Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“In your dream?”

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. Then he realized that, with the capabilities of a special agent of the Imperium of True Human Beings and the portable magical equipment that she carried, it should not have been difficult for her to release special interference to affect Emperor Phoenix’s brainwaves and sneak into his subconsciousness.

Although the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were unfamiliar with the details, some of their techniques could influence dreams, too.

Mother White Lotus Wan Mingzhu, in particular, was adept at such tricks. It was not very strange for them.

“When Deity Raincloud appeared in my dream,” Emperor Phoenix continued, “she told me exactly what she said just now. She claimed that she was my ancestor and had ascended to the deities’ realm more than a thousand years ago. But because she had some personal issues left unfinished in the mortal world, and her offspring had governed the country into a mess, she couldn’t bear to watch it any longer. So, she had returned to the mortal world to guide me to revive the Great Qian Dynasty!

“Naturally, I did not believe any of that in the beginning.

“However, she told me in my dream that her real body and her residence were hidden in the Rumbling Thunder Mountains, a hundred kilometers to the west of the Divine Capital. She asked me to see her after I woke up, and I would certainly find out the truth!

“In order to convince me, she even taught me a method to circulate the spiritual energy that she said was from the deities’ realm!

“After I woke up, everything in my dream was so vivid. Even the secret technique from the deities’ realm was also carved deep into my brain. I did not forget a single word.

“During that period, it’s true that I ran into a bottleneck in my training, and my Cultivation stagnated. Because I didn’t have great teachers to enlighten me, I could only try on my own and nearly went mentally deranged. That was when I was most depressed and helpless.

“Although I was still suspicious, I did practice the secret technique that I had been taught. After only three days, I broke the obstacles that had been troubling me for a long time, and my Cultivation soared!

“Of course, I was overjoyed. I couldn’t help but believe what Deity Raincloud had said and take her for an ancestor of my family!

“I was just an unpopular prince that nobody cared about and had nobody to count on at that time. It appeared to me that I wouldn’t lose anything in a journey to the Rumbling Thunder Mountains anyway.

“Therefore, I entered the Rumbling Thunder Mountains and found Deity Raincloud’s residence there!”

Although the Divine Capital was the capital city of the Great Qian Dynasty, it had been established there mainly for military purposes in order to threaten the boundless prairies in the north.

Other than the prosperity within the Divine Capital, the surrounding regions were not the most fertile and opulent. The Rumbling Thunder Mountains were an extremely harsh place even though it was merely a hundred kilometers away from the Divine Capital.

Emperor Phoenix paused for a moment before saying, “Before I left, I browsed through the portraits of the predecessors of the Thunderous Qian Sect and checked what the Thunderous Fire ‘Zhu Cangshui’ looked like. After I met the real person, he did look similar to the portrait. Therefore, I was even more convinced.

“Deity Raincloud treated me very well. He was not arrogant and egotistical at all for a deity. He taught me everything that he knew. He even showed me into a weird hut deep inside his residence and asked me to take a bath in the colorful, mystic rays. After every time I was illuminated by the mystic rays, I would feel that my soul was fulfilled, and my Cultivation soared. My speed of training soared, too!”

Hearing that, Qi Zhongdao interrupted Emperor Phoenix and asked, “What exactly did Deity Raincloud’s residence look like?”

Emperor Phoenix shook his head and said, “Every time I visited her residence, the inside and outside of the residence were always covered in vague mist. I only entered part of the rooms inside the residence but never saw the full picture of the entire residence.

“However—”

He pondered for a moment and said, “Now that I think of it, the distribution and structure of some rooms in the residence were quite similar to the cabins of the deities’ warship here. Chances are that it was also a warship from beyond the sky that somehow crashed deep inside the Rumbling Thunder Mountains.”

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment. Although it was quite unexpected, it did make sense.

Since she was a deity, it was only reasonable that she came on a warship of the deities’ realm!

“In the years that followed, things were basically the same. I respected the ancestor of my family as my master and received a lot of her heritage. I also advanced above the middle level of the Nascent Soul Stage from the Core Formation Stage!

“In the meantime, she often rubbed my temples and my skull repetitively with certain magical equipment. Many times, after the procedure, I always felt that something new was added to my head. Something… ambitious!

“I asked Deity Raincloud why she did that, but she said that she was only broadening my brain. How could I not be ambitious and visionary if I wanted to be the greatest emperor of all times?

“I was too fascinated by the prospect of being the greatest emperor of all time to care about anything else at that time.

“Deity Raincloud had done nothing that called for my suspicion at all, either. Not only did she teach me tremendous techniques and help me improve my capabilities, she also brought out a large batch of magical equipment and armor from the deities’ realm to help me establish the Fiery Phoenix Legion and the Fiery Phoenix imperial guards. She even granted me an unparalleled armor and supported me in ascending to the throne without any thought!

“How could I be suspicious of such an ancestor and master?

