Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao’s soul floated in the darkness, and he had a lot of bizarre, absurd dreams.

Now, he dreamed that Blackstar the Great’s scheme worked out, and the man became the supreme sovereign of the Imperium of True Human Beings again. Uniting the entire universe with iron and blood again, he transformed all human beings into “iron cockroaches” that would do anything for their survival.

Eventually, millions of iron cockroaches flooded at the Star Glory Federation, waving their tentacles and claws. It was absolutely helpless even though Li Yao stretched out his limbs and blocked the way. He was soon swallowed by the tides of iron cockroaches, both his skin and his bones.

In the end, he even became a gigantic, hideous cockroach himself, swallowing one planet after another in ignorance driven by the primitive instincts.

Now, he dreamed that he finally stopped Blackstar the Great’s scheme after arduous battles. The brutal man from a thousand years ago was sealed and obliterated, and all the catastrophes he caused were ended.

But good days didn’t last. Without the leadership of the evil Blackstar the Great, the Imperium of True Human Beings was still loose sand. The four Kurfürst families and the hundreds of warlords of the peripheral worlds were still plotting and fighting against each other every day. They could not abandon their feud and conflicts of interests even when the Alliance of the Holy Covenant was attacking on a large scale but simply hamstrung each other for personal benefits.

Eventually, the Imperium’s flags were replaced by the Covenant Alliance’s emotionless seals. Human beings did not become “iron cockroaches”, but they turned into puppets without feelings and desires.

Thousands of expressionless puppets surrounded Li Yao. Their eyes were like dry wells without any ripple or change. Such a form seemed even more dreadful than the “iron cockroaches” a moment ago.

The ghost of Blackstar the Great was even sneering behind him and mumbling, “Do you see, Vulture Li Yao? This is the consequence of you stopping me! The path of the Cultivators will not work out! Your self-righteousness will only lead to greater disasters. Only my true path of immortality is the way out for mankind!

“What’s wrong about being iron cockroaches? At the very least, the strongest of us will survive. Where there is life, there is hope. Thousands of years later, on the putrid corpses of the iron cockroaches, the most beautiful flower of civilization can still blossom!”

Deeply trapped in the nightmare, Li Yao felt that his brain had been swamped, and his mind was slower than ever. He was thinking how to defend himself, when the illusions of cockroaches, puppets, and Blackstar the Great were all gone, replaced by the eternal and magnificent wars of the godly species in the primeval age.

Pangu and Nuwa, order and chaos, absolute rationality and absolute desire… On the battleground that was the sea of stars, the most shocking collisions were happening!

His soul seemed to be both floating high above the universe and entering every part of the battlefield, allowing him to observe and perceive the ideas and philosophies of the two parties from the sparks splashing from the blades. Time and space lost their meaning. He did not know how long he had wandered on the battlefield, but he was suddenly back to himself after sensing a gentle breeze.

According to the time displayed on the interface of his crystal suit, it had only been slightly more than two hours since he launched the Ultra-Galactic Cannon.

He was still clinging to the calf of Long Yangjun’s Colossus and being carried forward by her. They had almost swum to the center of the Silver Moon Ocean and were already very far away from the battlefield just now.

Thankfully, there was no sign that other troops were chasing them. They were safe for now.

But nobody could tell what would happen next. Now that Blackstar the Great decided to reveal his real appearance, it was obvious that he must’ve activated his final plans. After decades of careful planning with Li Linghai, even if he could not control the entire Imperium just yet, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to at least control the capital.

The capital was a fairly large place, but it was teeming with Immortal Cultivators everywhere. Once it fell to the hands of Blackstar the Great, where could he possibly hide as a Cultivator?

“You’ve woken up?”

Long Yangjun’s cold voice came over. “How do you feel?”

Li Yao slightly summoned his spiritual energy and immediately felt that a hundred canyons had been ripped all over his body and inside his brain. Not only was he in excruciating pain, but his strength was also pouring out along the “canyons”, and he could not concentrate at all.

Li Yao whined in pain and said, “I feel that I just died once and will die again very soon.”

“So, you know your conditions very well!”

Long Yangjun snapped, “I was quite puzzled how you could become so majestic as to scare Blackstar the Great off with one blow. As it turned out, you wagered all your soul power and vitality on the attack without caring about your own life. Your status right now is even worse than your Colossus that is on the verge of falling apart. You won’t be able to fight anyone in the next half month, and it remains to be seen how much you can recover half a month later!”

Li Yao grimaced, feeling that he was quite lucky.

Blackstar the Great was a great expert who was at least one major level higher than Li Yao. Having escaped from his thunderous fury in one piece, Li Yao was certainly the winner no matter what gory prices he had paid.

