Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 323
"The techniques employed by the ancient flying swords have actually passed on to this day and evolved into three different kinds of magical equipment.
"Firstly, the shuttles, which replace the flying swords as vehicles.
"Secondly, bullets and one-off mini flying swords, which apparently originated from the ejection of the ancient flying swords.
"Thirdly, handy swords and sabers such as chainsword, which were inspired by the melee techniques and the aura-trigger techniques of the ancient flying swords, too.
"Cultivators today have gone deeper and deeper on the fractionization of magical equipment. The three aspects have been divided and developed respectively. Significant improvements have been made to shuttles, bullets, and melee blades. Complete and thorough industry chains have been established, too.
"But we should never forget that the three industry chains could never have been built without the adequate development of our Cultivation civilization and the logistic, researching, and manufacturing facilities that it entails.
"Contemporary Cultivators can easily buy suitable shuttles, flying swords, guns, and bullets in a magical equipment store. The items can be maintained without any trouble when they are broken. The loss is insignificant even if we just throw them away.
"However, in ancient times, when a Cultivator was walking in wilderness, they had no access to any supplies, nor did they have a place where they can repair their magical equipment.
"If they were driving a shuttle with chainswords and guns in hand, their firepower would definitely have been much higher. But what if they were broken?
"Therefore, the ancient Cultivators could only meld all the useful techniques into one flying sword and try to simplify them to the point that the sword looked crude and shabby. But as long as the flying swords were solid, sturdy, and convenient, it would suffice for an ancient Cultivator who was on a tedious journey in wilderness.
"We modern Cultivators are quite lucky. We have a stable society, open-minded Cultivation sects, fellow Cultivators who share the same beliefs, professional magical equipment manufacturers, and a ubiquitous Spiritual Nexus. Therefore, our flying swords, as well as other magical equipment, can evolve, evolve, and evolve.
"Ancient Cultivators had none of this. Most of the time, they were like the lone sailors on a surging ocean. In order to meet their demand for survival, their flying swords were destined to be more primitive.
"Even so, there are still quite a lot of extraordinary designs in ancient flying swords that call for our attention.
"For example, 'Demon Biter', a sword refined by the Blood Wolf Sect, adopted an interesting three-edged design. I've hardly ever seen a similar design in the modern flying swords. This is a simple illustration of 'Demon Biter'. Take a look at it if you are interested…"
Li Yao's telepathic thoughts raced like galloping stallions. He found it hard to stop when he started writing, and it was not until more than half an hour later, when he had written hundreds of thousands of words describing more than ten ancient flying swords and drawn more than thirty ancient rune arrays, that he finished the task and felt gratified.
He took a long breath in satisfaction and submitted the answer. Then, he put it to the back of his mind and entered his personal space to modify the Eight Arm Suit.
…
"Cao Le, Cao Le! Get up already! Your face has been smacked! Aya, this answer is indeed reasonable and persuasive. You've been berated and burnt! Hahahaha. I feel sorry for your cheeks!"
Inside a dormitory of the Flying Sword Department of Flying Star University, one of the two best colleges of the Flying Star Sector, a fat boy was grimacing at his roommate on the bed.
Cao Le yawned and took off the head-worn special crystal processor. He blinked his bloodshot eyes and replied, not very happily, "Fatty Sun, don't make a fuss. I'm watching a game. Long Feihu has secured a 97th victory. How awesome!"
Cao Le was a model student of Flying Star Sector and considered himself to be an expert in flying swords. Since Long Feihu, champion of the Heavenly Sword Arena, had always used a super-large flying sword as his weapon, he had been a crazy fan of his and wouldn't miss any of his matches.
"You are still in the mood for a live stream?" The fatty winked. "You call yourself a flying sword expert, yet the answer you published on the Nexus yesterday, the one drawing a comparison between ancient flying swords and modern ones, has been beaten to a pulp! Man, I've never seen a more humiliating failure!"
"What?!"
Cao Le's eyes were wide open. The redness inside his eyes was all gone. He jumped up like a flying sword just unsheathed.
Chapter 475: Just Who Might You Be? |
Entering the World of Crystal Suits and clicking the questions recently answered by him, Cao Le immediately found that a new answer had surpassed his own, which had boasted the most upvotes and comments previously.
Who wrote this answer? It must be another flubdub. That's why so many people are commenting it.
Let me see what arguments you have!
Cao Le had barely opened the answer when he scorned in disdain; he didn't know that the answer had been written by a traditionalist.
When the modern Cultivation system was just established, many people had worshipped the ancient Cultivation theories. They had held that, the older a theory was, the more classical it would be, and the longer a piece of magical equipment had existed, the more powerful it was. Even a washing cloth forty thousand years ago was far better than a modern armor. Such believers were known as traditionalists.
However, as the modern Cultivation system expanded and consolidated, the landmarks of modern theories grew taller and taller. Together with the remarkable achievements of the Star Ocean Imperium, modern Cultivators were now confident enough to believe that Cultivation progressed as the wheel of time rolled forward. That new was always better was the natural law.
