Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1207
Di Feiwen smiled. "Fate is the most mysterious and unpredictable thing. When Wuying Qi was tied up and thrown into the active volcano, could he have foreseen that he would rule over the entire universe as 'Blackstar the Great' many years later?
"In the business world, there is no deal that is completely profitable, but as long as the potential profits are more than three hundred percent, it is already worth fighting for even at the risk of one's life. Besides, with the situation that the Black Wind Fleet is in right now, what other choice do we have except to make the wild gamble?"
Silent, Li Yao considered for a long time. Then he slowly said, "I can basically outline your scheme right now. Perhaps you think that after I am raised to the place of 'Black Wind King', when all the Immortal Cultivators submit to me and corrupt me with your theories, I will feel too good about myself and become an Immortal Cultivator. Then, I will fight for power in the Imperium of True Human Beings as a spokesperson of your interests and even overturn the Imperium to establish a new system devised by you.
"In that case, the Black Wind Fleet will appear to have failed on the surface and even given the leadership to an outsider, but in fact, you will be the final beneficiary, and I will be a puppet in a different form."
Di Feiwen blinked and said, "Perhaps. Then, are you willing to shoulder the heavy responsibility and become the new 'Black Wind King'?"
Li Yao stared at him hard. "I'm really curious. What makes you so confident that I will be at your mercy like a stringed marionette? Even if I become the 'Black Wind king', I will not believe the Immortal Cultivators' survival-of-the-fittest theory at all. The first thing that I'm going to do is send all the leadership of the Black Wind Fleet into the captive camp and reeducate them with the ideology of the Cultivators, even if you call it 'brainwashing'. The second thing will be to abolish all the slavery within the Black Wind Fleet and restore the freedom of all civilians. I will show them a brand-new lifestyle and civilization. I will show them the dignity and pride of mankind, and they can also be strong warriors to defend our civilization, not just… some 'fuel'!"
"Only the fittest survive, and the winner is the king. This is not a theory but an indisputable 'fact'," Di Feiwen said unhurriedly. "Take the situation right now for example. It is exactly because the Star Glory Federation is stronger than the Black Wind Fleet that you are the final winner who is qualified to demonstrate your power and brainwash the losers.
"The federation won the war only because you were stronger, not because of righteousness, mercy, kindness, or any other factor.
"President Li, experts like you can do whatever you want. We are all prepared for our fate after our surrender. Although I do not approve of the childish theories of the Cultivators personally, if you are the one who demands that we accept the brainwashing, we will certainly purge ourselves solemnly without any reserve."
Li Yao was at a loss for words when faced with such a shameless person. Dazed for a long time, he frowned and said, "If you believe that the Cultivators' theories are wrong, how do you explain the victory of the federation? Was it not because of the Cultivators' theories that the federation grew so strong?"
"There are no right theories or wrong theories; there are only suitable theories and those that are not suitable," Di Feiwen said. "The Cultivators' theories are more suitable for the simple, steady environment at the edge of the cosmos where there aren't many changes and trouble.
"So, the theories have proved successful. But there are far more problems, variables, and enemies at the center of the cosmos, which is a place that does not have much room for kindness and leniency. In many cases, we do not have any option except to seek the tyranny of an iron-blooded monarch in order to settle all our problems quickly.
"You do not need to waste so much time preaching on how evil, ugly, and wrong the true path of immortality is. We know that very clearly. As a businessman, I am not particularly fond of the emperor, but we chose the autocratic monarchy and the true path of immortality not because the emperor and the truth path of immortality are good, brilliant, and justified, but because the other options are even worse than them.
"Perhaps, in your eyes, the collision of Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators is the competition of good and evil. It's all about choosing between saving ten thousand people and butchering ten thousand people. But the truth is, it's more likely to be a competition of 'evil' and 'eviler', a choice between butchering ten thousand people and butchering a hundred thousand people. As for the option to save ten thousand people, it does not exist at all.
"Of course, you won't believe me right now. You think that I'm bluffing. But please remember that the Star Ocean Republic was a realm of Cultivators, and you know what happened to it in the end. Regarding the corruption and darkness at the last years of the Star Ocean Republic, too many secret case files must've been stored on Firefly. You can retrieve them and have a read.
"Naturally, after a thousand years of development and transformation, the Imperium of True Human Beings today is decaying and repeating the history of the Star Ocean Republic, too. Perhaps the time has come to inject a new force into it and revitalize the old Imperium…
"Hehe. Forget it. There's no need for me to say such nonsense to you right now. Let the bloody facts at the center of the cosmos teach you, and let history be the final judge. At the very least, you are the most well-deserved expert. Strength is justice. Everything you say is the truth. We are all your most humble lackeys and servants who will carry out your decisions at the cost of our lives!"
Faced with Di Feiwen's scorching eyes, Li Yao could not help but shudder.
There was one thing that was even more dreadful than Di Feiwen's lie and scheme.
