Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao grew agitated too, and he shouted without giving in, “If you were just a soldier or a random general, all you need to do would naturally be to stride forward without looking back, but you are ‘God of War’. You are a symbol of the Imperium’s army, the last Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium, and even part of the Imperium! If a military giant like you abandons thinking, wouldn’t the Imperium become a rampant behemoth? You don’t know when it will fall into a trap or even an abyss at all!”

“I know that you have always been proud of your identity as a soldier. It is a soldier’s duty to obey, but soldiers should never be mindless slaughter machines without independent will. Otherwise, would there be any difference between them and the people of the Covenant Alliance?

“I know that your hands have been stained with blood in the past two hundred years, and you have killed more people than anybody can count, but I would rather believe that you knew why you were fighting and killing, instead of carrying out somebody’s order blindly!

“All in all, this thing concerns the future of the Imperium of True Human Beings and even the future of mankind. If it were me, I would have to get to the bottom of everything! How exactly is Wuying Qi going to deal with the ace fleets of the four families? What prices will be paid? How deformed the capital will be as a result? Have you really never been worried about those questions? Do you really feel that the demolishment of the capital is an acceptable price to win the civil war?

“If you are fine with that, let me tell you something else. One day ago, Wuying Qi detonated ‘Wuying Qinxin’, one of his puppets, and tried to brainwash me with the technologies of the Covenant Alliance!”

“What?”

This time, Lei Chenghu was truly greatly shocked. Staring at Li Yao, he demanded, “Are you serious?”

“Even if I’m telling lies, I wouldn’t make up such a ridiculous lie, would I?”

Li Yao said with a bitter smile, “More precisely, perhaps Wuying Qi did not use the technologies of the Covenant Alliance. Instead, Wuying Qi and the Covenant Alliance are of the same origins and share the brainwashing technologies of the Pangu Clan from the primeval age. Wuying Qi has always been deeply associated with the Covenant Alliance. He was even a contributor to the Covenant Alliance’s rise a thousand years ago!”

Lei Chenghu looked more and more awful. He gnashed his teeth and said, “Are you slandering without any evidence?”

“Although I do not have any evidence for now, it makes perfect sense logically!”

Li Yao opened his hands and said, “Although Wuying Qi and the Covenant Alliance seemed to be sworn enemies a thousand years ago, the result of their decades of war was that they carved up the Star Ocean Republic. From the carrion of the Star Ocean Republic, the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance arose.

“Based on the principle that the greatest beneficiary of a crime is the greatest suspect, it is not a groundless accusation that Wuying Qi collaborated with the Covenant Alliance to trick everyone!

“As to why the Imperium of True Human Beings has never destroyed the Covenant Alliance after it was established, it is very easy to understand. The Imperium needs the Covenant Alliance as an excuse to govern all the Sectors and to exploit the ordinary people. The Covenant Alliance, a source of fear, is why the Immortal Cultivators should exist!

“Don’t be hasty to argue. There’s one more thing. Aren’t you curious about how Wuying Qi is going to deal with the army of the Covenant Alliance?

“The main force of the Covenant Alliance is not crushed, and eighty percent of their strength is preserved. They retreated and abandoned a lot of Sectors voluntarily in order to allure the expedition army of the Imperium to march in. When the supply lines and the defense lines are stretched out, they would fight a final battle against the Imperium!

“Why are they so impatient about the victory despite the risks? Because the Covenant Alliance encountered a great crisis of rigidity. If they don’t fight the battle, they would collapse on their own very soon!

“This is all your own theory, Commander Lei, which you explained in great detail in the report you wrote for the Council of Elders. I believe that Wuying Qi must’ve read the report and had no doubt in the insight of such a loyal subordinate like you, right?

“Then, here comes the question. Wuying Qi clearly knew that the army of the Covenant Alliance was lurking in the darkness not far away, ready to launch a critical strike on the Imperium anytime, but he was still bold enough to start a full civil war at the crucial moment. What does he want exactly?

“Even if he could finish off the ace fleets of the four families neatly, so what? How is he going to deal with the main fleets of the Covenant Alliance? With the scarred land and the exhausted, broken fleets after the civil war? Has he lost his mind? Does he want to enjoy being an emperor for a year and a half even if he will be killed after that?

“No, it’s impossible. He is a man who plans to rule over the cosmos for another ten thousand years. He couldn’t have neglected the Covenant Alliance.

“The only answer is that he has been with the Covenant Alliance in the first place. At the very least, he is deeply associated with many people within the Covenant Alliance. He can control a large group of people of the Covenant Alliance with the brainwashing technologies that are of the same origin as the Covenant Alliance. He… He can replace the Pangu Clan in the hearts of some of the people of the Covenant Alliance and become their almighty god!

