Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Oh?”

Seeing the hate on Boss Bai’s face, Li Wuji somehow grew interested. “Why, have you fought him? Is he very tricky to deal with?”

“We are all making a living at the edge of the Imperium. If the Cultivators get more, the space pirates will have less. Naturally, there are frictions.”

Thinking for a moment, Boss Bai said, “Most of the Cultivators are not exactly tricky, but they can be more persistent and better at running than us.

“We space pirates do not have many supply and maintenance points in the vast space. After all, most of the cities are scared of us. Before, apart from the free fairs under the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, there were only several ports of space pirates where we could be anchored. If we missed the supply points and encountered a space storm, we would be dead for sure.

“Those Cultivators, on the other hand, seemed particularly good at activating the ordinary people. They could also hide themselves among the ordinary people. In every resource planet or every mine, no matter to whom those places belonged, they could always find a way out or melt themselves into the local people.

“In the past twenty years, the Imperium had an expedition first and then… a rebellion later. While the space pirates were developing, the Cultivators were developing too, even faster than the space pirates in a lot of places. That’s really unbelievable!

“I’ve considered it for a long time, and I think that an ancient saying summarizes it quite well. Those who are barefooted are not scared of those who are wearing shoes, and those who are powerful are scared of those who are dogged!

“Compared to the government army and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, all the space pirates are barefooted. We have nothing but our worthless lives, and the battles are always in our favor no matter how they are fought.

“Those wretched Cultivators, on the other hand, are even more destitute and unafraid of death than us. We are all traveling in space to earn money and make a living. Since there are not many profits, we are often reluctant to attack the Cultivators, but those poor wretches often assault us when we have just done a big job, with our arsenals empty and our trophy warehouses full. Once they succeed, they will immediately move on to the resource planets and distribute the stuff they stole from us to the local miners and farmers.

“As you can see, my lord, after those people get benefits from the Cultivators, they will naturally side with the Cultivators and give them information. They will help treat the wounded and fabricate identities, and they will even ask the youngsters in their families who cannot live on anymore to join the team of the Cultivators—the damn ‘Starlight’.

“The space pirates always highlight a timely evacuation when an attack fails. How can we march to the resource planets to annihilate the Cultivators? We can only sit and watch them buying people over with the stuff that we looted through all the trouble. What’s the outcome? We take all the blame, and they have all the benefits. Yet, there is no way that we can settle the scores with them. It’s truly maddening!”

Li Wuji nodded his head and sighed. “Yes. While the Cultivators are just minor trouble compared to the Covenant Alliance and the rebelling reformists, they have been active for a thousand years since the fall of the Star Ocean Republic. During the thousand years, the minor trouble was never completely resolved, and it would be revived after every decade. It is undeniable that the Cultivators do have high expertise in deceptions. Since even the government army has failed to extinguish them, it is only natural that you can’t either.

“Right, let’s talk about that ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie. I’ve vaguely heard about the name before when I was in the Li family. He is an expert in the organization of the Cultivators who only rose recently, isn’t he? How good is he compared to you?”

“The Fist King is very strong. I’ve fought him several times. Neither of us was a winner.”

When Lei Zonglie was mentioned, Boss Bai immediately grew solemn. Considering for a long time, he said, “However, the deepest impression that the man left on me is not his combat ability. If we are talking about combat ability, so many experts were sent by the four Kurfürst families when they hunted me, but none of them could do anything about me, could they?

“But this ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie is also a specialist of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus besides fighting. He is best at hacking the control system of the hostile starships, thereby interfering with and taking over the whole starship.

“When my Big Bai Pirate Gang encountered the Cultivators’ fleet of Starlight, ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie could hack my command system and mess up my previously delicate battle formation while he fought with me.

“Damn it. Why is he nicknamed ‘Fist King’ when he is obviously a specialist of crystal processors? How shameless!

“That was truly the most humiliating thing ever since I began my career. I intended to keep it a secret forever, but since my lord has been treating me so well, would I even deserve to be a human being if I kept anything from my lord? All in all, I suffered a notable setback from ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie, and it was quite fortunate of me to have returned in one piece.

“I was among the lucky dogs. I was told that quite the local garrisons of quite a few Sectors had also encountered the Cultivators’ fleet led by ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie, and many of their starships had been hacked and stolen. Under his leadership, the crushed members of ‘Starlight’ who fled to this place in a panic have been redeveloped and revived, and it took only less than one year.

