Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

There were fifty Elysian Worlds in the entire Land of Sins, which were fifty prosperous metropolises connected to the Heavenly Rails and indirectly controlled by the angels.

Of the fifty Elysian Worlds, Liberty City was a top-ten super city in terms of prosperity and development.

Decades ago, the leader of Liberty City had been an invincible bandit from the Bloody Worlds. After he seized control of Liberty City, he had pledged loyalty to the angels and worked diligently. It was said that he had solid support from the angels.

Therefore, Liberty City was not only one of the best luxury paradises of entertainment in the Land of Sins but also a place with the market of the most advanced magical equipment and the most fabulous and cruel arenas.

Moreover, the leader of Liberty City had a lot of ‘contribution points’ under his belt, and he often issued quests from the angels. He had also helped many sinners who had accumulated enough contribution points wash away their sins and ascend to Manjusaka, the City in the Sky, where they turned into the supreme angels.

The Fist King had focused his attention on such a Liberty City.

It befitted his personality perfectly. He might not attack for a long time, but when he did, he would certainly claim the fattest prey.

However, Liberty City was not so easy to be taken down. Xiahou Wuxin, the leader of Liberty City, certainly had his own expertise to have kept his enterprise running for decades. Countless forces had tried to challenge his reign, only to be finished by him cleanly and quickly.

The Fist King was unable to shake the leader of Liberty City’s reign by himself. Therefore, while recruiting soldiers in the Bloody Plateau Area to expand his own force, he sent out countless invitation cards, asking heroes of the world to attend the great cause by attacking Liberty City in a coalition army!

The invitation cards sent by the Fist King were classified into different levels. Almost all the reasonably large forces in the thousands of square kilometers around had received one, including the force that the fatty was from.

From what the fatty had heard, the gangs of Double Dragons City had received an invitation card, too.

Whether or not to participate in the Fist King’s coalition army, how the interests of the Red Fire Gang and the Black Water Gang should be coordinated, and how to ensure that their nests would be not occupied by the enemy while the gangs from Double Dragons City were launching an expedition to Liberty City… Such complicated details would be the issues being discussed in the meeting.

Li Yao finally understood why the Red Fire Gang and the Black Water Gang, which had always been hostile, would join hands to attack the Village of Peace and why they needed so much cannon fodder.

However, he was still confused about something else. “What do you mean by the levels of the invitation cards? Are those without invitation cards not qualified to join the Fist King’s army to attack Liberty City?”

“That is not exactly the case,” the fatty explained dutifully. “Attacking Liberty City, a top-ten city among all the Elysian Worlds, is a shocking event. The Fist King is an unparalleled expert whose fame has spread across the entire Land of Sins, too. Many people have high hopes in him and are willing to help him even without an invitation, hoping that they can claim some benefits afterward.

“But then, the missions that are involved during the attack of Liberty City and the distribution of interests after the city is occupied will be quite tricky. If all the gangs in the thousands of square kilometers around come to the Fist King in a mess, hesitate during the attack, hoping to better preserve themselves, and jump out to ask for a reward after the city is taken, the whole Liberty City will certainly be in chaos. So, why would the Fist King want such garbage to join him?

“The so-called invitation cards were actually a qualification, which means that the Fist King acknowledges the capability of a certain force and deems them qualified to earn benefits from the endeavor. Of course, they will have to listen to the Fist King’s commands during the attack.

“According to the different levels of the invitation cards, the missions to be allocated to them will be of different danger levels, too. Naturally, if Liberty City is truly taken, the rewards that they will get will be different, too. All in all, the greater the risk, the more profits there will be. Although the Fist King is strong, he has always been fair in deals. Everybody knows that.

“As for the gangs who do not have an invitation card, it is alright if they want to ‘attend the great cause’, but as for exactly how much leftovers they will be after Liberty City is taken, it will depend on their own luck and the Fist King’s mood.”

“That explains a lot.” Li Yao thought for a moment. To combine and organize a hundred disobedient, dishonorable gangs each of which had their own intentions, this was perhaps the only way.

“The way I see it,” Li Yao said, “Double Dragons City is living quite an enjoyable life with the trade between the Bloody Plateau Area and the Thousand Lakes Area and with the assets from the Heavenly Rails. As a top-ten Elysian World, Liberty City will certainly not easily be taken. By your analysis, why are the gangs in this place involving themselves in the competition between ‘Fist King’ Lei Zonglie and Xiahou Wuxin, leader of Liberty City? Are they not afraid of failure?”

Upset, the fatty moved his lips, as if he was meaning to ask how Li Yao could possibly not know that. But after thinking for a moment, he swallowed his own question and explained, “You don’t get to choose what you do in the Land of Sins. The few commercial groups and gangs in Double Dragons City are not very large. It is not up to them whether or not to be involved in the competition. If they turn a blind eye to the Fist King’s invitation and the Fist King gets pissed off, they will likely become the Fist King’s next target.

