Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Fei Qi had once been an aristocrat in the Uranian Ring civilization, so he had been pondering on how to deal with the federation for decades. Therefore, his explanation was quite clear and well-organized. The confusing situation and the weaknesses of the federation were quickly detailed to everybody.

Long Yangjun interjected. “It sounds like the situation in the Dragon Snake Space Zone is rather complicated, isn’t it?”

“It indeed is,” Fei Qi said. “Also, just because the Star Glory Federation hasn’t attacked the Dragon Snake Space Zone officially doesn’t mean that they are not dealing with the Dragon Snake Space Zone in secret! On the carrier that we destroyed just now were all the ‘headhunters’ from the Star Glory Federation, the lackeys under the manipulation of the Venomous Witch Jin Xinyue!”

“Headhunter? What’s that?” Li Yao asked.

“Allow me to explain it to you. After the authorities of the Star Glory Federation signed an agreement with us and banished us here, they had no suitable reasons to deal with us anymore. However, it doesn’t mean that they didn’t do anything on a civic level.

“The people who have escaped to the Dragon Snake Space Zone from the Uranian Ring Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, the Nether World Sector, and the Water Crystal Sector generally hate the guts of the people who stayed home and joined the Star Glory Federation actively. For example, there is a deep contradiction between the Heavenly Light and the Earthly Brute. Many of us were sworn enemies before.

“The Star Glory Federation has never waged a war on us again on an official level. However, the people who have recently joined the federation often try to hire experts of the federation to sneak into the Dragon Snake Space Zone and kill their sworn enemies.

“The experts who sneak into the Dragon Snake Space Zone for assassination missions are known as ‘headhunters’. On the federation’s side, they are also known as ‘avengers’.

“The group of headhunters that we just took down was actually hired by some people of the Earthly Brute to sneak into the Dragon Snake Space Zone and kill a compatriot of the Heavenly Light who is nicknamed ‘doctor’.”

Li Yao found it interesting. “Why did they want a ‘doctor’ dead?”

“Decades ago,” Fei Qi replied, “before the Star Glory Federation conquered the Uranian Ring Sector, the ‘doctor’ was responsible for treating patients with ‘severe strike complex’. Besides the usage of high-intensity Happiness Serum, which was a regular approach, he also studied hard and experimented to create a very marvelous electric stimulation therapy that proved to be highly effective in curing the strike complex. Many patients were cured of the disease due to his wholehearted treatment and returned to work, turning from lunatics into people who were of use to our civilization.

“However, the severe strike complex is a very dangerous illness, and there were bound to be side effects during the treatment. Most of the patients were unwilling to cooperate with him on their side, too.

“Therefore, some of the ‘patients’ treated by the ‘doctor’ died. Some others, although they survived, suffered brain damage to varying extents.

“In the old Uranian Ring Sector, it was anything but abnormal. Even the best doctors can only treat some diseases, not all diseases, and they can certainly not bring the deceased back to life, right?

“However, after the war, the ‘doctor’ suddenly became unpardonable!

“Thankfully, the ‘doctor’ changed his name and escaped to the Dragon Snake Space Zone in disguise during the post-war chaos.

“The guys who had side effects after the procedures of the ‘doctor’ and the families of the patients who were dead, on the other hand, didn’t give up. Once they had turned into citizens of the federation and got the invaders behind them, they grew even more insatiable and aggressive. They demanded that the ‘doctor’ be killed no matter what!

“They believed that the ‘doctor’ had not been killed in the war. Therefore, they asked some sects in the federation that specialize in investigating and tracking to look for the whereabouts of the ‘doctor’. Finally, they uncovered the latest identity of the ‘doctor’ five years ago.

“Therefore, they hired a batch of ‘headhunters’ to sneak into the Dragon Snake Space Zone to carry out the ‘execution’ on the ‘doctor’!

“It was quite a fuss a while back. The ‘doctor’ had known that he was a target of the headhunters for a long time. Over the past five years, he has narrowly escaped three dangerous assassinations. This was the fourth time.

“We were all hired by the ‘doctor’ to help him deal with the headhunters. To save his life, he spent almost every penny that he’s saved in his entire life on hiring so many hands.

“This time, we were quite lucky. The ‘doctor’ paid for precise intelligence at a great price in advance and found out the route and vehicles of the headhunters to enter the Dragon Snake Space Zone. Therefore, we were able to prepare an ambush beforehand and caught them unprepared. It was exactly what you saw just now.”

Fei Qi’s words made all the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators whisper to each other in great interest. “Headhunters? Avengers? Sounds interesting. Quite interesting!”

After pondering for a moment, Long Yangjun raised a new question. “Wait. What you said doesn’t add up. Both investigating on the new identity and appearance of a person who has been missing for decades and hiring experts to assassinate him in a foreign space zone would have required a lot of money, right? According to what you’ve described, those who hate your guts should be at the bottom level of society. Even if they did join the federation, it’s impossible for them to have become rich overnight. How were they capable of hiring the investigators and headhunters?”

