Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Isn’t it a bit too… whimsical?”

Li Yao did take the possibility into consideration but did not find it very plausible after much deliberation. “First of all, it is very difficult from a technological point of view. Karan was only a resource planet that was extremely small in size, and it contained highly-condensed super-energy minerals below the ground. That was why it could be detonated instantly, making the blast sweep across the whole space zone. Such a unique resource planet is rather hard to come by even in the entire three thousand Sectors.

“The Empyreal Terminus Sector, on the other hand, is a rather steady habitable planet that is in its prime days. Below the crust and the mantle, most of the materials are alloys in the shape of liquid or solid. Even though tremendous mother lodes can be found, it is barely possible to raise a destructive explosion.

“The great battle between the Supreme Emperor and the Blood God merely caused the division and movement of the plates at best. It is possible to destroy dozens of cities, but detonating the whole planet and swallowing all the fleets on the orbit nearby? How is it possible? Where is the energy from?

“Secondly, the leaders of the four families and the commanders of the ace fleets are not idiots. The move that Wuying Qi played in Karan years ago has been reflected in every textbook and countless entertainment work in the Imperium. Everybody is familiar with it, and there must be a lot of people who are trying to duplicate it.

“I assume that Wuying Qi’s revival has gradually been made known to everybody now. How can they not be prepared for him to play his old trick?

“All in all, if I were the commander of the ace fleets of the four families, I would never attack the capital planet recklessly. I would clear all the forces of the reformists who dared to cruise in space in the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector and establish space gates. Then, I would mobilize abundant cannon fodder troops and ask them to attack the surface of the planet, crumbling the enemy with the sheer advantage in number. The best I would do would be to send out a tiny proportion of air forces to launch bombardments from the sky. If Wuying Qi intends to play self-detonation, he is free to detonate himself. Except for the cannon fodder troops on the surface, he would be earning absolutely nothing!

“Thirdly, and most importantly, the capital planet is absolutely different from Karan in the past in terms of strategic value. The most reliable supporters for Wuying Qi are the members of the royal families and the Imperial Guards made of them. If he does have ways to transform the capital planet into a gigantic bomb to die together with the enemy, wouldn’t he be wasting his offspring, the Imperial Guards, the Deep Sea Fleet, and the Reform Committee of the Council of Elders and ruining his only base right now?

“Such an exchange is too absurd. It must be noted that even if the four families lose all their ace fleets, they still have abundant mediocre and third-rate fleets, and their dominions would still be intact. However, Wuying Qi will have nothing left if he loses the capital, the Imperial Guards, and the Deep Sea Fleet. Is he going to put all his hope in Lei Chenghu’s Astounding Thunder Fleet? No, I don’t think Wuying Qi is the kind of people who would entrust their fate to somebody else’s hands!”

“Your analysis is very reasonable. It seems that the trap this time will be highly different from the self-detonation of Karan. Whatever Wuying Qi is digging below the capital planet must be something even more dangerous than a ‘planetary crystal bomb’.”

Pondering for a long time, the mental devil opened its hands and said, “However, whatever scheme Wuying Qi is up to below the ground of the capital planet, it makes no difference for us. Whether it is a planetary crystal bomb or something scarier, like a piece of stellar magical equipment whose influence radiates to the entire Sector, there will be no way we can stop it.

“Jin Yuyan is right. We are trapped in the messy swamp that is the Seven Seas Space Zone tightly, unable to get away. The forces of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs, the Astounding Thunder Fleet, and the coalition fleet of the four families have been entangled with each other. Do you think you can separate them on your own?

“How are you going to stop Wuying Qi on your own without the support of a fleet? Just drop the fantasies like sneaking into the capital and playing the decapitation move. Let’s forget how thorough Wuying Qi’s defense in the capital is. Even if the man cancels all the defense and even sends his coordinates to you, waiting for you to kill him on his throne and giving you an advantage by using only one arm and one leg, then what? Can you kill him?”

“What are you talking about? Don’t praise the enemy and do ourselves down like that!”

His eyebrows furrowed, Li Yao scratched his chin hard and murmured, “Loopholes! There must be loopholes! The whole thing can’t be so flawless, or I wouldn’t feel vaguely uncomfortable. Where exactly is the problem? Got it. There’s something that has been baffling me!”

The mental devil asked, “What is it?”

Li Yao counted his fingers and said, “Look, we both agree that Wuying Qi did so many things in the Seven Seas Grand Market in order to eliminate the hidden problem that was the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors in advance, in case the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors betrayed him and got out of his control after his identity was exposed, right?”

The mental devil nodded. “Yes.”

Li Yao went on, “Also, we both agree that Wuying Qi has set up an astonishing trap in the capital and is waiting for the ace fleets of the four families to step into it. At least in Wuying Qi’s understanding, the trap is enough to destroy the ace fleets of the four families once and for all!”

