Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Long Yangjun explained, “The only reason is that the man offers them a fortune every year and helps the Immortal Cultivators on the surface of the planet to earn the interests from below the ground.

“Li Minghui claimed to be able to turn granites into oil. He is almost the most brutal and harsh one of all the Immortal Cultivators below the ground. The death rate in the mines and factories affiliated to the ‘Black Iron Group’ is thirty percent higher than other underground mines and factories. It must be noted that the hominoid workers and miners are already treated very harshly in other places, but his treatment is thirty percent even more brutal. You can totally imagine how atrocious it is!

“After he gradually extended the tentacles of the ‘Black Iron Group’ to hundreds of underground towns ten thousand meters above and below under the support of the Dongfang family, he completely controlled the dark lands. The workers have to be exploited in his factories during the day and buy synthetic food and compressed air provided by his corporation at a high price at night. The price is at least fifty percent higher than in other towns, but the quality is lower. However, he has monopolized the business, and the workers do not have a second option at all. Whoever dares to ‘smuggle’ the synthetic food and the compressed air from other providers will be beaten to death alive and thrown into the geothermal furnaces, to be burned into nothingness!

“Only in such a way of exploiting every rock and every hominoid below the ground can the guy accumulate a large sum of money and offer it to the big shots of the Dongfang family so that he can keep his surname of ‘Dongfang’. It should come as no surprise that there was almost an outburst of devils in his territory.”

Long Yangjun told Li Yao that the hominoids under the control of the Black Iron Group had already been living in misery decades previously.

In the recent half a year, quite a few tectonic levels in the area had earthquakes of very high intensities, collapsing dozens of mines and destroying quite a few energy factories. As a result, the Black Iron Group’s progress in resource collection slowed down significantly. Li Minghui was infuriated and exploited his workers even more roughly.

The conflicts between the reformists and the four Kurfürst families dealt another heavy blow on Li Minghui.

It was true that his senses were keen enough for him to flee and change his side before the collapse of the Dongfang family. However, it took loads of money for him to change his name from “Dongfang” to “Li”. Otherwise, why would his new fathers want to keep him like a dog?

It was said that he spent half of his belongings on the purchases of a myriad of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and rarely-seen primeval artifacts before he finally made his way through in the Li family and got accepted by a rather powerful new father. He promised his new father that if the Black Iron Group were to operate under his supervision just like before, there would be more resources and profits in the next couple of years.

Considering Li Minghui’s greediness, the loss of half of his belongings was like cutting his heart, plucking his veins, and pumping all his blood.

Such a heavy loss could only be made up for by even more severe exploitation on the underground hominoids.

Therefore, in the last few months, Li Minghui had essentially turned into a rabid dog. In the towns and factories controlled by the Black Iron Group, the quota of productivity had been doubled. All the hominoids were overworking day and night. The odds of accidents and deaths had been increased by half. The hominoids were either killed in exhaustion or died without a full body in accidents.

On the other hand, Nepenthe had hit the bottleneck after it developed and expanded in the darkness, and it would certainly be discovered by the Black Iron Group if it were to further develop.

Instead of waiting to be killed, they might as well attack actively even if it meant death, which would significantly be better than being killed in a mine collapse or an explosion of the energy factory!

“This is about the background of the upcoming riot, which really has nothing to do with me.”

Long Yangjun said with a bitter smile, “Except for teaching the hominoids ‘Serenity Arts’ and the methods of telepathy at the beginning, I never interfered with the specific operations of Nepenthe. After I became the president of the Association of Demon Hunters as ‘Dongfang Mingyue’, I had even fewer reasons to stay in touch with the Nepenthe believers who were destined to be annihilated. So, I volunteered to keep a distance from them.

“I really did not know that they were planning such a huge event in the underground world. Otherwise, I wouldn’t choose to come back here even though I was fleeing.

“It’s been more than ten days. Considering Blackstar the Great’s methods and Li Linghai’s position among the reformists, they must’ve controlled the surface of the capital planet or even the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector. After the Nepenthe believers’ fuss below the ground, Blackstar the Great will certainly notice it, which means that we will have to run to somewhere else!”

Frowning, Li Yao asked, “Since you are the prestigious ‘Serenity Seraph’, can you not convince the Nepenthe believers not to do anything rashly?”

Long Yangjun shook her head. “As I said, I never meddle in the specific affairs of Nepenthe. All the planning and operations are commanded by the ‘Grand Guardian’ of Nepenthe. The Grand Guardian has a high position and prestige among the believers. He is as respected as me!

