Li Yao cried helplessly. His training methods were different from normal Cultivators. Although his combat ability was close to that of the Core Formation Stage, and he could even fight a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator when he was in his best state, the way that his spiritual energy functioned was the way of the Building Foundation Stage after all.
There was a notion called ‘overclocking’ in the field of crystal processors. By special designs, the low-level crystal processors could have the performance of high-level crystal processors’.
Li Yao’s training methods were similar to the idea of overclocking.
But the low-level crystal processors were essentially low-level crystal processors anyway, however much they were overlocked. Many large programs that required high specifications could not be run on them.
“What is Yan Xinjian’s problem? Why did he have to set such a high threshold for the Dream Breaking Arts?” Li Yao cursed aloud. He thought carefully and sighed, realizing that it was only reasonable.
Yan Xinjian had taken everything into consideration. He must have foreseen that, if he offered a common Cultivation art as the password to open the door, the newcomer would definitely be suspicious—why would a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator choose such a simple technique as the key to the door?
There must be something wrong!
It was only reasonable and less suspicious if his own ultimate art was set as the password to the door.
Besides, a mediocre technique commonly seen everywhere might not interest the newcomer at all. But his own ‘ultimate art’ would certainly be much more tempting.
On the other hand, the Dream Breaking Arts was the summary of Yan Xinjian’s lifelong experience as a Cultivator. The essence of his countless other techniques had been embedded into it. When other people picked it up, their body and soul would gradually morph toward Yan Xinjian’s original body, until they became ripe for possession.
After Yan Xinjian successfully took over the body, he would immediately be controlling the body free at will. There would not be much rejection at all.
It was a perfect plan.
But it was now a major headache for Li Yao.
I cannot open the door until I reach the sixth level of the Dream Breaking Arts, and I cannot reach higher than the fourth level of the Dream Breaking Arts until I advance into the peak of the Core Formation Stage even though I can practice the first three levels.
But I am not even in the Core Formation Stage yet!
Can I afford to stay here and train myself until I reach the peak of the Core Formation Stage?
This place is indeed the best natural paradise for training in the Flying Star Sector. One day of training here equals to ten days outside. But do I have that much time? The situation outside could escalate at any moment!
Li Yao felt that his heart was burning.
In the ten days that followed, he seized every second and skimmed through the information and files inside the crystal processors. He also groped the wall inch by inch. He even tried to put on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and cut into the wall with the drill of mystic rays.
As a result, the drill of mystic rays and the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit were both serious damaged, and only a shallow trace was left on the wall.
Li Yao adopted almost twenty different examination methods and analyzed the metal powder off the wall. Yet, he could not tell their specific constituents.
He only knew that the material was extremely hard, and its microstructure was similar to the ‘Super Bendable Steel’. It could shift the energy on the point of impact evenly to the entire shell, before the energy was buffered, dissolved, and absorbed by the arc-shaped structure of the shell. The energy would then be transferred to the defense rune arrays.
Li Yao calculated for a whole night and came to the conclusion that, if he refined all the high-purity crystals inside the training room into a super bomb, it was possible that he could blow the door open from the inside with a targeted explosion.
However, the secret training room was fully enclosed, and the spiritual energy had nowhere to run to, which meant that the abundant spiritual energy would destroy everything inside the training room before it destroyed the door.
It would have been difficult for him to survive the explosion even if he hid inside the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
Li Yao was helpless.
Right now, he had only one option.
He had to advance into the peak of the Core Formation Stage in the shortest amount of time possible and grasp the sixth level of the Dream Breaking Arts!
Li Yao took a long breath after he made the decision. He threw away the crystal processor and sat on the ground in a daze.
Countless mice—red, green, black, and white—surrounded him with their tiny eyes wide open and looked at him without blinking.
…
Li Yao’s training log. Day one.
“I never expected that I would be writing a training log. It feels odd. I hope I don’t end up like Yan Xinjian.
“If the day really comes, I will certainly not choose to split my soul and live in the bodies of mice.
“Now that I think about it, the underground of Spider Den and the underground of Boneyard have a lot of amazing similarities.
“In the underground of Boneyard, Gao Xingce, the previous captain of Sparkle, also lived in solitude for hundreds of years in a sealed room. Eventually, his memories faded away and his soul vanished.
“However, Gao Xingce and Yan Xinjian are different.
“Senior Gao Xingce gritted his teeth to live on for an honorable purpose. He was backed by the belief that he was protecting humanity. At the last moment of his life, even if he had wiped out all his memories, he never forgot his family, especially his wife and his children.
“His self-awareness dispersed in the beautiful memories where his wife and his children were in his company. I think that he died a peaceful and gratifying death.
“What about Yan Xinjian?
