Forty Millenniums of Cultivation - Chapter 1899
Chapter 1899: Hundred-Year Glory
‘Green Willow’ Fang Chengzhi was dragged into the ‘Museum of the Star Glory Federation’s Hundred-Year Glory’ by his father, only to feel as if he had walked from one dream into another dream that was even deeper. The light around him dimmed, making him wonder if he had fallen into yet another trap.
However, when he remembered that Xue Longhu, a renowned expert at the peak of the Core Formation Stage, had been electrocuted and that his father who had always been sophisticated was deeply enticed, Fang Chengzhi could not help but sigh and decide that he might as well take things as they came.
As it turned out, nobody was going to kill or mince him in the museum. Perhaps because it was not officially open yet, few Cultivators from the federation could be seen there.
Fang Chengzhi did see a lot of experts and well-respected seniors in the corners who had been famous for a long time. Like his father, they were all wearing a Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars emblem on their chest and a red band on their arm. There were various abbreviations on the red band. Some said A. C.[A. C. stands for Administration Committee.], some said B. C.[B. C. stands for Business Committee.], and some were I. B.[1]. Fang Chengzhi assumed that they were all departments in the new regime.
The most surprising red band of all, however, had three words sewn on—Iron Tower Corporation.
Fang Chengzhi had absolutely no idea what the ‘Iron Tower Corporation’ was. He doubted that the expert wearing the red band knew, too.
It was because Fang Chengzhi remembered that the expert who was brawny and almost two meters tall had a nickname in the world of Cultivators as ‘the tower that holds the sky’.
He had probably chosen the department in confusion because of his own nickname.
Although the people there had also been imprisoned in Angry Fire Mountain, the atmosphere there was vastly different from that of the outside world.
The Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector who were still being identified and investigated on the starships were all living in panic and fright, like dogs who had lost their home.
The Cultivators here, however, were like giant mice who had crawled into a warehouse of food. They were all fat, satisfied, and wearing mysterious smiles. Every now and then, they would look at each other, communicating with their eyes. What a happy and joyful place it was.
Seeing that the father and son of the Fang family had walked in, a lot of people looked at them with envy and jealousy. But there was not much malevolence in their eyes. Everybody seemed to have been fed up and was too lazy to fight each other over some petty interests.
Fang Chengzhi lowered his voice and said, holding back his smile, “Do you see? Of all the fellow Cultivators and seniors here, some have a higher Cultivation than mine and a stronger sect than the Green Cloud Sword Sect. But just because they failed to change their mindset quickly enough, I was the one who stood up first to answer the call of the government and sell our properties, mines, and other possessions.
“As it turns out, we were the first to enjoy the reward. We have been given the most shares and the most favorable terms. Also, we have won the favor of the people above. That Vulture Li Yao even patted my shoulder in person and said that the Glorious Sunlight Group under his name would cooperate with the Green Cloud Sword Sect well in the future! You don’t know how jealous those people are. This trip to Angry Fire Mountain has turned out to be a blessing in disguise after all!”
Fang Chengzhi nodded quickly. Having no time to pay his respects to the seniors around him, he was dragged into a round floating disc by his father. The floating disc rose to half an inch from the ground and carried the two of them forward.
Shua!
Vivid Grand Illusionary Lands were opened around them. Panoramic illusions that even had flavors immediately grabbed Fang Chengzhi’s attention. He forgot all about the experts and seniors.
Due to the limitation of the environment, the exhibition of the Star Glory Federation’s hundred-year glory was mainly panoramic videos played in the Grand Illusionary Land.
Even so, a lot of the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector were dazzled and stunned, not to mention a youngster like ‘Green Willow’ Fang Chengzhi.
The panoramic videos were divided into five parts. At the very beginning, two giant words smashed into Fang Chengzhi’s eyes—National Treasure!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Accompanied by the deafening mechanical fulminations, melted steel was running and splashing. Squeezed, stretched, cut, and purified by the super-enormous machinery that was as large as mountains, pieces of alloys that were as irregular as meteorites from outer space were produced.
The light and shadows flashed, and the picture changed again. Components that were even larger than floating mountains were applied to the roads and bridges inside the stretch of mountains, the orbit ring beyond the atmosphere, the mines on the resource planets, and even the behemothic starships like the tough bones of the beasts that roamed the sea of stars!
The bridges almost a thousand meters high with a span of hundreds of thousands of meters, the orbit ring outside of the atmosphere where transportation could only be conducted through vacuum shuttles, and the hundreds of warships that were docked at the star fortresses modified from asteroids… The magnificence of this great industry and the modern miracles made Fang Chengzhi’s heart race and his nostrils flare. He felt as if his heart was exploding, and he almost held his head and screamed.
Deities’ realm! That was the real deities’ realm!
Such a powerful Star Glory Federation and such unbelievable divine techniques!
