Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1442
"Exactly."
Li Linghai declared aloud, "If you do not show your attitude clearly that you and the Dongfang family cannot live under the same roof, how can the reformists completely trust the Li family?
"Alright, grandfather, I have said everything I need to say. You must be tired too. This is an important matter that requires careful consideration, but I will not stop dying together with my enemy. In twenty-four hours, if I do not get a satisfying reply, the entire Li family will die with your granddaughter!"
Li Linghai demanded angrily; her face full of intimidation.
Li Jiande seemed to have been both lost for words and could not take her deterrence anymore. His eyes bulged wider and wider and gradually turned frozen. Suddenly, he grunted and collapsed.
The other side of the light beam immediately turned into havoc. The picture was moving up and down nonstop, mixed with panicked screams. By the time the crystal camera was squared again, Li Jiande was already nowhere to be seen. Li Mingxuan, Li Linghai's father, was the one who pointed at the picture in fury and shouted, "You… You… You unpardonable witch, do you really dare to destroy your family?"
"What do you know, idiot?"
Li Linghai smiled sincerely and leaned back in the chair comfortably. Taking a long breath in relief and wiping off her sweat, she said casually, "It's none of your business. Grandfather has agreed to my deal!"
Chapter 2259: Crossing the Line! |
At the edge of the Divine Rain Sector where the radiations of the star were little to none, in the universal swamp that was bleak and cold all year round, a bloody hunt and besiege was going on.
The remaining starships of the Divine Rain Fleet were like scared cubs trying their best to flee to the most distant, dark, and cold universe further away. They were even initiating space jumps without caring about anything, hoping to escape to the Li family's other worlds.
The fastest cruisers of the Astounding Thunder Fleet, on the other hand, were like sharp teeth that tore apart the softest abdomens of the runners from all directions. Before the ripples of the space quakes appeared, they would rip terrifying damages on the shells of the enemy's starships, forcing them to stop the operation of the space jump unit, lower the speed of the regular cruise, and grit their teeth to fight the chasers.
Then, it was the time for the Colossi such as the Gold Vulture to demonstrate their might.
Under the cover of the barrage on his own side, Li Yao drove the Gold Vulture to break into the starships of the Divine Rain Fleet again and again, after his saber opened the plate armor as easily as he opened cans.
As long as the Gold Vulture broke into the starships, there was barely anything that could stop him from going on a rampage.
Li Yao, on the other hand, did not intentionally attack and kill too many Immortal Cultivators. He simply pressed forward and destroyed the energy centers of the starships based on his profound knowledge of starships. As a result, the dazzling spiritual shields and power units of the starships all dimmed and completely lost their combat ability, and they could only wait to be captured by the enemy.
The gold brilliance that disappeared and reappeared now became the greatest fear for the soldiers of the Divine Rain Fleet as well as the loudest cheers for the soldiers of the Astounding Thunder Fleet.
Under the Astounding Thunder Fleet's overwhelming attacks and Li Yao's unstoppable invasion, the running soldiers were like little beasts that were dragged into a swamp by crocodiles, with less and less struggle.
Suddenly, a weird wave spread across the starships of all the running soldiers, and a white light popped up around the starships of the Divine Rain Fleet.
Even the starships that were about to break away from the battle area volunteered to reduce their speed, slowly shutting down the spiritual shield and the power units.
Li Yao, who was holding his saber high and about to break into a new starship, narrowed his eyes. Very soon, he received a message from the rear. The Divine Rain Fleet and the ground troops on the Divine Rain Planet had all surrendered, and the Li family had completely changed their attitude. They were now willing to support the reformists' righteous move and renew the Imperium together with them!
…
Iron Torrent, as the flagship of the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the flagship-general of the Third Battle Area of the expedition army, accommodated three to five Colossi all the time. Naturally, it boasted a Colossus maintenance center with full facilities.
