Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 846
Thinking for a moment, Li Yao immediately understood Su Changfa's intention. He also sensed the vague thorn inside his heart.
"Brother Guo, can we talk in private?"
Li Yao called Guo Chunfeng to go out of the cell.
"Is there something wrong with the Immortal Cultivator's head?" Guo Chunfeng found it unbelievably. "He is not thinking that the Cultivators are so 'innocent' that we will let him go after his empty talk, is he?"
"That's not what he meant." Li Yao smiled bitterly. "I'm afraid that his life and death is no longer his concern right now. He is not expecting that he can get away through some bullsh*t. His words were specially prepared for me to hear."
"For you to hear?" Guo Chunfeng was confused. "Why? What's the point?"
"He wanted to plant a thorn in my heart, or a seed that might grow into the 'true path of immortality' one day," Li Yao said carefully. "I assume that he had two reasons.
"Firstly, it was me who sabotaged his endeavor and played him for a fool. He was probably pissed off and hoped to destroy my belief in such a way.
"If a gap appears in my belief and I fall from the Nascent Soul Stage into the Core Formation Stage, he will have his vengeance!
"Secondly, perhaps, despite his extreme hatred, he hasn't entirely given up hope yet. He wants to have one last go and see if I can be transformed into an Immortal Cultivator."
Guo Chunfeng was amused. "With a few empty words?"
"Maybe." Li Yao stared at Guo Chunfeng solemnly. "To be honest, I've been considering the difference between the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators over the past few days. If there is a clear boundary that classifies the two concepts, where exactly is the boundary? Or rather, is there no boundary at all but an ambiguous, gray area?
"What crimes has Su Changfa, an Immortal Cultivator, committed? Does the Star Glory Federation have the right to try and punish him? Even if he is suspected to be a threat to national security and must be confined, how long will he be confined? If he is unwilling to confess dutifully all the time, are we allowed to torture and torment him to get the information we want?
"I would very much like to find the answers to these questions."
Guo Chunfeng scowled. "That's petty kindness!"
"Maybe, but part of my belief is exactly made of such 'petty kindness'. If that part collapses, my belief will be broken, and my level will definitely plunge!" Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, "Also, as a result, I will not be able to answer one question to myself. Without the 'petty kindness', what's the essential difference between a Cultivator and an Immortal Cultivator?
"Hehe. Perhaps, as I result, I may be trapped in the dilemma longer and longer until I cannot free myself from it anymore. I will truly be an Immortal Cultivator by then.
"Just think about Lu Zui and Zhou Hengdao. Sometimes, it may only take one second for a Cultivator to be transformed into an Immortal Cultivator."
Guo Chunfeng tilted his head and thought for a long time before he said, "I understand it now. The old man was not struggling to survive. He was merely hoping to plant the seed with his words and his 'miserable outcome' later into your heart so that you could be turned into an Immortal Cultivator who was willing to achieve your purpose through whatever means possible!"
"Yes." Li Yao nodded. "Therefore, I'm desperate to know whether or not there is any legal ground for us to confine him and even to exploit his soul through torture.
"After all, it is true that he did not do anything hostile to the Star Glory Federation from the beginning to the end. He even surrendered the moment the Fire Ant King and Professor Mo Xuan broke into his medical cabin. I would say that he was quite cooperative!"
Guo Chunfeng frowned and asked, "If there isn't, are you going to stop us from interrogating him?"
"Of course not. After all, the Immortal Cultivator and his war base are too valuable. I can't stop it." Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "However, a thorn will be buried at the bottom of my heart as I cannot think it through.
"From this day on, I may not be as confident in my belief as before, which can seriously affect my training and my battles. Chances are that one day in the future, I will suddenly 'think it through' and decide that I can do anything needed for the interests of the federation!
"As a result, I will be an Immortal Cultivator like Lu Zui, Zhou Hengdao or Su Changfa."
