Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The eyes of all the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and demon emperors were glittering. Li Yao’s words had greatly enlightened them.

It was quite right. The supersonic fighters, missiles, and tanks might not be enough to deal with the Core Formation Stage Immortal Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stage Immortal Cultivators, but they were surely even enough to hit and injure those in the Refinement Stage!

If a Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage and an Immortal Cultivator in the same level were in engaged in a fierce battle, while the Cultivator was assisted with a team of supersonic fighters that would launch missiles five times the speed of sound at his opponent, the outcome of the battle would be obvious.

It was the simplest math.

After pondering for a while, Professor Mo Xuan raised a very critical question. “Li Yao, I’ve read your proposal carefully. There are not too many technological obstacles. So, if we can develop such a strength system, the Imperium of True Human Beings certainly can, too!

“Do you think that the Imperium of True Human Beings has developed the same strength system or even come up with countermeasures?”

“Professor, you’ve asked the most critical question.” Li Yao smiled. Pointing at his temples, he said, “I believe that it is very unlikely. It is not about the technology but about the ideology!

“The strength system with oil and coal and the fundamental power source based on chemical energy and nuclear energy is in fact nothing extraordinary if we get to the bottom of it. The Imperium must have relevant technological reserves. However, once the system is really established, it will only mean one thing, which is that, for the Immortal Cultivators, the strength of the ordinary people will be much higher than before, to the point that they may be hurt by the ordinary people!

“From the ancient times to the present day, under the training system of spiritual energy, ordinary people without spiritual roots cannot inhale or exhale natural spiritual energy directly. The gap between them and Cultivators is huge.

“The powerful magical equipment of the ancient Cultivators did not have buffer and stabilization units. The ordinary people could barely pick them up, much less make use of them. Soldiers waving regular sabers, swords, and bows are nothing but ants in the eyes of a Cultivator holding a flying sword.

“That is the reason Cultivators were respected as deities in the ancient times!

“Today, after the profound research on spiritual energy, we have significantly improved many kinds of magical equipment. With the buffer and stabilization units, civil magical equipment is finally usable for the general public.

“But for military magical equipment that boasts a high output of spiritual energy and high damages, it is still not readily usable for ordinary people. Only strong soldiers with solid souls can manage to manipulate relatively low-level spiritual energy weapons!

“If a weak person is asked to operate a storm bolter, a chainsword, or a crystal cannon, it is very possible that the ‘recoil’ of spiritual energy is enough to blow apart their soul!

“Therefore, even today, under the training system of spiritual energy, the chasm between Cultivators and ordinary people is still very huge. Ordinary people can barely cause any significant damage to a Cultivator, so they are destined to a weak and submissive position!

“The Immortal Cultivators exploit ordinary people mercilessly, while the Cultivators protect ordinary people like the infants in cradles. But they mean the same thing—we all think that the ordinary people are not capable of deciding their fate!

“But it is wrong!

“I sensed it deeply in front of the parliament building in the capital city. The ordinary people have intense feelings, unwavering determination, and burning devotion. They can fight, too. They can defend their belief and their homeland with their owns hands. They can even protect a Cultivator!

“If Cultivators can be compared to the saber of humanity, then the ordinary people will be the hands that hold the saber! The possible damage of the saber does not simply count on the sharpness of the saber’s edge but also depends on how thick and strong the hands that are grabbing the weapon are!

“This is my original purpose of developing the ‘non-spiritual-energy weapons’. Ordinary people are a treasury with endless potential! If such a war system is truly built, every ordinary person will be able to decide their own fate!

“Just now, I kept talking about ‘black hole bombs’. In fact, black holes are not important, and zones of zero spiritual energy are not important, either. Even if the black hole bombs can never be invented, so what? Even if the universe is filled with spiritual energy, so what?

“As long as the army of ordinary people truly takes shape, and they boast innumerable supersonic fighters and tanks, the Cultivators will never be able to ignore their existence again like before!

“Even if they are ants, they will be ants with venomous stings after being armed. Cultivators may step on them just as easily as before, but the Cultivators’ heels will itch or hurt for a moment!

“One ant is enough for a Cultivator to itch for a moment. What about a million ants? A billion? A trillion?”

“We don’t have a trillion ordinary people,” Professor Mo Xuan remarked subconsciously.

“We don’t, but the Imperium might.” Li Yao smiled. “There are tens of billions of ordinary people in the three Sectors. So, the population of the ordinary people in the Imperium will certainly be much larger!