“For the pursuit of power and strength, he lost his humanity and killed his own wife. His name was rotten, and in the end, he was the victim of his own scheme.
“When his soul gradually faded away in the brains of the mice, who would he be thinking of?
“Right now, I’m going to strive for a higher level and more strength, too.
“If everything goes well, I will advance into the peak of the Core Formation Stage one day. Someday in the future, I may even break into the Nascent Soul Stage and boast the combat ability equal to that of a crystal warship!
“I hope that I can always remember why I pursued strength in the beginning and do not get lost as my strength increases.
“Who should I hope to become if I must choose between Gao Xingce and Yan Xinjian?
“I don’t know whether or not I have the guts to be a hero like Gao Xingce when the moment of decision comes.
“However—
“I will never become Yan Xinjian. Never.”
…
Li Yao’s training log. Day 11.
“I broke six ribs today and got my liver torn apart seriously.
“Thankfully, Yan Xinjian left a lot of advanced medical facilities and healing drugs. After my maintenance, most of the facilities are still running normally.
“Today, I have finally determined the functions of all the training facilities here!
“A Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator is indeed a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. His training methods and the intensity of his training are just insane!
“I have lowered the intensity of most of the training facilities here by several levels, but several key training facilities are not adjustable. I can only train in the level that Yan Xinjian had fixed earlier.
“It is the intensity that a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was used to. I feel scared just thinking about it!
“However, I don’t have a choice.
“It will take about twenty years for a regular Cultivator to advance from the peak of the Building Foundation Stage to the high level of the Core Formation Stage.
“But I don’t have that much time. In five years or so, there will be enough Grand Illusionary Soldiers to form an army. Whatever plans Xiao Xuance has in mind, they will be fully implemented by then!
“If I can only get out of this place after twenty years of training, I’m afraid that the entire Flying Star Sector will be filled with the Grand Illusionary Soldiers and controlled completely by the Immortal Cultivators!
“Therefore, I have no better ways except to try my best!
“I have to break into the peak of the Core Formation Stage in five years and grasp the sixth level of the Dream Breaking Arts!”
…
Li Yao’s training log. Day 33.
“The training is harsh. It is depressing to live alone ten thousand meters below ground, too. I’ve gradually come to feel the same as Yan Xinjian must have years ago, and I understand why he allowed the mice to reproduce freely.
“Because observing the mice is now the only entertainment when I’m not training.
“Many scraps of Yan Xinjian’s soul still reside in the bodies of the mice. A different color represents a different personality. The mice of the same personality form a mini tribe.
“After a month of observation, together with the reference of Yan Xinjian’s training log, I gradually discovered the difference between the mice.
“The red mice stand for Yan Xinjian’s ambitions. Although they are trapped in such a wretched environment, they are still making wild dreams of breaking into the Divinity Transformation Stage and governing the Flying Star Sector.
“The red mice always consider themselves to be kings of the Flying Star Sector. Occasionally, one of the red mice would crawl to the top of their ‘castle’ and wave a tiny cloth, shouting, ‘I’m an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage. I’m the king of the Flying Star Sector!’
“What is most hilarious is that, before the other tribes attack the mouse, the other red mice would crowd forward, drag the mouse down, and rip it into pieces.
“Hehe. It seems that, even if they represent the same personality, they are not the same person. Every one of them thinks that they are the real Yan Xinjian and others are merely clones.
“The green mice stand for the cruelty and cunningness in Yan Xinjian’s mind. Their tribe is deadly silent most of the time. All the mice are crouching in dark corners, rolling their eyes, and formulating funny plots one after another.
“They often come and talk to me, claiming that they are willing to recruit me as their disciple and teach me unparalleled techniques, as long as I bring them out of the place.
“The most hysterical thing is that they have completely forgotten all the techniques other than their plots. Therefore, when I pretend that I agree to their proposal and ask them to provide their techniques, they will be dumbfounded and simply look at me without words, as if they are crystal processors that have crashed.
“The blue mice and the black mice probably stand for the desperation that Yan Xinjian accumulated for five hundred years below the ground. Other than staring at the ceiling dumbly and repeating things like ‘we can’t get out’, they are always discussing the Dark Forest Theory solemnly. Now and then, they grasp their whiskers and say things like ‘It’s too dark, and there’s nowhere to run to.’
“I’ve discovered that they have completely stopped reacting to light. Even when I flash them with the most dazzling lamps, they still simply bemoan that it’s too dark as if nothing happened.
“However, I don’t like the red mice, the green mice, the blue mice, and the black mice.
“I like the mice that are emitting mild white colors best.
“They stand for the greatest loss in Yan Xinjian’s heart, his wife, who was killed by himself.”