Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao held his breath and read through the original letter from ‘Moonfall’ word by word.

The fury and indignation between the lines were too obvious to be overlooked.

The signature ‘Moonfall’ was also obvious. There was a ‘moon 1 ‘ in Jin Xinyue’s name as well as the name of the ‘Dim Moon Fund’. Wasn’t the signature implying that the guy was trying to overthrow Jin Xinyue no matter the cost?

Li Yao did not expect the game to be pushed forward to such a fatal extent when he and Long Yangjun had just talked about the upcoming storm the previous night. It was happening so fast that he was almost overwhelmed.

But the question remained, whose move was it?

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao entered a communication room next to the suite that was specially prepared for him.

Inside the communication room was a super crystal processor with a particularly high power. Through a private route, it was able to contact the Speaker’s office on Firefly directly.

As Cui Lingfeng’s special representative, naturally, he was allowed to report to Cui Lingfeng anytime.

When the light beam was turned on, he could tell that there was a lot of hustle and bustle in the Speaker’s office on Firefly.

Cui Lingfeng was frowning gravely and deep in thought.

“Have you read the information that Moonfall exposed?”

Li Yao had no time to bother about whether or not the route was monitored now. Even if it was, it would not be a big deal, because what mattered most right now was explaining everything properly in case of deeper misunderstanding. “Was it done by us?”

“Of course not. How could we have done such a stupid thing?” Cui Lingfeng denied assertively. “We might have been suspicious that Jin Xinyue was manipulating everything behind the curtain. But firstly, we cannot accuse one of the leaders of our ally without concrete proof, which may lead to unpredictable consequences. Secondly, this is also very precious leverage and could have been thrown to her to trade for more practical benefits if she is truly elected as the Speaker of the Federation!

“This is exactly how the game is played. I know you know it. You know I know you know it. But I pretend that I don’t know you know it, and you also pretend that you don’t know I’m pretending that I don’t know you know it. This is politics! While the Star Glory Federation tries every means possible to infiltrate Firefly, haven’t we sent a lot of intelligence personnel to sneak into the federation? An ally’s business is an ally’s business, integration’s business is integration’s business, and infiltration’s business is infiltration’s business. They must not be confused! We are all professionals here. There is no way that we would’ve done such an absurd thing as to put the game that should’ve been played under the table in front of the public!

“Besides, you’ve seen how detailed the exposure is. A lot of internal details about the ‘Dim Moon Fund’ are involved in it. Such information could never be grasped by us!

“Therefore, it is absolutely impossible that we did it. ‘Moonfall’ is somebody else!”

“Got it.” Li Yao nodded. “Then, what should the stance of our delegation be?”

“In short, no comments,” Cui Lingfeng said. “At this moment, the exposure is still mostly made of assumptions. It lacks real-life evidence. At the very least, we do not need to show an attitude toward the general public of the federation in case matters get worse.

“I have spoken to Captain Xie of the delegation and asked him to hold an emergency meeting with the federation as fast as possible to relieve the possible misunderstandings and concerns so that the issue will not affect our cooperation.

“On the other hand, I will speak to Speaker Wan of the Star Glory Federation directly later. I’m afraid that you’ll have to accelerate your pace now. I have a feeling that the exposure will not be an independent event. If there is indeed a scheme, it will break out very soon!

“Jin Xinyue is the focus of the scheme. She is now in the capital city of the federation in the Heaven’s Origin Sector!

“You must reach the capital city as quickly as possible. I will arrange for you to meet Speaker Wan of the federation soon. Remember, however much we might’ve disagreed in the past, unity and cooperation come first! We are Cultivators and brothers. Brothers may fight in the house, but they should resist the enemy together if somebody breaks down the door. Do you understand what I mean, Captain Lin?”

Li Yao knew that the words were not necessarily meant for him to hear, but he still nodded quickly and said, “Understood!”

“If the federation has any requirements when they are searching for this…’Moonfall’,” Cui Lingfeng said, “I command you to offer any help possible to the federation and try to cooperate with the federation’s work!”

“Understood!”

After concluding the conversation with Cui Lingfeng, Li Yao noticed that the noises outside the window were more and more obstreperous. Somebody was walking loudly on the corridor inside the hotel, too.

Li Yao was not affected by the noises. Knowing that the incident had not been exposed by the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic, he was greatly relieved. Also, it was great that Cui Lingfeng thought that brothers should fight against a common foe despite the internal conflicts they might have.

He then turned back and carefully read the reactions to the event on the major websites and forums.

Naturally, the Spiritual Nexus was already on fire because of the news. But perhaps because the content was too flabbergasting, it was somewhat impossible to comment on it. Most of the neutral netizens were waiting for the follow-up news and for the federal government to provide a clear conclusion, but a tiny proportion of them, Ding Lingdang’s and Jin Xinyue’s hardcore supporters, were cursing each other aloud.

