Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Dark smoke popped up from the rusted artificial body. That was the shiver of Qi Yuanbao’s remaining soul in fear.

“As a matter of fact, you are now basically screwed.”

Li Yao said unhurriedly, “Use your nonexistent brain to think whose side you should take, and who you should wish to win in the end. ‘His Majesty’ must detest you. If he learns what you and your sister have done, it will be merciful of him if he tears the two of you apart alive.

“The four Kurfürst families certainly do not have any place reserved for you and your sister either, considering that so many assassins from the four families have been killed. Most of them were the central members of the main bloodline in the four families.

“Basically, you are now ruined and doomed. The universe may be big, but there is no place for you and your sister now!

“However, in your dilemma, there is still a narrow, zigzagging way out and an expert that deserves the loyalty of you and your sister.”

Inside the artificial body, Qi Yuanbao’s eyes became more and more widened.

“Congratulations. Your guess is correct. The only way for your sister and you to survive is to pledge loyalty to the Black Wind King, Vulture Li Yao!”

Li Yao grinned hideously. “There’s no need to feel strange. Technically, there is nothing personal between you and me. Even though you did set Jin Yuyan up with plots, he is nothing more than my business partner. As long as the business is made, I don’t care whether he is dead or alive!

“Listen, everything I said just now is true. I am really the Black Wind King, and I’m sincerely hoping to cooperate with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. However, one can never be too careful. I have only just returned to the Imperium after all, and I do not know the situation inside the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors very well. I’m in need of a few ‘good friends’ who are familiar with it to help me deal with the issues on the Business Alliance’s side and keep an eye on those cunning merchants, including Jin Yuyan himself!

“I will not earn or lose anything whether you and your sister are dead or alive. Therefore, as long as you submit to me and show your worth, I will try my best to keep you alive!”

“Well…”

From the metal throat that had been sealed for a long time, a bitter voice echoed.

“Don’t act like you are a chaste woman. Have your sister and you never committed any betrayals before?”

Li Yao sniffed and said, “Just think about it carefully. If you are unwilling to do that, I will not force you to. However, Jin Yuyan is not dead yet. Your soul signature is not necessary to open the central trade database. Are you and your sister ready to embrace the fury of Jin Yuyan and other investors?

“As the saying goes, stopping somebody from making money is like killing their parents. The plot of yours almost burnt billions of free coins of the investors to the ground. Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s even more outrageous than killing all their ancestors. How do you think your sister and you will end?”

Qi Yuanbao shuddered hard, with every ragged component on his body clattering. He lowered his head and his voice. “My king…”

“That’s right. Those who suit their actions to the times are wise. Very soon, you will realize that submitting to ‘Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King’ is not something to be ashamed of, but the ultimate glory for the experts at the center of the cosmos!”

Li Yao opened his hands and patted Qi Yuanbao’s iron shell, saying casually, “Now, go back and open the central trade database with the other four senior managers. Confess everything you have done dutifully, and I will ensure that you are not killed!”

Fear and hesitation bloomed out of Qi Yuanbao’s manmade eyes.

“Opportunities knock only once. It’s all up to your own attitude now.”

Li Yao said coldly, “Think carefully. Jin Yuyan is not dead in the first place. Even without the confession of you and your sister, the truth will still be revealed very soon. I’m merely hoping to boost the confidence and morale of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors as quickly as possible.

“You haven’t been with me long enough to know that I am a man of my words, so I don’t blame you. However, now that I have promised to spare your life, nobody will take it from you.

“On the very contrary, I think highly of you as a great talent. Being a senior manager of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors doesn’t deserve your gifts. The new Imperium after the war will be a new country where all the old stuff must be reinvigorated. At the center of the cosmos or in the New Black Wind Dominion at the edge of the cosmos, people like you deserve greater stages for you to carry out your ambitions.”

The fear and suspicion in Qi Yuanbao’s eyes gradually turned into intense greed and thirst.

“Of course, there is no free lunch in the world. What you can get from me depends on what you can give me.”

Expressionless, Li Yao pressed Qi Yuanbao’s iron skull hard with coldness beaming out of his eyes. In squeaky noises, a deep mark of his palm was left on Qi Yuanbao’s head, as if it were his stamp.

He then tossed Qi Yuanbao out casually and said, “Go now. Live or die, you may choose for yourself now!”

