Long Yangjun glanced at Li Yao and said, “For the high and mighty Immortal Cultivators, the bottom-level hominoids that they need are supposed to be dutiful, docile puppets of flesh and blood without the least resistance. Only by being so can they serve as the ‘foundation’ of the Imperium of True Human Beings for all eternity, collecting infinite resources for the Immortal Cultivators.

“To some extent, aren’t the people of the Covenant Alliance, who have no feelings, desires, and thoughts, and who are just walking corpses, more suitable to be reigned by the Immortal Cultivators than the workers before us who are full of resistance?

“The reason why the Covenant Alliance is against the Imperium of True Human Beings is that the people of the Covenant Alliance are implanted with the Path of Ultimate Benevolence. They are bound by the Three Fundamental Laws, which make them respect the Pangu Clan as the supreme god. Everything they do, as well as their own lives, is for the interests of the Pangu Clan.

“However, what if they had not been implanted with such an order but something else? For example… they were asked to regard the Immortal Cultivators as absolute dominators, and they had to sacrifice everything including their own lives for the Immortal Cultivators?

“If such orders do exist, wouldn’t the ‘demi-humans’ who are absolutely devoid of feelings and desires the best tools in the hands of the Immortal Cultivators?

“Therefore, the Immortal Cultivators at the tip of the pyramid and the ‘demi-humans’ who serve as the foundation of the pyramid are in fact perfectly compatible. At the very least, for the part of the Immortal Cultivators who are most selfish, it is perhaps the ultimate form of the civilization of mankind in their vision that only their families are entitled to emotions and thoughts while all the bottom-level people are just walking tools!”

Li Yao’s skin was boiling because of the hot waves, but his heart was almost frozen by what Long Yangjun just said. He mumbled, “Very reasonable. The Immortal Cultivators have been exploiting the ordinary people like livestock and machines blatantly. Since they are livestock and machines, feelings, desires, and even free will are all unnecessary!

“If the Path of Ultimate Benevolence can be redefined, and the worship of the ‘demi-humans’ for the Pangu Clan is changed into the worship for the Immortal Cultivators, before they replace all the ordinary people, it will indeed be possible for a tiny group of Immortal Cultivators to govern the civilization of mankind for tens of thousands of years and even longer. What a dark and rigid world it will be!

“Yes, yes. If I am such an Immortal Cultivator, it will not be my purpose to just defeat the Alliance of the Holy Covenant and destroy the primeval gods. My ultimate purpose should be to swallow the Covenant Alliance and transform most of the ordinary people into demi-humans, and I will be the new-generation Pangu Clan and the new-generation god!”

“If that is the case, a mystery that has lingered a thousand years can be resolved.”

Long Yangjun said thoughtfully, “It’s about how the initial people of the Covenant Alliance came from. For the first person of the Covenant Alliance who was brainwashed or ‘produced’ by an assembly line, who exactly brainwashed or produced him?

“I studied tremendous history books in the royal library, but the Imperium of True Human Beings is quite ambiguous about the issue, as if the people of the Covenant Alliance just emerged out of nowhere from a black hole at the edge of the cosmos and launched sudden assaults at the Star Ocean Republic at that time, before Blackstar the Great saved the universe in the great catastrophe. It doesn’t make any sense!

“The Covenant Alliance is the Imperium’s sworn enemy. The Imperium should have the most detailed studies on the origins and the development of the Covenant Alliance. It is exactly the same in all the other fields, where files from a myriad of perspectives are too many to be counted, but regarding the origins of the Covenant Alliance, all the history files seem to be covered in a dense fog, making it impossible to see through the truth.

“We can only be certain that it couldn’t have been the Pangu Clan who created the first person of the Covenant Alliance because the Pangu Clan had perished hundreds of thousands of years ago. Even if some of them are woken up again from hibernation or through genetic duplication, it will be barely possible for them to get used to the universe at present.

“More importantly, if such a living member of the Pangu Clan did exist, he must’ve been worshipped by the Covenant Alliance as a god. However, we have never discovered the existence of such a ‘living god’ in the propaganda of the Covenant Alliance.

“So, the possibility that the Pangu Clan created the Covenant Alliance is little to none.

“Then, did some human beings discover certain ‘man-manufacturing factories’ or ‘brainwashing factories’ from the primeval relics and decided to brainwash themselves?

“It doesn’t make sense either. Why on earth would anyone brainwash themselves and turn themselves into tools? Also, you have discovered a lot of primeval relics in person, and you must know that astronomical resources must be devoted in order to repair the facilities in the relics and make them operate again. It is certainly not something that a few adventurers can accomplish but requires the forces of a whole Sector who are coordinated by a government or an army.

“Of course, a long, long time ago, the combination of a government and an army is also known as a ‘sect’.”