Ding Lingdang’s hardcore supporters said that Jin Xinyue was a second Lu Zui and a traitor of the federation who had committed such wrongdoings just in order to become the Speaker. Not only was she unqualified to be the Speaker, she should also be sent to prison.

Jin Xinyue’s supporters, on the other hand, accused Ding Lingdang’s supporters of fabricating such a shocking scandal just for Ding Lingdang to ascend to the throne of the Speaker despite the great enemy up ahead. The dirty water on Jin Xinyue was merely a setup, which was likely to tear the federation apart.

Holding his nose, Li Yao read them for a long time. He then scrutinized the letter of ‘Moonfall’ again and realized that, while his diction was rather sloppy and certain phrases such as ‘traitor of the federation’ were a bit too extreme, implying a low education, the specific details of the letter were rather logical and errorless. Nobody without abundant actual work experience would ever be able to write it.

Was it possible that he was speaking the truth and was actually a member of the Dim Moon Fund who only exposed the information because of his conscience and indignation?

Li Yao was no elementary school student. He would never believe such cr*p!

Therefore, the most critical question right now was who exactly ‘Moonfall’ could be. Also, as for his good disciple Jin Xinyue, who had inherited the essence of all his acting skills and even… the knowledge of his dark side, where was she, and what was she up to?

Li Yao scratched his nose and suddenly grinned.

It was highly unlikely that Jin Xinyue—who had been educated by himself and Jin Tuyi, two great experts of acting, and gone through so many difficulties in the past hundred years—would just be tripped by a tiny tip-off, right?

How will you respond, Jin Xinyue? I can’t wait to appreciate it closely now!

…

In the capital city of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, in the central square on July 20, the Memorial Day for the Deceased in the Uranian Ring War was underway. As the first large-scale expedition of the New Federation after it was established, and the war of rise that really built the new federal army into shape, the war had always had a special meaning to the federal government and the people of all social classes.

On July 20 every year, enormous parades and memorial ceremonies would be held in the capital city as well as the major worlds. The big shots nationwide would gather before the ‘Monument for Heroes of the Uranian Ring War’ in the capital city and pay tribute to the warriors who sacrificed themselves.

The two Speaker candidates who had been running about across the nation giving speeches and attracting more votes were no exceptions. Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue both returned to the capital city and appeared before the monument.

The memorial ceremony this year, however, was particularly weird and depressed.

Jin Xinyue seemed to have been installed with powerful magnetic units all over her body, distracting everyone’s eyes from the monument to herself.

Naturally, it was because of the shocking exposure.

However, Jin Xinyue responded calmly and comfortingly. Her smile toward the supporters and her grievance when she faced the monument in silence were equally impeccable.

She seemed to be at the center of a superstorm. The suspicions and attacks of the outside world did not seem to bother her at all.

Whoever saw her face would inevitably doubt whether the exposure on the Spiritual Nexus was true or merely hearsay and a groundless setup, no matter how much they had believed the letter from Moonfall before.

In the press conference after the memorial ceremony, when one of the reporters suddenly raised the sharp question to Jin Xinyue in violation of the theme of memorial, Jin Xinyue’s delicate makeup and perfect countenance were not affected at all. She simply replied with five short words.

“Rumors end at the wise.”

Her ‘perfectness’ was not in the least reduced until after the dinner when the big shots met in private.

It was a very secret private club that belonged to one of the top ten super sects in the New Federation.

Sitting in front of Jin Xinyue were three white-haired old men with daunting auras and obvious fury. They were the leaders of three top ten sects in the entire seven Sectors of the federation.

They were the literal ‘big shots’ of the federation. Two of their sects were from the Heaven’s Origin Sector, and the last one was from the Flying Star Sector. All the sects boasted a history of more than five hundred years. They were deeply rooted and among the most traditional and powerful organizations.

During the rapid development in the golden years of the New Federation in the past century, the sects had further expanded thanks to the trend and grown into super behemoths that spanned seven Sectors and could barely be destroyed!

A hundred years ago, for the survival of the demon race, for the Blood Demon Sector to get rid of the shadow of ‘failed world’ and become a regular world on equal terms with the other six Sectors, and for all the demons to break the shackles and turn into true citizens of the federation sooner, Jin Xinyue had visited the sects that those big shots belonged to and cooperated with them. Or rather, she had been ‘exploited’ and ‘taken advantage of’ by the big shots willingly!

With the help of the almost infinite resources under Jin Xinyue’s control, the sects that the big shots belonged to performed better during the fierce competitions. Their rank grew higher and higher in the top five hundred sects of the federation. Today, they had dwarfed almost all other traditional sects.

Even ‘Li Yao’s group’, a new force in the past hundred years, had their shadow behind it, too.

At the very least, Jin Xinyue, a notable warrior of Li Yao’s group, could not have risen to power in the first place without their help.