Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Inside the Gold Crystal Pyramid, holding Li Jialing under his armpit and leading Li Yao and Long Yangjun, Wuying Qi went forward on a side road, not toward the control room that Li Yao saw just now but a place below the control room that was even vaster.

Although it seemed inappropriate to describe an underground, enclosed space as “vast”, it was exactly what Li Yao was feeling right now.

As far as the eyes could reach, there was not the slightest sign of boundary. The wall had been made out of certain black, energy-absorbing materials, allowing them to swallow all the light like a black hole. The place looked as deep and profound as the night sky.

Only the diamonds embedded on the wall in the shape of eggs were emanating demonic brilliance, both like the stars in a night sky and countless weird eyes that were staring at everybody in the room without blinking.

When Li Yao walked in, a hundred people were already waiting respectfully inside.

Everybody had shaved their hair and cleaned their body. With a solemn expression on their faces, they were only wearing a black robe while surrounded by a holy vibe, as if they were devout monks.

Li Yao glanced at the sacred men and women and recognized them to be the most famous experts in the Imperium of True Human Beings. Most of them were the core forces of the reformists, but of course, some were assassins and mercenaries who were after money too.

It seemed that they were Wuying Qi’s most trusted bodyguards.

When he observed them more carefully, he discovered that everybody was both zealous and tranced. They watched Wuying Qi with such fascination as if he were a magnificent statue that rose to the sky.

Below their feet were complicated rune arrays that bit them hard like lotus flowers with tusks. The strokes of the rune arrays were spreading out and entangling other people’s rune arrays. In the end, all the rune arrays were gathered at the very center of the black space.

At the center, a throne made of black crystals was standing like an exuberant tree. The black crystals were piled high and reached all the way to the dome, spreading out an abundance of what appeared to be roots or tentacles.

Li Yao remembered the angle and distance when he walked in. He was certain that the gigantic black space was right below the control room earlier.

In other words, the facility above the throne of black crystals was likely to be the mainframe crystal processor that led to the Gold Crystal Pyramid.

While he was pondering, Wuying Qi had already directed Li Yao and Long Yangjun to the rune arrays closest to the throne, asking them to sit cross-legged like other people and enter the meditative state.

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

The bald experts glanced between Li Yao and Long Yangjun both warily and enviously, as if they were jealous that they were given such an excellent spot that was so close to His Majesty.

Wuying Qi, on the other hand, chuckled. He took out a piece of magical equipment that looked like a black cocoon from his Cosmos Ring and put the unconscious Li Jialing inside. Then, he closed it and placed it next to the throne of black crystals.

Thousands of tentacles immediately slithered and tied up the black cocoon. Then, through the holes on the black cocoon that represented the acupoints of humans, they crawled in.

It appeared to be a piece of ancillary magical equipment that he crafted for the body replacement.

Li Yao was rather anxious as he watched, but there was little he could do.

Wuying Qi turned around and looked at Li Yao and Long Yangjun thoughtfully before he strode to the throne.

The seat of the throne looked like a hole in the gigantic tree. As Wuying Qi was ensconced on it, the black crystals around surged at him as if they were alive, until he was entirely immersed in them.

Inside the throne, there were countless tubes as if it were a real tree. Wuying Qi’s black hair proliferated and reached the dome along the tubes before he controlled the “roots” and “tentacles” on the dome to wriggle at every expert in weird noises.

“The sacred moment is about to come. The Imperium will be reborn under our will. What are you waiting for, my dear subjects?”

Wuying Qi, who had been embedded inside the black crystals, did not say anything, but his voice came from Li Yao’s back—no, from inside Li Yao’s head.

A tentacle made of black crystals dangled behind Li Yao slowly, and its front end split like a flower, presenting a few things that looked like pistils—those were exactly Wuying Qi’s hair.

The same tentacles dangled behind every bald expert. Everybody connected themselves to the tentacles in wild joy as if it were the most exhilarating thing.

Li Yao thought of something and finally realized what was going on.

This place must be Wuying Qi’s massive “brainwashing room”, and the start of the whole “Next Sun Plan”.

Wuying Qi’s most intense brainwaves would fill the black space and reverberate with the brains of the many experts here before they were shot out by the Gold Crystal Pyramid and enhanced by the sun.

In such a way, he could use the soul power of so many experts to enhance his brainwaves. It was the same as the Meditation Healers who had been drained into living corpses.

