Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1363
In the next moment, Li Lingfeng made an unexpected move. He touched a rune array on the left temple of the helmet, retreating the helmet into the crystal suit!
As a result, his entire head was exposed to Li Yao and Li Jialing without any protection.
It was a gesture of submission, or friendliness.
Li Yao chuckled in a low voice. "Lord Li has been wounded, and very badly? Do you need any healing drugs? I happen to have some."
The lightning illuminated the bleak land, and Li Lingfeng's face indeed couldn't have looked more awful. Ignoring Li Yao's mockery, he gnashed his teeth. "Didn't you want to die together with me? This is your opportunity. If we attack each other right now, we will truly be holding each other to death. Come on. The choice is yours. If you want to fight, let's fight!"
Huala! Huala!
Lightning struck next to Li Lingfeng, showing unprecedented determination on the face of the unworthy man of a noble family.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao locked onto every muscle and every pore on Li Lingfeng's whole body without leaving any chance for him. He asked very cautiously, "Who is chasing you right now? That is a really patient hunter!"
Li Lingfeng sniffed. "It seems that you have sensed the enemy's magnificence and brutality too, after the eight starships that I brought over were completely wasted. You are too scared to not respond to my call and show up, right? 'When a mantis is capturing a cicada, a sparrow is lurking behind to take them both'. Yes, this is exactly a reoccurrence of such an ancient but fatal trick. However, are you really a 'cicada'? Tell me who you are exactly!
"And you—"
He turned his eyes to Li Jialing and stared at him resentfully, declaring, one word after another, "Why did you betray me?"
Li Jialing's pupils were constricted to the minimum. His body shook slightly but was quickly stabilized. Opening his hands, he said casually, "I am an Immortal Cultivator. Betrayals are anything but unusual for us, right? Do I need a reason?"
"You—"
Li Lingfeng's eyes almost bulged out of the sockets as he mumbled, "You do not have the slightest idea who you are and what you are faced with. You are truly idiotic and asking to be killed!"
"Then, just tell him frankly!"
Li Yao suddenly thought of something. He said, "Tell Li Jialing who he is, who his parents are, and who the mysterious enemy is that is chasing you right now!"
After a brief silence, when he simply allowed the raindrops to hit his face hard until it was covered in dents, he finally said a name in the end, "LI LINGHAI!"
Chapter 2132: Shocking News! |
The one who had been following and hunting Li Lingfeng at the heartland of the Imperium of True Human Beings against all rules was actually Li Linghai, his biological sister and the queen of the Imperium!
It was a shocking, unexpected but perfectly reasonable answer.
Who else except the queen of the Imperium could boast the capabilities to crush Li Lingfeng the moment they met and forced him to escape in desperation?
Li Yao was full of curiosity for the queen of the Imperium who was suspected to be his foster father's "lover" in the past.
He knew that ever since Wuying Qi, a man of the time, rose unstoppably a thousand years ago and established the Imperium of True Human Beings, there had never been an emperor as dominating as "Blackstar the Great" in the Imperium.
The emperors that followed were worse and worse. Also, because of the natural restraints of the vastness of the universe, the imperial authority had been collapsing the whole time.
Today, the emperor had already been marginalized, and the warlords were rising and almost dissecting the Imperium.
The emperors had to be elected by the four "Kurfürsten". Naturally, they were under the control of the powerful warlords as puppets.
Li Linghai, as the queen of the Imperium, was naturally a tool for the four Kurfürst families to monitor and control the emperor.
However, from Li Lingfeng's lines, it was not hard to tell that the queen of the Imperium did not seem willing to submit to her fate as a "surveillance tool", and she had her own ambitions!
Also, if the emperor were only a puppet of the warlords, how could he have commanded the army to secure such a strategic triumph in the frontline against the Covenant Alliance?
