Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1452
Chapter 2275: From Evil to Righteous, and From Righteous to Evil! |
"A new Imperium where everybody is a Cultivator!"
Li Jialing was dumbfounded first. Then, he was greatly enlightened. "So, that is why Brother Yao is cooperating with the queen and General Lei Chenghu!"
Li Yao said, "Of course, why else would such an honorable, selfless, generous, and patriotic Cultivator like myself participate in the so-called 'reform' of the Immortal Cultivators that will not resolve the problems from the source at all, and why would I work so hard?"
"However—"
Thinking for a moment, Li Jialing sighed and said, "Except for the guys who escaped from 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky', Brother Yao is the only Cultivator in the vast universe right now. How can you be a match for the queen and General Lei, and how can you possibly establish your utopia?"
"I never thought that I could succeed in only a hundred years."
Li Yao said solemnly, "But at the very least, the storm of reform will completely tear apart the Immortal Cultivators' disguise that they are 'sacred, strong, and glorious', showing more and more people the natural-born, unfixable flaws, and ugliness of the true path of immortality. As the reform goes on, some people will eventually consider whether or not the true path of immortality works at all. When they realize that it does not work, some of them will eventually recall the path of the Cultivators, again, won't they?
"How about it? After hearing Brother Yao's heartfelt tutelage, how do you feel? Is your blood boiling, and you cannot wait to become a glorious and proud Cultivator right now?"
Li Jialing scratched his furry head with his furry claw. Thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Not exactly. I feel that you are tricking me."
"Do you?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes quickly and said, "Then, even if you are tricked by me, do you not gain any understanding from it at all?"
"Well, I have indeed learned something."
Considering carefully for a moment, Li Jialing clapped his hands heavily and said, "I have realized that the true path of immortality does entail serious problems. The inherent deficiencies and fundamental contradictions in it make it impossible to guide such an enormous entity like the Imperium of True Human Beings to operate well for a long time!
"However, there are as many problems in the Cultivators' ideology. Just look at how the Star Ocean Republic ended!
"The greatest problem of the true path of immortality is that it is too simple, straightforward, cold, and cruel. Or rather, everybody is simply too frank. On the other hand, the Cultivators wear the veils of warmth and gentleness, and their social relations are more friendly and harmonious!"
His eyes glittering, Li Yao looked at the young man, full of expectations. "So?"
"So, if we can combine the path of the Cultivators and the true path of immortality, we will be invincible!"
Li Jialing said in excitement, "Look, Brother Yao, in order to survive in the cold, cruel universe, the true path of immortality is indispensable. But even if we do as Immortal Cultivators, we can still propagate the ideas of the Cultivators with our mouths, right?
"Just like that, the ideas of the Cultivators will be the skin, and the ideas of the Immortal Cultivators will be the bones. Then, we can achieve both an optimal configuration of resources and a harmonious society. Wouldn't it be one stone that kills two birds?
"Ah. I finally understand where the problems of the Imperium of True Human Beings lie now. The problem is that the Imperium is too outspoken! Things like 'survival of the fittest' should simply be kept to one's own heart tacitly. How can they promote and disseminate to all the people every day? How can the country not be chaotic if everyone is so competitive?
"If propaganda is necessary, we should promote more about the ideas of the Cultivators such as 'one for all, all for one'. Even if they are Immortal Cultivators in private, they should pretend that they are Cultivators on the surface. This is the true meaning of the new Imperium!
"Thank you, Brother Yao. I understand it now. I have truly understood it!"
Li Yao: "…"
Li Jialing: "Brother Yao, why are you walking further and further? What are you doing in the corner?"
Li Yao: "Nothing. Don't talk to me right now. I want a moment to myself."
While Li Yao was in mixed feelings, feeble quakes came from his wrist crystal processor, and a piece of new information jumped out. "God of War" Lei Chenghu was here.
Naturally, it was unnecessary for Lei Chenghu's real body to go to the dangerous land in person. He was still staying in the mysterious space zone outside of the Empyreal Terminus Sector as a threat to the four Kurfürst families. That was also the way to better guarantee the safety of Li Linghai, Li Yao, and other central persons of the reformists.
Therefore, when Li Yao and Li Linghai marched all the way to the capital, Lei Chenghu led the Astounding Thunder Fleet to stay in the Divine Rain Sector first to supervise the smooth implementation of the agreement between the Li family and the reformists.
After the Li family and the Dongfang family completely ended up on bad terms, and nothing could possibly reverse the situation, the Astounding Thunder Fleet filled fuel and ammunition on a large scale blatantly, acting as if they were going to lunge at the central space zones of the Dongfang family in another massive space jump. Also, they did not keep it a secret at all but intentionally leaked the intelligence to the Dongfang family.
In such a way, they curbed Prime Minister Dongfang Wang's urge to solve the problem with violence, when the man's own hometown was threatened.
At this moment, Lei Chenghu's real body was still commanding the army of the reformists. Under the support of the tremendous resources of the Li family, the fleet was as menacing as a saber that was about to be unsheathed.
But he controlled a spiritual puppet through remote control to participate in the secret meeting of the reformists regarding the operations in the next step on behalf of him.
