Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Well…”

Li Yao and the thick woman who looked like a chimpanzee looked at each other for a while, both feeling somewhat weird. Li Yao felt that his silver tongue was needed again to break the dilemma. “Are you Old Jin, Jin Yuyan, director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors? You haven’t been a woman the whole time, right? No, no, no, I’m not biased against women at all. I believe great women can accomplish astonishing achievements too. However, you have a wife… Right, according to the latest news, your wife is working with Qi Yuanbao, the senior manager of your conglomerate who is responsible for black market weapons, the mercenary platform, and security. They have announced your death and appear to be abandoning you so that they can monopolize the Business Alliance.”

The chimpanzee-like woman stared at Li Yao. Her eyes seemed to be covered in frosted glass, making it impossible for Li Yao to tell what was on her mind.

“If my guess is correct, Qi Yuanbao was the man who pretended to be the bald tycoon in the white leather coat and who became as unpredictable as the smoke in a mirror later, right?”

Li Yao opened his hands to show his sincerity. “If you are really Jin Yuyan, even if you are not a battle-type Immortal Cultivator, you must’ve felt the guy’s hostility and determination of killing at the critical moment, didn’t you? If I hadn’t taken action in time, you would’ve been chopped into dozens of pieces! One other thing, your stand-in was not shot remotely. That fatal bullet was disrupted by me in time and brushed past your stand-in. Also, I assure you that no external force was imposed on his head when your stand-in exploded.

“In other words, some sort of force from within his head broke it apart. What exactly was that about? I believe you can tell me the answer.”

The chimpanzee-like woman was still in a trance, like a hideous black statue dwelling in her own world. Even Li Yao was not sure whether or not she had heard him.

“Are you really a woman who pretended to be a man the whole time?”

Frowning, Li Yao scratched his chin and nodded his head cleverly. “I got it now. The real Jin Yuyan has always been a woman. However, the identity of a female was too inconvenient for you to make a living at the chaotic edge of the Imperium. That’s why you pretended to be a man.

“Perhaps it was just an experience in the beginning, but as your position rose higher and higher, or for some other reason, it was impossible for you to reveal your true gender. In order to disguise yourself, you were even forced to find a fake wife—Wuying Qinxin.

“However, the seemingly unparalleled business dominator was a woman at all no matter how much money and power you had. Whatever tools and magical equipment you used, you could not satisfy your fake wife, Wuying Qinxin. We all know that women can be extremely, extremely, extremely terrible if they are not satisfied for a long time. Wuying Qinxin was unwilling to be a widow for the rest of her life. Naturally, she had other plans.

“As for Qi Yuanbao, what’s his role in all this? Is he only your fake wife’s lover, or is there a more complicated triangle relationship, say, he is also your lover? Otherwise, why did you trust him so much and entrusted the most important safety work to him?

“Could it be that you and your fake wife, Wuying Qinxin, fell in love with Qi Yuanbao at the same time, and the intense fire of jealousy between the two of you led to the great tragedy? Aya, what a drama…”

The frosted glass in the eyes of the chimpanzee-like woman finally broke.

If her eyes could spurt out blood, she would have shot out thousands of blood arrows and blew Li Yao apart.

“Are you done?”

The chimpanzee-like woman stared at Li Yao and gnashed her teeth hard. “What nonsense are you talking about? Lover, triangle relationship, or unsatisfied desires? Of course I am a man, an authentic man. Why do you think I am a woman pretending to be a man? What’s falling in love with Qi Yuanbao at the same time about? A third-rate soap opera?”

“Ah, you’re finally talking!”

Li Yao chuckled and rubbed his nose. Observing the man carefully again, he said, “I too feel that the real Jin Yuyan is unlikely to be a woman. Telling such a lie carries no benefits at all! However, judging from your… remarkable body curve, it’s hard to believe that you are not a woman.

“Of course, the experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage can freely adjust the secretion of hormones inside their bodies. If you forcefully suppress your androgens and stimulate the estrogens, it is indeed possible for your body to go through drastic changes. But still, such changes are too extraordinary. I can’t tell any trace of a man from the body at all!”

“You naturally can’t see any trace of a man because this body is a 100% authentic woman.”

The chimpanzee-like woman said sullenly, “But I, Jin Yuyan, have been a man since I was born. A real man. I’ve never pretended to be a woman or had any transsexual surgeries.”

“Huh?”