“After all, I was away for years. Although I taught them certain techniques in the beginning, the Grand Guardian was the one who expanded Nepenthe by ten times through hard work.

“Besides, faced with the cruel oppression of the Black Iron Group, where countless hominoids would die in the factories and mines miserably on a daily basis, do I have any reason to stop the resistance of the Nepenthe believers?”

Li Yao said solemnly, “But they stand no chance at all. It will only be suicide.”

Long Yangjun chuckled and sighed. “Li Yao, don’t you understand? In the rebellion of the White Lotus Cult and the riot of the Heaven Battering Army in the Ancient Sages Sector, the resistance of Starlight in the Imperium of True Human Beings, or the upcoming uprising of Nepenthe, does anybody really care if they stand any chance? Even a dog will bark and bite before it is butchered. Humans must not be more docile than dogs, right?”

Li Yao clenched his fists. With fury beaming out of his eyes, he chewed on the names. “Black Iron Group… Li Minghui… Then, what exactly is the purpose of Nepenthe’s uprising? Kill Li Minghui?”

“Killing Li Minghui is naturally part of the purpose, but more importantly, it’s about occupying a central geothermal factory of the Black Iron Group.”

Long Yangjun said, “Nepenthe has excavated an ancient treasure from a primeval relic, which can significantly enhance brainwaves, magnifying them countless times so that they can penetrate through the rocks and spread far away.

“If all the Nepenthe believers entered the state of telepathy, allowing their brainwaves to resonate with each other, and spread the brainwaves out via the ‘super brainwave magnifier’, it will be possible for them to influence the residents of the thousands of towns around. Everybody will forget their pain, anxiety, and worries and appreciate the eternal tranquility when their feelings are gone. Then, the scale of Nepenthe will be expanded by a hundred times immediately.

“Hehe. In such a way, whatever happens to them in the end, they will have made it huge. Everybody living on the capital planet and even in the entire Imperium will know their ideas. That’s exactly what the Grand Guardian and all the Nepenthe believers are planning.

“However, the super brainwave magnifier requires astronomical energy and can only be supported by the largest geothermal factory of the Black Iron Group. Therefore, they have to occupy the ‘Great Iron Plants’ first.”

“What?!”

Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently. “Are you suggesting that they are trying to create a hundred times more Nepenthe believers overnight?”

“Yes. Let me repeat, it has nothing to do with me.”

Long Yangjun frowned so hard that her eyebrows had joined her nose as she said, upset, “What can I do when they are planning something so huge?”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes. “You’re worried that you will be affected by the incident, but you do not want to take care of it in person, so you are simply kicking it to me?”

“Please don’t put it like that. As I told you at the beginning, I will certainly not keep anything away from you.”

Long Yangjun’s distress turned into a smile. “If I had not told you this great ‘scheme’, would I be any different from Xiao Xuance, Lu Zui, Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan, and all the other supervillains? Besides, I’m really curious about what you are going to do. Destroying the ‘super brainwave magnifier’ and even killing the Grand Guardian as well as the central leadership of Nepenthe is naturally very easy, but are you really going to do that? If you really destroy and kill them, then what?”

Li Yao considered in silence for half a minute before he said, “What about the Black Iron Group? Which level is Li Minghui at?”

“Ha. I knew that you would want to play a hero again. But not this time. Your body can’t take it.”

Long Yangjun said, “Having dominated the underground worlds for decades as the local tyrant of a hundred towns, Li Minghui is certainly not a random person. He is an Immortal Cultivator at the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage with talents in both fighting and administration. He has also recruited the most ferocious gangsters who are known as ‘Black Iron Sect’. They are the Black Iron Group’s muscles during the expansion and the competitions for territory.

“Recently, due to the changes in politics on the surface of the planet, the situation below the ground is rather tense. Li Minghui, who cherishes his life more than anything else, has introduced a ‘fully-automatic defense system’ at a great fortune, which is mostly made of five thousand most advanced battle puppets. It is estimated that they are three times stronger than Xiao Xuance’s Grand Illusionary Soldiers during the riot in the Flying Star Sector!

“If you were still in the Divinity Transformation Stage and had an intact, well-supplied Colossus, those gangsters and battle puppets certainly wouldn’t be a problem for you. But your body is now falling apart, your soul is lackluster, and your Colossus is a pile of garbage. By comprehensive evaluation, can you still carry out the strength of the Nascent Soul Stage?

“Let’s say that you can really carry out the combat ability of the Nascent Soul Stage miraculously, but your chances of winning are close to zero when you are drowned in the ocean of five thousand puppets and countless desperadoes!”