Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

A series of weird fracturing sounds were echoing from the breastplate of the black-skeleton-like Colossus, whose arms and legs were suddenly uncoordinated. It could barely keep its balance and shook like a drunk giant. The magical equipment that it used to perceive the surroundings seemed to be malfunctioning. It nearly tripped itself over on the maintenance platform behind it. Stomping on the ground hard, it left an enormous footprint.

It was a sign that the Colossus’ spiritual energy was running out of control and overflowing crazily!

No. It was not the fracture of certain internal structures. Some sort of ‘being’ seemed to be struggling over the command of the black-skeleton-like Colossus with Deity Raincloud!

“This is—” Deity Raincloud’s astonished moan echoed deep inside the spiritual residence of the black-skeleton-like Colossus. The moan was soon replaced by a shriek. “No!”

All the crimson veins around the Colossus were waving crazily like spellbound vipers. They were not attacking Li Yao and Yan Liren but aiming at the Colossus’ own joints and critical parts!

After dozens of explosions, they had truly cut into the Colossus’ own joints. It had essentially tied itself up!

That was rather weird!

“What’s going on?” Li Yao was greatly surprised, too.

In light of the unexpected change, he contained the urge to summon his crystal suit. He sensed that the thorns of spiritual energy and the shield on the surface of the black-skeleton-like Colossus had entirely vanished!

Whatever had happened, this was their best opportunity!

Li Yao and Yan Liren looked at each other.

Over the past three months, the two of them had spent almost every day practicing and discussing sword arts. There was a tacit understanding between them!

Without saying anything, Yan Liren jumped into the sky like a rotating meatball and opened his short, thick fingers. The four Cosmos Rings on his fingers shone brilliantly, and he retrieved almost a hundred flying swords in a row!

Although Yan Liren’s favorite sword was the unique ‘fourth sword’, he certainly had access to a lot of other secret swords in various shapes and models as an elder of the Purple Pole Sword Sect and the strongest sword Cultivator of the Ancient Sages Sector. The hundred flying swords were all his collections, some of which had even been adjusted and polished by Li Yao. Long, short, and in a myriad of colors—they unleashed infinite brightness and glowed into a waterfall of light!

The waterfall of light turned into a furious river and ran toward the crack in the breastplate of the black-skeleton-like Colossus.

The black-skeleton-like Colossus’ movements were much more sluggish than before. It was even clumsier than when it was under the influence of the Heaven Flipping Seal and showed absolutely no sign of dodging!

The defense arrays that could absorb spiritual energy and resist attacks had become lackluster. Yan Liren’s sword auras simply passed through the defenses without meeting any resistance and hit the crack time and time again!

The crack that had previously been as thin as a hair immediately expanded!

It could clearly be seen that the dark metal layer on the sides of the gap had turned orange because they had been heated to thousands of degrees by the savaging sword auras!

The black-skeleton-like Colossus stepped back nonstop. It extended its hands, as if it were trying to slap Yan Liren. However, the hands moved for a long time in midair but could not land on the target. Even the magical equipment and techniques to lock onto the enemy seemed to be malfunctioning.

The best chance to kill an enemy was when he was sick!

Hardly had Yan Liren’s storm of sword auras come to a brief halt when Li Yao jumped to the chest of the black-skeleton-like Colossus from its shoulder. Dozens of grenades were thrown precisely through the gap made by Yan Liren into the spiritual residence where the user of the Colossus was staying.

Then a dozen more grenades, and then another dozen, and then still another dozen!

“How many grenades has this guy brought with him?”

Qi Zhongdao, Han Baling, and the other super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were all dumbfounded, wondering if ‘Master Spiritual Vulture’ had filled all the space in his Cosmos Rings with grenades.

Li Yao grinned hideously. After throwing a hundred pieces of explosive magical equipment that were quite primitive in design but had certainly adopted the crystals, marrow crystals, and beast cores of the highest purity into the Colossus, Li Yao closed his fingers and roared loudly, “Explode!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Deafening explosions were echoing from the spiritual residence of the black-skeleton-like Colossus. Fire in tens of thousands of colors and shades dashed out of the narrow, long crack and flowed around the body of the Colossus!

Huala!

The entrance to the spiritual residence of the Colossus was opened!

“This—this is too crazy!”

Seeing Li Yao’s tough and valiant performance, Qi Zhongdao, Han Baling, Ba Xiaoyu, Qi Changsheng… and all the other super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were dumbfounded.

Even ‘Heaven Battering King’ Qi Changsheng, who was best known for his valor and fearlessness, could not help but gasp after witnessing Li Yao cling to the Colossus despite the excruciating pain until he found a fatal opportunity to blow up the spiritual residence with hundreds of grenades.

Although he had an ‘indestructible body’, it seemed to have never occurred to him that such a thing was accomplishable!

“Master Spiritual Vulture!”

The name was further accentuated in the hearts of the many super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, leaving them a deep impression that they would never forget!

The high-level Cultivators engaged in the fierce fight nearby were even more stunned and lost for words!

There was nothing but silence in the temple of the Colossi for a moment. Everybody somehow stopped fighting and looked at Li Yao, who was quietly floating in midair. They found it hard to believe that the guy would be so insane and relentless that he had blown up the Cloud Qin Gold Statue that the ‘deity’ was piloting!

