Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Well—”

Even ‘Slaughter Goddess’, whose mental defenses were so solid that she could break free from the puppet king’s bewitchment, was soaked in cold sweat because of Yun Haixin’s words.

Li Yao even let out a “Wow” from the depths of his soul. He thought to himself, “What kind of complicated, love-hate family ethics drama is this?”

“My surname is Yun. You must’ve guessed that I’m from the Yun family, one of the four electors of the Imperium of True Human Beings.

Yun Haixin smiled and said bitterly, “Twenty years ago, I was lucky enough to break into the Nascent Soul Stage because of a secret art of the mind that I accidentally picked up.

“Mn an ordinary noble family of Immortal Cultivators, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator might be one of the pillars of the family and hold a high position.

“However, every family of the four electors is as prosperous as a nation. They have as many experts as there are clouds in the sky and as many fierce generals as there are clouds in the sky. Even the old monsters in the Divinity Transformation Stage can be found everywhere. What can a Nascent Soul Stage

Cultivator from a collateral branch of the family who does not have a deep foundation do?

“A tall tree attracts the wind, but a high place can never be too lonely. For the descendants of the branch families such as us, once we break into the Nascent Soul Stage, we will have the ability to influence the interests of the main branch of the family. We will either be crouching at the foot of the main

branch of the family, wagging our tails and begging for mercy, or we will be used as dogs and chess pieces by them to move forward, only to be eliminated by their plots and traps without any bloodshed.

“Hehe. Let’s take the seemingly magnificent, destructive counterattack of the imperium as an example. If it were the real core of the family, of course, it would be the commander-in-chief of the expedition army in the rear who commanded thousands of soldiers and horses. But for the young men from

the minor branches such as us, who had little capability and might threaten the position and interests of the main branch, we were sent to the frontline for the most dangerous missions.

“If the mission is not completed, we will naturally die a clean death. We can also show the ‘martial might’ and ‘bravery’ of our family to show that our Yun family is loyal and willing to shed blood for the country.

“Even if we are lucky enough to complete the mission, we are often seriously wounded and have to pay a high price. Our Cultivation may stagnate for the rest of our lives. Just like that, a more dangerous mission awaits us.

“This is the destiny of the branch families of the four electors!

“I saw through everything twenty years ago and hated such a life. But since I was involved in the scheme and my family had to survive on their own, what could I do if I didn’t try my best to move forward?

“Just like that, I regarded myself as a war machine and swung my saber to kill numbly. Finally, I was assaulted by the army of the Sanctuary Alliance in a battle. All my comrades around me were blown into pieces. Even I was blown into the air by the blast and passed out before I hit the ground.

“When I woke up, I had already been captured and sent to the rear.

Chu Zhixiao and Li Yao were both fascinated.

It was not surprising that Yun Haixin had been captured on the battlefield. They listened attentively.

“My injuries were very serious. It took me an entire year in the med bay to recover.

Yun Haixin continued, “At that time, I was already prepared to commit suicide at any time. It was not because I was loyal to the Star Ocean Imperium and the path of immortality, but because I was used to the miserable and cruel stories after I was captured by the Sanctuary Alliance. I had even seen the

spies who were captured by the Sanctuary Alliance and turned into their past after being brainwashed. I did not want to be deprived of my self and memories and end up in such a miserable state!

“It was a pity that my bones were all broken, and my veins and nerves were all broken. I didn’t even have the strength to kill myself.

“As the days went by, stimulated by the high-density nutrition liquids, medical drugs, and cell growth drugs, my bones, nerves, and muscles gradually returned to normal. But the ‘terrible people of the Sanctuary Alliance’ never brainwashed me.

“In the legends of the Star Ocean Imperium, when the white light hits one’s brain, one will forget everything in confusion. Such a feeling has never appeared before.

“Time is the best anesthetic. After staying in the med bay for a year, my suicidal thoughts gradually faded, but my curiosity grew stronger and stronger. What was more intense than my curiosity was the sense of homesickness.

“I don’t have the slightest bit of longing for the Yun family. However, my marriage is not an exchange of benefits. My wife and I are truly in love with each other. She even gave birth to a pair of cute twins for me. My son and daughter gradually grew up and reached the most beautiful age in my life.

“The three of them are the only light in my gloomy life. I really want to know how they are doing. Although I am not the pillar of the ‘Yun family’, I am indeed the sky of my small family. Now that my sky has collapsed, what should my wife and children do?

“Curiosity and longing. The intense feelings gnawed at my soul like two vipers, making me unable to sleep all night. Every day felt like a year.

