Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1403
"For regular nobles and warlords, when their biological children tried to break into the peak of the Core Formation Stage, they would certainly invest however many resources available they had to safeguard their descendants and increase the odds of success.
"However 'fair and just' General Lei Chenghu was, he should at least allocate an appropriate extent of resources according to the standard determined by Blackstar the Great in the past, right?
"After all, after his son advanced into the peak of the Core Formation Stage, he would be a top-tier expert, which would be beneficial for both the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the entire Imperium.
"But as it turned out, General Lei Chenghu simply withheld his son's application report for resources without approving it. He was reluctant to give even a single dosage of 'activation drug' to his son. In fact, he warned his son many times to not try to break into the peak of the Core Formation Stage!"
Li Yao was astounded. "Why?"
"General Lei said that he knew his own son better than anybody else. His second son was average in talents and aptitude and was not training material at all. He was supposed to be a 'hominoid'."
Li Linghai explained, "However, General Lei Chenghu's family consumed tremendous resources behind his back to cleanse the body of his second son and stimulate his son's spiritual root. Eventually, because of the astronomical crystals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, his second son was finally heaved into the Core Formation Stage.
"Although his second son reached the Core Formation Stage, the resources that he overly consumed were a great waste. If the resources were not devoted to his second son but to the 'appropriate candidates', such as the people who were born in the underprivileged class but had great potentials in training, it would've been possible to raise ten experts in the Core Formation Stage.
"Right now, not knowing himself at all, his second son was thinking to break into the peak of the Core Formation Stage. According to General Lei's repetitive evaluation, the odds of success were extremely low, no higher than 5%. Most likely, a great deal of resources would be wasted for nothing, which would harm the overall interests of the Imperium.
"The true path of immortality dictates that the hypocritical and sanctimonious ethics of the past be broken, and the most precious resources be configured to the people who deserve them in the most reasonable and ruthless way, thereby boosting the high-speed development of the entire civilization.
"In short, only the experts are entitled to resources, and the weak do not deserve them at all. Nor should they waste any resources.
"His second son, on the other hand, was a weakling and a piece of garbage. It was already his greatest concession as a father that his son did not live a hominoid's life. As the commander of the Astounding Thunder Fleet and a general of the Imperium of True Human Beings, he would not allow such a waste of resources to happen again.
"Therefore, he wanted his second son to completely drop the idea and stabilize himself at the middle level of the Core Formation Stage. According to him, his second son should die for his country with his current capability!"
Li Yao was more or less astounded. "Huh?"
This General Lei Chenghu was a little bit… too inconsiderate.
Although the optimal configuration of resources was indeed a truth for the civilization of mankind to proceed in the dark universe, such a way of doing things was quite cruel!
"Don't presume that General Lei was just talking big."
Li Linghai said casually, "It is exactly what General Lei has been thinking, saying, and doing.
"After supervising the frontline for a hundred years, he made countless contributions, and the Council of Elders never wronged him in terms of either awards or resources. In fact, they wanted to buy him over with high places in the court. So, many resources and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, in the name of both the Council of Elders and the four Kurfürst families, were awarded, offered, and allocated to him.
"If he had kept all the things to himself, even if he simply fed all the resources to his descendants like stuffing ducks, they would've been raised into above-average experts.
"But he only reserved one-tenth for himself and his family at best. The other nine-tenths were all given to the bottom-level officers and soldiers in the frontline, who were often born in poor families and did not have enough resources but had distinguished themselves in the war.
"After a hundred years of selfless rearing, lots of officers in every fleet of the expedition army in the frontline received favors from General Lei. Some of the officers whose fate was changed because of General Lei's help a hundred years ago have already found their way to the decision-making circle of their fleets. General Lei's prestige half comes from fighting and half comes from the support of those guys."
Li Yao was greatly touched. After a long daze, he asked, "Then, what happened to General Lei's second son later?"
"He died."
Li Linghai said casually, "Despite General Lei's repetitive admonition that he must not try to break into the peak of the Core Formation Stage, who in a world where the fittest survives could hold back the temptation of getting stronger? General Lei's second son collected resources in secret and risked making the breakthrough in private, only to be killed in an accident.
"It was said that he was not killed on the spot after the accident, and he could've been rescued with the investment of tremendous resources. But General Lei sentenced his second son to death in person. General Lei said that there was no need to waste national resources on such a piece of garbage who had more ambitions than talents and who did not know what was best for himself.
"General Lei looked at his second son in the face and said that. Soon, his second son vomited blood and died."
Li Yao was already sweating hard.
"What kind of Immortal Cultivator is this?"
In disbelief, he asked again.
"A real Immortal Cultivator. This is what the real true path of immortality should be like!"
With admiration popping up in her eyes again, Li Linghai said, "If there are no people of honor and integrity such as General Lei, how can we lead the civilization of mankind to break the dark fog that beleaguers us, and how can we argue that the true path of immortality is a better path than the path of the Cultivators?"
