Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

As the reborn Pirate Potentate lunged at the stars, the capital city of the Star Glory Federation was also embracing a new dawn.

The first morning glow that ripped apart the dark clouds had appeared in the sky, and the golden, red fire was rising on the horizon. However, most of the sky was still enveloped in darkness. The temperature was close to zero, as if the dark night had been frozen. There was no telling how much longer it would take before true brightness came.

For all the middle school students, especially the boarding students, it was a night that they would never forget.

The evacuation for teenagers had begun the previous day. Children in kindergartens, elementary school, and some middle high schools were the first to be evacuated.

However, before all the middle school students were moved to the underground fortresses, the evacuation operation somehow came to a halt. A lot of soldiers of the federal army were simply dispatched to the schools as guards, making the hotblooded, agitated boys and girls spend a sleepless night in the forest of guns, cannons, and blades.

Everybody knew that the competition that would decide the fate of the federation was ongoing in the sky, but the news about the space battlefield was still strictly blocked. The announcement of the federal government was getting old, too, when it repetitively asked the citizens to stay at home or school, listen to the command of the federal army and the police, and maintain basic social order. All the veterans and Cultivators whose spiritual roots were awakened were required to report for duty at the nearest army station or sign up on the Spiritual Nexus and wait for their mission.

As for the outcome of the final battle, none of the kids knew it yet.

“Fatty, hurry, hurry!”

“Big Head, keep your voice down. I wouldn’t have brought you with us had I known that you were so clumsy. Nobody will get away if you cause any noise!”

“Jump. Jump already! The three of us are all holding up for you down here. Why did you bother to come with us if you dare not jump?”

In a remote corner of No. 29 High School in the capital city, on an inconspicuous wall, three boys and a girl jumped off in a row.

The girl seemed to have twisted her ankle when she jumped down and moaned in pain, which only raised even more complaints from the boys.

Then, the fat boy carried the girl, and the four of them snuck toward the downtown area carefully and stealthily.

The four high school students were all in the most energetic and ambitious age. Their parents were all members of the federal army, and they had all grown up listening to the battle tales of the federal army and the Cultivators. They had absolutely no doubt that one day, or even maybe that day, they would take over their parents’ flags and become the heroes in new stories.

Tiny hairs had just grown out of the boys’ lips, and the girl’s had already risen up last summer like a balloon that had been filled with air. Yet, they felt that they were grown-ups who were qualified and capable enough of doing something great—anything great.

Their classmates had been caged in the dormitories a whole night, like a bunch of squeaky chickens that were locked in an impregnable box, and were almost suffocated. Therefore, the four of them had volunteered to go outside and get some updates of the latest situation.

“We are going to the federal square in the downtown area. It is very close to the Federal Media Center. All the latest news will be displayed on the main light beam in the federal square.”

Pretending to be sophisticated, the four high school students had explained their plan to their classmates.

“Besides, even if we cannot learn anything from the federal square, we will know what is happening based on the movement and morale of the army on the street.”

Just like that, the four high school students snuck out and strutted off.

Having the hope of all their classmates on their shoulders and savoring the ecstasy of breaking school rules, they were almost jogging when the two completely different feelings turned into fresh and stimulating strength.

The capital city was the opposite of what they had seen during the day.

Traffic control had been implemented in the sky. The overwhelming rivers of shuttles were no more. Only the armed shuttles of the military were swooping like iron eagles now and then.

Temporary barricades had been established on the street. A lot of crystal tanks had parked nearby. Construction materials and spiritual puppets were standing by, too, and could upgrade the sites into semi-permanent barricades anytime, showing the determination of street battles and not leaving anything to the Immortal Cultivators even if the capital city was razed.

The glass windows of the glamorous skyscrapers were all blocked by plate armor. Like wordless tombstones, they told the resolution of the federal people in silence.

“Look!” the girl suddenly explained while pointing at something far away.

The boys followed the direction of her finger, only to discover that a hundred pillars of light that were higher and thicker than skyscrapers rose up amid the skyscrapers.

The ivory pillars of light rose to the sky like barrels vertical to the ground, piercing through the dark clouds into the sky.

Even the intense dark clouds could not withstand the power of the light pillars. Tremendous waves spread out, as if they would be completely shredded in the next second and reveal the blue sky.

“Are they cannons?” The girl’s voice was shaking as she was deeply awed by the splendid view.

“No. It is the defense array of the highest level in the capital city,” the boy who was shortest and wearing a pair of round glasses said. “My dad mentioned it before. Such a defense array can open a super enormous spiritual shield more than three kilometers in diameter, which is strong enough to withstand a bombardment from beyond the atmosphere for… at least twenty-four hours.”

