Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The bandits and thugs all whispered to each other. They had always been tough and arrogant on the surface. Never had anyone treated them so disrespectfully before.

However, the brutality of the skeleton lizards a moment ago was still deeply etched to their hearts. Also, because of the immense pressure of the infinite rocks outside, and seeing that the Fist King and Xiahou Wuxin, the two top experts, did not complain, those bandits could only swallow their dissatisfaction and glare at the mysterious female warrior, Zuo Jingyun, in silence.

Xiahou Wuxin looked at the Fist King and had to greet her. “I am Xiahou Wuxin, the leader of Liberty City. In any case, we must thank Sister Zuo for saving our lives.”

“Of course, you are the leader of Liberty City and a dog of the City in the Sky.”

Intense mockery flowed out of Zuo Jingyun’s eyes. She scoffed, “Shouldn’t you be credited for what became of Liberty City today and the miserable deaths of so many people in the angels’ games?”

“What!”

Hearing that, a lot of thugs and bandits jumped to their feet, their eyes of surprise and fury turning into sharp blades and stabbing into Xiahou Wuxin.

“Leader Xiahou, did you know earlier that the City in the Sky would throw those weird monsters down?”

“What has been going on exactly? Xiahou Wuxin, you must explain yourself today!”

“Damn it. Is this a trap, too? Why? Why do you want us dead? We have always been loyal to the City in the Sky!”

Xiahou Wuxin did not expect the tough vixen to reveal his biggest secret without any hesitation. He was also surprised at Zuo Jingyun’s knowledge. For a moment, he was lost for words.

Li Yao thought of something. Although it was different from what he had imagined, he had vaguely guessed who the woman was.

The Fist King glanced at everybody behind him and commanded them to shut their mouths with his aggressive eyes. Then, he continued the conversation. “I am ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie, and I’m not a dog of Manjusaka. I believe that I’m qualified to ask who you are and why you saved us.”

Many tough bandits who were less perceptive only realized at this moment that ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie’s soul was lurking inside the mysterious but relentless iron body.

The man had not been killed after blasting Manjusaka with Great Iron City. He truly deserved to be called the best expert of the Land of Sins!

Zuo Jingyun was apparently much friendlier to the Fist King. Perhaps because she had seen the scene where the Fist King charged at the City in the Sky, she appeared to be quite sympathetic toward him. Lowering her voice, she said, “The entire Land of Sins is a nightmare, and we are the people who woke up from the nightmare earlier than the rest. That’s all.”

“Therefore,” the Fist King said coldly, “you also understand that the so-called Land of Sins is essentially an enormous laboratory and that we are the chess pieces, the props, the toys, and the test subjects for Manjusaka?”

A hint of surprise beamed out of Zuo Jingyun’s eyes. She nodded and said, “As expected of the Fist King. You are indeed different from the common bandits of the Land of Sins. It was certainly worthwhile to rescue you, even though it meant that I had to take away those scoundrels, too.”

The bandits and thugs naturally could sense the obvious mockery and derision in the woman’s words, but their attention was all too deeply attracted by ‘nightmare’ and ‘laboratory’ in their conversation for them to bother anything else. They all exclaimed, “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“You’ve known the whole time, haven’t you, that the world we are living in is abnormal?” Zuo Jingyun sneered. “The desolate, scarred land that is filled with pollution and radiation after hundreds of years of recovery, the relief assets projected from the sky regularly that have more weapons than food, and the ‘old grandpas’ and the supplementary population who have lost all their memories.

“If they want to destroy us, all the sinners will be starved to death if no assets are sent down for several years.

“If they want to save us, just give us some more food, help us figure out a way to clear and revive the land, or even open the sky so that we can escape into space. They are all solutions.

“No destruction, no salvation, but keeping the Land of Sins in a storm of blood where the strong prey on the weak through arduous efforts, reducing everybody in the Land of Sins into… animals wearing human skin just like you.

“Have you never considered the reason for everything and what the sinners mean to the high and mighty angels? Do they have more dangerous and malicious purposes than ‘destruction’ when they domesticate us in such a way?

“Yes. I’m afraid that all of you have given it some thought before and even found some answers on your own. However, you seemingly strong and fearless thugs are in fact nothing more than cowardly pussies. You are already satisfied as long as you can struggle to survive. You do not have the courage to open your eyes to face the devastating truth, much less fighting against the enemy that can never be defeated.”

A lot of the bandits were rendered speechless and lowered their heads deeply.

