Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 19
It’s said that each competition arena was like an isolated island, built in such a way that no one could escape. The military would set loose countless savage Demon Beasts on the island, and the competitors would have to find a way to survive for five days on the island in unarmed and defenseless circumstances. Besides facing the Demon Beasts, competitors must also complete a series of utterly difficult missions. These missions were known as the “100% Complete Simulation of True Combat”. The difficulty level was set at an absolutely hellish standard.
Competitors were required to push their physical bodies and mental capabilities to the limit. Only then would they be able to distinguish themselves from the many other young geniuses.
Scouts from the Nine Elite Universities were very likely to keep an eye out for those who succeeded and would directly recruit them into the Nine Elite Universities on the spot. There wouldn’t be a need to take the University Entrance Exams.
Even if your performance wasn’t that outstanding, as long as one demonstrated a type of special strength, there was still a huge possibility that one would get on the Nine Elite Universities’ Preferential Score Admittance List. If one was able to get their required entrance score reduced by 10~20 points, they would be able to simply eliminate thousands upon thousands of competitors!
These benefits caused all the third year exam takers to rush madly to compete in the Limit Challenge Competition. They sharpened their mental capabilities to prepare to compete, and Li Yao was no exception.
However, this was an important competition. No average Joe Shmoe could willy-nilly take part in it.
Every year, the competition organizers would send out invitations to every major high school in the Federation. The number of “admission tickets” they sent for each high school was determined by the high school’s ranking and strength.
This year, Crimson Nimbus Second received 10 of these tickets!
The competition would start in about 40 days. Crimson Nimbus Second was assigned to competition arena #0571. This area would contain three thousand elite students of Floating Spear City and thirteen neighboring cities. All of these students would be gathered under one roof, to go head to head against each other!
In a month, Crimson Nimbus Second would hold a fighting competition in which all of the third year students were qualified to participate. This was the fairest method to decide which students would get these 10 tickets!
Sun Biao saw Li Yao’s heart racing and infatuated expression and said, “Kid, I know you stirred up some trouble in this school. However, there is a way to get off scot-free! All you need to do is to prove your strength by seizing one of these tickets in the fighting competition. Then Helian Lie can’t do a thing to you!”
Li Yao thought it over and asked, “Over a thousand students make up the third years and there are only 10 admission tickets. In other words, my strength must reach the top 10?”
Sun Biao shook his head saying, “There will certainly be luck involved when the entire grade fights in the competition. Following what happened in the previous years, those whose strength were in the top 20 were able to seize the hope that is the admission ticket.”
Li Yao thought back to his memories. The top 20 in the grade seemed to be composed of cultivation geniuses with an Actualization Quotient of at least 65%.
His Actualization Quotient was only 58%. He could not even achieve an absolute victory just then against the person who was ranked last in the important class, Zhao Liang with his Actualization Quotient of 60%. Li Yao had to rely on underhanded means for victory.
Videos of the fight between him and Zhao Liang would certainly be spread across the entire campus instantly. Everyone would be on their guard. They wouldn't give him opportunities to prevail.
After a month, would he be able to face directly and prevail against those experts with Actualization Quotients exceeding 65%?
His heart was filled with hesitation, and this hesitation was written all over his face. Sun Biao laughed lightly and said, “Kid, based on your current strength, don’t even think about being top 20 in the whole school. You might not even count as top 50! But, if you receive my special training for a month at my place, then things may change!”
“What?” Li Yao’s pair of eyes flickered and glowed. He jumped from excitement and asked enthusiastically, “Teacher Sun, you’d be willing to teach me personally?”
The man standing across from him was the super amazing man who unearthed Fiend Blade Peng Hai. Yet, this man was willing to carry out special training for him! Tsk tsk tsk tsk. As long as he could cultivate to the strength of Peng Hai’s pinky finger, it would be enough for him to strut arrogantly at Crimson Nimbus Second!
Sun Biao laughed heartily, exposing a big mouth that was missing a few teeth. “This old geezer has been working in this stuffy warehouse for many years. The bones in my entire body are practically rusted. It was rare enough to discover this interesting toy. Free time is still free time. I can play as I wish! However, it’s a bit too soon to be celebrating. This old geezer’s special training program can’t be endured by any average schmuck. Come, kid. Look at this old geezer’s hellish special strength training program.”
Sun Biao’s arm flickered causing a micro crystal processor to project a hologram that was densely packed with words describing cultivation training programs.
“Day one, at 4 am. Run 20,000 meters at a variable speed as a warm up.”
“At 5 am, 10 sets of 10 reps of 500 kg squats. To be done in half an hour.”
“6 am. Breakfast while studying the military applications of the Thirteen Forces of the War Beasts. Only that cultivated by the special forces of the military. It removes all the fanciness and reduces it down to its principles, raising the killing potential of the Thirteen Forces of the War Beasts. It’s completely different than the simplified version cultivated by high school students.”
“7 am. Frog jumping 5km while bearing 100 kg of weight.”
“8 am……”
“9 pm, the first day of special training is done!”