His legs suddenly lost all strength. Had his father not sent a stream of spiritual energy into his body in time, he would have kneeled on the ground and worshipped what he saw in tears.
The second group of pictures was lit in the darkness up ahead with the title ‘Marvelous Handicraft!’
A moment ago, everything had been huge, but all the items displayed became tiny. The only thing that could be seen was a clean and tidy factory of magical equipment. There was not the crowd or the messiness of the refining workshops in the Ancient Sages Sector. A couple of Cultivators were all the workers there, operating attentively in front of the control panel on one side of the room.
On the dozens of assembly lines connected to the control panel, the mechanical arms powered by spiritual energy made the most agile and deft movements. Chainswords, vibration sabers, and high-heat axes took shape, became sharpened, and were produced just like that!
As the picture zoomed in, it could be seen that dozens of needles as tiny as hairs extended out of the end of every mechanical arm. At a speed beyond the recognition of the naked eye, they bounced quickly and embedded the super-tiny crystals and components deep into the magical equipment, making the melee weapons more energy-efficient, intelligent, and stable.
“Well…”
Fang Chengzhi’s eyes were bulging hard as he observed it, not believing it at all.
In less than ten minutes, a hundred swords and sabers had been produced. Not just marvelous weapons for the Cultivators, even the common blades for the army of ordinary people could not have been made so fast!
To this day, he still remembered that his father had once spent years forging a Green Lotus Heart Breaking Sword with arduous work. But something had gone wrong at the end. The furnace had been unable to bear the blast of spiritual energy and had cracked. Years of effort had proved futile!
In the deities’ realm, after only one yawn, hundreds of marvelous weapons had been crafted. How could they expect to compete with the deities’ realm?
The production of the marvelous weapons in the deities’ realm left such a deep impression on Fang Chengzhi that he was not as stunned when he watched ‘leveled scanning of macromolecules’, ‘micro-carving at the mustard-seed level’, or ‘super-steady and high-speed network across galaxies’ because he had absolutely no idea what those concepts were. The federal government’s introduction was more or less like flirting with someone blind.
However, after they reached the third part, ‘Peaceful Life’, Fang Chengzhi’s head, which had just cooled down, began boiling again.
A forest of skyscrapers was ablaze with light, making up prosperous cities that he had never seen before!
There was convenient transportation, comfortable houses, infinite delicious food, and fashionable clothes that were too bountiful to wear!
Even the humblest ordinary people could study the history of the entire civilization and explore the future of the Star Glory Federation in bright, clean classrooms. They shared the knowledge of basic techniques for free. Healthy lunch that contained feeble spiritual energy was also supplied to the children!
Fang Chengzhi was utterly dumbfounded.
‘National Treasure’ and ‘Marvelous Handicraft’ were just the techniques in the deities’ realm that were still within the range of his comprehension. But the scenes where ordinary people and Cultivators lived in harmony with each other disrupted all the rules and knowledge that he was aware of.
“Even the common folk in the deities’ realm are so fair, healthy, tall, confident, and respected?
“The people there can actually use the armor of the deities, drive huge boats, or even be nominated as officials in the court?
“How is it possible? How is it possible at all? Why do the deities in the deities’ realm allow the common folk to live such a comfortable life? Is—Is there any ethics and reason at all? Are all the deities out of their minds?”
Fang Chengzhi swallowed hard and felt that his legs were shaking beyond his control.
He was scared. He was truly horrified to the bottom of his heart.
From the smiling faces of the ‘folks of the deities’ realm’, from their clean and neat teeth, he sensed a new strength, one that was unseen and unknown but more powerful and unstoppable than the National Treasure and the Marvelous Handicraft earlier.
Faced with such a strength, he felt as if he was an ant faced with an overwhelming tsunami. All his whining, hatred, anger, and hostility became ridiculous and insignificant.
The fourth scene was Home Defense.
The materials of this section were taken from the space battle three years ago, where the thousands of starships of the Star Glory Federation and the Black Wind Fleet had a confrontation and dozens of Colossi produced the most dazzling sparks in space.
Dwelling in the Grand Illusionary Land, Fang Chengzhi felt as if he was actually floating in space. Ten thousand rays of death pierced through all the space around him. Countless suns were rising before they exploded in the most dazzling way.
Fang Chengzhi could not help but moan in a low voice, like a wild dog that was caught between two tyrannosaurs.
The wars in the deities’ realm were too terrible. Compared to such a soul-stirring confrontation, the fights over the hegemony in the Ancient Sages Sector were nothing but child’s play.
It was not until then that he finally realized that Vulture Li Yao indeed maintained the highest self-control a month ago. If the hundred starships had really roared, it would have been simple for them to turn the entire Angry Fire Mountain into a deep ravine!
[1] I. B. stands for Information Bureau.