Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Yes!” ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong replied in a loud voice. “The 1,932 brothers of the ‘Green Wolf Legion’ and I were all natives of the Green Dragon Planet. The Green Dragon Planet was a node on the sailing route of space jumps between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance that was of paramount military significance. So, my hometown was always plagued by war. It was assaulted and savaged by the Covenant Alliance many times.

“People of the Covenant Alliance are all puppets of the fiends. Their brutality and inhumanity are beyond the imagination of the people of the federation. The war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance is a hundred times crueler than the competition between the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators. The Immortal Cultivators hate the puppets a hundred times more than we hate the Cultivators, too!

“You might not know this, commander, but every time the puppets scourged my hometown and stole tremendous population, they would send both the Immortal Cultivators and the homi… the ordinary people into their so-called ‘holy temple’, where the emotions of the captives were removed, transforming them into the cruelest and most heartless war machines. Those were human-shaped dolls that did not recognize anything they were familiar with. Even when they were faced with their hometown and family, they did not have any emotional fluctuations but simply poured their firepower on the enemy.

“My father, two brothers, and one… son were captured by the Covenant Alliance and brainwashed through modification just like that. They were reshaped into battle puppets of the Covenant Alliance and sent back to the area around the Green Dragon Planet to fight. In such a way, the Covenant Alliance made family members attack each other in order to diminish our determination to resist.

“The Covenant Alliance is too evil for me to reserve anything and not fight with my all!”

Li Yao was silent. He recalled the last words of his foster father who had possibly been from the Covenant Alliance.

“No matter how evil the Imperium of True Human Beings is, the Alliance of the Holy Covenant will only be a hundred times more so. In the sea of stars today, the Imperium is the only defender of the last glory of mankind.”

Righteousness and evilness were a pair of relative concepts. The Black Wind Fleet’s conquest of the Star Glory Federation was certainly a violent aggression. However, before that, in the war to resist the puppets of the Pangu Civilization, the guys such as ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong became the righteous side and unquestionable heroes.

Human beings and humanity were really complicated!

‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong held his head high and declared, “If I may tell you, commander, military accomplishments are highly appreciated in the Imperium of True Human Beings. Most of the nobles, generals, and experts all have experience of fighting life and death battles with the Covenant Alliance. The Immortal Cultivators locally born and raised in the frontier have almost all risen from mountains of corpses. Too many of our family members were killed by the Covenant Alliance miserably, and too many were modified into deformed battle puppets who had nothing but their skin left. We all hate the Covenant Alliance’s guts!

“Commander, you just said that we did not submit to you sincerely and were merely tricking you to earn more benefits for ourselves. That couldn’t be more wrong!

“I can’t say for other people, but personally, I really admire your valiance, commander. I loathe the slaves of the Covenant Alliance who degrade themselves by serving as the Pangu Clan’s puppets more than anything in the world, but I must admit that the Pangu Clan is indeed invincibly strong. By only arming their lackeys with some of the relics, they are already enough to make the Covenant Alliance compete with the Imperium. If the real Pangu Clan come into the world again, how terrifying and unstoppable will they be?

“It never occurred to me that a real member of the Pangu Clan had been revived at the edge of the cosmos, but even his head was chopped off by you!

“However much our beliefs may differ, I absolutely admire your valor at the very least.

“You are more qualified to lead us than Heiye Ming was because Heiye Ming never killed a real member of the Pangu Clan. I am certain that I’m not the only one holding such a thought. The Immortal Cultivators whose wives and children were brutalized by the Covenant Alliance all admire you most. This is the biggest reason we are willing to listen to your command!”

Li Yao sensed the surging soul of ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong, only to discover that the guy was not lying.

On second thought, it did make sense. There was actually not much hatred between the Imperium and the federation. It was disagreement and mutual wariness at most.

However, the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance had fought bloodily at the center of the cosmos for a thousand years. How many atrocious things had taken place in the meantime, and how much overwhelming hatred had been accumulated?

The Covenant Alliance regarded the Pangu Clan as their supreme gods, but one of their gods had been slain by Li Yao ruthlessly. No wonder the Immortal Cultivators who considered the Covenant Alliance as their sworn enemy would view Li Yao in a different way.

‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong’s words, however, made Li Yao almost feel embarrassed. He coughed and said, “I’m also told that there is a Major Yuan Qing, nicknamed ‘Blue Spider’. He is an expert of reconnaissance in the Black Wind Fleet and has discovered twenty-seven world fragments while locating tremendous techniques and magical equipment in them, right?”

Hardly had ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong sat down when an Immortal Cultivator who was short and slender, wearing a metal mask, slowly stood up. He bowed at Li Yao deeply before he removed the mask that sealed the left half of his face.

Hu!

