Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“If we sort out the timeline, Wuying Qi and Li Linghai must’ve noticed the Great Iron Plants a long time ago.”

Li Yao said, “Or rather, even before they decided to declare war on the four Kurfürst families, they had already planned to do something big below the ground. Whatever their plan was, it was certainly huge because it required more than ten ultra-huge shield tunneling machines.

“In order to push forward their plan, they needed to produce even more ultra-huge shield tunneling machines and more consumable components like vibration sawtooth and blast drills.

“That was why their response was so fast, and they sent ‘Moon Devil’ Yue Wushuang, a leader of the reformists, to command the troop in person!”

“Exactly.”

Long Yangjun nodded her head quickly. “If we were Wuying Qi or Li Linghai, now that the capital was not in our hands yet, and there were still a few gaps through which the people of the four Kurfürst families could escape incessantly, wouldn’t it have been our top priority to block the ‘gaps’?

“But as it turned out, Wuying Qi and Li Linghai spared a precious troop to the underground world to supervise the production of a batch of consumable parts of ultra-huge shield tunneling machines. It is indicative enough that whatever was going on below the ground was as important as the war against the four Kurfürst families on the surface of the planet!”

“If we associate it with Wuying Qi’s unexpected declaration war, the whole thing will be even more interesting.”

Li Yao analyzed calmly, “We discussed Wuying Qi’s intention a month ago. It did not seem to be a judicious choice to end on bad terms with the four Kurfürst families at such a subtle moment with only his personal prestige when the reformists were relatively weak. Besides, there were still the main troops of the Covenant Alliance coveting from the darkness.

“Wuying Qi was a schemer who had finally woken up after a sleep of a thousand years. He couldn’t have hoped to die together with the four Kurfürst families for the Covenant Alliance to take the advantage, right?

“Therefore, since he was bold enough to jump out from the dark and even reveal his real identity before some of the Immortal Cultivators, it meant that he must’ve had the greatest trump card, and he was confident to crush the four Kurfürst families thunderously before the main troops of the Covenant Alliance arrived, or even to take care of them immediately when they arrived, before he established a ‘perfect country of Immortal Cultivators’ in his vision, the ‘New Imperium’!

“Is it possible that his impatience to dig below the ground with more than ten ultra-huge shield tunneling machines is related to the mysterious trump card?”

“It is not necessarily about digging but could also be exploring.”

Long Yangjun said, “For a hundred thousand years, the Empyreal Terminus Sector has been the heart of the civilization of mankind. It was an important intersection even in the primeval wars hundreds of thousands of years ago and a center of politics, economy, training, and researches in the Pangu civilization. You can’t imagine the infinite mysteries buried in the soil.

“Even though human beings have dug thirty thousand meters into the ground, drilling through the crust, that’s only piercing through the ‘eggshell’. The Pangu civilization and the Nuwa civilization in the past were both technologically capable of reaching places beyond human beings.

“Who knows whether or not they left something in those deeper parts?”

Li Yao’s body quaked as he asked, “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing, but anything is impossible.”

Long Yangjun opened her hands and said, “Don’t forget that the Pangu civilization left eight volumes of ‘Book of Revelation’ when it was destroyed. It was said that the ‘Supreme Emperor’, founder of the Star Ocean Imperium, established a brilliant and glorious modern Cultivation civilization only because he found three volumes of the book. Since then, the three volumes had been the targets that the tyrants and magnates fought over. Whoever got one volume would be enough to establish a thriving force.

“Since Blackstar the Great is the founding father of the Imperium of True Human Beings, is it possible that he has one or two volumes of the book in his hands? Or maybe, is it possible that he has learned more intelligence about the Book of Revelation in a certain way?

“Between his escape from the Martial Meritocrats Sector to his mysterious arrival at the Star Ocean Republic, he wandered for at least a hundred years in the dark space. What did he encounter and get and who did he meet during the hundred years? Nobody knows.”

Li Yao was shocked. “Are you suspecting that a volume of ‘Book of Revelation’ is buried deep below the capital planet?”

“I am not saying that it is necessarily the Book of Revelation, but I won’t be surprised if it is.”

Long Yangjun said, “You should know very clearly that the so-called ‘Book of Revelation’ does not look like a book or a jade chip. It is probably in a form that is nothing like a book or a jade chip, say, an underground relic.

“Of course, apart from the ‘Book of Revelation’, many powerful weapons during the primeval wars were sealed below the ground. There might even be the legacies left by the primordial civilizations before the birth of the Pangu civilization. Who knows?”

