Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The mental devil bulged its eyes and shrieked, “That’s right! If that’s the case, everything makes perfect sense! It also explains why Long Yangjun does not remember anything from her ‘previous life’!

“Perhaps, according to the standard procedure, after the fetus is developed, a lot of memories will be injected into her head to form a clear self-consciousness and sophisticated knowledge system of the Nuwa Clan. However, because of the unexpected crisis, she was launched in a hurry. Therefore, the work was only half done, and she was just implanted with certain fuzzy memory pieces!”

“Then, our target now is very clear.” Deep in thought, Li Yao said, “Now that the first puzzle has been solved, we only need to figure out what exactly happened on the Nuwa warship a hundred years ago, which will also prove or disprove the veracity of our hypothesis!”

“It was definitely not as simple as the invasion of two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators!”

The mental devil thought for a moment and said, “The tales about the Nuwa warship have been passed on in the Ancient Sages Sector for tens of thousands of years. It is regarded by the locals of this world as the Divine Palace, who also created magical equipment such as the ‘Thousand Stars Tray’ and the ‘map core’. It is evident enough that somebody entered the Nuwa warship a long time ago.

“Yet, none of the reactions were triggered at that time, which suggests that, by the Nuwa warship’s criteria, it is not a big deal if some locals trespass on the Nuwa warship, and they will not be a threat to the safety of the warship itself and the fetus. Just like the round, silver ball, which must be part of the automatic defense system. Didn’t it abort the attack after determining that you are a real human being?

“If the Nuwa warship did not wish to be infiltrated, it could’ve switched to a different Grand Illusionary Land to test if you were one of the original crew members, and it would barrage and kill you instantly as long as you were not one of them!”

Li Yao was suddenly alarmed.

The mental devil did have a point.

It seemed that Emperor Phoenix was not the only target whom he should be wary of. There might be something seriously wrong with the Nuwa warship itself. What had happened a hundred years ago was certainly much more complicated than the invasion of two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators!

Then, what should he do next?

The mysteries about Long Yangjun’s birth and her motivations of planning everything had basically been figured out. Although she must have kept something to herself, what she had confessed seemed rather trustworthy.

Was there any chance for him to cooperate with Long Yangjun?

“I still feel that something is wrong with her,” the mental devil said worriedly. “It is quite odd. My intuition tells me that everything she said just now is probably true without much distortion, but my intuition also tells me that she is dangerous. Extremely dangerous!”

“Why?” Li Yao thought hard for a moment. “If Long Yangjun is truly a clone or a reversely-grown version of a core crew member on the Nuwa warship hundreds of thousands of years ago, she should be standing on our side. Didn’t the Nuwa Clan help human beings against the tyranny of the Pangu Clan?

“Also, I can tell that Long Yangjun’s physique is greatly different from the tall, strong members of the Nuwa Clan who had human heads but serpent bodies. She probably still falls into the category of human beings. Although she can secrete a weird crystal suit from inside her body and transform between sexes freely, it is probably because she belonged to a special unit that had received the genetic modification of the Nuwa Clan, just like the Thunder Striker Legion that we found on Kunlun. All in all, she is still a human being, one of our own!

“The purpose of our journey is to look for allies to fight against the Imperium of True Human Beings together. If Long Yangjun is truly a reborn human soldier who was modified and edified by the Nuwa Clan personally hundreds of thousands of years ago, she will be a priceless treasure for the federation!

“Also, the bridge of this Nuwa warship is too weird for us to activate and manipulate purely on our own. She is going to be the key to our current dilemma. How are we going to get the warship if we don’t cooperate with her?

“Lastly, what can I do even if I refuse to cooperate with her? I can’t kill her at all. Should we just confront each other here at an impasse until we die of old age?”

Li Yao’s words were not entirely unreasonable. However, the mental devil ignored them and suddenly widened its eyes. “I know why I felt ill at ease just now! Even if your speculations are all right, Long Yangjun is truly an elite warrior raised by the Nuwa Clan, and the Nuwa Clan did stand on the human beings’ side and sincerely helped us to overthrow the tyranny of the Pangu Clan, it still doesn’t mean that Long Yangjun has to cooperate with the federation.”

“The key problem is this. Who is ‘us’?”

Li Yao was dazed. “Who is us?”

“Exactly! If we classify the attitudes of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan according to a simple and straightforward criterion, which is whether or not they support human beings to have independent emotions and self-awareness, the Pangu Clan will be the guys who regard human beings as puppets and tools and restrain them with the ‘three fundamental laws’, and all the human beings with independent emotions and self-awareness will be regarded as the allies of the Nuwa Clan. They are all ‘us’, right?”

