Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 122

Chapter 122: The Flying Sword is Also Crazy!
Translator: Ash Editor: Geoffrey

Li Yao was like a mouse that fell into a sack of rice. With narrowed eyes, he
looked all around, only to find a dense mass of red specks of light making a
headlong rush towards him.
Li Yao walked around along the rail tracks. He tried to find the place that was
the richest in demonic energy.
Suddenly, in front of him appeared a big, dark black lump. On a closer look, it
was nothing but a scrap of iron that had been deformed into such a shape.
He pondered for a long time before a sudden realization dawned on him—it
was the armored carriage from last night that charged into the beast tide
without a shred of hesitation!
He had never imagined that it would actually be deformed into such a shape
under the raging beast tide; it was like it was nothing more than a box made of
rotten paper in front of the beast tide.
Even though the bodies of the cultivators from this lump of iron had already
been removed, Li Yao could still hear the heroic roars of the seven cultivators
ringing in his ear.
"I'll cultivate here. I hope that the seniors would lend me a hand. After my
cultivation culminates, I'll definitely slaughter the demon beasts, and I will
help you get revenge!"
Li Yao struggled to climb his way up the lump of iron that was laden with blood
stains. Crossing his legs, he sat at the peak and silently operated the <Endless
Cosmos> breathing exercise in his mind.
"According to legends, countless millions of years ago, the endless universe
that we now live in used to be a plasmic[1] crystallization of pure spiritual
energy, which was also known as 'Primeval Crystallization Point'."
"And because of an impetus of some kind of incredibly huge 'power', at the
Primeval Crystallization Point, a huge scale explosion that was beyond any
man's imagination took place. An almost inexhaustible amount of pure
spiritual energy exploded as it spread everywhere and created stars and
everything in existence, including the universe itself!"
"Whereas, at the beginning of the universe..."
"There weren’t any stars nor were there any planets. There were only countless
extremely hot and incomparably unstable masses of matter!"
"The relatively large masses of matter revolved at high-speeds, while the
smaller masses of matter were attracted to them. Much like how a snowball
would grow bigger and bigger as it rolled over the snow, the masses of matter

grew to an unimaginable size and became huge as countless stars formed one
by one."
"According to the profound principles of the <Endless Cosmos> breathing
exercise, one must imagine themselves as the larger mass of matter at the
beginning of universe after the big bang, while the spiritual energy floating in
the air would be the smaller mass of matter. Then, let your own soul revolve at
a high-speed and attract the spiritual energy to temper the body and
strengthen the soul!"
"There are two things which are the crux of the <Endless Cosmos> breathing
exercise!"
"First, in the mind, imagine the scene of the universe at the starting phase of
the Big Bang, where the pure spiritual energy, in the blink of an eye, expanded
into the vast universe. Feel the ancient world, the 'beginning point of the
universe’, ‘the world when there were no land and sky', and experience the
inconceivable scene that transcended human imagination!"
"Second, during your meditation, let your spirit revolve at a high-speed!"
Silently pondering over the profundity of the <Endless Cosmos>, Li Yao's pair
of eyes were half-opened, half-closed; it seemed as if he was asleep, yet at the
same time, he was not. He took a few dozen long, deep breaths, each of which
lasted longer than before, as he entered a mysterious state.
In his trance-like state, the Wasteland turned into a vast and endless universe,
and he was surrounded by a large amount of hot and virulent spiritual energy
that constantly disintegrated, collided, compressed, fractured, and finally
congealed into mass after mass of bright matter.
Each mass of matter was incomparably hot, and the temperature was more
than a hundred times than that of the sun!
Whereas, Li Yao own body was also emitting a tremendous amount of heat,
seemingly as if he too had turned into a red-hot mass of matter.
And his soul, in a trance, fluttered and shook as it fiercely started revolving as
its speed was getting faster and faster!
Some of the smaller hot masses of matter floating around him were attracted
by the torque generated by the revolution of his soul. They suddenly floated
towards him and adhered on his body before merging into his body!
Demonic energy!
The demonic energy surged into Li Yao's body like a torrential tide!
He was filled with an incomparable feeling; compared to absorbing the pitiful
amount of spiritual energy in the medical tent, where he could only do so by
spending a tremendous amount of effort, this was far more comfortable!
Li Yao was wild with joy. The four spirit threads revolved constantly as more
demonic energy was sucked into his body. Rolling through Ou Yezi’s tree of
memories, the demonic energy was purified into the purest of spiritual energy,

