Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

As one of the most dominating Kurfürsten in the Imperium of True Human Beings, the Li family had a long history. It had been a great family with influence in the military, in politics, and in the private sector in the Star Ocean Republic long before the Imperium was established.

After thousands of years of development, it had copious branches and offshoots. Counting the younger generation of the central bloodline alone, there were thousands of new people every year.

Since there were so many family members, they were naturally of different aptitudes, and not all of them could grow into geniuses.

However, most of the family members had received rigorous, elite education from their family, and their decisive and ruthless character was raised since childhood.

Even the most coldhearted bandits in the Land of Sins were as harmless as lambs whose teeth had been removed in front of the seemingly polite and graceful young people.

But ‘Li Jialing’ was not one of them.

It was said that he was born in a branch of the branches of the Li family. His father was a lesser warrior in the family who was killed on the battlefield a long time ago, and his mother passed away in labor when giving birth to him.

Therefore, he was raised in the ‘Future Academy’ of the family as an orphan. After he grew slightly older, he was sent to the household of a big shot in the family to learn from the big shot and to take care of the chores for him as an unofficial servant.

The destiny of an orphan of a branch of the family was supposed to be a common warrior of the family or a general worker that was even less known. Perhaps, after serving the big shot for decades dutifully, he would have a change to be sent to a certain new business established by the family on a remote planet as a manager.

However, with unbelievable luck, Li Jialing somehow won the favor of ‘Li Lingfeng’, one of the top experts of the Li family, who often took Li Jialing around with him.

Li Lingfeng and Li Linghai, the queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings today, were known as the Dual Pearls of the Li family. He was a powerful person who would very likely become the next leader of the family.

Not just a person that he was fond of, even a dog that he appreciated would be more awesome than some experts in the border worlds of the Imperium.

Therefore, Li Jialing was able to enter the circle of the most distinguished young people of the Li family.

Like all the noble families of the Imperium, the Li family did not attach much importance to the bloodline but worshipped cruel competition more than anything else.

As long as they were strong enough, the offspring of the branches could also kill the offspring of the main bloodline and be acknowledged. They would also receive the real heritage of the Li family.

So, the young people had been quite wary of Li Jialing at the beginning and thought that Li Lingfeng had earned this special attention because of some particular qualities in him.

However, after a few days of getting to know each other, they discovered that Li Jialing was a completely spineless pussy and a joke!

It had nothing to do with his strength. After all, with the Li family’s wealth and technology, even a cripple who could not catch a chicken could be modified into an acceptable warrior after astronomical resources were invested in him.

The real problem with the hopeless guy was that he was too indecisive. He did not even have the courage to kill a chicken, much less a person.

Human beings were evil in nature. Young people tended to fear the strong and bully the weak. It was especially so for the young people of the Imperium of True Human Beings.

Li Jialing soon became a target for all the core young people of the family to bully and vent their frustrations on.

At first, some of them were concerned about Li Lingfeng’s attitude.

However, after throwing Li Jialing into a special school that was designed to raise the future of the family, Li Lingfeng never once asked about him, as if he had completely forgotten the guy.

There was one time when Li Lingfeng’s blood grandson asked him about Li Jialing prudently. Then, the big shot of the Li family raised his head and replied in confusion, “Li Jialing? Which Li Jialing?”

It seemed that Li Lingfeng only did it on the spur of the moment. Perhaps Li Lingfeng had met the garbage’s father before, but it could not be any important relation. Right now, Li Lingfeng had completely forgotten the garbage!

Li Jialing immediately became a target that everybody could bully casually at the core school of the family.

Or rather, if the sh*t in the school grew legs, it would have stomped on Li Jialing’s face several times every day.

Everybody agreed that Li Jialing had survived to this day because he was too useless. He was so useless that anybody who killed him would only be mocked by their companions.

He was a toy for everything and a public sandbag. Nothing more.

However, on the trip to Manjusaka to watch the seniors to complete their trial quests, Li Lingfeng, who led the team in person, somehow remembered the garbage again and ordered specifically that he should join them.

The young people were dissatisfied with the decision, and the garbage even gagged in front of everybody, which was a great humiliation for the Li family. A lot of people were so infuriated that they were almost determined to kill him.

Li Jialing, however, was used to everything. He wiped the leftovers off his body in silence, without the slightest expression on his pale face. The mockery from within the family, the confusion of other families, or his inevitable death a few days later had no effect on him whatsoever.