“It was not until I could not stand the loneliness any longer and shouted in the med bay day and night for the members of the Star Glory Federation to kill me as soon as possible that the phantom of the Great Sage appeared in front of me.

“Which race is the greatest master of?”

Chu Zhixiao asked.

“The Water Clan is the advisor who is in charge of the mental field, the leadership, the battlefield command, and the infiltration field.

Yun Haixin said, “However, from the beginning to the end, it was just an illusion that appeared in front of me. I don’t know whether or not it was him. You know, nobody has ever seen the true face of the great master. Every great master has been hiding themselves behind the scenes and only showed up

with illusions and the scent of their soul.

“At that time, I was both angry and anxious. I didn’t care about his identity or whether he was real or not. I simply roared like an animal and asked him what he was trying to do by either killing me or brainwashing me to wash away all my pain. I was even sent to the interrogation platform and sentenced

to death. It was much better than ignoring him.

“Master Zhi Shan did not answer my question face-to-face. Instead, he threw me a lot of videos and files. I was greatly shocked when I focused my eyes. My heart was about to explode. Those were the videos of the people of the Star Glory Federation sneaking into the Yun family and capturing the daily

lives of my wife and children!

“Huh?”

Chu Zhixiao was dazed for a moment. He said, “The rulers of the imperium are licentious and lawless. The citizens of the lower class have been dying to perish together with them for a long time. It’s not strange that the spies of the Sanctuary Alliance have infiltrated the nerve endings of the imperium.

But why did they take videos of your wife and your children? To threaten you?”

“No. Not threatening me, but… helping me.”

Yun Haixin was somewhat lost. “My wife and children are having a hard time in the Yun family.

“How so?”

Chu Zhixiao said, “You were captured because you were exhausted on the battlefield. It is not a stain. Chances are that you will be considered a martyr. Can’t the imperium even take care of the widow and the blood of a martyr?”

“Hehe…”

Yun Haixin narrowed her eyes, with intense hatred beaming out of them. She said, “If the imperium had been politically clear and united, and if it had implemented every military order and national law to the lowest level, the Holy Alliance would’ve been wiped out five hundred years ago. How could it

have ended up like this?

“Besides, as you said, my body was never found, and many of my comrades’ bodies were left on the battlefield. The crystal cameras on their crystal suits and crystal tanks might have captured the scene when I was captured by the soldiers of the Star Glory Federation. Then, the fact that I was ‘cowardly and

humiliated’ was confirmed.

“The widow and children of the martyrs are naturally blessed, but what about the wives and children of the cowardly captives?

“As I said just now, I’m from a branch family.

“For the branch families such as us, we don’t have deep connections or enormous resources that we can make use of. We can only rely on our rotten lives. There’s nothing we can do that we don’t fight for, snatch, and bite. It’s inevitable that our table manners are a bit ugly. On the road of our rise, we will

inevitably make many enemies.

“If I’m really dead, everything will be over. But now that I’m a captive, my enemies will have the right to humiliate my family.

“I’s not hard to imagine what kind of treatment a weak girl who has no one to rely on will receive when she is surrounded by her enemies in such a dangerous place as the Yun family’s.

Chu Zhixiao nodded solemnly.

“Immortal Cultivators love to kill each other. They are extremely cruel to their own people. They scheme against each other and resort to all kinds of tricks. How can they be as united as us?

Chu Zhixiao said, “I can only imagine how your wife and children were treated after you were captured.

Li Yao was aware of the internal strife of the four electors, too. He had seen almost a thousand similar cases in the files.

If the leadership and the main branches of the four major families had not been so harsh and demanding on the Cultivators of the collateral branches and the bottom class, how could the coalition fleet of the four major families have collapsed and even turned against each other?

Many low-level Cultivators of the four major families hated the leadership of their families even more than the revolutionaries did. It was not an exaggeration to say that they could not wait to cut the leadership of their families into pieces and swallow them alive.

The reason why Li Linghai and the other revolutionaries could cooperate with Li Yao, a Cultivator, and support Li Jialing, the young emperor, was also very important.

Of course, Li Yao was not naive enough to believe that Yun Haixin was as innocent as he claimed to be.

What did he mean by “unintentionally found a secret art of the mind”? Bullsh*t. Was a secret art something that would randomly fall from the sky like a commercial flyer?

It was possible that he had killed someone and stolen their secret arts and magical equipment. Now that the tables had tumed and it was his turn to be down and out, he was naturally afraid that his family would suffer retribution.

Murderers were always killed. It was probably an unavoidable destiny for every Immortal Cultivator..