There were barely any traditionalists among the Cultivators nowadays. He didn't anticipate that he would suddenly run into one out of nowhere.
Cao Le opened the profile of this 'Fiend Star' and was surprised that the guy was classified as a 'Specialist' whose aptitude in classical refining theories was endorsed by the system. It seemed that the guy wouldn't be easy to deal with.
Fiend Star, who are you exactly? Are you one of the experts from the three main crystal suit centers or the six major sects?
I don't care who you are. You dared to call my name and criticize me? Now just wait to be slaughtered!
Cao Le sniffed and started reading Fiend Star's answer casually.
His face turned more and more solemn as he went on.
The more lines he read, the paler his face became. The cold smile at the corner of his mouth was gone, but the cold sweat on his forehead was pouring down. In the end, his lips were trembling.
"Cao Le, how about it? The guy is quite interesting and not just any traditionalist, right?" The fat boy grinned.
"He has indeed got some evil tricks with him."
Cao Le's face was grave. The solidness of Fiend Star's theoretical background, the profoundness of his knowledge about classical refining theories, and the naturalness of his combination of ancient refining arts and modern ones all gave him tremendous pressure. He felt that he was faced with an immeasurable ocean. He didn't know where to start even though he wanted to rebut.
"Hurry up and summon all our brothers. We've run into an expert this time. Let's find the loopholes in his answer together!"
Cao Le slapped the desk and gnashed his teeth. "I'm going to sway the guy today anyhow!"
…
Li Yao was concentrating on dismantling the Eight Arm Suit in his independent space.
The maintenance suit deserved to be a masterpiece of 'Silver Heart School', one of the three crystal suit centers of Heavenly Saints City. Not only was it perfect in appearance, its internal designs were even more 'shocking'. Once the shell was pulled apart, one could see nothing but glittering components inside the suit that fit together perfectly like the parts of a watch. It was like the most brilliant artwork. Li Yao was truly fascinated by it.
He dwelled in it for five hours before he came to understand the internal structure of the crystal suit. He was going to draft a modification plan according to his own specifications when he suddenly received a few notifications.
"Somebody had written a long comment about my answer?"
Li Yao smiled. Such a debate was a way of communication between fellow Cultivators and would be very beneficial for training. Of course, he was quite enthusiastic about it.
He clicked his own answer and found that there were already hundreds of comments.
Somebody was calling him 'master' while they asked which sect Li Yao belonged to and how he had learned so much knowledge about classical refining theories.
Somebody pointed out the problems in his illustrations and proved their argument by providing new illustrations.
Of course, some other people simply despised him and accused him of being an obstinate traditionalist, which almost made him laugh out aloud.
Li Yao replied to the comments that were discussing the answer seriously and just ignored the curses.
Then, he noticed that 'Smiley Sword', the author of the answer which had ranked at the top previously, had written another long review of almost ten thousand words to refute his hypothesis.
Li Yao read it carefully and felt that, although the long review was biased, exaggerating and emotional, some points it entailed were worth deliberation after all. After pondering for a moment, he quickly responded to the review while he reflected on the modification plan of 'Eight Arm'.
…
"Replied! Replied! Fiend Star has counterattacked!"
"Open it! This long review is the collective wisdom of 'Six Sword Masters of Flying Star University'. Let's see what the guy has to say!"
Inside the dormitory of Flying Star University, more than ten students had crammed in. Everybody craned their heads and looked at a giant light beam. The six students in the middle blushed in excitement.
But as they read further, cold sweat was appearing on their foreheads just like what had happened to Cao Le earlier, until eventually they seemed to have been soaked up in a pouring rain.
"It can't be! The Jade Cauldron Divinity Algorithm has such variations that can be flawlessly combined with the Sky Diving Gold Inscription rune arrays from forty-five thousand years ago?"
"Thread Binder Sharpening Technique? What is that? It can increase the sharpness of a flying sword by more than 1% instantly?!"
"Are you kidding me? I only read the names of the three ancient flying swords in a jade chip before and I didn't even have the chance to see their pictures, let alone their internal structures. But the guy is talking about it so convincingly that he seems to have used the sword in person!"
"Ha. Not only has he used it in person, he can also refine it? Are you serious?"
The few students who majored in flying swords all looked at each other in bewilderment. Faced with Li Yao's detailed answer, which was full of algorithms, formulas, and structural designs, they turned from cocky roosters to sick hens and completely lost their fighting will. They were truly convinced.
"Hey, is this Fiend Star a professor from a university?"
"Very likely, very likely. There is not such a brilliant expert in either our school or the Flying Sword Department of the Heavenly Saints Institute!"
"The guy is talking about obsolete theories of the traditionalists as if they were still practical. Even I nearly bought it!"
"Send the few articles to our professor!"
…
Han Ziqing was a young professor of the Flying Sword Department of Flying Star University.
