Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

While they were talking, the two of them walked into Li Linghai’s secret meeting room.

The meeting room used to be the center of the national museum where the damaged antiques were repaired. Many extremely fragile antiques had harsh requirements for temperature, humidity, and pressure when they were being repaired. Therefore, the repair center was surrounded by highly-keen sensors, which could also serve for the purpose of anti-monitoring after modifications.

Or maybe it was because Queen Li Linghai felt particularly great about herself when she discussed the cause to “renew the Imperium” under Blackstar the Great’s broken statue that needed fixing badly.

The participants of the secret meeting, besides Li Linghai who was in pure white, included Jin Yuyan, the greatest patron of the reformists and the General Director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, who spoke for the interests of the businesspersons from the peripherical worlds of the Imperium; Yue Wushuang, the head of the “Tribunal of extraterrestrial devils”, which was a secret intelligence agency; and Dongfang Sheng, the commander of the Deep Sea Fleet.

They were all the most hardcore, devoted reformists.

Together with Lei Chenghu, the giant of the military, and Li Yao, the “super warrior” who had distinguished himself remarkably recently, they were the center of the reformists who had marched into the capital.

“Your Grace—”

Looking around, Lei Chenghu said straightforwardly, “Before we discuss the operations in the next step, I want to confirm one thing. None of the soldiers from the Third Battle Area believes that we are engaged in a rebellion. So, we do not wish the Empyreal Terminus Sector to be mired in irresolvable chaos. The crying event in the Emperor’s Mausoleum will stop here and not escalate any further, right?”

“Of course, General Lei. We are trying to rescue the Imperium, not to destroy it.”

Queen Li Linghai, whose face was fair and warm although she was not wearing any makeup, said, “If I really want the Imperium to fall into chaos, I could totally instigate the surplus generals, the disabled veterans, and the angry crowd to march to the Council of Elders and set the whole planet on fire with their blood. But such an effort would be too meaningless, and it is too shameless and contemptible. I never planned to do that.

“Look, I have controlled the intensity of the crying event perfectly and even dispersed a large part of soldiers and members of the royal family. That is exactly because I do not want to hurt any innocent people. The Emperor’s Mausoleum is not our main battlefield, and the bodies of those soldiers, generals, and civilians are absolutely not our cannonballs either. You can rest assured about that.”

Lei Chenghu nodded his head and said, “Okay. I have no further questions. Please begin, Your Grace.”

Li Linghai coughed lightly and cleared her throat. After Li Yao closed the door and deployed the sound-blocking rune arrays, she opened her arms and said, “First of all, I want to thank everyone for your relentless efforts and sacrifices in the past years. Our cause has finally made the critical step and secured an important victory!

“In the past half month, we fought a battle that was not in our favor in the most difficult situation when we were least prepared, and we have won it!

“With the support of the expedition army and General Lei Chenghu, we threatened the Divine Rain Sector, allied with the Li family, and forced the Yun family and the Song family to stand by and watch, limiting the range of our primary enemies to the Dongfang family alone. All our attacks are directed at Dongfang Wang, the prime minister of the Imperium!

“Now that we have the support of the Li family, we boast a smooth Spiritual Nexus and media channels to the entire universe without obstacles, which allow us to deliver the ideas of ‘renewing the Imperium’ to every corner of the Imperium instantly!

“The chain reaction caused by the crying event has kept Dongfang Wang and his cabinet preoccupied. Even the attention of the entire Dongfang family is distracted, and they have little time to care about anything else. This is exactly what we have done in the past month. At first look, the situation is absolutely in our favor!”

The leadership team of the reformists all looked delighted and ambitious.

“However—”

Observing everyone’s face in the room, Li Linghai suddenly turned solemn, and her voice grew high. “Do not be cocky, and do not let go of our wariness. While we have secured a preliminary success, we have also pushed us to the center of attention and a most treacherous environment!

“The saber of the reformists has been completely unsheathed, its edge entirely shown. The enemy has seen us clearly. It is impossible for us to conceal the saber again.

“In the meantime, the Dongfang family is the ‘First Family’ of the Imperium of True Human Beings with the greatest wealth and power after all, and it will not be crushed by a petty trick such as a demonstration.

“Most importantly of all, none of the Yun family, the Song family, or the Li family is sincerely on our side. They are just watching the competition between the reformists and the Dongfang family while they calculate which side has a better chance of winning and if it is possible for them to take advantage of our fight.

“The war between us and the Dongfang family is exactly like the duel of two experts. We have made our moves first, and our attacks are unstoppable, seamless, and incessant, like raging tides on an ocean. Our enemy is entirely drowned by us and unable to counterattack at all.