It was that Di Feiwen had neither a lie nor a scheme. Everything he said, including the zealous vow, was serious.
Chapter 1873: Bound Interests |
Di Feiwen's proposal was rather unprecedented. At the very least, the Star Glory Federation had never encountered such ridiculous terms of surrender before.
Of course, the Star Glory Federation had never competed with a universal superpower of such a scale and even defeated the opponent to some extent before, either, although the victory was only local and temporary.
Regarding the absurd 'terms of surrender', Li Yao himself and the strategists, lawyers, and sociologists of the federation all began their deductions.
The first problem that the experts faced was whether or not the arrangement was legally acceptable.
Like most of the political entities drifting at the edge of the cosmos, the Star Glory Federation did not forbid dual nationalities. Or rather, the federation had never considered the possibility of finding another nation and forming an 'international society' before.
Since there was not even an 'international society', naturally, dual nationalities were not a problem.
In other words, Li Yao's identity as 'citizen of the Imperium' was not against the law. Some of the captives who had been captured ten years ago were still living in the Star Glory Federation. They were not necessarily willing to abandon their identities as subjects or citizens of the Imperium. The federation certainly did not force them to make a choice, either.
Of course, if Li Yao were an official of the Star Glory Federation, it would raise the suspicion of treason when he worked for a hostile country.
After multiple investigations, the conclusion of the specialists was that Li Yao was no kind of official in the federal government. The so-called 'dominator of three Sectors' was more like a slogan for propaganda. He was just the president of several private funds, nothing more.
However, Li Yao had access to tremendous secrets of the federation and was even a member of the 'First Family'. There would certainly be great influence if he became a subject of the emperor of a hostile country, even though only theoretically.
But when the research was pushed to this point, even the concept of 'hostile' became quite suspicious in the legal sense. It had never occurred to the specialists that, despite the fierce space battle half a year ago, in which almost ten thousand starships large and small and dozens of Colossi were mobilized, the two parties had never declared war against each other!
For the Black Wind Fleet, the three thousand Sectors were all the rightful territory of the Imperium. They were only there to conquer the barbarians at the edge of the cosmos and did not consider the federal as an opponent on par with the Imperium at all. Naturally, it was unnecessary to declare war.
On the federation's side, to ensure the secrecy of the 'Dim Moon Plan' and to pretend that they were unexpectedly attacked, they did not declare war on the Imperium either.
After the space battle, the federation only hoped that the homeland of the Imperium did not know of their existence so that they could develop for several more decades in secret. How could they attract the enemy's attention by declaring war on the Imperium?
At this moment, a piece of news from the center of the cosmos accelerated the decision-making of the federation and Li Yao.
Di Feiwen's fleet near the brown dwarf always had a super remote communication base that maintained minimal contact with the homeland of the Imperium.
The latest battle report that they had received stated that the 'strategic counterattack' of the Imperium of True Human Beings, which had been prepared for hundreds of years, had been launched a long time ago, and the progress could only be described as 'unstoppable'. In only half a year, two strategic victories that could be called 'great triumphs' had been secured, and more than five Sectors and twenty resource plants had been recovered.
All in all, everything looked good. Not only was the Imperium about to take back all the territory swallowed by the Covenant Alliance in the past hundreds of years, it also had the opportunity to march to the central territory that the Covenant Alliance had operated for a thousand years to claim the heavy industrial bases and the resource planets of the Covenant Alliance, thereby reversing the comparison of national power of the two parties.
Too many victory ceremonies had been held in the Imperium. A lot of people even considered the strategic attack as the renaissance of the Imperium. Some were even calling the emperor 'Blackstar the Great reborn'. The military power, morale, and the experts' loyalty to the emperor were at the highest point in the past five hundred years.
The good news for the Imperium was bad news for the federation.
According to the grand strategy after a hundred years of planning, the Star Glory Federation, as a critical chess piece, could only play an important role when the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant were on par with each other.
Whether the Imperium suppressed the Covenant Alliance or the Covenant Alliance completely swallowed the Imperium, it would not be good for the Star Glory Federation, which had just entered the phase of high-speed development.
Right now, somebody in the Imperium of True Human Beings had already learned of the Star Glory Federation's existence. However, because of the personal plans of Heiye Ming and the rest of them, they did not know that the Star Glory Federation was a highly-modernized regional superpower that was developing even faster than the Imperium and thought that it was just a bunch of barbarians struggling to survive in a desolate land.
But the secret could not be kept for long.
If the Imperium really accomplished the strategic counterattack and secured a decisive victory, rising as the sole dominator of the universe, it would certainly shift its attention to the federation eventually.
The emperor, whose capability and prestige would be higher than ever after the multiple victories, might not care about the barbarians at the edge of the cosmos, but he would certainly not allow the tough and insubordinate warriors of the Black Wind Fleet to wander out of his control.
The seasoned troops from the main battlefield of the Imperium would certainly be able to sweep across all the enemies in their way like an autumn wind blowing off the leaves.