“Commander Lei, do you not feel anything about such a future? Can such a malicious, insane Wuying Qi be your master?”

Li Yao’s saliva was almost flying to Lei Chenghu’s face.

Lei Chenghu, however, was deep in thought with a rigid face, and he did not have any time to wipe his face.

“Nonsense.”

Lei Chenghu mumbled, “I have never heard such absurdities before!”

“Let’s go to the capital and figure out if they’re absurdities together!”

Li Yao said sincerely, “Commander Lei, I know that Wuying Qi is an embodiment of the ‘perfect Immortal Cultivators’ in your imagination and that he is the only hope of light that can rescue the Imperium and even mankind from decadence and darkness. However, you must not overlook the distance between ‘imagination’ and ‘reality’.

“Getting to the bottom of it, do you really know this ‘Blackstar the Great’ that you have absolute faith in? Do you really know what kind of person the Wuying Qi standing before you is?

“No, the person you admire, worship, and absolutely trust is merely the Blackstar the Great that has been glorified too many times by the history classics and the propaganda of the Imperium in the past thousand years. He is as different from the real Wuying Qi as a girl’s picture taken by the beautifying cameras after she puts on makeup for two hours is different from her real image when the makeup has been removed. They’re absolutely two people, alright?

“Let’s say that Blackstar the Great a thousand years ago was truly marvelous, incredible, and a supreme leader of the civilization of mankind who deserved your loyalty, but why are you so certain that the Wuying Qi at present is the Wuying Qi a thousand years ago?”

“Huh?”

Lei Chenghu narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I think that you’ve made a mistake. No. We have both made a cognitive mistake.”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao analyzed calmly, “It’s true that we figured out his identity from the tiny traces, and he acknowledged that he’s Blackstar the Great. However, who knows what really happened?

“Blackstar the Great already died in the Supreme Emperor’s mausoleum a thousand years ago. The only thing left was part of his remaining soul, which lurked for a long time before it finally ran into the young Li Linghai. It then attached itself to her and returned to the Imperium.

“That’s Wuying Qi and Li Linghai’s side of the story.

“However, during the thousand years of hiding and wandering, what if the remaining part of Wuying Qi’s soul was corrupted and contaminated by something else? What if it was completely deformed, with all the beliefs twisted? Could it have been enslaved by something more powerful?

“Those mysteries are not resolved, yet you are already kneeling before him and pledging your loyalty to him just because he claims that he is Blackstar the Great, Commander Lei? How injudicious! He says that he is Wuying Qi, but I’ll say that I am actually Wuying Qi. After all, having swallowed the strength of the Imperial Fire Pearl, I can spurt out a few mouthfuls of the dominating purple flames as well. Neither of us has 100% convincing proof!

“All in all, I am not objecting to your loyalty to Blackstar the Great. Really, as a real Immortal Cultivator, it’s perfectly normal that you want to serve the ancestor of the Immortal Cultivators! I am only kindly suggesting that you should figure out whether or not the guy who is up to nobody knows what in the capital at present is the 100% Wuying Qi from a thousand years ago, and whether or not he deserves your allegiance and devotion when the fate of the Imperium and the future of mankind are at stake!”

Lei Chenghu’s eyes and lips were slightly trembling.

“Such sophistry of yours is truly a headache.”

He said coldly, “It’s impossible to find answers to the questions you raised. His Majesty was revived from part of his remaining soul. Naturally, he is not 100% the Wuying Qi from a thousand years ago. It is not strange that his personalities and even beliefs have slightly changed. However, is there a better option than him at this moment?”

“There is, and that’s you!”

Li Yao rubbed his hands and said, “The so-called ‘Wuying Qi’ has malicious plans right now. God knows if he is another false Immortal Cultivator or something even more terrible than the Immortal Cultivators. This universe must not fall into his hands.

“However, Commander Lei, you are undoubtedly a pure Immortal Cultivator who is capable of running the Imperium.

“Of course, I understand that it is not your goal to be a dictator of the Imperium. So, we will continue our deal in the past and carry on the renewal of the Imperium as ‘rightful reformists’ to stop Wuying Qi’s scheme. In the end, we will select a young emperor that you’ve taught and raised in person, and he will be assisted by you while he reigns over the Imperium. Everything will be good in such a way!”

“After that, your Cultivators will be able to mix into the team of reformists and corrode the ideology of the Imperium without alerting anyone, starting a war of minds where nobody dies.”

Lei Chenghu sneered, “Is that the case?”

“If the true path of immortality is really invincible, you wouldn’t need to worry about a war of ideology at all!”

Li Yao said frankly, “Even if a few Cultivators blend into the team of Immortal Cultivators, shouldn’t they be corrupted and transformed by you easily? Why are you so vigilant of the path of the Cultivators as if it is a ferocious tiger or a venomous scorpion?”