“This is the greatest difference between the federation and the Imperium. This is also our greatest advantage!

“We and the ordinary people belong together. Cultivators fight for the ordinary people, and ordinary people give Cultivators their full support. The contradiction between us is little. We are a community with a shared destiny. The ordinary people getting stronger equals to our civilization getting stronger!

“But things are obviously different in the Imperium.

“When an emperor regards his subjects as weeds, his subjects will regard him as a sworn enemy in return. The Imperium of True Human Beings treats the ordinary people as ants. They are filtered the moment they are born, and the weak among them will be forced to mine underground until they die. Even newborn babies cannot survive. The weak are not even considered ‘true human beings’!

“Ordinary people must be hating the Immortal Cultivators’ guts. It’s just that they are unable to resist because of the huge gap of capability and the high-pressure suppression.

“Is the Imperium of True Human Beings brave enough to arm billions of ordinary people to the teeth? I’m afraid that the ordinary people will aim at the Immortal Cultivators the moment they are armed!

“Therefore, I estimate that, even if the Imperium of True Human Beings grasps the methods to manufacture the ‘non-spiritual-energy weapons’, they will definitely not spread them out but keep them top secret.

“Distrusting and even fearing the strength of the people is the common disease of every empire throughout history. How can the Imperium of True Human Beings be an exception?

“However, no technology will be blocked forever. As long as we defeat the Imperium’s first attack by relying on the ordinary people, we will disseminate the technology to the Sectors within the Imperium’s territory and awaken the miners and the ordinary people who are struggling to live with their own strength. When they rise up and resist, however magnificent and dominating the Imperium of True Human Beings appears to be, it might collapse all of a sudden!

“My proposal is named the Black Hole Plan, but don’t think that the ‘Block Hole’ refers to the black hole bombs.

“The ‘Black Hole’ is not the black hole bomb, but the ordinary people of the Imperium of True Human Beings who are awakened from their exploitation and slavery, who master their own fate, and who will swallow all the Immortal Cultivators!

“I believe that, if we truly win the war one day in the future, it will not be Cultivators who defeat the Immortal Cultivators but the ordinary people living in the federation, the Imperium, and all three thousand Sectors!”

Li Yao bowed quickly and left the podium before the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators recovered from their shock.

It could not be helped. Li Yao’s last comment was too much for them.

A brand-new strength system meant a paradigm-shifting social reform. Faced with the overwhelming chemical and nuclear weapons, the masters of spiritual energy, although still boasting an absolute advantage, were no longer as unshakable as before.

The ordinary people would be more or less capable of restraining the Cultivators!

What would such a transformation mean for the world of Cultivators, for the civilization of mankind, and for the future?

Every Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator and demon emperor was deep in thought, as if thorny ants were truly crawling on them.

Hardly had Li Yao returned to his seat when he received complicated stares from all directions.

Even Professor Mo Xuan said to him with a bitter smile, “Li Yao, you truly make breaking news wherever you go without resting at all. You have proposed such a tricky question for us again!”

Li Yao smiled and replied confidently, “There is not any problem as long as we truly trust the strength of the ordinary people. The history of mankind is a history of Cultivators being secularized and integrated with the ordinary people. Not any force is enough to stop the process!”

Professor Mo Xuan hesitated for a long time but still shook his head and said nothing in the end, not knowing how he should comment on Li Yao’s plan.

The agenda of the meeting did not leave time for the detailed discussion of every project. Li Yao’s ultra-long presentation was already an exception, but the next speaker still did not go up front until five minutes later.

The whispers in the hall were louder and louder.

Jiang Hailiu, the host, stood up and said something to his portable crystal processor. Then, his eyes suddenly shivered before he left the hall in a hurry.

Li Yao and Professor Mo Xuan looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what was going on.

Li Yao’s plan was indeed a bit shocking, but such an overreaction seemed unnecessary.

A moment later, Jiang Hailiu strode back to the center of the hall again. His face was half red and half pale. There was no telling whether he was excited or anxious while he said solemnly, “Fellow Cultivators, we have just received an urgent message from the Flying Star Sector. I’m afraid that the Meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage has to be adjourned now.”

Before the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the demon emperors could respond, he continued. “According to the news from the Star Prier’s House on Spider Den in the Flying Star Sector, Kunlun, the relic of the Pangu civilization, has probably been found!”