In the middle of the night, inside Xiong Wuji's personal training chamber deep below the temple of techniques …
The floor was paved with enormous black star stones. Bright silver starry brilliance was vaguely flashing in the middle of the stones, as if the dark night had been turned upside down.
Li Yao was standing in the middle of the 'dark night'. He was wearing a pair of pure white linen pants, and his upper body was bare. His eyes were half open, and he breathed deeply. Spiritual gas was leaking out of the 36,000 pores all over his body and spreading out like ripples. The furthest spiritual gas had already spread to more than thirty meters away.
The aura around him was seventy-seven meters in diameter. He was in the 77th level of the Refinement Stage!
His half-closed eyes suddenly opened. Li Yao took a deep breath. His chest rose high and almost doubled in size.
He took a deep breath and shrieked, as if he were sucking in all the air in the training chamber!
As he breathed, the spiritual gas outside of his body retreated in a hurry, too. Boosted by the muscles and veins all over his body, it rushed toward his heart dauntlessly!
The spiritual gas of the 77th level was attacking the Black Spider Death Curse!
The black tattoo on Li Yao's chest was shrinking and wriggling toward his heart like a viper that had been burnt by fire!
Li Yao grunted and fell on one of his knees heavily. He smashed a Black Star Stone into pieces and vomited a mouthful of black blood.
The splashing blood did not die down until it shivered for a long time, as if it were some sort of evil creature.
Still not working.
But the Black Spider Death Curse has been loosened. I can sense its … fear!
Li Yao grimaced and stopped attacking. He distributed his spiritual gas to every part of his body and nurtured his veins and muscles.
Although his attempt had not worked out yet, the reaction of the Black Spider Death Curse had given him hope, as long as the spiritual gas inside his body was slightly stronger. He would certainly be able to break all the shackles!
Xiong Wuji's voice came over, mixed with surprise. "If it were a month ago, I wouldn't have believed that someone could break into the 77th level of the Refinement Stage from the 14th level of the Refinement Stage in only one month. A Qi Practitioner of the 77th Tier was able to severely injure Xiong Zhenzhen and even fight Shi Meng to a draw. "
Li Yao lowered his head and saw that the tattoo on his chest had surfaced again. He said confidently, "My capability was close to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage in the first place. According to the standard of Iron Plateau, I was more or less in the 90th level of the Refinement Stage. However, my heart was blocked by the Black Spider Death Curse. It's just that I can't liquefy the spiritual energy. "
"But my brain, my limbs, and all my internal organs except for my heart are all in the Building Foundation Stage."
"Therefore, I didn't break into the 77th level of the Refinement Stage in only one month. I merely trained crazily in the qi-trainer way and avoided the Black Spider Death Curse. It's just that the power that was originally hidden in the body explodes out in another form! "
"It's a pity. One month is still too short a time. If I can have three months, I might be able to break through the 95th level of the Refinement Stage, or even higher, if my strength is close to the peak of the Building Foundation Stage.
Li Yao was fascinated.
He was now in the 77th level of the Refinement Stage. He could clearly feel that his combat ability was not much lower than when he was in the high level of the Building Foundation Stage.
With the killing skills and techniques that he had picked up in the Titan Illusionary Land, together with the instantaneous damage of the spiritual gas outbreak, he was much stronger than before.
He was even showing signs of surpassing the past.
He pondered for a long time and came to the conclusion. Right now, his level seemed to have dropped, but he had merely switched to a different combat mode!
Manipulating the spiritual energy in the gas state was one combat mode, and manipulating the spiritual energy in the liquid state was another. Nobody said that the latter was necessarily more powerful than the former.
However, Li Yao couldn't wait to find out what he would be like when he broke the Black Spider Death Curse and was able to switch between the two combat modes freely, or even combine them into one!
Thinking about that, Li Yao said sincerely, "Thank you, Chief Xiong. I don't think that every Iron Plateau native can be so open to space residents without any prejudice and open all their secret training arts to them!
Xiong Wuji smiled casually. "The apocalypse is coming. One more top-level warrior in the tribe means a higher chance of survival. At the moment of life and death, there's no need to talk about prejudice.
"Besides, it's a fair deal. The refiners in the arsenal were amazed by the modification plans of the sonic swords and the Wolf Fangs that you provided. They said that the overall combat ability of the tribe would be improved by at least ten percent if they could be upgraded on a large scale!
"That alone is enough for me to make up for whatever secret arts we are exchanging."
Li Yao shook his head slightly.
Both of them were well aware that the key to the exchange of secret arts was not the value of the secret arts but the unparalleled techniques of the qi-trainers in the eyes of the Iron Plateau natives. Xiong Wuji was definitely taking a huge risk by allowing an outsider to get in touch with their most central secrets so recklessly. He had to bear the pressure that was as heavy as a mountain.
Li Yao looked at him in the eyes and said solemnly, "Chief Xiong, thank you for your trust. You will know tomorrow that your trust was right."
Xiong Wuji smiled and said, "Tell me, Li Yao, are all the Cultivators in space like you?"
