Chapter 46: The Refiners’ Holy Land  

Strivon / Ash Editor: Geoffrey / Lancent

The purple-clothed old man paused for a moment. Then, a dozen dark, dull, and completely ordinary flying swords floated and emerged from behind his back. They spun and circled randomly above the numerous students’ heads. From time to time, the flying swords would perform maneuvers at rapid speeds within a small area. They dove, they turned, and they flipped, causing the observing students to cry out in surprise over and over.

With a laugh, the purple clothed old man spoke, “All students, if the recent demonstration of the Anti-Demon Beast Defense System was not enough to satisfy you, then look at the latest ‘Unmanned Autonomous Flying Swords” crafted by our Deep Sea University. These flying swords come in two models. The Alpha Model can be controlled through a dedicated crystal processor remote control system, allowing for operation of the Flying Sword at a distance over 10,000 miles away from the cultivator controller. And these Beta Models you see here are completely and thoroughly unmanned and autonomous. There are absolutely no cultivators controlling these flying swords!”

“If there’s no one to operate them, how are they able to fly by themselves?” There were students who could not hold back from asking questions.

“In the Master CPU in these types of flying swords, we employ a completely new type of glyph array architecture. We are able to input several hundreds of thousands of telepathic commands in advance to simulate all the possible situations that may arise in battle, and have it run the proper pre-installed combat programs in response. This is our miraculous Unmanned Autonomous technology! Of course, to actually research and develop this technology is not as easy as I described. The Unmanned Autonomous Flying Sword was just recently created; it still contains many problems. All students, if you’re interested then you might as well apply to our Deep Sea University. Together, we can research, develop, and perfect miraculous artifacts such as these!” the purple-clothed old man said beaming with smiles.

Li Yao watched the unmanned autonomous flying swords fly about through the air. He felt his heart stir and automatically thought of Black Wing.

Black Wing also flew about without Li Yao issuing commands to it. It even lies in front of the hologram projector, humming and buzzing, singing and dancing. It simply didn’t seem like an artifact, but rather an actual living being.

When compared with these Unmanned Autonomous Flying Swords, Black Wing’s “Intelligence” was clearly on a much higher level.

Anyways, his old man had once said that Black Wing was a relic found in a historical ruin in another Greater Thousand World. An entire lifetime of research and study was not enough to crack Black Wing’s architecture. He even couldn’t crack open Black Wing’s shell.

His old man had speculated that Black Wing should be the product of a different Cultivator Civilization on a higher level.

It’s already amazing enough that Deep Sea University was able to craft these kinds of flying swords that didn’t need cultivators to control them!

Right at this moment, an unmanned flying sword suddenly flipped around and swept past over Li Yao’s head. Li Yao felt an itch in his mind. He instinctively reached out with his hand, wanting to grasp the flying sword by its hilt.

As soon as his fingers were about to make contact with the hilt, the flying sword vibrated chaotically to create an azure blue glow. Like that of an electric eel, an electric arc flashed and struck Li Yao’s fingers.

“IT HURTS!”

Li Yao pulled back his hand; his fingers had turned black. He looked once more at the flying sword that continued to circle above his head. From time to time, the sword exploded maliciously with azure electricity.

With his tongue stuck out from fear, Li Yao contracted his neck. He no longer dared to be so reckless.

The purpled-clothed old man chuckled as he walked to be in front of Li Yao. He said, “This student, you should now know just how amazing the Unmanned Autonomous Flying Sword is. Fortunately, in time, the flying sword will be able to figure out your identity of being a civilian. If it had recognized you as a Demon Beast or a Demonic Cultivator, then you would have long been beheaded! Come, let me look at your hand. To see if you’re injured.”

As Li Yao obediently reached out with his hand, his mind was actually revolving with interest. He did the utmost to figure out a method to break the Unmanned Autonomous Flying Sword.

“Huh?”

The purple-clothed old man’s faced leaked out a trace of an astonished and happy expression. His smiling expression intensified. “This student, do you often do Artifact maintenance in your free time?”

Li Yao stared, stunned he asked, “How do you know?”

“I can feel that your hands are different from the common person. This kind of pliable and tough feeling should be from the growth of calluses that are later worn away. Then grown again. Then worn away. This must have happened over and over for at least a dozen times to produce your hands. Additionally, the muscles of your palm produce subtle responses. It’s impossible for other people to have these hands, only experienced Artifact technicians have these kinds of hands. How about it? Do you want to apply to our Deep See University?” the purple clothed old man asked being completely cordial.

