Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“I once heard a tale about the ancient Cultivators, which said that the crown prince of an empire on a certain planet rebelled and tried to kill his royal father. His reason was exactly ‘how can anyone be a crown prince for sixty years?’”

Li Linghai said unemotionally, “Hehe. In the Imperium of True Human Beings today, the resources are abnormally concentrated, and all kinds of techniques that can extend one’s longevity are prevailing. Not just a 60-year-old prince, even a 360-year-old prince may appear someday.

“Think about it. You are a talented, strong, ambitious young Immortal Cultivator who is eager to make some achievements, but in your Sector, all the leadership, including the Sector Master, the sect leaders, the CEOs of major corporations, the commander of the local garrison and fleets, etc., haven’t been changed at all for almost two hundred years. Also, it does not seem a problem at all for the old guys who look graceful and young sitting above your head to live for a hundred to two hundred years comfortably. How will you feel? Do you feel that the world is dark and your future is hopeless?

“Besides, it is inevitable that one’s mind turns rigid as they grow old. They will be reluctant to accept the new things and new training ideas but cling to whatever they had in the past. In the end, they are not simply unworthy leaders in their posts but also hindering the progress of the entire society when they defend their power and interests.

“Those old farts have ten thousand ways to kill the young Immortal Cultivators who pose a potential threat to them and who are unwilling to be recruited and corrupted by them to ensure their absolute reign.

“Once the young Immortal Cultivators are corrupted, however, they will inevitably be mired in the seniority-based system and the infinite cycle of suffering. They will be enslaved and exploited, until their edges are planished, turning themselves into a tiny component of the interest groups.”

Li Yao was silent.

As he thought about it carefully, if a society always abided by the idea of “survival of the fittest and winner takes all” but did not have a relatively steady rule for the new to replace the old, the situation that Li Linghai described was almost bound to happen.

“However, the old farts do have a fatal weakness.”

Narrowing her eyes, Li Linghai put on a cruel smile. “They can manage to keep themselves alive at the cost of countless precious resources, but it is impossible for them to keep their combat ability in the peak state forever.

“Never fight a young man, as said by the ancient sages. The Immortal Cultivators’ combat ability increases as their level advances but drops as they grow older. The world in reality is certainly not a tale, and there is no such thing as ‘the older, the better a warrior’. When one’s vitality and level both climb to the apex and form a gold cross, it will be the peak phase for an Immortal Cultivator, but once the phase is over, it is absolutely impossible to get it back.

“Therefore, although there are many 400-year-old Nascent Soul Stage experts and 500-year-old Divinity Transformation Stage experts who sound intimidating, they are nothing but empty shells that have nothing inside. Maybe they still have their insight, experience, and level, but in a real battle, they are absolutely no match for me or even you.

“One day, the zombies that should’ve decayed will taste the unstoppable exuberance from the younger generation. I have no doubt about that at all!”

Li Yao grinned. “I certainly would not turn down the opportunity if I can beat up dozens of high-level Immortal Cultivators in the Imperium.”

Li Linghai smiled casually. “Rest assured. Given the pleasant conversation we’re having right now, our cooperation will certainly be very effective. You will have your opportunity.

“What I said just now, the contradiction between the high-level Immortal Cultivators and the low-level Immortal Cultivators is the fundamental contradiction in the Imperium today.

“Besides the fundamental contradiction, there are naturally other contradictions large and small.

“For example, the exploitation and blood-sucking from the dozens of most-developed industrial worlds at the center of the cosmos on the hundred resource worlds at the edge of the Imperium. Do you need more explanation?”

Li Yao shook his head.

The exploitation and blood-sucking from the developed industrial worlds to the underdeveloped resource worlds was almost an irresolvable problem. Even the Star Glory Federation was faced with the same conundrum, as illustrated by the competition of the ‘three old worlds’ and the ‘four new worlds’.

The Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector, as three central Sectors, boasted relatively advanced technologies and an advanced industrial system for the production of magical equipment. When there were no tariffs and trade barriers because they were in the same country, it was more than easy for them to dump goods into the Water Crystal Sector, the Nether World Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, and other resource worlds, completely destroying the unremarkable and primitive industries in those worlds. Eventually, the Water Crystal Sector, the Nether World Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, and other resource worlds would forever be a dump for the industrial products and a supplier of preliminary resources.

It was exactly because of such a central conflict that the disagreement between the three old worlds and the four new worlds was quite distinctive before Li Yao and the experts of the Ancient Sages Sector returned to the federation. They formed two factions headed by Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue respectively, who were at loggerheads without giving in at all.

Of course, the Star Glory Federation was a very young country. It was as vigorous and flourishing as the Imperium of True Human Beings a thousand years ago.

