Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Assassins?”

Li Jialing asked in surprise, “What assassins?”

“The assassins from the four families, of course!”

Li Yao sniffed and said, “After everything we talked about when we were still on board, you should know how deeply infiltrated the ‘coalition fleet of the four families’ is, right? Such a ‘coalition fleet’ where everybody has his own plans has absolutely no or even negative combat ability!

“It’s impossible that the leaders of the four families do not know the mess. There are too many uncertain factors until the mess is sorted out. Chances are that certain people in the coalition fleet will intentionally make the fleet fail for their own interests. It is the reason why the main troops of the four families haven’t shown up in the Seven Seas Space Zone.

“But the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors has their own weaknesses too. They are seriously short of military forces after all. They are sustaining themselves with strong ‘confidence’. That’s why they are bragging about the bulls*it such as the Southern Sky Sectors became independent and the expedition army was betraying. The thing about ‘confidence’ is that it’s like a soap bubble. It’s just as easy to blow it up as it is to make it big.

“As long as a serious accident takes place in the Seven Seas Grand Market, the morale of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors will significantly be struck. As long as the free coin cannot be exchanged for a few days, people’s confidence in the free coin, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, and the reformists will be gone, and the splendid soap bubble will explode.

“If the coalition fleet of the four families presses the charge by then, they will truly be ‘united’ and ‘unstoppable’.

“How can the people’s confidence in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors be reduced to the minimum? Isn’t it the most direct approach to assassinate the director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors?”

Slightly stunned, Li Jialing nodded his head quickly and said, “You do have a point. Right now, the four families’ control over the Immortal Cultivators at the bottom level is extremely weak. There are sympathizers with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and holders of tremendous free coins even within each fleet. It will be easy to be caught in chaos if those people are led into a head-on battle.

“However, it is still practical to select a batch of central descendants in the four vast families who boast abundant resources and therefore will absolutely not be bought over by the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, like Li Wuji.

“An elite commando team made of a hundred or so strong core descendants will be able to infiltrate the Seven Seas Grand Market and wait for an opportunity to launch a critical strike. As long as Jin Yuyan is taken down, and preferably, great damage is caused to the Seven Seas Grand Market, the credit of the free coin and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors will definitely hit the rock bottom. As long as the free coin is devalued by twenty to thirty percent, there will be crazy dumps and bank runs. Once the tide of panic is formed, both the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists will be screwed!”

“It’s a very comprehensive analysis.”

Li Yao said, “The corrupt leaders of the four families, as high-level Immortal Cultivators, will never trust the people at the bottom level. In their eyes, the bottom-level people are as untrustworthy as the bottom-level Immortal Cultivators. Therefore, a commando team made of the central disciples who are few in number but have high combat abilities will be their best option.

“That boy Li Wuji vaguely received messages from the family too. It seems that a batch of descendants of the Li family was selected for a confidential mission. While he did not know the nature of the mission, he saw the list of the participants, whose specialty was stealth and assassination.

“He also learned that the core descendants of the other few families who had similar talents were also secretly selected and mobilized. Nobody knew where they were sent to. It’s not like that they snuck into the capital to assassinate the queen, right? It would be too insane and unpromising!

“So, I dare say that quite a few squads of elite assassins from the four families are ambushing near the ‘Commodity Market’ right now. They have taken the most advantageous spots of assassination, like the ventilation tubes or sewers you mentioned. So, why do I have to join them? With my identity today, I will not crawl into a ventilation tube that other people have already crawled once!”

“That explains a lot, but it still doesn’t make sense, Brother Yao—”

Thinking for a moment, Li Jialing asked, “If the assassins from the four families have long infiltrated the Seven Seas Grand Market or even snuck into the perfect spots of assassination like you said, why haven’t they done anything so far? The Seven Seas Grand Market has been quiet these days. There’s no news that Jin Yuyan suffered any assassination!”

“This is exactly the tranquility before a storm. The assassins of the four families are waiting for the best opportunity.”

Li Yao explained, “While Jin Yuyan is the director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, he is not an autocratic dictator. The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors worships absolute freedom. It’s more like a super conglomerate made of countless corporations. Too many interest groups are entangled behind it. The architecture of the organization is very complicated.

