Forty Millenniums of Cultivation
chapter-544

Inside the Thousand Springs Space Zone, there was a space town named 'Exhilaration'.

The spiritual energy of the Thousand Springs Space Zone was not very abundant. Therefore, there were not many Cultivation sects in the area, and it was mostly ordinary people who lived there.

Deep inside the town, on a plain-looking street, there was a small restaurant with a signboard saying 'Great Happiness Beef Noodles' on the top of the door and a fat, smiling bull head beside it.

It was not meal time yet. A plump girl in her twenties, who had freckles on the two sides of her nose, was washing cabbages in the back of the restaurant.

She seemed to be venting her anger onto the crisp vegetables and almost washed them into powder.

A young man in plain clothes, who had nothing worth mentioning about him except for his exceptionally long fingers, was standing in front of her silently with a suitcase in his hand. He seemed to be all set to go, if he could figure out how to bid the girl farewell.

"Leave! Leave! Leave now! I've got many vegetables to wash and plenty of beef to chop! Stop being an eyesore here!"

The freckled girl suddenly burst into fury and threw one of the cabbages into the basin hard.

Water splashed out into the young man's red eyes.

The young man was quiet for a long time, before he opened his mouth and said softly, "I'm sorry. Zuo Xiaohu is back. Lu Dian is back. They are my best friends. The Great Horn Exo Society is my home. I must go back, too."

The freckled girl wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. Her eyes must've been wet because of the water on her hands. She shouted, "Xiao Gao, I've listened to you talking about the stories of your past since the first day you worked in this restaurant. How happy your days in the Tiger Killer Camp were, how fast Zuo Xiaohu's saber was, what an amazing gunfighter Lu Dian was… I know that they are your good brothers. But—

"You and they are different!

"They are Cultivators who can soar into the sky or dive down a cliff freely!

"What about you? You are just an ordinary person. You are so weak that you cannot even defeat me. The only thing you can ever do well is cook beef noodles! Why are you joining them? What can you do even if you go back?"

Xiao Gao failed to respond promptly. It was not until a moment later that he replied, "Maybe I'm just an ordinary person who can only make beef noodles and omelets. But I figure that the Great Horn Exo Society can always use some chefs, and not all chefs are Cultivators.

"Zuo Xiaohu and Lu Dian are my brothers. They once said that the beef noodles and chicken wings I made were the most delicious food of the Flying Star Sector. They always found themselves full of spirits and their training efficiency greatly improved after they ate them. A meal of mine was more motivating for them than Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were!

"Maybe this is the contribution I can make for the Great Horn Exo Society."

The freckled girl finally couldn't hold it any longer and started crying. "They were all lying. The food you make is awful. The worst in the world! Just stay here, alright? In another few years, when my father retires, he will definitely give the restaurant to you…"

Xiao Gao took a deep breath. Then he suddenly threw away his suitcase, strode toward the freckled girl, and hugged her!

The freckled girl was startled. She struggled out of natural instinct, only to find that the usually soft Xiao Gao was as tough as iron that day.

The freckled girl panicked and yelled, "Xiao Gao, what—what do you want?!"

Xiao Gao said, "Firstly, I believe in my brothers. If they say that the beef noodles I make are the most delicious noodles of the Flying Star Sector, my noodles are definitely so.

"Secondly, I am not weak. The three gangsters who harassed our restaurant last time never showed up again because I broke all their bones and kicked them away.

"I was merely being gentle to you."

While talking, Xiao Gao pushed the girl to a wall and kissed her hard.

"Ah! No! No! Xiao Gao, you—"

The freckled girl felt that her head was dizzy, and she lost all her strength. Blushing, she struggled for a moment. She was about to give up and admit her failure when Xiao Gao suddenly released her.

"What's wrong with you?"

The freckled girl was so irritated that she tossed the water together with the vegetables at Xiao Gao.

Xiao Gao was immediately soaked in water. He was wearing a bailer on his head, his face covered by a slice of a cabbage.

"Three years."

Xiao Gao extended three fingers and said, "In three years, if I'm still alive, I will marry you."

The freckled girl became more than angry. "Who says that I'm going to marry you? I'm going to marry my next-door neighbor, Er Niu, tomorrow!"

Xiao Gao picked up his suitcase and walked toward the door without looking back, as he replied, "Er Niu is not interested in you. He likes Bai Guizhi who sells salt fish at the end of the street and thinks that your ass is too big."

"What?!"

"But I like big asses. More exactly, I like your big ass very, very much."

"Excuse me?!"

…

Half a month later, inside a nursing home in the Thousand Sails Space Zone, the home camp of all Exos…

Lei Dalu was lying on the bed exhaustedly. He had lost so much weight that he was like a different person now. Dozens of tubes pierced into his body, through which countless kinds of strengthening drugs were being injected to repair the nerves and veins in the deepest parts.

Although he couldn't look more terrible, Lei Dalu was still glaring at the people in front of him, his eyes as sharp as blades.

More precisely, he was glaring at the one hundred and seventy-nine young men in front of him.

The one hundred and seventy-nine young men stood inside and outside the nursing home like a hundred and seventy-nine young pine trees rooted there.

Although their clothes were different, their Cultivation levels greatly varied, and some of them were simply ordinary people, they all gave other people the same impression.

A new-born calf is not afraid of a tiger. If there is a chance, they can even kill one. All the young men carried the fearlessness of the Tiger Killer Camp!

