Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Chapter 2943: Farmer and Snake

“There’s no need to agitate me with Grandpa. I’m very clear-headed right now and completely know what I’m doing. I absolutely won’t make the same mistake as Grandpa!”

Lu Qingchen waved his hands and regained his calmness. He analyzed, one word after another, “Grandpa’s reputation was ruined mainly because he made two mistakes.

“Firstly, he shouldn’t have extended his butcher’s knife to the neck of his own people. He shouldn’t have broken the vow he made when he joined the Secret Sword Bureau—he did his best to protect every citizen of the federation, only to kill thousands of innocent people in the square.

“Secondly, and more importantly, even if his plan worked out and the Heaven’s Origin Sector swallowed the Blood Demon Sector, it would have been impossible for the Heaven’s Origin Sector to resist the Black Wind Fleet that followed. His plan was doomed to fail from the very beginning, because the

problem was not the demons but the Immortal Cultivators!

“Therefore, his plan has been a futile struggle since the very beginning.

“However, my plan is different.

“My plan does not involve any civilians of the federation. I didn’t kill an innocent citizen of the federation, did I? Of course, the expedition army of the federation might suffer heavy losses during the attack on the imperial capital, but they were all soldiers who risked their lives and their dignity to conquer

the center of the sea of stars so that the federation could survive. They were prepared to sacrifice themselves, and I would make their sacrifice the most valuable one!

“Secondly, different from Grandpa’s recklessness, the Imperium of True Human Beings is our last enemy. As long as we take them down, there will be no more enemies in the Pangu Universe and no more ‘Black Wind Fleet’ to threaten us. Therefore, it doesn’t matter even if we have to pay a higher price for

the battle. We can take a hundred years to rest and realize our beliefs and plans to march out of the Pangu Universe. What’s wrong with that?”

“Not good. Not good at all.”

Li Yao shook his head and said, “If we do that, countless civilians will still be killed or injured. Those in the capital city, those in the worlds around the capital city, and those in the periphery worlds that are still in chaos, hoping to restore order quickly.

“Those are the civilians of the enemy country. You can’t be so kind as to care about the civilians of the enemy country that you can’t even bear to trample on the flowers and grass of the enemy country, right? If you even consider the lives of the civilians of the enemy country during a war, then what’s the

point of fighting? You might as well surrender!”

Lu Qingchen snapped, “Don’t forget that the Black Wind Fleet, which belonged to the Imperium of True Human Beings, attacked the federation first and declared war on us without a declaration! From that moment on, the federation and the imperium entered a state of war. We may have made some

secret agreements to this moment, but we still haven’t signed a truce on the surface. Neither side has surrendered, have we?

“Since we are still in a state of war, any kind of mercy is soft-hearted. Of course, I am willing to abide by the humanitarian principles and never kill or intentionally slaughter the civilians of the enemy country. But do you think I care so much about the ‘collateral losses’ during the war?

“Hehe. You are too merciful to prioritize the interests of the imperium, but they might not think so. I believe you’ve heard the story of the farmer and the snake. Be careful of the venomous snake that is the imperium!

While Lu Qingchen was sneering, the shadows and data behind him were changing nonstop, displaying the picture of the federal expedition army and several fleets of the imperium tangled together.

“How can we allow other people to sleep next to us? The citizens of the imperium must understand such a simple logic. Right now, our federal expedition army is at the heart of the imperium, and you, as a Cultivator, are in control of the star-level magical equipment and the battle network in the capital

city. It is not just lying next to us but also a thom in the eyes of the citizens of the imperium.

Lu Qingchen said, “Let’s say that the federation and the imperium are in the ‘honey month’ right now, and we can cooperate for the common interest. But with the collapse of the Holy Alliance, the foundation of cooperation between us is crumbling fast. Do you think that the Immortal Cultivators can

tolerate the Cultivators staying in their hearts, the Gold Crystal Towers, and the battle network of the capital city? Do you think that the imperium can tolerate a federation that is rising fast, fill the vacancy of the Holy Alliance, and become their biggest competitor?

“It’s impossible. No matter how nice the Immortal Cultivators’ words are, no matter how extravagant their promises are, a leopard can never change its spots. They are not going to tolerate the Cultivators and the federation.

“The bottom line is, the Pangu Universe is too small a place for two tigers!

“Aman does not hurt a tiger. A tiger eats a man’s heart. Li Yao, I’ll say it one more time. Don’t let your ‘virtue of ordinary people’ interfere with the ruthless deduction of the situation and push the federation into the abyss of doom! If you don’t take it, you will be blamed. This is the only opportunity for the

federation to control its own fate. If you hesitate, all the people of the federation will be killed by you!”

“It’s not like that, Lu Qingchen. Calm down and listen to me. Of course, I’ve considered the fact that ‘two tigers cannot live on the same mountain’, and I don’t expect too much from the Immortal Cultivators. But right now, there is indeed a vague path of peace between the Immortal Cultivators and the

Cultivators.