which thereafter surged into every part of his body, constantly filling each
strand of his muscles, every blood vessel, and every cell of his body with
spiritual energy!
Every second, his body would become stronger. With every passing second, his
body evolved by a level!
"This is too strong!"
Li Yao clenched his fists in inexplicable joy, as he felt the fearsome strength
surging through his fingers.
He had a vague feeling that if the spiritual energy was stimulated to the limit
and blasted through this fist, the destructive force might very well be ten times
stronger than the past!
In the past, he could only rely on physical strength.
But now, he had instead become the vast universe, one of the endless stars,
making it possible for him to fire the world's energy!
In just a short span of one hour, Li Yao had engulfed an incredibly huge
amount of demonic energy. Every single one of his cells had been filled to the
point that he could not absorb even one more speck of red light.
Just like how a human's appetite had a limit, the amount of spiritual energy a
cultivator could absorb also had a limit. One could never engulf endlessly and
completely absorb the spiritual energy in the world.
If the spiritual energy was absorbed blindly and not refined, it would more
than likely lead to oversaturation of spiritual energy, which would result in
"Spiritual Energy Poisoning".
Much like drinking too much water would lead to "Water Intoxication".
In serious cases, it could even lead to overflowing of the spiritual energy,
causing the meridians to be torn which may very well lead to Qigong deviation!
After Li Yao had absorbed a huge amount of demonic energy, he had
continuously advanced to the 3rd level.
He was very well aware of the principle of biting off more than one could chew.
He restrained his greedy thoughts and jumped down from the lump of iron
with a long howl.
"Well?"
An incomparably strange scene entered his vision, leaving him gawking.
What he saw was the Black Wing Sword vertically floating and gradually
rotating in the air. From the inside of its scabbard, three black spirit threads
had grown out and were absorbing the demonic energy.
And the way it was doing it was exactly the same as when Li Yao was
cultivating!
No! On a closer look, Li Yao noticed that the efficiency of absorbing the
spiritual energy of the Black Wing Sword was far more than his!

When he was using <Endless Cosmos> to absorb the spiritual energy, the spirit
threads were only entwined around his body and moved slowly.
In contrast, the spirit threads of the Black Wing Sword were spread out, and
every thread was like a spring which coiled round after round to form an
incomparably strange spiral made of spirit threads.
Obviously, under the same length, the Black Wing Sword's spirit threads could
touch far more specks of red light than him, thereby having ten times more
efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy than Li Yao!
"Can magical equipment also cultivate on their own?"
"Moreover, the cultivation exercise is obviously an upgraded version of the
<Endless Cosmos>!"
"Is Little Black imitating me after watching me cultivate? And while at it, did it
just upgrade the <Endless Cosmos>?"
"T-this is too terrifying!"
Li Yao was stupefied for a long time. Suddenly, he reacted; his complexion
changed as he screamed, "This is not good, Little Black! Quickly stay your
hand… This is not right, quickly close your mouth... This is also not right!
Whatever, you quickly stop!"
The Black Wing Sword suddenly stopped absorbing as its three black spirit
threads coiled around each other and moved towards Li Yao. Obviously, it was
greatly dissatisfied.
Li Yao impatiently ran next to it, and having sensed the density of the demonic
energy, he explained:
"We can not completely absorb all the demonic energy. Tomorrow, powerful
cultivators will be coming to purify the demonic energy. If they found that it is
all empty here and that there is not even an iota of demonic energy, they will
definitely continue to investigate. If they find out that it was us, we will be in
big trouble!"
At the beginning, Li Yao thought that the Black Wing Sword was just a slightly
strange flying sword; therefore, he actually didn't mind too much.
Anyway, in the world of cultivation, there were many rare and wondrous
treasures. A flying sword that would watch a hologram projector was nothing
strange.
But a flying sword that could cultivate on its own would absolutely be a
priceless treasure in the eyes of many cultivators. Once it was found, perhaps
they would even use all kinds of means to take it away.
Li Yao did not want Little Black to be taken away by these people, only to be
taken apart for research.
This guy was something left behind by the old man, not to mention it had
accompanied him for so many years. It was like his half-sibling.
"Squeak..."

