Chapter 70: Fiend Star Yao
Strivon / Ash Editor: Geoffrey / Lancent
After gobbling up about a dozen of Ou Yezi’s early memory shards, Li Yao discovered with complete astonishment that what had originally been a multicolored memory shard had become bright and vibrant colored — its radiance flickered brightly!
When his consciousness entered to probe this shard, he discovered that what had originally been an observer role only memory changed to become freely controllable, able to be observed repeatedly!
His resolution grew firmer upon this discovery. As long as his soul gradually grows more powerful, the memory fragments that were originally impossible to control would eventually change into delicious food. They’ll be completely swallowed!
From this moment on, Li Yao seemed to forget the passing of time.
He was like the greediest of thieves who had accidently discovered treasure troves containing the wealth of a nation. He stole with extreme joy, having infiltrated into this trove filled with gold, silver, and gems. The thought of leaving never crossed his mind.
The early memories of Ou Yezi were overturned completely upside down by him; they were wiped completely clean.
Again and again, he repeated the training of the One-Hundred-And-Eight-Hands Chaos-Gale Hammer Technique. It was deeply branded into Li Yao’s soul. He would never forget it.
And in the world of reality, time flowed by at lightning speed.
A week went by in the blink of an eye.
The accident that happened on Devil Flood Dragon Island led to nine competitors dying miserable deaths. One competitor received critical injuries and had entered a coma.
This was a rare tragedy in the history of Limit Challenge Competition in the Federation.
The competition ended abruptly due to this tragedy, and an investigation was launched as well. Soon, it became clear that a competitor had violated the rules by bringing in a doping drug to the competition. Then a Demon Beast stole the drug and underwent an astonishing mutation after injecting it!
However, this competitor was killed at the first moment by the Demon Beast. He had used his own life to pay for his actions.
And the peddler who had sold this competitor the doping drug actually committed suicide after finding out about these matters. This whole matter ended on a completely unsatisfactory note.
Through careful investigation, it was discovered in the underground workshop of this peddler that the Ghost Dragon-7 Drugs he sold weren’t genuine Ghost Dragon-7 Drugs. They were actually mixtures made up of the remains of several different types of doping drugs and strengthening drugs. It was unknown what sort of composition the drug had had.
Only the tyrannical body of a Demon Beast could withstand the ravaging of this sort of knock-off doping drug. If that student had injected the drug, then he might even have exploded and died on the spot.
In this entire matter, what caused people to feel the most regret, aside from the deaths of the nine competitors, was the competitor who received critical injuries, the competitor who had sunk into a coma — Li Yao.
Floating Spear City Local News Media released a series of discussion articles titled “The Fleeting Fiend Star Yao.”
“Student Li Yao was originally a rising star. In the recent Limit Challenge Competition, he produced an unprecedented record, receiving the collective interests of the Nine Elite Universities.
“A young person such as this should have a future radiating with glory, but due to an accident, he lost the chance to tread onto the world of cultivators. His brain received a bizarre mental attack, ripping his pineal gland completely to shreds, dropping his Actualization Quotient down to 7%, to the level of a low-grade elementary school student. Even if he does regain consciousness, he might not be able to ever cultivate again!”
The article was written in a tone of utter regret.
And on the online forums, netizens were engaging in all sorts of discussions.
Quite a few people felt regret for Li Yao one after another. “What a shame. If this accident never happened, he probably would have already been specially enrolled in one of the Nine Elite Universities. It really is too cruel!”
There was also quite a large portion of people who took joy in his misfortune. They spoke with scathing words, “Who told him to be this arrogant? To flip the enter command center of the Blue Team? And kick several dozen people out of the competition? How awesome he was! And now you know what? This accident has just sent him back to where he belongs!”
However, to the majority of people, this was an extremely insignificant matter.
The gargantuan news only lasted with liveliness for three days in this explosive information era of today. Additionally, the entrance exams were coming up. Everyone was training and cramming to the very end. Who would still pay attention to the news of other people?
Wasn’t this just the downfall of a genius?
With the Federation being so large, there were quite a few of the powerful, a few geniuses who experienced all sorts of circumstances, fell into a Qi Deviation, were eaten by Demon Beasts, or were silently killed in guild infightings.
What was Li Yao worth when compared to them?
After a few days of liveliness, the accident that happened on Devil Flood Dragon Island soon sunk to silence. Li Yao, this fleeting Fiend Star, was also forgotten by everyone.
……
A week later. In Floating Spear City’s First Hospital. In the intensive care unit.
A giant metal medical treatment pod was engraved with circles and circles of arcane glyphs on the exterior, forming a giant glyph array.
Over a hundred creamy white crystals were embedded around the Glyph Arrays. They vibrated faintly, emitting ripples that caused one’s mind to be relaxed.
Li Yao laid motionless in the medical pod. The body that lay under the white bed sheets appeared extremely weak and shriveled. Tubes were stuck all over his body. A Soul Calming Talisman was stuck to his forehead.
His eyelids pulsed madly underneath the talisman. He was immersed in an incomparably intense nightmare.
