Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“It certainly is satisfying.”

Li Yao hurried to say, “In that case, your situation is indeed rather unique. You might not be able to find your own kind in the entire universe, right?”

“My own kind?”

Long Yangjun smiled. Splitting the water before her, she said casually, “If you are talking about the members of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan who are in the super-long hibernation, maybe there are. But cases like mine are indeed rare. I do not expect to run into my real own kind.

“But it doesn’t matter. Loneliness has always been the main theme of the vast universe. You have billions of people of your own kind around you, but aren’t you plotting and fighting against each other all the time? How many people can you trust without any reserve? Life is perhaps more comfortable without one’s own kind!”

Li Yao could tell the solitude in Long Yangjun’s words. When he thought of his unique identity as an “earthling”, he couldn’t help but feel sympathetic to Long Yangjun.

It was true that one could only bear and pursue a lot of things on their own without sharing them with anybody else. Long Yangjun could barely find her own kind, but was it possible for him to encounter a second “earthling” while he was still alive?

Each thinking of their own things, the two of them swam down for a moment. Then, Long Yangjun suddenly volunteered to ask. “Since I have answered such a personal question truthfully, shouldn’t you be honest and tell me if this ‘mental devil’ is your last trump card?”

“Of course!”

Li Yao blurted out, “I am not a God of Gamblers. How can I keep a dozen trump cards in secret? The mental devil is my only and last trump card!”

Long Yangjun was rather suspicious. “Is it?”

“It is!”

Li Yao announced resolutely, “I swear on my honor and integrity!”

“Then I’m screwed.”

Long Yangjun sighed and said, “It seems that you do have more secrets. I finally understand why you threw out the ‘mental devil’ so straightforwardly. You foresaw that I wouldn’t give up until I found your trump card, so you intentionally played the card that was your ‘mental devil’ just in order to satisfy my curiosity and win my trust. But in fact, it is just a smoke grenade, and you must have deeper secrets and more trump cards!”

“You are exaggerating the matter.”

Li Yao struggled to reply, “Why do I sound so vicious in your description?”

“You are vicious from head to toe.”

Long Yangjun said without looking back, “You have always played dumb and looked gullible, leaving everybody the impression that you can be easily tricked and manipulated, but after a hundred years, all the people who were convinced that you were silly and naïve, be they commanders or schemers, and no matter how wise, meticulous, and calculative they were, had been killed by you. If that is not vicious, I don’t know what is!”

Li Yao chuckled somewhat in embarrassment and did not say anything anymore no matter how Long Yangjun mocked him.

Soon, the two of them had descended to the depths of the trench more than 13,000 meters below the sea level. The environment was as dark and thick as a swamp.

On the fault on the east side, the traces of artificial work were obvious. Naturally, the artificial work was not done by human beings but by the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan.

“This way.”

Long Yangjun led Li Yao to pass a narrow, long gap. Swimming forward for one minute, where even the uneven rocks around became metals that were as smooth as mirrors, they entered the tube of a certain artificial object.

Shua!

Behind them, a circular door slowly spun and closed, and the holes around pumped away from the seawater. A hot wind was also blowing. The tube that was filled with water a moment ago immediately became dry and warm.

Hu!

Li Yao was finally able to take off his helmet and breathe deeply. The air here was soggy, dirty, and reeked of metals, but thankfully, it did not carry too many impurities and toxins. For an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage, breathing was naturally not a problem.

However, the air was also mixed with the stink of blood, which smelled rather fresh. A gory massacre seemed to have just taken place here.

Raising his eyebrows, Li Yao looked at Long Yangjun in wariness.

“Relax.”

Long Yangjun made a gesture, and the airtight gate before them slowly opened. Several dead bodies that were riddled with holes and melted with the crystal suits on them immediately dropped out.

Frowning, Li Yao looked at the inside of the airtight gate, only to discover that it was almost a steaming slaughterhouse. At least dozens of dead bodies, together with their crystal suits that were nothing more than garbage, lay on the ground awry or had been blown into the cabin wall. Their eyes were all wide open, implying that they did not die a peaceful death.

“This ship is the last resort of escape that Dongfang Wang has prepared for himself.”

Long Yangjun explained, “The guy in the undersea base supervising and commanding the battle is just a stand-in. The real Dongfang Wang intended to distract your main force with the undersea base as the bait, while he slipped away through the undersea trench on this ship.

“The shell of this ship has been specially refined, allowing it to rush at a high speed even in the deep ocean tens of thousands of meters deep. Also, the power units of the ship have been quieted and will absolutely not release any spiritual waves. It is hard to detect or capture the ship.