A cluster of green mist that seemed to be made of tiny mosquitoes and bugs immediately dashed out of his cheeks and danced crazily around his head, as if it was a certain weird fire that was about to gnaw all the remaining flesh on his face.

“Commander, I used to be a member of the ‘Association of Star Scouters’ in the Imperium of True Human Beings. The ‘Association of Star Scouters’ is essentially the same as the ‘Occult Orbs Fellowship’ in the federation. They were both established to excavate the world fragments, battlefield debris, and ancient relics.”

‘Blue Spider’ Yuan Qing, who looked weird, spoke casually.

“The environment at the center of the cosmos is a hundred times more complicated than at the edge of the cosmos. The number of the world fragments, battlefield debris, and ancient relics is a hundred times larger, too. Naturally, their danger is incomparable to the world fragments at the edge of the cosmos.

“The world fragments at the center of the cosmos may have highly-precise and weird traps and automatic, permanent war machines left or ‘apocalyptic weapons’ left by the prehistoric civilizations. There are even the mysterious but dangerous alien beasts who travel to the world fragments through wormholes and consider the places their lairs. Naturally, it is possible to encounter the exploration teams from the Covenant Alliance, too.

“All in all, the center of the cosmos is like the only lake in the middle of a forest, where predators and uncanny creatures all gather.

“I have been lucky enough to stay in one piece after discovering twenty-seven world fragments for the Imperium, except that I was reduced to such a wretched appearance because of a bite to the face by an anonymous bug. Despite the treatment of the doctors and specialists in the Imperium, they were only able to prevent the wound from enlarging but could not cure it.

“But I was already unbelievably fortunate to have kept my life compared to my teammates in the exploration squad.”

Li Yao observed the face of ‘Blue Spider’ Yuan Qing for a while and asked him to sit down again. He concluded, “Resisting the inhuman Covenant Alliance, excavating the many relics left by the Star Ocean Imperium and even the prehistoric civilization, fighting against the extraterrestrial devils or other alien species, exploring the depths of the universe that have never been visited before… All the endeavors are for the future of mankind. Even though you have come to the Star Glory Federation, your past accomplishments will not be denied.

“However, feats are feats, and faults are faults. You cannot offset your wrongdoings by your achievements. The federation does not tolerate the classification of ‘true human being’ and ‘hominoid’, or the personal bondage and even slavery system.

“Starting from today, you will receive new education on Boneyard, in the Water Crystal Sector, and in the Forest Ocean Sector to embrace a completely different life. Even if the true path of immortality in your head is not so easy to be erased, you will have to at least memorize the ‘Constitution of Cultivators’. From this moment on, the ‘Constitution of Cultivators’ will be the new military law of the Black Wind Fleet. Even the war heroes of the past will not be pardoned should they break any rules!

“One has to leave something behind after their death. In a hundred years, whether the Black Wind Fleet and you will be a bunch of infamous, dead-end soldiers who are despised and laughed at by everyone or creators of miracles who have risen again in a completely different form, it depends on your action right now!”

The Immortal Cultivators were all deep in thought, each considering their own thoughts.

A long time later, ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong suddenly shouted, “Commander, I don’t care about anything but one thing. If we obey you completely and follow all the principles in the ‘Constitution of Cultivators’, can we really take back the Black Wind Sector, the Wild Wolf Sector, the Hard Rock Sector, the Purple Fire Sector, and the Fiery Spider Sector someday?”

“You will have to find the answer yourself.”

Looking at the big eyes of ‘Bloody Spear’ Zhou Tailong that were almost like bells, Li Yao said, one word after another, “The federation will show you a new strength. It is entirely different from the strength you’ve mastered and believed in before, but it is much more powerful, vigorous, and better represents the civilization of mankind. I believe that you will know the answer after you really perceive the mysteries of such a strength.”

…

A month later…

Beep… Beep, beep… Beep, beep, beep…

The noises that were slow at first and hasty later woke the woman up from the dream that almost felt like a black hole, making her gradually sense the existence of her limbs, muscles, bones, veins, and nerves.

Her eyelids were still frozen. She was unable to see anything except for the darkness and hear anything but the buzz. She only sensed stinging from all over her body, as if a hundred tubes were piercing through and breaking away from her body, injecting sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, salty, and all other flavors into her. From her heels to her fingers, from her fingers to her tongue, and from her tongue to her temples, all her nerve endings were slowly opened, making her body completely wake up from a hibernation of a hundred years.

The burning pain in her body was not reduced, yet magma seemed to be injecting into her temples, too. Her brain was further activated to wake up the mottled memories and abilities that were sealed in her head.

It felt that a long-closed warehouse was opened again. The first things she saw were the pictures of her operating all kinds of large agricultural machines and work data that was pouring like a waterfall, which finally reminded her of who she was.