Zhao Shude and Xie Tingxian stood next to his bed. They listened to a white gowned doctor explain Li Yao’s condition.
“Student Li Yao’s body hasn’t actually received much damage, but he is injured from a mental attack by a mutated large-eyed ape. His spirit root is completely lacerated. His neural field has entered into a state of incomparable disorder!”
“His body has automatically sunk into a state of deep sleep in order to protect his brain. Under this state, his brain is like a black hole that’s crazily absorbing energy from his meridians, limbs, and bones all over his body. Look. No matter how much of the strengthening drug and high-energy nutrient solution we inject into his body, it's no use.”
“His mind can consume the equivalent of a month’s or even a year’s volume of energy for an ordinary person’s mind in a second!
The white gowned doctor spoke with admiration.
Zhao Shude asked with a deep frown, “Doctor Gu, from your experience, when will Student Li Yao awaken in the end? Also, his spirit root has been torn, leaving only an Actualization Quotient of 7% left. What are the odds of his spirit root recovering after he awakens?”
The white gowned doctor spoke with a bitter laugh, “Headmaster Zhao, I am truly ashamed. I have never encountered Student Li Yao’s circumstances in my many years since I entered the world of cultivators! The large-eyed ape who attacked him had injected a doping drug to mutate into a mutated form. But this doping drug is formed from a chaotic mess of inferior drugs. No one knows the specific composition, and no one knows how warped the mental attack of this large-eyed ape came to be. And what is even more unknown are the effects on the person’s brain… Under these circumstances, we can only wait!”
The gloominess on Zhao Shude’s face grew more and more concentrated. He spoke somewhat despairingly, “Doctor Gu, you are the number one Meditation Healer of Floating Spear City. You have great academic roots in the field of the mind. Even you are clueless?”
The gowned doctor spoke, “The brains of men are the most complicated and mysterious organs. The field of the mind is even more of a mysterious world incomprehensible by the ordinary person!”
“From the growth of Cultivator Civilization until now, we know the human body like the back of one’s hand, but the brain remains an uncrackable forbidden area!”
“I’ve tried to enter Li Yao’s neural field, but I’ve been obstructed by a wild power each time that nearly sent me to descend to Qi Deviation. It looks likes that doping drug is utterly ferocious to be able to strengthen the large-eyed ape’s mental attack to the peak!”
“No one knows when Student Li Yao will awaken under these circumstances. If his luck is good, he could wake up tomorrow. If his luck is bad, he might spend his entire life in this deep sleep. Nothing is certain.”
After pausing, he continued, “However, there are actually several hundreds of this sort of cases where a critical injury leads to the pineal gland to be torn and Actualization Quotient falling substantially in the past 300 years. The majority of those with torn spirit roots were completely unable to cultivate, becoming cripples. Only an extremely few people were able to recover. At most seven or eight I guess. Therefore, when you ask if Student Li Yao can continue cultivating, my answer is… the probability does not exceed 1%!”
Zhao Shude let out a long sigh. His despair was overflowing in that sigh.
He walked to the corner and turned on the micro crystal processor on his wrist. A cultured and refined middle-aged man appeared on the hologram. It was Crimson Nimbus Guild’s elder, Zhou Yin!
“So there’s no hope?” Zhou Yin could guess from looking at Zhao Shude’s expression. He asked calmly.
“Yea. The doctor also doesn’t know when he’ll wake up. Even if he does wake up, the chances of him cultivating again are less than 1%,” Zhao Shude spoke with complete pity.
Zhou Yin nodded his head and spoke without a change of expression, “It’s somewhat of a pity. However, there’s nothing to be done about it. The world of cultivation is cruel. There are countless geniuses born every second and every second there are countless geniuses who fall. To become a cultivator, one can’t do without having talent, diligence, connections, and luck. He’s a genius, but he lacked luck. Who could be blamed? From now on, all resources we were originally going to throw to him shall be revoked. I remember that your school has Helian Lie and Si Jiaxue who aren’t too bad. Take those resources and give it to these two then!”
“Yes. Your orders are my command, Elder Zhou. Oh right, this Li Yao and Helian Lie have created another misunderstanding on Devil Flood Dragon Island. Board Member Helian is really not happy. What if Li Yao wakes up and they…”
Zhao Shude asked probingly.
Zhou Yin laughed utterly moderately and spoke, “I originally looked upon Li Yao with favor because I took him for young talent worthy to be fostered. But at the present, he’s already become trash. What sort of connection does he have with me now? There’s no need to mention his matters with me anymore.”
“I see.”
Zhao Shude shut his crystal processor. He walked to the side of the doctor and spoke, “Since even Doctor Gu has explained as such, then I can only wait and see what happens. Doctor Gu, I’m going to leave then… Professor Xie, how about you?”
Xie Tingxian hesitated a moment before saying, “I’ll continue waiting.”
Zhao Shude nodded and headed outside.
The instant before he stepped out of the room, he turned around to take another look at Li Yao in the medical pod.
Crimson Nimbus Second’s Headmaster Zhao Shude’s expression turned incomparably cold — it was as if he was looking at a pile of trash.