Lei Dalu was furious, if his eyes were telling the truth.

Zuo Xiaohu, Lu Dian, and Xiao Gao, on the other hand, were all winking at him, with 'what-can-you-do-with-us' written on their faces.

Lei Dalu said coldly, "What are you doing here? I thought I told you long ago that the Great Horn Exo Society was too small a temple to enshrine so many crazy devils and that you should get lost as far away as possible and fly as high as possible. Why have you come back?"

Zuo Xiaohu smiled and replied, "Uncle Captain, we've flown far and long. We experienced a splendid world and encountered many experts. But after a while, we all agree that the Great Horn Exo Society is slightly better than anywhere else. Therefore, we kicked each other's asses to this place to ask you whether or not you are short of hands and if you are willing to hire us."

Lei Dalu gnashed his teeth and cursed, "No and no. Right now, the Great Horn Exo Society does not even have one starship. I don't even have a bag of crystals. Even the fees that the nursing home charges have to paid by someone else. I cannot afford you animals! Just go back to where you came from!"

Lu Dian said calmly, "We are not leaving, unless you beat us away. However, I'm told that you are seriously wounded, and you are at the weakest right now. I don't think that you are capable of beating almost two hundred of us! Right now, you have two options. You can either accept us now, or you can accept us after we beat you up and force you to do so."

Lei Dalu was speechless.

Zuo Xiaohu was beaming with joy as he said, "Uncle Captain, do you know the biggest wish of the orphans in the Tiger Killer Camp such as myself?

"Our biggest wish is to beat you up!

"You're a wretched old man who pushed and savaged us too hard when you asked us to train ourselves. I still having nightmares to this day.

"I've been training myself so hard just so that I can surpass and defeat you one day!

"Although you are a half-dead patient at this moment, and it seems not a justified victory if we join our hands to beat you up, do you think we will be bothered by that?

"Therefore, stop glaring at us like that. Old man, you have to admit that you are too old, and it's time to retire. We are here for the Great Horn Exo Society!"

Lei Dalu seemed to be shivering in anger. He turned his red eyes to Xiao Gao, who had been making his living by selling noodles, and asked solemnly, "Xiao Gao, why did you come here? Why are you horsing around with them?"

Xiao Gao looked at Lei Dalu in the eyes and answered calmly, "I want to come back to the Great Horn Exo Society, too. At least, I should help it survive the toughest years to come. However, I'm just an ordinary person, and I'm capable of nothing except making beef noodles, which I can make in thirty-four different ways.

"I can never defeat you. If you make up your mind to kick me away, I can only go away.

"Captain, I only want to ask you one question, and I hope that you can answer it truthfully. Can I be of any use to the Great Horn Exo Society right now? Does the Great Horn Exo Society need me?

"If I am of no use and the Great Horn Exo Society does not need me, I will leave right now."

Everyone fixed their eyes on Xiao Gao.

Zuo Xiaohu shouted loudly, "Xiao Gao, who dares to say that you are useless to the Great Horn Exo Society? I remember that, whenever I was tortured and exhausted because of Uncle Captain's crazy training, I would always be energetic again after eating the chicken wings you made. I felt that I could do another day and night's training!"

"Indeed!"

Lu Dian said seriously, "I found all the food I had during my years of travelling flavorless compared with Xiao Gao's chicken wings and beef noodles. Even Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures were no match for them. I often felt discouraging due to the lack of nice food! One of the major reasons for my return is to taste your secret 'Super Awesome Luxurious Training Food Package'!"

"But—" Xiao Gao's voice was shaking. "I'm just an ordinary person, and I can only make the most primitive food. I have no idea how to cook the delicious food made of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures."

Zuo Xiaohu consoled him. "Just mince the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures into pieces. I can eat them raw."

Lu Dian observed, "That's highly unnecessary. You can simply bring me an intact one and a cruet."

"Captain!"

All the orphans originating from the Tiger Killer Camp stared at Lei Dalu quietly.

Lei Dalu finally couldn't bear it any longer.

The tough man, whose face color had remained unchanged even when he was faced with Fengyu Zhong, a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, and countless space pirates, finally collapsed. Tears were flowing on his dry face, as he said, "Xiao Gao, Lu Dian, Zuo Xiaohu, and everyone else…

"I—I need you!

"Now is the time when the Great Horn Exo Society needs you most!

"Every one of you, whatever your Cultivation is and regardless of whether you are a Cultivator or an ordinary person, is of use to the Great Horn Exo Society!

"Welcome to the Great Horn Exo Society. Welcome home!"

"Hooray!"

"We are home now. Everybody is together again!"

"Long live Great Horn! Long Live the Tiger Killer Camp!"

Excited exclamations were echoing inside and outside the ward.

Lei Dalu was laughing, too, with tears in his eyes. "Alright. Now that we have so many hands, the next mission for Great Horn can be started immediately!"

Zuo Xiaohu was surprised. "We've got a new mission so shortly? But we don't even have a starship right now. Who hired us?"

Lei Dalu replied, "It's not a contracted mission, but one of our own. We need to go to a place and look for a certain someone."

Lu Dian raised his eyebrow. "What place? Which someone?"

Lei Dalu's smile was gone. His eyes narrowed, his face grave. "The forbidden area for Cultivators. Someone whom you can trust as your brother for your entire life."