Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

After the commander of the Imperium and the queen of the Imperium settled their deal, they immediately seized every second to put it into practice.

Although the Godly Might Prison and the Godly Might Fleet had been settled, there were still tremendous things that needed to be taken care of. The identification and scrutiny of the prisoners, the appeasement and negotiations with the political criminals, the control and reorganization of the Godly Might Fleet, and so on. Everything was extremely complicated.

Lei Chenghu had stirred the nerves of thousands of people in the entire Godly Might Prison entirely on his own. It was unquestionable that no second person could have accomplished such a wild gamble.

Even he had to spend tremendous time and energy on dealing with the officers of the Godly Might Fleet in order to completely grab them in his hands.

Li Yao and Li Linghai, on the other hand, were left in the secret room by themselves to plan the operations in the next step.

“You want me to follow General Lei Chenghu? Why?”

Li Yao did not say anything a moment ago, but he frowned and complained right now, “Am I not the personal bodyguard and magical equipment consultant for the queen? Has Your Grace abandoned me?”

“Not exactly…”

Although they had known each other for a month, Li Linghai was still quite unused to Li Yao’s tone that was highly inappropriate for an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage. Having no idea what expression she should wear, she thought for a long time before she finally said, “Your performance in the Godly Might Prison has proved your abilities and your loyalty. That is why the job of ‘liaison officer’, which is of paramount importance, has been given to you.

“A guy as smart as you must’ve guessed that for the so-called ‘liaison officer’, keeping the liaison between the two parties is only your secondary mission, and your top priority is to monitor General Lei Chenghu’s every move from a close distance and ensure that he is truly contributing to the great cause of renewing the Imperium. At the critical moments, you may even have to resort to certain… necessary approaches.”

Li Yao blinked his eyes. “You don’t trust General Lei, Your Grace?”

“No. I trust General Lei very much and believe that he is indeed a pure patriot and an Immortal Cultivator. If he is truly determined to die for the cause of the reformists, I will not go back on my promise either and will support him with all the fellow Cultivators of the reformists to be the commander of the expedition army and the first person of the military of the Imperium in future!

“However…

“Our cause involves too many people and too many aspects after all. It concerns the life and death of the Imperium and even the civilization of mankind and therefore cannot tolerate any error. If General Lei has any anomaly, there will be dire consequences. Billions of people at the center of the cosmos will be killed in miseries. Even you wouldn’t want such a tragedy to happen, would you?

“Therefore, stay by General Lei’s side. If he is loyal to our cause, protect him; if he has other ambitions and schemes, warn him; if his ambitions and schemes pose a threat to the interests of the Imperium and even the civilization of mankind, you know what to do, don’t you?

“As long as we can truly influence the Council of Elders and collapse Dongfang Wang’s cabinet, replacing it with the people inclined to the reformists, your mission will be accomplished successfully, and I will not forget my promise.”

Rolling his eyes, Li Yao asked, “Why me? I’m sure there are better candidates.”

“There are not.”

Li Linghai explained, “General Lei Chenghu’s prestige in the Imperium is simply too high. If such an important mission is entrusted to somebody else, it is possible that they cannot make up their mind to take action at the critical moment. They may even be awed by General Lei’s stature and dominance. But I believe that you will not betray your belief and submit to the most ruthless, hardcore Immortal Cultivator, will you?”

“No, I probably won’t. As a loyal, determined, pure Cultivator, I will never bend my knees to such an evil Immortal Cultivator as Lei Chenghu!”

Li Yao rubbed his temples, as if he was having a headache. “However, the mission to sneak into the Godly Might Prison and rescue General Lei was too exhausting both for my body and my mind. I’m still feeling dizzy right now and have to take a rest of half a month to be fully recovered. But you are asking me to go to the Astounding Thunder Fleet together with General Lei and kidnap him right around his trusted subordinates when necessary? I’m incapable of that even if I want to! Can I take a rest for a couple of days before I carry out such an onerous… What is this?”

While talking, Li Yao suddenly held his breath.

The room was obviously impenetrable, but the wildest wind was suddenly blowing. In the middle of the wind, rampant flames were echoing, projecting the red shadows of thousands of soldiers on the walls around.

The blowing wind and the flames were all from Li Linghai’s hand.

The queen of the Imperium was holding a crimson pearl the size of a baby’s fist, like the compression of ice and fire.

Although it was just a tiny pearl, thousands of soldiers and the most violent souls seemed to have been stored inside. They were eager to break the seal, return to the human world, and dominate the universe again!

Even Li Yao, who had seen countless primeval treasures in the Ancient Sages Sector and the Kunlun relic, couldn’t help but get mesmerized by the pearl. His soul seemed to have turned into streaks of brightness crawling into the pearl.

“This is… This is…”

Li Yao mumbled to himself in fascination. In the Ancient Sages Sector, the Kunlun relic, or the Hundred Smelting Clan in his uncanny dreams, he had never seen such amazing treasures.

