by <unknown>
Before Li Yao, the two little fellows held each other and shuddered.
Turning the tracks in squeaky noises, Li Yao shifted his attention to the two little fellows again.
Right now, he was full of curiosity about the arts they demonstrated.
Sensing the coldness released by the crimson crystal cameras, Han Te shivered. He gritted his teeth and stood before Liu Li, struggling to say, "S—Senior…"
"Show me the arced lightning that you activated when you resisted the Thunder Salamanders again," Li Yao said casually.
Han Te was slightly dazed and looked at Liu Li in bewilderment. Encouraged by the girl, he slowly straightened his right arm and bellowed. Electric light leaked out of his pores and quickly extended out of his arm, forming long, narrow arcs that were similar to swords and sabers.
"What a delicate model of spiritual energy!"
Li Yao's eyes beamed with interest. He had seen a similar technique to construct swords and sabers with the power of thunder from Despot, Elder Nether Spring's great warrior in the Blood Demon Sector.
Despot was a super warrior that Elder Nether Spring had carefully refined after embedding more than a hundred crystals into him. His capability had been close to the Nascent Soul Stage.
The combat ability that the young man showed just now was in the Refinement Stage at best. Naturally, it was incomparable to Despot's. However, the models of spiritual energy that he constructed were even more finely-made than Despot's with ten times more variations.
After pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, "If my guess is correct, you used to be far stronger than right now, didn't you?"
Han Te was shocked. "How—how do you know, senior? Yes. I advanced into the seventh level of the Lightning Triangle three years ago, and I was ten times stronger than I am today. Even if I came across a Thunder Juggernaut, I would have the capability to compete with it in an open fight!
"It is a shame that the veins and nerves on the right half of my body have been blocked since three years ago, although there are no obvious signs of mental derangement. My capability has plummeted, too, and I am almost a useless man right now…"
Grabbing Han Te's shoulder, Liu Li craned her head and emboldened herself to ask, "Senior, since your eyes are keen enough to see my senior brother's past capability, is there any way you can help him? My senior brother was truly awesome at that time. Not only was he the best expert among the young people in the Village of Peace, you couldn't have found anyone stronger than him in the hundreds of square kilometers around. Everybody said that he was a genius and that he would eventually go to Manjusaka, the City in the Sky!
"But as it turned out, like other geniuses in the past, he suffered the same misfortune and became a 'disrupted genius'. The last three years have been really difficult for him. Please give him a hand, senior!"
"Disrupted genius? The same misfortune?" Li Yao chewed on the girl's words. Leaving aside 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky', he asked, "What, do you have a lot of 'disrupted geniuses' like him?"
"There are too many." Han Te opened his hands. Pretending that he did not care about it, he bit his lips and said, "Life is rough in the Land of Sins. Radiation and ferocious beasts are everywhere. The training resources are highly insufficient, too. It is impossible for us to train in peace. Therefore, it is only natural that all kinds of accidents can happen.
"I have heard of almost twenty unfortunate fellows from the few villages in the several square kilometers around alone. They were all known as geniuses in the past, but their Cultivation plummeted for uncanny reasons. I am one of the luckier ones, having kept my life. Some of them went mentally deranged or died on the spot. Some even had abnormal mutations and turned into terrible monsters!"
"You said just now that your master was also 'an old grandpa from the sky'," Li Yao said. "I assume that he taught you the 'Lightning Strangle', didn't he?"
"Of course it was him, but I also practiced some other arts in secret and combined almost ten of them to increase the power of the Lightning Strangle. How else could we survive in the Land of Sins?"
"From what I've heard just now, you master is ill, too," Li Yao said. "Is his condition serious?"
Han Te looked at Liu Li and nodded. "Yes, senior. My master is indeed suffering from a serious and weird disease. Even without an attack, his Cultivation is much lower than before. When he has an attack, his blood will almost stagnate, his hands and legs will be strengthless, and he can barely get out of his bed.
"We entered the heavily-polluted radiation area at great risk this time because we want to find something valuable in the unexplored places so that we can earn enough money to treat my master's illness."
"Got it."
The crystal cameras on the front of Li Yao's body flashed again. Dozens of streaks of redness flooded out again, forming the devastating crimson flashes again, which penetrated through the right half of Han Te's body like a storm.
Thousands of electric arcs burst out of Han Te's body and knocked him to the ground quickly. He writhed on the ground in agony while screaming hard.
"Senior brother!"
Liu Li did not expect that Li Yao would launch a fatal attack without any warning. Too shocked, she stopped before Han Te without thinking and held her head hard with both hands.
Li Yao immediately sensed that an invisible superstorm was condensing inside her brain quickly.
The girl angrily demanded, "Senior, in any case, we are the ones who woke you up. There's no reason for you to return the favor in such a way, is there?"
Li Yao smiled and casually said, "I do not know the random techniques that you senior brother has been practicing besides the Lighting Strangle, but the main art that he trains himself with seems to be focusing on the stimulation of the mitochondria inside the cells to change the form of the mitochondria, thereby allowing the mitochondria to unleash several dozen times more energy instantly.