“Rather than a leader, it’s more appropriate to say that he is the chief executive officer as well as the largest shareholder of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. He might not even be the largest shareholder, but merely the spokesperson of many powerful shareholders.

“To some extent, killing Jin Yuyan will result in chaos, but the chaos will only be temporary. The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors boasts astonishing abilities in self-recovery. Other than Jin Yuyan as the director, there are five senior leaders including the chief operating officer, chief financial officer, etc. They can totally elect one of them to replace Jin Yuyan and restore people’s faith in the free coin.

“If the brief window is not seized to launch an assault at the Seven Seas Space Zone, the assassination with such a great cost will be for nothing.

“Then, what exactly is the ‘brief window’? The best scenario is that the moment the Seven Seas Grand Market is reduced to chaos because of Jin Yuyan’s sudden death, and all the guards, mercenaries, and business teams are in a panic, the ‘coalition fleet of the four families’ will be teleported. Countless starships show up at the edge of the Seven Seas Space Zone, wreaking mayhem on the heart of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors!

“In such a case, none in the coalition will dare to slack off or procrastinate. Now that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is failing, the free coins in their hands will be as good as nothing. The only way they can make up for their losses is to loot the Seven Seas Grand Market. I imagine that it is exactly the purpose of the four families.

“Right now, the coalition fleet of the four families hasn’t been fully gathered. They certainly wouldn’t rush into the assassination.

“However, according to the secret intelligence that Boss Bai sent to us the last time, however slow and unwilling the local armed forces in the peripheral worlds were, they were mostly prepared for the space jump.

“The four families have also dispatched a few rather tough senior fleets to supervise the attack, with almost ten lords of the same level as Li Wuji as supervisors. It’s obvious that they are doing it for real.

“According to Boss Bai’s estimation, in a couple of days, the general attack at the Seven Seas Grand Market will begin. The defense system at the edge of the Seven Seas Space Zone may seem indestructible, but when thousands of starships appear at the same time and all their cannons glow, the whole space will be set on fire!

“It was two days ago when Boss Bai sent the message. In other words, the assassination may begin at any moment. Chances are that Jin Yuyan’s life will be ended today, which is his inevitable doom that has nothing to do with my arrival at all!”

Li Jialing immediately grew anxious. “Then, should we stop the assassins of the four families?”

“We’ll wait and see. The defense forces of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors are not dead people. According to rumors, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors has hired the four greatest assassin groups at the edge of the Imperium that have the highest success rate, namely ‘Black Flag’, ‘Bloody Skull’, ‘Life Claimer’, and ‘Lamp of Death’. Those are the best brands in the circle of killers and assassins. If they have been hired as the security team of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, how would Jin Yuyan be killed so easily? There won’t be any need for us to do anything!”

Li Yao lowered his voice and said, “Although it’s just a rumor, I believe that it is true after my observation. If the strongest groups of assassins in the Imperium were not hired by them, why would the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors be so imprudent in security checks when a great war is coming?

“I’m suspicious that they are intentionally easing the alertness of the outsiders. As a matter of fact, hundreds of ace assassins in the old days and best bodyguards today may be observing us in secret exactly this moment.”

Li Jialing immediately grew anxious.

“Don’t be so nervous. It’s true that the situation today is rather complicated, but the more complicated it is, the more convenient it will be for us to take advantage of! If the enemy is a united team, how can the two of us expect to compete with them even though I am one of the top three experts of the Imperium in terms of the comprehensive capabilities?”

Li Yao said, “All in all, the key to the battle of Seven Seas that is about to break out lies not in the vast sea of stars but exactly around us. This will be a thrilling battle of assassins joined by four forces in total—the assassins sent by the four families, the assassins hired by the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and loyal to Jin Yuyan, the assassins who are hired by the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors on the surface but who are secretly loyal to Blackstar the Great, and lastly, us!

“The four players are in the game of assassins. Somebody wants to take down Jin Yuyan immediately, somebody wants to keep Jin Yuyan safe whatever it takes, and somebody does not want Jin Yuyan to die so soon but will not hesitate to kill him if Jin Yuyan discovers any anomaly… The key to the final victory is not necessarily dependent on one’s strength, but on who distinguishes friends from foes and trustworthy cooperators from malicious schemers sooner. Isn’t it exciting?

“It’s been a long time since I last played such an interesting game. Let’s go. The game… is on!”