Even if it was part of the Covenant Alliance's scheme of "retreating for a better attacking position", as Li Yao and the deputy commander of the Black Wind Fleet had speculated before, the emperor's leadership over the army of the Imperium was certainly unquestionable. In the enormous counterattack of the Imperium that lasted years, what kind of role had Queen Li Linghai been playing, and what was she up to exactly?
Was Imperium's counterattack only aimed at the Covenant Alliance, or was it…
Thinking quickly, Li Yao did not change his expression at all but simply said with a chuckle, "Got it. Your schemes have been seen through by the queen. You are screwed!"
"Yes, I am screwed."
Li Lingfeng did not refute at all but simply stared at Li Yao and Li Jialing in desperation. He grinned hideously. "But you are going to die with me. Both of you!"
"Lord Li, I remember that we have communicated sincerely earlier."
Rolling his eyes, Li Yao said unhurriedly, "You wouldn't be so naïve as to think that you can hide the relationship of yourself, Li Linghai, and Li Jialing right now, would you? Of course, your doom is inevitable, but why will anything happen to us?"
"Haha. Hahahaha!"
Li Lingfeng burst into laughter. In the violent thunderstorm, his messy hair was dispersed and danced crazily in the wind. "So, you idiots know nothing of the truth! Especially you, Li Jialing! I raised you out of goodwill and gave you the best resources. Even my own descendants never received such great treatments. Finally, you have been refined into the best expert in the younger generation of the Li family. And this is how you repay me? You are truly ungrateful. You don't know what you are doing at all!"
"There's no need to embellish yourself."
Li Yao stepped forward and stopped before Li Jialing. He then said coldly, "We have learned about all your schemes. What now? Regarding Li Jialing's real identity, do you want to talk about it, or do you want me to?"
"I… don't have anything to hide at all. I planned to find an appropriate opportunity to tell Li Jialing in the first place. What's wrong with saying it out frankly right now?"
Li Lingfeng couldn't have looked more candid. There was no telling if he was faking it or he had been truly planning for that. Pausing for a moment, he said again, "However, before we get to the bottom of everything, you must make clear of one thing first. What do you think my ruthless sister Li Linghai is here for, and who is she trying to kill?"
Li Yao said, "You, of course. Is that really a question?"
Li Lingfeng smiled miserably. "Wrong. She may have learned about everything I did and therefore grew determined to kill me. However, if she wants to kill me, there will be countless opportunities for that. She has no reason to pick such a risky way."
Li Yao blinked his eyes. "Is she here to kill me?"
"Wrong again!"
Li Lingfeng panted quickly, and staring at Li Yao with utmost hatred, he said in a hoarse voice, "I admit that you are very strong. Perhaps a mysterious, malicious force is looming behind you, and you cannot be regarded as a Mr. Nobody. But no matter how strong you are, it is not enough for the queen of the Imperium to attack you in person!"
Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense. Unless Li Linghai boasted the techniques of divination, she couldn't have predicted that he would appear in the Martial Meritocrats Sector and then jump to the Sand Primitive Sector.
However, the Sand Primitive Sector was a forsaken world without any living creature. The three visitors from outer space were all there were. Now that Li Linghai's target was neither Li Lingfeng nor Li Yao, it could only be—
"Li Jialing?"
Li Yao bulged his eyes and asked in disbelief, "She is here to kill Li Jialing?"
"Yes, exactly!"
Li Lingfeng laughed aloud like a crazy lunatic. "I took everything into account and made the most thorough plans, but I still gravely underestimated my ambitious, brutal, and ruthless sister! I thought that even if the secrets were leaked out and she somehow learned the matter, it would've been absolutely impossible for her to get Li Jialing away from my hands! But little did I expect that she never intended to save anyone. She is here just to kill her own biological son!"
Huala!
The most dazzling lightning passed their heads.
Li Jialing seemed to have been slashed right in the face.
"What… What did you say?"
With a pale face, the young man asked with his lips trembling.
Li Yao moved horizontally and put his hand on the young man's shoulder, sending in a stream of spiritual energy to help him stabilize his soul and his mind.
