Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1380
"All in all, while Blackstar the Great's Imperium persisted in the differences between 'true human beings' and 'hominoids' and ensured that most of the resources were inclined to true human beings to achieve the maximal returns, it was also the Imperium's responsibility, even at the cost of abundant resources, to make sure that the channel of ascension between 'hominoids' and 'true human beings', between 'low-level Immortal Cultivators' and 'high-level Immortal Cultivators' was unhindered, open, and fair and square.
"The two points were in an interdependent relationship, like the two legs or fists of a man. Neither of them could be thrown away.
"That is the only pure true path of immortality. It is the optimal configuration of resources and the only hope for humanity to thrive in the dark universe.
"The 'true path of immortality' that the nobles of the Imperium promote today only keeps the first point, 'survival of the fittest', and ignores the second point, 'open, fair, and square competition'. It is completely an emasculated version. How can it possibly lead the civilization of mankind to continue to move forward?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes fast, but he still decided not to argue with the queen on the unimportant details. "Alright, although I don't quite agree with the idea of regarding humans as resources and war machines, I have to admit that if public education is greatly promoted so that the offspring of all the ordinary people will have equal rights and conditions in training, and if the openness and fairness of the 'potential tests' and 'contribution point system' can be ensured, allowing everyone to compete from the same start line, it will at least be much better than the current Imperium."
"Other than the mobsters of Starlight, I have never encountered any other Cultivator."
Li Linghai stared at Li Yao thoughtfully. "You are sort of the first real Cultivator that I have met, and you are not exactly the same as what I read from the books either. It seems that we both have misunderstandings toward one another because of the vilifications and the brainwashing propaganda. If we continue the communication, it is quite possible that we may find more and more common grounds and opportunities of cooperation."
Li Yao smiled. "Maybe. Please proceed, Your Grace. I'm very curious about how Blackstar the Great's magnificent cause came to an end. How did the open, fair country where everybody had the equal rights of competition, with the great government that had absolute power and integrity, turn into the Imperium today?"
"Nothing but fate could have arranged it."
Li Linghai sighed and said, "It was almost like a curse. What makes you in the beginning turns out to be what destroys you in the end.
"Blackstar the Great gradually gathered an enormous space fleet during the confrontations and campaigns against the Covenant Alliance. He established his prestige and his team in the meantime before he marched to the capital in the end.
"However, it was also because of the existence of the Covenant Alliance and its haunting military pressure that Blackstar the Great was unable to completely reform the Star Ocean Republic in the way he wanted and build an utterly refreshed Imperium of True Human Beings.
"In many places, the newborn Imperium of True Human Beings still kept a lot of residues of the Star Ocean Republic—the filthy and stinky residues.
"For example, the four Kurfürst families right now, including the Li family, are 'noble families' with a long history in the age of the Star Ocean Republic. They hold many seats in the parliament and control the economic lifelines of many fields of the country. They also have several Sectors that are almost their private territories.
"Under such circumstances, if Blackstar the Great intended to completely remove the cancers, he would have to do it at the risk of a 'hemorrhage' of the Imperium of True Human Beings. One moment of carelessness, and if the Covenant Alliance took the opportunity to attack, the country might be doomed forever.
"Therefore, in order to pass the turmoil during the change of regimes as quickly as possible, and to get the situation under control so that the Covenant Alliance could be dealt with, even such a strongman as Blackstar the Great had to concede to the seemingly smaller cancers. He attracted the smaller interest groups to strike the bigger oligarchs, thereby accomplishing an incomplete 'reform'.
"Even so, the newborn Imperium was still faced with the crazy counterattacks of the oligarchs of the past. With the Covenant Alliance outside and the oligarchs inside, the Imperium passed the scariest ten years in its history.
"Hehe, you may understand the war in this period as one where the brave and stubborn Cultivators rose against the evil Imperium from your history books, but in fact, it was just the dying struggles of the oligarchs of the Imperium.
"It was a shame that, although the oligarchs were annihilated by Blackstar the Great in the end, the incomplete reform had overlooked some small fry, which, after hundreds of years of gradual expansion, gradually evolved into the new-generation oligarchs that are stronger, smarter, and greedier, like the four Kurfürst families."
Li Yao frowned. "Based on what I've been educated with, Blackstar the Great did not seem to be a man who would show mercy on his enemy."
"Everybody has their limits. Blackstar the Great was a human after all, not a god with an eternal life."
Li Linghai sighed, not without regrets. "Perhaps Wuying Qi could have swept the corrupted system and the greedy, blood-sucking cancers with his wise strategies if he were in his prime years. He would not let go of a single shrimp but see that the great country in his visions was established. However, when he reformed and acceded to the throne, he was already an old man more than three hundred years old. Also, after a lifetime of adventures and battles, his body and his soul had long been seriously exhausted. By the time he was crowned with the name of 'Blackstar the Great', he had long passed the prime years of his physical energy, his wisdom, and his combat ability."
Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense.
According to Su Changfa and Di Feiwen's introductions, Blackstar the Great spent his early years in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, where he was thrown into a volcano and nearly burned alive in the end. Naturally, it was a great damage to his body.
Later, he seemed to have found heritages from a relic of the primeval age of the Star Ocean Imperium, and he was transformed into half a human and half a monster. After that, he wandered for almost a hundred years in the sea of stars before he arrived in the Star Ocean Republic.
After his arrival, for an unknown man of obscure backgrounds to rise to the place of a border general step by step, it would take at least decades, right?
By the calculation, by the time Wuying Qi turned into Blackstar the Great, he was truly several hundred years old; a dying old man like a setting sun.
Time was the greatest power that could destroy all the traces in the universe. Even a top expert of mankind was still not enough to compete with it!
Chapter 2160: Those Who Are Old Should Die! |
Li Linghai said, not without regrets, "The first fifty years after the establishment of the Imperium of True Human Beings were spent under the collective attacks of the Alliance of the Holy Covenant and the remaining forces of the Star Ocean Republic. After Blackstar the Great temporarily defeated both enemies after all the trouble, the army of the Imperium and his own vitality were already seriously worn out. He had to take a rest instead of pushing forward a complete reform.
"In his last years, Blackstar the Great thought to reform by force against all the unfavorable circumstances too.
"On one hand, the vested interests after disasters were smarter, more inconspicuous, and more loyal on the surface. On the other hand, the wounds that he got during the training and fighting in his early years finally attacked from within Blackstar the Great's body. Even his perspicacity was affected, making him show the sign of mental derangement now and then. Some of his strategies and policies were indeed a bit radical. The reform that was meant to sweep all the cancers in the civilization of mankind eventually turned into a catastrophe that consumed the entire sea of stars.
"In the end, even the real Immortal Cultivators who had built the country together with him and who were unquestionably loyal to him had to grit their teeth to oppose the so-called reform. Blackstar the Great passed away gloomily in an environment where he could find no support, leaving infinite troubles to the Imperium that he founded in person.
"Today, when the hidden problems in the Imperium have broken out, the wise people finally begin to examine the 'catastrophe' in the old days in retrospect. But now that the opportunity has been missed, there is nothing they can do but to regret.
"The oligarchs of the Star Ocean Republic in the old days have reshaped into the new interest holders in the Imperium of True Human Beings. The high and mighty noble families swallow the flesh and blood of the Imperium and the people blatantly.
"They loathe and fear Blackstar the Great from the bottom of their hearts. They are scared that a second Blackstar the Great will show up and reclaim their everything on behalf of the country and the people.
"Deep down in their hearts, they regard Blackstar the Great as an enemy who is much more horrible than the Covenant Alliance or the Cultivators.
"However, on the surface, the fake, emasculated Immortal Cultivators have to raise Blackstar the Great's banner and praise Blackstar the Great's feats because only Blackstar the Great's unparalleled prestige can unite the entire universe, justify the governance of the Imperium, and appease the Immortal Cultivators at the bottom level and hominoids who are ten times larger in number.
"It is exactly under such a self-contradictory stance that a lot of shameless propaganda materials have appeared in the Imperium, which commends on Blackstar the Great's doings insincerely. Some of the dirty water has even found its way into the textbooks, the history books, and the promotional materials. They secretly demoralize Blackstar the Great while they praise him on the surface. It really can't be more shameless!"
Li Yao was greatly enlightened when he heard this part. He couldn't help but exclaim.
Li Linghai was slightly stunned. "What's up? You seem to have thought of something?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes and said quickly, "Nothing. So to speak, Blackstar the Great was truly an upright hero who fought for the country and the people?"
But deep in his heart, he understood a lot of things.
Li Linghai's words unraveled a mystery that had bothered Li Yao for almost a hundred years.
It was more than a hundred years ago, when Su Changfa and other Immortal Cultivators intentionally played the "brainwashing materials" of the destruction of three civilizations, trying to attract Li Yao to join their team.
The brainwashing propaganda later became the game "Civilization" in the Star Glory Federation, which led to a lot of new stories.
What baffled Li Yao at that time was that the destruction of the Curly Dragon Sector, the Medicine Fork Sector, and the Martial Meritocrats Sector was already powerful enough to prove the naivety, shortsightedness, and stupidity of the Cultivators, as well as the correctness and inevitability of the true path of immortality. It did not seem necessary to spill out the history of the rise of Blackstar the Great.
Even if it was meant to promote the glorious history of the "founding emperor", there did not seem to be any need to depict him as such a… ruthless, cunning, and inhuman person.
The stories in propaganda seemed to shape the image of a decisive and judicious emperor, but they in fact left too many loopholes, as if it were meant to let everybody see the darkness, cruelty, and ugliness hidden under the magnificent throne.
It did have such an effect.
