Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 343
The gate was opened slowly. A faint scent of wood drifted into his nose. The room seemed to be a messy shop of antiques. On the lackluster closets, there was nothing but glittering artifacts, jade ware, and miscellaneous jewels.
Li Yao's eyes didn't stop on any of the items, for his attention was attracted by the one nearby.
Huangpu Xiaoya!
It had apparently been much more troublesome to 'invite' her here. There were bruises on her face and hands. Her clothes were untidy. Her eyes were bloodshot, from which electric sparks were bursting out.
She seemed to have been shackled by a certain barrier. Seeing Li Yao show up, she was beaming with joy at first. But very soon, she was caught in deeper desperation. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, only to let out meaningless hissing sounds.
Fei Ming said with a smile, "Master Li Yao, Miss Huangpu, please do wait patiently for a moment. The host will be here in no time."
Barely had he finished his sentence when a middle-aged, somewhat tired man whose temples were grey haired slowly walked out from behind a screen of bamboo.
His face was nothing unusual. But his eyes were ten times brighter than those of ordinary people. His hands were as dry as rotten rood, and he had six fingers on his left hand.
If anybody else had six fingers, the extra one would certainly be redundant and very weird.
But this middle-aged man's left hand looked natural and perfect. It gave the impression that having six fingers was the norm, that it was not that he had one additional finger but that everybody else was short of a finger.
Such a weird left hand made Li Yao's heart beat fast.
When he looked at the man's face more carefully, lightning seemed to strike his head.
Before Li Yao could open his mouth, Huangpu Xiaoya, whose barrier had been eliminated at some point, exclaimed in shock with a twisted face, as if she had seen the last person she expected to see in the world, "You are… Uncle Shiyi?"
With a closer look, the man's face did share some similarities with that of Huangpu Xiaoya.
Li Yao's pupils constricted violently. His face color changed as he cried, "Huangpu Shiyi?"
Huangpu Shiyi was an unavoidable figure in discussions about the most distinguished refiners of the past thirty years.
He had been the most talented, the most hard-working, and the most arrogant genius refiner of his generation in the Huangpu family.
In the Skyhill Sword Seminar 29 years ago, Huangpu Shiyi had jumped out of nowhere and won the title of 'Sword Master' effortlessly with unquestionable one-sided competitions. The Skyhill Sword Seminar that year could almost be called his one-man show. The skills and techniques he showed to the world were all as impressive as Li Yao's 'carving a chip with his bare hands', if not more!
When Li Yao was searching for information about the Skyhill Sword Seminar, he had seen videos of Huangpu Shiyi's arts of refining, which had left such a deep impression on him that even he found it hard to believe that such a genius could exist, although he had always considered himself to be sort of a genius!
At that year, Huangpu Shiyi hadn't even reached thirty yet. He was in the prime of his life.
There was no telling whether it was out of arrogance or madness, but Huangpu Shiyi was not satisfied after winning the title of 'Sword Master' easily. He challenged the leader of the Mo family in front of thousands of spectators and all the seniors in the circle of refiners and claimed that he would defeat all the refiners of the Mo family within ten years!
"The thing about noble families of refining is that there are too many of them. One is enough!"
That was what Huangpu Shiyi had said during the ceremony.
After that, he went through the harshest training in the craziest ways.
Li Yao trained with Purple Ring Sword Ants to increase the speed and perception of his hands. But Huangpu Shiyi had found a world fragment with abundant spiritual energy of the thunder class and trained himself in the thunderstorms. He had tried to attract the lightning to his hands to trigger the ultimate potential within them!
But, alas, he was distracted due to an accident, and his hands were wasted.
The best refiner of his generation suddenly turned into the biggest joke. He fell into the abyss of darkness for all eternity before he really rose!
Later, it was said that he went to a space zone at the edge of the Flying Star Sector to look for methods to treat his hands. During his journey, his starship was destroyed in a space storm, and he was killed.
The most brilliant star had shined and perished just like that. The only thing left was the story of an insane and arrogant genius!