"Understood." Guo Chunfeng took out his glass teacup and poured the water into his mouth before he chewed the tea leaves hard. "Therefore, in order for the belief of the 'Ultra-Level Federal Level' hero and the future star of the Star Glory Federation not to be broken, we must handle everything with undeniable proof in the completely legal way, right?"
"More or less. Is it difficult?"
"I don't think so. Give me five minutes. Let me see."
Five minutes passed.
Li Yao returned to the prison cell in a joyful mood.
Su Changfa's eyelids were dangling down as he stared at the newcomer suspiciously.
"Problem solved, Senior Su," Li Yao said merrily. "We truly do not have any evidence to support your accusations. Your freedom will be restored very soon."
Su Changfa was dazed, with confusion beaming out of his eyes. He did not understand what Li Yao was up to. Was the guy going to let him walk away just like that?
"However, please be aware, Senior Su." Li Yao coughed and declared pretentiously, "Before the starship of the Imperium of True Human Beings landed on the relic of the Pangu civilization, an exploration team of the Star Glory Federation had already discovered the place. Therefore, we have every reason to announce that this place was already the territory of the Star Glory Federation before you arrived!"
Su Changfa's eyes were almost frozen and did not move again until a long while later. Hoarsely, he asked, "So?"
"So, Senior Su, you have committed 'illegal entry' as stated in the federal law. Of course, we understand that you were unaware of the situation beforehand. So, we do not intend to press formal charges. We will simply confiscate your vehicle with which you crossed the border illegally, pronounce you as an 'unwelcomed man' in our country, and banish you."
This time, it was Su Changfa who was rendered speechless. Staring at Li Yao for a long time, he sneered, "By 'banish', do you mean depriving me of all my magical equipment and launching me out of the atmosphere where I will wait to die?"
"Definitely not!" Li Yao shook his head solemnly. "It's true that we will launch you outside of the atmosphere, but we will certainly make sure that you have enough food and water. You will also be given a sealed suit, which should be enough to sustain you in space for a couple of days!
"We will launch you to a fixed sailing route. A few carriers of the Flying Star Sector cruise along the sailing route every day. You will definitely be rescued!"
Somebody seemed to have stuffed ice into Su Changfa's throat. "The Flying Star Sector?"
"Exactly. The Flying Star Sector. The Flying Star Sector where the Immortal Cultivators raised a riot a few years back and killed countless ordinary people."
Su Changfa glared at Li Yao.
"I have carefully considered every detail for you, Senior Su. Such a decision is definitely in the spirit of law and humanitarianism. Even the pickiest person cannot find anything wrong with it!"
With his hand on his chest, Li Yao said, "I feel quite relieved to have fought for such a privilege for you, Senior Su. I think that my belief has just been refreshed!"
Staring at Li Yao without blinking, Su Changfa said, one word after another, "I have never seen a Cultivator as shameless as you."
Li Yao scratched his chin. "Perhaps, the Cultivators not as shameless as me have been eliminated by the cruel universe."
"So," Su Changfa said, "you are saying that, if I don't confess the intelligence about the Imperium of True Human Beings and the secrets of the war base, you will hand me over to the citizens of the Flying Star Sector, who hate the Immortal Cultivators' guts?"
"Technically speaking, we are merely banishing you, Senior Su. Moreover, you came such a long way for the purpose of conquering the Flying Star Sector in the first place. I don't feel at all ill at ease to hand you over to the people of the Flying Star Sector.
"But I'm confused about one thing. Now that you have chosen to surrender, why are you not willing to confess everything promptly?"
"How can they be the same?" Su Changfa replied toughly. "Surrender is my personal choice. Surrender when the enemy is too invincible to keep myself alive, and chances are that I can rise up again later. It is a tactical choice, not immoral at all!
"But the crucial information, should I confess it, is very likely to jeopardize the overall interests of the civilization of mankind!
"I am a cr*ppy old man more than two hundred years old after all. However scared of death I am, it is not enough for me to sell out mankind in exchange for my survival!"