Li Yao lowered his head and pondered for a long time.
When he raised his head again, there was a smile in his eyes. "There are thousands of Cultivators in space. Of course, they come in all shapes and sizes. Some are brave, some are cowardly, some are selfish, and some are selfless. I can't tell which kind of people there are more, either."
"However, it's true that I've met a lot of people like me. A lot of them."
Xiong Wuji said, "That's good."
He raised his head and looked at the dark ceiling. His eyes seemed to be able to see through the dozens of floors and through the starry sky. There was no telling what was on his mind.
At this moment, with a bang, the door of the cultivation room was directly knocked open by someone, and a thin and small figure staggered in.
It was Wu Mayan!
Every hair on his body was shivering. Even his teeth were chattering. Holding his breath for a long time, he shouted in a voice that had changed, "Father Xiong, you said that as long as I completed Uncle Sand Scorpion's training plan, I would be able to participate in the battle of the Iron Plateau. You can participate in the battle of the heavenly tribulation. Do you keep your word? "
Xiong Wuji was dazed. "You've completed it?"
Wu Mayan grinned, his every tooth glittering. "Yes, I have! You can ask Master Fu Dong if you want. The last set of movements were all standard without any discount — "
While he was talking … His legs suddenly lost their strength, and he fell to the ground, snoring heavily.
Xiong Wuji glanced at Li Yao and said, "I thought that it was impossible for him to complete the training plan that you gave him."
Li Yao frowned. Looking at the young man crouching on the ground, he said, "Indeed."
…
The next day, at noon. The sun was blazing, and sand was rolling everywhere.
"Haha. It's finally my turn to show my talent in the battle of the apocalypse! Father Xiong was the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau in the past. I, Wu Mayan, will certainly surpass him and become the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau in the future! "
Wu Mayan was waving his hands and feet in excitement. He almost fell off the single tank. Two flags of the Furious Bears Tribe were fluttering behind the tank.
Li Yao was next to him. He was also driving a single tank, but he had installed a lot of shells of the Emperor Sand Scorpion on the body of the tank.
They were the trophies that he had obtained when he rescued Wu Mayan.
The arc-shaped shells of the Emperor Sand Scorpion could streamline the surface of the single tank and reduce the wind resistance. They could also protect the critical parts of the tank. They would not be scourged by the sand of the desert.
At first glance, the entire single tank looked like an Emperor Sand Scorpion that was lurking in the sand. There were no horns in the front. Instead, there were two giant pincers of the scorpion that protruded to the sides.
At the back of the single tank … Two scorpion tails were raised high and aimed at the front, too.
They were two True Qi cannons that had been modified with the shells of the scorpion tails.
The single tank, which had an intimidating appearance, made Li Yao look even more intimidating and aggressive. Wu Mayan was quite jealous of it, too.
Li Yao had promised him that he would build a better tank for him after the battle of the apocalypse was over!
The single tank was the fastest. A large group of iron knights were rushing in the front like unstoppable arrows.
Behind them, smoke was soaring into the sky like a sandstorm. The deafening roars of spiritual gas were shaking the earth slightly.
Thousands of True Qi tanks, carrying tens of thousands of qi-trainers, turned the desolate land into a boiling ocean.
Many True Qi beasts more than twenty meters tall were in the middle of the tanks, too. They looked like mobile fortresses with countless exhaust tubes on their backs, from which dragons of True Qi were rushing out.
There were also many heavy True Qi tanks that were carrying fully-enclosed iron boxes. Crashing noises were echoing from the boxes, as if ferocious beasts were locked inside!
The population of the Furious Bears Tribe was only a few million. Yet, tens of thousands of qi-trainers had been raised. Almost one out of every hundred of them could become a qi-trainer.
The ratio was much higher than that of ordinary people in the outside world. It was the result of the cruel selection in the harsh environment for five thousand years.
The tens of thousands of qi-trainers were marching toward the northwest like a tsunami. A lot of teams made of ordinary warriors were further away from them and formed the second defense line.
They were all adults in the tribe. Although they were not qi-trainers, the Iron Plateau natives were tall and brawny. With the help of the True Qi balloons, they could control some simple True Qi weapons and intercept the enemy who had escaped from the battle formation of the qi-trainers.
If the qi-trainers failed, they would have to fight until the last soldier was left.
In the sky of the northwest, the apocalypse clouds were entirely different from the ones in the past few days. Every color was lackluster. The spiral arms made of clouds were wriggling nonstop, like giant beasts that were raging their fangs and claws. They grew larger and larger until they covered a corner of the sky. The black hole at the center was expanding, too. Thousands of glittering electric arcs were unleashed from the depths of the darkness. Every one of them seemed to have pierced into everyone's heart!
"Come on. Let's fight!"
The qi-trainers of the Furious Bears Tribe roared, laughed, and howled. They boosted their spiritual gas to the maximum and almost blew the tanks into pieces as they charged toward the apocalypse clouds as fast as lightning! (To be continued …)
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