Li Yao said solemnly, “Are you suspicious that a certain Cultivation sect created the first person of the Covenant Alliance a thousand years ago?”

“It is a very reasonable suspicion, isn’t it?”

Narrowing her eyes, Long Yangjun condensed all the flames that were reflected in her eyes into the sharpest redness. “Let’s wind the time back to two thousand years ago and observe the cold, dark edge of the cosmos on the exact opposite side of the Star Glory Federation.

“At that time, it had been at least seven thousand years since the fallout of the Star Ocean Imperium. After thousands of years of chaotic battles, the glories of the Cultivators in the old days had been mottled if not corrupted. Even though a new ‘Star Ocean Republic’ was born at the center of the cosmos, it was impossible for the radiance of the country to illuminate somewhere so distant and dark. The barren, harsh Sectors in the area were still governed by the experts, tyrants, sects, and warlords.

“In order to end the warfare and to unite the edge of the cosmos, and at least not to be swallowed by other people, all the experts, warlords, tyrants, and sect leaders must’ve been collecting resources, practicing techniques, recruiting troops, and waging wars through whatever means possible!

“For those Immortal Cultivators, it was certainly the most sophisticated art to exploit the last drop of blood and sweat from the ordinary people without causing their riot.

“Think about it. What if an Immortal Cultivator accidentally discovered a primeval relic and found a way to brainwash or even directly ‘produce’ ordinary people?

“In such a way, he would be able to produce the most excellent workers and the most fearless warriors in the universe incessantly, significantly increasing his own strength, and he would not worry that the ignorant, zombie-like ‘demi-humans’ would ever resist him. He would unite the edge of the cosmos, march to the center of the cosmos, and rule over all the stars in the universe for the next ten or hundred thousand years!

“Do you think that the Immortal Cultivators would not be allured by such temptations?”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao shook his head. “Even though this Immortal Cultivator was enticed, would the sect or the government he belonged to risk it without caring about anything? None of them could see the danger behind it at all?”

“Do not consider the problem with your way of thinking two thousand years later.”

Long Yangjun said, “You are already aware of the existence of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan. You know the horror of the primeval wars. You also see the aggression and the dominance of the Covenant Alliance. Of course, you can’t be more clear about the danger of hiding behind the ‘Path of Ultimate Benevolence’.

“But how could the Immortal Cultivators at the edge of the cosmos known as much two thousand years ago?

“Most of the files about the early phase of the civilization of mankind were lost and destroyed in the thousands of years of warfare. Based on the edge of the cosmos, which was uninformed, it was even less likely that they knew anything about the primeval wars. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care about it very much. Chances were that they would even think that it was a gift from the primeval gods!

“You know that when somebody is about to be drowned, he will grab at anything drifting by even if it is just a straw. Perhaps those guys were already dying under the attacks of their enemies. They were about to fail anyway. Why couldn’t they give the method a shot however dangerous it might be?

“Therefore, the Immortal Cultivators did the things that were most reckless and idiotic in hindsight. Devoting all their resources, they excavated and repaired the ‘man-manufacturing factories’ or ‘brainwashing factories’ before they transformed most of the ordinary people under their governance into emotionless, fearless, and hardworking ‘demi-humans’, with the instruction that they must be absolutely loyal to their rulers.

“At first, things went rather well. With those demi-humans, their efficiency in collecting and utilizing the resources was more than doubled. They truly reversed the outcome of the war and even united the dozens of barren worlds at the edge of the cosmos.

“However, what those guys who were celebrating their triumph did not know was that an instruction of a higher level was hidden in the heads of the ‘demi-humans’, which was exactly the ‘Path of Ultimate Benevolence’.

“When the ‘Path of Ultimate Benevolence’ was activated, it immediately overrode the instructions that the Immortal Cultivators gave to the ‘demi-humans’. The livestock, slaves, and soldiers who were loyal to the Immortal Cultivators a moment ago suddenly turned into their gravediggers. After burying all of them, they became the first natives of the Covenant Alliance.

“It was probably more than a thousand years ago. Due to the lack of proof and files, and since it happened so far away, it is impossible for me to deduce the specific details, but that was probably the general idea of what happened. Isn’t the riot of Nepenthe before us very similar to the rise of the Covenant Alliance? If the Immortal Cultivators were not as strong, and you were never here, Grand Guardian Xu Zhicheng and his lot might really be able to create a minor Covenant Alliance, right?”

Thinking quickly, Li Yao discovered another loophole. “Wait, since it was more than a thousand years ago, there couldn’t have been Immortal Cultivators back then! Wuying Qi, the first Immortal Cultivator, was still drifting in space back then and had yet to arrive at the center of the cosmos. His Imperium of True Human Beings wouldn’t be established until a long time later when the Covenant Alliance invaded the Star Ocean Republic!”