Li Yao and Huangpu Xiaoya never expected that the legendary refiner who should've been buried in the sea of stars twenty years ago would appear in the Skyhill Sword Seminar again and right in front of their faces!
A lot of things had apparently happened to Huangpu Shiyi. There was no arrogance nor insanity on his face at all. Like a gentle professor, he smiled and said, "Xiaoya, when I left for the Million Star Space Zone, you had just been born. And now you are a grown woman who is qualified to participate in the Skyhill Sword Seminar representing the Huangpu family! I've studied the videos of your refining a lot. You are almost as good as I was at your age!
"Li Yao, my young friend. You, on the other hand, are the biggest surprise that I found in this Skyhill Sword Seminar! Carving a chip with supersonic hands, enduring the pain unendurable for other Cultivators, and training your hands with Purple Ring Sword Ants. Madness! That is pure madness! I see some of myself from the old days in you! You and I are the same type of person, and the same type of refiner!"
There was deep confusion on Li Yao's face, as he mumbled, "What is going—"
In the middle of his sentence, the aura around Li Yao entirely changed within a moment.
A moment earlier, he seemed to still be unclear of the situation. But now, he leapt forward like a leopard!
With two explosive sounds under his feet, every muscle on Li Yao's body was reduced to minimum. He turned into a streak of brightness and lunged at Huangpu Shiyi like a battle saber unsheathed.
In the meantime, dazzling brilliance appeared on his left arm and wreathed it, which turned out to be a thin and sharp blade!
A paralyzed prude when quiet and a rabid rabbit when active, Li Yao attacked the enemy when he made up his mind without any hesitation!
But Huangpu Shiyi seemed to have expected his unannounced attack. His sunny smile was not affected at all.
Weird waves spread out in front of Huangpu Shiyi. The air seemed to become mud, which slowed down Li Yao's motion a little bit.
Within the moment, two people, one fair and the other dark, appeared abruptly on Huangpu Shiyi's two sides.
On his left was a woman who was extremely slender. Her neck was twice the length of ordinary people's, and her skin was as dark as coal.
On his right was a stout man whose skin was so fair that it was almost transparent.
The two of them roared at the same time. They stood in Li Yao's way and blocked his fatal attack easily.
Li Yao showed no expression, but his eyes were cold. Seeing that his attack had missed, he returned to a corner like a tornado. Then he juxtaposed his right middle finger and index finger and pointed them at his spiritual root on his forehead, while he mumbled spells in his mouth.
Streams of brightness flowed out of his body and formed around him what appeared to be an armor.
He was summoning his crystal suit!
However, he was not fast enough. Before the crystal suit was fully extracted, the long-necked dark woman appeared in front of him and struck his abdomen with her long leg.
BAM!
The dark woman was wearing multiple iron rings on her legs which appeared to be some kind of very aggressive magical equipment. Dazzling brightness surged from them and flooded into Li Yao's chest.
Li Yao's eyes bulged wide. His spell was disrupted. The components that he had already extracted splashed and fell to the ground. They belonged to the 'Eight Arm Suit', created by the Silver Heart School with both combat and maintenance functions!
Li Yao gagged and collapsed helplessly.
The dark woman's killing intent soared like a volcanic eruption. She chuckled like a night owl, while a black, glittering blade ejected from her boot and slashed at Li Yao's neck amid earsplitting noises.
Li Yao was wearing the most terrified expression, but he couldn't react because his legs were no longer his.
Seeing that the blade was about to cut open Li Yao's neck, Huangpu Shiyi coughed slightly.
There was amusement in the dark woman's eyes. The blade was retreated, and she simply kicked Li Yao in his chest.
Li Yao screamed and rolled into the corner.
From Li Yao jumping to attack to him being kicked into the corner, the entire process had lasted only five seconds.
Huangpu Xiaoya was almost dumbfounded to see what had happened.
Her eyes stopped briefly at the dark woman and the fair man. Then she shouted again, her voice trembling, "Black Stone! White Dew! Are you not the most famous free Exos in the Sky Diver Space Zone who were assassinated by Spider's Thorn five years ago?"