Li Yao did not intend to debate with Li Linghai on the topic. Pondering for a moment, he said, "All in all, I already understand now. This General Lei Chenghu is indeed one of the most important persons in the military or even the entire Imperium. If we can rescue him and he totally supports the reformists, our cause will have hope!"
"Exactly. In the past, General Lei still had fantasies on the Council of Elders. We never dared to reach out to him or expose our real strength and purpose to him."
Narrowing her eyes, Li Linghai declared resolutely, "But we do not have a choice right now. As the saying goes, when the string of a bow is stretched, an arrow has to be shot out. No matter what the price is, we have to rescue General Lei Chenghu!"
Li Yao said, "Then, where exactly has General Lei Chenghu been invited to to 'help with the investigation'?"
Li Linghai eyed Li Yao in a weird way and said, "Not a long time ago, you broke the beehive prison in 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'.
"However, in terms of defense, the beehive prison only ranks top five in the entire Imperium.
"The prison that is most heavily guarded and holds the most important criminals in the entire Imperium is the Godly Might Prison!"
Chapter 2197: Trapped Tiger |
…
This was a clean and peaceful suite.
The wool carpet that was paved on the entire floor not only boasted a fine effect of noise absorption, heat blockage, and moisture removal, but it also had the amazing function of massaging the acupoints and reducing exhaustion. When one set foot on them, they would immediately feel that the bottom of their foot was cool and comfortable.
The invaluable manual carpet as well as the myriad of furniture carefully made by masters were indicative enough of the level of the suite.
Looking out through the giant window that was on the opposite side of the velvet bed, one would be able to see a blue ocean with glittering waves on the surface, which looked like billions of swimming silver fish. Countless Heavenly Wing Birds were soaring free at will under the azure sky like clouds, leaving graceful curves behind them.
The Heavenly Wing Birds were a rare type of bird that could only be found in the Empyreal Terminus Sector, the capital of the Imperium. Their wings were so broad that they were almost a hundred meters long when they were fully outstretched. When such birds swooped, they would raise the magnificent sounds that were similar to tsunamis. So, they had been considered as a symbol of the royal family.
Illuminated by the sun, the ocean was reflecting the silver color in thousands of different hues and shades, which was also the unique view of the "Secret Silver Ocean", a scenic spot in the capital.
If one were to take a deep breath, they could even smell the unique wind of the Secret Silver Ocean that was a mixture of the metal scent and the smell of fish. It was truly refreshing.
Everything implied that the building where the suite was at was located near the Secret Silver Ocean in the capital.
However, if the "giant window" was truly opened, one would find that it was just a vivid, enormous light beam.
Even the so-called "unique scent of the Secret Silver Ocean" was only slowly released by a synthetical air generator hidden at a corner of the ceiling.
In fact, whether or not the ocean was seen, there was not a single window in the entire suite.
However hard one might try to focus their soul and pierce outward, it wouldn't be long before they hit the metal walls that seemed to be endless.
The iron walls that had been specially processed proved the true purpose of the suite underneath the elegant and peaceful appearance.
No matter how extravagantly it was decorated, how refreshing the ambiance was, and how respectful the servants who brought food and cater to other needs every morning and evening were, it was just a prison cell.
The "guest" in the suite, an old man who was as short as a monkey, and who had so many deep wrinkles on his face that his eyes were deeply buried in them, had long realized his situation.
But still, he stood before the light beam that had been disguised into a window and "looked afar" to appreciate the view of the Secret Silver Ocean of the capital as he enjoyed the fresh air brought by the "sea wind".
In such a way, he maintained the keenness of his brain.
After a rest of ten minutes, the old man returned to the desk next to the "window".
Out of reverence, or fear of his identity, his capturers did not take away his Cosmos Rings.
However, the very special interference arrays deployed in the suite had seriously jammed his Cosmos Rings and his soul, making it impossible for him to retrieve his crystal processors and crystal suits or to deliver a single telepathic thought to the outside world.
He could only work with an old crystal processor provided by his capturers—the special investigation committee.
The crystal processor had been blocked. It could not send any data to the outside world and could only receive the data from a few designated nodes on the Spiritual Nexus.
Also, the old man had no doubt that every word he wrote on the crystal processor would be seen by his capturers immediately.
Even so, after calming down and considering for a moment, he still wrote on from where he stopped earlier.
"… In the boundless sea of stars, the blockage of passes, mountains, and rivers that were commonly seen in the continent wars in ancient times is no more. Once the space gates are established or controlled, the attackers may choose the time and location of their attacks free at will.
"Thanks to their configuration, the modern deep-sky fleets boast a particularly remarkable self-sufficient ability. They can fight independently in space for dozens of years without relying on any planet. Once they attack a planet and plunder tremendous resources from it, the duration can be significantly lengthened.