If the emperor, nobles, and warlords of the Imperium learned the truth of what happened at the edge of the cosmos, that the Black Wind Fleet had been defeated by an unknown country at the border and that the unknown country might grow into a great threat for the Imperium in a hundred years, why would they not exterminate the threat while it was still in the cradle?
The Cultivators certainly had their principles, but persisting in principles did not equal doctrinism or recklessness. Having a head-on clash with a hundred central worlds of the Imperium with less than ten worlds at the edge of the cosmos would be a bold but stupid move that would yield no results at all except for the destruction of the future of almost a hundred billion people.
The federation had no choice except to lie to the homeland of the Imperium and even to attempt to pull off a great strategic deception to make the homeland of the Imperium believe that everything at the edge of the cosmos was under the control of the Black Wind Fleet and that the Black Wind Fleet retained its absolute loyalty to the Imperium.
It would be best if another dozens of years could be earned for development so that the federation could digest and absorb the technology stored in the Black Wind Fleet and the Nuwa warship in the Ancient Sages Sector and make another leap. After that… the federation could take other measures!
To achieve that, the federation needed the support of the defeated soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, or at least the fleet near the brown dwarf under Di Feiwen's lead that controlled the super remote communication base.
The subtlety of the situation and the continuous victories of the Imperium were not necessarily a good thing for the Black Wind Fleet either because it meant that the Black Wind Fleet was even more useless to the Imperium. It was now more of a problem that could not be gotten rid of.
Even if their hometown was 'recovered' by the Imperium, it would still fall to the hands of other nobles and warlords or even be claimed by the emperor himself.
With their crushed soldiers, it would be impossible for them to ask the emperor and the warlords to spit out the five fat pieces of meat that had already been swallowed!
To some extent, the interests of the Black Wind Fleet and the interests of the Star Glory Federation were being bundled slowly.
Then, to get the full cooperation of the Black Wind Fleet and Di Feiwen, the only thing that needed to be done was to satisfy their small 'request'.
All the intelligence was listed in front of Li Yao with the most detailed analysis, even considering the possibility that Di Feiwen was lying and the Imperium in fact did not secure any great victory.
But Di Feiwen did not have any reason to lie about such an important message, which would be seen through soon enough. The Black Wind Fleet had to be stationed in the homeland of the federation for a long time. It would even be disbanded and regrouped. All of them would be meat on the chopping block at the mercy of the federation.
If he dared to shatter the mutual trust of the two parties with such a great lie, it would do no good to the future of the Black Wind Fleet and the Immortal Cultivators at all.
Li Yao scratched his head and thought for a long time. Eventually, it was what the mental devil said that helped him make up his mind.
"Don't we still need to search for Earth at the center of the cosmos? I don't think that any random person will know the relevant information.
"To unveil the truth about Earth, it is necessary to become a big shot at the center of the cosmos or at least have access to the big shots. In that case, the identity of 'Black Wind King' will be the perfect identity to get started.
"As to your concerns that Di Feiwen has other evil plans, I don't think that you should be too worried. You can keep him in the federation under the close surveillance of Guo Chunfeng, Jin Xinyue, and the rest of them. Then, disband the Black Wind Fleet and brainwash all the soldiers. Send all the civilians to the schools in the federation for reeducation. Do you think that they can turn the world upside side?
"Even if you do go to the Imperium, there is no need for you to expose your identity to the public. You look so ugly in the first place. If you disguise yourself and sneak in, who can possibly guess that you are the legendary 'Black Wind King'? There won't be any trouble at all!"
The words woke Li Yao up from the predicament. Although he was not entirely satisfied about the remark on his appearance, he still coughed and made up his mind to go to 'Black Ray', the temporary flagship of the Black Wind Fleet, where he received the title of 'Black Wind King'.
Eight months after the splendid space battle, the Immortal Cultivators in black military uniforms and glowing long boots lowered their proud heads to the man on the podium whose hair was in a mess. On one knee, they roared at the same time.
"We swear solemnly before the billions of stars that we will unconditionally obey 'Li Yao', the dominator at the edge of the cosmos, the slaughterer of deities and devils, the protector of the seven Sectors, who will be respected as the new ruler of the five worlds, the new leader of the Black Wind Fleet, and our supreme master!
"For the eternal glory of the civilization of mankind, we will forever obey the leader's command and put our lives on the line for the vow anytime and anywhere!
"Long live the leader! Long live the Black Wind Fleet! Long live the civilization of mankind!"
Chapter 1874: Heartfelt Conversation |
Amid the solemn roars, Di Feiwen also fell on one knee and raised a dark metal tray above his head before Li Yao.
On the tray, the ultimate tokens from the five worlds of Immortal Cultivators that he had shown to Li Yao more than a month ago were placed.
At this moment, all the tokens were radiating bloody auras. Red flames of light soared into the air and bounced up and down, condensing into different emblems and stripes that were glittering murderously.