Li Yao's Gold Vulture had taken "Iron Torrent" as the base for now. After every fierce battle, it had to be repaired and maintained in the most comprehensive way here, before it was refilled with ammunition and fuel and stored back into the Cosmos Ring.
The moment he crawled out of the Colossus, he saw countless pairs of eyes staring at him in reverence from all directions. Both the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the experts from the dozens of other worlds of the Third Battle Area had all gained a deeper understanding of Li Yao as the "emperor's envoy". The awe-inspiring image of "Vulture Li Yao" was finally established.
Li Yao had no time to nod and smile at the soldiers or to maintain his Colossus at all as he was already summoned by Lei Chenghu to discuss the operations in the next step.
However, when he came to Lei Chenghu's command room, he discovered that Lei Chenghu was alone. Not a single commander of the coalition fleet was in the room—not even their holograms.
"The Li family has conceded. We have won the first gamble."
Crossing his flesh fingers and his iron ones, Lei Chenghu stared at Li Yao with cold eyes. "According to the latest news, Li Jiande, the current leader of the Li family and one of the four Kurfürsten known as 'Silver Fox', passed out due to the sudden attack of diseases. He is now unable to handle the affairs of the family at all, and Li Mingxuan, the queen's father, is working as the leader of the family on behalf of him.
"Hardly had Li Mingxuan become the temporary leader when he commanded the defenders of the Divine Rain Sector to surrender and expressed his deep understanding and absolute support for the reformists as well as the soldiers from the frontline, encouraging us to make our justified voices.
"Did you know the issue beforehand? What's your take?"
"Huh?"
Li Yao blinked quickly. "The old leader Li Jiande is about to kick the bucket because of heavy diseases, and the queen's father became the new leader and announced full cooperation with the reformists the moment he took over the office? Well, the cooperator within the Li family that the queen was so confident about was actually her father Li Mingxuan? It doesn't feel right!"
"You really do not know anything about it?"
Lei Chenghu observed and analyzed Li Yao's face carefully, only to be slightly surprised. Frowning hard, he said, "It seems that Her Grace did not tell everything to her trusted subordinate!"
"As I said, I am not very close to the queen, and we are just regular friends. I am not her trusted subordinate at all!"
Scratching his chin, Li Yao said thoughtfully, "I somehow feel that everything is going on too well. The old leader is about to die after we have just attacked the place, and then the queen's father became the new leader of the family. Also, he has such a high control over the Li family that he can command all the defenders of the Divine Rain Sector to surrender? This cooperator… seems too good, doesn't he?"
"Not a new leader, but a temporary leader."
Lei Chenghu knocked on the table and said, "I need to remind you something. 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande, the oldest of the four Kurfürsten, is one of the most famous seniors among the politicians of the Imperium. Since he resigned as the Prime Minister of the Imperium because of serious illness a hundred years ago, it was said that he had always been troubled by serious health issues, and he was almost always half dead.
"But after catching his last breath for a hundred years, he is still breathing, but his nemeses in the past, as well as the enemies who have jumped out coveting his place, are all as dead as can be.
"Rumors even have it that the old man does not suffer from any serious illness at all but is practicing a special secret technique that trades his health and final vitality for the ability to enter the Divinity Branching Stage at the critical moments!"
Li Yao was greatly shocked. "The Divinity Branching Stage?"
"Exactly. As long as one enters the Nascent Soul Stage, one will be reaching the limits of the human body in terms of strength and computational ability. Starting from the Divinity Transformation Stage, they will be breaking the limitation of 'human being' and evolving toward legends. The 'Divinity Branching Stage' is even inestimably terrifying. The strongest Immortal Cultivators in the Imperium today are in the Divinity Branching Stage too. 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande, standing at the peak of all the Immortal Cultivators in the Imperium, has survived a hundred years, and yet he is sick and almost dying at such a moment?"
Lei Chenghu analyzed carefully, "This Li Mingxuan, on the other hand, is not an extraordinary person, and he has mediocre aptitudes. He's just a common elder in the Li family. How was he capable of stealing the power from the Silver Fox? Even if he did manage to usurp the power, there's no reason why other people of the Li family would obey him and that the Divine Rain Fleet would surrender under his order."