His life did not seem to belong to himself but was just an unimportant game.

Li Jialing lowered his head, unwilling to watch the gory battles on the light beams anymore. He was about to hide in a corner of the lobby when he noticed the eyes of both coldness and passion that were staring at him. He could not help but shudder.

Li Lingfeng was looking at him in silence not far away.

The powerful man of the Imperium of True Human Beings—the blood brother who shared the same parents with Queen Li Linghai and the commander who could summon thousands of starships and millions of loyal warriors with a light cough—had a graceful appearance entirely different from his identity.

His face was as pure as jade, and his eyes were as brilliant as stars. His long hair covered his shoulders, making him look even gentler. He was more than two hundred years old, but he was like a young scholar who had just started his career in a college. His demeanor could not have been more elegant.

Li Jialing’s eyebrow trembled hard. He lowered his head and bit his lips, walking over to Li Lingfeng obediently.

The young people of the Li family who bullied him blatantly were baffled, but how could they be bold enough to ask?

They were still looking at each other in bewilderment even after Li Lingfeng and Li Jialing went to the corridor outside of the hall, not having the vaguest clue about the relationship between the star of the family and the shame of the family.

In the corridor, Li Lingfeng and Li Jialing looked at each other in a subtle atmosphere.

With his hands behind his back, Li Lingfeng looked at the ‘weak’ young man and said casually, “Why didn’t you attack after all the time you’d been bullied? Are you going to restrain yourself until they really kill you? Just kill a couple of them in a yawn, and none of them will dare bully you anymore.”

Li Jialing bit his lips hard and fell silent for a moment. Then he said softly, “Your grandson is among them.”

“I have a lot of grandsons, great grandsons, and great great grandsons,” Li Lingfeng said. “It is not a big deal if a couple of them are dead, especially when it is for you.”

With extreme agony and stubbornness beaming out of his eyes, Li Jialing shook his head and said, “I—I don’t want to kill anyone. I know that a dam will be completely crushed if I begin. I will completely lose control of myself!

“Killing a couple of them will be enough? It’s impossible. You’re lying to me. After I kill a couple of them, you will certainly give stronger opponents to me and ask me to kill dozens more. Then, hundreds more and thousands more. There will be no end to the cruel experiment!

“If I cannot get out of your control in any case, I would rather kill none of them. If I must die, so be it!”

Li Lingfeng put on a smile of comfort. “You are very smart, and you are getting smarter.”

“It is you who made me so smart.” The young man put on a bitter smile. “Smart enough to figure out my identity and destiny and to realize that I am just a special ‘test subject’ that has no fundamental difference from the sinners in the Land of Sins.”

“I’m having higher and higher hopes for you now.” Li Lingfeng’s eyes became deep and mysterious. “I really want to find out how terrifying it will be when you unleash all your potential. It will certainly be a shock for a certain someone.”

“What if I never allow you to fulfill your wish?” Li Jialing summoned his courage and revealed a side that he had never shown to the young people of the Li family before. Clenching his fists, he said, “You may modify me into a terrible monster, but I will never start a cruel slaughter as you wish. What will you do? Kill me?”

Li Lingfeng was amused.

“I’ve spent so much effort and so many resources in the past ten years to raise you. The complexity of every experiment and modification, and how successful the results are, you should be clearer about them than anybody else, right?”

The future leader of the Li family looked at the young man thoughtfully and said, “You are my most precious treasure. How can I waste you for nothing? Besides, your performance today was within my expectations. It is a kind of interesting game between me and a certain someone.

“Trust me. One day, you will recognize your nature, submit to your real destiny, and even… inherit the strength of the entire Li family!”

Li Jialing shook hard in shock.

It was the first time that he had heard Li Lingfeng’s last remark.

“W-what do you mean?”

Teeth seemed to have grown out of the young man’s eye sockets. Blood spots the size of needles burst out of his face, as he half begged and half bellowed, “Tell me the truth. Who are my parents? Who is the ‘certain someone’ that you talk about all the time? Why did you choose me for such cruel modifications in the beginning? Why do you have to push me? Why?”

Li Lingfeng was utterly unmoved. “If you want to know the answer so desperately, just listen to the real voices in your heart. Stop being restrained by nonexistent laws and start a slaughter!”

His eyes suddenly turned gentle as he said, “In any case, you must believe one thing. From the beginning to the end, I have never regarded you as a ‘test subject’. If possible, I really want you to become my real successor as the future of the Li family!”