Li Yao tried his best to persuade him. “I believe that the Immortal Cultivators of the revolutionaries are different from the Immortal Cultivators of the past. Firstly, they have experienced the decadence and corruption of the old imperium and know how greedy, foolish, and weak the Immortal Cultivators

of the past were. The path of the Immortal Cultivators in the past was a dead end. For their own survival, they wouldn’t make the same mistake.

“Secondly, in order to seize the supreme power of the imperium, the Reformist Immortal Cultivators had to mobilize the strength of the middle-lower class and even ordinary people. After the cleansing of the Rebel Emperor and the Reformation of the Imperium, the middle-lower class and the ordinary

people of the entire imperium have been awakened. Once people see the light, they can no longer endure the darkness.

“Thirdly, Li Jialing, the current emperor of the imperium, is aman who tends to meld the Great Dao of Cultivation with the Great Dao of Cultivation and carry out the revolution to the end. I even feel that his Great Dao is very similar to yours. I don’t know what he will become in the future, but at the very

least, he will not be like Wu Yingqi.

“Fourthly, as you said, we control the Gold Crystal Tower and the battle network of the capital city. We can even control most of the fleet of the Fuxis. Such forces can serve as deterrents for the imperium and supervise and assist the revolution of the imperium. The Immortal Cultivators will be assimilated

into Cultivators, but the risk of loss of control, chaos, and destruction will be minimized. Don’t you think that’s the safest approach?

“Hehe…”

Lu Qingchen was not moved. He sneered, “After all is said and done, you are still handing over the safety of the federation and the fate of the human civilization to the imperium and the Immortal Cultivators so that the little emperor can decide our future?

“Thate to do it, but we don’t have a choice.

Li Yao was so sincere that he was about to vomit blood. “It’s easy to break the old order, but it is even more difficult to rebuild the new one. It is impossible with our current capability.

“That’s right. If everything had gone according to your plan, it was indeed possible that the imperial capital would have been captured and all the hope of the Immortal Cultivators would have been extinguished. The entire sea of stars would have fallen into the vacuum of ‘neither a new empire nor an old

one’.

“The question is, then what?

“The center of the sea of stars has suffered an apocalyptic catastrophe. All the worlds are in panic and chaos. Many worlds lack trade with the outside world and have become lone islands in the darkness. Resources are scarce, and order is nonexistent. Starvation and civil war can break out at any moment.

“At that time, if the federation becomes hostile and the new imperium is destroyed, believe me, the entire universe will be turned into a purgatory in a moment.

“By then, what right does our insignificant federation have to suppress the crazy rebels, soldiers, and schemers of the other worlds? What right does our federation have to restore the order of the land and deliver the most basic food and water to the billions of starving refugees? What right does our

federation have to break through the paralyzed network of commerce in the sea of stars? What right does it have to say that we represent justice and are here to help them? No. We are the culprits who created the purgatory. The little bit of trust in the Cultivators that we built up after all the trouble will be

gone. No Immortal Cultivators or ordinary people in the center of the sea of stars will believe us, the Great Dao of Cultivation, or the federation anymore!

“When the city gate is on fire, the fish in the moat will be caught in the fire, too. If the entire sea of stars turns into hell, do you think the federation will be able to survive? Have you ever thought of all that?

“As I said before, young people are often overly superstitious about violence. They believe that the outcome of a war is enough to decide everything, But as your uncle and your father, a senior who has solved many problems with violence and discovered even more problems, I really have to give you a

piece of advice. It’s not that simple! Right now, the center of the sea of stars is like a sick patient who is on the verge of death. Even if your intentions are good and you have the unparalleled scalpel in your hand, he will still die after one slash!

“For such a critical patient, we absolutely can not perform major operations right now. We can only carefully nurse him with decoction to at least strengthen his body. Then, we can slowly plan with a series of minor operations. Of course, this is very complicated, very complicated, and very easy to repeat.

Moreover, we cannot guarantee a 100% success rate. But this is the only way. Do you understand?”

“I understand now. You are worried about the reconstruction after the war.

Lu Qingchen pondered for a moment and said, “You are worried that, even if we take over the capital city, we won’t be able to purge the bureaucracy and the civil servants of the entire imperium. Even if we can purge the veins and nerve endings of the entire imperium, there won’t be enough managers

who are qualified for the low-level posts that are as numerous as hairs on a cow. Then, as long as the nerve endings are occupied by the Immortal Cultivators of the old system, they will still be filled with greed, corruption, and depravity. It will be impossible for them to obey our orders. They will only

bring disaster to the nation and reap benefits in our name.

“Uh”

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, “Your understanding seems to be wrong, but it does make sense. The imperium is too large and full of loopholes. It is impossible to eliminate all of them in a short time..