“At first look, the situation is completely under our control. But we are the only ones who know that the seemingly dazzling attacks have not caused any fatal wound yet, and our enemy is gradually accumulating their strength while hiding and evading. As long as our attacks halt, giving the enemy a moment to catch their breath, we will immediately be greeted with a thunderous counterattack.

“If we cannot kill the enemy immediately, as time went by, the Yun family and the Song family who are observing, as well as the Li family who seems to be on our side, may turn against us and kill us at any moment!

“Therefore, we are now racing against time. By my estimation, if we cannot deal a heavy blow to the Dongfang family with a critical move in the next month, the wavering Yun family and Song family will be inclined to the Dongfang family, and different voices will emerge in the Li family, too. ‘Silver Fox’ Li Jiande will even make deals with the Dongfang family in private and sell us out!”

Her words cast everybody into deep thought.

Lei Chenghu asked, “The crying event in the Emperor’s Mausoleum was not a fatal move?”

“Of course not.”

Li Linghai shook her head. “The demonstration can be settled easily. In short, it’s just about ‘money’. Although the petty big shots of the Dongfang family are usually reluctant to offer any money, Dongfang Wang must have ways to open their pockets at such a critical moment. If he is unable to do that, he wouldn’t have been known as a prime minister of iron and blood.

“As long as there is enough money, the surplus generals and the disabled soldiers won’t be a problem at all. Instead, they may even be bought over by Dongfang Wang. I believe that Dongfang Wang will certainly take care of the problem perfectly without leaving any flaw that we can make use of. It is too naïve if you think that we can force a prime minister who has worked for twenty years to resign with only a few tears!

“Like I said just now, the ‘crying event’ was just a disguise and a distraction to shift the enemy’s attention.”

“Then—”

Considering carefully for a moment, Lei Chenghu asked, “Have you found critical evidence of the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance, Your Grace? Was Dongfang Wang really behind it?”

“The incident of the Blood Oath Alliance must’ve been a play directed and played by the Dongfang family themselves for the purpose of taking a larger share in the interests of the newly-recovered territory. Even a blind person can see that.”

Li Linghai sighed and said, “However, it is not easy to find concrete evidence. Even if we want to ‘create’ certain evidence, we do not have enough credibility for that yet. Therefore, while it is indeed a fatal move, this is not the time to use it yet. Such a great card will be wasted if we do not play it at the right moment!”

Lei Chenghu frowned hard. “Then, where is the focus of our attack this time? Didn’t you say last time that there are a lot of ‘cannonballs’ in the arsenal of the reformists?”

“Exactly. I did say that.”

With a mysterious smile, Li Linghai said unhurriedly, “There are indeed a lot of cannonballs in the arsenal of the reformists. In the next couple of days, we will have a ‘blanket bombardment’, exposing many scandals of the Dongfang family. Some of them are even shocking cases that involve multiple financial groups.

“Although the scandals are not enough to completely crush the Dongfang family, they will at least further consume Dongfang Wang’s energy and divert his attention, making it impossible for him to see our real attack in his burning fury.

“Then, we will throw this giant bomb to him which will likely blow him into pieces!”

The light around Li Linghai dimmed, and a beautiful, delicate, and refreshing building appeared behind her.

Lei Chenghu recognized it after the first look. “The First Affiliated Hospital to the Medical University of the Imperium? What is the meaning of this?”

The First Affiliated Hospital to the Medical University of the Imperium, commonly known as “Heavenly Star Hospital”, was one of the state-of-the-art comprehensive hospitals with the most advanced facilities and the best medical and research teams in the entire Imperium of True Human Beings.

In the ten years of Imperium’s counterattack, it had also admitted tremendous heavily wounded soldiers who were evacuated from the frontline, making great contributions for the success of the Imperium’s counterattack.

Li Linghai smiled, but her face was more daunting than ever. “I wonder if General Lei and fellow Cultivators here have overheard a terrifying, monstrous rumor before. It is said that many high-level Immortal Cultivators who are aged, to pursue eternal lives, to stay at their peak state, or to cleanse and dredge the bodies of their offspring whose aptitudes are not good enough, have been producing all kinds of high-energy and strengthening drugs with the spiritual roots, the cores, or even the Nascent Souls of other Immortal Cultivators. Sometimes, they even absorb other people’s Cultivation and spiritual energy by force through evil secret techniques to build up themselves in a cruel way.”

Lei Chenghu said solemnly, “They are just the groundless rumors that the ignorant folks come up with.”

Li Linghai smiled and did not say anything.

Slightly dazed, Lei Chenghu asked in surprise, “Is it true and did the cases happen in the ‘Heavenly Star Hospital’? I remember that the director of the Heavenly Star Hospital and the principal of the Medical University of the Imperium are both from the Dongfang family, and the two places have been under the control of the Dongfang family for the recent hundred years, right?”