“Day 2……”
Sun Biao grinned nastily and said, “Whats wrong? If you can’t handle this, then speak up now! Don’t be embarrassed. Back in the day, countless cultivation geniuses were trained into dying dogs under this old geezer’s special training program. They had no choice but to give up. Over the course of 90 years, only a few people were able to make it through an entire month!”
Li Yao read through the program rapidly. He finished reading at rapid speed. He asked somewhat baffled, “It looks to be nothing special. Completely average with nothing weird. There’s nothing particular about it...”
In the dream of grandeur, he had assumed the identity of a low-level worker at the Hundred Smelting Guild. He bore through training that was a hundredfold more painful and bitter. That was true persecution and ruin that could easily break a trainee completely. Then the trainee had been kneaded back together, and broken again, then kneaded back together. Only after this happened over and over for several hundred times did he rise from a low-level worker to a forge worker.
Sun Biao’s special training program was, in the end, at the high school level. In the eyes of Li Yao, there was nothing excessive about it.
“Student Li Yao, you sure are arrogant!”
This special training program was formed from 90 years of Sun Biao’s heart and blood. An unknown number of cultivation geniuses had shown shock and horror when faced with this special training program. Yet today, Li Yao had devalued the program to being worthless. And, according to the calm and composed expression on Li Yao’s face, Li Yao really didn’t think this training program was serious.
A prickling glow was unable to be held back by Sun Biao and was let out immediately from the depths of his eyes. Sun Biao’s entire face was wrinkled and bunched together. In an instant, his expression had suddenly changed to an incomparable malevolence.
Chapter 31: I'm No Salted Fish! |
Li Yao cried out deep in his heart, “this is bad”. Internally, he asked himself how could he ever take the cruel tempering training of an ancient cultivator guild from 40,000 years ago to be the norm.
He had to keep in mind that in the dream of grandeur, the hundred smelting guild had several hundred low-level workers who were unable to endure the torment and died, crossing over to the afterlife.
The Hundred Smelting Guild was one of the more lenient and benevolent among the major ancient guilds. Several thousands of people would die each year if it were one of the harsher guilds. The Hundred Smelting Guild’s training could be considered a trifling matter.
Needless to say, in regards to the demonic cultivator guilds, the creation of each strong individual came with it, the sacrifice of ten-thousand weaklings.
The Ancient Cultivation Civilization was this ruthless.
“Hic. Teacher Sun, I took a good look at it again. Your infernal special training program of death truly comes from the depths of hell. It’s super deadly and super terrifying~ I’m so scared that I won’t be able to finish it!” Li Yao spoke tongue in cheek.
As an old man, Sun Biao was very much experienced. How could he not see that Li Yao was putting on a show? He was agitated into rage. With a sneer, he said, “Okay, kid. No need to shoot off talking big. Change into training clothes. First, try it out by doing 10 sets of squats.”
Sun Biao got up. He felt out a set of training clothes that had an utterly old-fashioned design from the dust-packed corner of the cultivation field. He tossed it over towards Li Yao.
“Squats? My favorite!” Li Yao warmed up for a bit. He took off his school uniform, changing it for the dust-smelling, old-fashioned training clothes. His eyes gave off a glow as he giggled and spoke.
His current strength was bizarre and astonishing, so what he was least fearful of was squats, bench, and other strength training exercises. In just a moment, when he shows his maximum strength, he will certainly cause the old fogey to have eyes bulging from their sockets!
He walked up to the rusted squat rack and thought for a moment. He flung out two iron plates from the mound of Olympic plates and ferociously pounded them onto the bar.
The squatting weight was... 300 kg!
“Indeed, 200kg of weight is too light. It wouldn’t have any effect on tempering my body. I often use 300 kg as a warm up so I’m used to it. It won’t be a problem right, Teacher Sun?” Li Yao clashed a light laugh with Sun Biao, exposing his snow-white teeth.
“Of course, it's fine. I'm just scared that you might regret it later~” Sun Biao also gave a laugh, exposing tawny teeth.
“It’s no more than 300 kg. Twenty sets can be done by a single breath. What’s there to regret from?” Li Yao spat some saliva into his palms and rubbed his hands together to a burning hot state. He grabbed the bar with a death grip and lifted it onto his solid traps. Suddenly, power was sent through his pair of feet as he lifted the weight up. Then...
He felt his body tighten up. The training clothes, which were originally loose, seemed to awaken with a life of its own, suddenly contracting and transforming into a layer of tenacious leather. It bound him completely!
At the same time, an absolutely powerful bizarre strength exploded down, like a giant mountain striking down and smashing his skull. Suddenly, he was smashed to the ground!
“I forgot to mention, small bastard. This set of training clothes was an artifact that I used for training a dozen years ago. I call it ‘Give Up’. It possesses many magical abilities. The first of which is the ability to create a gravitational field. Wearing these clothes is like wearing a several hundred pound set of armor. Let’s see, right now you’re bearing 200 kilograms of weight on your body!” laughed Sun Biao nastily.
200 kg of weight. Plus the 300 kg of weight on the barbell. That's a total of half a ton. Li Yao was not prepared for that weight. Of course, he was firmly squashed.