Li Yao rolled his eyes. "Got it. A puppet!"
"Exactly. I estimate that Li Mingxuan is probably a puppet that 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande has pushed to the frontstage and a pitiful scapegoat who will take the blame later."
Emotionlessly, Lei Chenghu said, "Right now, Li Jiande pretends that he is bedridden and has lost all his power. Li Mingxuan is pushed forward as his puppet and supports the reformists on behalf of the Li family.
"Once the tide of reform truly sweeps across the entire Imperium, the Li family will naturally gain tremendous benefits. It will at least be able to keep the current wealth and position.
"However, if things do not go well and the fire of reform is about to be extinguished, hehe, the 'unconscious' old fox will certainly be invigorated and jump out to 'serve the justice' by killing his son Li Mingxuan and his granddaughter Li Linghai. He will annihilate the reformists on behalf of the Li family!
"In such a way, he has taken both sides at the same time, and there is no way he can lose."
Pondering carefully for a moment, Li Yao couldn't help but nod. "'Silver Fox' Li Jiande is truly remarkable!"
"But isn't your queen even more remarkable?"
Staring at Li Yao, Lei Chenghu said gloomily, "I'd been speculating who the queen's supporter in the Li family was and who was capable enough to challenge 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande and control the entire Li family. It never occurred to me that the queen's supporter would be Li Jiande himself. No wonder she was confident to win the Li family's full support.
"At that time, the situation was too urgent for any careful consideration. But now that things are preliminarily settled, I have realized that it doesn't add up at all. If the queen had Li Jiande's support right from the beginning, it wouldn't have been necessary for us to fight so fiercely in the Divine Rain Sector. But if the queen did not have Li Jiande's support in the beginning, how did she achieve it in only half a day?
"Walking in the queen's shoes, I contemplated and ran deductions repetitively. Finally, I came up with the only solution, one that is similar to my strategy in the Godly Might Prison but only a hundred times more dreadful.
"Have you figured it out, Fellow Cultivator Li?"
Soon, Li Yao shuddered hard in coldness.
Lei Chenghu smiled like a scary ghost. "You have thought of it too."
"I really don't know the first thing about it."
Li Yao said solemnly, "General Lei, you must trust me."
"I trust you, but I trust my intuitions even more."
Taking a deep breath, Lei Chenghu mumbled, "My experience, rationality, and computational ability all tell me that the only way to save the Imperium is to cooperate with the queen, but my intuitions are also vaguely reminding me that the queen is such a terrifying person that she cannot be calculated or inferred. She is different from all the Immortal Cultivators and even the four Kurfürsten. Nobody knows how she will eventually reform the Imperium, or completely destroy it!
"Fellow Cultivator Li, although we haven't known each other for long, and your words are sometimes very absurd, my intuitions somehow tell me that much of what you said is true. To some extent, you seem to be even more trustworthy than the queen herself.
"I very much would like to know one thing. If your queen's gamble is so wild that it crosses the line and may destroy the Imperium one day, whose side will you take, and what will you do?"
Chapter 2260: A “Gift” Before the Final Battle! |
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao walked forward and stared at Lei Chenghu across the cold metal desk. He declared, one word after another, "I do not want to see the people at the center of the cosmos to be reduced into a state of misery. I am unwilling to face a shattered, collapsing civilization of mankind. I cannot tolerate the puppets of flesh and blood who do not have feelings and free will from the Alliance of the Holy Covenant sweeping across the entire universe, forcing my compatriots and my offspring to kneel before the Pangu Clan or any other deities in the universe!
"If the queen can stop them from happening, I will stand on her side unwaveringly and try my best to support her.
"If the queen cannot stop it and will bring even greater catastrophes to the center of the cosmos, then, I will side with whoever can stop her and terminate the chaos.