Li Yao, as the liaison officer between Lei Chenghu and Li Linghai, was naturally responsible for the maintenance and debugging work of the spiritual puppet.
After receiving the message that Lei Chenghu was ready, he fell on one of his knees and retrieved the spiritual puppet that had been specially modified to receive extraterrestrial signals. He set the frequency of the signals and activated all the rune arrays and antennas.
"Hum…"
The spiritual puppet shivered softly. The rune arrays all over its body shone and turned into a fuzzy halo that gradually condensed into Lei Chenghu's appearance.
"General Lei, Her Grace is waiting for you. This way, please!"
Li Yao asked Li Jialing to lead all the guards to watch over the third and the fourth floors, while he led "Lei Chenghu" to the fifth floor that had been entirely blocked.
On his way, he recalled the discussion with Li Jialing a moment ago. Not entirely satisfied, he couldn't help but ask, "General Lei, you must've seen what happened to the 'surplus generals' and the disabled veterans, right? I wonder, what is your take on this? And how would you have resolved the problems if you were the highest authorities?"
"Yes, I've seen it all. To be honest, when I was fighting in the frontline in the Third Battle Area, I never thought that the situation in the rear was so horrible. No wonder the force of the reformists has developed to an overwhelming level in darkness after only decades. The Imperium today does need a reform."
Lei Chenghu sighed but changed the topic, "However, the surplus generals have themselves to blame for what they have become today too!"
Li Yao was dazed. He asked, "Are you suggesting that they shouldn't have adopted such an extreme approach as 'crying in the Emperor's Mausoleum' however desperate they were, General Lei?"
"No. I'm saying that they should've sacrificed themselves in the frontline."
Lei Chenghu said casually, "That way, they would've saved their reputation, and the country's financial burden would've been reduced. Then, the regrettable thing that happened today would never have occurred."
"…"
Li Yao was rendered speechless again.
"As a soldier of the Imperium, they should be determined to serve His Majesty, the country, and the civilization of mankind even at the cost of their life. They must be prepared to be sacrificed at any moment, particularly when they know that they have been heavily wounded and it will take tremendous time and resources for them to recover."
Lei Chenghu frowned, "If they waver at such a moment, they will be the burden of the country, which is far worse than dying with a random soldier of the Covenant Alliance in the frontline. That is what a real warrior and a real Immortal Cultivator should do!"
Li Yao couldn't stand it anymore. "General Lei, you must be kidding. Who can do that?"
"I can."
Lei Chenghu turned around and looked at Li Yao. "Trust me. If that day does come, I will never be a burden for the army and the country. I will certainly cause the greatest losses to the enemy and make my last contributions with my broken body!"
Li Yao was stunned for a long time. "Of course I believe you can, but isn't it too unrealistic for you to demand the common soldiers with such a high moral standard? After all, most of the Immortal Cultivators have families. They cannot cut their feelings and ignore their wives and children like the people of the Covenant Alliance!"
"That is exactly where our problem lies."
Lei Chenghu said coldly, "In a real, fully-functioning country of Immortal Cultivators, the configuration of resources should be fair, just, and open. All the children should be attended to, educated, and selected equally, and the accomplishments that the soldiers have earned through all the trouble will not be misappropriated.
"When a soldier knows that his accomplishments will not be claimed by somebody else, and his family will be taken good care of, he will have no worries. Why would he not have the courage to sacrifice himself?
"Then, after those disabled soldiers sacrifice themselves in the frontline, a great burden on the national finance will be saved. The money can both be used to expand the results of the war and to devote to their widows and offspring in the rear to form a virtuous cycle.
"But in a malfunctioning, corrupted country of Immortal Cultivators, all kinds of frauds, darkness, and injustice can be found in the rear. The most excellent and thorough system before is riddled with holes. As a result, everybody in the frontline is chilled, and they do not have any courage to sacrifice themselves at all. Instead, they will just drag their broken bodies to the rear to waste resources for nothing, which will further increase the pressure on the national finance, leading to the complete collapse in the frontline and in the rear. Such a vicious cycle is unavoidable."
Observing the matter-of-fact look on Lei Chenghu's face, Li Yao pondered for a long time and suddenly said, "In fact, I feel that the 'fully-functioning country of Immortal Cultivators' that you described first, other than being too cold and heartless, does carry a little bit of the air of… the Cultivators."
"Maybe. It is possible that all the different paths lead to exactly the same destination. Maybe they are indeed all the same when you reach a high level."
Lei Chenghu smiled, giving neither approval nor disapproval. "I am a soldier, and I am not interested in the groundless theories. Soldiers are only interested in killing. Battlefields are the most unreasonable places. No matter a saber belongs to a Cultivator or an Immortal Cultivator, it is a good saber as long as it can kill people!"
Chapter 2276: Detonate the Lethal Bomb! |
While they were talking, the two of them walked into Li Linghai's secret meeting room.
The meeting room used to be the center of the national museum where the damaged antiques were repaired. Many extremely fragile antiques had harsh requirements for temperature, humidity, and pressure when they were being repaired. Therefore, the repair center was surrounded by highly-keen sensors, which could also serve for the purpose of anti-monitoring after modifications.