Li Yao took a look at the Anti-Demon Beast Defense System. Then, he took a look at the Unmanned Autonomous Flying Sword circling over his head. With a forceful nod, he said, “I have a dream that one day I will become a Refiner — to craft the most powerful Artifact of the Federation!”

“Of the top ten Master Refiners in the Federation, seven of them graduated from our Deep Sea University. Deep Sea University is the Holy Land for Refiners! My name is Xie Tingxian. I’m a scout for our Deep Sea University in Arena 571. You’re pretty good. I’ll pay special attention to you during the competition, so be sure to give a good performance!” The purple clothed old man patted Li Yao on the shoulder. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by a blob of different students.

“Wow!”

From outside the crowd, Zheng Dongming cried out quite exaggeratedly, “You actually met Deep Sea University’s scout! He’s very influential and probably has some authoritative power for special admittance. As long as he chooses you, you won’t even need to take the entrance exams. You can be admitted directly into Deep Sea University! I should have known to let the flying sword shock me too just then!”

“You still need to be chosen in order to get in!”

Although Li Yao spoke without thinking, his heart was actually beating wildly. He was nervous, excited, happy… various feelings were tangled into a complex knot. It caused his emotions to be stirred to the peak.

Deep Sea University was the ideal university in his mind. He absolutely needed to give a good performance during the Limit Challenge Competition to make this Xie Tingxian sit up and notice him!

Having already determined his number one goal, the other universities no longer appealed as much to him. Li Yao and Zheng Dongming circled around the ship’s hold, completing a circle. They didn’t pay particular attention to the remaining universities and were preparing to leave. At this time, they suddenly discovered that there was still a small exhibition hall in the deepest corner.

The other universities had decorated their areas to be quite lavish; their setup featured state of the art technology. When comparing the exhibition halls that drew in people, this hall was really extremely unpresentable. There wasn’t even a single student taking a look inside. There was only a lonely staff member sitting in the depths of the hall.

Li Yao raised his head to look. On top were the written words “Grand Desolate War Institution!”.

“Is this also one of the Nine Elites? Why is this place so abandoned? No one wants to apply to this school?” Li Yao asked with utter curiosity.

Zheng Dongming glanced at the sign and couldn’t help laughing. “The Grand Desolate War Institution has the worst internal resources. Their overall true strength is the weakest, and they’re located in the nastiest of places, the Demon Beast Wasteland…. But these factors aren’t enough to make this hall this abandoned. The main reason lies in their ‘Combat Department’ that the Grand Desolate War Institution is most famous for. They are experts in educating people who temper their bodies to walk the martial path, the Body Practitioners. It is said that the most extreme Body Practitioners even forego all Artifacts. They believe that the body is the strongest and is the sole and only Artifact. They rely purely on their fists to fight Demon Beasts. They’re simply a group of lunatics!”

Li Yao, upon hearing his words, also agreed considerably with him.

He was born in the Artifact Graveyard. He was an expert at taking any item he can get and use it as a weapon. It was beyond stupid to rely solely on his two fists to fight hand-to-hand against his enemies.

Zheng Dongming continued, “The cultivation philosophy of the Grand Desolate War Institution has a bit of logic behind it. Because of the environment around the Grand Desolate Region is of the worst quality, resources are in short supply. Quite a few powerful artifacts with precise architectures are excessively worn-out due to overuse after using them a few times in such a bad environment, to never be used again. This kind of extreme environment is what fostered those who relied purely on their fleshly bodies, the Body Practitioners! But in the South East Region, all cultivators specialize in using Artifacts. These types of martial art methods are very unpopular here. And in addition, tempering the body is incomparably painful. Traversing the Path of Body Tempering means to endure eighty-one torments for even a slight chance of success… What do you think? Among us South-Easterners, who would rack their brains deciding to walk the Path of Body Tempering?”

Pausing for a bit, Zheng Dongming suddenly thought of something. He tapped his head saying, “I almost forgot. Your Crimson Nimbus Second produced a cultivation genius Fiend Blade Peng Hai. He decided to go with the Grand Desolate War Institution. He’s not an extreme Body Practitioner though, he’s a Sword Cultivator.“

“This is the university that Fiend Blade Peng Hai studied at?” A light flashed in Li Yao’s eyes. A strand of interest towards the Grand Desolate War Institution was born in Li Yao.