Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 438
Moreover, he is cold to everybody else, but for some reason, he is very patient with me. Whenever I go to ask him about questions I don't understand, he always stops doing whatever he is busy with and gives me guidance unwearyingly.
It is quite odd that, after his interpretation, the seemingly esoteric theories of refining become straightforward and self-explanatory just like one plus one equals two.
A bold idea recently occurred to me.
I want to be Master Sand Scorpion's disciple.
Not the teacher-student relationship in school where one teacher has hundreds of students, but a true disciple!
But it is quite difficult!
I'm aware that Master Sand Scorpion has only one true disciple named Wu Mayan, who is in the Battlesuit Department of Flying Star University.
Wu Mayan is a real super genius. He has become a big name on campus after only several months.
Although he is only fourteen years old, his combat ability is close to that of the Building Foundation Stage. When he entered Flying Star University, the Combat Department, the Battlesuit Department, and the Flying Sword Department fought for him so hard that the deans were nearly bashing their heads.
It seems like he was born in a crystal suit, and he has natural instinct for them. After studying in the Battlesuit Department for only four months, he has already become an expert in crystal suits. None of the junior year students or below are a match for him. Only several senior experts in the senior year ever manage to draw with him.
Last month, he was appointed as a representative of Flying Star University in the intercollege crystal suit match. It was the first time in history for a freshman year student. He defeated five elite students from the Battlesuit Department of Heavenly Saints Institute with a 'Lone Wolf Battlesuit'. The entire Heavenly Saints City was shocked!
It is safe to say that Wu Mayan is even more famous than Master Sand Scorpion, who has always been lying low on campus.
Somebody from the five main arenas has come to ask him whether or not he was willing to fight with the professional Exos in the arenas.
Sigh. Only such talented geniuses deserve to be Master Sand Scorpion's true disciple.
I'm afraid that there's still a long way to go for a fool like me, isn't there?
But forget it. I planned to stay at home for one month, but I've decided right now that I will return to Heavenly Saints City tomorrow.
Master Sand Scorpion said that he would be staying in school for his training during the summer holiday. I will just go to find him and ask if he's willing to recruit me as his disciple.
Anyway, he's not likely to bite me, is he?
…
July 13.
I'm so angry! I'm so angry! I'm so angry!
What kind of guy is he? How can there be such an annoying boy!
I returned to Flying Star University and found Master Sand Scorpion today. I summoned my courage and proposed my request.
As it happened, the super genius Wu Mayan was present, too.
After I proposed my request, before Master Sand Scorpion said anything, the guy bulged his eyes and looked at me from top to bottom carefully. If I could read his mind, he must have been saying, "Huh? Someone of your aptitude is hoping to be the true disciple of my master?"
Not only did he stare at me, he even whispered with Master Sand Scorpion for quite a while. I overheard that he was speaking evil of me!
Thankfully, Master did not listen to his jibber-jabber. Although he didn't agree to my request immediately, he did not turn it down, either.
Hehe. There's still hope since he did not reject me, and I won't give up trying as long as there's the tiniest hope!
One other thing. Is the boy really fourteen years old? He is several inches taller than me, and his chest is as broad as a wall.
Crap.
If Master Sand Scorpion really recruits me as his disciple, wouldn't I have to call the annoying kid 'Senior Brother'?
That would be a huge bummer!
…
August 29.
Recently, I've been feeling that Master Sand Scorpion is more and more like an iceberg. However magnificent it appears, it is always ten times greater below the surface of the ocean!
Without me knowing, it's been five months since he came to Flying Star University.
Over the past five months, he has either been napping in the library or dwelling in the Ares Laboratory.
After the previous accident, the progress of the Ares Laboratory was kept confidential. Nobody knew how their project is going.
Therefore, in the Refining Department, suspicions about Master Sand Scorpion's skillfulness in refining have reappeared after several months of silence.
Of course, I knew that Master Sand Scorpion must be very excellent in refining. But honestly speaking, I'd never seen him craft anything in person, and I couldn't help but wonder how excellent he was.
But what happened today shed light on his capability, or rather, part of his combat ability.
A month ago, various journals and websites featuring magical equipment started introducing a tool named 'Combat Ability Detector' on a large scale.
Most of the articles were bragging about the magical equipment, claiming that it could run a series of complicated calculations based on data of moving speed, air vibrations, and spiritual waves and give an estimation of the enemy's combat ability.
Besides, the 'Combat Ability Detector' has recorded the appearances of the commonly-seen demon beasts, thousands of kinds of starships and the most popular crystal suits in the Flying Star Sector.
After scanning with the magical equipment, one is able to tell precisely which crystal suit the enemy is in, the advantages and disadvantages of the crystal suit, and all the other important information for the battle.
Growing up in a noble family of refining, I've seen too many such things. The more fabulous a piece of magical equipment sounds, the more likely that the journals and websites have been bribed. These articles are merely 'advertorials'.
