Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

li yao was at a loss for words.

he knew that queen li linghai might be an insane, hopeless, and complete gambler, but she was certainly not a self-deceiving idiot.

now that li linghai was confident in defeating the alliance of the holy covenant while dealing with the four kurfürst families and reforming the imperium, she must have a certain strength that li yao was unaware of yet, one whose success rate was quite remarkable.

perhaps it was the greatest secret about li linghai, concerning the mysterious heritages from the star ocean imperium ten thousand years ago that she had inherited!

li linghai would definitely not tell him the truth about the secret easily, or anybody else in the deep sea fleet for that matter.

the communication so far had taken a lot of time despite the high efficiency of the high-level experts. li linghai handled the intelligence while she spoke to li yao, and she was already done with almost a hundred pieces of complicated intelligence.

pretending to be hesitating, li yao thought for a moment and said, “you do have a point, your grace. now that the star ocean republic is no more and firefly has been completely destroyed, there seems no place for me in the vast universe right now.

“i’m willing to be at the service of your grace wholeheartedly, on the grounds that the morals of the cultivators are not violated, but i will require a small sector, which will be authorized as a ‘special area’ after the cause is reached, and i’ll adopt the system of the cultivators in the sector. is that acceptable for your grace?”

“of course!”

in a look of “i know you will propose such a demand”, li linghai smiled. “with your combat ability in the divinity transformation stage, as long as you make slight contributions for the great cause of reform, is there any problem at all for you to work as the master of a certain sector?

“it will be your freedom to administrate your sector provided that it is not against the law of the imperium. on the other hand, considering your special identity, i can even help you get certain policies beyond the range of the law of the imperium for your ‘special area’.”

li yao was “overjoyed”. thinking for a moment, li yao said again, “i still believe in the excellency of the path of the cultivators. if a certain policy is deemed effective in my sector, is it possible to promote it in the national range?”

li linghai pondered a moment and smiled. “why not? in any case, our ultimate goal is the same, which is the rise of the civilization of mankind. the real immortal cultivators are not natural-born sadists. if a certain policy makes the lives of the hominoids more comfortable without harming the overall interests of the imperium and the civilization of mankind, is there any reason why it should not be promoted nationwide?

“after all, both the true human beings and the hominoids are the subjects of his majesty!”

li yao still wanted to say something, but li linghai waved her hands to interrupt him. “this is all about the future. you can wait until the four kurfürst families are really eliminated. if you truly give unparalleled performances in the battle, not just one sector, even a couple of sectors will not be entirely impossible, or you may become the most powerful man in court. by then, you will naturally be able to better carry out your influence and raise valuable suggestions for the major policies of the imperium. there is no need to talk about them right now, is there?

“getting to the bottom of it, you and i will both be screwed if we fail, and everything i promise you right now will be just a dream, right?”

li yao said in hesitation, “you do have a point, your grace, but i’m afraid that you were wrong about one thing.”

“oh?”

li linghai was slightly dazed. “what was it?”

rubbing his hands, li yao said, his eyes rolling quickly, “just now, you said that a divinity transformation stage cultivator such as myself would never be attracted by heavenly materials and earthly treasures or fame and fortunes. that is not necessarily the case.

“in fact, after we get to know each other better, you will realize that i am in fact a very casual and approachable man without the haughtiness of a top expert in the divinity transformation stage at all. apart from the discussions on ideas, i generally do not say no to treasures, fame, fortune, strengthening drugs, amazing arts, or powerful magical equipment.

“besides, when i escaped from my hometown, i did not carry many belongings with me in the first place, and my cosmos ring is now already empty. my colossus, the only treasure, is now almost wasted too. it is in dire need of maintenance and upgrading.

“therefore, while i am sincerely hoping to cooperate with your grace and make contributions to the establishment of the ‘new imperium’, well…”

li yao blinked at li linghai quickly with a greedy smile.

li linghai was both stunned and amused.

“that is not a problem at all. ‘dragon abyss’ is my secret flagship when i’m on a trip. it has all kinds of resources and training and maintenance facilities. now that you are my personal bodyguard, you are naturally free to use any of them!”

having recruited a useful subordinate in the divinity transformation stage, the queen was obviously delighted. she said, “if they are not enough, there will be a plethora of magical equipment for you to pick after we return to ‘deep sea palace’, my secret base.

