Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1609
"You are clearly an unparalleled expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage, and yet you have completely hidden your gravitas and your dominance. You do not have the vibe of someone superior at all but vividly strike me as a shameless scoundrel. It is evident that your computational ability is very high!"
Jin Yuyan went on, "Since your computational ability is so high, you must've calculated that you and me are far from enough to challenge Blackstar the Great and the four Kurfürsten at the same time. So, may I boldly assume that you have powerful reinforcements out there and even a whole plan for victory?"
"Of course I have reinforcements and plans. Everything is within my calculation. However, the enemy cannot be destroyed only with calculation. I still need your help. I need the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to play a greater role in the renaissance of the Imperium!"
Li Yao said, "However, we need to figure out what has happened to you first. How were you tricked into this body by Qi Yuanbao and your wife? Also, what's the situation of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors today? Which managers have possibly been convinced by Qi Yuanbao and your wife to take Blackstar the Great's side, and which ones are too tied to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to surrender? I believe you must know the answers as the director of the organization, right?"
Jin Yuyan was stunned for a long time. Rubbing his rough face in disgust, he said in a hoarse voice, "Rising from a tiny group of merchants to the largest business group in the Imperium today, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors has certainly encountered many storms. We also expanded and protected our business routes with violence and took down those who jeopardized our business interests countless times.
"Killers and assassins played an important role in the process. Black Flag, Bloody Skull, Life Claimer, and Lamp of Death, the four most powerful groups of assassins in the Imperium, are all deeply associated with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. The super assassins who lead the four assassin groups are also our partners whom we have worked with for more than a hundred years. They are the shareholders of many agencies under the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. There is a deep trust between us.
"Of the 'four gods of death', the one I trusted most was Qi Yuanbao, leader of 'Life Claimer', who is known as 'Hanged Man'."
"Wait—"
Li Yao asked in surprise, "Qi Yuanbao, the senior manager of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, is 'Hanged Man', one of the four gods of death? But I was told that 'Life Claimer' is an assassin group exclusively made of ghosts, and 'Hanged Man' is one of the strongest spectral Cultivators in the Imperium!
"Was the bald man in leather coal who tried to kill you with daggers outside of the Commodity Market not Qi Yuanbao?"
"Yes, he was exactly Qi Yuanbao, one of the strongest ghosts in the Imperium."
Jin Yuyan explained, "That is exactly why he is horrifying. The general ghosts, however tough, can only crawl into the artificial bodies and control the machines to move. However, Qi Yuanbao has practiced a weird art named 'Body Puppet Technique'. He soaks the newly-deceased bodies in a mixture of special drugs for polishing, and after eighty-one days, the bodies will not decay anymore but remain vivid with temperature and air, like living people.
"His remaining soul could hide in those bodies, allowing him to regard the real bodies as his 'artificial bodies'. In such a way, he can easily turn into any random person. He is unpredictable and beyond recognition.
"Except for me and my wife, few people know his secret. Everybody only pays attention to the rigid mechanic bodies when they are wary of his assassination. As a result, he often takes advantage of their weakness and kills the enemies in bodies of flesh and blood."
"Body Puppet Technique. So to speak, the bald man I fought a moment ago was not a living person at all but a dead body that had been specifically refined?"
Li Yao felt that his head was dizzy. There were indeed countless peculiar tricks in the vast space. He did not know that there was such a weird technique.
"Yes, that was only one of the 'body puppets' that Qi Yuanbao often used. I don't know how many similar body puppets he has secretly refined in secret."
Jin Yuyan sighed and said, "As one of the five senior managers, his position is not much lower than mine in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. It is impossible for me to monitor his every move."
Li Yao said in deep thought, "The so-called 'Body Puppet Technique' sounds like it involves the combination of the soul and the body. It's rather similar to the 'Soul Transfer Technique' that you mentioned a while earlier. So, it was also Qi Yuanbao who suggested you transfer your body into this… strong woman?"