However, publishing advertorials on so many different journals and websites at the same time is a huge investment, too. The producer of the Combat Ability Detector must boast tremendous capital.
I was quite curious about the magical equipment.
The few commercials set up on the Spiritual Nexus were quite professional and distinguished, too.
Therefore, I ordered two of them, one regular model and one crystal-suit-embedded model that could be installed to a crystal suit conveniently.
Five days ago, the Combat Ability Detectors were finally delivered. I tested them in person and had to say that, although they were not as immaculate as the advertorials claimed, they were definitely worth my money.
From the perspective of a refiner, the magical equipment was elegantly designed and very robust. The spiritual energy circuits were very smooth, and it was unhindered and flawless when it was functioning.
Although it was a piece of cheap, popular magical equipment, I found that it employed a lot of extremely complicated super-tiny rune arrays and crystal chips, as well as seven very sophisticated distributions.
Such a design was a definitely a masterpiece.
I felt at the time that the magical equipment would be a hit.
As I expected, after it was on sale for only one week, not only was it greatly complimented on the Spiritual Nexus and by the experts and professors in the circle of refiners, even the academic journal of the Refining Department of Flying Star University listed it as one of the ten most recommended tools of the month.
Besides, it was the monthly bestseller in the category of mini magical equipment on many websites.
Bestseller after only one week. It was quite beyond my expectation.
After I investigated the sales, I discovered that a great number of orders from Iron Plateau were placed on the very first day that the Combat Ability Detector was sold to public.
The six tribes of Iron Plateau bought a hundred thousand Combat Ability Detectors altogether!
Naturally, my curiosity was aroused.
Although the communication between Iron Plateau and the space has been reestablished, the fat orders still seemed quite odd, considering that the magical equipment was only just invented after all.
The manufacturer of the Combat Ability Detector was an unknown company. But after I traced it on the Spiritual Nexus, I found that the company was affiliated with the Glorious Sunlight Group!
Wasn't the Glorious Sunlight Group an enterprise of Master Sand Scorpion, according to Sister Long?
I went to ask Master Sand Scorpion cautiously with a Combat Ability Detector.
But he admitted very frankly that the Combat Ability Detector was the first piece of magical equipment developed by 'Glorious Sunlight Refining Center', which was under his name. He was the supervisor of the entire development process, too!
In other words, the Combat Ability Detector was Master Sand Scorpion's work!
I was immediately dumbfounded.
I knew that Master Sand Scorpion was awesome, but I didn't know that he was that awesome.
That was not the end of it. Later at dinner, I met Master Hou Zitao.
Master Hou has been quite mysterious over the past months. He has been dedicated to the development of a super weapon. Occasionally when I saw him, he would always look somewhat at a loss, as if he hadn't closed his eyes for ten days and ten nights.
But today, he was exultant and jumping up and down like a monkey. The moment he met me, he told me that his super weapon, 'chain gun', had been successfully developed. The experiments showed satisfactory results, and the performance of the new weapon far exceeded his expectation. It is about to be mass-produced, and it will definitely be a hit!
Of course, I congratulated him. But he said, embarrassedly, that the magical equipment was not crafted by him alone, but co-developed by him and Master Sand Scorpion. Or rather, Master Sand Scorpion was the bigger contributor to the project and was the lead refiner, and he could only be listed as the second refiner.
I took the opportunity and asked his opinion on Master Sand Scorpion's capability in refining.
He scratched his hair for a long time and replied with two words.
"Can't tell."
There's only one month before the Edge Sharpeners' Meeting that is held every five years.
I'm wondering what the facial expressions of the guys who are doubting his capability in refining right now will be when he shows up in the meeting hall with his Combat Ability Detector and the chain gun.
I'm really looking forward to it!
Chapter 653: Principle of Eating |
Three days later, in the No. 4 multifunctional hall of the Combat Department of Flying Star University…
"This is everything about the methodology and circulation of spiritual energy in the Art of the Swallowing Whale. But the key point is still meditation. You must stimulate your stomach with your mindpower."
Li Yao was giving a speech.
He was teaching an extracurricular course.
Visiting scholars and visiting professors were different. Such courses had no credits and, therefore, couldn't be regarded as optional courses. They were merely a means of communication like public lectures.
However, almost seven hundred students from various departments were still attracted to Li Yao's class, including many graduates who had become quite distinguished.
Naturally, it was because of his remarkable performance in the competitions against the experts from the Combat Department, the Flying Sword Department, and the Battlesuit Department over the past half year.
After being polished for half a year, Li Yao had an entirely different aura around him.
His face was still unattractive, but his messy hair looked like a black waterfall crashing down on broken stones. It was a soul-stirring color as if it were alive.
Spiritual energy was the source of the darkness of his hair. It was a sign that the spiritual gas inside his body was extremely profound.
He was wearing a plain, white robe and had bound his hair, which he couldn't comb down, with a hair band casually. Standing on the podium alone, he seemed like someone from a different world.
