Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“An interstellar civilization does not need a capital?”

The theory shattered Li Yao’s mindset again and opened a whole new gate for him.

“That’s right. In the age of the ancient Cultivators, the methods of communication and transportation were relatively underdeveloped, and the territory of the regime was not huge. That’s why the rulers concentrated most of the leaders and the experts in one place, known as the ‘court’ in the ‘capital’, which is the epicenter of politics, economy, and military. At that time, it was a rather reasonable approach.”

Wuying Qi elaborated, “But when it comes to this day, a united country of mankind can easily govern hundreds of Sectors, with a territory that spans across millions of lightyears. If you continue to rely on the experience of politics in the past, hoping to rule over the whole universe with one planet, wouldn’t it be too absurd?

“You can tell it if you look at the capital planet today. In order to govern the whole universe, too many government agencies have been set up in this place. As a result, the population is booming, the agencies are bloated, and the environment is polluted. The departments and the major forces hamstring each other. This place has completely lost the functions as the brain and the heart.

“When the nobles and the strongmen at the remote border of the Imperium grow insubordinate, it is beyond the capital’s reach, and it is impossible to mobilize troops in time to restrain and suppress them. As a result, the four Kurfürsten and other local warlords have arisen, making the Imperium fall apart.

“How does such a capital help with anything?

“As a matter of fact, since the first time that mankind embarked on the journey into space, they should’ve given up the obsolete way of administration. They shouldn’t have established a fixed capital at all. It’s a pity that from the demons to the Imperium a thousand years ago, none ever saw through it, which resulted in tragedies again and again.

“Let’s talk about the collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium, the greatest catastrophe ten thousand years ago. At that time, the brilliant Supreme Emperor stayed on the capital planet but asked the Blood God to command the strongest expedition army and crush the remnant demons in space. As a result, the political force and the military force of the Star Ocean Imperium were completely separated. It was absolutely impossible for the capital planet to command the expedition army millions of lightyears away effectively. There were too many variables in the expedition that took decades to consider. Even if the Blood God was the Supreme Emperor’s clone, so what? A rebellion is the inevitable outcome!

“If the Supreme Emperor had seen through it in time and moved all the government agencies of the Star Ocean Imperium into the expedition army, regarding the expedition fleet as a ‘mobile capital’, so that he could command the troops in person, how could the Blood God have had the chance to rebel, and how could the Star Ocean Imperium have collapsed?”

Attracted, Li Yao felt that what Wuying Qi said was so reasonable that he could not come up with any argument.

“In fact, many knowledgeable people since ancient times have vaguely realized the problem, and they made certain efforts intentionally or unintentionally.”

Wuying Qi went on and said, “From the Demon Beast Empire to the Imperium of True Human Beings, a lot of people who were in power established supermassive space fortresses. Sometimes, they even hollowed a whole planet and modified it into a military fortress, naming it as ‘Death Star’, ‘Destruction Star’, ‘Doom Star’, ‘Dark Star’, or the likes.

“As a matter of fact, from the military point of view, the battle efficiency of such superspace fortresses, which put all the eggs into the same basket, was terribly low. Not only was their mobility close to zero, but they could also be attacked easily once the enemy broke in. It was a better option to devote the abundant resources that were spent on them to the construction of fleets or the armed forces on the surface of the planet!

“However, even if the ‘Death Star’ of the previous regime had poor performance on the battlefield and got destroyed instantly, the new regime would continue to establish new ‘Death Stars’. Why was that? Were the military experts and technicians all idiots who could not see the fatal shortcoming of such supermassive space fortresses?

“No, the key is not military but politics. The purpose in building those super space fortresses with a huge fortune was not for their performance on the battlefield, but to absorb the resources of the local places incessantly during the construction so that the power of the local magnates would be diminished. When the local magnates could not resist the order of the court, the long-term peace and prosperity of the regime would be ensured.

“Of course, the local magnates understood the intention of the court very well. Therefore, they slandered such supermassive space fortresses through all kinds of channels, even by depicting the destructions of those super Death Stars in the literary works. They mocked such splendid-looking but actually useless weapons. But the truth was that they just did not want to be drained by the court with the excuse of the construction work.

“In the past, the counterattack of the local forces all worked out. Not a single regime had persisted on the strategy of weakening the local forces. Besides, the capital planet was too prosperous and convenient. Not a single emperor could bear to leave this enjoyable world and start from zero.

“A thousand years ago, I did not see through it and couldn’t bear to depart from it, but today, I have clearly realized how ridiculous it is to have a fixed capital. I’ve made up my mind to move the capital to a fleet that is large in scale and has a high combat ability, transforming the Imperium into some sort of ‘grand starship civilization’.

