Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Boss Bai told Li Yao that, based on his knowledge in the past and his recent contact with Yun Xuefeng, and especially after analyzing the guy’s battle cases in the Imperium’s counterattack, he realized that while the guy was not a useless general, he was hardly an eminent general either. At best, he was a qualified commander with enough experience.

The problem was that the consecutive victories in the Imperium’s counterattack filled Yun Xuefeng’s head with illusions and arrogance. He was truly under the impression that he was a general on par with Lei Chenghu and had been competing with him whenever possible. When Lei Chenghu openly joined the reformists, he even declared that he would meet Lei Chenghu in a space battlefield someday so that it could be decided which one of them was better.

“On the surface, Yun Xuefeng and Lei Chenghu both secured glorious accomplishments in the Imperium’s counterattack, but what Yun Xuefeng commanded was one of the most elite fleets of the Imperium, which had the incessant support of resources from the four families. On the other hand, what Lei Chenghu commanded was a miscellaneous troop that was short of ammunitions and resources. The two commanders’ capabilities are absolutely not on the same level.”

Boss Bai said, “Yun Xuefeng also knows that it is more of an adulation that he can compare himself to Lei Chenghu, and that his accomplishments do not really deserve it. It only makes him even angrier and more determined to prove that he is better than Lei Chenghu.

“When the commander has such a state of mind, it will be easy for them to be reckless in the battle. If the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors sets up a few traps taking advantage of his eagerness for victory, he will certainly fall for them.”

Yun Xuefeng was the commander of the four families’ coalition fleet. He and the Yun family behind him naturally hoped to finish the battle as soon and unstoppably as possible.

However, the Song family, whose overall capability was on par with the Yun family, thought otherwise.

Yun Xuefeng was the commander of the battle. If Yun Xuefeng did distinguish himself on the battlefield, winning a great triumph thunderously, the Yun family’s influence would immediately expand tenfold. Countless forces would obey the Yun family, and the new emperor would likely be the Yun family’s puppet.

It was the last thing that the Song family would like to see.

Therefore, while they had to win the battle, the “Adamantine fleets” that belonged to the Song family would never work too hard but would possibly watch Yun Xuefeng commanding the Yun family’s fleets to fight the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors while doing nothing. They would even slightly hamstring him so that the Yun family and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would both suffer heavy losses.

For the Song family, the best result of the battle was that Yun Xuefeng’s fleet suffered a notable setback on the battlefield when it pressed the charge recklessly, seriously humiliating Yun Xuefeng, before the Song family’s fleets appeared and saved the day, securing the glorious triumph.

In such a way, the Yun family would take all the blame, and all the credit would go to the Song family. Naturally, the future emperor would be the Song family’s favorite member of the royal family too.

Because of such subtle considerations, while the Yun family’s fleets and the Song family’s fleets were allies in name, and the Song family’s fleets were theoretically under Yun Xuefeng’s command, who knew what would happen after they did come to the battlefield!

As for the Li family and the Dongfang family, they were too weakened to compete with the Yun and Song families for now and could only listen to commands obediently.

However, the “Adamantine Super Arsenal Warships” were so valuable that every family only had four of them. Also, the production had stopped a long time ago. Even the docks and the relevant assembly lines had been dismantled or repurposed.

Every Adamantine Super Arsenal Warship was unique. One being blown up would mean one fewer.

The Li family and the Dongfang family had suffered tremendous losses. If they were to lose a few Adamantine Super Arsenal Warships in a war that was meant to annihilate nothing more than a bunch of dealers, wouldn’t it be killing them?

Therefore, the Li family and the Dongfang family reiterated their attitude however Yun Xuefeng lulled or coerced them. They had been seriously worn out in the previous phase, and the Yun family and the Song family would certainly be the main attackers in the mission. It would be better for them to cheer for those leading the charge and provide remote fire support! Whoever gave connivance for them to preserve their strength would be supported by them. If Yun Xuefeng insisted that they should lead the charge and be killed, the two families would simply stand on the Song family’s side and support the emperor elected by the Song family.

Not just Song Xuefeng, who was just a commander of the army, but even the Kurfürst of the Yun family could barely do anything about the Li family or the Dongfang family.

“All in all, those are the problems within the four families’ coalition fleet.”

Boss Bai concluded, “Led by their commander Yun Xuefeng, the Yun family truly wants to settle the battle as quickly as possible. However, their allies all have other plans. The Song family hopes that the Yun family will suffer a heavy loss so that they can take over the leadership. The Li family and the Dongfang family want to preserve their strength or even make up for their losses in the previous phase without paying anything. As for the other troops of the warlords and local forces, they are all traitors who sit on the fence. If the free coins in their hands become twice as valuable, they will sell any master without batting an eye!