“we will stay in the deep sea palace for five days before we return to the capital. you can change the appearance of your crystal suit and your colossus in the meantime. of course, for safety reasons, i still advise you to change to another crystal suit that is less eye-catching.

“after we return to the capital, it will be the time for ‘vulture li yao’ to distinguish himself and rise unstoppably!

“you may go to the resource warehouse and the maintenance workshop if you don’t have any questions. right. li lingfeng’s colossus is still waiting to be handled in the maintenance workshop, but the power units have been too seriously and weirdly damaged. the refiners on ‘dragon abyss’ all feel that it is very tricky. you were the one who caused the damage, right? do you want to take a look at it? i’ll give you the highest clearance in operation.”

li yao’s eyes were glittering when the topic turned to the colossus, like a weasel that had smelled chicken soup. he mumbled, “i almost can’t wait anymore.”

“then, leave now. right. bring him with you.”

the queen nodded at li jialing who was standing nearby and said indifferently, “go to my personal warehouse of crystal suits and pick a suitable crystal suit for him. then, adjust it as you see fit and teach him how to use it. i do not want to see him in such an ugly and stupid look again.”

the eyes of the young man, or the young lion, bulged out again.

li yao hurried to grab li jialing’s neck and dragged him away. “understood, your grace!”

…

on the pathway to the maintenance workshop, li yao followed tu zhengdao, the deputy leader of the deep sea legion, forward while dragging li jialing who was still struggling hard in his armpit.

inside his brain, the mental devil’s slightly high-pitched voice came over. “are you really going to work with li linghai in her so-called reform?”

li yao replied, “or what? we are here to look for the queen and to investigate the truth of the imperium for the first time. now, we have snuck into the heart of the imperium and become the queen’s personal bodyguard. i say it is a huge success!”

“however, don’t you feel that a divided imperium is more in the interests of the federation than an imperium with concentrated power, an invincible army, and zealous people?”

the mental devil said solemnly, “by the way, i don’t really care about it. after all, my strength grows when i feed on negative emotions and dark energy. what the queen does actually fits my appetite quite well. i’m just curious why you would agree to it.”

“first of all, a ‘weak imperium’ is not necessarily more favorable for the federation than a ‘powerful imperium’.”

li yao said, “don’t forget that our original purpose is to achieve a certain balance between the imperium and the covenant alliance so that the federation can secure the greatest advantage in the game as a ‘new player’.

“neither the imperium being too strong nor being too weak is in the interests of the federation.

“if the imperium is mired in the current chaos, or a confusing civil war breaks out in the competition for the new territory, the covenant alliance might take advantage of the weakness and completely demolish the imperium. that will be even more terrible than having a ‘new imperium’!”

the mental devil said, “but…”

li yao smiled, his eyes not half as obscure as when he talked to li linghai a moment ago. he said confidently, “besides, i don’t think that the reform is going to be as easy as the queen has described just now.“did you not hear it? the queen’s eloquent speech sounds fancy and sophisticated, but if we get to the bottom of it, she still fails to address the old system and the most fundamental contradiction.

“she is just trying to confiscate everything from the four kurfürst families so that the temporary conflicts in the imperium right now can be temporarily soothed with the bloody capitals earned through the confiscation.

“perhaps her ‘prescription’ will prove more or less effective in the next one to two hundred years, but it will not cure the root of the disease. in another two hundred years, after the mountains of gold dug from the four kurfürst families are used up, and the imperium still can’t find new living space and resources beyond the three thousand sectors, what can be done? wouldn’t the previous vicious cycle be back again? even the most ‘fair’ and ‘honest’ parliament will degenerate into the ‘council of elders’ of the imperium today.

“it is exactly because i believe in the correctness of the path of the cultivators that i am sure that the queen’s approach will not work out, and that the ‘new imperium’ in her dream will forever be a dream. she talks as if it were a simple task, but is it really so easy to be implanted?

“besides, have you felt that the queen is absolutely not as calm and aloof as she appears to be? she is in fact an extremely insane gambler, and she is going to take the gamble however risky it is.

“with or without me, or even if i stay on her opposite side, she would still go down on the path of obstinacy until the end.

“with that in mind, we can only agree with her for now and take part in the ‘reform’ to figure out what her greatest leverage actually is, so that we can find a way to pull the chaotic situation in the imperium to the direction that is most in favor of the star glory federation.”