Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

However, none of that was Li Yao’s business.

He did not care who would be the new emperor because they would only be a puppet on the surface and the real power was controlled by Lei Chenghu, Jin Yuyan, and also the King of Black Wind. He was also an influential person in the Imperium who was not a Kurfurst but looked like one.

Li Yao cared more about the reconstruction of the Empyreal Terminus and the modification of the Gold Crystal Pyramid.

The solar storm was highly destructive. Although Li Yao turned off the Gold Crystal Pyramid in time before the tipping point, the aftermath of the storm still wrecked the surface of the capital planet. Also, after Wuying Qi died, the capital had been in complete anarchy.

The mayhem of such an enormous planet could not be quelled by several fleets in a couple of days.

Three months after the battle of the capital, the capital planet was still plagued by the problems caused by the solar storm.

Too many people lost their homes. Some had fatal symptoms due to radiation diseases. Some were robbing other people claiming that they were eliminating the followers of the Kurfursten, giving a great headache to the real reformists.

Perhaps they did not care about the status of the ordinary people on the capital planet, but the capital was the home camp of the reformists and the root of their legitimacy. They could not allow it to stay chaotic forever.

An ironic thing happened.

In order to settle the mess in the capital, to ship the assets of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to the capital planet for disaster relief, and to coordinate the different fleets and troops, they had to depend on advanced crystal processors for automatic work.

Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the Fist King were the perfect candidates for such missions.

Naturally, Lei Chenghu was highly wary of those “virtual lives” and unwilling to work with Li Yao.

However, just like he had to accept Li Yao as the master of the Gold Crystal Pyramid, he didn’t have a choice either this time.

The remaining forces of the four families had elected a new emperor. Despite their consecutive failures, they still controlled dozens of heavy-industry planets that were of paramount importance. If they were given a year or two, they could probably establish another great army and seek a comeback.

To avoid future trouble, the reformists had to combine their forces and attack the territory of the four families with their high morale in order to reunite the Imperium again.

However, the fleets of the Covenant Alliance were still coveting in the darkness, perhaps waiting to attack the Imperium’s heart when the reformists’ army was fighting the four families in the four families’ territory!

Lei Chenghu did not have much time, and the future was hardly promising. So, no matter how vigilant he was of Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the shameless Cultivator Li Yao, he had to deepen their cooperation and to renew the Imperium with the help of the information lives and the Star Glory Federation.

Therefore, more and more of the most advanced crystal processors of the Imperium were given to Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the Fist King as part of their thinking network.

Thanks to the increase of their computation abilities and their data analysis abilities, Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the Fist King accomplished various missions, such as reestablishing order on the capital planet, reorganizing the fleets of the four families, setting up sailing routes between the capital and the Seven Seas Space Zone, etc.

The potential that they revealed astounded Li Yao, Lei Chenghu, and all the other people who knew them.

Of course, not everybody was aware of the information lives yet.

For those who were ignorant, they felt that the reformists were settling the complicated problems with unbelievable efficiency as if they were helped by god.

What slightly reassured Lei Chenghu was that Li Yao did not claim the Gold Crystal Pyramid for himself. Though no troops were allowed to reach within ten kilometers from the Gold Crystal Pyramid, people like Lei Chenghu were free to visit it as long as they did not carry any weapon.

Seeing Li Yao’s modifications on the Gold Crystal Pyramid, including a research institute and a museum, Lei Chenghu had to admit that Li Yao was probably the most suitable person to control the Gold Crystal Pyramid if he couldn’t control it.

Another piece of good news was that Li Linghai made it and was not killed in the battle.

Of course, after being possessed by Wuying Qi for years, and after the attack of the solar storm in the Next Sun Plan, her body and her soul were weaker than ever, and she had to rest in a special ward in a military hospital.

Her injuries were on the genetic level, and it was impossible for her to fully recover. She only had two options. She could either give up her cultivation and live until she died of old age as an ordinary person, or she could transfer her soul to an artificial body and regain her strength as a spectral Cultivator.

Of course, the transference could be highly risky, and it was possible that her soul would perish even if she had the protection of the best specialists.

Thankfully, there was no need to make any hasty decision. She could heal her soul first in the hospital.

Li Jialing had also been staying in the hospital with his mother. He also studied his body that was corrupted by Wuying Qi 2.0.

The mother and the son, whose relationship had been special, must’ve had a lot to talk about.

The leaders of the reformists disagreed greatly on how to deal with Li Linghai.

On one hand, she was the leader and even founder of the reformists as a party. The Deep Sea Fleet, which was the fundamental force of the reformists, was established by her in person too.

Although the Astounding Thunder Fleet had replaced the Deep Sea Fleet as the most powerful troop of the reformists, no war could be won by a single fleet. Lei Chenghu had to consider the attitude of the Deep Sea Fleet. If he punished Li Linghai severely, would he leave Li Linghai’s subordinates with the impression that he was initiating a purge?

On the other hand, everything Li Linghai did was because she was instructed by Wuying Qi so that he could reclaim the Imperium. However, neither Li Linghai nor anyone else could have resisted Wuying Qi if Wuying Qi possessed them back then. So, it was not entirely Li Linghai’s fault that she allowed Wuying Qi to take her body to do evil things.

Besides, Li Linghai still had a lot of secrets, including the location of the Supreme Emperor’s mausoleum, which was critical for the future of the Imperium.

So, after weighing the pros and cons, the leaders of the reformists decided to understate Li Linghai’s negative role in the Next Sun Plan and to not judge her openly so that everything could come to a peaceful end.

Naturally, everybody was delighted by the result. Even Li Yao felt that it was the best arrangement.

Three months after the battle of the capital, Li Yao had digested most of Wuying Qi 3.0’s legacy in his head.

He also had a deeper understanding of how to control the Gold Crystal Pyramid.

An enormous super-remote base of communication was established at the edge of the Empyreal Terminus Sector under the supervision of Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the Fist King. It sent a message to the Star Glory Federation on the details of what happened after Li Yao arrived at the Imperium, and it asked for the parliament’s decision on the relationship between the federation and the Imperium.

The information highway between the center of the cosmos and the edge of it was about to take shape!

…

In the Land of Eternal Night in the Ancient Sages Sector in the Star Glory Federation…

The Land of Eternal Night was not nearly as desolate and dangerous as when Li Yao set foot on it with the Three Saints and Four Rapscallions.

The weather specialists and professional engineers had reshaped the place and established lively “heat oases” on the ice land where a drop of water would be frozen into ice immediately. The hard-working people in the heat oases were exactly the epitome of the rising federation.

The federation had undergone great changes yet again in the past three years.

After their surrender, the Black Wind Fleet brought new technology and knowledge to the federation.

The specialists from the Black Wind Fleet also offered new perspectives for the federation’s projects to explore Kunlun and learn the primeval technology.

The development of Skeleton Dragon and the solidarity of the seven sectors when they worked together to defend the federation made the country more united than ever.

The federal citizens had never seen the view at the center of the cosmos more clearly or known the gap between themselves and the Imperium better. All the Cultivators were filled with ever-burning fire and worked day and night for their motherland so that the Star Glory Federation could rise sooner and appear as a worthy rival for the Imperium and the Immortal Cultivators!