Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were all shocked at Long Yangjun’s mind-blowing but reasonable suggestion. They all had weird expressions on.

They were not feeling strange that Long Yangjun had raised such a suggestion but wondering why they did not come up with it earlier.

“Thirdly, if we infiltrate the federation, we will be able to take advantage of both the Imperium and the federation in their war to come!”

Long Yangjun was glowing with confidence as she continued.

“When the goods are too rare, only those with the highest bid can have them. Now that the Imperium and the federation are both potential ‘buyers’, why are we in such a hurry to sell ourselves before we even get the chance to witness their ‘wealth’?

“After we sneak into the federation, we will watch the two tigers fight. We will get to know the war potential of both parties while we learn their tactics and strategies. We can even find a way to be promoted to their important posts, where we will have more information to infer which side has the greater chances of winning. Then, we will tempt that side into offering prices that they can’t refuse. After our requirements are met, we will launch thunderous strikes on the other side at the most critical moment!

“In such a way, we will be able to fight for the greatest interests for the Ancient Sages Sector and for ourselves. It is safer to wager after we figure out which side has the greater odds of winning, too. Also, we will be free to choose the target of our attack, without worrying that we might be regarded as cannon fodder by the federation or the Imperium and asked to charge toward the heavily-guarded star fortresses on our own. Isn’t this killing three birds with one stone?

“Fourthly, if we sneak into the federation, and the federation loses the war against the Imperium, chances are that we will be able to steal some of their treasures for ourselves when the country is in a mess after the defeat!”

Long Yangjun went on without any pause, as if she did not need to breathe. “The starships, crystal suits, Colossi, and other magical equipment of the Star Glory Federation may not be the most advanced ones in the universe, but for us, they are still very attractive!

“If we surrender to the Imperium right now and fight under the Imperium’s command like idiots, even if the federation is truly crushed in the end, we will definitely only be given leftovers when the trophies are distributed!

“Therefore, we might as well be prepared in advance and sneak into the federation earlier. We will select a target and attack when the time is right. We can even blackmail the government of the Star Glory Federation at the crucial moment!

“We can talk about the specific details later, but this general idea can’t be wrong!

“The four benefits above are something that we cannot achieve if we just sit in the Ancient Sages Sector and do nothing. What do you think, Fellow Cultivators?”

There was nothing but silence at the table. Everybody was dumbfounded!

However, when Long Yangjun mentioned the necessity of observing the politics, economy, culture, and military of the Star Glory Federation, Qi Zhongdao could not help but nod.

When she was talking about ‘wagering on the side that has greater odds of winning’, Wu Suiyun was apparently fascinated by the idea.

When she declared that they should steal something for themselves, Han Baling, Wan Mingzhu, and Qi Changsheng’s eyes were all glittering. Qi Changsheng almost stood up and applauded her!

Even Meng Chixin, the host of the meeting, was deep in thought for a long time. He hesitated and said, “Fellow Cultivator Wang, your proposal is indeed innovative and surprising. Those four benefits are indeed of paramount important for us.

“However, as a result, we will be a lone army in a foreign land, and we will be completely cut off from the Ancient Sages Sector for at least a year and a half. Won’t it be too risky?”

A lot of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators nodded at his words. That was their concern, too.

Although those Cultivators were all the dominators in their own regions, they had never stepped out of the Ancient Sages Sector in their entire life. They were out-and-out ‘bumpkins’, and not any bumpkins but ancient bumpkins who were thousands of years behind the contemporary era!

Now that Long Yangjun had proposed a plan to infiltrate a modern Cultivation civilization on their own, they indeed felt ill at ease.

“It seems that there’s one thing you haven’t got straight after three days of analysis and studies, fellow Cultivators.”

Long Yangjun’s voice gradually turned cold, but the air around her grew more and more daunting.

“You’re under the illusion that the Ancient Sages Sector is our home, haven, and the solidest shield. You believe that we will be safe as long as we stay in the Ancient Sages Sector.

“You couldn’t be more wrong!

“Given the circumstances, the Ancient Sages Sector is not our shield at all but an unbreakable shackle that confines our real strength. If we stay here, we will be doomed forever!

“Let me ask you, fellow Cultivators. What do you think the source of our power is? What is the reliance for the twelve of us to control the Ancient Sages Sector?

“Our subordinates? The Cultivation sects outside? The ‘loyalty’ of the tribes large and small from the desolate regions?

“No!

“The source of our power, and what we use to control the Ancient Sages Sector, is the unparalleled might of the twelve of us and the twelve Colossi!