“It may be too farfetched to say that the so-called ‘army of a million starships’, which has so many internal contradictions despite the massive size, is doomed to failure, but it is possible to defeat it!”

After hearing Boss Bai’s introduction, Li Yao was stunned for a long time. He observed rather in amusement, “With a great foe ahead of them, the four Kurfürst families are still conspiring against each other in internal conflicts? I really don’t know how I should comment on them!”

“When a country is about to die, monsters will be showing up. Such is the case at the end of any regime.”

Boss Bai smiled and said, “Also, you reserved the cause and the consequence. It was exactly because the four families conspire against each other that they have lost solidarity, the reformists have risen, and they are faced with a great foe!

“One can never change one’s nature. Do you think that the leaders of the four Kurfürst families would just wake up and respect each other in unity after the capital was lost? How is it possible?”

“It does make sense.”

Li Yao was convinced by Boss Bai and thought that Boss Bai did have a point. Where there were humans, there were conflicts of interests, and when there were conflicts of interests, there were plots and conspiracies. Even the Star Glory Federation, a small country that only controlled seven Sectors, had the contradiction between the “central worlds” and the “peripheral worlds” when faced with the assault of the Black Wind Fleet. For that, Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue had been at loggerheads against each other. If Li Yao hadn’t returned in time, nobody could predict what the result of their competition would’ve been.

The scale of the Imperium of True Human Beings and the intensity of the conflicts of interests were ten times greater than in the Star Glory Federation. It would be a miracle if the Immortal Cultivators who did everything for themselves could stop fighting and plotting against each other.

Li Yao’s eyes flashed as he continued asking, “Since the coalition fleet of the four families has such deep contradictions, what are we going to do next?”

“In order to deal with the situation where all the branch fleets are disorganized and randomly distributed all over the area after a ‘blind jump’ to the Seven Seas Space Zone, the four families’ coalition fleet has activated a state-of-the-art rapid response command chain system named ‘Flying Lightning Command Chain’.”

Boss Bai said, “The super command chain based on ultra-powerful Spiritual Nexus, signal enhancement, and brand-new algorithms is 30% more powerful than the old command chain system. It can help the lone starships reach out to their allies and flagship quickly. If the flagship is too far away to be contacted, it will automatically connect the starship to the command system of the highest level around. According to the best ratio of interferential warships, arsenal warships, shield warships, comprehensive supply warships, and other models, temporary battle units will be gathered and concentrated.

“Under my instruction, Li Wuji has been very close to Yun Xuefeng and even secretly pledged loyalty to him. For Yun Xuefeng at this moment, the allegiance of a marquess of the Li family is certainly a great help. Also, our ‘National Protection Army’ has distinguished performances recently and demonstrated enormous strength. Yun Xuefeng has to pay enough respect to us.

“Therefore, Yun Xuefeng trusts Li Wuji very much right now and has given Li Wuji, or our ‘National Protection Army’, a very high clearance in the ‘Flying Lightning Command Chain’ system.

“Specifically, it means that when the million starships of the four families’ coalition fleet jump to the Seven Seas Space Zone at the same time, and all the branch fleets have to be regathered and regrouped, my flagship ‘Alloy Virus’ will be a temporary command center. All the starships within several million kilometers will receive my command temporarily.

“If you can control a space gate, our fleet will be able to jump over while staying organized to keep the highest combat ability. In such a way, the lone starships scattered in space will be subdued by us and forced to join our battle formation easily when they move close to us. Hehe, once those starships accept my leadership and open their mainframe crystal processors to us, it will be impossible for them to get away!

“Just like that, we will gather the lone starships and snowball all the way while we search for the four Adamantine Super Arsenal Warships that belong to Yun Xuefeng. Once we locate them, we will immediately send the coordinates to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and let them attack Yun Xuefeng’s fleet vehemently. Trust me, the commanders of the Song family, the Li family, and the Dongfang family will only burst into laughter when they hear that Yun Xuefeng is being attacked instead of reinforcing him immediately.

“If the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is unable to take down the four incomplete Adamantine Super Arsenal Warships with all the forces it has, we can declare the battle lost and escape immediately, but as long as the four Adamantine warships are destroyed, the situation will be entirely different. Yun Xuefeng’s flagship is one of the four Adamantine warships, and the mainframe crystal processors and the highest command system of ‘Flying Lightning Command Chain’ are deployed on it too. As long as the flagship is captured, giving Xiaoming, Wenwen, and the Fist King a chance to study them well, hehe, the results will certainly be marvelous!”