rebar tangled together. His hands were emitting gold brightness. Purple electric arcs and blue fire were jumping and dancing on his fingertips in brilliant balls of light as if they were spirits brought back to life.
The Orb Patroller gasped. Finding it hard to believe his eyes, he screamed, "You are just at the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage, and you can bring 'Purple Electric Blue Fire Claw Art' out to such an extent?"
Li Yao smiled, squatted, and sprinted!
"Not the beginning level, the middle level!"
After a month of crazy training, with the absorption of abundant memory fragments from Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, Li Yao finally broke his limits and reached the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage!
Arriving at the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage from the beginning level in half a year, Li Yao had performed a miracle that no one had ever achieved in the history of the Star Glory Federation!
"Shua!"
A moment later, Li Yao's kills reached two.
The total kills of Team Blue Bronze had reached eight, ranking the second of all teams.
Hong Tong and Yan Yangtian each had killed a competitor, while Ding Lingdang had blown up the spiritual shields of four opponents by herself.
Since she was a body practitioner, the unarmed combat couldn't be more in her favor. It was the best to kill as many people as she could right now. After most people had found some useful magical equipment, it would be much more difficult for her to perform.
The only exception was 'Shell' Leng Ziming. As a gun expert, he was not good at close combat. Therefore, his main task was to run away. But he had been killed once during his escape.
"Li Yao, you've already reached the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage? Does that mean you are on par with me right now? You've got to be kidding me!"
Ding Lingdang's loud voice came through the communication channel, mingled with the screams of other Orb Patrollers.
While she continued her slaughter, Ding Lingdang shouted in disbelief, "It took you only half a year to reach the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage from the beginning level. You are three times faster than I was! Other people say that I'm a monster. In my opinion, you are the real monster!
"But thankfully, I didn't waste my time over the past month, either. I've absorbed nineteen memory pieces of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, and most of them are battle-related!
"Hahahaha! My capability has soared, too. When the final competition is over, let's have another practice spar and I'll show you what I've become right now!
"Right, how many memory pieces have you ab
sorbed? Five? Eight?"
Before, none of the team had much hopes in Li Yao. After all, he had been at the very beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage. It would be quite a fruitful training session if he could absorb two or three memory pieces smoothly.
However, now that they learnt that he had experienced a breakthrough, naturally, their expectations of him grew higher.
Li Yao rushed into the central zone of Thousand Mountains Domain so fast that his feet barely touched the ground.
Looking at the front, he found that countless bright gold balls were floating in the air, enshrouded in glittering octagonal runes.
There was a piece of magical equipment in each of the balls.
"Swoosh!"
Li Yao kicked a giant rock to the sky, hitting one of the balls precisely.
A crimson saber whose edge was full of tusks fell from the sky, which was fetched by him easily.
Li Yao was greatly relieved now that he had a saber in his hand.
Although he had absorbed much of Iron God Yan Ba's memory pieces regarding bare-handed combat, the knowledge and experience could not be translated into his own skills in such a short period of time.
To fully understand the insights and embed them with his own flesh, blood, bones, and veins, he needed the whetting of countless of real-life battles.
At this moment, a battle saber was still Li Yao's favorite weapon.
Licking his lips, Li Yao rushed toward the next bright gold ball, and at the same time, he dismantled the saber into the tiniest components and reassembled them by spinning them fast around his arms.
But there were a few remaining components in his hands.
The components were used to stabilize the frequency of vibration and ensure the steady, continuous output of spiritual energy.
If these components were removed, the vibration frequency of the saber would be extremely unstable. The maximum spiritual energy output would be increased by 30%, allowing the damage of the saber to be improved by more than 15%.
As a result, the longevity of the saber would be greatly undermined. It would most likely become a total loss after one battle. Even during the battle, odds of it malfunctioning or even exploding were not low.
While he was modifying the saber, Li Yao spoke in the communication channel briefly.
"Sixty-eight."
The communication channel went silent for a long time. After a while, Ding Lingdang asked in confusion, "Sixty-eight what?"
Li Yao furrowed his brows. He slashed at the sky. A crimson saber aura was triggered off the edge, rushing toward the second bright gold ball, which ripped it in half with blood red ripples.
A double-edged chainsword dropped from the sky.
"Weren't you asking me how many memory pieces I've absorbed? Sixty-eight. I absorbed sixty-eight memory pieces."
There was nothing but silence in the communication channel. The only thing that could be heard was everyone's heavy breath.
It was not until ten seconds later that Ding Lingdang shouted, "Damn! I was distracted and got killed once!"
Very soon, all the magical equipment within hundreds of square meters nearby was looted by Li Yao.
He started marching closer to the center of the world fragment.
More Orb Patrollers were appearing nearby.
But they were rational enough to not start a fight at this moment. Everyone was collecting every piece of magical equipment available in a rush without wasting any time.
Sometimes, two Orb Patrollers got their eyes on the same magical equipment. But there was still no fight. The two parties would run calculations fast. The Orb Patroller who found that the likelihood of their success was relatively lower would simply retreat and look for other magical equipment.
Five minutes later, every piece of magical equipment had been claimed.