He was born and raised up in Black Summit Sword Sect, one of the six major sects of the Flying Star Sector. Receiving the harshest sword training since he was a little kid, he had reached an extraordinary level both in theories and in practical combat. He could've been assigned to important posts in Black Summit Sword Sect, but he pursued nothing but the sword art and eventually joined Flying Star University as a tutor for sword Cultivators.
When he received the students' call for help, Han Ziqing was somewhat startled.
He knew Cao Le to be a proud young man. Yet, today, his student looked frustrated, as if somebody had just savaged him brutally.
Curiously, Han Ziqing clicked the spiritual link the students sent him and logged into the World of Crystal Suits.
…
Li Yao rubbed his hands and whistled.
He had just completed the twelfth modification plan for 'Eight Arm' when he received new notifications. He checked his mailbox and found that hundreds of fellow Cultivators had contacted him. Many of them were proposing arguments against his new answer. Some of them were even raising new questions about classical refining theories and wanted him to answer them.
"How interesting."
Li Yao finally understood why everybody loved the World of Crystal Suits.
Exchanging their opinions on Cultivation theories was of great help for them to improve themselves, regardless of whether the opinions were right or wrong.
Although Li Yao didn't quite agree with certain answers, they were not entirely devoid of shining points. Also, when he was replying to the rebuttals, he was sorting through and honing his theories at the same time. Within only half a day, he felt that his ideas were much clearer and his belief firmer.
"It seems that I should be more of a writer than a reader. By providing more answers and communicating with the fellow Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector more often, I can improve my capability much more quickly!"
Li Yao opened the review ranking at the top. He could easily tell that the review was of a much higher level than the previous reviews. Its stance was more objective, its writing more technical, and its data more exhaustive. The review admitted the advantages about ancient flying swords that he had proposed at first, then it went on to a different perspective and disparaged the foundations on which he had built his theories.
"Another expert!"
Li Yao was thrilled and carefully read the review while he brought up his computational ability to maximum, contemplating on the notions that the review proposed.
…
Han Ziqing was dumbfounded and couldn't believe his eyes.
The cases that he had composed neatly with various references over three hours had been mostly disproved!
And it had been just an hour since he had submitted his review!
It meant that his opponent had written a reply in about half an hour casually and declared his failure with undeniable facts!
The ancient rune arrays and spiritual stripes that his opponent offered had never been heard of before. But after he drew the runes with his spiritual energy and extrapolated, he did find that the spiritual energy was functioning fluently inside the runes and they boasted effects corresponding to what the other party had claimed.
His opponent also suggested a lot of methods of refining a flying sword and the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and rare metals that could be added in, of which he had heard none, either. But the remedies did fix the drawbacks of many ancient flying swords!
Is it possible that he is one of the professors in the department?
Not likely. Han Ziqing thought hard for a long time but failed to figure out which of the professors in the department had such a profound understanding about classical refining theories.
But what was weird was that, although his opponent's knowledge about classical refining theories was incredible, the man seemed to be much less erudite when it came to modern refining theories and was merely on par with him.
It seems that this is an expert who specializes in classical refining theories. Unknown masters are indeed everywhere in the sea of stars!
Han Ziqing was truly impressed. He thought for a while and sent the spiritual link of the question to another renowned professor of the Flying Sword Department respectfully.
Chapter 476: Matching Zone |
"The Cultivation level of the Flying Star Sector is indeed impressive! Just some random netizens are enough to find so many loopholes in my answer. It seems that I wasn't thinking thoroughly enough after all!"
Li Yao was quite surprised. He didn't have the habit of checking other people's profiles, but if he did, he would have known that the reviews he was currently reading were written by not the normal netizens, not the young university professors, but the real big shots in major academical institutions.
However, in regard to classical refining methodologies, not only did Li Yao boast abundant knowledge, he also had a lot of first-hand experience. No one in the entire universe would be comparable to him. His beliefs had been formed and firmly believed in for a very long time, and it was not like anyone could easily talk him out of them.
This time, Li Yao concentrated his full attention and thought carefully for more than half an hour before he finally began writing a detailed reply to the few questions that his fellow Cultivators had pointed out. The structural designs of various kinds of flying swords, the spiritual energy flowchart, the detailed analysis of certain rune arrays, and so on were so meticulously explained that they were almost enough for Li Yao to publish a book with them as content.
Hardly had he finished one reply when someone else offered a new review. It gave him the feeling that countless experts were surging in like a tide and challenging him one after another, each of whom was stronger than the last. The questions that they asked were trickier and trickier, too. He found himself often taken unprepared.
Gradually, Li Yao felt that it was too much for him. He reflected on himself while he replied. Then he realized that these people were not wrong about certain shortcomings in his theories, which proved to be in need of further filtering and perfecting.
The new experts were not just questioning him. To prove the advantages of the modern flying swords, they also shared a lot of authentic materials and data with Li Yao. From Li Yao's knowledge, he could easily tell that they were all very precious first-hand files and that he would benefit a lot from them.