The mental devil nodded again. “That’s right. What’s the problem?”

“Nothing. There’s no problem with those two things. However, there’s a major problem with the next thing.”

Li Yao said, “If Wuying Qi’s plan is immaculate, the coalition fleets of the four families in the Seven Seas Space Zone will be destroyed at the same time when the ace fleets in the capital are destroyed. When all the available forces are lost, it is possible that the four families will collapse all of a sudden.

“However, don’t you feel that Lei Chenghu’s Astounding Thunder Fleet arrived too soon?

“Or rather, Wuying Qi messed up the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors too badly and diminished their strength too hard!”

The mental devil was slightly stunned. “… Huh?”

“Look, for Wuying Qi and Lei Chenghu, in order to minimize their losses, they should sit on the fence while the two tigers fight. The fiercer the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the four families fight, the better. It will be best if both parties have suffered heavy losses before the Astounding Thunder Fleet jumps out to clean the mess. That’s the way to maximize the returns and minimize the losses.”

Li Yao said, “Judging from Wuying Qi’s infiltration of the Seven Seas Space Zone, he was absolutely capable of that. He did not need to go so far and make the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors collapse so hard!

“Now, even if the Astounding Thunder Fleet wins in the end, it will certainly suffer heavy losses. Why would he do that?”

The mental devil pondered for a long time, with a colder and eviler expression.

“What if Wuying Qi does not want Lei Chenghu to win easily?”

The mental devil said coldly, “It’s his purpose to consume Lei Chenghu’s strength as much as possible. What he wants is not the mutual destruction of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the coalition fleet of the four families, but the ‘triple destruction’ of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the four families’ coalition fleet, and the Astounding Thunder Fleet!”

“What do you mean?”

Li Yao was greatly alarmed. “Are you saying that Wuying Qi does not trust Lei Chenghu at all, just like he never trusted Jin Yuyan?”

“Isn’t it only natural?”

The mental devil sneered, “How can someone like Blackstar the Great really trust anybody apart from himself? He wouldn’t have trusted his own father or son, let alone Lei Chenghu.”

“But Lei Chenghu is different. Lei Chenghu is a ‘real Immortal Cultivator’. He is Blackstar the Great’s zealous admirer!”

Li Yao said, “We chatted with Lei Chenghu so many times. His firm belief in the true path of immortality and his admiration for Wuying Qi are not questionable. It is not an exaggeration to say that Lei Chenghu is willing to die for Blackstar the Great anytime. Can’t Wuying Qi tolerate such a loyal subordinate?

“Even if he can’t tolerate Lei Chenghu, he should at least make good use of him first instead of killing the supporters at such an early phase, right?”

“Wrong. It suddenly occurs to me that we may have misunderstood Lei Chenghu’s admiration for Wuying Qi all the time.”

The mental devil said, “Think about it. Wuying Qi is an ancient man from a thousand years ago. Lei Chenghu has never got in touch with Wuying Qi in person. The Wuying Qi he knew was just a false image presented by the twisted information in the textbooks, propaganda, movies, games, and history books of the Imperium.

“What he worshipped is the bright, perfect, selfless ancestor of Immortal Cultivators on the altar. It’s the psychological projection of the morals in his own heart. That is an illusional and nonexistent person. Is the real, living Wuying Qi who has walked off the altar someone like that? Does he really deserve Lei Chenghu’s admiration?”

Li Yao scratched his head hard. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”

“You don’t understand? Let me give you the simplest example.”

The mental devil explained, “Assuming that in the Star Glory Federation decades ago, there was a young Cultivator who zealously and extremely worshipped ‘Vulture Li Yao, dominator of three Sectors’. He adored the father of the federation as the greatest hero of his life. He even lived his life by the standards of the perfect father of the country that was shaped by all kinds of propaganda materials.

“In the mind of the young Cultivator, ‘Vulture Li Yao, dominator of three Sectors and father of the federation’ should be an immaculate man, who was ambitious, benevolent, charismatic, handsome man. He was wise, determined, farsighted, invincible, and never made any mistake. All in all, he was a god-like saint. Yes, that is exactly how you are described in many promotional materials that Jin Xinyue made up.

“Assuming that the young Cultivator was truly convinced by that, only to see you in real life someday, what do you think the young man would feel after getting in touch with such a so-called ‘nation’s father’?

“Will he continue to zealously worship the… shameless, cowardly ‘father of the federation’ who is terribly beaten up every other day, or will his worldview be shattered, making him believe that the whole world is an illusion and a lie? He may be so disappointed in you and the federation that he even abandons the path of the Cultivators in fury and hatred, right?”