Some other people burst into fury and rose up. “What’s the meaning of this? Explain yourself! Don’t think that you are qualified to lecture me just because you saved my life!”

“Oh? Are you throwing a tantrum? Good. It means that there is still a tiny bit of manhood in your heart.”

Keeping her artificial arm behind her back, Zuo Jingyun said emotionlessly, “‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie told you the truth just now. Everybody in the Land of Sins, including your ancestors and your offspring, is a test subject or a ‘game prop’ that the angels, or the Immortal Cultivators, have raised. The angels use you to test the latest magical equipment and techniques. Of course, the weaponized mutated beasts such as the skeleton lizards visit the Land of Sins occasionally to reap your lives, which is a thrilling game for many people.

“Do you know what a ‘zoo’ is? If you don’t, you must know what an ‘arena’ or a ‘slave market’ is, right? For the angels, the entire Land of Sins is an enormous arena and slave market. We are all their toys that are absolutely at their mercy. They can ravage and crush us however they want.”

All the bandits fell silent.

The anger of the bandits who burst into fury a moment ago was frozen on their faces.

“Well—Well—Well…”

Hisses were echoing from their throats, like a drunkard deeply mired in a swirl who finally became sober and realized his distressing doom the moment before he was swallowed by the swirl.

Zuo Jingyun smiled. “If you think that I am exaggerating, I believe that ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie and Xiahou Wuxin can certainly tell you a lot more things from different perspectives. But I think most of you have long sensed something, haven’t you? What can you do even if you know it? You only waste away your life with whoring, gambling, and fighting without any courage to face such a truth.”

A lot of people took a deep breath, as if the bones all over their body had been crushed into powder and spat out with the breath. They collapsed to the floor like mud.

With disgust on her face, Zuo Jingyun snorted. “I know that people like you who can only bully the weak but never have the courage to challenge the strong will be absolutely useless. If I were the one who made the call, I certainly would never have dug to the surface and rescued you at the risk of being exposed and traced. But it was an order from the organization that I could not change. So, do not think that you are of any significance. You are all garbage in my eyes!”

“Organization?” ‘Angry’ was not a parameter in the Fist King’s real logical circuits. He continued his questioning peacefully. “What organization?”

Zuo Jingyun thought even more highly of the Fist King. She replied succinctly, “Starlight.”

“Ah!” Han Te and Liu Li could not help but exclaim in excitement.

Over the past two days, they had heard a lot about Starlight and the Cultivators. They were very curious about the mysterious organization.

They did not expect that Starlight really existed and even boasted such a powerful ‘earthly dragon’ as a vehicle while it continued the resistance. Their eyes beamed with interest, and they were full of fondness and respect for Zuo Jingyun.

Zuo Jingyun moved her eyes over, only to be slightly dazed. She did not expect to see such two pleasant-looking little fellows among so many hideous, brutal bandits. She was particularly surprised by Liu Li, whose young and stubborn face had the air of tranquility and brightness that were entirely different from the common bloodthirsty bandits.

Zuo Jingyun slightly frowned, wondering how the two unusual teenagers survived to this day in the gory war.

Meanwhile, Li Yao observed the vehicle in great interest. Judging from the technology and the resource consumption in order to build ‘earthly dragon’, the scale of Starlight certainly far exceeded his imagination, which was quite… uncanny!

Zuo Jingyun held her head high and said, “We are the real survivors of ‘Judgment Day’. We know that ‘Judgment Day’ was not a civil war of the Martial Meritocrats Sector but a destructive attack launched by the Immortal Cultivators at the Cultivators of the Martial Meritocrats Sector.

“Our ancestors have been resisting the evil reign of Manjusaka since hundreds of years ago. Some of the resisters even escaped into space before the sky was completely sealed and dealt with the enemy in the boundless sea of stars.

“The resisters that stayed on the planet, to avoid the surveillance from the high sky and the bombardment of the railguns that are everywhere, marched into the underground world. The ruins of the thousands of underground cities left by the Martial Meritocrats Civilization and the forsaken mines were all our battlefields. We raged and galloped on ‘earthly dragon’, the super penetrator, and attacked the enemy everywhere. Even to this day, the angels, or the Immortal Cultivators, cannot find a way to completely annihilate us!

“Right now, you have ‘woken up’, too. Now that you have been informed of the truth, the City in the Sky will certainly not let any of you go. You don’t have a choice except to follow us back to our base. It happens that we have some missions for scoundrels like you.”