Or maybe it was because Queen Li Linghai felt particularly great about herself when she discussed the cause to "renew the Imperium" under Blackstar the Great's broken statue that needed fixing badly.
The participants of the secret meeting, besides Li Linghai who was in pure white, included Jin Yuyan, the greatest patron of the reformists and the General Director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, who spoke for the interests of the businesspersons from the peripherical worlds of the Imperium; Yue Wushuang, the head of the "Tribunal of extraterrestrial devils", which was a secret intelligence agency; and Dongfang Sheng, the commander of the Deep Sea Fleet.
They were all the most hardcore, devoted reformists.
Together with Lei Chenghu, the giant of the military, and Li Yao, the "super warrior" who had distinguished himself remarkably recently, they were the center of the reformists who had marched into the capital.
"Your Grace—"
Looking around, Lei Chenghu said straightforwardly, "Before we discuss the operations in the next step, I want to confirm one thing. None of the soldiers from the Third Battle Area believes that we are engaged in a rebellion. So, we do not wish the Empyreal Terminus Sector to be mired in irresolvable chaos. The crying event in the Emperor's Mausoleum will stop here and not escalate any further, right?"
"Of course, General Lei. We are trying to rescue the Imperium, not to destroy it."
Queen Li Linghai, whose face was fair and warm although she was not wearing any makeup, said, "If I really want the Imperium to fall into chaos, I could totally instigate the surplus generals, the disabled veterans, and the angry crowd to march to the Council of Elders and set the whole planet on fire with their blood. But such an effort would be too meaningless, and it is too shameless and contemptible. I never planned to do that.
"Look, I have controlled the intensity of the crying event perfectly and even dispersed a large part of soldiers and members of the royal family. That is exactly because I do not want to hurt any innocent people. The Emperor's Mausoleum is not our main battlefield, and the bodies of those soldiers, generals, and civilians are absolutely not our cannonballs either. You can rest assured about that."
Lei Chenghu nodded his head and said, "Okay. I have no further questions. Please begin, Your Grace."
Li Linghai coughed lightly and cleared her throat. After Li Yao closed the door and deployed the sound-blocking rune arrays, she opened her arms and said, "First of all, I want to thank everyone for your relentless efforts and sacrifices in the past years. Our cause has finally made the critical step and secured an important victory!
"In the past half month, we fought a battle that was not in our favor in the most difficult situation when we were least prepared, and we have won it!
"With the support of the expedition army and General Lei Chenghu, we threatened the Divine Rain Sector, allied with the Li family, and forced the Yun family and the Song family to stand by and watch, limiting the range of our primary enemies to the Dongfang family alone. All our attacks are directed at Dongfang Wang, the prime minister of the Imperium!
"Now that we have the support of the Li family, we boast a smooth Spiritual Nexus and media channels to the entire universe without obstacles, which allow us to deliver the ideas of 'renewing the Imperium' to every corner of the Imperium instantly!
"The chain reaction caused by the crying event has kept Dongfang Wang and his cabinet preoccupied. Even the attention of the entire Dongfang family is distracted, and they have little time to care about anything else. This is exactly what we have done in the past month. At first look, the situation is absolutely in our favor!"
The leadership team of the reformists all looked delighted and ambitious.
"However—"
Observing everyone's face in the room, Li Linghai suddenly turned solemn, and her voice grew high. "Do not be cocky, and do not let go of our wariness. While we have secured a preliminary success, we have also pushed us to the center of attention and a most treacherous environment!
"The saber of the reformists has been completely unsheathed, its edge entirely shown. The enemy has seen us clearly. It is impossible for us to conceal the saber again.
"In the meantime, the Dongfang family is the 'First Family' of the Imperium of True Human Beings with the greatest wealth and power after all, and it will not be crushed by a petty trick such as a demonstration.
"Most importantly of all, none of the Yun family, the Song family, or the Li family is sincerely on our side. They are just watching the competition between the reformists and the Dongfang family while they calculate which side has a better chance of winning and if it is possible for them to take advantage of our fight.
"The war between us and the Dongfang family is exactly like the duel of two experts. We have made our moves first, and our attacks are unstoppable, seamless, and incessant, like raging tides on an ocean. Our enemy is entirely drowned by us and unable to counterattack at all.
"At first look, the situation is completely under our control. But we are the only ones who know that the seemingly dazzling attacks have not caused any fatal wound yet, and our enemy is gradually accumulating their strength while hiding and evading. As long as our attacks halt, giving the enemy a moment to catch their breath, we will immediately be greeted with a thunderous counterattack.
"If we cannot kill the enemy immediately, as time went by, the Yun family and the Song family who are observing, as well as the Li family who seems to be on our side, may turn against us and kill us at any moment!
"Therefore, we are now racing against time. By my estimation, if we cannot deal a heavy blow to the Dongfang family with a critical move in the next month, the wavering Yun family and Song family will be inclined to the Dongfang family, and different voices will emerge in the Li family, too. 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande will even make deals with the Dongfang family in private and sell us out!"