“As long as we remain as invincible as we are, and the twelve Colossi can unleash the maximal damage, wherever we are, we can always come back and take control of the Ancient Sages Sector again!

“On the other hand, if we stay in the Ancient Sages Sector and simply hang around with the selfish, shortsighted guys from the major sects, is it going to help us at all? Are those pigs and dogs really qualified to support us instead of stabbing us in the back?”

Long Yangjun’s cold voice was darting about the table like an ice knife.

Knocking the table hard, she continued, “In the past three days, I carefully studied the ways that the unparalleled experts fight in the universe, only to realize that they are completely different from our tactics!

“If the twelve of us continue lingering in the Ancient Sages Sector, we will be burdened by the traditions and the millions of ‘compatriots’. We will be confined by our shackles forever. However capable we are, we will never be able to bring out our full potential.

“Our enemy can simply summon a large batch of starships and bombard our world into a wasteland with destructive cannons from the orbit of the planet. What else can we do but take the blow and be burnt and blackened or crawl into the burrows and cry for help?

“In such a case, we won’t be able to bring out one percent of our combat ability!

“In the second scenario, if we leave the Ancient Sages Sector and have a head-on clash with a fleet from a modern Cultivation civilization with advanced warships and weapons—

“For the time being, it is impossible for us to be perfectly familiar with the usages of the Colossi. Any one of us can fight three to five starships in a head-on clash at most, which means that we will only be able to fight no more than a hundred starships in total. That will only be a medium-sized fleet for a modern Cultivation civilization. Also, we are not considering the logistical issues!

“In such a case, even if we can bring out a hundred percent of our combat ability, we will not be able to weather through such a head-on battle!

“However, consider the third scenario. If we march to the enemy’s rear, sneak into the enemy’s towns, and blend in with the enemy’s people, the situation will be very different!

“According to Heiye Lan, the large cities in the Imperium of True Human Beings often have a population of tens of millions. They are complicated super mazes! I assume that the cities of the Star Glory Federation must have a population of at least ten to twenty million even if they are smaller.

“If the twelve of us sneak into a major city in the Star Glory Federation with a population of twenty million, and if we lock onto the area with the densest population or the government facilities of paramount importance, how much damage can we bring to them?

“Also, when we are in the enemy’s heartland, the enemy will hold back from taking action for fear of injuring their own people. It is impossible for them to destroy us without caring about the methods and the price.

“They can bombard the surface of the Ancient Sages Sector, but can they lay waste to their own cities where tens of millions of people are living? Even if they do blow such cities to the ground, they might not necessarily be able to kill us!

“In such a case, our survival abilities, assault abilities, and negotiating abilities will all be significantly increased!

“If our combat ability is a hundred percent in the beginning, it is possible to have been enhanced to ten thousand percent!

“In conclusion, my opinion is that in battles in the environment of the modern Cultivation civilization, the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators must not have positional warfare with the enemy. They should march to the enemy’s rear and start ‘guerilla battles’, ‘unrestricted battles’, ‘decapitation battles’, ‘asymmetric battles’, and other tactics that will make best use of the advantage of the immense personal combat ability!

“All those tactics have been mentioned in Heiye Lan’s jade chips. I believe that you should understand them quite well and don’t need me to elaborate on them, right?

“Therefore, in the game among the Imperium, the federation, and the Ancient Sages Sector, we, as a force with the weakest overall capabilities but boasting twelve Colossi, must not stay in the Ancient Sages Sector and do nothing while waiting for the enemy’s bombardment. We must release ourselves and our Colossi to the enemy’s internal organs, where we will play an even more important, unrestricted role!

“That concludes my proposal. What do you think, everybody?”

Including Li Yao, everybody looked at Long Yangjun in a daze. For a long time, nobody said anything.

Long Yangjun was frowning. “Fellow Cultivators, do you still think that it is just my whimsical idea? Please feel free to offer your enlightenment!”

“I wouldn’t say it is enlightenment.” Han Baling, the dominator from the prairies, was the first to come back to himself. He took a long breath in relief and smiled bitterly. “Lord Wang, although we have known each other for a long time, only today have I finally realized why you held such power in the court of the Great Qian Dynasty for decades without falling!”

Long Yangjun smiled and replied frankly, “I once established ‘Ghost Character’ on my own, which is an agency focusing on intelligence collection, infiltration, and assassination. Some of the tactics of the Imperium of True Human Beings are quite similar to the way I operated ‘Ghost Character’. So, I specifically spent more time comparing and studying them. That’s all!”