"I'm saying that you are Li Linghai's biological son, my biological nephew. Now, your own mother is trying to kill both of us and keep our mouths shut forever so that she will have no troubles in the future!"
In the craziest, creepiest, and most hateful laughter, Li Lingfeng asked, "How about it? Is it clear enough?"
Although Li Yao had given Li Jialing some information before, allowing him to have a basic understanding of the relationship between him and the Li siblings, the darkest answer seemed to have astounded the young man deeply. He was lost for words for a long time.
Li Yao, on the other hand, considered the loopholes in Li Lingfeng's declaration quickly with a gloomy face.
"What now? You think I'm lying?"
Li Lingfeng sensed the subtle changes of Li Yao's soul quickly. He sneered, "Now, it is your turn to think carefully with your computational ability of the Divinity Transformation Stage. In fact, the whole matter is very simple. Li Jialing is the biological son of our almighty queen of the Imperium, but it is truly, truly, truly a shame that my dear nephew's father is not His Majesty, who is 'invincible, unconquerable, undefeatable, with a feat close to Blackstar the Great'. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who will suffer most should such a great scandal be exposed?
"Yes. The Li family will definitely suffer a heavy blow. Even I will be affected by the astounding scandal. But wouldn't it be the queen herself who would suffer the worst?
"My sister's ambitions are even greater than mine. In the past hundred years, she seemed to be docile to the family and has accomplished all the missions that the family entrusted to her dutifully, as if she were truly loyal to the family and to the warlords and willing to be a tool to control the emperor.
"But in secret, she has been raising loyal subordinates and making friends with the smaller warlords at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium as well as the young, bottom-level officers in the space fleets. She gradually established her own force, and when the family vaguely noticed her ambitions, it was already too late to get rid of her!
"Although my sister is immeasurable, and even I don't know what she is pursuing exactly, I am very certain that it requires the supreme power as the foundation, whatever it is!
"If the scandal that she has a bastard son behind the emperor's back is disclosed at such a moment, the enterprise that she has worked hard on for a hundred years will be completely ruined. Her power, her position, her strength, and her ambitions will all be for nothing!
"So, smart and mysterious man, tell me, does Her Grace have any reason to keep such a great nuisance in the world instead of annihilating him completely to eradicate her weakness?"
Li Yao's eyelids twitched quickly. He gnashed his teeth. "Is it going to help anything even if Li Jialing is killed or you are? Is there no evidence at all for such a great matter? For example, have you not kept any stuff, like experiment data or blood samples, that you tell her you will disclose if you die?"
"Those things are all indirect proofs. They are not enough to overthrow a mighty queen."
Li Lingfeng sneered, "The big shots of the leadership of the Imperium have done too many clandestine deals in secret, but as long as there is no direct proof, there will always be a way to cover or even eliminate the deals.
"In regard to this particular issue, there is only one direct proof, which is Li Jialing himself!
"As long as Li Jialing is killed and his body is reduced into nothingness, however many indirect proofs other people may present, she can always argue that they are fabricated just in order to slander the queen. With the queen's position and power today, such feeble attacks will not hurt her at all.
"Therefore, she can let me go today and allow me to escape in desperation like a stray dog. After all, I have lost everything and do not pose a big threat to her. Nobody will, or rather, nobody 'dare' believe me.
"But she absolutely will not let go of Li Jialing, because Li Jialing is the only one who poses a potential threat to her position, her power, and her ambitions!"
After hearing that, Li Jialing finally couldn't help but grunt and vomit a mouthful of dark blood. He almost collapsed on Li Yao's body.
"Are you alright?"
Li Yao hurried to support the young man. He thought for a long time, only to come up with no words of comfort. "Don't! Don't overthink it. In fact, this is quite normal. A lot of people experienced it before!"
"I'm sorry, my 'dear nephew'. I planned to find a better opportunity and tell you everything gradually."