"Exactly."
Jin Yuyan said frustratedly, "One and a half months ago, Qi Yuanbao came to me and claimed that there was unquestionable proof that the four Kurfürst families were planning an assassination against me, and their trump card was one of the closest people around me. They had bought over one of the 'four gods of death', who would stab me in the back at any moment!
"Qi Yuanbao was a senior manager responsible for the security in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. He was in charge of my safety too. Naturally, I could not ignore his intelligence.
"Also, I confirmed the intelligence through other sources many times. There wasn't any problem at all. All the pieces of evidence suggested that the four Kurfürst families were trying to assassinate me, and they had very likely bought over one of the 'four gods of death'.
"The problem was that the four gods of death were seniors who had worked with me for almost a hundred years. They had extensive connections within the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, and they had raised a bunch of disciples that were adept at killing.
"I could not accuse any of them without valid proof, which would only dishearten the partners and incite dissatisfaction. Wouldn't I be asking to be killed if I pissed off a bunch of assassins for no good reason?
"However, it would always be a hidden problem if it was left alone. I was not a battle-type Immortal Cultivator. Being the target of one of the best assassins of the Imperium was certainly not a good feeling. I almost had a nervous breakdown before the assassin showed up.
"Seeing that I was upset and panicked, Qi Yuanbao suggested that I should use a stand-in to allure the assassin to show up."
Li Yao nodded his head. "It is quite normal for a big shot like you to prepare a couple of stand-ins."
"Yes. I had seven stand-ins waiting for my call at any moment. They had all received plastic surgeries and looked identical to me. Even their gaits, tones, and habitual movements had been trained. Sometimes, even I couldn't distinguish them from myself."
Jin Yuyan said, "However, such stand-ins could only fool the regular assassins. The super assassins like Black Flag King, Red Lady, Hanged Man, and Revenant From The Dead Sea had been working with me for a hundred years. How could they have been deceived?
"No false stand-ins could've possibly tricked them unless my own body was built into a very special stand-in!
"It was naturally very risky, but if the betrayed 'god of death' was not found out in time, I would be in equal danger. After weighing the pros and cons, I accepted Qi Yuanbao's proposal and conducted the 'Soul Transfer Technique' with a loyal female bodyguard. My soul entered her shell, and her soul entered mine, thereby producing the most perfect stand-in."
"Wait—"
Li Yao frowned and said, "Weren't you a bit too gullible? Did you not feel that this 'Soul Transfer Technique' reeked of the smell of schemes? It was a dangerous thing to let the soul leave the body. Should anything go wrong at such a moment, it was very possible that you could get killed. Did you really trust Qi Yuanbao so much?"
"Even if I didn't trust Qi Yuanbao, I at least trusted my wife Wuying Qinxin."
Jin Yuyan said gloomily, "The suggestion was made by Qi Yuanbao, but the 'Soul Transfer Technique' was performed under the supervision of my wife. My wife is of the same origin as Qi Yuanbao. She is also a most distinguished Meditation Healer who is adept at all the secret techniques in soul training. What was there to be suspicious about if she was monitoring every procedure in person?"
"What should I say?"
Li Yao glanced at Jin Yuyan and hesitated for a long time. He then finally spat it out. "Not that I'm blaming you, but aren't you a bit too… innocent in life although you are a victorious dominator in business? Your wife is of the same origin as Qi Yuanbao. So, they must be from the same school. When they suddenly proposed such a plan that was full of the air of plots, why did you not grow wary at all or consider the possibility that they were having an affair and conspiring to murder you? Did you really not notice any anomaly in your daily life, not realizing that they were often hanging around stealthily?"
"What's wrong with your head? Have the most excellent Cultivators on Firefly become so dirty and underbred after being corrupted by darkness for a thousand years?"