“She did not show any inconsistencies even after I claimed the crown. She had no demands for me at all except that she asked me to dispatch a bunch of resources so that she could establish a sacrificial altar near the Rumbling Thunder Mountains.”

“A sacrificial altar?” The eyes of the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were all glittering. “What’s that? What were the resources that she asked for?”

“I don’t know what it was exactly. Deity Raincloud told me that it concerned the secrets of the deities’ realm, and it was necessary for her to finish her connections with the mortal world. It could also bring good luck from the deities’ realm to the mortal world so that the Great Qian Dynasty would live in peace and prosperity!”

“As for the resources that she asked for, there were Flame Frost Crystals, Chaotic Red Copper…”

The young emperor reported the names of hundreds of resources, ranging from rare metals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to the cores of animals and demon beasts.

Many of the materials might not have been very valuable, but they were extremely rare. The court was probably the only force capable of collecting all of them quickly.

The Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators looked at each other in confusion, not having the first clue how the resources were related.

Li Yao, however, knew exactly what they were for. Most of the materials boasted the effect of enhancing telepathic thoughts and maintaining the stability of long-distance teleportation!

It meant that the ‘sacrificial altar’ was probably a piece of large magical equipment similar to a star beacon or a long-distance teleportation array, which could be used to communicate with the fleet of the Imperium!

Then, everything made sense!

It was not that the special agent of the Imperium of True Human Beings did not want to contact the mothership. However, in the few years earlier, she had somehow lost the ability to contact the mothership and therefore could only support a puppet emperor to help her gather the resources necessary to repair or rebuild the magical equipment for communication!

“Has the sacrificial altar been completed?” Qi Zhongdao asked.

“Not yet,” Emperor Phoenix replied. “I was new to the throne. Some of rare materials that she demanded were extremely difficult to find. The progress was very slow.

“Right then, she seemed to find some traces regarding the ‘Divine Palace’ while she hunted Wang Xi!”

Everybody looked at Long Yangjun.

Long Yangjun slightly frowned, as if she did not know that Deity Raincloud had set her eyes on her such a long time ago. She pondered for a moment but gave no reply.

“Deity Raincloud seemed to be much more interested in the Divine Palace than in the sacrificial altar,” Emperor Phoenix said. “She immediately asked me to establish an elite exploration squad and search for the Divine Palace in the Land of Eternal Night.

“As for me, I meant to fish up the evils that posed a threat to the Great Qian Dynasty once and for all during the exploration, too. Naturally, I supported the exploration without any reserve.

“You all know what happened then.”

After hearing Emperor Phoenix’s story, the other Cultivators were in deep thought, analyzing the whole issue from their perspective.

“It seems that Deity Raincloud was the only one who snuck into the Ancient Sages Sector,” Meng Chixin concluded. “Also, our speculation was right. The Cultivation of a single deity is not necessarily higher than ours. That’s why she had to raise a puppet loyal to herself by means of deception and trickery to help her realize her clandestine schemes!

“On the other hand, since she could communicate with the emperor and the arts from the deities’ realm worked on the emperor, it suggests that the deities are not vastly different from us. We might even be the same species, simply living in different worlds!

“Therefore, there is no need to feel desperate, everybody. We definitely have our chances in the game versus the deities!

“Now, it’s time to interrogate ‘Deity Raincloud’ and find out what the so-called ‘deities’ realm’ is!”

Meng Chixin smiled and drifted to Deity Raincloud.

“Hey. Do you think we should admit our identity right now and inform them of the existence of the Star Glory Federation?” the mental devil said quickly in Li Yao’s head. “Did you not hear what the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators just said? They are willing to surrender, as long as the price is good enough! Now, the Imperium and the federation are both potential ‘buyers’. If they meet the special agent of the Imperium in advance and accept her bid, we will be screwed!”

“Huh…” Li Yao hesitated.

Meng Chixin had already floated up to Deity Raincloud’s face. He opened his hands and suddenly stabbed all the five fingers into Deity Raincloud’s head!

“Ahhh!”

The previously-unconscious Deity Raincloud immediately screamed miserably, cramping like a rat thrown into boiling oil!

“Don’t let her die.” Wu Suiyun frowned, while more than ten colorful tentacles extended out of her soul into Deity Raincloud’s eyes, nostrils, and ears. “She is the connection between us and the deities’ realm. Maybe, we can count on her to negotiate with the deities’ realm!”

“I know.” Meng Chixin smiled. “I’m just setting up some barriers in her head first in case she lies to us later.”

“Your barriers are too tough. One moment of carelessness, and her brains would be minced, turning herself into an ignorant retard.”

While talking, Wu Suiyun manipulated more and more threads of spiritual energy to dart into Deity Raincloud’s head. “Let me do this instead.”

“… What did you say just now?” Li Yao said to the mental devil.

“No. I didn’t say anything. Let’s just keep lurking for now!”