The dark woman was not Black Stone; she was White Dew.
The fair and stout man, on the other hand, was Black Stone.
White Dew and Black Stone smiled and returned to Huangpu Shiyi's side, waiting for orders solemnly and quietly.
Li Yao was cramping and breathing like a bull. It was not until he took a rest on his knees and spat a mouthful of blood that he glared at Huangpu Shiyi and asked coarsely, "When did you find out that I was not hypnotized?"
"I knew since the very beginning that you wouldn't be hypnotized."
Huangpu Shiyi smiled. "If you made a major breakthrough in the True Fusion and the space swirl, your mental power must be tremendously strong. An insignificant 'Chaotic Star Gyro' is far from enough to hypnotize you, is it not?"
Shiyi means "eleven"
Chapter 506: Inhuman |
Li Yao's eyelids were trembling violently. He gnashed his teeth and spat, "If you knew that I wouldn't be hypnotized, why did you ask this Meditation Healer specialized in mental attacks to deal with me? How were you so sure that I would come with him instead of killing him immediately on the spot? Also, how did you know that I am not a pure refiner?"
Huangpu Shiyi explained, "Your supersonic hands during the match and your continuous usage of 'Hitting the Cow Past the Mountain' to spiritualize the materials for an entire hour required both enormous physical strength and an extremely sturdy body, neither of which is typical for a pure creation-type Cultivator!
"After carefully studying the videos of your match, especially where the shape of your muscles is displayed, I am very certain that you are definitely not a creation-type Cultivator who cannot even catch a chicken but a hybrid-type Cultivator!
"You are both talented in combat and in refining, and your combat ability must be good!
"It does make sense on second thought. After all, you spent your early years struggling and surviving in the relics of ancient battlefields at the edge of the sea of stars. Considering the perils in such environments, you would've been killed a long time ago if you didn't have the ability to protect yourself!
"Then, the question remains, how good is your combat ability?
"I mean you no harm. This is an authentic and sincere invitation. However, I am just a pure refiner, and my combat ability is not even close to yours, even though my Cultivation is levels above you. You are just like me when I was young. Crazy, reckless, and decisive. I don't want to be slain by you before I manage to say anything! Hahahaha!
"Therefore, I specifically devised this trap in order to test your true capability.
"I, of course, knew that Feng Ming and his Chaotic Star Gyro were not enough to hypnotize you. But I also knew that a young man who travelled in isolation for twenty years such as yourself would believe in nobody but yourself.
"From the style of your refining, I can tell that you are a confident, if not arrogant, man. You are ambitious, and you like to take chances!
"If it were someone else, they might've attacked Fei Ming when they saw through his faked identity.
"But if it was you, you would very likely enter the tiger's cave, pretending to be fooled, driven by your curiosity.
"After all, in your eyes, nobody knew that you were in fact a hybrid-type Cultivator with reasonable combat ability. You were planning to capture the leader of the gang when you reached their base with this trump card. In the worst-case scenario, you could always get away freely with your combat ability."
Li Yao was silent for a long time, before he said drily, "What if I had attacked Fei Ming on the spot?"
"Then I'm afraid we would've been much more impudent," answered Huangpu Shiyi.
"You don't think that Fei Ming was the only one who went to invite you, do you? We have backup plans to test your true combat ability too. But I guarantee that they are less pleasant.
"Black Stone, White Dew, tell me about it. What is the true combat ability of my young friend Li Yao?"
Black Stone, the fair and stout fatty, smiled. "Master Li Yao switched from absolute stillness to precipitous actions at an almost subsonic speed within 0.4 seconds. His skills in battle saber are quite proficient. In my opinion, his combat ability is as good as that of the battle-type Cultivators in the beginning level of the Building Foundation Stage!"
White Dew, the dark woman, spoke up, too. "Master Li Yao's speed in summoning the crystal suit was quite impressive. Within 1.7 seconds, 60% of the crystal suit had been implemented. I estimate that it would've taken him less than 3 seconds to put on the entire suit! It is not slow even in the circle of professional Exos.