There was no telling what Long Yangjun thought of, but she suddenly chuckled and continued, “I estimate that Blackstar the Great couldn’t have seen such a… weird Cultivator like you before, who was so sleazy in the beginning but so masculine in the end. Such a great transformation must’ve confused him. Otherwise, your final attack might’ve not been able to hit him at all.

“However, there is one thing that I’m rather curious about. After your blow of cannon, whether or not you hit the target, you would completely lose your combat ability, if you could still move at all. What were you going to do in such a case? Were you so confident that I would rescue you?”

With his eyes half-closed, Li Yao moaned and said, “It was too much of an emergency back then. I couldn’t find a way to win at all except for the final blow. So, I had to turn to the last resort and take my chances!

“Besides, I didn’t think that you would just watch me get caught by the enemy, would you?”

Long Yangjun slightly frowned. “Why not?”

“Because if you did not want to rescue me, you wouldn’t have shown up in the first place.”

Li Yao struggled to put on a smile. “We are friends. Aren’t friends all about rescuing each other when either of them is in trouble? Comradery is all that matters!”

“Make no mistake. The reason why I showed up had nothing to do with comradery. I was only scared that you would be caught by Blackstar the Great alive.”

Long Yangjun said coldly, “You know too many secrets. Besides those regarding the Star Glory Federation, you also know the inside information of the Ancient Sages Sector, the Nuwa warship, and my identity. Should you fall into Blackstar the Great’s hands alive, giving him access to all the secrets, my identity would’ve been completely exposed. He would have even fewer reasons to let me go, and my odds of beating him would be even lower.

“Therefore, I snuck back not necessarily to save you but, very probably, to kill you and keep your mouth shut. However, after analyzing the situation at the time, it occurred to me that rescuing you was the more promising option. That was why I… saved you by the way.”

“Is that so?”

Li Yao said in fatigue, “It doesn’t matter. As long as we are still friends, it’s fine.”

“Friends?”

Long Yangjun sniffed and said, “I remember you said a quotation last time we met. ‘Those who are not of my own kind are bound to think differently’. Can you really think of a ‘foreigner’ like me as a friend?”

“I was wrong to say that.”

Li Yao admitted frankly without any hesitation. “You were right. ‘Those who are not of my own kind are bound to think differently’ is a quotation that was originally used to describe human beings living on different planets or even human beings living on different continents of the same planet. Just because of the slight difference between the latitudes and longitudes of their residences, they considered each other as foreigners and never trusted each other, which eventually led to wars and mutual destruction.

“Now that human beings are themselves able and passionate to destroy themselves, it seems that I do not need to view you in prejudice regardless of what you are. Pangu, Nuwa, extraterrestrial devils, or virtual lives, there is no difference. Those species may all be very ferocious, but human beings are not the most peaceful creature in the world either. Why can’t we be friends if we are equally aggressive?”

Long Yangjun clicked her tongue. “You are rather quick to admit your mistake. Should I say that you are shameless, or should I compliment you for rectifying yourself so promptly?”

“Of course I should be complimented. Being good at making mistakes and then correcting them is my greatest shining point in the first place!”

Closing his eyes, Li Yao held back the urge of falling asleep and groaned, “Ever since I became a Cultivator, I have committed more mistakes than I can count. I may be childish and idiotic even today. But does it really matter? I’ll always correct my mistakes after I find any! Isn’t ‘Cultivation’ the repetitive process of discovering your mistakes, correcting them, gathering more information to reach higher levels, and then discovering more mistakes and correcting them?

“Perhaps I will always make mistakes, but as long as I am more ‘correct’ and closer to the truth today than I was yesterday, it will be enough!”

After a brief silence, Long Yangjun’s voice suddenly became creepy. “Are you not scared that I have any scheme?”

Li Yao said, “If you are really onto something that violates ethics and jeopardizes the people, I will certainly stop you.”

Long Yangjun scorned, “You cannot even walk on your own with your body that is no better than jumbled clothes right now if you are not clutching my leg. How can you stop me?”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao replied feebly, “It is a different matter whether or not I can stop you, but I will certainly try my best. If I fail and get killed by you, whatever happens later will no longer be my concerns.”

Lost for words, Long Yangjun was silent for a long time before she suddenly accelerated.

Narrowing his eyes and sensing the rapid undercurrents and deep ocean before him, Li Yao couldn’t help but ask, “Where… are we going right now?”

“My secret base.”

Long Yangjun gnashed her teeth. “If what you said just now was just your excellent acting skill, then I admit that I’ve been fooled by you. I was thinking to abandon you and Li Jialing in a random corner below the ocean, but… Forget it. I’ll lead you to my nest!”