Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Yes.” Long Yangjun turned back and said, “On the other hand, the federation must be aware of the Black Wind Fleet’s possible infiltration, too. Therefore, it is not hard for the federation to infer that the Black Wind Fleet will launch an assault very soon. But the federation cannot withhold the election forever just because of the temporary unsteadiness that it may bring, right?

“Besides, if the enemy’s move is predicted in advance, it will probably be a great opportunity to crush the main force of the Black Wind Fleet!

“Otherwise, why do you think the insurgency of the Immortal Cultivators on Firefly took place at such a moment?”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao blurted out, “You don’t think that it was an independent event?”

Long Yangjun smiled. “I have checked a lot of major cases in the past hundred years in the branch of the Secret Sword Bureau in the Uranian Ring Sector today, especially the cases where the ‘CFIA’ and their president ‘Lu Qingchen’ are involved. I don’t find Lu Qingchen to be a reckless and inconsiderate man, and I don’t believe that he would instigate Ding Zhengyang and Cheng Xuansu into starting an insurgency that was bound to fail if he did not have any follow-up plans at all.

“If he was really planning an insurgency, wouldn’t it have been much better if the insurgency took place when the Black Wind Fleet invaded the federation on a large scale so that the federation would be caught unprepared and unable to deal with both sides simultaneously?

“No matter what the relationship between the CFIA and the Dim Moon Fund is, whether or not Lu Qingchen works for Jin Xinyue, and whether or not the insurgency was a trick to draw out the rebels, it is certainly not as simple as it appears. It is probably one of the procedures in an enormous plan, and the very first ‘move’ that the federation, or at least Jin Xinyue, has played against the Black Wind Fleet.

“Therefore, I believe that the Black Wind Fleet and the federation will both take action before long. Both parties will make their moves. Right now, the election has entered the most heated phase. There’s only one month to go before the vote begins. It is impossible for the Black Wind Fleet to not react until then. So, in short, not only are our eyebrows about to be burnt, the most sordid venomous fire is also about to consume our eyeballs!”

Scratching his nose, Li Yao was deep in thought. “You do have a point. I believe that we should accelerate our progress. It will be best if we can make it to the Heaven’s Origin Sector earlier with an excuse. We should arrive at the heart of the federation before all the schemes break out!”

…

That night, Li Yao spent a lot of time in Long Yangjun’s room. The two of them deduced the future plans of the federation and the Black Wind Fleet.

Sometimes, Li Yao played the Black Wind Fleet and Long Yangjun represented the federation. Other times, they swapped their roles.

However, the information they grasped was too little for them to infer the unpredictable situation in the upcoming month precisely. Their deductions were mostly groundless empty talk.

It was not until three o’clock in the morning that Li Yao returned to his own room and fell asleep in many bizarre dreams.

He did not sleep very well that night. He first dreamt that the Black Wind Fleet tore apart the sky and directly showed up in the sky of his hometown in the federation. He then dreamt that bizarre-shaped devils crawled out of the Spiritual Nexus and laughed hideously above everyone’s head. Finally, he dreamt the uncanny dreams that had not visited him for a long time, where he returned to the seemingly peaceful and quiet Earth that was devoid of spiritual energy or Cultivators.

But the Earth was enshrouded in a layer of thin mist. However hard he searched, he could not find the thing that the Vulture Plan asked him to destroy…

When Li Yao was woken up by noise outside the window, he thought that he must have slept for half a day. But after he raised his wrist, he realized that only three hours had passed, and it was not even seven o’clock in the morning yet.

Even in a city where day and night were not classified clearly, this should be the time when everybody was still sound asleep.

What’s going on?

Li Yao opened his window and looked out, only to be shocked by the rabble of people.

More than a thousand people had crowded outside their hotel. Hundreds of shuttles were floating in the sky, too.

Judging from the recording and camera magical equipment in their hands and the powerful, mobile data transmission bases on the shuttles, they seemed to be the reporters from the major media outlets.

“Crack, crack, crack, Crack!

“Hello, we are reporters from ‘Uranian Ring Today’. May I ask if you are a member of the delegation of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic? Would you care to comment on the scandal?”

“We’re from ‘Latest Military Observation’. Will the incident affect the military cooperation between the Star Ocean Republic and the Star Glory Federation? Can the two parties still join hands in competition against the Imperium?”

“We’re from the ‘People’ website. Were you aware of the incident before? Does it mean that you will absolutely support Ding Lingdang in the election to come and you will be reluctant to see Jin Xinyue go to the office?”

The reporters were like vultures that were hovering in the sky and searching for the carrion. Hardly had Li Yao, the rightful Vulture, opened the window when he was discovered by them.

Despite the protection of two entire teams of agents from the Secret Sword Bureau and the local police, countless reporters were still pushing forward and trying to throw the floating broadcast magical equipment toward Li Yao.

What was thrown toward him at the same time were the surprising questions that Li Yao did not know how to answer at all.

