Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Yes. They’re similar to the tactics on the prairies. The soldiers on the prairies never have head-on clashes with the enemy, nor do we have a fundamental base. We simply migrate to wherever there is grass and water. The enemy can’t find us at all!” Han Baling said in great delight.

“Every time the army from the central plateaus marches close, it doesn’t matter even if they have a million soldiers on their side because we can simply abandon our main camp and disperse on the prairies.

“We can even slip behind them and march into the central plateaus, where we will go on a rampage. You fight your battles, and I fight mine. In the end, the enemy will often waste all their strength on marching until they are exhausted and short of supplies! That’s exactly the way we crushed the three hundred thousand soldiers of the Great Qian Dynasty last year!”

“Hehe!” The Cultivators from the Great Qian Dynasty all glared at him.

However, they had to admit that Han Baling did have a point and could not help but consider the possibilities of initiating guerilla battles, sabotaging facilities, and utilizing decapitation tactics behind enemy lines without fixed bases.

The more they thought about it, the more fascinated they were. All the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators were nodding, their eyes glowing.

“Yes. I’ve been studying the arts of universal war that Heiye Lan mentioned over the last couple of days. The greatest strength for the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators is agility and mobility! We really shouldn’t just stay on a single planet and wait to be besieged!”

“Instead of relying on the support of our own people, we might as well march to the enemy’s rear and consider the large cities in the Star Glory Federation as our shields! If the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators such as us go on a rampage, I believe that we can turn the cities upside-down. We can easily drag millions of people to die with us if they set traps for us!”

“Also, the large cities with tens of millions of inhabitants must be very chaotic and murky. With our expertise, it may not be as difficult as we imagine to disguise ourselves and sneak in!”

“Wait and observe at the frontline of the war until we decide whether the Imperium’s bid is higher than the federation’s and they have a greater chance of winning or the other way around! We will not make any decision until we gather tremendous intelligence and learn the most advanced, state-of-the-art techniques in the universe. It will certainly be much wiser than a hasty decision right now! Excellent! Excellent! Lord Wang, how exactly did you come up with such a delicate solution?”

“You are flattering me!” Long Yangjun waved her hands modestly and looked at Li Yao with a smile. “I was as befuddled as everybody else just now and almost decided to recklessly surrender to the Imperium. Thankfully, at the last moment, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture reminded us and offered me new insights! If such an infiltration plan does work out, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture will certainly be the greatest contributor! We can’t thank you enough, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture!”

“You’re welcome!”

“Huh. Why do you look so awful, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture? Your face is pale, your eyelids are cramping, and all the organs on your face are slanted. Have you lost your cool? Are you about to be mentally deranged?”

“Not exactly! I’m just deeply astounded by your marvelous solution and inferring the subtle changes that can happen later, Lord Wang. The more I think about it, the more spectacular it appears. The consequences are unbelievable. So, I’m only feeling excited!”

“That explains a lot. I’m relieved now. Please do take care of yourself, Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture. If the infiltration plan is to be carried out later, you will hold the most critical role. Nobody will be able to replace you!” Long Yangjun said confidently. “As for the deductions, I have run some of them myself. Please correct me if I’m wrong!

“If I may remind everybody, you must not think that it will be more dangerous to march into the Star Glory Federation on our own. In fact, cooperating with the Imperium right now entails even more dangers!

“Why do I say that? You will understand it after some preliminary deduction! If we accept Heiye Lan’s offer right now and surrender to the Imperium of True Human Beings, we will certainly be obliged to send the specific location of the Ancient Sages Sector through Heiye Lan and allow the Black Wind Fleet to dock on our planet!

“Long-distance expeditions can be very tricky. The Black Wind Fleet has been sailing in the sea of stars for a hundred years. It’s not unreasonable to assume that they are exhausted and short of supplies, right? Then, according to the fundamental military knowledge, before they launch a final strike on the Star Glory Federation, they are bound to find a stable base and set up a camp to rest for a while!

“Won’t the Ancient Sages Sector be their best camp? Should they discover this place, our home will certainly be modified into a huge military camp by the Black Wind Fleet!

“By then, not only will the Ancient Sages Sector be utterly deformed, a lot of resources will also be dedicated to the war against the federation!

“Yes. For steadiness in the rear, the Black Wind Fleet may not openly rob us of the resources. However, if they propose the exchange of starships and crystal suits for resources, and if they stuff us into a few starships in the joint cooperation later and demand that we attack a certain planet of the federation, can we disobey their orders?

“Military laws are ruthlessly. Once the war begins, we will not be able to be picky anymore. However, what if the planet happens to be a critical place for the federation and it is heavily-guarded by tremendous soldiers of the federation?