Li Yao, Li Jialing, and the kids looked at each other in bewilderment. Pondering for a long time, Li Yao said cautiously, “Indeed. Anything is possible, but it is just ‘possible’.”

“The possibility is very high.”

Looking at the performance demand on the shield tunneling machines in the order, Long Yangjun said, “When I see the consumable parts of the ultra-huge shield tunneling machines and think of Blackstar the Great’s scheme, something else has occurred to me. It’s a legend.

“It’s the fierce battle between the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon, his evil incarnation, on the capital planet in the Empyreal Terminus Sector during the fall of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago.

“It is said to be an unprecedented, most intense battle that nearly tore apart the entire planet. The Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon both suffered heavy wounds and were never seen again.”

Li Yao did not know why Long Yangjun suddenly brought up the ancient legend. Thinking for a moment, he still observed, “The incident ten thousand years ago, after being twisted for such a long time in the wars, can be counted as a ‘myth’ right now. Humans only have limited strength. It was impossible for the Supreme Emperor or the Mad Armageddon to have blown up a medium-sized planet however strong they might’ve been.

“That’s why many historians and geologists today believe that the fierce battle between the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon only activated the hibernating energy in the most vulnerable parts of a tectonic belt, which raised a massive, unprecedented earthquake.”

“Yes, I’ve heard about such a theory before too. That sounds much more reasonable than two persons ripping apart a planet barehandedly.”

Long Yangjun smiled and said, “However, if you think about it carefully, the two theories are both absurd, although one might be more absurd than the other.

“The Supreme Emperor was the sovereign of the universe who led thousands of generals and millions of troops.

“The Mad Armageddon was also the leader of the rebels, who used to be the strongest expedition army of the Star Ocean Imperium. Should he have been best at legion battles and fleet commanding?

“An emperor and a leader of rebels, instead of commanding their fleets, ran to the capital planet of the Empyreal Terminus Sector for a ‘duel’ and nearly blew up the whole planet. Was it an epic battle of the civilization of mankind or a street fight of two drunkards?”

Li Yao was stunned for a long time before he managed to reply, “… Now that you put it that way, it does seem rather unreasonable, but it is a legend from ten thousand years ago after all. Isn’t it perfectly normal that something was exaggerated for storytelling?

“At the very least, the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon did have a destructive battle on the capital planet, which left countless gorges on the surface of the planet that can be thousands of meters deep. We have both seen it with our own eyes!”

“That is a fact, but the truth hiding behind the fact has to be found out through careful analysis.”

Long Yangjun said, “Since I came to the capital planet and saw so many huge and deep gorges and the people who tried their best to develop deeper, I have been puzzled by one thing. Over the years, the puzzle has grown bigger and bigger, but I can never find the answer. What exactly was the truth in the battle between the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon on the capital planet ten thousand years ago?

“At this moment, after a quick glance at Blackstar the Great’s scheme, I feel that a needle has pierced through and detonated the balloon of my confusion!

“Come on, think about it more carefully if this is a more plausible deduction than the legend where the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon fought each other so hard on the capital planet that it was almost blown apart.

“Assume that a relic of paramount importance was buried deep inside the capital planet, which was at least as valuable as the ‘Book of Revelation’.

“For the Supreme Emperor or the Mad Armageddon, whoever got access to the relic would secure a decisive victory and then control the entire sea of stars.

“Therefore, the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon each commanded an elite troop that was exceptionally good at underground battles and relic explorations, when they ran into each other at the core of the capital planet.

“It was not the battle between the two of them, but one between the two ‘relic exploration troops’ that caused the drastic changes in the rock stratum, transforming the capital planet into what we are seeing right now.

“I estimate that neither party won the battle in the end, and they probably died with each other. That was why the sea of stars had been in turmoil in the next ten thousand years, and a slightly unified and steady regime never showed up until the Star Ocean Republic.

“Since Blackstar the Great spent at least hundreds of years in the Supreme Emperor’s mausoleum, it was possible that he learned the secret through a certain source.

“In that case, what he is doing today will make perfect sense! He is trying to find the item that the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon failed to find after digging so deep and dying with each other!”

Long Yangjun’s words cast Li Yao, Li Jialing, and the kids into a long silence.

“It is too hilarious. How could we have believed the bulls*it that the Supreme Emperor and the Mad Armageddon had a duel on the capital planet and nearly blew up the planet?”

Mumbling to himself, Li Yao glowed with interest. “Even if what you said is not the truth, it must be closer to the truth than the bulls*it is! No, we have to locate the ultra-huge shield tunneling machines and check what Blackstar the Great is up to exactly!”