It was a shame that there was a crack the width of a hair on the crimson pearl that contained thousands of soldiers. It zigzagged and crawled all over the pearl.

After Li Linghai slightly inputted some spiritual energy into it, the pearl already broke into halves in a crack, one larger and the other smaller.

Li Yao’s heart seemed to have broken into halves in a crack too, and he couldn’t have felt more sorry.

However, the crimson pearl was different from the regular magical equipment. Even though it had been dissected into two halves, the fractures were still very even and smooth, without any sign of pieces or slivers. Instead, from the fractures, even more erratic colors blossomed, as if two armies had risen and were fighting each other in the clouds.

“This is the ‘Imperial Fire Pearl’, one of the most precious treasures that I have earned from the mausoleum of the Supreme Emperor. It was the magical equipment that the Supreme Emperor carried with him and polished day and night in the old days.”

Li Linghai observed the “Imperial Fire Pearl” in affection for a while, before she finally opened her hand and delivered the pearl to Li Yao’s nose. “After I got the pearl, I looked into many files from ten thousand years ago and finally had a piece of speculation of its origins.

“This object used to be a core of a certain unusual beast, which trained in space and absorbed abundant radiations and magnetic pulses that led to the mutations of a certain special organ inside its body, before it finally crystallized several thousand years later. The core boasted the technique of compressing, purifying, and storing spiritual energy and was a hundred times more powerful than the ‘marrow crystals’ in the natural mother lodes!

“In his early years of training, the Supreme Emperor executed the unusual beast, seized the core, and built it into the Imperial Fire Pearl, which became an important ancillary device in his daily training.

“After he established the Star Ocean Imperium and grasped the unparalleled techniques of the best expert of the civilization of mankind, he embedded the Imperial Fire Pearl as well as some other magical equipment to his crystal suit.

“In the Battle of Empyreal Terminus, the whole world was almost blown up by the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon. Naturally, the Supreme Emperor’s crystal suit also fell apart. This Imperial Fire Pearl was shattered in two halves and lost deep inside the mausoleum of the Supreme Emperor, until it was discovered by me ten thousand years later.

“Although it was broken into halves, the functions it entailed were not gone. I know that you climbed into the Divinity Transformation Stage not a long time ago and cannot compete with the seasoned experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage yet. But with the help of this ‘Imperial Fire Pearl’, it may be possible for you to consolidate your current level and even reach a higher state!”

“A piece of magical equipment personally used by the Supreme Emperor!”

Li Yao swallowed hard and found it hard to believe his eyes and ears, or Li Linghai’s generosity.

But he certainly would not let such a treasure go. His eyes glowing, he said, “How do I use this magical equipment?”

Li Linghai smiled and said, “Hold the Imperial Fire Pearl and input spiritual energy into it. You will naturally find out.”

Li Yao considered for a moment, only to come up with no reason why Li Linghai would trick and kill him right now. Taking a deep breath, he took over the Imperial Fire Pearl with both hands and held it in his palms, before he closed his eyes and sent a stream of spiritual energy into the pearl.

BOOM!

A gigantic explosion echoed deep inside his brain. The secret chamber, the Godly Might Prison, and even the entire planet seemed to have been shattered. Li Yao found himself in the middle of the space, watching a glittering, gold army raging across the universe unstoppably!

There was also a gold figure whose brilliance even eclipsed thousands of stars leading the charge while waving a longsword that could stop a galaxy from spinning!

The infinite dominance, which was so dense that it was almost condensed into glittering dust, filled Li Yao’s mouth, nose, ears, eyes, and even every cell inside his internal organs. He almost couldn’t hold back the urge of roaring.

Thoughts that felt like tsunamis were flowing from the Imperial Fire Pearl to his brain too, giving him the weird feeling that he was the sovereign of the entire universe!

“This is thrilling!”

Li Yao moaned and struggled to let go of it. The Imperial Fire Pearl floated three inches away from his palm, but there was a red spot at the center of his palm because of the scorching power of the Imperial Fire Pearl!

He waved his hands casually, but the feeling that all the stars in the entire universe belonged to him was still haunting his fingers and did not disperse until a long time later.

Li Yao breathed heavily. “What kind of power is this? This is too strong and terrifying!”

“The soul mark that the Supreme Emperor left behind, of course!”

Li Linghai did not expect that Li Yao would get rid of the influences of the Imperial Fire Pearl so quickly. She was slightly dazed for a moment but soon resumed calmness. She said casually, “The Imperial Fire Pearl contained a spiritual energy a hundred times more powerful than the normal marrow crystals did in the first place, and it followed the Supreme Emperor for hundreds of years. Even though it was never intentionally baptized, it still absorbed the infinite dominance of the Supreme Emperor after the long company, which equaled his soul mark!

“As the saying goes, he who gets in contact with vermilion will become red. Use the Imperial Fire Pearl to help with your training and transfer the Supreme Emperor’s soul mark to your body to stimulate the flesh, the nerves, and even the soul. Isn’t it the most rapid and the most dominating method of training in the entire universe?”