Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Special Agent Han’s face was flushed red, and he felt extremely powerless.

“Let me out, Jade. Please.”

Princess Summer turned to the liquid metal shell of the artificial intelligence. “After all, your sole purpose is to rebuild Jade. Even without me, you can still ask for help in the Pangu Universe and achieve your purpose. Therefore, let me out. We will part ways and face our own destiny!”

Deep thought was spreading out on the surface of the liquid alloy.

“No!”

Han was anxious and shouted, “Jade, I have the highest clearance. I am the captain-to-be of Jade. You are not allowed to let her go!”

“Why?”

Princess Summer clenched her fists in fury. “Why are you stopping me?”

“Because I don’t want to see you die in vain.”

“This is for your own good!”

“I’m not going to die in vain. I’m going to wake up my sisters, fight side by side with them, kill the evil demon king, defend my home, protect my compatriots, and fulfill my duty as a princess of the Eagle Kingdom!”

Princess Summer’s voice was louder and louder. An invisible aura surrounded her, filling her with brilliance that Han Te could not look at directly.

“Like I said, you won’t make it!” said Han Chaofang fiercely.

“How can we know whether or not we will succeed if we don’t try?”

Princess Summer continued, “A few days ago, I didn’t believe that I had the courage to face the Demonic Halberd Pig and raise my saber high, either. In the end, with the guidance and encouragement of my best sister, ‘Teresa’, I succeeded. I stared at the extremely brutal eyes of the Demonic Halberd Pig, but the fear deep inside my heart was shattered. I slashed my saber at the Demonic Halberd Pig brutally, and together with Theresa, I killed the demonic beast that only appeared in nightmares… Can you imagine the excitement and sense of accomplishment deep inside my heart at that moment? It was like—it was like I had found the meaning of life again!

“If Theresa and I could create miracles then, why can’t we do it now?

“Well…”

Han Te was rendered speechless again. He was dazed for a long time before he asked, “Then, why can’t you wait for a while and train yourself to improve your strength so that you can make a comeback when the time is right?”

“When will the time be right? When will we find the Pangu Universe? Even if we do, when will the people of the Pangu Universe finish upgrading their fleet and send troops to help the Emerald Continent?”

Princess Summer threw out a series of questions. Then, she pointed at the miserable scene outside the transparent cabin wall and said, “My sisters are being tortured by the devil. I know exactly what the torture feels like. I can’t watch them suffer. I can’t even stand it for one minute, one second.

“Not to mention that, even if the Pangu Universe sends out an expedition army, it will be a few years or even a few decades later. By then, my sisters will not be able to die in peace. Countless innocent people on the Emerald Continent, including the citizens of the Eagle Kingdom, whom I swore to protect, might have fallen into Black Jack’s hands. He has already devoured all the girls on the Emerald Continent with his evil tentacles and upgraded them to an unimaginable level. Are you sure that the expedition army of the Pangu Universe can destroy the fully upgraded Black Jack—the Master Devourer?”

“Well, I, anyway—”

Agitated, Special Agent Han blurted out, “Whatever you say, I will not let you go out and die!”

Princess Summer’s pupils constricted, before they suddenly turned cold and pierced into Han Te’s heart like two ice picks.

Her face was full of disappointment.

“If so, Mr. Han, what’s the difference between you and Black Jack? What’s the difference between going with you and going back to Black Jack?”

Princess Summer said gloomily, “Neither you nor Black Jack acknowledge that we girls have the right to choose our own destiny. You keep us by your side like toys, puppets, or some sort of multipurpose pet. You are heroes, you are rescuers, you are devils, you are saviors, and you are the protagonists of this glamorous adventure. As for us girls, we are merely insignificant vassals who can only dance obediently according to the trajectories you set. As long as we deviate from our trajectories even a little bit and show signs of ‘loss of control’, you will do whatever it takes to drag us back. If this is your truest face, then you are nothing more than a weakened version of Black Jack. I have even less reason to go with you.”

“What do you mean by ‘completely weakened’? I’m very strong!”

Humiliated, Han Te could not help but shout, “The most important difference between me and Black Jack is that I was trying to help you, and he was trying to hurt you!”

“If you really want to help me, just let me face my own destiny and the battle that the princess of the Eagle Kingdom should’ve faced a long time ago,” Princess Summer said.

“I—I can’t do that…”

Han Te scratched his hair in pain. “Think again, Sister Summer. Think again.”

“Don’t call me ‘sister’. Only Theresa can call me ‘sister’. You can call me ‘Princess Summer’ or ‘Miss Summer’,” Princess Summer said coldly.

Han Te was dazed for a moment. “I am Theresa!”

“No, you are not.”

Princess Summer said, “Teresa taught me to raise my saber high, but you wanted me to give up resistance. Theresa told me that girls could also stand on their own and become the masters of their own destiny, but you wanted me to abandon my sisters and watch them die without doing anything. Instead, I fled to a strange foreign land with you and placed my fate completely in your hands for you to judge with your mercy. Theresa woke me up as a woman. No, it didn’t matter whether it was a man or a woman. Theresa woke up my dignity and pride as a human being. She made me realize the meaning of life again and regain the pride of a human being. This pride has been lost for a long, long time ever since my ancestors, ‘First Officer Quake’ and the others, defected to this continent. I finally found it again, but you want me to extinguish this incomparably brilliant fire of the soul again?

“No, Mr. Hunter. You are not Theresa, not the Theresa that I know, trust, and like.

“Maybe, the moment you regained your true face, my Theresa was already dead. But it didn’t matter. As long as she had lived a real and passionate life, what was there to fear about death?

“In any case, I still want to thank you. Thank you for bringing me a good friend, Theresa, and for letting me see the true light through her eyes. If I had never seen the light, I could have endured the darkness. If I had never truly lived, perhaps I could have always been dressed as Black Jack or your puppet. You would have dressed me up as the obedient and beautiful ‘princess’ from a fairy tale and let me live the ‘happiness’ of a walking corpse.

“It’s a pity that I can’t now.

“Teresa had high hopes for me and believed that I could create a miracle. I didn’t want to disappoint her, nor did I want to disappoint the unquenchable pride deep inside my heart.

“Whether you agree or not, I’ve made up my mind to face my destiny as a princess of the Eagle Kingdom or a real human being. Nobody can stop me from fighting my destiny—not you, not Black Jack.

The princess of the Eagle Nation gripped her saber again and strode toward Han Te.

Her eyes were as sharp as an eagle’s, which made Han Te shudder.

“Get out of the way.”

The princess of the Eagle Nation commanded calmly and firmly.