"Therefore, the universal wars are wars where an attack is greatly accentuated. To maintain the existence and deterrence of the deep-sky fleets is the primary concern. In short, the defense is absolutely meaningless, conquering more habitable planets and resources planets that have been greatly sabotaged is meaningless, and the people on the surface of the planet and the resources buried deeply below the ground that cannot be readily collected and made use of are meaningless!
"When there are people, there will be territory; where there are no people, there will be no territory. The current strategy of the Covenant Alliance is to give away its territory to preserve its available forces. Despite the consecutive triumphs our army has achieved in the past ten years, the main-force fleets of the Imperium have never been greatly weakened and stricken. Our enemy can make a comeback at any moment!
"As long as they deal a heavy blow on our main-force fleets, the dozens of newly-recovered fleets and the thousands of logistics points that have to be protected by troops will immediately become the burdens of our army.
"If our army intends to divide the troops in the next two or three massive battles to protect the newly-recovered worlds and the logistics points, it will be very easy for the main-force fleets of the Covenant Alliance to attack and conquer us separately. We will lose the initiative of the battle, and the situation of the war will be completely reversed.
"Therefore, in the overall strategy for the next phase, we should not ease our wariness or even fantasize that the enemy will surrender. Nor should we care about the gains and losses of a planet or a Sector. Instead, we should maintain the pressure and harassment on the central worlds of the Covenant Alliance while we search for the main forces of the Covenant Alliance actively for a decisive battle.
"Only a complete victory in the decisive battle will mark a brand-new phase of the war.
"If things do not go well in the decisive battle, we should abandon the ten or so newly-recovered Sectors without any hesitation and retreat the defense line to 'Shenying-Guhe' to avoid the possibility of a total annihilation…"
The old man was silent for a long time like a statue as he approached this part. He erased "total annihilation" but wrote it again. Repeating the process for almost five times, he still kept the stunning conclusion there.
Although in such a weird atmosphere, the conclusion might be a proof that he was affecting the morale of the army, he still did not change!
Door knocks echoed from outside in a seemingly respectful way.
The old man saved the paragraph he just wrote and opened the door expressionlessly.
It was just like before. Outside of the suite was a dark metal pathway that led to an unknown place. The pathway seemed to have been surrounded by billions of tons of metals, and it was impossible to send a single telepathic thought through them.
He had sensed more than twenty fully-armed crystal suits within ten meters from him. When their attack rune arrays were activated, they would rain a storm of firepower on the enemy at any moment.
There was no telling how many more people were hiding in the darkness.
His servants and guards were all gone.
A new female soldier brought food to him. In every meal, or whenever he needed anything, it would always be a new female soldier who showed up. They were equally courteous, respectful, and humble before him, and naturally, none of them answered any questions that he asked.
However, the female soldier this time brought a new piece of message. The "vetting meeting" would begin an hour after the meal.
It came as somewhat a surprise for the old man because he had never heard the name "vetting meeting" before.
He was supposed to go to the special investigation committee in the capital to assist the investigation of the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance. He even planned to go to the Council of Elders and give a magnificent speech to the five hundred elders on the current situation in the frontline and the underlying threats below the ostensible peace. It was exactly because his capturers promised so that he left his fleet, his officers, and his soldiers.
But right now…
Held in custody in such a creepy, gloomy, and heavily-guarded prison first and forced to attend "vetting meeting" later?
Even though the old man had billions of tons of confusion and fury in his chest, he did not show any of it in his tranquil eyes.
He was not one of the so-called "experts" who had entered the Nascent Soul Stage and even the Divinity Transformation Stage comfortably based on astronomical resources in their own manors and who had a weak and barren mind despite their enormous strength.
He was an iron-blooded soldier whetted in the storm of bullets and cannonballs in the past two hundred years. Steel and fire had saturated his bones.
The temperature of the blowing wind was in the minus-a-hundred-degree zone in the Bitter Silence Sector, the magma in the Red Lotus Sector that erupted to thousands of meters high any moment, the thousands of kinds of fatal venoms in the infinite jungles of the Green Devil Sector, the terrifying alien species in the Broken Bones Space Zone… The most dreadful enemies had shaped him in the life-and-death battles together, transforming him from an unknown, delusional guy, who was often mocked by others to be a fool, into the "God of War" today!
Compared to the ferocious enemies he encountered in the past, the scheme of the special investigation committee, if there was ever one, was nothing but a gentle breeze in a summer afternoon.
As per his habit of the past hundred years, he finished the meal quickly with the speed of a soldier in three minutes, before he exercised for ten minutes to facilitate digestion and ensure every drop of food had been transformed into energy. Then, he sat down again and continued to write the article entitled "Strategies In the Next Phase Against the Enemy".
