Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Guo Chunfeng’s voice was extremely coarse, as if ten thousand sabers were rubbing his vocal cords at the same time. “So, in order to annihilate Li Yao once and for all and to aggravate the Heaven’s Origin Sector’s hatred for the Blood Demon Sector, you arranged a shocking assassination so that the two birds could be killed simultaneously?”

“Exactly.” Lu Zui smiled, with every wrinkle on his face shining. “Did you know? For all the young people, including both Li Yao and you, no matter how extraordinary your talents are and how excellent your performance is, you share the same greatest weakness—you are all very clear and easy to be seen through and manipulated!

“Vulture Li Yao likes infiltration and decapitation best. Whatever the problem is, it is always his first choice to sneak up to the enemy’s side.

“I came up with twelve plans by taking advantage of his fixed thinking pattern and his wariness of the Children of the Nether World. As it turned out, he fell into the trap when the situation progressed to my third plan. He was controlled by me and led to the Federal Square, completely unawares!

“You are the same, Ah Feng, you are quite awesome. For decades, you barely suffered any failure. There were no demon spies that ever escaped from you, but as a result, the arrogance and stubbornness in your personality were strengthened and strengthened.

“You seem to be drowsy and sluggish all the time, but I can sense your pride that is deep to the bones. You feel that everybody else is drunk, and you are the only one who is sober!

“I had no doubt that, after you experienced a minor setback from Vulture Li Yao, you would definitely feel insulted. You would burst into fury and go after him like a rabid dog!

“As I expected, the two of you put on a great, soul-stirring show under my manipulation until you eventually killed him. Even if both of you might’ve woken up at the last moment, what can you do? Too late. Everything has been settled. It’s too late!”

Guo Chunfeng clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth. “I totally understand now. To achieve your purpose, not only did you manipulate Li Yao and I in secret, you have also sacrificed tens of thousands innocent compatriots. Is this any different from the Imperium of True Human Beings where morals are treated as weeds?”

“Of course it is different!” Lu Zui snapped. “The Imperium of True Human Beings regard ordinary people as weeds and ants that can be enslaved and exploited blatantly.

“But we are different!

“The ‘patriots’ consider ordinary people as our compatriots that we must protect!

“It pains my heart too, when I remember that so many compatriots were killed, but it was a price we had to pay, just like the soldiers that have to be sacrificed in order to win a battle!

“Tens of thousands of compatriots sounds like a lot, but the federation has a population of more than ten billion! How much can the tens of thousands of people that were sacrificed take up? Less than 0.1%!”

“Sacrifice one, and save ten thousand. Isn’t it a fair deal?”

The more he spoke, the more excited he got. Waving his slender arms, he roared, “Compared to Cultivators, who are quick-minded enough to infer the changes in the future decades with our amazing computational ability, ordinary people are like the idiotic lambs. They do not know how to think, they have no vision, they cannot decide, and they will also slide into the abyss step by step pushed by their own weakness, timidity, and greed!

“As Cultivators, and as their protectors, it is our responsibility to educate, awaken, and modify them and set them on the correct path with all the endeavors possible. It is for their own good. It is for the sake of their posterity!”

Lost for words, Guo Chunfeng was dazed for a long time. He asked in disbelief, “Killing innocent people was actually for their own good?”

Lu Zui opened his arms and said sincerely, “Ah Feng, I know that everything must be too much of a shock to you. Maybe in your eyes, I am an unpardonable fiend right now!

“I don’t want to debate with you right now. Neither of us can win the ‘confrontation of beliefs’ after only a few words.

“I only want you to think calmly, rationally, and soberly!

“It is impossible for you to present the Jade Crystal Disc to the outside world right now, but let’s say you can, what then?

“You are planning to unveil my scheme, aren’t you?”

Guo Chunfeng sniffed. “What of it?”

“What will happen then? Have you considered the consequences?

“Once the scheme is revealed, it will be the greatest scandal in the history of the federation. Unprecedented chaos will be raised in the leadership of the federation and among the general public. The entire federation might collapse!

“When the Flying Star Sector learns the causes and consequences of the whole matter, they will certainly be scared of us, too. Our future cooperation will be under a thick, dark shadow!

“There’s no need to mention the Blood Demon Sector. After Jin Tuyi learns that his ‘special envoy’ Li Yao, whom he sent to propose a truce and discuss the surrender issues after all the internal conflicts in his world were resolved, has been killed by us, the Blood Demon Sector will never trust us again, either!

“The final outcome will be that the integration of the three Sectors fails. We will be three lone islands again, and there will be no way to resist the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings in a hundred years!

