Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

In the Imperium of True Human Beings’ hierarchy of accomplishments, annihilating the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic was a remarkable achievement only secondary to destroying the Alliance of the Holy Covenant. They did not expect that Li Yao would talk about it in such a casual way as if he really did not care about it.

The senior managers, managers, shareholders, and partners of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were all knowledgeable and cunning people who had traveled a hundred years in the erratic sea of stars, but they did not know what to say when faced with such a “weirdo” like Li Yao.

It was too important an issue. The four senior managers, having no time to bother with any courtesy, took a few jade chips respectively and studied them with all their attention for a long time, before they looked at each other and nodded their heads. Their conclusion was the same. Those jade chips were indeed the magical equipment of the Star Ocean Republic from a thousand years ago, and they all carried the seal of the so-called “rightful government”, which was impossible for other people to duplicate. Also, the voyage logs and the confidential files inside looked convincing too. If they were not true, it would’ve been barely possible to make them up in such a detailed way.

Observing them coldly, Li Yao retrieved a handful of jade chips, marrow crystals, and medals from his Cosmos Ring and threw them at the four senior managers, before he said coldly, “With a great battle coming near, it is indeed necessary to be more vigilant. I know that I have shown up with a lot of mysteries too. It’s right of you to be more careful.

“Those jade chips are the items that the Black Wind Fleet has been using for a hundred years, with the signatures of the experts of the Black Wind Fleet on them. Right, there’s also a secret letter from Di Feiwen, the deputy commander of the Black Wind Fleet. He is also a manager of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. I believe that there must be tokens that only you can understand in his letter, right?

“Rest assured, Di Feiwen is not dead yet. He is now in full charge of the construction of the ‘New Black Wind Dominion’ as the financial minister. His life is much more comfortable than yours. He should’ve stated in the letter that I am a friend and a partner that you can absolutely trust, and whatever secret agreements you reached with Heiye Ming a hundred years ago, you can negotiate with me about them as well!”

“A secret letter from Di Feiwen?”

The four senior managers were refreshed. They hurried to study the letter together.

Di Feiwen had been away from the Imperium for a hundred years. He was in fact a senior manager of the older generation. The juniors like Qi Yuanbao who emerged later actually filled up the vacancies of people like Di Feiwen.

At that time, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors had not expanded to what it was today. Helping the Black Wind Fleet to do the big job required huge determination and stakes.

Since Di Feiwen was qualified to plan and implement such a great gamble, it was not hard to imagine his status in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Now that Li Yao had returned with the news of the Black Wind Fleet, it meant that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors’ investment a hundred years ago was about to be rewarded. How could they not be serious?

The few senior managers perused Di Feiwen’s jade chip for a long time. After unlocking it with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors’ secret technique, they discovered that Di Feiwen’s letter was rather ambiguous without many details. He only stated that he was safe and sound and had a thriving career. He also asked his fellows in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to absolutely trust every word that Vulture Li Yao, the new Black Wind King, said, assuring that they would make a huge fortune out of it.

The letter was simple, but Di Feiwen had left “Hidden Mark” between the lines that could only be perceived by the leaders of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. It was a very special technique. By touching the “Hidden Mark”, it would be able to sense the body and mental conditions of the person who left the mark.

The four senior managers touched the letter one by one, all agreeing that Di Feiwen was physically and mentally healthy and steady when he wrote the letter, without suffering any torture or coercion.

When they studied the jade chips, medals, and voyage logs that Li Yao presented, they found that the items were all authentic without any error on the details at all.

At this moment, the four senior managers finally took a long breath in relief and were more or less convinced by Li Yao’s crazy story.

They pushed the jade chips and the letter to Qi Yuanbao, apparently hinting Qi Yuanbao to study them too.

Qi Yuanbao’s eyes were bloodshot. He looked at Li Yao’s jade chips as if they were a pile of squeaking crystal bombs that were about to explode. He was reluctant to extend his hands no matter what, and he simply floated in the midair lethargically like a zombie, making people think that he indeed chose a great nickname as “Hanged Man”!

Seeing the expressions on the few senior managers’ faces, the managers, shareholders, investors, and business partners around were all shocked, knowing that Li Yao’s identity as the “Black Wind King” had probably been proved.

In fact, the more quick-witted ones among them were already convinced without looking at the proof.

That was because Li Yao bluntly confessed his secret a moment ago. He claimed that he had been a Mr. Nobody in the beginning and only rose abruptly after picking up a technique named “Star Absorption Art”, which granted him the ability to swallow other people’s spiritual energy to strengthen himself!