“However, the issue is too huge. There are too many stubborn interest groups on the capital planet. Not only do the four Kurfürst families hold tremendous interests in this place, but the reformists including the Wuying family are also deeply rooted too. If I propose the motion to relocate the capital, it will definitely raise the objection of countless people. It can’t be helped. The capital has been the capital of the civilization of mankind for almost fifty thousand years. Those shortsighted and obstinate guys are too used to it to realize the problem.

“Therefore, I’ve decided to resolve the problem from the source by destroying the Empyreal Terminus Sector. In such a way, those noisy flies will have to shut their mouths. There’s nothing they can do even if they do not want to move the capital!

“While a great price will be paid in the short run, it will be of great help for the sustainable development of the civilization of mankind in the long term. A short pain is definitely better than a lasting pain!

“By sacrificing the Empyreal Terminus Sector, I will receive a super fleet that has an extremely high combat ability where everybody is fair and clean. Then, I will move the entire court to this new fleet, which can be named the ‘capital fleet’.

“Henceforth, the capital fleet will cruise in the whole universe regularly. Whenever it reaches a Sector, particularly one that is under the control of the powerful lords, it will use the local resources to strengthen the fleet and deal with the local corruption. It will also select the local talents and bring the best geniuses into the fleet, strengthening the court and weakening the local powers. After every twenty to thirty years, it will be possible to cruise across the Imperium. During the thirty years, even if the local powers intend to rebel, there won’t be enough time for them to develop new rebellious troops. Even though corruptions take place at the bottom level, they will not spread out too severely, and most importantly, they can be excised and treated soon.

“In such a way, not just a thousand years, my Imperium will be steady, peaceful, and uncorrupted even ten thousand years later!

“The scale and combat ability of the capital fleet, including the generations of experts living in it, will be stronger and stronger. When the time is ripe and enough resources and technologies are stashed, the capital fleet will change into an expedition army to march at the grand universe!

“Li Yao, what do you think about the future that I described? Do you not believe that it is the only practical solution?”

Li Yao licked his lips again and again, only to feel that they were still dry.

The more he listened, the more he felt that Wuying Qi had a point—at least partly.

“Just like what I said, if you find any flaws or mistakes in the details, you are free to speak.”

Wuying Qi said tolerantly, “As long as your point is valid, I will definitely follow your suggestion.”

“Yes, there is one flaw!”

His head in a mess, Li Yao asked about one detail, “Your ‘Next Sun Plan’ will not kill tens of billions of people instantly but will completely disrupt their heads, transforming them into beasts that are full of killing desires. Infinite horror will be created on the capital planet. Would it cause a massive arrival of the extraterrestrial devils?”

After hearing that, Wuying Qi couldn’t help but put on a gloating smile.

“It is very considerate of you to think about the extraterrestrial devils, Li Yao, but…”

Wuying Qi smiled. “There’s no need to worry about the extraterrestrial devils. I have taken them into the calculation. I can even control all the devilized people and make them work for the Imperium.”

“You can control the devilized people?”

Li Yao was shocked again. No, something was greatly wrong. He had neglected a very important thing.

What was it exactly? Think about it! That was Wuying Qi’s greatest secret!

Yes! That’s it! It doesn’t make any sense!

“Speaking of which, where did you learn the secrets of the ‘Gold Crystal Pyramid’, Your Majesty? Not only do you know the accurate coordinates, you even know the methods to transform the Gold Crystal Pyramid into a ‘gigantic brainwave enhancer’, don’t you?”

Li Yao mumbled in the lowest voice, “Although you spent hundreds of years in the Supreme Emperor’s mausoleum, you couldn’t have learned it from the Supreme Emperor because the other half of the key to open the most central part of the mausoleum wasn’t found by Your Majesty, but instead, it had fallen into my hands.

“Since Your Majesty never really opened the core of the mausoleum, it was naturally impossible for you to get the whole heritages of the Supreme Imperium. Besides, I don’t believe that the Supreme Emperor was the kind of person who would modify the Gold Crystal Pyramid to massively brainwash all human beings. Furthermore, the Supreme Emperor was the extraterrestrial devils’ greatest enemy. There was no reason why he could control billions of devils.

“Considering the battle on the capital planet ten thousand years ago, only two people were aware of the secrets of the Gold Crystal Pyramid. Apart from the Supreme Emperor, it was ‘Blood God, the Mad Armageddon’. Also, the Blood God was corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils and turned into a demonic Cultivator before he betrayed the Supreme Emperor. The rebelling army that the Blood God commanded was a coalition army of humans, demons, and devils!

“Is it possible—

“Having grown into Blackstar the Great of the Imperium of True Human Beings in only several hundred years from a crippled refugee who escaped from the Martial Meritocrats Sector, Your Majesty is somewhat related to the Blood God, the legendary strongest demonic Cultivator?”