Li Yao blinked his eyes quickly. “What do you mean? Jin Yuyan is a man. You are Jin Yuyan. Your body is a woman. Could it be—”

Li Yao thought of an unbelievable possibility, and his face immediately became weird.

“That’s right. This is not my real body.”

The chimpanzee-like woman—Jin Yuyan—smiled bitterly at first, before he heaved a long sigh and collapsed. He mumbled, “My soul is imprisoned inside the body of a woman, unable to get out!”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao was stunned for a long time before he replied, “So, it is possession and reincarnation? If you have possessed the body, I’d say it’s a terrible choice. This is obviously the body of a pure warrior, but not the best warrior. Also, the form of the brain is more suitable for brief battles but not for steady thinking for a long time. It is utterly unfit for your soul. What happened? How were you… imprisoned or deceived into such a body?”

“It’s not possession and reincarnation but a secret art named ‘soul transfer’. However, it does have a lot of similarities with possession and reincarnation, except that—”

Staring at Li Yao, Jin Yuyan was like a wolf that had fallen into a trap with legs stuck inside. Mixed with brutality, desperation, paranoia, anger, and hatred, he breathed quickly and demanded, “Who are you? Why did you save me? Why should I trust you?”

Li Yao did not intend to hide who he was in front of Jin Yuyan in the first place. Immediately, he rubbed his face with both hands, taking off all the potions and artificial skin, before he slightly readjusted the facial muscles. Then, he smiled at Jin Yuyan and said, “Old Jin, it’s me.”

“It’s you, Vulture Li Yao?”

Jin Yuyan took a deep breath again. His wariness was slightly eased, but he was even more confused than before.

On the reformists’ march to the capital, Li Yao and Jin Yuyan were both important subordinates for Queen Li Linghai. Although the two of them were not intimate, they did see each other several times. So, Jin Yuyan recognized Li Yao immediately.

However, he was obviously aware of Li Yao’s recent doings, too. Frowning, he mumbled, “I don’t understand, according to the intelligence from the capital, you have betrayed the reformists and joined the four families. All the assassin groups under the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were asked to hunt you.

“However, if you had joined the four families, wouldn’t it have been the best option to simply watch my stand-in and the real me be killed? Why did you save me—twice?

“Was it because you wanted to persuade me to join the four families too?”

Jin Yuyan’s eyes grew sharp again.

Even though his soul was not residing in his own body, a fury that was almost concrete was still emanating from his body. His eyes closed, he sighed and said, “When you take a gamble, you have to be braced for failure. I’ve lost the game that I’ve carefully planned for a hundred years after all, but it is impossible for me to surrender. I’m too tired, and I don’t want to switch to a different side and do this again for another hundred years. Just kill me.”

“Old Jin, I’m afraid there’s a misunderstanding.”

Li Yao still said with a smile, “I was never bought over by the four families. On the contrary, I have always been the firmest reformist since the beginning. I am a real Immortal Cultivator, a righteous Immortal Cultivator, and a patriotic Immortal Cultivator!

“It was exactly because I was so pure, righteous, and patriotic that the scoundrels and schemers who blended into the team of reformists found me intolerable and had to banish me!

“I’ve come to the Seven Seas Grand Market after such a long journey because I believe that you are also a pure, firm, righteous patriot and Immortal Cultivator, Old Jin. That’s why I want to join hands with you and continue the cause to renew the Imperium, utterly transforming the decayed, corrupt Imperium of True Human Beings!”

“What?”

His words made Jin Yuyan who had lost all hope widened his eyes again. The shocking brilliance from his eyes was almost piercing through Li Yao’s bones, internal organs, and the soul. He asked tentatively, “If you are a ‘real reformist’, then who are the ‘scoundrels and schemers’? Li Linghai? Everybody knows that Li Linghai wants to be the regent of the Imperium or the president of the Council of Elders. It’s also part of our deal. That’s not critical.”

“That’s right, in the future plan of the reformists, whether Li Linghai wants to be the regent of the Imperium, or the president of the Council of Elders, or even… some sort of empress, it won’t be a big deal. A title is just a title. The other forces of the reformists are confident to contain him and achieve a certain balance of power. Her prestige is not enough after all. After she dies, her power will naturally thaw.”

Li Yao said casually, “But what if she is not Li Linghai but… Wuying Qi? What if the person who jumps out to claim the ultimate throne after the reformists and the four families both suffer heavy losses in the battle is none other than Blackstar the Great?”