Li Yao was surprised. "Does it have anything to do with the overall interests of the civilization of mankind?"
"Of course it does," Su Changfa said. "After a few days of getting to know each other, I have realized that, although the Star Glory Federation is remote at the edge of the universe and all by yourself, you are as ambitious as a rising sun, which reminds me of the Covenant Alliance in the past!
"Now that you are integrating the forces of all three Sectors and you have discovered such a large relic from the Pangu civilization, your potential will be further boosted if you have the tremendous intelligence about the Imperium!
"Once the federation rises, the Imperium will have enemies both in front and behind. If we have to waste too many resources and forces on you, we may not be capable enough to deal with the Covenant Alliance!
"Should the Covenant Alliance defeat the Imperium, the civilization of mankind will be suppressed by the Path of Ultimate Benevolence and cursed forever! Tell me, is it not against the overall interests of the civilization of mankind?
"Hehe. The reckless man Kou Ruhuo burnt his life and soul to show the member of the Pangu Clan the valor and valiance of mankind! If I betray everything just in order to live a few more decades when I'm an old man in the first place, I will be too ashamed to meet Kou Ruhuo in the afterworld!"
Chapter 1296: Master of Debate |
Li Yao was greatly enlightened. "So to speak, in your eyes, the overall interests of the civilization of mankind are more important than anything, even including the Imperium of True Human Beings, your motherland?"
Su Changfa hesitated for a moment but still said, "Of course, the overall interests of the civilization of mankind are more important than anything. However, the Imperium of True Human Beings represents the greatest interests of mankind. The two concepts are indispensable from each other! There's no need to trick me on that!"
"I hardly think so," Li Yao sneered. "Senior Su, have you never given it any thought? The Path of Ultimate Benevolence is truly a creepy ideology. The human beings under its control have lost all their normal emotions and become lifeless puppets!
"But why is such a ridiculous theory, which should be freezing the blood of any normal human, so popular in the Imperium of True Human Beings? Why have so many people devoted themselves to the cause of the Covenant Alliance, rising up against the powerful suppression of the Imperium?
"Do you not feel that the tyranny of the Imperium is an important reason for everything?
"It is exactly because you regard the ninety-nine percent ordinary people as 'hominoids', existences no better than animals, and you have savaged and exploited them blatantly, imposing suffering on them, that they abandon their everything for the Path of Ultimate Benevolence!
"Even being puppets is still better than being your slaves! This is perhaps what a common 'hominoid' of the Imperium thinks.
"The more you exploit ordinary people, the more determined the ordinary people will be to get away from you and resist you. The power of the Covenant Alliance will snowball as a result!
"This vicious cycle is like an enormous swirl at the center of the cosmos that the Imperium can never flee from!"
Su Changfa burst into fury. His eyelids twitched for a long time before he took a deep breath and said coldly, "How can you explain the national affairs so easily? As you have seen in person, the hominoids were created as 'tools' in the very beginning. Being enslaved is in their nature!
"They are dogs that can never be familiarized, animals that can never be fed up! However nicely we treat them, they will still be controlled by the Path of Ultimate Benevolence in the end!
"Forget it. Now that you've seen through my intention, I don't want to play the game of words with you anymore. If you want to hand me over to the people of the Flying Star Sector, so be it!
"The bottom line is—"
With a sneer, he said, "It's easy for you to kill me, but let's see whether or not you are capable of retrieving the crucial intelligence deep inside my memories!"
"I don't want to play the game of words, either, and I don't want to determine which of our beliefs is correct and which is wrong here and now. I am in the Nascent Soul Stage, too. I know better than anybody that changing the belief of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator is extremely difficult!" Li Yao said sincerely. "However, if I may suggest that you consider the question from a different perspective, does it really hurt to buy 'insurance' for your belief?"
"Insurance?" Su Changfa was dazed. "What do you mean?"