It was exactly because of the many loopholes in the history of the rise of Blackstar the Great that Li Yao realized what was going on after discussing with the mental devil for a while. His belief was not shaken at all, and he still persisted in the ideology of the Cultivators.
However, it did not make any sense by logic!
The Imperium of True Human Beings had governed the center of the cosmos for a thousand years and conquered too many Sectors to be counted. How could it be incapable of making promotional material, and how could so many loopholes had been left behind?
Even if Blackstar the Great was truly a heinous and unpardonable fiend, as his descendants, wasn't it all the more important for the Immortal Cultivators to cover his mistakes and depict him to be bright, sacred, and flawless?
Why would someone naturally feel that he was a supervillain after reading the brainwashing materials presented by the Immortal Cultivators and learning the history of the rise of Blackstar the Great?
Even the painters in court in ancient times knew to overlook the pimples on the emperor's face when they drew a painting for the monarch.
But why did things only get worse in the Immortal Cultivators' promotional materials, as if they were afraid that the audience could not notice how brutal, insane, and cunning Wuying Qi was?
It was an unqualified brainwashing material that was more likely to be written by a rebellion!
At that time, Li Yao thought that if he were the emperor of the Imperium, he would certainly have captured each and every one of them who wrote the promotional materials.
Li Yao absolutely did not believe that the promotional department of the Imperium of True Human Beings, which had a thousand years of history in conquest, colonization, and brainwashing, would be so retarded.
Later, he asked Su Changfa and Di Feiwen respectively, but neither of the two experienced Immortal Cultivators could explain. They only knew that it had been the tone of the official announcements since a very long time ago. On the surface, Blackstar the Great's magnificent accomplishments were praised, but if one were to examine it more carefully, they would immediately sense the insanity and nastiness in Blackstar the Great's doings.
The thing had bothered Li Yao for more than a hundred years until today.
In the Kunlun relic more than a hundred years ago, when he heard the stories of Blackstar the Great for the first time, his natural fear and disgust were not his illusions but the effects that were intended.
The promotional materials were probably written by the historians who were under the hire of the noble families. Not only were they giving the audience a first impression that the Imperium of True Human Beings was invincible, but they were also planting the idea that "Blackstar the Great was an insane, bloodthirsty butcher" in the audience's head too.
The latter was even more important than the former!
That explains a lot. The promotional department of the Imperium is not retarded at all; they are all "rebellions".
Li Yao thought to himself.
"Had it not been for Blackstar the Great, all the humans at the center of the cosmos would be under the tyranny of the Alliance of the Holy Covenant right now, their feelings and free will extricated, as inhumane machines of flesh and blood."
Li Linghai said casually, "Does Blackstar the Great not deserve to be called a hero with the feat of resisting the Covenant Alliance and defending the center of the cosmos alone?
"It is a shame that history is always composed by the victors. Blackstar the Great fought through blood, defended the civilization of mankind at the risk of his life, and finally established the Imperium of True Human Beings after all the difficulties with the real Immortal Cultivators, but the fruits of their victory have all been stolen by the noble families.
"In the recent several hundred years, and especially in the recent century, the corruption of the noble families is more insufferable than ever."
Li Yao was intrigued. "How so?"
"A simple and critical reason—longevity."
Li Linghai said, "The biggest problem that the Imperium is faced with right now is that almost all the Immortal Cultivators from the noble families are living too long."
Li Yao was dazed. "Living too long?"
"Yes. The new replacing the old is a law of nature. Those who are too old should die!"
Li Linghai said, "In the first five hundred years, the Imperium had been expanding outwardly nonstop and fought quite a few hard battles. Tremendous Immortal Cultivators in the Core Formation Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, and even the Divinity Transformation Stage would go to the battlefield in person or burn their lives and souls to make intelligent contributions. The odds of their mental derangement, heavy wounds, or even sudden death were not low at all.
"Only when the Immortal Cultivators of the older generation die will the Immortal Cultivators of the younger generation have an opportunity to go up and have the hope and momentum to strive, right?
"But in the second five hundred years, the Imperium barely had any wars of conquest to fight. The 'cake' was almost entirely divided up. Every carrot had been deeply stuck to their own pit, and the only thing that they were concerned about was to not get plucked.
"As a result, most of the high-level Immortal Cultivators changed the purpose of their training from the improvement of combat and computational abilities to the extension of longevity or the pursuit of an eternal life.
"The high-level Immortal Cultivators boasted tremendous resources, so they could consume astronomical crystals blatantly without bothering the cost just in order to enlengthen their longevity for a few days. Naturally, they made significant progress.
"In the recent several hundred years, the average longevity of the Immortal Cultivators in the Imperium above the Nascent Soul Stage was longer and longer. Back in the years of the Blackstar the Great, even Blackstar the Great himself passed away before he reached four hundred years old. But today, a random guy at the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage, if taking care of his health well, will have a good chance to live three to four hundred years. If he advances into the Divinity Transformation Stage and has the enhancement of special secret arts, it won't be unusual at all for them to live five to six hundred years."