Jin Yuyan burst into fury. "Who says that they are from the same school or that they are 'having an affair'? Your imagination is truly remarkable! They did hang around a lot, sometimes even in my own house openly, but wasn't it perfectly normal? By 'of the same origin', I meant that Qi Yuanbao and my wife Wuying Qinxin are biological siblings. They are even twins who were born with a gap of only several seconds. Qi Yuanbao is my brother-in-law. Who else should I have trusted if not them?"
Chapter 2535: Unfortunate Royal Descendants |
Li Yao was stunned for a long time before he finally replied in embarrassment, "So, Qi Yuanbao and your wife are biological siblings. Nobody could've seen that coming."
Neither Qi Yuanbao, a senior manager of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, nor Wuying Qinxin, Jin Yuyan's wife, was a Mr. Nobody. Li Yao had naturally collected their files before, but none of the files mentioned the slightest connection between the two of them.
Therefore, it was perfectly reasonable that Li Yao had certain inappropriate deductions.
"It's their most deeply hidden secret. Outsiders don't know anything about it at all."
Jin Yuyan sniffed and said, "My father-in-law was named 'Wuying Yuanshan'. A hundred and fifty years ago, he was the Sector Master of 'Spiritual Mountain Sector', a rather prosperous world at the edge of the Imperium. Also, he made a lot of friends and accumulated tremendous wealth, which vaguely turned him into the leader of the 'Wuying group'."
"The Wuying group?"
Li Yao immediately recalled that there was indeed a "Wuying group" in the business world of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
Five hundred years ago, since the royal power declined and the four families rose, the previous members of the royal family had shriveled. Part of the members lingered in the capital, turning into the ragged Imperial Guards that did not have any morale or training. Some other members of the royal family left the capital and found a way out in various parts of the universe with their family belongings.
The four families had been controlling those members of the royal family strictly in politics. They were only allowed to be the Sector Masters of the peripheral worlds of the Imperium but forbidden to touch the power at the center of the cosmos again.
However, even the slimmest camel was larger than a horse. The Wuying family had governed the center of the cosmos for five hundred years after all. Neither their wealth nor their power could've thawed in the blink of an eye. Besides, the four families still needed the emperor from the Wuying family to reign the Imperium. Naturally, they could not push the Wuying family too hard. Should it raise the intense resistance of the Wuying family, and the two parties got into a huge fight, it would be other people who would step in and take the advantage.
Therefore, the four families and the members of the royal family somehow reached an unspoken deal. The Wuying family was not to reveal the ambition for the supreme power, but it was not a problem for them to go to the edge of the Imperium and be extravagant merchants, which was even supported by the four families in secret.
Every man sought after either power or fortune. Now that the Wuying family had lost hope to rise to power, if they did not want to live the rest of their life like swine, they could only devote themselves to the pursuit of money.
They carried the wealth of the people that they exploited during the first five hundred years. The abundance of the capital that they brought from the center of the cosmos was naturally incomparable for the small families locally born and raised at the edge of the Imperium. Also, thanks to the secret support of the four families, they had connections, visions, strategies, and technologies that the bumpkins of the peripheral worlds had never seen or heard before. Very soon, the bumpkins were crushed in competitions, and they controlled many central industries at the edge of the Imperium, making a huge fortune through it.
In the hundreds of years that followed, the capitals with the royal family as the background, managed by those with the "Wuying" surname, were known as the Wuying group.
"My father-in-law was once a leader of the 'Wuying group'. He was an ambitious and visionary man. In his prime days, he even thought to focus all the capitals of the 'Wuying group' in order to accomplish an unprecedented achievement!"
Jin Yuyan sighed and said, "It was a pity that he was too determined and confident to forget the reason why the four families supported the 'Wuying group' in the beginning. Did those people really want them to make a fortune? Of course not. They were just hoping that a tiny bit of money would be enough to hold the royal family back and corrode their will.