"This is how it goes…" Li Yao explained patiently. "According to your belief, you have absolutely no doubt that the true path of immortality is the only correct path for mankind to march forward and that the Imperium of True Human Beings will certainly defeat the Covenant Alliance and defend the civilization of mankind, right?"
"Of course!" Su Changfa nodded solemnly. "I will implement the true path of immortality with my life to make everything reality!"
"Let's say that your belief is 99.99% likely to be correct, but what if things go wrong?
"What if the 0.01% possibility turns out to be true and you have been walking down the wrong path further and further? What if the Imperium of True Human Beings can never defeat the Covenant Alliance?
"There's no need to brag now, Senior Su. Other than you, we have other sources of intelligence. We are aware that the future of the Imperium of True Human Beings is not very promising. Although your country may not be in danger for now, nobody can say how long it will take for you to completely defeat the Covenant Alliance.
"The Imperium of True Human Beings has been mired in the swamp of war. You should know the crisis within the Imperium! Are you really confident enough to swear with your belief that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the true path of immortality, not even in the odds of one ten thousandth?"
Su Changfa was lost for words for a moment.
Of course, he could lie to Li Yao or anybody else, but he could not lie to his own heart.
"You have other sources of intelligence?" For a moment, Su Changfa seemed to become ten years older. He mumbled to himself, "Is it possible that you have met other Immortal Cultivators before? It's impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
"I can't tell you anything about that," Li Yao said honestly. "I simply want you to consider carefully. Should the Imperium of True Human Beings truly fail and be swallowed by the Covenant Alliance, the Star Glory Federation, which believes in the path of the Cultivators with 'protecting the ordinary people' as the core principle, might be the last hope for the civilization of mankind!
"At the very least, I'm confident that, in the federation whose environment is relatively harmonious, not so many people will worship the wretched Path of Ultimate Benevolence!
"Since your true path of immortality considers the highest interests of the civilization of mankind to be most important, won't improving the Star Glory Federation's capabilities be insurance for the future of mankind? If the Imperium fails, the federation will be able to continue resisting so that the torch of human civilization will burn a while longer!"
Silently, Su Changfa was deep in thought.
"Besides, even if we're not looking from not the perspective of the overall interests of mankind but the national interests of the Imperium of True Human Beings, it will benefit your country a lot if you decide to cooperate with us and build up our capabilities!"
This time, Su Changfa was truly surprised and amused. "I knew that you were shameless, but I didn't know that you could be so shameless! My first impression of you wasn't wrong at all. You are a natural-born Immortal Cultivator! Being a Cultivator is too much of a waste of your talents in shamelessness!
"Come on. I'm all ears. How exactly is the Imperium going to be benefited if I tell you the critical intelligence about the Imperium and the usages of the war base?"
"It's not wrong that the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Star Glory Federation are in a subtle, hostile relation right now," Li Yao replied frankly. "If we were the only two forces in the universe, every secret that you confessed would be a brazen action of treason!
"But right now, there are not two but three forces in the universe, namely the Imperium, the Covenant Alliance, and the New Federation!"
"Are you serious?" Su Changfa picked his ear and yawned. "Faced with the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance, can your small federation be considered a 'force'? There should be a line in your overstatement!"
"The federation right now is definitely no match for the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance, but do you not have high hopes about our future, too, Senior Su?" Li Yao declared barefacedly. "With the relics of the Pangu civilization, if you bring the techniques and secrets of the Imperium to us, we will definitely rise at the speed of light! In the end, even if we cannot be on par with the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance, we will still be a critical variable in the game!"
"How can the Imperium be benefited from it?" Su Changfa said coldly.
"It cannot be benefited at all and will only be greatly harmed," Li Yao admitted frankly. "Our beliefs are incompatible, and we both consider ourselves to be the rightful successor of the civilization of mankind. A great war of belief and rightfulness will break out between us sooner or later."
