Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Hey, isn’t it too dangerous if you trick Li Jialing to go to the Seven Seas Grand Market?”

Looking at the back of the young lion who left in enthusiasm, Boss Bao frowned and said to Li Yao, “You know clearly that he is the ‘shell’ that Blackstar the Great is determined to get, yet you are still bringing him to such a dangerous place. Is it… really a good idea?”

“Is the Seven Seas Grand Market really a dangerous place?”

Li Yao smiled and said, “Didn’t we have a pleasant meeting with Zuo Tianying, the deacon of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, from which we learned that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and us are indeed highly complementary? Also, don’t forget that I have a deep bond with Di Feiwen, who was an important person in the early period of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and who left the Imperium more than a hundred years ago.

“Therefore, on this trip to the Seven Seas Grand Market, with any luck, I do not need to move a little finger in order to persuade Jin Yuyan and the entire Business Alliance to join our cause.”

Boss Bai said coldly, “It’s a shame that luck has barely been on your side.”

Li Yao blinked and said, “Speaking of danger, you will encounter as many dangers in the space battlefield too. If the battle of the Blue Sky Market is like a boa swallowing an elephant, you will be facing dozens of elephants, buffaloes, and rhinos at the same time in the battle of the Seven Seas Grand Market. It will be easy to be stepped on and get killed.

“Even if the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs has just been reorganized and upgraded, and Zuo Tianying and Li Wuji are out there providing intelligence of the two parties at war, it will still be very perilous.

“If Blackstar the Great wants to find Li Jialing, there will always be a way to find him. If he stays within my eyesight, I can give him a hand when anything happens. It will be safer this way. He can’t be absolutely safe unless he escapes to an uninhabited, desolate space zone and hides for a couple of years, but how is it possible? Li Jialing has to rescue the queen. In order to rescue Li Linghai, he will have to face Wuying Qi. It’s a responsibility that he cannot evade and does not want to.”

After a brief silence, Boss Bai heaved a long sigh. “It does make sense. Such is always the case for parents and children. If anything happens to Bai Kaixin, not just Wuying Qi, even if I have to confront the Supreme Emperor or the Blood God, I fear that I will have no choice except to march forward!”

“Of course!”

Li Yao smiled brilliantly. “Don’t be so unconfident about me. Although being my teammate entails certain… minor risks, things always turn out well in the end despite the crises, right? Just rest assured!”

Boss Bai sniffed and changed the topic. “When I saw Li Jialing, I couldn’t help but think about Han Te. It’s rather strange that Han Te seems to have become a different person in the recent half month. He is not as arrogant and high-key as the previous months but much more obedient, devoting himself to training every day. He is neither asking for other people’s trouble nor flirting with girls outside.

“The boy truly has some talents in cannons. He is a future fire control officer with the greatest potential that I’ve ever seen. Before, he was too confident about himself to be judicious, but he has made a lot of breakthroughs since he calmed himself down and focused on training. I believe that he will be up for more important jobs very soon.”

“Really?”

Li Yao was quite fond of Han Te and Liu Li whom he met on the Land of Sins, but he was too busy and haunted by too many dangers to spend time with the two young people.

Li Yao had heard a thing or two about Han Te’s private life. However, while he was a firm supporter of monogamy, he did know that there were too many habitable planets in the vast universe, whose different environments resulted in different social and marriage systems, including different opinions on fidelity.

On the Land of Sins where one could be killed any moment, driven by their natural instincts of survival and reproduction, everybody was trying their best to survive and seizing every opportunity to spray their seeds.

In such a way, even if they could not see the sun tomorrow, their genes would still be passed on.

A stable monogamous system could only exist on the basis of a stable society. In a living hell where wars never stopped, the genes of the people who did not seize opportunities to have more children but think about love every day could never be passed on.

Han Te was a classic native of the Land of Sins who did not know what tomorrow held for him, and he was merely acting according to the “morals” and “social rules” of the Land of Sins. As far as Li Yao knew, there was not any coercion or deception involved. Naturally, he knew better than to mind the business of Han Te’s lower half body with his rod of morals.

However, while Li Yao did not care about Han Te’s private life, it still seemed rather inappropriate when he was so addicted to it that his studies and training got distracted.

Therefore, Li Yao was planning to have a nice talk with Han Te before he left the Blue Sky Market. While it was not a bad thing, one must learn to contain oneself in order not to ruin his health at such a young age.

Right now, Han Te was still young and did not know much. He thought that he could work like a pile driver forever, but he might regret it someday when he grew into Li Yao’s age and met another woman that he was interested in!

