Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

That day, the common folk and the Cultivators within thousands of kilometers all saw the arrival of the hundred starships that were even larger than floating mountains from the surging clouds.

When the clouds slid past their solid shells, ripples that looked like foam were raised, as if they were projections of blue whales in the sky when they leapt out of the ocean.

They also saw the emblem of Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars announcing its presence to the entire planet of the Ancient Sages Sector. The Cloud Qin Gold Statue that extended the black wings of light to thousands of meters long below the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars emblem did not escape their attention, either.

The black Gold Statue unleashed terrifying tides blatantly and suppressed all the Cultivators and soldiers of the Angry Fire Army in the valley. None of them even dared to cough lightly.

Although the people tens of thousands of kilometers away could not quite catch what happened on Angry Fire Mountain, they could at least see the great changes in nature and hear the thunderous sound from the depths of the Cloud Qin Gold Statue.

“Don’t be scared, everyone. The federation loves peace. We are here to win you over with our integrity and build a better tomorrow together. That fellow Cultivator over there—don’t run away!”

Compared to the standard of communication of the universal era, the Ancient Sages Sector was rather undeveloped. Even the news of the change of dynasties often needed a couple of years before it spread across the entire continent. There were even cases when the tribes and forces in the desolate areas were ignorant enough to mistake the previous dynasty as the new master decades after a shift of dynasties.

However, this time, except for the six major sects, almost all the sects and forces in the Ancient Sages Sector had sent representatives to the ‘Rising Sun Ceremony’. After Li Yao intentionally set some of them free to deliver the message, the news of the arrival of the Star Glory Federation spread out at an unprecedented speed.

Three days after the Battle of Angry Fire…

In every mountain and every prosperous city along the Sorcerers’ River, countless panicked Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector were riding their flying swords and screaming at the top of their voice, “The federation is here!”

Letters that vividly depicted the hundred starships, the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars emblem, and the Tartarean Skeleton were sent to every corner of the Ancient Sages Sector.

Five days after the Battle of Angry Fire…

The capital of the Great Qian Dynasty, the ancient, super metropolis and the heart that had governed the Ancient Sages Sector for almost a hundred years, was witnessing the quakes of the jampacked towers and pavilions. The floating mountains were moving up and down, too, as if they were ragged canoes on a surging ocean that would be thrown to the bottom of the ocean at any point.

The lords, ministers, and Cultivators in the capital all looked at the sky in devastation while dozens of starships flew toward the capital slowly. The decks on the two sides of the starships opened, sending out hundreds of crystal suits in glamorous brilliance that thudded on the stone roads that had not been changed for ten thousand years like shooting stars.

Nine days after the Battle of Angry Fire…

On the vast, boundless Dark Cloud Prairies, a large horde of cows and sheep were eating grass in silence, but deafening explosions echoed in the sky.

Hundreds of white lights penetrated through the sky and did not disperse until a long time later like ice pillars.

They were hundreds of all-weather, stealthy armed shuttles.

“Moo…”

“Moo…”

The cattle fled in panic. The shepherd could not stop them however hard he whistled. Very soon, weird noises echoed from the grass that almost reached the height of a human’s shoulder when the grass was pressed down.

Beast puppets in the shape of spiders crawled out of the grass in cold light and congregated into an ocean of steel, as they marched toward the depths of the Dark Cloud Prairies in the most fluent and unstoppable way.

Fifteen days after the Battle of Angry Fire…

Thanks to the highly-efficient organizational system of the Star Glory Federation, the thunderous approaches that Li Yao demonstrated in the Battle of Angry Fire, and the ‘kind persuasion’ of the military tech, the entire Ancient Sages Sector had learned of the ‘Star Glory Federation’ and Vulture Li Yao’s dominance. Not a single sect, force, or unaffiliated Cultivator had the courage to challenge the federation anymore.

The federation had gained preliminary control over the entire Ancient Sages Sector and was finally able to leak its strength into the capillary vessels of the decaying world—the villages and farmlands—in order to save the common folk there.

Every starship had become a temporary hospital and sanctuary as they tried their best to save the common folk who had been tortured by war and famine.

Before they took off, the leadership of the federation had already made operation plans. They knew that it was not difficult to handle the Ancient Sages Sector with the modern military forces of the federation that far exceeded the era. What would be tricky was rescuing the underprivileged people who were struggling to survive. If they could not achieve that, would they be any essentially different from the Black Wind Fleet when it invaded the Star Glory Federation?

Therefore, in the enormous space fleet, most of the starships were carriers and comprehensive supply starships. They had also been through special modifications to be installed with massive synthesized food and full facilities to produce such food.