The teenagers all fell silent.

They recalled the frantic rumors from the previous night again.

It was said that if the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings truly won the space battle, they would swagger in the sky of the capital planet.

They did not need to launch an assault on the ground at all. It was more likely that they would pull tremendous enormous meteoroids and install the cheapest engine units behind them before bombarding the capital city and the main industrial cities accurately with the meteoroids. No street battles were needed at all for them to destroy the people’s will.

“Anyways… we will win.” The fat boy waved his arms. “If the sky is lost, we will retreat to the mountains for some guerilla warfare. Ten years, twenty years, fifty years. We will take back the federation one day!”

“Exactly!” One of the boys, whose head was particularly big, said thoughtfully, “Think about it. It took thirty thousand years for the humans to take back the universe in the past. What’s the big deal about several decades? We will win… eventually!”

Freezing coldness found its way into their collars and sleeves, making the four teenagers shudder hard.

But they did not stop because of that. Instead, they continued walking forward against the wind.

After only a short while, when they passed by an artificial lake, they discovered, somewhat to their surprise, an old man next to it.

The old man was covered in metal from head to toe, and even his face was a cold mask, suggesting that he should be a spectral Cultivator who had lost his body in an accident.

The reason they thought that he was an ‘old man’ was because his movements were rigid, as if he had become so rusted that he might fall apart at any moment.

When they saw the old man, the old man was doing a thing that was quite common usually but extremely strange at a moment like this—he was feeding birds.

There were a lot of birds near the lake. A lot of people often dropped by to feed the birds, too.

But none of them had ever attracted as many birds as the old, weary spectral Cultivator. Not only did they show up around him, they even landed on him as if they were naturally intimate with him and not scared of the cold, mechanical body at all.

“That is impressive. How did he do it?”

“A war is going on. Why is someone feeding birds here? Who is he?”

The teenagers discussed the scene with great curiosity when rumbling laughter erupted from the metal chest of the old man, which shocked all four teenagers.

The old man laughed blatantly and soul-stirringly as if he were the only person in the world. The whole lake was filled up by his laughter. Even the overwhelming dark clouds were ripped by the wild laughter and emitted golden brilliance!

While he was laughing, the old man’s voice and scent gradually died down.

He had been squatting on the ground to play with the birds, but he could not hold his heavy body anymore and fell to the ground. The big head lowered inch after inch.

“Grandpa!”

Anxiously, the girl was the first to move forward, and the three boys followed her closely to carry the old man. But the old man simply waved his hands at them, hinting for them not to get close.

“Danger,” the old man said in a clear voice.

Then, black flames surged out of his metal skull.

The black flames raged and struggled hard, as if a certain discontent and hateful force was being burnt and obliterated!

As the force perished, the last vitality of the old man was finally gone. He was like a golden match that turned gray after being burnt up.

When the girl finally supported the old man to his feet, she only heard him saying something weird in a blurred voice. Then, no voice was uttered ever again from the hollow metal chest.

The boys waved and shouted on the street. Three minutes later, the police and the federal army finally came. Soon, the ambulance arrived.

It was supposed to be a common case of the sudden death of a senior, which was even less surprising when the victim was an old and weary spectral Cultivator.

But after the doctors opened the metal skull of the old man and discovered traces of brain cells inside, the case became weird.

The police searched for the number on the old man’s artificial body, only to find that it was an illegal body that was not registered in the authorities, and the case became even trickier than before.

“You said that he said something weird before his death. What was it?”

The police officers frowned and stared at the four panicked, overwhelmed teenagers.

The teenagers looked at each other in bewilderment. The old man’s last words were too complicated for them to comprehend.

“Don’t be nervous. Let’s think about it slowly. Even if you do not understand the meaning, you can still just repeat the syllables to me. It is very important for us to confirm the identity of the deceased,” a female officer said to them gently but firmly.

The teenagers scratched their faces and still could not figure out what it was. Their faces were all blushing.

Right then, glittering roars echoed on the horizon, and the sun finally broke free from the boundary of darkness and rose high into the sky.

Cheers and noises came from the downtown area. Certain great news seemed to be spreading across the entire city, the entire planet, and the entire federation in a boiling storm.

The girl widened her eyes. She finally understood what the old man had mumbled.

“I—I get it now. The old grandpa’s last words seemed to be—”

Puffing her cheeks, she changed into the old man’s posture and looked at the infinite sky beyond, saying with great relief, “The juniors have finally destroyed the bandits!”