Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“What?”

Harassed by the black venom, the souls of the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were significantly weakened, and their computational ability had hit rock bottom. Besides, they accepted that the Imperium of True Human Beings was a powerful nation from the beginning and, therefore, believed the star child’s last statement without being able to judge it at all.

The statement was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The souls of the six of them were pressed down and slid toward doom.

In the middle of the black venom, the flickering fire of souls was moaning desperately.

“We are… the last Cultivators?

“So many Sectors have embarked on the cruel, survival-of-the-fittest path?

“We are the only survivors. We are alone in the dark forest!”

The struggles of their souls grew feebler and feebler, and their bodies, which were wreathed by the venom, turned rigid and stiffened. Starting from their fingers and toes, they slowly became black statues.

But deep inside Li Yao’s soul, a fire was bouncing more and more fiercely and crazily!

He stared the star child in the eyes like a gambler who was going to win everything or lose everything.

The loophole had appeared, but the loophole was not big enough for him to crush the star child in one shot.

He had to rip open an even larger loophole and boost the confidence of the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators with undeniable facts by unveiling the real face of the star child and the Imperium of True Human Beings!

“Hahahaha. Hahahahahahaha!”

Li Yao suddenly burst into crazy laughter. Even the stars in the universe were somewhat shocked by the madness. The black venom that stuffed his throat was blown away by the laughter.

He burnt his life and soul without a care. Finally, he regained the ability to yell and shout!

The star child looked at him peacefully, as if he had known that the man had prepared other tricks.

“Fellow Cultivators, do not believe what he just said. He was lying!” Li Yao shouted desperately. “In the prime years of the Star Ocean Imperium, the civilization of mankind extended to thousands of Sectors. How could the Imperium of True Human Beings have conquered so many worlds within only a thousand years?

“Let me tell you… a piece of top confidential information!

“In fact, there is an enormous observatory below Spider Den that boasts advanced technology and allows the user to communicate with other Sectors!

“Over the past five years, I stayed below the surface of Spider Den because I was looking for other Sectors through the underground observatory!

“Besides, after five years, I’ve successfully discovered three Sectors, namely the Rising Sun Sector, the Black Moon Sector, and the Heaven’s Origin Sector! The three Sectors are still guarded by Cultivators. There are no Immortal Cultivators, much less traces of the Imperium of True Human Beings!

“So, the only conclusion is that the star child has been lying!”

“That is—”

The soul power of the two parties was very close to each other. Therefore, the mental confrontation was a confrontation of will and belief!

Li Yao’s confident and convincing declaration somewhat restored part of the belief in the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators. The black venom that surrounded them faded away a little bit.

“Believe me!” Li Yao gnashed his teeth. “Even if the universe is truly a dark forest, even if countless Sectors have been conquered by the Imperium of True Human Beings, the Flying Star Sector is definitely not fighting alone. There are bound to be other Sectors that persist in the path of the Cultivators and will fight side by side with us!”

Zhi! Zhi! Zhi! Zhi!

The black venom on the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators’ body screamed miserably. Like thorns that were being burnt, they turned into ash and quickly dispersed!

However, when the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators recovered part of their computational ability, they immediately recognized that Li Yao’s words were rather groundless and lacked solid proof.

“Hehe. Hehehehe.”

Behind the debris of countless starships, the fire of the star child’s soul grew weaker and weaker, too.

Li Yao was quite right. The star child was indeed not strong enough to suppress six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and one in the superlative height of the Core Formation Stage simultaneously.

He had gone through all the trouble to build the mind palace, render so many deities and devils, and elaborate on the formidability and horror of the Imperium of True Human Beings at a huge consumption of computational ability for the sole purpose of shaking the belief of the seven of them.

Now that he was about to succeed, naturally, he would not allow Li Yao to sabotage his endeavor at the last moment!

The star child smiled casually and talked in a matter-of-fact tone. “Li Yao, in only seven years, you’ve grown from a Mr. Nobody into a top-tier expert and now control one of the most important forces of the Flying Star Sector. You are indeed not easy to deal with.

“No wonder nobody saw through you when you pretended to be Bai Xinghe for an entire month. That is because you are as cunning and foxy as him!

“You are doomed to failure right now, and you are dreaming to reverse the situation by bluffing?”

Li Yao swallowed hard and roared drily, “I have indeed found the Rising Sun Sector, the Black Moon Sector, and the Heaven’s Origin Sector. You must believe me, Fellow Cultivators!”

The souls of the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were flickering and fluctuating. They were like the candles in the wind and seemed like they could perish at any moment.

The black venom came back again and gnawed at their souls like thousands of snakes.

Of course, they wanted to believe in Li Yao, but honestly speaking… his declaration seemed to be made up randomly, because there were too many loopholes!