The spacious multifunctional hall was occupied by the hundreds of Cultivators, but all their auras combined seemed to be no match for his. They couldn't help but focus their eyes on him.
The course that Li Yao taught had a simple name, which was 'Art of the Swallowing Whale'.
The students were quite enjoying the course and taking notes on their light beams every once in a while.
Li Yao put his hands on his stomach and rubbed it softly, while he said, "As its name suggests, when the ancient Cultivators invented the technique, they imagined that their stomach was a den where the most hungry and ferocious animals—such as lions, tigers, and dragons—lived!
"Turning your stomach into a dragon will naturally increase its capacity for food. The Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures indigestible for common people will be able to be absorbed easily. Just like this."
Li Yao took a long breath. His abdomen slightly rose, and he let go of his hands. Noises like the roars of tigers, lions, and dragons were echoing from his belly, as if a bunch of animals were rushing close unstoppably.
The students were all amazed by it.
Li Yao smiled. "Different approaches can lead to the same destination. If you will, you can also imagine your stomach to be a bottomless swirl."
While he was talking, Li Yao's abdomen fluctuated and raised the deafening sound of the tides. Everybody listening to it was shocked.
"Or rather—"
Li Yao continued his speech. "We are all modern people, and we can adopt more modern means in our imagination. You may imagine your stomach to be a furnace heated to thousands of degrees. Whatever food is transmitted into it will be melted instantly!"
Before the loud noises of tides died down, they had already been replaced by the fulminations that were indicative of a fully functioning furnace.
Had they not seen it in person, the students would never have believed that one could utter such incredible sounds with the wriggling of one's stomach.
"Alright."
Li Yao stopped demonstrating the technique. He checked the time and said, "Let's call it a day. If anyone is interested, we have a final lecture on Friday, in which I will tell you the helpful and harmful relationships between special foods.
"Last ten minutes. Any questions?
"Third row on the left."
A tall student stood up and asked in a loud voice, "Master Sand, I'm a senior year student of the Combat Department. The utilization of nutrition is highlighted in the Combat Department, too. But you seem to have attached even more importance to it. If I may ask, do you think the top priority for a Cultivator is the food they have?"
"Indeed, I think so. In combat, refining, and even the training of pure computational ability, adequate energy is a categorical prerequisite." Li Yao nodded as he spoke. "Isn't there a saying that has been passed on for tens of thousands of years? 'One can live without dignity, but one cannot live without food.'"
Everybody on the spot laughed.
The tall student couldn't help but laugh, too. He took a few breaths to calm himself down, before he opened his mouth again. "However, Master Sand, I've read a lot of ancient classics on training. They all stressed the significance of absorbing energy from nature. It was said that one wouldn't need to take any food when they cultivated themselves to the highest level.
"It appeared to me like the most awesome Cultivators kept the furthest distance from meat and everything. The mouthwatering food in other people's eyes was smelly and filthy for the ancient Cultivators.
"Why are modern Cultivators walking on the opposite path?"
Li Yao smiled. "Diets like that are complete bullsh*t. Cultivators consume hundreds of times more energy than ordinary people do because of their daily training and combat. Where can they refill the energy if not from food?
"Retrieving sufficient energy by interacting with nature? That's utter nonsense!
"The only absorbable energy in nature is solar energy. But how much can that be? Right now, many households have solar energy healers or solar energy generators. You must've experienced how long it takes to boil a tank of water with solar energy.
"And that is based on spacious solar panels. However hard Cultivators train themselves, their skin won't be half as efficient as the solar panels. Besides, there is absolutely no need for them to turn their skin into such things at all.
"The normal energy in nature is not worth our effort at all, except on one occasion.
"That is the outbreak of sunspots or solar flares when other celestial bodies hit the sun.
"At that time, the radiation and electromagnetic waves will be drawn close to us like raging tides.
"That is the real energy of nature!
"However, such occasions are extremely rarely-seen. They will only appear every ten years or so and cannot be considered a regular training method at all."
The guy scratched his head and nodded. Then he asked again, "But the ancient classics in different era and from different sects all mentioned the importance of absorbing energy of nature and considered independence from food a symbol of one's achievement in Cultivation. Why?"
Li Yao pondered for a moment and replied, "Everyone, I know that many of you like to browse through the ancient classics and hope to discover an unparalleled technique from the ancient Cultivation world so that you will be invincible after you grasp it.
"I'm not saying that the works of the ancient Cultivators are not worth studying, but we must pay special attention to the difference between ancient Cultivators and contemporary ones during our research.
"In the ancient Cultivation world, the civilization of mankind was still nascent. Most people were still enshrouded in darkness and illiteracy. Ancient Cultivators didn't have a clear, thorough understanding of the world, either.
"Therefore, they often had to resort to many pretentious tricks to maintain their high and mighty image among the ordinary people so that they could organize and lead the ordinary people more easily.