“How despicable. But, five… five hundred kilograms is still nothing special!”
Li Yao was smashed into seeing stars. He gritted his teeth unwaveringly. He braced his hands tightly and veins, thick and solid, popped out on his arms. The bones in his entire body creaked randomly as he stiffly straightened his back. He grasped the barbell once again, spread his feet apart, lowered his hips, and got up with complete stability.
One repetition of the standard squat… was completed!
With a total weight of… 500 kg!
In the dream of grandeur, I had to endure several dozen years under the Titan. His methods were crueler than yours by a hundredfold, you dying old geezer. You think this is hard enough to stop me? You’re dreaming!” cried Li Yao in his heart. He once again squatted down to a deep position to prepare for his second rep.
Suddenly, it was like a bolt of lightning hacked into his soul. Li Yao felt that all 720 acupoints in his body simultaneously conducted with a strong current of electricity. The shock caused his hair to puff up and his eyes to go white. With a blood-curdling shriek, he fell once more to the ground. The barbell slammed heavily into the squat rack with a “Bang!”, causing rust to randomly explode off and dust to fly into the air.
“The second ability of ‘Give Up’ is the ability to produce a powerful electric current. It has short intervals of 3-5 seconds and long intervals of 2 minutes per shock, bombarding against your body’s acupoints. It will stimulate your cells into becoming stronger and purify your body and mind so it can be reborn completely. Tsk tsk tsk tsk. This is a cultivation treasure that anyone would dream of using! The only thing is the small bit of minor pain that comes with it. You can still handle it, right?” Sun Biao was beaming with smiles as he asked.
“You, you’re joking! Of... of course, I can handle this!” Li Yao’s lips were bitten into a bloody mess. He lay on the ground, panting for breath for a long time before he was able to crawl back up with utter difficulty. His right hand was shaking and trembling. He felt for the barbell with a difficulty incomparable.
His fingers hadn’t even touched the barbell when the assault of an unbearable pain came striking once more! This time, the pain wasn’t that of a strong electric current but that of extreme heat!
It was like his entire body was tossed into a volcano. He was struggling in the incomparably hot magma, causing his skin to be roasted and his blood to flow at racing speeds as boiling molten iron!
Then in the next second, the scorching heat suddenly dissipated. In its place was bone-penetrating freezing chill that practically caused even his brains to freeze into an ice cube. He was completely unable to take a breath or think a thought!
He felt the blazing heat and the freezing cold alternate three times before it gradually faded away. Before Li Yao could even screech miserably, an electric current attacked his acupoints once more. It tore through his body, causing him to twitch involuntarily!
“This is the final magical ability of ‘Give Up’. It produces an illusionary attack of a blazing heat and a freezing cold every minute. Be at ease. This targets the deepest and most mysterious part of your mind — it’s all an illusion. It won’t cause harm to a single hair on your body. Instead, it tempers your mental strength by breaking open the depths of your mind. If one day you become a cultivator, it can also allow you to absorb greater amounts of spiritual energy, increasing your cultivation speed by many factors over other people.”
A trace of disappointment flashed on the old fogeys face when he looked at Li Yao’s painful appearance of rolling all over the floor. The old fogey laughed to himself and yawned. He said lazily, “Okay~ I’ve had my fun. Go ahead and change clothes. These clothes weren’t prepared just for you. All you need to say the three words ‘I give up’ and it will automatically remove itself from you. It won’t torment you any longer.”
“Give up?”
Li Yao lied on the ground for a long time. He breathed and breathed, gasping like whale stranded ashore.
At last, he got up inch by inch, like a rusted metal puppet. With extreme difficulty, he placed the barbell on his shoulders, stiffly raising 200 kg of weight. The high electric current and the illusionary blazing heat struck! He exploded out with his second squat rep!
“That’s two!” Li Yao howled out like a beast from the depths of his throat.
He had sounded this battle howl quite frequently in the depths of the Artifact Graveyard.
Sun Biao went “Yi?” in surprise. A trace of shock flashed from within his eyes. Immediately, he sneered, “You only did two reps. One set has exactly 10 whole reps!”
“THR… THREE!” Li Yao’s teeth were clenched, The sound of rusted metal against metal filled the spacious training room.
Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!
A whole 10 reps of squats while wearing this bizarre clothing “Give Up” caused Li Yao to use up the last of his strength. He pushed out 10 reps of squat with perfect form without a trace of slack!
“I... I did it!” Li Yao’s head was dizzy and his vision was faded. His pair of ears rang with tinnitus and blood rushed wildly from his entire body to his brain. His heart was beating incomparably violently, seeming to practically rip open his chest and leap out.
He lay sprawled under the squat rack, unable to get his body to make a single movement. He stared blankly at the dazzling crystal essence lights on the ceiling. He felt unable to control even a single finger.
Sun Biao’s figure emerged in the edge of his vision with a face of amazement that could not be concealed. The old fogey spoke with a sound that contained some shivering, “Kid, you’re good, right?”
“I, I’m good. I just need to rest for a bit. I still need to do… 9 sets!” Li Yao’s mouth hooked into a smile as he laughed with a laugh that was uglier than crying.