"As for the Eight Arm Suit that he summoned, it was a masterpiece by the Silver Heart School, which seemed to have been modified profoundly and added with some decent combat components!"
Amazed, Huangpu Shiyi clicked his tongue in appreciation. "Unbelievable, truly unbelievable! I never expected that my young friend Li Yao's combat ability would be so good, considering his already incredible skills in refining! Combat ability equal to that of a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator, plus an Eight Arm Suit. They make an invincible trump card! Had I not been protected by Black Stone and White Dew, I would have been captured instantly!"
Li Yao's face was as grey as death. He collapsed as if somebody had tugged away his spine.
Huangpu Xiaoya shrieked, "What is going on, Uncle Shiyi? Where have you been in all these years? Why did you show up at this moment? How did Black Stone and White Dew, who were allegedly killed by Spider's Thorn, come back to life? Who are you people exactly?"
Huangpu Shiyi smiled and explained, "My original plan for this trip to the Skyhill Sword Seminar was to pick you up and kill Li Yao as a favor for one of my old friends.
"However, after witnessing young Li Yao's arts of refining, especially his amazing hands, I changed my mind! Such a talented refiner to be killed in this place for a ridiculous reason? It would've been a shame. It was definitely going to be a shame!
"Therefore, don't fret. I truly mean you no harm. I only came here to bring you away."
"Kill me?" Li Yao murmured. He suddenly shivered and shrilled, "Huangpu Shiyi, you are a space pirate, and they—they belong to Spider's Thorn!"
Huangpu Xiaoya's eyes were wide open. She stared at Huangpu Shiyi in disbelief while she stammered, "It's—It's impossible! Uncle Shiyi, you went to Spider Den and became a space pirate?"
Black Stone sneered. He said in a sharp and high-pitched voice, "What kind of bullsh*t are space pirates and Spider's Thorn? Compared with our organization, Spider Den is but insignificant dust!"
Li Yao sneered, "I don't care whether you are space pirates or not. Huangpu Xiaoya and I are both important figures in the Skyhill Sword Seminar. If we don't show up in a few hours, somebody is definitely coming to check. Do you think you can run away from the Skyhill Domain by then?"
Huangpu Shiyi, Black Stone, White Dew, and Fei Ming seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. They burst out into such laughter that tears were pouring down their faces.
While wiping away his tears, Huangpu Shiyi said, "Here, my young friend Li Yao. Please take a look."
He raised his six-fingered left hand. Halos suddenly spread out on the wall on the right side of the shop of antiques. The wall gradually turned transparent and became a glass window.
Outside of the window, it was the boundless sea of stars!
The Skyhill Domain had been left far, far behind!
Li Yao's heart suddenly palpitated. Sweat the size of beans appeared on his forehead, but it froze almost immediately.
How could it be!
He had calculated that he was in a seven-floored plaza next to the hotel he was staying in. How on earth did he end up in a starship that was distances away from the Skyhill Domain?
Why was the starship so stable without the slightest bump or slope?
Huangpu Shiyi said, "Are you curious how a seven-floored plaza turned into a starship?
"It's simple. The shuttle you were on was specially refined by me. A piece of interference magical equipment was installed to the bottom of it, which could simulate all the information that I wanted you to know so that you would make misguided judgements.
"Also, this starship was refined by me personally, too. With the most advanced stabilizing system, it is as stable as stationary even when it is performing a space jump!
"You thought that you were still in the Skyhill Domain. So, you hoped to stall me and wait until other people notice your absence. But you didn't know that I was stalling you, too, so that we can escape from the Skyhill Domain sooner."
Li Yao didn't respond. Every one of his brain cells was shaking violently as he considered the situation he was in.
Huangpu Shiyi was indeed a formidable refiner. The shuttle he'd refined had completely fooled Li Yao.
From this moment, the entire incident finally got out of his control and slid into an unknown abyss.