Such a technique where one strengthened oneself by harming other people would significantly undermine the peace and solidarity of the Immortal Cultivators, which made it a taboo for the Immortal Cultivators. Dongfang Wang, the previous Prime Minister of the Imperium, fell exactly because of that.

Of course, Dongfang Wang had been dissecting living people and even absorbing them into dry bodies to transplant their spiritual roots or gold cores. Such evil arts of “cannibal training” were not the same as swallowing spiritual energy.

There were many techniques similar to the “Star Absorption Art” among the Immortal Cultivators; some more effective than others. A lot of people had been training in secret too. Most of the techniques would not cause the death of the swallowed. But still, few people would admit that they had been doing such things.

Out of their expectation, Li Yao had confessed it brusquely, not taking it seriously at all.

It left two impressions on the many Immortal Cultivators:

Firstly, he must’ve been speaking the truth, because nobody would voluntarily demean themselves by confessing such things.

Secondly, the man was just a naïve magnate who had suddenly grown rich. He only succeeded because he found an extraordinary art in a certain relic luckily and because most of the experts in the Black Wind Fleet were hibernating. Despite his unparalleled combat ability, he did not have enough training on his mind at all!

All in all, their first impression was not wrong. It was just a pure warrior with more brawn than brain. His combat ability might be very high, but so what? He would be counting money for them even if he were sold by them!

At the very least, as long as they held back his arrogance on the surface, they did not need to worry about being deceived by him if they were to cooperate with him.

As for whether or not the “Star Absorption Art” was a taboo, the Immortal Cultivators all wished that it was. Should they end on bad terms in the future, it would be an excellent weapon to lambast him!

For a moment, the many Immortal Cultivators were all wearing a mysterious smile. They were all convinced by what Li Yao said, regarding him as the real… Black Wind King, the Immortal Cultivator of Immortal Cultivators, and the worst nightmare for the Cultivators!

“Black Wind King, please forgive our prudence. After all, you should know that a great accident just happened in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors today, and we lost our leader.”

The old senior manager respectfully gave all the jade chips and medals back to Li Yao, before he asked carefully, “However, we still do not understand what the Black Wind Fleet has been through in the past hundred years, or what has happened between you and the queen since you came to the Imperium.”

“It’s very simple. I meant to cooperate with the queen sincerely in the cause to renew the Imperium while we made a business deal in the meantime.”

Li Yao sniffed angrily. “But I did not expect that the queen’s appetite was bigger than I thought. She intended to swallow me as a whole since I was all by myself.

“Hehe, now that I was bold enough to return to the Imperium on my own, I certainly had my own reliance, and how could I have succumbed so easily? After I escaped from the capital, it occurred to me that the powerful people in the capital were not on the same boat as the people who rose from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium after all. I should’ve listened to Di Feiwen and come to talk with Jin Yuyan and the rest of you sooner!”

The few senior managers looked at each other and asked, “May we ask what business you want to talk with Director Jin about?”

“I do not ‘want’ to talk with him; the deal has already been made. It’s about the reconstruction of the abandoned worlds at the edge of the cosmos!”

Li Yao said, “We collected a lot of confidential files from Firefly during the campaign to eliminate the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic. As it turned out, Firefly found dozens of abandoned Sectors in the past hundred years. Now, the coordinates of those worlds are in the hands of the Black Wind Fleet. In fact, most of the habitable planets have undestroyed atmospheres and acceptable industrial infrastructures. They can be easily rebuilt with a tiny bit of initial capital and labor.

“Furthermore, according to the files of prospection on Firefly, some abandoned worlds even had primeval relics below the ground. If any of them is found luckily, the cost to build ten Sectors will be covered!

“Also, like I said just now, I have just conquered a few remote worlds of barbarians. Although those worlds are barren, they do have comfortable sunlight and atmospheres. The aggressive barbarians are qualified warriors too. There are also many mother lodes deep below the ground that are beyond the abilities of the barbarians to excavate, but things will be different with the advanced technologies of the Imperium.”

The more the Immortal Cultivators listened, the further they craned their necks.

Li Yao blinked his eyes and sniffed. “To be honest, I wasn’t going to share the coordinates and the development rights with anyone. After all, the Black Wind Fleet carried tremendous colonization starships and population. With a few hundred years, we can digest as many barbaric worlds or abandoned worlds as possible.

“However, after I discovered the subtle situation in the Imperium, I changed my mind and began to consider making a deal with some capable partners with parts of the coordinates and development rights.”