"Getting to the bottom of it, I am not loyal to the queen or the Imperium, but to the civilization of mankind itself!
"General Lei, are you satisfied with the answer?"
Lei Chenghu stared at Li Yao's eyes where gold brilliance was shining vaguely and nodded his head. "Got it. It seems that you and the queen are indeed not exactly the same, which makes me very curious about your origins. How exactly did the queen raise such a… unique and unconventional person like you?"
Li Yao smiled and did not reply. He simply changed the topic and asked, "General Lei, what do you think are the odds that the queen's gamble grows too wild? However ambitious she is, she cannot expect to fight the entire universe, right? Even if she can swallow the four Kurfürst families on her own, the fleets of the Covenant Alliance are still lurking and watching in the dark. Is she idiotic and insane enough to not see that?
"If she usurps the highest power of the Imperium through all trouble, only to be taken advantage of by the Covenant Alliance in the end, wouldn't she be the greatest joke?"
"I don't know where the queen's confidence comes from. Perhaps she has even more trump cards that other people are unaware of, like you."
Lei Chenghu said casually, "I only know that, for a gambler, the odds that their gamble grows too wild are a hundred percent. 'Bow out' does not enter the dictionary of the gamblers. Whether they win or they lose at the beginning, gamblers will only wager more and more chips on the game, until they lose everything.
"I am such a hopeless gambler myself, but the queen is playing an even greater game than mine. Now that she has tasted the delicious fruit of victory, will she stop in time? I… highly doubt it."
Li Yao and Lei Chenghu both fell silent, deep in thought.
But the two of them were obviously thinking about different things in their heads.
The universe was vast, but the ambitions of mankind were too exuberant to be accommodated by even the biggest stars and worlds. They were destined to overflow.
Right then, the battlefield communicator on the metal desk was triggered by the signals from Dragon Abyss, the flagship of the Deep Sea Fleet.
The image of a white-haired woman appeared between the two of them like a ghost.
"Bodyguard Li, you've been troubled. Your remarkable performance far exceeded my expectations. It seems that I need to reevaluate your role in the tide of reform and your position in the new Imperium."
Queen Li Linghai smiled at Li Yao thoughtfully, before she turned to Lei Chenghu and said, "General Lei, I have fulfilled my promise and won the full support of the Li family on behalf of the reformists. The sacrifices that you and all the soldiers made are now worth it, aren't they?"
"With Your Grace's wisdom, everything is naturally under control."
Lei Chenghu said expressionlessly, "However, what I'm more curious about is how exactly did you convince 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande. If my guess is correct, Li Jiande is still the director of the Li family, right?"
"Very simple."
Li Linghai said casually, "I told Li Jiande that all the reformists, as well as you and the Astounding Thunder Fleet, had been manipulated by me and that the Li family could totally use the reformists, General Lei, and the Astounding Thunder Fleet as knives to stab the Dongfang family. When the reformists and the Dongfang family both suffered heavy losses, the Li family would be able to take advantage and rise unstoppably.
"What has been motivating the old fox Li Jiande to live on for a hundred years? The decline of the Dongfang family, of course. How could he not be tempted?
"Besides, we are such a gigantic thorn that has pierced into the Li family's abdomen brutally, and we will cut their guts out if the negotiation falls out. Now that we are clearly determined to die with the enemy, is there any doubt how he would choose?"
"Sounds fair enough."
Lei Chenghu said, "Then, how do we know if they are just your lies and not your true thoughts, and that you are tricking Li Jiande on behalf of the reformists instead of manipulating the reformists as a representative of the Li family?"
"Of course I am manipulating you. Aren't you manipulating me too, General Lei? We have common interests, and we manipulate each other to achieve the same purpose. Isn't this the most steady and trustworthy relation that is more reliable than any blood bond?"
Li Linghai said matter-of-factly. With a smile, she said again, "Rest assured, General Lei and Bodyguard Li. I sincerely believe in the renewal of the Imperium and swear to clear all the corrupted forces and systems.