Dragging the incomplete, rusted artificial body, Qi Yuanbao floated in the midair, stunned for a long time.

He looked around, only to discover that he was surrounded by his former comrades who were now hostile and vigilant. His identity as a traitor and a spy had been spread out. There was nothing he could do to turn it around.

Not far away, next to the window of the headquarters, Wuying Qinxin, his sister, seemed to be watching him.

His sister’s identity hadn’t been exposed yet, and she was still free to move around.

However, there was not much time left for her precious freedom now.

Therefore, his sister looked rather frustrated and seemed about to leap off from the height.

Subconsciously, Qi Yuanbao touched the palm mark that Li Yao had just left. Making up his mind, he flew back to the headquarters voluntarily to turn himself in!

Looking at his shivering back, Li Yao smiled and made a gesture at a sniper’s spot on the top of a skyscraper not far away.

…

In the sniper’s spot on the top of the skyscraper, the person on one of her knees and holding a heavy anti-ghost sniper rifle in her hand was exactly Red Lady, the super assassin who betrayed and joined the four Kurfürst families earlier.

At this moment, Red Lady was still in the rigid posture on one of her knees, soaked in sweat with an extremely pale face.

If one were to observe more carefully, they would notice that a red light was swirling quickly in feeble hums right above the back of her head, ready to pierce through her cerebrum and cerebellum to eliminate her soul anytime.

“S-Senior…”

Red Lady stammered in fear, “Qi Yuanbao has surrendered. I have accomplished my mission. Could… Could you spare my life and let me go?”

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

The red light swirling above the back of her head split into thousands of red threads that crawled into her ears and cackled gloomily. “Of course, but you should understand who your new master is now, shouldn’t you?”

After a shiver, Red Lady replied obediently, “It’s… It’s ‘Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King’!”

“Very good. You are smart. Smart people always live longer.”

The red threads flowed out of Red Lady’s ears again and focused on the intangible shadow of the mental devil. “Neither the four families nor the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors has any prospects. The future of the Imperium is destined to be the Black Wind King’s. Bear that in mind, and you will live longer and better!”

“S-Senior.”

Sensing that the guy was about to vanish, Red Lady hurried to ask, “May I ask your name, senior?”

“About that…”

The mental devil had completely vanished, but its voice was still popping up inside Red Lady’s brain. “If I am going to kill you someday, I’ll let you know it.”

Hardly had the voice gone when thousands of ants seemed to be biting Red Lady’s brain. She fell and cried from the excruciating pain while holding her head; the fear of the mental devil impressed on her forever.

When she raised her head again, there was not any red brightness around anymore. The fiend that had haunted her since half a day ago had finally left.

…

Jin Yuyan was not killed!

He had transplanted his own soul into the body of a female bodyguard through the “Soul Transfer Technique”!

Everything was a scheme that he made with “Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King” in order to attract and catch all the spies and traitors hiding within the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, eliminating all the uncertainties for the upcoming battle of Seven Seas!

The astounding news raised surging tides inside the grand conference room.

However, everybody saw with their own eyes that the five senior managers retrieve the surgical data of the “Soul Transfer Technique” from the central trade database. Qi Yuanbao and Wuying Qinxin also pleaded guilty and confessed to everything dutifully.

Red Lady, a super assassin who had joined the four families, had shown up on her own and confessed everything too. She also volunteered to give out the locations of quite a few secret bureaus of the four families in the Seven Seas Grand Market to alleviate her punishment.

With the solid evidence, it was impossible for the managers, shareholders, investors, and partners to not believe it.

Based on the convincing evidence, when Jin Yuyan slowly drifted to the center of the grand conference room in the thick and hideous body of the female bodyguard, it was not too unacceptable.

“Everybody, I am Jin Yuyan, and this is my brand-new body.”

Jin Yuyan opened his arms so that everybody could see his latest appearance clearly. “As you have seen just now, the whole thing is a scheme that the Black Wind King and I made. Despite the minor error during the implementation, which resulted in the destruction of my real body, I believe that it was a price that had to be paid in order to defeat the four Kurfürst families and to make the businesses of each and every one of us to thrive even more.

“Now, we have won. The clandestine plots of the four Kurfürst families have been completely shattered. Everything is under our control.

“Now, let’s welcome ‘Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King’, the most honorable guest of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, with our warmest applause!”