Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao was already choking with sobs after saying everything, and he covered his mouth as if he was going to throw up. However, leaking through his fingers was only thick blood.

The queen looked at him emotionlessly and continued to ask, “Whom did you side with, the Speaker or the captain? Kill 80% to save 20%, or let everybody die together?”

“I… I don’t know. I did not side with anyone.”

Li Yao smiled in the most miserable way. “Mad. They were all mad. All the Cultivators on board attacked each other like lunatics and animals. For Firefly, which was a ragged starship that had wandered for a thousand years in the first place, a war that broke out from inside was catastrophic.

“One starship after another was blown up from inside. Whatever few precious supplies were obliterated in the explosions or absorbed into the cold vacuum together with the corpses of the Cultivators, making the environment even more unfavorable for the survivors, who had to continue brutalizing each other for the resources that were fewer and fewer, until everybody turned into broken body and pulps of blood and meat.

“Although I claimed to be the top expert on Firefly, and I had a well-maintained Colossus that was full of ammunition on my back, what could I have done? Even if I could suppress the leadership including the captain and the Speaker, could I make air, water, and food out of thin air? Could I revive the deceased? Could I bring new hope to the people who had wandered for a thousand years?

“I couldn’t. I was at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage back then, and I still can’t do it right now although I have advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage.

“Looking at my comrades and compatriots of the past fighting each other hard, giving such a despicable performance that was even more appalling than the Immortal Cultivators in tales, I absolutely couldn’t find any solution. There was a crack in my heart, and I began to suspect the beliefs of the Cultivators. My soul was so terribly disordered that I almost suffered mental derangement.

“Right when I was doing my best resisting the inner demon and stabilizing my soul, Firefly was completely destroyed, and even my pop did not survive it. At the last moment, he told me everything and gave me a small starship that he modified in secret. He asked me not to abandon the beliefs of the Cultivators because of Firefly’s tragedy, and to go to the Imperium of True Human Beings to see how the world of the Immortal Cultivators operates. He believed that I would not change my attitude after careful consideration but live and fight on as a Cultivator.

“Most importantly of all, he asked me to look for you.

“Perhaps, my pop believed that you could save me, who no longer knew the distinctions between Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators anymore because of the collapsing beliefs, and that I… could save you too!”

“Hilarious!”

The queen seemed to have been stung by a bee. “Why did he think I needed saving?”

“That I don’t know.”

Li Yao opened his hands and said, “It is my guess—and MY guess only—that based on my pop’s deep affections and the few words he mentioned when he was drunk, the Li Linghai in his memories was definitely not a cruel, heartless, and inhuman Immortal Cultivator, but a kind, innocent woman full of humanities, or even… a good wife and a good mother.

“Perhaps he thought that the dark and cold Imperium of True Human Beings would sooner or later deform you, but he believed that something unchangeable must be hidden deep inside your heart, and that my arrival would help you activate the something again and find back who you used to be.”

“Shut up!”

The queen shouted angrily again. Her gracefulness and inviolability at the beginning were thrown away, and she declared in obvious fury, “Whatever I am, it is not your place to judge me or to save me!”

“As I said, it is just my guess.”

Li Yao said, “Perhaps my pop only wanted me to give you a hand with my extraordinary combat ability and my powerful Colossus. Simple as that.”

“Huh…”

The queen was obviously tempted.

No matter what, an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage plus a Colossus was definitely not a random present that she could see every day.

Li Yao was different from Li Lingfeng. Li Lingfeng had his own supporters, forces, ambitions, and complicated connections. Even if the two of them really cooperated, there would be tremendous trouble. It was needless to say the possible conspiracies and even secret plots against each other.

Therefore, Li Linghai would rather kill her biological brother to resolve the trouble once and for all than work with him.

But Li Yao was different.

He was an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage who had zero backgrounds and dependencies and who could be loyal enough to her “theoretically”.

As long as there was the slightest opportunity, nobody would wish a Divinity Transformation Stage expert to be their enemy instead of their ally.

“Go on.”

The queen thought hard for a long time, only to come up with no loopholes in Li Yao’s statement.

The scenes that Li Yao described were in no contradiction to all her known intelligence. They also matched the classic deductions made by the specialists of the Imperium.

Therefore, after pondering for a moment, she simply said, “Tell me your stories in the Martial Meritocrats Sector. Why did you risk ruining ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’?”

“The Martial Meritocrats Sector was the first stop after I jumped to the Imperium of True Human Beings.”