“Think about it, everybody. If any of you were the commander of the Black Wind Fleet, would the idea never interest you that you should make the locals of the Ancient Sages Sector die together with the locals of the federation?”

The more Long Yangjun analyzed, the more flabbergasted everybody was.

The eyes of many Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were bulging. Those who did not have much strategic knowledge and barely knew anything about the military such as Ba Xiaoyu and Master Bitter Cicada were greatly enlightened!

Han Baling slapped his thigh and said, “Your words do make sense, Lord Wing. For a universal war of such a large scale, the Black Wind Fleet will have to find a place to set up camp. After the Ancient Sages Sector is stationed and savaged by them, our world will certainly not end well!

“I feel embarrassed that I didn’t think through such a simple logic earlier!”

Long Yangjun smiled and said, “Heiye Lan confessed everything so straightforwardly and offered such enticing terms probably because she also realized that the Ancient Sages Sector could serve as a camp for the Black Wind Fleet. When they do set up a camp in our world and their great army moves in, we will not be able to make decisions for ourselves!

“Therefore, surrendering to the Imperium is not entirely undoable, but we must not surrender right now. We must not allow the Black Wind Fleet to claim the Ancient Sages Sector as their military base or give them any chance to dispatch us freely and even send us to the perilous lands in the Star Glory Federation!

“We can surrender, but we must do it at the most favorable moment for us. What do you think, fellow Cultivators?”

All the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators nodded in approval.

“After studying Heiye Lan’s intelligence for days, I spent most time pondering what matters most in a universal war,” Long Yangjun remarked. “I’m afraid that it is not a magnificent army, or an unparalleled expert, but one’s own coordinates!

“Once the coordinates are exposed, chances are that the enemy may show up and assault our base anytime. We will be caught in a very passive position.

“On the other hand, as long as the coordinates of our base are not exposed, we can always run away if we can’t defeat the enemy, considering the vastness of the universe. If we can’t win a head-on clash, we can harass them from the rear. With the combat abilities of the twelve of us, there is no way that we can fail!

“Therefore, we must not expose the coordinates of the Ancient Sages Sector or our very existence. Darkness is our greatest advantage. We must not attract either the Imperium or the federation to our world!”

Everybody nodded again.

“Let’s review the plan to infiltrate the Star Glory Federation again!”

Her eyes glittering, Long Yangjun said, “The greatest advantage of this plan is its secrecy. The coordinates and the intelligence of the Ancient Sages Sector will never be exposed. Also, we will be taking the absolute initiative. We can choose when, how, and who to surrender to freely!

“If we discover that the Star Glory Federation is a thriving, promising force after investigating the politics, economy, culture, law, military, and all the other aspects in the Star Glory Federation and figuring out their combat ability in comparison to the Black Wind Fleet’s, and if the federation is willing to offer irresistibly tempting terms to us, we will join the federation and help the federation fight the Imperium!

“On the other hand, if the Star Glory Federation is useless, doomed, and merely drawing its last breath, and if the expedition army of the Imperium is too powerful to be stopped, we will get in touch with the Imperium in secret and sabotage the heartland of the Star Glory Federation. We will destroy the strategic locations in the federation, assassinate the high officials in the federal government, block the transportation routes among their planets, and raise never-ending mayhem!

“In such a way, we will prove our loyalty to the Imperium and making our contributions to the war. Also, we will be able to loot the starships, magical equipment, and even national treasury in secret while the country is caught in the fire of war!

“By my calculations, we will even have a chance to rescue all the leadership of the Star Glory Federation in the middle of the chaos. Then, following the precedent set by the Star Ocean Republic, we will help them establish a government-in-exile of the Star Glory Federation, while we are in fact taking control of the resources that they carry with them in the hope of resurrecting their country. Their own lives and the future of their country will be in our hands, and we will certainly be able to do anything we want!

“In such a case, the greatest benefits in the war between the Imperium and the federation will be swallowed by us. The Ancient Sages Sector will expand crazily on the dead body of the federation and rise rapidly, covering the gap of thousands of years in the civilization evolution!”

“F—Fantastic!” ‘Heaven Battering King’ Qi Changsheng, a leader of bandits and a master of looting, could not help but slap the table hard. “Lord Wang, your plan couldn’t suit me better! I totally agree with it! I can’t wait to go on a rampage in the Star Glory Federation together with everybody right now!”

“What do the rest of you think, fellow Cultivators?”

Smiling, Long Yangjun glanced at everybody, and her eyes eventually stopped on Li Yao’s face.