Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Horrifying?” Li Jialing appreciated his perfect body in the mirror with the utmost ecstasy and enjoyment. He said casually, “Every person I killed deserved to be killed. They were all guards of Manjusaka and have done too many evil things as the fiend’s entourage. Too many test subjects died by their hands. It was their karma that they were minced apart by me today.

“As for deceiving Li Lingfeng… Hehe, he was deceiving me, too. The Origin Plan? He really thought that I would be stupid enough to believe that cr*p?

“This has always been a dog-eat-dog world of conspiracies and schemes, where everybody can only get what they want and control their own fate if they resort to any means necessary. I only did it to protect myself. Is there anything wrong with that?

“Should I have listened to Li Lingfeng’s bullsh*t obediently to be a slaughter machine of the Li family, just to be harmless and un-horrifying?”

Li Yao was lost for words for a moment. Then he frowned and said, “Fair enough. If I were in your shoes, I probably would have made the same choice. However, when I was your age, I certainly did not have your strength, intelligence, and acting skills. If I had met such a big shot as Li Lingfeng at that time, it would’ve been possible that my whole spine was trembling violently, which definitely would’ve given me away.

“Let me think carefully about the source of my unease. Right. It is probably because I’m a little worried about my own safety after ‘appreciating’ your astonishing performance. I fear that you will kill me to keep my mouth shut someday, considering that I have heard too many great secrets about you after all!”

“Kill you to keep your mouth shut?” Li Jialing smiled casually. Touching his marble-like muscles, he said, “First of all, I do not intend to climb upward with the power of the Li family, nor am I interested in becoming ‘the heir of Li Lingfeng’ or ‘the future of the Li family’, which will only get me involved in the chaotic, familial conflict between Li Lingfeng and Li Linghai, the queen of the Imperium. I only want to live a free, unstrained life where absolutely nobody can control me.

“Therefore, even if my identity is exactly what the Origin Plan describes, so what? I do not want to make use of any resources of the Li family, so I am not scared of my identity being exposed. Who can threaten me with such an identity? Such a ‘great secret’ actually means nothing at all!

“Furthermore, the so-called Origin Plan is probably fabricated or at least has many fabricated parts. Hehe. Li Lingfeng thought that he could convince me of my ‘origin’ with a carefully-made jade chip that was filled with all kinds of information? I have to say that he underestimated me!

“Therefore, the speculation I told you earlier has been proven correct. From beginning to the end, Li Lingfeng has never taken me seriously. His real enemies are the big shots on the level of Li Linghai, and ninety-nine percent of his computational ability and his energy are dedicated to said ‘real enemies’. As for me, I am nothing more than a pawn that he can freely manipulate. He thinks it is already good enough to make a crude, lousy trap to fool me.

“Since the Origin Plan contains a lot of false elements, it does not seem to be a big deal that it was overheard by you.

“Thirdly, the Li family is a super family that has existed in the sea of stars for thousands of years. It has been one of the most powerful, influential forces since the Star Ocean Republic. Its shadow has reached every corner of the universe.

“If I really want to get rid of the control of the Li family, even if I can kill Li Lingfeng with unbelievable luck, it doesn’t mean that the pursuit of the Li family will be over. Perhaps it will take me a lot of years, during which time I will have to kill a lot of people, before I finally get rid of the control of the Li family.

“If possible, I’m certainly unwilling to compete with the enormous Li family entirely on my own. If I have an ally of mysterious backgrounds but unparalleled strength, is there any reason for me to ‘kill him to keep his mouth shut’ instead of fighting side by side with him? Wouldn’t I be too stupid if I did that?

“The universe is a vast place, but few experts are bold enough to go against the Li family. Now that I have accidentally run into one, I almost can’t wait to cling to your thigh and ask for your help. Why on earth would I have ill intentions toward you?”

“No. Please don’t,” Li Yao said. “I can vaguely foresee Li Lingfeng’s outcome after you cling to his thigh.”

“How can that be the same?”

Li Jialing chuckled lightly, but his smile this time was devoid of any sordidness and cunningness. It was a simple and sunny smile of a big boy.

Scratching his head, he said, “Fourthly, well, you may find it hard to believe, because even I don’t believe it very much myself, but I somehow feel that you are a man that is worth being approached and trusted, although I haven’t even see your face or heard your real voice.

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about such childish impressions. Just consider it my imagination.”

“It is… not necessarily your imagination,” Li Yao said carefully. “It is true that you can approach and trust me without any reserve. I guarantee that I am different from Li Lingfeng, or any other Immortal Cultivators that you have met so far!”