"If the members of the royal family stayed at the edge of the Imperium, living an extravagant and obedient life, the four families would not bother to deal with them at all, but my father-in-law was planning to concentrate all the capitals for a 'great cause'. Hehe. He was asking to be killed!
"Then, it was the classic drama where revenge is a dish best served cold. My father-in-law 'Wuying Yuanshan' was killed in an assassination uncannily, and the whole family was immolated. Even the place of Sector Master was stolen by his subordinates. Naturally, his great dream was gone.
"However, although the assassins massacred my father-in-law's entire family, two youngest children somehow escaped. They were exactly my wife and my brother-in-law. Right, my brother-in-law did not exactly get away. He suffered a vicious punch from the enemy, whose power of corrosion and corruption haunted him for decades, eventually destroying his physical body and killing him. However, the decades of suffering was part of the reason why he could train himself into a 'super spectral Cultivator' in a weird form.
"All in all, after my wife and my brother-in-law escaped, they had a series of fortuitous incidents. In case the enemy continued hunting, they decided to hide their names and implement the revenge plan separately.
"My wife joined the business world with her advantage of inferring what was on people's mind as a Meditation Healer, turning into a rising star of the 'Wuying group' from another perspective, before she investigated the truth of the accident in the Spiritual Mountain Sector years ago. My brother-in-law, on the other hand, changed his name to Qi Yuanbao, nicknamed 'Hanged Man'. He became a notorious assassin and established his own force 'Life Claimer', preparing for their revenge.
"Later, my wife and I met in business…"
Li Yao nodded his head quickly. "Got it. Your marriage is some sort of political marriage!"
Jin Yuyan blushed and replied, "The marriage of people like us certainly can't be just about love. What caught her attention in me was that I had already become a rather influential person in the business world. She intended to avenge her family with my strength. So, she took the risks and confessed the truth to me.
"After much deliberation, I found the connections and reputation of my deceased father-in-law 'Wuying Yuanshan' in the Wuying group irrefutable, and I wanted to hold the strength in my hands. Therefore, we made a win-win choice.
"After that, my marriage with Wuying Qinxin was actually rather pleasant. Our cooperation with Qi Yuanbao was quite smooth too. Under the support of Wuying Qinxin and I in secret, Qi Yuanbao's 'Life Claimer' killed all the murderers who were directly involved in the massacre years ago. Then, naturally, the return of Wuying Yuanshan's daughter was announced within the Wuying group.
"In the meantime, with the help of the Wuying group and Qi Yuanbao's 'Life Claimer', I rose quickly within the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, defeating almost a hundred competitors, before I finally became the director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the business leader at the edge of the Imperium!
"Of course, in order not to catch unnecessary attention or invoke the four families' thunderous attacks again, Qi Yuanbao never resumed his surname of 'Wuying', and nobody knew that he was Wuying Qinxin's biological brother. Otherwise, the power of the brother, the sister, and I was too dreadful. It would've been possible that we entered the blacklist of the four families a long time ago and got erased!
"You should understand it now, right? Wuying Qinxin and I are a couple who knew each other before we really grasped power. Later, we founded the most solid alliance of interests, helping each other to succeed. It must be noted that the real murderers of her family were exactly the four families. Who could've thought that she would betray me before the four families were destroyed?"
Li Yao thought quickly and inferred for a long time. In the end, he could only nod his head and said, "That's right. Under normal circumstances, she did have no reason to betray you at all until the four families were destroyed. If I were you, I certainly would've trusted my wife who had been with me for more than a hundred years.
"However, you couldn't have foreseen that Blackstar the Great was already revived, which was the biggest unexpected factor!
"Wuying Qinxin and Qi Yuanbao both belong to the royal family. They are the descendants of Wuying Qi. There are too many things that can be taken advantage of in their relationship. If Wuying Qi persuaded them, envisaging the rise of the royal family for them and tempting them with a title, I probably would've been convinced too."