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, “Probably. So what?”

“So what? You still don’t understand what’s going on here?” The mental devil raised its voice. “If that’s the case, Long Yangjun, as an elite warrior raised by the Nuwa Clan, will certain detest the Alliance of the Holy Covenant and cooperate with us to resist the Covenant Alliance and the Pangu Clan together self-willingly, but why does she have to choose the federation? The Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium of True Human Beings also boast independent feelings and self-awareness! Even for the humblest slaves in the Imperium, their bodies may be tortured, and their lives may be reaped, but their feelings and self-awareness will never be deprived!”

Li Yao was utterly dumbfounded.

“Therefore, the Star Glory Federation and the Imperium of True Human Beings are in fact both ‘us’. We are all the rightful heirs to the spirit of the Nuwa Clan.”

The mental devil shook its head and said, “What makes you think that the federation is the only worthy partner in Long Yangjun’s eyes? It is possible that she will find the regime of the Imperium more appealing!”

“Are you serious?” Li Yao thought for a moment and was still not convinced. “Will an elite warrior of the Nuwa Clan identify with the autocracy of the Imperium that boarders on slavery?”

“How do you know that she won’t?” the mental devil sneered. “Few relics of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan have been excavated so far. A tiny Kunlun is far from enough to depict the civilization system and the social stratification in the primeval era hundreds of thousands of years ago. We have no idea at all what kind of political system they adopted. You wouldn’t believe that the Nuwa Clan is necessarily in favor of equality, democracy, freedom and other similar cr*p, would you?”

“Well…” Li Yao was rendered speechless again.

The mental devil’s concerns made a lot of sense.

From the perspective of modern human beings, the Pangu Clan was indeed ‘bad’, but it did not necessarily mean that the Nuwa Clan was ‘good’.

In the collisions and competitions of different civilizations, the notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ were juvenile in the first place.

Perhaps, everybody’s moral standards were entirely different. Many things that the Nuwa Clan and Long Yangjun considered to be self-justified might be utterly outrageous in the eyes of the federation and Li Yao!

However, after considering carefully, Li Yao still believed that there would be more pros than cons if he could establish a partnership with Long Yangjun.

There were no absolutely risk-free deals in the world. If one had to negotiate only after determining that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the potential partner, one would not be able to make any partners at all, much less a partner as strong as Long Yangjun!

Most importantly of all, under normal circumstances, the odds of success for the federation to win against the Imperium were extremely low. They were probably below ten percent.

In a game whose outcome was almost obvious, the potential winner would always try to eliminate all sources of interference, even if the interference might slightly raise the odds of success.

It was because they did not need any unexpected factors to win the game!

As for the potential loser, if they wanted to win the game, they would have to introduce as many unexpected factors as possible, even if the factors were highly dangerous, because even if they avoided the dangerous factors in order to be safe, it was highly probable that they would fail and be doomed in the end!

Therefore, even if Long Yangjun wavered between the federation and the Imperium, introducing the uncertainty was still in the best interests of the federation!

“I do not object to the cooperation with Long Yangjun.” The mental devil immediately understood what was on Li Yao’s mind. It said calmly, “Right now, besides Long Yangjun, there are also Emperor Phoenix and the mysterious force that is backing him in the darkness. It will be tricky to resolve the conundrum if we don’t cooperate with her.

“I’m just saying that, even if we have to cooperate with the ladyboy whose pants might be hiding something that is a shock to everybody, we must stay on high alert and not completely believe everything that she says. We must not be in a hurry to expose all of trump cards, either!”

“Of course!” Li Yao spat. “If I were so idiotic, I would’ve been devoured by you a long time ago, and she wouldn’t even have the chance to!”

Calming himself down, Li Yao cast his eyes to Long Yangjun again, and Long Yangjun happened to be looking at him, deep in thought.

Their eyes entangled and tested each other in midair, but no sparks of hostility burst out.

“Fellow Cultivator Long.” Li Yao coughed for a moment and changed his form of address for her. “Now, you and I have exchanged tremendous intelligence and grasped a lot of each other’s secrets. It appears that going our separate ways is no longer an option. We have only two choices.

“We can fight a bloody battle with each other, in which case we will die together, or one of us may leave the place heavily wounded and extremely feeble.

“Or, we can upgrade our cooperation and join our hands in a more intimate way. We will bind our interests and plans together and integrate them into a whole so that we will gain benefits or suffer losses together!

“You see, after the tiny bit of information we exchanged just now, we have already dug out the secrets about your birth. It suggests that the cooperation between us will definitely do us both good!”

Long Yangjun listened quietly. Then, she suddenly asked, “Have you ever seen anyone like me in your world before?”