“After the battle of Liberty City is over, if the Fist King has truly taken it, there will certainly be a lot of ‘contributors’ that he must reward. If the benefits inside Liberty City are not enough for allocation, Double Dragons City will inevitably be offered by the Fist King. Perhaps the Fist King will grant the entire Double Dragons City to a certain gang that fought bravely in the battle and lend them a great army to attack the city. Let me ask you. How can the Red Fire Gang and the Black Water Gang in Double Dragons City expect to resist them?

“Therefore, after you receive the Fist King’s invitation card, you have to join him in any case, unless—”

“Unless what?” Li Yao asked.

“Unless you make a decision quickly and join Xiahou Wuxin, the current leader of Liberty City, of course. Then, you will stand on the city leader’s side, hoping that Xiahou Wuxin can defend Liberty City. But you will still be involved in their competition!”

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked, “Right, I believe that a lot of forces will take Xiahou Wuxin’s side, won’t they?”

“Of course, but the Fist King still has the advantage in numbers,” the fatty explained. “First of all, although Xiahou Wuxin was a notorious, brutal bandit from the Bloody Plateau Area decades ago, he has been managing Liberty City for decades and barely ever attacked anyone. Therefore, his brutality is not well-known today. On the other hand, the Fist King has risen recently and swallowed a lot of gangs and commercial groups, blowing up countless experts. He is one of the most famous experts in the Land of Sins.

“Therefore, a lot of people think that the leader of Liberty City is no match for the Fist King. If the two of them truly have a head-on clash, the Fist King will certainly blow up Xiahou Wuxin with brute force.

“Secondly, and more importantly, as the saying goes, ‘those who are barefooted are more fearless than those who wear shoes’. Right now, tremendous wealth and interests have accumulated in Liberty City, and Xiahou Wuxin has a lot of deep-rooted interest groups under his command. He is the guy wearing shoes here. But the Fist King has transformed all his wealth into war assets, preparing to take a wild gamble. He is the barefooted one.

“Even if you help Xiahou Wuxin defend Liberty City and defeat the enemy, it is impossible for him to distribute his core interests. Even if he is willing to, the interest groups under his command will not just submit the fat meat they have.

“The Fist King is different. In order to occupy Liberty City, he is willing to pay any price.

“Therefore, you will be risking your life on either side, but the odds of success on the Fist King’s side are slightly higher, and the reward after victory are slightly greater. Naturally, most people have chosen to stand on the Fist King’s side! Also, the more people stand on the Fist King’s side, the greater his odds of success will be, and still more people will be attracted to the Fist King’s army to attack the city. Eventually, the team will snowball and become larger and larger. How many people will take the leader of Liberty City’s side in the end?”

Li Yao thought of something and asked, “Didn’t you say just now that the leader of Liberty City has a lot of contribution points under his belt, which can allow people to rise to Manjusaka? Are the contribution points not enough to attract abundant experts?”

“… For your information, in the battles to compete for the Elysian Worlds, the angels have always been absolutely neutral,” the fatty said. “When the news that an expert will attack a city comes over, the connection between the Heavenly Rails and the Elysian Worlds will be cut off, and all the contribution points will be frozen. They will not be ‘unfrozen’ again until the final victor of the battle settles everything.

“If the attacker wins, they will be awarded with double contribution points, which will allow them to teleport many people to Manjusaka.

“Therefore, the leader of Liberty City is far less appealing than the Fist King in this respect.”

Li Yao said to himself, “It feels that the angels strongly encourage the experts of the Bloody Worlds to attack the Elysian Worlds!”

The mental devil grinned hideously and said, “Of course. If the Immortal Cultivators are playing a game of competition in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, such ‘city attacks’ must be the ultimate form of the game. The battles over the Elysian Worlds will attract the strongest experts from all over the Land of Sins, who will perform all kinds of peculiar and unbelievable techniques. Some of the usages and variations might’ve even escaped the attention of the Immortal Cultivators. So, as long as the Immortal Cultivators scan the details of the battle intensively, they will naturally get tremendous experiment data.

“Also, after the large-scale battles, a lot of experts will be sent to Manjusaka justifiably to be cut up to study without raising any suspicion. Isn’t it killing two birds with one stone?”

“In that case, we will have to pay a visit to Liberty City,” Li Yao said.

“Of course.” The mental devil chuckled. “Through Liberty City, we will have a chance to go to Manjusaka. Also, didn’t you hear what the fatty said just now? There is a magical equipment market of a very large scale in Liberty City. Chances are that we will find a piece of ‘high-molecular layer-by-layer scanning magical equipment’ to resolve our main problem.”