Everyone's faces turned excessively hostile at this moment.
Each of them had at least four to five pieces of magical equipment in their hands. If they could kill an opponent, not only would they get points, they would also be able to snatch the loser's magical equipment.
Almost ten pairs of eyes were fixed on Li Yao immediately.
Thanks to his sharp eyes and fast movement, he had picked up nine pieces of magical equipment. Right now, he was carrying a saber in his left hand and a sword in his right hand, with a battle axe on his back and a pair of power knuckles bound to his waist. He was no doubt a rich man at this point.
"BOOM! CRACK!"
The earth trembled violently again. The uneven ground was shattered. Many people rose high above together on the rock that they were standing on, while some others fell into pits dozens of meters deep.
The battlefield turned from an uneven plane to a fractured mess.
Li Yao was standing on a giant rock more than forty meters high, which was the peak of this three-dimensional battlefield.
The raging smoke took the form of fuzzy, blurred giant beasts behind him.
Five Orb Patrollers were impatient and leapt forward at him.
Li Yao squinted, and a dangerous smile crept onto his face.
The saber in his left hand was vibrating violently like a roaring hungry tiger, while the tusk-like sawtooth of the chainsword in his right hand started revolving crazily!
Chapter 395: Who's the Best? |
Inside the control center, thousands of light beams were radiating at the same time, capturing every corner of Thousand Mountains Domain.
The light beams displaying intense battles would be enlarged so that the details could be demonstrated more clearly.
The light beams that were showing combat Li Yao was engaged in were among the largest ones.
Six light beams were displaying his every movement from all possible directions.
On the summary light beam nearby, Li Yao's personal kills were soaring.
Three… Four… Six… Seven…
In half a minute, Li Yao had secured seven kills. The spiritual shields of many other middle-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivators were shattered to pieces after a single blow.
Even many high-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivators failed to resist against his rampageous attacks for longer than five seconds.
"Vulture Li Yao has absorbed sixty-eight memory pieces of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. It appears that he has understood them all. His combat ability has improved a lot!"
Knowing is totally different from doing.
Pouring the battle-related memories of a soldier from the special forces into the brain of a three-year-old does not mean that the three-year-old is qualified as a special agent.
The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators had been worrying that Li Yao's crazy absorption was because of a mutation in his brain and that he would not be able to comprehend the essence of the memories.
But as it turned out, Li Yao's growth was beyond their wildest imagination!
Beaming with a smile, Meng Weiyang continued to say, "Old Sha, Li Yao's straight, piercing attack is clearly blended with the distinctive features of Quicksand. It is both brutal and savaging. All the spiritual energy is used to bring up the speed. There are no fancy tricks at all! Yet, the saber in his right hand brings me the same feeling as 'Moon Fiend' Qiu Xinghe once did. Senseless and bloodthirsty. He is trading his life for the enemy's life. It appears that he has analyzed and fully digested the memory pieces from both of you!"
'Sand' Sha Ziming nodded his head. Glancing at the data to the side, he smiled, too.
"Indeed. His combat efficiency is quite amazing, which even exceeds many high-level Building Foundation Stage Cultivators. His combat consciousness and tactical plans are very clear. The young man is quite smart!"
A high combat efficiency meant that one could slay the most enemies in the shortest amount of time with the least movements at the cost of minimum spiritual energy.
Cultivators often had to pay a high price by burning their spiritual energy. The longer they stayed at their peak state, the severer the co
nsequences would be.
Therefore, the middle-level and high-level Cultivators always attached great importance to combat efficiency. If a battle could be finished in one second, they would never spend 1.1 seconds on it.
When a Cultivator reached the Core Formation Stage or the Nascent Soul Stage, if their combat efficiency was 1% higher than their opponent's, they might be able to stay in the best state for 0.1 seconds longer, and the 0.1 seconds would be enough to determine their life and death!
Therefore, if a Cultivator was relatively weak, he was not entirely unpromising as long as he boasted acute combat consciousness and high combat efficiency.
With the support of enough resources and the enlightenment of mentors, it was always possible for them to advance to a higher level.
However, if the combat efficiency of someone was really low, who simply squandered his spiritual energy and physical strength, their prospects were quite dim, regardless of how intimidating they seemed to be right now. It was very unlikely that they would become a real super expert.
Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators wouldn't waste their time and effort on such people.
Currently, Li Yao was just in the middle level of the Building Foundation Stage, but his combat consciousness was the most distinctive among the fifty-four Orb Patrollers.
His combat efficiency was just a bit lower than that of Yan Jun who was well acknowledged as one of the strongest Orb Patrollers at the peak of the Building Foundation Stage!
While the two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were talking, Li Yao's kills reached nineteen.
But there were more and more Orb Patrollers charging at him.
It was not because everyone hated him or was targeting him, but because the Orb Patrollers 'killed' by him would often drop a lot of magical equipment.
The Orb Patrollers came after the magical equipment like sharks which had smelled the stink of blood. When they noticed that Li Yao was bathing in the brilliant exhaust flames of various kinds of magical equipment, they naturally considered him to be a fat, delicious prey.