Li Lingfeng said coldly, "However, you have forced me into this. Also, maybe informing you of everything in the most straightforward way is of greater help for you to recognize your fate and the coldness of the stars above your head!"
Chapter 2133: The Young Man's Armor and... Tusks! |
"Are you really alright?"
Li Yao felt that Li Jialing's soul at this moment was like a shaking plaza that was about to collapse abruptly, and inside the plaza were countless crystal bombs that would explode at first touch. With cold sweat pouring off his head, he continued comforting the young man considerately, "I know that such a family ethical drama must be too hard for you to accept for the time being. Why don't I stall your uncle first so that you can burst into tears and wail hysterically for a while?"
"… That will be unnecessary."
Li Jialing took a deep, deep, deep breath.
Li Yao seemed to hear every muscle and every nerve inside the young man's body being stretched so tightly that even his bones were about to be minced apart before they were gradually relaxed one after another.
The young man calmed down.
It was quite a creepy, if not terrifying, feeling.
The young man seemed to have turned into a completely different person in only a few seconds. Outside of his true self in the deepest level, a thick, cold armor that was embedded with tusks had taken shape.
Or rather…
He had removed the armor of the "regular young man" that was his disguise and finally revealed his cold, indifferent, heartless, and dark true self!
"I'm fine. I really am."
Li Jialing said in a low voice, "Brother Yao was quite right. As an Immortal Cultivator, and growing up in a swirl of power like the Li family, parental bonds are nothing but jokes. This is quite regular!"
"Well said!"
Li Lingfeng burst into laughter. "Of course you are fine. That is the only way that you can deserve my decades of tutelage for you. For all those years, I have taught you schemes, betrayals, slaughters, and negotiations. I taught you to be untrustworthy, iron-hearted, and seek only after your own interests. Everything I did was meant for you to be as calm and rational when the moment came as you are right now!
"Even the ancient people knew that those who are born into the royal family will never be privileged enough to enjoy the love and friendship of the ordinary people. That is the price of power! Crushed by the absolute power, any parental bond will be blown into nothingness!
"The Li family controls so many worlds. Our power is a hundred times greater than that of the sovereigns in ancient times. On the other hand, your mother is the authentic queen of the Imperium. What a mother-son relationship do you expect with your identities? Wouldn't you be too silly if you expect so?"
"You're quite right, uncle."
Li Jialing replied calmly. His voice that was as cold as an iceberg made Li Yao shudder. The young man was more and more adapted to his role after only ten seconds. He scorned, "However, why should we trust you 100%? Even if Li Linghai is truly my gene provider, is she really here to kill me? Is it possible that you are simply making things up in your desperate struggle because you don't have any other choices now?"
Li Yao swallowed and asked in a low voice, "Hey, are you really alright?"
Li Jialing said indifferently, "I'm fine. In fact, I've never felt better. At the very least, I know who I am and where I came from now, don't I?"
Li Yao was slightly dazed, not knowing how he should respond to the young man who was terrifyingly calm.
Li Lingfeng said solemnly, "With everything coming to this point, is there any reason for me to deceive you? You can figure out everything if you think about it carefully. If she hadn't been planning it, how could Li Linghai have arrived so fast?
"It's been less than 24 hours since Mr. Mysteries next to you disrupted my quest of 'Dying Light' and blew up 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'. Even the reinforcements of the Li family in the frontline haven't been mobilized, gathered, regrouped, and teleported to the Martial Meritocrats Sector. How on earth can Li Linghai be so fast?
"Also, the matter has nothing to do with her at all. As the queen of the Imperium, she should have more important things to attend to. Why is she qualified and have the time to meddle in my affairs?
"There is only one possible answer—she has been here since a long time ago!
"She did not come for Mr. Mysteries next to you. It was possible that she did not even know his existence. Since the very beginning, her target has been very clear, which is you!
"I estimate that she has long learned the secret that I've been hiding you under my custody, but she simply held herself back and pretended she knew nothing of it while concocting in secret how she could completely 'dispose of' you.