On one hand, the federation had only no more than ten worlds in total, and a history of a hundred years was not enough for any solid fortress of interests to take shape. Whatever contradictions there were could be resolved by negotiations.

On the other hand, the federation was faced with the daunting threat of the Black Wind Fleet. At such a life-and-death moment, the long-term contradiction where the industrial worlds made a profit through price scissors from the resource worlds was certainly not a primary concern.

Thirdly, under Li Yao’s leadership, the federation discovered prosperous worlds and primeval advanced technologies from the Ancient Sages Sector, the Kunlun relic, Boneyard, etc., which equated to a large sum of initial capital out of nowhere and significantly mitigated the contradictions that were growing more and more intense.

Also, the leaders of the interest groups such as Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue put the disagreement on hold temporarily with remarkable patience and wisdom, and with the organization of Jin Tuyi and other people behind the curtain, the three old worlds and the four new worlds finally became more united before they successfully defeated the Black Wind Fleet.

Even so, Li Yao found it hard to imagine how the Star Glory Federation would address the imbalance of the regional economies, the serious “siphonic effect” of the industrial worlds, and the greater and greater “scissors difference” hundreds of years later as it further expanded.

Therefore, many specialists of the federation even asserted that the best state for the federation was exactly right now with no more than ten worlds.

That was the limit of scalability and comprehensive national strength. If the country were to expand blindly, it would certainly die of indigestion.

The Imperium of True Human Beings which boasted hundreds of Sectors might have not died of indigestion, but it was certainly suffering from the disease.

The Imperium barely had any of the advantageous conditions the federation had.

Li Yao did not feel that the developed industrial worlds under the four Kurfürst families would show any mercy on the resource worlds that were discovered later during the expansion.

They would certainly suck as much blood as possible and dump as many goods as possible. It would be best if the cheap magical equipment produced from assembly lines could drown the remote worlds, ensuring that they would never develop any industrial system but forever remain a resource provider for the four Kurfürst families, mired in the trap of “five hundred tons of raw minerals in exchange for one crystal suit”.

Then, would the governors of the remote worlds, the Sector Masters, the warlords, and the fleet commanders who were equally ambitious, be willing to keep their worlds forever a barren town, which was full of mines but did not have any factory, and which was forever exploited by the four Kurfürst families?

It was certainly an escalated and enlarged version of the competition between the “three old worlds” and the “four new worlds”!

In the federation, the competition between the industrial worlds and the resource worlds was temporarily held back by Li Yao, Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and other people for now.

But the Imperium today certainly would not be so simple. It would not be surprising even if a civil war broke out.

Li Linghai observed Li Yao’s face quietly. Seeing that he was truly deep in thought, she thought even more highly of him and nodded her head. “Very good. As expected of a man who used to be the Speaker’s special emissary. You are smart enough to understand it at the first clue. You are certainly not a simple warrior.

“If you can understand the contradiction between the industrial worlds and the resource worlds due to the imbalance of regional economies, as a battle-type expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage, you will only find the contradiction between the military and the family, sects, and interest groups easier to understand, right?”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. “What is that?”

“It’s very simple. All the armies in the Imperium of True Human Beings belong to the Imperium in name, but there is actually not a united command and operation system. Even the control of the finance and the arm groups is not in the hands of the military.

“In fact, after hundreds of years of corruption from the nobles and the warlords, other than the imperial guards in the capital city who are as good as nothing, there are no troops that really belong to the Imperium at all.

“For most of the elite space fleets and crystal suit legions, their commandership, finance, and weapon provers are all controlled by the nobles, warlords, and Sector Masters.

“In other words, the Imperium’s armies are just the private troops and the lackeys of the nobles.

“The simplest example is the troop Li Lingfeng brought earlier. Could they be called the Imperium’s army? No. They were the Li family’s army, or even just Li Lingfeng’s. Technically speaking, they were just ‘house servants’.”

Li Yao nodded his head slowly.

It was only natural at the end of a dynasty when the royal authority declined and the warlords rose.

The troops that nominally belonged to the country or the emperor were in fact the private troops of the nobles and the warlords, who financed and supported the troops with crystal suits and starships. Naturally, the troops needed to and could only defend the interests of the nobles and the warlords.

“However, not every soldier of the Imperium is willing to be a house servant of a noble forever and die a worthless death in the competitions of the nobles. It is especially so for the young, vigorous, and ambitious officers who have great dreams and visions and who still remember the glorious history of the Imperium in the age of Blackstar the Great!”

Her eyes bloodshot, Li Linghai declared, “Gather the private troops that are scattered in various worlds in the hands of the nobles into a magnificent, real army of the Imperium so that the military can utter its own thunderous roar!

“Henceforth, they will only fight for the interests of the Imperium, for the civilization of mankind, and for His Majesty!

“That is the dream of countless hotblooded young officers, who are willing to live and die for the future!”