Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Hmm…”

Attracted, Li Yao thought carefully for a long time. He suddenly realized it and frowned. “What are you talking about? Why don’t I deserve to be ‘dominator of three Sectors and father of the federation’? Why am I disappointing the young Cultivators and making them suspicious about the world and their life? Explain yourself!”

“That’s just a metaphor to make it easier for you to understand.”

The mental devil hurried to add, “All in all, it’s nothing personal. All I’m saying is that the glorious image of any leader who has been divinized always has a major gap from what he actually looks like. You were only away from the federation for a hundred years, and you were already deformed in the propaganda to the extent that your own parents wouldn’t have recognized you. It is needless to say that about Wuying Qi who has been away from the Imperium for a thousand years. Chances are even smaller that he is what the textbooks of the Imperium describe or what is in Lei Chenghu’s mind.

“However, once Lei Chenghu realizes the gap, it will be like falling from a cliff ten thousand meters high, with all his hopes gone. He will completely lose his calmness. Who knows what he will do in his fury?”

“You do have a point if you put it that way!”

His eyes glittering, Li Yao smashed his fists hard. “Lei Chenghu is a ‘real Immortal Cultivator’, if not ‘the last Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium’. However, he lives in a corrupt, decadent age where 99% of the Immortal Cultivators are selfish and hopeless. It is impossible for him to save such a crooked and bizarre society on his own, restoring it to the ‘beautiful age of Immortal Cultivators’ in his dreams. When a skyscraper is falling, it is barely possible to support it with one pillar. It’s not hard to imagine how depressed and frustrated he is!

“Twisted by his depression and frustration, he regarded the legendary Blackstar the Great as his sole psychological support. Wuying Qi in Lei Chenghu’s mind is a hero and a savior who will return to save the Imperium someday!

“Then, it is needless to say how ecstatic and admiring Lei Chenghu is when Wuying Qi does show up.

“However, the more hopeful one is, the more disappointed he tends to be later. When he realizes that Wuying Qi is actually no different from the ‘false Immortal Cultivators’ like the four Kurfürsten, if not worse than them, he will certainly be hit by the collapse of his idol and feel that he has been betrayed by Blackstar the Great, the Imperium, and even the whole universe!

“Wow, if he does fall into desperation and realizes his dream is just a joke, he will definitely retaliate against Wuying Qi. Or maybe, if he does not die because of mental derangement caused by the collapse of his beliefs, it will be possible that he will abandon himself and walk on the path of the Cultivators, starting to worship me, the ‘dominator of three Sectors and the father of the federation’!”

“I think you are overthinking. However crushed and upset Lei Chenghu is, he is never going to be a Cultivator, much less your fan.”

The mental devil said solemnly, “However, we are certain about one thing. Lei Chenghu is a man who holds the extreme belief in the true path of immortality and who fights for not his personal interests but for his dream. It is even safe to say that he is a ‘fundamentalist Immortal Cultivator’. If he finds that Wuying Qi’s beliefs don’t fit with his own, or that Wuying Qi is a ‘false Immortal Cultivators’, he will not hold any loyalty toward Wuying Qi. He will not hesitate to kill Blackstar the Great by then!”

“That’s right!”

The more Li Yao talked, the more excited he became. “Right now, Lei Chenghu hasn’t seen through Wuying Qi’s real appearance. That’s why he is loyal and obedient to the thousand-year-old ghost and jumps to the swamp of the Seven Seas Space Zone without any hesitation. However, hate often grows from love. Once he sees through Wuying Qi’s beliefs and realizes that Wuying Qi intends to be the eternal sovereign of the Imperium, which will result in the complete rigidity of the whole civilization of mankind, he will certainly rebel!

“Wuying Qi knows the point very well. Then, he has every reason to believe that Lei Chenghu poses a greater threat than the four Kurfürsten and the merchants of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Therefore, with a few tricks, he has placed the Astounding Thunder Fleet, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, and the coalition fleet of the four families in the same trap, allowing the three threats to stall and fight each other. In the meantime, he will be given an opportunity to deal with the ace fleets of the four families. As long as the plans in the capital and the Seven Seas Space Zone both work out, it will be impossible for him to lose. Who in the entire Imperium can be a match for him?

“While the whole scheme is slightly hasty and risky, Wuying Qi doesn’t really have a choice. The army of the Covenant Alliance has lurked long enough in the darkness in space, and it’s time for them to show up, isn’t it? Wuying Qi has to unite the whole Imperium thunderously and unstoppably before the main force of the Covenant Alliance arrives. That’s his only option!”

“There’s another possibility.”