However, it was rather awkward to discuss such a thing after all. Li Yao had thought about it for a long time but still hadn’t figured out what he shouldn’t say yet.

Out of his expectation, Han Te had woken up on his own and learned the importance of self-control. He was truly a promising young man. What couldn’t a guy achieve if he could control himself from doing that at such an age?

Li Yao thanked Boss Bai rather delightedly, but Boss Bai shook his hand and said that it was not his effort. How could a lawless space pirate like him know anything about teaching young people? It was all the Fist King’s enlightenment.

“I didn’t know that the Fist King was capable of that!”

Li Yao was rather surprised. “I truly wonder how he enlightened Han Te to make such a playboy turn around. He is truly patient and educative!”

While the two of them were talking merrily, a petite person appeared in their eyesight. It was Liu Li.

“Grandpa Yao, I heard that you are leaving tomorrow?”

The girl’s eyes were red, and she was reluctant to be separated from Li Yao. She rushed forward and held Li Yao’s hand. “I’m here to see you off!”

Li Yao was rather moved, but he still said, “I don’t think it is necessary. If everything goes well, we will meet each other again very soon.”

“Yes, it is most certainly necessary.”

The girl said solemnly and then asked rather guiltily, “Well, can we have dinner together tonight? It will be a farewell dinner for Grandpa Yao.”

“Dinner is certainly fine, but I don’t have any delicious food in my place.”

Li Yao said with a smile.

Just like all the experts who had advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage, he had a rigorous body management system. All that he cared about when having food was comprehensive nutrition instead of taste. His food was mostly the bottles of strengthening drugs or synthetic nutrition drugs, occasionally mixed with Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that contained abundant energy. They might not taste well, if they had any taste at all, but he still swallowed all of them.

If he intended to satisfy his appetite, the best thing he could find was only the various kinds of cans, which was not decent food either.

“That’s fine. Anything will do.”

The girl nodded her head quickly, as if she were about to cry in tears of joy. Thinking for a moment, she shook her head again. “Oh, not noodles. I don’t want noodles. Anything but noodles will do!”

“What’s going on?”

Li Yao scratched his head. “Why was your face pale and sweating when you mentioned noodles?”

“Because…”

Liu Li wasn’t the best secret keeper. She immediately collapsed and said in frustration, “I’ve been eating noodles for almost half a month! Master Fist King said that he must manage my meals for my perfect work state, but he fed me with noodles every day! The breakfast was noodles, the lunch was noodles, the supper was noodles, and when I was exhausted and hungry after working late, the midnight snack was still noodles! Also, they were always noodles with potatoes and eggs, without any greens or meat, not at all!

“Counting all of them, I’ve had almost fifteen meals of noodles in a row. Grandpa Yao, you know that I am really not a picky girl, and I can endure anything, but this is too unbelievable! I feel like throwing up whenever I smell potatoes. No, I feel like throwing up whenever noodles are mentioned!

“So, please, let me eat something else in your place tonight. Pies, buns, cans, fried rice, whatever, as long as they’re not noodles and does not have potatoes or eggs!”

The girl couldn’t help but sob.

“Is that so?”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. He observed Liu Li carefully and discovered that the girl was indeed a bit bloated. He couldn’t help but frown. “And here I just complimented the Fist King’s education on young people. Why is he so patient with Han Te, talking the prodigal to turn around, when he is so mean to you? Feeding noodles to such a lovely girl as you for fifteen days in a row? That’s really a cruel thing. He is too mean!”

“Exactly. I’m wondering if I somehow infuriated Master Fist King, and he was intentionally reminding me in such a way. At first, I was very happy and touched when Master Fist King cooked noodles for me. They also tasted good because he cooked them strictly according to the gourmet guides. When I finished the noodles, I found that an egg was hidden below them, which reminded me of my mother. I really burst into tears!”

Liu Li wept and said, “But even the most delicious food cannot be repeated every day! Also, Master Fist King said that he was going to surprise me, but his surprise was simply hiding more and more eggs below the noodles.

“On day one, there was one egg. Day two, two. Day three, three. In the end, he hid ten eggs below the noodles. Ten!

“It’s impossible to hide ten eggs in a bowl, alright? The noodles on the top were almost tipping, alright? The bowl of noodles was even larger than my head, alright? But he still acted all mysterious and pretended that nothing had happened when he brought the noodles to me, looking at me with expectations and waiting for me to ‘find’ the ‘surprise’ of the ten eggs below the noodles. What could I possibly be surprised at? It was more like a shock!”