This was rather strange!

The delegation of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic’s trip to the Star Glory Federation was not a clandestine infiltration but an open and friendly visit.

Naturally, there were spokespersons in the delegation. Press conferences had been held a few days before, too, to explain the mission and the purposes of the visit… of course, only the open ones.

The reporters and the general public of the Star Glory Federation knew that the delegation had come, but they did not consider the visit to be of much importance. At the very least, compared to the heated election for the Supreme Speaker in the federation and the imminent threat of the Black Wind Fleet, news about Firefly was certainly not popular.

Days ago, some reporters had expressed their interest to interview the members of the delegation, but none of them had acted so crazily. The regular press conferences once every three days were enough to handle them.

What had happened exactly?

Scandal? What scandal?

The moment Li Yao shut the window and blocked all the noise and liveliness behind him, his mini crystal processor began buzzing rapidly.

He received a message from Long Yangjun, which was quite short.

“It’s happening.”

The rest of the messages were a series of links to the greatest news websites and military forums in the Star Glory Federation. Billions of people browsed them every day.

Li Yao opened a few websites randomly, but they were all the same. The same news had entirely occupied all the homepages!

“Nefarious scandal of the Dim Moon Fund!

“The whole time, the Dim Moon Fund, under the lead of Jin Xinyue, has been in a subtle relationship with the CFIA, headed by Lu Qingchen, in order to build up its own strength. Jin Xinyue even secretly asked Lu Qingchen to launch an insurgency with the Immortal Cultivators on Firefly, hoping to overturn the parliament of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic, our dear ally, without staining her hands with blood.

“According to her plan, the Dim Moon Fund would clean up the mess later and clear the last obstacle for the Star Ocean Republic to join the Star Glory Federation. It would have been the greatest feat for Jin Xinyue to run for the Speaker!

“Jin Xinyue has betrayed our ally, the federation and the belief of the Cultivators. She is a second Lu Zui, and she does not deserve to be the leader of the Star Glory Federation!”

Li Yao read all the news reports, only to discover that the source of the articles was the same anonymous report letter.

The letter was written by one ‘Moonfall’, who sent it to quite a few highly influential and trustworthy media companies in the federation at the same time the previous night.

What was described in the latter was almost identical to the earlier speculations of Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and the rest of them.

The letter did not insist that Lu Qingchen worked for Jin Xinyue, but it did offer certain seemingly believable evidence to prove the connection between the ‘CFIA’ and the ‘Dim Moon Fund’.

For the development of the Dim Moon Fund, the second intelligence agency of the federation, Jin Xinyue intentionally kept outlaws free and indulged the expansion of the CFIA so that she could ask for more funding from the parliament to expand and upgrade her Dim Moon Fund. In the meantime, she established communication with Lu Qingchen.

There was no need to talk about the incidents of the past, and her crime this time was enough. Jin Xinyue asked Lu Qingchen to instigate the Immortal Cultivators on Firefly to launch an insurgency so that the Immortal Cultivators and the diehards in the government-in-exile would both suffer losses. Then, her subordinates could show up and take advantage, controlling the situation on Firefly.

If the plan had worked out, not only would the techniques and secret treasures on Firefly from the center of the cosmos be brought into the federation’s system smoothly, Jin Xinyue’s personal prestige and capability would also soar, and she would be a sure winner of the election!

The letter from ‘Moonfall’ was not made of groundless assumptions but attached with many documents, files, and even videos as proof.

As someone who had experienced the whole incident in person, Li Yao examined the proof with the most suspicious attitude, only to discover nothing that could have been faked.

The whole thing was probably a trap that Jin Xinyue had set up, as described in the letter.

Of course, as for whether her connivance with the CFIA was a way to build up her personal influence or bait intentionally released to draw out the Immortal Cultivators so that they could all be fished up together, different people might have different opinions.

“In any case, Jin Xinyue’s plan failed,” ‘Moonfall’ concluded in the letter. “The rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic saw through the scheme of the internal Immortal Cultivators before, and it was only their trick to attract and arrest all the possible criminals! Not only did they suppress the internal rebellion neatly, they also saw right through what Jin Xinyue was up to!

“As the leader of Ministry of Equality and Development, president of the Dim Moon Fund, and a strong competitor for the next Supreme Speaker of the Federation, Jin Xinyue has done such despicable things to our dearest ally just to ascend to the throne of ultimate power, which has caused an irrecoverable wound between us and our ally! What’s the difference between her disregard of boundaries and the things Lu Zui, the director of the Secret Sword Bureau a hundred years ago, did in the past?

“Right now, the issue has raised the serious dissatisfaction of the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic. If Jin Xinyue is elected, it is possible that the cooperation between the two parties will fall!

“Jin Xinyue is a traitor and a second Lu Zui. As a member of the Dim Moon Fund who still has a conscience, I’m obliged to reveal her real face even at the cost of my life!”