The mental devil added, “Although there is no evidence, I’m doubting that something in Wuying Qi’s trap in the capital crosses the boundaries of the Immortal Cultivators. He knows that his scheme is very likely to raise Lei Chenghu’s resistance or even intense objection. That’s why he takes action in advance to diminish or even kill Lei Chenghu!”

Li Yao was slightly stunned. “Something that crosses the boundaries of the Immortal Cultivators? The Immortal Cultivators barely have any boundaries, alright? If Wuying Qi is crossing such boundaries, what exactly is he going to do?”

“I don’t know. However, assuming that Wuying Qi is truly transforming the capital planet into a gigantic crystal bomb to waste the hundred billion people and even the best fleets nationwide, Lei Chenghu would definitely object to it and even stop cooperating with him.”

The mental devil further explained, “With our understanding of Lei Chenghu, he is both a devoted patriot and a zealous militarist. The military is the most sacred notion that is above everything in his eyes. Even the ace fleets of the four families are part of the military of the Imperium and the ‘sabers of humanity’.

“Lei Chenghu’s purpose is to unite all the troops of the Imperium and combine them into an army that truly serves the country. That naturally includes the ace fleets of the four families, which will even be the main force of it.

“If Wuying Qi is really going to take down so many fleets at the cost of the entire capital, do you think that Lei Chenghu will agree?

“Of course, like what we have analyzed just now, it is highly unlikely that Wuying Qi is going to detonate the capital planet. However, whatever his scheme is, it will be one of the brutal methods that involve mutual destruction, which will significantly undermine the military power of the Imperium. Then, as a fundamentalist Immortal Cultivator and a militarist, Lei Chenghu would never agree to that.

“Wuying Qi foresaw that, after his plan was activated, Lei Chenghu would object to it or even stand on his opposite side along with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, in which case he would be doomed! Therefore, he prepared a scheme in advance and took the opportunity to kill Lei Chenghu, the future leader of the military. Does such a stone that kills two birds make sense?”

“It can’t make more sense!”

Li Yao rose abruptly; his eyes glittering like a weasel that had just caught the buttock of a hen. He rubbed his fists and said, “This is Wuying Qi’s greatest loophole and our best opportunity. Chances are that the scheme that he has worked on for such a long time will make us the greatest winner!

“Wuying Qi has placed the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the Astounding Thunder Fleet, and the coalition fleet of the four families in the bloody, cruel swamp that is the Seven Seas Space Zone, intending for them to destroy each other. However, he couldn’t have taken Boss Bai and the ‘Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs’ into consideration, nor could he have foreseen the existence of Xiaoming and Wenwen.

“If… If we can persuade Lei Chenghu and achieve a temporary alliance with him, with the Astounding Thunder Fleet’s combat ability and Lei Chenghu’s prestige, plus the disguise of the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs and Xiaoming and Wenwen’s computational ability, it will definitely be possible to clean up the four families’ coalition fleet commanded by Yun Xuefeng as soon as possible. We may even be able to attract most of the starships on the enemy’s side to join us!

“Then, it will be all about speed!

“The ace fleets of the four families are no more pigs than their coalition fleet. If they truly launch a comprehensive attack at the capital in the Empyreal Terminus Sector, however sophisticated and dangerous Wuying Qi’s trap is, it will be impossible for him to annihilate all the ace troops in only half a month, right?

“Then, as long as we clean up the Seven Seas Space Zone before Wuying Qi’s triumph and jump to the Empyreal Terminus Sector with Boss Bai’s fleet, Lei Chenghu’s fleet, and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors’ garrison fleet, the Imperial Guards and the Deep Sea Fleet there will have been exhausted in the battles against the ace fleets of the four families, right? Wouldn’t we be the greatest beneficiary in the end? Haha, in that case, Wuying Qi will be a victim of his own scheme!”

“Well, while your plan sounds too wishful, it is basically fine.”

The mental devil continued calmly, “There’s only one problem. How are you going to negotiate with Lei Chenghu? Under what identity are you going to negotiate with him?

“On the surface, you are a traitor of the reformists who has joined the four families. As a great general on the reformists’ side, and as a man of honor and integrity, Lei Chenghu would be barraging and blowing you into smithereens, alright?

“In addition, you are a Cultivator, which must’ve been known by Lei Chenghu thanks to Wuying Qi’s information. Then, Lei Chenghu has even fewer reasons not to blow you into pieces!”

Li Yao blurted out, “Then, I’ll talk to him as the ‘Black Wind King’!”

The mental devil sneered, “Have you thought it through? The only reason why Lei Chenghu led the soldiers of his hometown to save the day in the front line, sacrificing so many brothers and comrades in order to hold the defense line, was because of the Black Wind Fleet’s collapse and escape! Do you think Lei Chenghu will be particularly fond of the Black Wind King?”