“D—Deity!”

The ‘pre-Immortal Cultivators’ who had made up their mind to surrender to Deity Raincloud all wept in grief. Everybody could tell that Deity Raincloud was not in his best shape. They seemed to have surrendered too early!

“Ahhh!”

In the middle of the soaring smoke, Deity Raincloud staggered out of the spiritual residence of the black-skeleton-like Colossus. Although his crystal suit had not been destroyed by the grenades, it was indeed blackened, and the rune arrays on the surface were fuzzy, too. The spiritual energy was not circulating well!

Li Yao sneered. His right arm had been wrapped in a bronze ghostly claw at some point, and he snatched at the enormous head of Deity Raincloud!

For the convenience of controlling the black-skeleton-like Colossus, Deity Raincloud was wearing a special crystal suit that was focused on strengthening his brainwaves and enhancing his soul power. Tremendous components had been piled around the helmet and the shoulder, making the crystal suit look like a bobblehead doll.

Such a design was naturally not best for close-distance combat!

Because of the unexpected changes deep inside the black-skeleton-like Colossus, Deity Raincloud seemed to have lost his cool and failed to evade in time. He was caught precisely by Li Yao’s ghostly claw!

Hiu!

With all his strength, Li Yao pulled Deity Raincloud and threw him to the sky!

Yan Liren and Long Yangjun’s swords, Qi Zhongdao’s Heaven Flipping Seal, Han Baling’s hammer, Ba Xiaoyu’s tobacco tube, Master Bitter Cicada’s pearls and staff, Qi Changsheng’s long saber, Wan Mingzhu’s devastating soul… The eight super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators attacked Deity Raincloud collectively. Despite the protection of the crystal suit, the guy was still falling back nonstop without any ability to fight back. His crystal suit was also falling apart!

Boom!

When Yan Liren and Long Yangjun’s sword auras were about to pierce through his crystal suit from the front and from the back, the back of Deity Raincloud’s crystal suit suddenly released a bright fireball.

The next second, glittering gaps appeared on the surface of the crystal suit, which interconnected and extended until they covered the entire body like a fishing net.

In the end, the pieces of the plate armor were being ejected one after another!

Li Yao knew that the ’emergency disassembly’ function of the crystal suit had been activated.

The crystal reactor must have been pierced through and destroyed, and an intense explosion would take place in a few seconds. If the Exo was not ejected, he would be blown up by his own crystal suit.

As expected, a black unit erupted from the back of the broken crystal suit and had a world-shaking explosion in midair before its scorching components clattered to the ground!

Deity Raincloud was already dying under the strikes of the many super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. Without the enhancement and the support of his crystal suit, and having been crushed by the blast of the exploding crystal reactor, he screamed miserably and fell down from the sky.

“Don’t kill him!” Qi Zhongdao and Han Baling raised their voice and shouted at the same time. “The guy has a lot of secrets!”

The super Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator naturally knew that even if this ‘Deity Raincloud’ was not a real deity, there were still great mysteries surrounding him. Naturally, he could not be killed just like that.

They merely stared at the Fiery Phoenix imperial guards around coldly, in case those people acted recklessly and caused further trouble.

Out of everyone’s expectations, a streak of brightness darted toward Deity Raincloud at the highest speed and grabbed him. The newcomer shook his body so violently as if he were savaging a ragged rice bag.

“Who are you? Who are you exactly? You are not an ancestor of my family! You’ve been lying to me all these years! You were lying to me!”

The guy who was roaring desperately was, naturally, Emperor Phoenix Zhu Zongyou, who had been ambitious enough to revive the Great Qian Dynasty as the greatest emperor of all times, only to end up a joke in front of everybody.

Emperor Phoenix had an unusual relationship with Deity Raincloud.

Several years ago, Zhu Zongyou had still been the prince with the worst prospects among all his siblings. He had been assigned to the ‘Thunderous Martial Temple’, an unpopular, worthless post. He had thought that not only himself but also his offspring would have the same monotonous and meaningless life in the future.

However, ‘Deity Raincloud’ had shown up as an ancestor of the Zhu family and even become his most respected ‘Master’. Not only did the guy demonstrate the most unbelievable techniques and dazzling treasures of the deities’ realm to him, the deity had also even helped him seize the supreme throne!

Deity Raincloud’s methods and magical equipment obviously did not belong to the mortal world.

The way that he trained Zhu Zongyou had never been seen or heard of before in the Ancient Sages Sector.

Therefore, Zhu Zongyou had believed from the bottom of his heart that Deity Raincloud was truly an ancestor of the Zhu family who had returned to the mortal world specifically for the salvation of the Great Qian Dynasty and himself!

Was it not all implied in his name ¹ , which suggested that he would be destined to be watched over by the ancestors in his life and to accomplish something great?

Then, Zhu Zongyou became ‘Emperor Phoenix’ and found the legendary Divine Palace. Everything had been going so well!

However, drastic changes had happened as he approached the top. He dropped from the glorious peak to the bottomless valley brutally all of a sudden, almost shattering into pieces!