Upon listening to Li Yao's explanation, the Black Wing Sword reluctantly shook
its sword tip as it slowly retracted its three black spirit threads back into its
scabbard.
When it was retracting its last spirit thread, the spirit thread unwillingly
moved and grabbed one last speck of red light into its body with a "Swish!".
Only then did it retract it back and that too reluctantly, seemingly as if it
longed for more.
Li Yao, on the other hand, had a shrewd smile hanging on his face. Knocking on
the scabbard, he said:
"Hey hey hey, Little Black. I just wanted to make you act with caution, so don't
think that I don't want to let you completely absorb the spiritual energy! My
heart also aches to see such a large amount of demonic energy floating around
yet unable to be absorbed!"
From childhood, Li Yao had been doing things stealthily. He was well aware of
where the shoe pinches[2].
If the Black Wing Sword continued to absorb voraciously at one place, the
demonic energy within that region would be entirely absorbed, creating a
"demonic energy deficient" region.
At first glance, the high-level cultivators that would be coming here tomorrow
would definitely know that someone was cultivating here!
If they changed place to place and absorbed a little bit of demonic energy from
everywhere, how would they be discovered? In any case, it would be impossible
for the high-level cultivators to know the density of the demonic energy here.
Assume that there were ten cans filled with candy. If Li Yao stole all the
candies from one can, then he would, for sure, be discovered at a moment's
notice.
However, if he secretly stole just one candy from each can, it would be hard to
notice.
For the next hour, Li Yao and the Black Wing Sword shuttled around the demon
beast battlefield. They flew to a place, absorbed some of the demonic energy,
then waved the spirit threads to scatter the remaining demonic energy so that
the specks of red light were evenly distributed as far as possible.
The more the Black Wing Sword absorbed, the more Li Yao shuddered in fear.
Because Li Yao discovered that Little Black’s, this freak's, "appetite" seemed to
be inexhaustible.
In just a short span of one hour, it had already absorbed more than ten times
the amount of demonic energy than Li Yao had!
Moreover, it seemed that it was still restraining itself a little. If he let it absorb
voraciously, it would have even swept clean all the demonic energy here.
"Who the hell actually refined such a magical equipment that could even eat!?"
Li Yao secretly criticized.

The Black Wing Sword wandered in the sea of demonic energy to its heart's
content. It seemed as if it was a glutton who had been hungry for ten straight
days and ten straight nights and had thrown himself into a pool of wine and a
mountain of meat, eating in a manner that could be described as
wholeheartedly.
"Little Black, you can not swallow anymore. If you swallow any more demonic
energy, the density would decrease by too much, and others would easily
notice it! If your hunger still has not been satiated, if worse comes to worst,
wait for me to earn a little bit of money. Then, I will buy you high-grade
crystals that contain a large of spiritual energy to eat!"
Li Yao said with sorrow.
From the appetite shown by the Black Wing Sword, in order to buy crystals for
it to eat, perhaps in just one week, all of Li Yao’s assets would vanish.
The Black Wing Sword's spirit threads danced around as it emitted "Creak
Creak" reluctant noises before using its spirit threads to nod to Li Yao,
seemingly saying, "You said it! High-grade crystals, I'm waiting!"
Only then did it reluctantly retract its spirit threads and flew over to Li Yao's
front.
When Li Yao remembered about those lightning-swift, crazy ten minutes from
earlier, Li Yao's complexion changed. He righteously and sternly said, "Little
Black, let us first come to an agreement. In accordance with the <Basic Laws of
Cultivators>, when riding the sword, the ride should be calm and peaceful. You
must slow down, look around, and only then should you cross ahead. You
absolutely can not fly chaotically! That's why, in the returning journey, you
must—"
He was not even able to finish speaking before the Black Wing Sword had
already started making "creak creak" sounds of impatience and appeared
beneath his feet. With one vigorous move, Li Yao was pulled up before a strong
suction appeared, pulling Li Yao firmly to the sword's body—the whole thing
made his balls ache!
"Boom! Boom Boom Boom Boom!"
After absorbing enough demonic energy, the Black Wing Sword turned even
wilder. It had not yet taken off, but a torrential jet stream was already being
discharged from the back of its hilt. Its blade was madly shaking as round after
round of ripples rapidly proliferated and spread in the air!
"Let me down! I will just walk back!" Li Yao screamed.
Too late, the Black Wing Sword released a thick black mist that completely
enveloped Li Yao as the sword and the human duo soared into the sky,
breaking through the clouds and appearing beyond the ninth heaven in the
blink of an eye.
Thereafter, the Black Wing Sword, inch by inch, pushed its sword tip as it
gradually aligned towards the desolate land ten thousand meters below them!

"W-what are you doing? I don't have any injustice or any hatred with you. And
last night, didn't I even oiled you and help you removed the rust!?"
Li Yao repeatedly screamed as his legs went limp and his balls went soft in
fear.
From the scabbard came the sounds of metal rubbing against each other,
sounding as if it was mocking him. A large mass of black mist surged out in the
star space behind Li Yao, forming two black wings that spanned over a
hundred meters.
The Black Wing Sword transformed into a black stream of light as it whizzed
straight towards the ground!
TLN:
[1] The author wanted to give a scene where the spiritual energy is highly
concentrated to the point that it had become a semi-liquid and semi-solid
entity. Semi-liquid and semi-sold because the temperature and pressure were
high, so I think “plasma” would better fit the description.
[2] Sources of trouble, grief, etc.