"Meanwhile, the art has caused the mutation of part of the cells inside his body, allowing him to evolve with an effect similar to the release of electricity in an 'electric eel'. It is only with the cooperation of his mitochondria and his electro-discharge cells that he is able to trigger arced lightning and combine them into various forms of attack.
"Theoretically speaking, it is indeed a rather dominating art, which is much more efficient and aggressive than the traditional usages of the spiritual energy of the thunder class. No wonder he was confident in competing with a Thunder Juggernaut in his prime.
"The problem is that the art has a serious shortcoming. When the structure of the mitochondria is changed and it is repeatedly stimulated, the mitochondria release a material similar to 'creatine'. However, the art does not take it into consideration—or maybe it has, but there is simply no way to address it—the problem of the waste discharged by the mitochondria.
"Although the waste from the seriously-stimulated mitochondria is little to none during every training session, it inevitably builds up in all the channels inside your senior brother's body where spiritual energy flows because it cannot be discharged out of the body. Thus, it piles up in the veins, nerves, and muscle fibers.
"It's just like an embolism for the ordinary people, which can kill the victims immediately when it gets serious. Is it strange at all that his Cultivation plunged?"
Liu Li was dazed at what she heard. Her mouth was opened wider and wider.
Looking at Li Yao's shell that was riddled with holes and his hideous appearance with utmost admiration, the girl almost cried out. "Senior…"
"Don't be anxious. Let me finish. There's still hope for your senior brother," Li Yao said confidently and casually. "Although the Lightning Strangle has serious shortcomings, your senior brother couldn't have practiced it for many years considering his young age. However, as he said just now, he also picked up a lot of other random arts, didn't he? The technique with fatal shortcomings alone clogged his veins, nerves, and spiritual root, and the other messy, mediocre arts only made the situation
worse. That's why he had an acute attack this time.
"It is certainly not a good thing that his veins, nerves, and muscle fibers are all clogged at such a young age, but since he is still very young, the waste released from his mitochondria is not too much yet. Therefore, there is still a chance to save him.
"Hey, my little friend, how do you feel right now?"
Han Te stopped yelling and screaming at some point and sat up in a trance. Looking at the thick, stinky fluids that flowed out of the holes caused by the red flashes, he laughed like an idiot, his head going completely blank.
Liu Li pushed him several times. He summoned his spiritual energy in silence, and blue electric arcs almost five meters tall surged out of his palm. Countless fish seemed to be swimming merrily on the ceiling, illuminating the entire underground space splendidly.
"My—my Cultivation seems to have been partly restored." The young man gawked at the ceiling. Perhaps because of the stimulation of the electric arcs, hot tears flowed out of his eyes. "Strength… My strength is coming back!"
Holding the thousands of electric arcs inside his palm, he waved his fist hard and jumped up in ecstasy.
But as it turned out, he was unable to control the powerful strength, and he bumped into the ceiling, bringing down half of the ceiling. He grimaced and squatted on the ground, holding and rubbing his head.
"Senior brother!" Liu Li was amused. She then stared at Li Yao full of appreciation and stammered, "Senior, we—we don't know how we can thank you…"
"It's no big deal." Li Yao smiled casually. Looking at the young man squatting on the ground like a monkey, he remembered his past self again.
The feeling alone was enough for him to give the guy a hand. "Your senior brother's strength has always been stored inside his body and never left. It's just that it is blocked by the waste released by the mitochondria. Now that I have temporarily dredged his nerves, veins, and internal organs and sent some of the waste out, the circulation of his spiritual energy has become smooth again. Naturally, his strength is back.
"However, too much waste is stuck inside his body to be dredged in one time. I estimate that I will have to dredge and guide him every day for ten to fifteen days in order to completely eliminate the waste inside his body.
"Also, this does not fix the root of the problem. If he continues practicing Lightning Strangle, which has fatal shortcomings, the waste from his mitochondria will still be generated, and his body will become clogged again in the future."
Chapter 1954: Help Me, Senior! |
"Then, what can we do?" With tears inside her eyes, Liu Li crossed her hands and begged like a lost cat. "Senior, please save my brother. Whatever you ask for as payment, we will certainly try our best to get it for you as long as we are capable of it!"
After thinking for a moment, Li Yao said, "I have never considered myself a doctor. Treating illnesses is not my specialty. However, your senior brother's illness is just a minor problem. He can always drop Lightning Strangle and switch to another technique of the thunder class that is safer and steadier.
"What I'm more concerned about is your father and his master.
"I don't know if your father's serious illness is related to Lightning Strangle, but I do know that anybody practicing such an art will have a high risk of ruining their nerves, veins, and muscle fibers if they do not practice some ancillary arts that can help discharge the waste of the cells.
"If your father has practiced for decades with the most remarkable expertise, his condition will certainly be much more severe than your senior brother's. The 'embolism of spiritual energy' that has accumulated over a long time will have filled all the critical parts inside his body. Should there be an attack, it won't be a surprise even if your father is killed on the spot."
"What!" Liu Li covered her mouth in disbelief and stepped back, falling to the ground. She could not help but burst into tears.