“I’m thinking that since the war between the four Kurfürst families and the reformists is coming near, the Cultivators are unlikely to sit by and watch but will certainly jump out and stir trouble. Now that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors tried to recruit us, who knows whether or not they would recruit Starlight? That’s why I asked my lord to be careful on the way.”

“Huh…”

Considering for a long time, Li Wuji slightly nodded his head. “The information is very important for our next step in our operation. Commander Bai, it is very considerate of you.”

Having been complimented by his master, Boss Bai smiled as delightedly as a blooming flower. “My lord is both strong and blessed. Even though you do encounter that ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie, my lord will certainly crumble him into pieces. It was unnecessary for me to say anything.”

“No, whoever the enemy is, one can’t be too careful in dealing with them. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Li Wuji looked at Boss Bai with great satisfaction. “You’re quite right on this one. It was indeed necessary to report it to me. If you have any other intelligence in the future, just contact me via the private communication channel that I gave to you. Remember, that is a channel only you know. Of all the space pirates, it is your voice that I want to hear.”

“Understood!”

Boss Bai smiled in ecstasy. “I will certainly live up to my lord’s trust and appreciation!”

“Very good. Now go back and restrain your troops. If they are too greedy and wild, they will have no combat ability at all.”

Li Wuji waved his hands. “I’ve stayed long enough in the Blue Sky Market. If you have anything else, just contact me through the secret letter.”

“Of course. Farewell, my lord.”

Boss Bai saluted in an unprofessional way first, before he bowed to the ground, his pointy and skinny bottom poking backward.

By the time Li Wuji boarded on “Eternal Spring”, his flagship, Boss Bai was still in the dock of the Blue Sky Market like a black, little nail.

Having returned to his personal chamber on his flagship, Li Wuji did not have any smile or trust on his face anymore as he observed Boss Bai through dozens of surveillance cameras.

Through the feedback of the dozens of surveillance cameras, Boss Bai’s every movement and every change of expression during the past half day were scanned and analyzed carefully a hundred times.

“My lord, the soundwaves of every word this Boss Bai said just now, as well as his facial changes and other biophysical changes, including heartbeat and blood flow, have been analyzed in detail just now. There… shouldn’t be a problem.”

A young, handsome adjutant who looked similar to Li Wuji stepped forward and brought him a cup of green tea first before he inputted a comprehensive analysis report into Li Wuji’s portable crystal processor. He said boldly, “However, I’m still not fond of him.”

The adjutant who had the privilege to enter Li Wuji’s personal chamber freely was naturally not a random person. He was the biological son of another powerful person in the family and sort of a nephew for Li Wuji.

It was a tradition that the powerful persons in the family struck an alliance. They would entrust their biological sons to each other for tutelage in exchange for a more valid alliance and deeper trust so that they would be condensed into an inseparable community of interests.

Therefore, the adjutant could be counted as a half true disciple for Li Wuji. Plus the noble identity of his father, he did not need to be too careful about how he talked.

“The Bai guy is certainly not a likable man. When I saw him, I thought of a rat grinding its teeth in the gutter.”

His eyes closed, Li Wuji took over the refreshing perfume that the adjutant handed over and smeared it on the sides of his nose, soothing the disgust of dealing with the stinky space pirates. “However, I didn’t recruit him for his personal charisma. Even a rat has a rat’s usage, doesn’t it?”

“He is a treacherous scoundrel.”

The adjutant retrieved a few pictures where Boss Bai dragged Zuo Tianying to walk. Then he said, “Please take a look, my lord. How arrogant the Bai guy was when he was faced with Zou Tianying, and how adulatory and shameless he was before you! He even wanted my lord to adopt him? That’s truly daydreaming. How can the noble blood of the Li family be tarnished by that kind of people?”

“He is a space pirate. If he is not a shameless scoundrel, are you expecting him to be someone chaste?”

Li Wuji was still not bothered. He even laughed in amusement. “Despite the clumsiness, he was still pledging loyalty to me. Don’t bother about the small details.

“Your analysis of micro-expressions and biophysical parameters should support that too. Except for his brazenness and desire for power, his face does not imply any other scheme, right?

“I’ve seen too many such people. He may be insane and crazy when he is a space pirate, but he is just waiting to sell himself for a good price!”

“I just don’t understand.”

The adjutant stared at Boss Bai in the picture gloomily.

At this moment, the fleet that Li Wuji brought had taken off and left the Blue Sky Market, but until the last starship left, Boss Bai had been standing there to see them off.

Boss Bai’s spiteful behavior made the adjutant uncomfortable. The pure adulation and shamelessness was something that a noble descendant like him couldn’t understand. “Why do we have to recruit those scumbags?”