Of course, the experts here were mostly very useful for Wuying Qi’s reign later, so they wouldn’t be as miserably exploited as the Meditation Healers were.

On the other hand, in doing so, he could perform the brainwashing of a deeper level on those experts. They were the most intimate and trustworthy partners for Wuying Qi and would be entrusted with great responsibilities later. It went without saying that the more brainwashing he could do, the better.

As for Li Yao and Long Yangjun, Wuying Qi did not care whether or not they lied or kept any secret at the beginning, because he was absolutely confident about his brainwashing technology. He believed that, when the two of them were in the massive brainwashing, their other thoughts deep inside their hearts would be entirely washed off.

Wuying Qi’s conclusion was not exactly wrong.

With everything coming to this point, even Li Yao had no idea whether or not his “absolute mental defense” could’ve resisted such dangerous brainwashing. He also did not know if the mental devil, which was still lurking inside the mainframe crystal processor of the Gold Crystal Pyramid, had found a solution. He couldn’t tell if the people that he looked forward to could arrive in time!

However, it was impossible not to step on the rune arrays.

Not only was Wuying Qi observing them dangerously, but hundreds of experts were also staring at them!

Li Yao glanced at Long Yangjun with the corner of his eye and stepped on the rune array without any expression, sitting cross-legged.

The tentacle of black crystals on his back bit his neck softly and pierced a few hairs or maybe nerves into his spine.

Long Yangjun did the same and simply allowed a tentacle to tie up her neck like a viper.

“Great! Great! Great!”

Wuying Qi’s voice that contained a mixture of insanity and euphoria came from all directions, high and low. “You are the pillars of the Imperium tomorrow! You are the ancestors of the new generation of mankind! You are the hope for our civilization to break out of this narrow universe! Come on! Summon your courage, boost your souls, and transform your willpower into the purest spiritual force! Roar at the sun as a new human being, and let the unstoppable storm rage in the whole universe!”

BOOM!

Every word he said bombarded the heart and brain of every expert like the most deafening thunder.

Including Li Yao, everybody felt that the real world around them was shattered and that they fell from a cliff into an endless black hole, reaching a brand-new space.

This space was entirely empty save the gargantuan black sun that seemed to be swallowing the whole universe. It filled their horizons, their minds, and their souls.

When the black sun slowly turned around, they saw Wuying Qi’s face.

Wuying Qi was light and heat, Wuying Qi was the sun, Wuying Qi was their only master, and Wuying Qi was the supreme commander of mankind—no, he was the one true god that was a hundred times wiser and loftier than a commander!

Wuying Qi was the sun, and they were mere dust in a dim, dying, noiseless universe.

Only when they were illuminated by the sun would the cosmic dust like them release the brief splendor for a while. Without Wuying Qi, they would be absolutely nothing.

The magnificence and the insignificance were a major contrast. They stood no chance to, nor should they, resist Wuying Qi. They were destined to be attracted by Wuying Qi’s force field and become part of him—like the glittering radiance on the sun.

The brilliance that contained astronomical information flooded into their souls.

They were the exact same “reasoning” Li Yao received from Wuying Qi a moment ago.

However, Wuying Qi was better prepared this time, and he had the support of a gigantic array and the resonation of countless experts. His reasoning was clearer and more detailed, making Li Yao could not think or refuse it. They crawled into the deepest part of Li Yao’s brain more than easily.

The decision of the Pangu Clan’s commander, the limits of a universal country’s expansion, and the conflicts between finite resources and infinite ambitions.

Choiceless. Choiceless. They were absolutely choiceless. This was the only solution.

A short pain was better than a long pain. The best way to untie a knot was to cut it apart.

Somebody had to pay sacrifices. It was the throes of reform and the price for evolution.

March out, march out. No matter what it might take, and no matter what they changed into, they had to march out and not repeat the same mistakes of so many civilizations in history!

Only His Majesty could lead the civilization of mankind to march out. Blackstar the Great was the only commander, the only monarch, and the one true god of the civilization of mankind!

BOOM!

Such ideas were boosted among Li Yao, Long Yangjun, the hundreds of experts, and Wuying Qi, triggering a resonation of their souls. Their powers congregated into the most scorching torrent that soared along the tube above the throne of black crystals before heading toward the sky!