"Senior!" Sweating in anxiety, Han Te crawled to Li Yao and said, "It doesn't matter whether I recover or not, but please help my master. He really is a good man. Everybody in the thousand square kilometers around knows that. The lives of the thousands of people in the Village of Peace depend on his protection!"
"Like I said just now, I am not a doctor," Li Yao peacefully said, "and I haven't even met your master before. This is just my speculation based on the circulation of your spiritual energy. Perhaps there are some other reasons that caused your master's illness. In that case, I'm afraid that I won't be able to help at all.
"If his condition is solely because of Lightning Strangle, however, I may be able to come up with some methods to gradually recover the health of you and your mater. I can even help you improve Lightning Strangle and figure out a way to discharge the waste of the mitochondria.
"But there is really nothing I can do about your junior sister's problem."
Hearing that Li Yao was willing to help them, Han Te and Liu Li were about to weep tears of joy when Li Yao suddenly changed the topic to Liu Li. The two of them were dazed at the same time.
Han Te stammered, "What—What problem does my junior sister have?"
"Her problem is a hundred times graver than yours."
Li Yao moved the crystal cameras to Liu Li. With the red lights flashing, he said, "Little girl, tell me, have you been feeling a vague headache every once in a while for the past half a year? Not the kind of stinging pain, but pain like your head has been split apart from the middle and somebody is tearing your hair to two sides. The pain should be like a narrow line that penetrates your entire face, and the most painful point is the tip of your nose, right?"
"Who told you that?" As if greatly stimulated, Han Te shook his head hard and declared, "My junior sister doesn't have that!"
"I…" Liu Li had a pale face that was full of shock. "I indeed have such a condition. The pain attacks every couple of days. How did you know, senior?"
"What?" Han Te jumped to his feet and exclaimed in anxiety, waving his hands hard. "Isn't it exactly the same condition that my masteress had? Liu Li, why—why did you never tell me or master?"
"I did not want to worry you…" The girl lowered her head. Biting her lips softly, she played with her fingers and said, "At first, I thought it was my imagination. After all, the pain was weak and barely noticeable. But recently, it has been attacking more and more often, and the pain is much more obvious. I thought about telling you, but dad fell sick, and the annual Bliss Ceremony is going to take place soon. Whether or not the Village of Peace can survive the next year all depends on the Bliss Ceremony. I did not want to distract you at such a moment and thought I could tell you afterward."
"You…"
The young man almost cried, but having nowhere to vent his anger, he could only punch the ground hard. The electric arcs were running, and the broken stones were flying everywhere.
Li Yao observed them quietly. "What, your masteress had the same condition?"
"Yes, senior," Han Te said gloomily. "Liu Li's mother passed away five years ago. The year before her death, she had the exact symptoms you described. She had serious headaches as if somebody was sawing her head in half with a burning axe, and the tip of the nose was the most painful point!"
"If so," Li Yao continued, "Liu Li and her mother must have practiced the same technique, which changes the structures of part of their brain cells to significantly increase the intensity of the brainwaves. As a result, a controllable field of brainwaves is formed out of their body. By altering the intensity, structure, and frequency of the field, they can interfere with their friends or foes' spiritual energy, healing friends, increasing allies' strength, or disrupting the foes' techniques, right?"
Staring at Li Yao in bewilderment, Han Te could not have admired the mysterious senior who had been buried for hundreds of years more. "Senior, you are truly prophetic. I do not know if their brain cells have been through any unusual changes, but it is true that Liu Li and my masteress mainly practice the same technique, the Heavenly Heart Transformation.
It can calm allies down, boost their spiritual energy, accelerate their recovery, and increase their damage. It can also disrupt enemy movement and stop the enemy's techniques before they are performed. It is one of the best ancillary techniques that highlights both attack and defense. It's awesome!"
"It is indeed very impressive, especially for the performer of the art." Li Yao sneered. "Practicing such a technique will keep one's brain cells in a state of high-frequency vibration at all times. It is almost as if high-energy microwaves are penetrating through their brains all the time. Brain lesions are almost certain. Also, once the illness progresses, the victims will be dead for sure. The odds are little to none that their souls will be left behind, turning them into spectral Cultivators."
Hearing his cold diagnosis, Liu Li seemed to have accepted her fate. She sat on the ground without saying anything and simply smiled at Han Te with her pale face, as if she were begging him to not worry about him.
The young man's face, however, turned so red that ten thousand arrows of blood seemed to be shooting out. He suddenly kneeled before Li Yao and held back his tears, pleading, "Senior, please help my master and my junior sister. Just like you helped me, treat them and cleanse the poison and waste inside their bodies. As long as you are willing to give us a hand, senior, I will agree to any condition. Whatever you ask for, I will try my best to get it for you!"
The indicators on Li Yao dimmed. There was a brief silence before he said, "Yours is a simple problem where your mitochondria's waste cannot be discharged, but your junior sister's problem is a very severe one that concerns brain damage and mutations. How can they be the same?
"The brain is the most mysterious and delicate organ in a human body—how do you expect to fix the problem by shooting a few holes and letting out blood?
