Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Are you sure that it’s ‘the lesser of two evils’?”

Long Yangjun said thoughtfully, “Just because the four Kurfürst families are obstinate, unpardonable, and insane, does not mean that the reformists or your queen are any better. If you drive four wolves away only to replace them with a tiger, is it really better?”

Li Yao thought of something. “What do you know exactly? Is there anything wrong with Li Linghai?”

“Considering that you sincerely regard me as a friend, I will offer you a kind reminder. Your queen is very complicated and even… highly dangerous.”

Long Yangjun said, “When I just came to the Imperium of True Human Beings, I lurked in the royal palace for a while and encountered her once. We almost burst into a fight.”

Li Linghai mentioned the incident to Li Yao too, but she skipped the part that the two of them nearly fought.

Li Yao couldn’t help but bulge his eyes.

Long Yangjun continued, “I told you before I left the federation that I was very interested in the royal library of the Imperium of True Human Beings. Many ancient classics stored in the library recorded the history of the ten thousand years between the Star Ocean Imperium’s collapse to the establishment of the Imperium of True Human Beings. They might be of great help to light the road ahead of me.

“Therefore, the most important thing after I came to the Imperium of True Human Beings was to find a way to sneak into the royal palace. I intended to explore the mysteries of the royal library.

“It was at the bottom floor of the royal library that I happened upon Li Linghai.

“The royal library of the Imperium is divided into two areas. The upper floor is a public area that is open to the royal family and even the core descendants of the four Kurfürst families. Although the files and classics stored inside are also precious, they do not have many secrets. Many of them are merely rare editions, but you can find books of the same content outside.

“The bottom floor, however, is a forbidden area where the real secrets are hidden. A lot of anecdotes of the royal family, treasure maps, marvelous arts, and even mysteries of the primeval age are stored inside. Those things are supposed to be read by the emperor himself as well as the few most beloved princes only. Ever since the age of Blackstar the Great, multiple barriers have been installed. It is impossible for an outsider to open the area. If it is opened by brute force, the books, jade chips, and all kinds of classics inside will all be destroyed.

“It is a pity that the royal family had earthquakes five hundred years ago, and quite a few emperors died abruptly even before they sired a child. So, new emperors had to be selected from the branches, and the ways to unlock the barriers were lost in the river of time. Right now, it is safe to say that nobody in the entire universe can open the bottom floor of the royal library.

“I was not fully aware of the issue in the beginning. Although I learned a thing or two about it, I did not think too highly of the barriers but believed that I would certainly have a way to crack them. But after I snuck in, I realized that the barriers were much more sophisticated than my estimation. I tried every method possible, but none of them worked.

“I was about to return futilely when I ran into Li Linghai.”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao asked in shock, “Why did she come to the bottom floor of the royal library?”

“That is exactly the most important question!”

Long Yangjun said, “As the queen of the Imperium, there was no reason why Li Linghai was unaware of the rules and secrets of the royal library. The ways to unlock the barriers of the bottom floor had been lost for almost five hundred years. Neither the emperor nor the four Kurfürst families knew the solutions. It could barely be cracked by brute force. Although she was the ‘queen’, she was in fact just a spy that the four Kurfürst families sent to monitor the emperor and an ‘outsider’ too. She couldn’t have learned the solutions at all. It was unreasonable for her to go to the library because she could do nothing.

“But I obviously sensed that she was exactly there to open the bottom floor of the royal library, where the real valuable knowledge was hidden!”

Hooked, Li Yao couldn’t help but ask, “What then?”

“Then nothing.”

Long Yangjun said, “I was greatly surprised to discover that she seemed to be very familiar with the traps, tunnels, and barriers of the bottom floor of the royal library, and that every step she took worked effectively. So, I lurked in the darkness and reduced my breath and biophysical activities to the minimum, preparing to peep at what she was going to do next. But out of my expectation, I was discovered by her at the last moment.”

Li Yao was greatly appalled.

He had personally learned a lesson on Long Yangjun’s expertise in concealing herself a moment ago. Even though he knew that Long Yangjun was there, and he was more vigilant than ever, he could barely distinguish her from the crowd.

But Li Linghai was still able to discover her when she was lurking in the darkness and covered her breath and biophysical activities?

How dreadful Li Linghai was!

“At the moment, I perceived extremely intense determination of killing.”

Thinking carefully, Long Yangjun said, “Let me put it this way. Li Linghai’s killing intent at that time was ten times sharper than ‘Sword Maniac’ Yan Liren’s sword aura. Almost like a conditional reflex, I fled in panic at my highest speed, not even willing to have a single clash with her.”

The same event came in two different versions under the narration of Li Linghai and Long Yangjun.

For some reason, Li Yao still preferred to trust Long Yangjun more. “So, Li Linghai knows how to open the bottom floor of the royal library? Why?”