The star child was amused and said calmly, “Now that you are not willing to give up, allow me to point out the loopholes in your statement.

“Firstly, it is true that there is an ancient observatory below Spider Den’s surface, but according to the files of the Imperium of True Human Beings, the observatory was built by Liu the Prier, an ancient scholar whose main research field was the apocalypses.

“Liu the Prier was the first to come up with the Dark Forest Theory. He is quite famous in the Imperium of True Human Beings, too. We all know a thing or two about his life story. We are aware that he once built an observatory in his hometown, but the purpose of the observatory was not to communicate with other Sectors but to study the apocalypses.

“Therefore, even if you were fortunate enough to find the observatory, and even if it hasn’t been ruined by the passage of time, it is impossible for you to have reached out to other Sectors with the observatory!

“Besides, if you had talked to other Sectors, there would have been very intense spiritual waves.

“But the Immortal Cultivators on Spider Den detected no anomalies!

“Therefore, I assume that you might’ve indeed found the ancient observatory, but the observatory must’ve been abandoned a long time ago, right?

“You found the names of several Sectors in the files stored in the observatory at best, and you are hoping to bluff me now that you are in peril!

“But you are very unlucky.”

The star child smiled and said, “Rising Sun, Black Moon, and Heaven’s Origin. The three Sectors you just mentioned were discovered by the imperium a long time ago.”

“How—how could you?” Li Yao’s voice was shivering.

The star child continued. “554 years ago, the Imperium of True Human Beings discovered the Black Moon Sector. It was taken into the territory of the imperium with no blood shed.

“434 years ago, the coordinates of the Rising Sun Sector were determined by the imperium. There were some obstinate Cultivators in this world, but after the army of the imperium was sent out, the Rising Sun Sector was conquered only three years later.

“As for the Heaven’s Origin Sector…”

The star child paused for a moment and said, “Let me see. It was a small, barren Sector at the edge of the Star Ocean Imperium, wasn’t it? The Imperium of True Human Beings discovered the Heaven’s Origin Sector 219 years ago, but the Sector had been completely wrecked with no living creatures left. It was not worth developing at all. Therefore, it was abandoned by the imperium.

“Well—”

Li Yao did not know what to do and was lost for words.

The star child burst into laughter. “So, just admit it. You were lying!

“You didn’t reach out to the Rising Sun Sector, the Black Moon Sector, or the Heaven’s Origin Sector. Everything was made up by you just now!

“Two of the three worlds are now governed by the Immortal Cultivators, and the last one has been forsaken. You are the last Cultivators!”

The souls of the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were shaking violently.

“Li Yao, were you really lying? Did you not find any new Sectors?”

Li Yao was quiet for a long time. Like a balloon that had just been pierced through, he gradually collapsed and mumbled, “You are good. Even such a neat story has been seen through. There’s nothing I can do now…”

His words cast the six Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators into absolute desperation. They could not even move their fingers.

The star child chuckled. “Now, have you realized the invincibility of the imperium?”

Countless tentacles suddenly expanded, and the black venom poured into the bodies of the seven Cultivators nonstop!

Li Yao was like a puppet whose string had been cut off. He stood in a daze and simply allowed the black venom to swallow him and turn him into a giant, black cocoon.

Sensing the fear and desperation of the seven Cultivators, the star child’s soul was burning furiously again. It was even stronger and solider than in the beginning!

Right now, the belief of the seven Cultivators had been completely suppressed. Nothing could stop the true path of immortality from transforming the world now!

However—

The star child suddenly sensed that, inside the black cocoon that wreathed Li Yao, there was a tiny bit of ‘belief’ that was too hard to be swallowed or digested.

“What is that?”

The star child was baffled. He had discredited Li Yao’s story. Why was there such a firm belief deep inside Li Yao’s soul?

Li Yao’s somewhat weird voice echoed inside the black cocoon. “Wait. I have one last question!

“Now that the Imperium of True Human Beings is really strong, if you want me to submit to the imperium and become an Immortal Cultivator, it is not undoable in principle.

“However, I want to make sure of something one last time. Did the Imperium of True Human Beings discover the Heaven’s Origin Sector to be a wasteland 219 years ago?”

The star child was dazed for a moment. He intuitionally felt that it was a tricky question.

However, he had made the declaration before. His suppression over the seven Cultivators was solely based on the validness of his words. If he hesitated right now and the seven Cultivators sensed his weakness, he would be done for!

Therefore, the star child simply said coldly, “That’s right. How could there be any tinder of civilization on a desolate, sterile Sector at the edge of the universe that had been floating alone for ten thousand years?”

“Okay.” Li Yao could not help but chuckle. “If so, I have no further questions!”