Li Yao said quickly, “I chose this place for a simple reason. The patterned tidal outbursts of the Devilish Scorpion Nebula was a natural gargantuan star beacon that could significantly improve the accuracy of my jump. After all, the navigation system of my super tiny starship was not so reliable.

“After I jumped to the Martial Meritocrats Sector in the Devilish Scorpion Nebula, I naturally was filled with indignity when I saw so many ordinary people struggling in pain on the Land of Sins, and I made up my mind to help them.

“Before, I did not plan to make such a huge scene. I only hoped to sneak into ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’ to steal some intelligence before I figured out what to do next. However, the discovery of Li Jialing disrupted my whole plan.

“On one hand, I had to distract everyone’s attention with an astounding performance so that he could run away. On the other hand, I still wanted to save the ordinary people in the Martial Meritocrats Sector. Furthermore, and perhaps a selfish reason, my belief was on the verge of collapse after the destruction of Firefly, and I needed a gratifying battle to reinstate my belief as a Cultivator.

“Because of the three reasons, the battle took place. You should know what happened later since you were lurking not far away after all.

“This is about the whole story. You can choose to believe it or not, and you can choose to kill me or not!”

Li Yao held his head high and bulged his eyes after he was done, like a statue that was marching to a battle valiantly.

Li Linghai was silent for a long time, and there was still not the slightest expression on her face.

But the drastically changing thunderstorm in the sky more or less revealed the intense debates of her with herself in the heart.

In the end, the queen took a long breath and said coldly, “If I do not kill you, what will you do?”

Li Yao smiled, his eyes glittering. “In that case, I’ll certainly abide by my pop’s last words and follow Your Grace, to protect you and to be protected by you, to save you and to be saved by you!”

“Shut up. Like I said, I need neither your protection nor your salvation!”

The queen seemed to have had enough of Li Yao’s wittiness, and her face was brimming with killing intent as she glared at Li Yao for a long time. Then, something occurred to her. She managed to hold back her urge and said, “Right, did he ask you to bring anything to me?”

Li Yao blinked his eyes and nodded his head. “He did. It is a… or half a weird metal stick that looks like some sort of key.”

The brilliance in the queen’s eyes flashed, and she demanded, “Give it to me!”

Li Yao, however, shook his head. “No.”

“Huh?”

The queen’s killing intent turned into visible wind blades that were released from her crazily dancing white hair. “I beg your pardon?”

“I promised my pop that I would give his last item to the ‘real’ Li Linghai.”

Li Yao calmed down as he went on, “However, according to what I have seen today, everything that Your Grace did was far from what the Li Linghai that my pop talked about would have done. I will never give my pop’s most precious item to such a random Li Linghai.

“Even if I have lost my home, my compatriots, and my family, even if I have been reduced into nothingness and desperation, and even if my beliefs are collapsing and I can’t be more confused right now, I still have the dignity of an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage!

“Your Grace, your level is higher than mine, your techniques better than mine, and you may have a myriad of powerful magical equipment in your Cosmos Rings. If you are determined to kill me, I won’t be your match at all.

“But you must believe me. Even if I may inevitably be killed by you, I will certainly be able to destroy the Cosmos Ring and make it impossible for you to find the half key before my death!”

“Are you threatening me?”

Li Linghai’s white hair stood up, and she couldn’t have looked more intimidating. One word after another, she declared resolutely, “The queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings does not take any threats!”

“This is not a threat, but only a statement of facts.”

Li Yao struggled on as he said, “If you want to get the half key, there will be only two ways. Either you are convinced by me and transformed into the woman that my pop loved or even… a Cultivator, or you can persuade me into believing in the true path of immortality so that I will be a hardcore, pure, and unquestionable Immortal Cultivator!”

The queen stared at Li Yao gloomily.

Li Yao looked back at the queen with all of his spiritual energy, not giving in at all.

Even Li Jialing was glaring at the queen with a pair of eyes that couldn’t have been wider while hiding behind Li Yao’s back.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Dazzling sparks were raised in the collision of eyes. Every spark exploded like a crystal bomb, burning into an ocean of flames among the three of them.

The competition of their eyes even eclipsed the thunderstorm outside.

Suddenly, something amazing happened!

The queen grunted and vomited blood. She was defeated!

She appeared aggressive and dominating a moment ago, but she was like a collapsed reservoir right now. She couldn’t have looked more lethargic!

She was even barely able to keep herself steady and almost fell to the ground.

What the heck?

Li Yao wondered since when had his eyes become so awesome. For as long as he could remember, he had only been practicing his tongue and his face.

“Be careful!”

The mental devil took the opportunity to remind him. “She seems to be playing tricks!”