The young man was slightly dazed as he sensed Li Yao’s tone. Authentic confusion beamed out of his eyes for the first time.

“We have talked for a long time, but I don’t know how I should address you yet.”

The young man waved his head hard to throw away the feeble confusion. Putting on the carefully-feigned expression that looked like a mask, he asked, “Should I call you Senior Li, Fellow Cultivator Li, Master Li, Uncle Li, or Uncle Yao?”

“I am not as old as you imagine,” Li Yao replied. “If we calculate it thoroughly, I am no more than twenty years older than you. I am a vigorous young man, too. You can call me ‘Brother Yao’.”

The delicate mask on the young man’s face was broken again. He slightly raised his eyebrows, as if he were meant to laugh but did not have the courage to. “Alright, I’ll give you that. You are truly different from all the Immortal Cultivators that I’ve met before… Brother Yao.”

“There is no need to worship me. Just consider me your peer. After we get to know each other more, you will realize that, although I am an unparalleled expert with destructive combat ability that can break a world, I am actually very casual, approachable, and simple. All the formalities are unnecessary. You can regard me as a friend.

“Right. I want to know more about the ‘Three Fundamental Laws’ in your head, which you did not seem to tell me at the beginning.”

Staring at his eyes deep inside the mirror, Li Jialing hesitated for a moment before he asked back instead of replying, “Brother Yao, you seem not surprised that a barrier similar to ‘Three Fundamental Laws’ is inside my head, do you?”

“Well, is that so?”

“Yes,” Li Jialing said solemnly. “The Imperium and the Covenant Alliance are sworn enemies, and the Covenant Alliance is best at pouring simulated emotions and wills into the cerebral cortexes of their spies before the spies are sent into the Imperium to instigate riots, raise resistance groups, and steal intelligence.

“After hundreds of years of development, the technology for the spies of the Covenant Alliance to simulate the feelings of normal people have reached the peak. Even the most advanced Ring-Tu Test of the Imperium can barely distinguish ‘demi-humans’ from real human beings.

“A normal person’s first reaction after they hear that there is such a weird barrier inside my head should be wariness, alert, or confusion, shouldn’t it?

“But I did not sense any such ripples from your waves. I felt that you had known it since a long time ago, or you had figured out its reason. Is that true?”

With a smile, Li Yao said, “Perhaps, after you’ve told me everything, I will really be able to offer you a theory for everything. You want to figure out your real origins, too, don’t you?”

Li Jialing’s eyelids bounced again.

What Li Yao said was exactly what the young man wanted most.

Closing his eyes and thinking for a long time, he said, “Ever since I’ve had consciousness and memories, I’ve always been disturbed by a certain uncanny barrier or fear. It was almost like…

“Like some people are scared of chickens, some are scared of spiders and worms, and some will lose all the strength and collapse after they climb to great heights.

“Studies have shown that it is the result of the primitive memories that have been deeply embedded into the genes and the soul. Perhaps, in the primeval age a long, long time ago, the ancestors of the chicken were certain species among the dinosaurs that posed a great threat to mankind. Or maybe spiders at that time were behemoths and top predators a hundred meters long.

“The fear and disgust that have been passed on through one’s blood, genes, and soul have significantly increased the odds of mankind’s survival.

“As for what I am scared of, it is not chicken, not spiders, not snakes, but killing. To be more exact, it is attacking other people.

“Brother Yao, you know that the competition within the Li family that I grew up in was very cruel. It was anything but unusual for someone to be accidentally wounded or even killed in the familial training fields.

“But for me, even if I only watched other people fight fiercely on the training field until their bones were broken and they were vomiting blood, I would feel my heart thumping, my eyes blurred, shortness of breath, and strong nausea, not to mention going into the field to fight in person. I could barely stand on my own feet, much less fight.”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao observed, “Of the Three Fundamental Laws of the Covenant Alliance, there is indeed one that dictates human beings must not brutalize each other—not without the command of the Pangu Clan. So, it actually works in such a way?”

“I was too little at that time to understand what my problem was,” Li Jialing said. “Other people only took me for a piece of garbage and a target to be bullied who was weak in nature. Hehe. Now that I think about it, those days were indeed tough to live through!”

Li Yao was silent.

In the Li family, which worshipped survival of the fittest and wild competition, it was indeed chilling to think how a bottom-level descendant who was ‘too cowardly and weak to fight others’ would be treated.

No wonder Li Jialing’s personality had been shaped into what it was today. Having been growing up in a swamp of darkness irrigated by venom and mucus, could it have turned into a pure and flawless lotus flower?