Li Yao’s first reaction was that it had to do with the heritages of the Supreme Emperor that Li Linghai received.

But on second thought, it was unreasonable. The Supreme Emperor perished in, or escaped to, the Empyreal Transcendence Sector ten thousand years ago, but the royal library of the Imperium of True Human Beings was apparently built only a thousand years ago.

Even if Li Linghai had all the legacies of the Supreme Emperor, they couldn’t have been related to the secrets of the royal library at all.

“I need to ask you the question. After all, you are her ‘trusted subordinate’!”

Long Yangjun mocked Li Yao. “Although it’s been two years, I still remember Li Linghai’s dominating vibe clearly today. It was almost like I found her biggest secret, and she had to kill me to keep my mouth shut.

“I fled in time after the encounter. It was likely that she did not recognize me, but in the few months that followed, a dozen guards that were responsible for the safety of the royal library and maids who worked in the area nearby died abruptly and uncannily. Presuming that she must be secretly investigating the ‘mysterious person’ who caught her weird behavior that night, I was too scared to stay in the royal palace anymore and escaped as soon as possible.

“Your queen was such a scary person. How am I bold enough to join her?”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, “Truth be told, I actually feel that something is greatly wrong with Li Linghai too. I am staying by her side because I am observing her schemes from close up so that I can stop her in time! If you have more intelligence, why don’t you bring it out so that we can discuss it together? Chances are that we can outline the truth of everything if we combine our intelligence, right?”

“Don’t overestimate your smartness. Li Linghai is such a dangerous person that even I am reluctant to be her enemy easily, and you want to stay by her side and manipulate her when you are such a fool?”

Long Yangjun chuckled. “As for the exchange of intelligence, maybe next time. Somebody’s here!”

Li Yao was greatly alarmed. Boosting his telepathic thoughts to the maximum, he did sense that dozens of rather impressive airs were approaching.

Behind Long Yangjun, a high-speed metro was rushing close too.

Shua!

The two of them jumped to the two sides of the tunnel in time. The metro brushed past the two of them in between. Li Yao sensed that Long Yangjun grabbed the shell of the crystal train, and her scent drifted further and further. But he simply embedded his body deeper into the maintenance slot next to the tunnel, planning to flee from the branches after the metro passed.

Li Linghai is capable of opening the central, secret area of the royal library… It should be true. Had it not been her own experience, she wouldn’t have made up such details. Also, what can she possibly get by lying to me on such details?

Li Yao pondered carefully in the dark. But why? What secrets have Li Linghai been hiding? Under the slogan of ‘Honor the Majesty and Settle the Rebellions’, what exactly are her ambitions?

Suddenly—

An invisible but unstoppable wind blade darted in from the gap of the metro without a sound. Li Yao was so shocked that he had goosebumps all over his body. Had he not been keeping the last bit of his wariness out of habit, his carotid artery would’ve been cut by the wind blade!

“What the heck!”

Li Yao roared, “Long Yangjun, you are still here?”

“I left a moment ago.”

Long Yangjun’s delightful laughter came from the darkness. “But it seemed too great an opportunity when you were considering by yourself and appeared defenseless, so I couldn’t hold myself back from shooting at you again. It did not occur to me that you had some vigilance after all.”

“What is wrong with you?!”

Li Yao burst into fury. “Just now, you claimed that the vileness and sordidness of human beings baffled and even intimidated you and that you would rather not be a member of such mankind, like you were a pure, innocent lotus flower. But the way I see it, you are taking a lot of pleasure in the shameless deceptions and ambushes!”

“That’s right. I was a human being for more than a hundred years before my primeval bloodlines were awakened after all. It is all because of the bad influence of you people!”

Long Yangjun grimaced. “It can’t be helped. I am exactly such a contradictory and erratic person. Since we are friends, you should be more tolerant, shouldn’t you?”

“… That does make sense. Alright, I’ll forgive you one more time. This is the last time.”

While talking, Li Yao drew a saber as thin as paper from the Cosmos Ring without a sound and slashed it at where Long Yangjun’s laughter came from. “Forgive my a*s!”

The saber, naturally, missed the target.

Long Yangjun’s laughter was further and further away. “Look, what a traitorous human being. You said that we were good friends a moment ago, yet you are changing your face so quickly and attacking me so brutally.

“I’m really leaving this time. One last reminder, it is the ‘Fire Blade Squad’, the rapid response troop of the Dongfang family, that is surrounding you right now. The big guy in the heavy fiery crystal suit can transform four times, and his ultimate form highlights agility over weight. He can be quite tricky. Don’t be fooled by his appearance!”

Long Yangjun was really gone this time.

Hot waves were vaguely flowing over from the branches and maintenance channels nearby.

Spitting on the ground, Li Yao retreated his saber into the Cosmos Ring and warmed his fingers while cursing.

He did not want to use a saber right now; he only wanted to vent his fury through his fists!