“More than 75% of the surface of the capital planet is covered by the ocean. Given the large coverage, if he hides in the deep ocean, it is very possible that he can escape your search with any luck.

“It is a shame that his ‘trusted subordinates’ did not seem willing to be trapped in the deep ocean together with him and die for the ‘former prime minister’. They planned to tie Dongfang Wang up and deliver him to your queen in exchange for their own lives and their future. But I did not want to deal with Li Linghai. So, this is how it turned out in the end.

“It was not really a big problem to take care of those guys, but this ship was seriously damaged in the meantime and stranded here. It was impossible for me to repair and activate it on my own. Dongfang Wang, on the other hand, burst into such fury when all his ‘trusted subordinates’ betrayed him that he vomited blood crazily and is about to die!”

Li Yao couldn’t help but feel that the human mind was truly the most treacherous thing in the entire universe. Even if Dongfang Wang had calculated everything and carefully prepared the last way of escape for himself, he was still not able to guarantee that his subordinates would not betray him.

After all, humans were not as reliable as machines!

Passing through the bloody corridor, and opening two doors, Li Yao found Dongfang Wang, the former prime minister of the Imperium, in a corner of the cockpit.

Although Long Yangjun had prepared him in advance, Li Yao was still deeply shocked by the appearance of the prime minister of iron and blood right now.

He had seen Dongfang Wang on all kinds of videos and 3D pictures more than once. His body was muscular, if not slightly fat, and he looked as unshakable as a bell, filled with exuberance and intimidation.

But Dongfang Wang at this moment couldn’t have looked more slim and haggard. All the fat and muscles on his body seemed to have been gobbled by some weird bugs, leaving the saggy skin dangling down in multiple layers on his face and his body. His skin was also brimming with black spots, from which black air was popping up and dispersing into the air that was filled with the stench of putrid bodies. Any visitor couldn’t help but cover their mouth and nose.

The only organ on his entire body that kept the vigor of a living person and the expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage was his eyes.

Dongfang Wei’s entire face was drooping like a melted mask, but his eyeballs were rising and protruding forward, almost occupying half of his face. He did not look like a human being at all.

With his hands that were more like claws, he clung to a giant package in the shape of a stick, with the excitement in his frenzied eyes that were focused on the map of the Imperium of True Human Beings.

The map of the Imperium rotated slowly. The Sectors and the resource planets all radiated the most colorful and splendid brilliance, which made Dongfang Wang’s eyes look like burning glass balls when they were reflected there.

“Hehe. Hehehehe!”

Dongfang Wang did not notice that Li Yao and Long Yangjun arrived at all but simply kept watching in fascination while making low chuckles. Now and then, he was extending his hand that was shivering like a reed to touch the “newly-recovered territory” on the map of the Imperium, as if he were covering the entire universe with his palm.

Long Yangjun coughed lightly.

Dongfang Wang suddenly shrank. His bag of bones was puffed up by his last breath, and he held the map of the Imperium with his arms like a giant and thin balloon. Roaring angrily, he demanded, “Who is it? Who is it! Nobody is taking away the universe from me. It’s mine! It’s all mine!

“It was I who led the Imperium to win the unprecedented counterattack! It was I who planned and commanded everything, defending the dignity of the civilization of mankind! It was I who have revived the Imperium and controlled all the stars in the universe in its hands!

“I am the well-deserved best prime minister of the Imperium of True Human Beings! I am the greatest contributor to the renaissance of the Imperium! Nobody can oust me! You shameless, ungrateful swine, don’t even think about it!

“I only swallowed a few living persons for my training! What’s the big deal? It is nothing compared to the great contributions that I have made! If I had not swallowed those guys to maintain my computational ability at the peak state, how could I have coordinated the resources and troops of hundreds of Sectors in a boundless battlefield that spans thousands of lightyears for a total war? Nobody can do that!

“Sacrifice one to save a hundred. When we win the Imperium’s counterattack, countless human beings will be saved! For the victory, everybody has been devoting and sacrificing themselves. Even I have drained my body and soul. Is it really important that a few more people are sacrificed? Is it really important?!

“I have done nothing wrong. I do not regret anything I have done. This is a setup, this is a shameless betrayal, this is just an excuse that you come up with to overthrow me. Nobody is qualified to give me a trial, particularly not the hypocritical, cowardly traitors such as yourselves. The Imperium will forever remember me and give me the justice that I deserve. The Imperium will! Haha. Hahahaha!”

“His brain has been seriously burnt up—”

Long Yangjun spoke to Li Yao in a low voice, “It seems that you don’t have much time left now.”