“Is this the outcome you look forward to?”

Guo Chunfeng was silent.

Lu Zui’s eyes were glittering. His voice was deeper and deeper, full of enchanting charisma. “I wasn’t lying to you. Through Elder Nether Spring, we have successfully grasped tremendous intelligence about the Blood Demon Sector and controlled the fatal Demon God Virus. As long as we spread the disease in the Blood Demon Sector on a large scale, it is possible that we can conquer the Blood Demon Sector without drawing our weapons! By paying barely any price, the wish of our ancestors for hundred years will be accomplished in our hands!

“The federation will either sink to doom or rise unstoppably. Is this really so hard to decide?

“Come on. Join us and be a real ‘patriot’. Avenge your parents and all our other compatriots who have been killed in the beast tides!”

Guo Chunfeng seemed to be debating with himself hard. Veins were bulging out of his temples and bouncing quickly. He struggled. “What if I say ‘no’?”

“You won’t stand a chance.” Lu Zui sighed and said, “Although you are praised as the strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivator of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, everybody knows that it refers to your quadruple talents. You are almost an omnipotent Cultivator.

“However, having quadruple talents also means that you have to dedicate your time to four different types of training. Therefore, you might not necessarily be the best one in any given aspect.

“The four of them are now all wearing crystal suits and prepared to attack. You don’t stand any chance of winning even if you are fighting any one of them with your heavy wounds, not to mention that there are four of them here.”

Guo Chunfeng sneered, “You are going to destroy me?”

Lu Zui extended one of his fingers and waved it softly. “Don’t ever think that wiping you out physically equals to destroying you. You are the supervisor of the first division of the Secret Sword Bureau after all. There will be bad influences if you are executed without a good reason. So, I’ve prepared a brand-new identity for you. Here. Take a look at the jade chip.”

He tossed over a jade chip.

Guo Chunfeng glanced at it with his telepathic thoughts, and his expression dropped. “Abyss?”

“Correct.” Lu Zui smiled. “Did you know? In fact, there is no such thing as Abyss. It was just a smoke grenade that Elder Nether Spring threw out as a disguise for the Children of the Nether World. However, such a nonexistent Abyss proves to be of great use for me!

“Your parents died young. You were a war orphan. You rose to fame miraculously after only several decades. You are among the few most powerful Cultivators below the age of a hundred. You couldn’t fit the description of Abyss better. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Guo Chunfeng gnashed his teeth. “I am not Abyss!”

“I believe you are not.” Lu Zui smiled. “But so what? Who else will?

His eyes bloodshot, Guo Chunfeng was panting like a bull.

“Ah Feng, I know that you are not scared of death, but we are not talking about your own life. You have a wife and a daughter, too.” Lu Zui tapped the desk and said slowly, “Try to consider them!”

Guo Chunfeng’s anger seemed to turn into thousands of invisible blades that penetrated through the four Core Formation Stage Cultivators and stabbed into Lu Zui’s chest. “You dare touch my wife and my daughter?

“Make no mistake. I will never do such a foul thing,” Lu Zui said peacefully. “What I meant is that, if you die as Abyss, there will certainly be no more worries for you anymore, but what about them?

“Think about it. In your wife’s eyes, you have always been the trump card of the Secret Sword Bureau and a great hero of the federation, and she was a hero’s wife. How much has she sacrificed after decades of devotion to the role?

“If, one day, she suddenly learns that her husband is not a hero at all but a spy from the demon race, and she has in fact slept on the same bed as a stinky monster for decades…

“What will she think?

“And your daughter. Her name is Xiaohe, right?

“As I recall, the little girl is the most standard hotblooded juvenile. She has always been proud to be a human being of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. She was planning to join the army recently to march into the Blood Demon Sector, wasn’t she?

“If such a girl suddenly learns that her father is actually a demon, and half of the blood flowing inside her body does not belong to a human being…

“What will she think?

“You are clear about the relationship between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector, too. Once war breaks out, the two parties will be a hundred times more hostile to each other than right now.

“By then, everybody around them will know that they are the wife and the daughter of a demon. Gossip is a fearful thing. How do you expect them to live in society?

“Your wife is still young. She can at least live another hundred years. It is needless to bring up your daughter, who is as fresh as a blossoming flower. Do you want them to live the rest of their lives with such a cross on their back?”

The fury deep inside Guo Chunfeng’s brain seemed to be burning through his pupils. His voice—filled with anger, pain, hesitation, and desperation—sounded as if from the deepest level of hell. “How shameless of you! For the first time ever, I have learned that a human being, and a Cultivator, can be a hundred times more shameless than a demon!”