“This is yet another clue of the sordidness and shamelessness of the Star Glory Federation!” Fei Qi replied gloomily. “There’s a good chance that those lowly miners and filthy lackeys cannot even recognize their own names. They are as destitute as can be. How could they have provided the money for the most elite assassins to carry out such a dangerous task?

“However, the few most powerful forces in the federation—including the Glorious Sunlight Group, Skyfire, the Patriots Front, and so on—have established a fund known as the ‘Vengeance Fund’ together, which is dedicated to providing financial support for those fellows!

“If those miners and lackeys are interested in hiring investigators and headhunters, they often only need to offer one dollar or even one nickel symbolically, and the rest of the fees will be covered by the Vengeance Fund!

“The daily operations of the Vengeance Fund are run by the Skyfire, an organization led by the witch Jin Xinyue. Also, Jin Xinyue has also trained a batch of professional headhunters, who are the most brutal and skilled assassins dedicated to resolving the grudges of the miners, lackeys, and scoundrels in the past!”

“Is that so?” With weird brilliance shining in Long Yangjun’s eyes, she asked, “Why are the experts of the Star Glory Federation doing that?”

“On the surface, they have been doing everything under the pretext of the federation helping every citizen seek justice, be they wealthy or poor, powerful or weak. But in fact, everybody knows that it is just an approach to win the support of those who’ve recently joined. Also, it is a way to spread terror and mayhem in the Dragon Snake Space Zone so that we will bend!”

Long Yangjun, Li Yao, and the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators looked at each other.

The federation will help every citizen seek their justice?

Everybody saw each other’s amazement and fell into deep thought.

For Ba Xiaoyu the Beggar, who liked helping the weak and the poor best, his eyes were glittering in even more interest.

Due to the limited time, Long Yangjun did not want to pursue the question any further and changed the topic. “Tell me more about your ‘CFIA ¹ ‘. Who is your leader? Where did you learn the ‘true path of immortality’?”

“The chairman of the CFIA is named ‘Lu Qingchen’, a citizen of the federation born and raised there,” Fei Qi replied dutifully. “Please don’t feel strange, everybody. Although Chairman Lu is a native of the federation, he hates the federation’s guts. Both his grandfather and his father were killed miserably by the federal government. Chairman Lu chose to stand against the federation a long time ago, too. He has caused quite a lot of damage within the federation and is now the most wanted criminal with the highest bounty in the federation.

“Also, Chairman Lu’s master was an Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium true to its sense. He was also the mental pillar of the CFIA. His name was ‘Su Changfa’!”

“Su Changfa!” Heiye Lan lost her calmness and shrieked, “Isn’t he…”

Long Yangjun looked back and glared at her to shut her up. She then turned around and calmly said, “So, him. I didn’t know that he ended up in the federation. How’s he doing now?”

“Senior Su passed away more than fifty years ago,” Fei Qi said. “However, all his knowledge, and the glorious ideology of the true path of immortality, have been passed on to Chairman Lu Qingchen. Chairman Lu has studied the true path of immortality for almost a hundred years. He is a tough, determined, and loyal Immortal Cultivator who has been persisting in fighting despite the harshest environment. For a very long time, he was even fighting entirely on his own while he awaited the arrival of the fellow Cultivators from the Imperium!

“After the four Sectors were conquered by the federation one after another, all the outcasts were quite confused and depressed. Our morale was lower than ever. Right when we ran into a dead end and couldn’t find any light anywhere, it was Chairman Lu who showed up and brought us the true path of immortality. Finally, we were able to find a direction to walk in again. We were united and founded the ‘CFIA’!”

“Lu Qingchen?” Li Yao slightly frowned. He somehow felt that something was wrong. “The very purpose of the CFIA is to wait for the arrival of the expedition army of the Imperium. Now that we are already here, where is your Chairman Lu Qingchen? Lead us to him!”

“I’m afraid that I can’t do that.” Fei Qi smiled bitterly. “Chairman Lu is known as the most dreadful enemy for the Star Glory Federation. More people than anybody could count hate his guts and are waiting in line to cut him into pieces and burn his bones! His traces are usually unpredictable and mysterious, and he is the most prudent person I’ve ever seen. That’s why he is still safe and sound after being wanted and hunted by the federation for decades!

“Moreover, well, I’m in fact just a peripheral member of the CFIA. I’ve never seen Chairman Lu in person before. How can I know where he is right now and how to contact him?”

Long Yangjun nodded. “That’s very true. Then, you certainly have a supervisor or someone you can talk to in the CFIA, right?”

“Of course!” Fei Qi replied very quickly. “I do have a contact who lives in Fish Dragon City right now. I can lead you there to him so that the news can be reported through the proper channels. With such a great piece of news, I believe that Chairman Lu will show up very soon to meet you!”