The so-called synthesized food was made by battering straw, grass, wood, thorns, bones, and other materials that were not readily edible for human beings into powder before adding the minerals and microelements that were necessary for health and mixing high-energy oil. In the end, such food was transformed into the solid form like bricks after high compression.

The synthesized food tasted extremely bad. It would not be exaggerating to say that the food was as dry and awful as wax when it was eaten. However, it boasted abundant nutrition and calories. One section only the size of a finger was enough for a middle-aged man to be engaged in heavy labor for an entire day. The food could also be dissolved in water and turned into liquids like porridge. In that case, women, children, and patients whose stomachs were not functioning well could also digest the food easily.

Therefore, for the billions of hungry people in the Ancient Sages Sector, the food that was a horror to the travelers in space became a life-saving elixir. A lot of people actually worshipped the starships when they landed from the sky and regarded the federal army in ‘weird costumes’ as guests from the deities’ realm.

In the long term, it was necessary to enlighten people with the truth. The federation did not intend to keep anything from them.

However, to suppress the chaos in the Ancient Sages Sector for now so that all the people could receive assistance in an orderly fashion, rumors that deities were walking on the earth and coming to everyone’s salvation were more useful than any rule or regulation. At the very least, in front of the ‘almighty, omniscient’ deities, the cunning scoundrels had no choice except to follow the rules and learn to wait in line as everybody else did.

Despite the awful taste of the synthesized food, it could keep their bellies full. The sense of satiety that gradually spread out of their stomachs was a first for many people of the Ancient Sages Sector. Some even learned for the first time what a ‘burp’ was and wept.

Although the ‘deities’ were driving enormous divine boats and wearing weird armor, they turned out to be rather gentle and much more approachable than the lords and experts the common folk had met in the past.

It was needless to mention the patients of various diseases, who were taken to the divine boats by the ‘deities’ and soaked in some bizarre tanks. At first, they were panicked and thought that they were about to be boiled by the deities to make pills. But after only one sleep, all their diseases were gone, and their past ulcers and scars became new, pinky flesh!

“Deities are walking on the earth to save us. How graceful they are!”

“They are the real deities. They have infinite arts and techniques, but they are so gentle that they even smile at us! Did the masters and lords in the past show any manners to us at all when they met us before?”

“Is this a shift of dynasties? Now, it is not the Great Qian Dynasty that is in charge. None of the other sects are issuing commands, either. The world is now this… so-called federation’s!”

The Ancient Sages Sector was at the last years of a dynasty in the first place. The people did not have the slightest loyalty to the Great Qian Dynasty. Although some of the poor folks survived by attaching themselves to the big sects and had the deepest reverence and loyalty to those sects, the leaders of those sects were actually the first to worship the ‘enormous divine boats’. Also, there were even rumors that Qi Zhongdao, known as ‘leader of all Cultivators’, had joined the Star Glory Federation and was even named the deputy chairman of the Ancient Sages District Administration Committee of the Star Glory Federation. Then, what was left to say? They might as well be the residents of the ‘Ancient Sages Special District of the Star Glory Federation’ in the future!

Food was everything for the people. The common folk were all very simple. Whoever fed them would be their family, and whoever made them homeless and starved would be their greatest foe!

For a moment, all the ordinary people in the entire Ancient Sages Sector began to rub their fists with their faces glowing and picture the beautiful future that the ‘deities’ described for them after they enjoyed their food.

While some people were dwelling in happiness, others were mired in sorrow. It was certainly not costless to change the future of the underprivileged people who took up more than ninety percent of the population. The enormous cost, doubtlessly, had to be partly shouldered by the Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector who used to bully and exploit the poor people, especially those who violated the Divine Wrath Order.

While most of the villages in the Ancient Sages Sector were in the delightful atmosphere to celebrate the change of dynasties, Angry Fire Mountain was still enshrouded in gloomy clouds.

The more than hundred thousand Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector who had gone to the ‘Rising Sun Ceremony’ a month ago to cheer for Elder Scorching Sun still lingered in the place to receive the most rigorous scrutiny and vetting.

However, in the eyes of those Cultivators, the scrutiny and vetting were all just a disguise; the real purpose of the foreign intruders was to swallow their sects and deprive them of their land, mines, and interests in various trades!

This was because barely anybody survived the investigation. Even the most dutiful and obedient fellows who had done absolutely nothing wrong before had to suffer a heavy loss. They had themselves to blame for being ignorant enough to take Elder Scorching Sun’s side after all.