Lost for words, Li Linghai asked in a shivering voice, with the ripples of desperation spreading out of her eyes, “What… What about ‘Vulture Li Yao’? He could absorb the strength in the Imperial Fire Pearl too. Although he was not as fast as Li Jialing, he was significantly better than the members of the royal family that had been tested before. It was indicative enough that he did not reject Your Majesty’s strength.

“Besides, his level is higher than Li Jialing’s, and he is already in the Divinity Transformation Stage. He must be strong enough to accommodate Your Majesty’s powerful soul!”

“Vulture Li Yao is indeed a rather excellent carrier.”

After a brief silence, the shadow said, “I don’t think he lied about being the foster son of the guy from the Covenant Alliance. After absorbing part of my strength, the guy from the Covenant Alliance escaped to the edge of the cosmos in a hurry and fostered a child. Then, perhaps the strength was delivered into his foster son’s body by him without him knowing it, or his foster son absorbed it voluntarily.

“Therefore, this Vulture Li Yao is deeply associated with me too. His fate and mine are entwined too. It is not surprising that he could digest the strength in the Imperial Fire Pearl.

“However, since the man rose to a high place in the regime of the remaining rebellions of the Star Ocean Republic, he must’ve experienced a series of fortuitous events in the past, which filled his body with a myriad of uncanny forces. In my senses, his body is like a multicolored dye vat and not nearly as pure as Li Jialing’s.

“Besides, after a hundred years of experiences, and since he used to be a powerful man in the past, his soul has already been fixed, and his beliefs will not be changed easily. There will be a lot of unnecessary risks if I am to invade and occupy his body.

“Furthermore, for those who have advanced into my level, we have a lot of mysterious visions and prophecies that you cannot understand. I have sensed that there are many secrets to this Vulture Li Yao, and I felt a cold warning that I must not try to possess the man whenever I studied the man’s files. Otherwise, I might embrace my doom, and it would be very likely that I fail to possess him and he simply melts my remaining soul in the end.

“Therefore, I will not possess him in any case. I would rather beat this Vulture Li Yao into smithereens, even if it will be a great waste of his great body, than try to steal his brain!

“Naturally, the man’s Cultivation and wisdom are among the best. His shameless character and his sordid combat style are also my favorites. If he can kneel before my feet genuinely, what’s the harm of sparing his life? But if he doesn’t, I’ll have other ways to deal with him too. That shouldn’t be your concern!”

“I know what to do.”

Li Linghai, however, was not entirely convinced. Sobbing, she asked, “Your Majesty, is—is Li Jialing really the only option?”

“Hehe. Rise and look at me!”

Thousands of tentacles suddenly extended out of the shadow and grabbed Li Linghai’s limbs and neck, dragging her right next to the shadow.

The shadow had almost turned into a gigantic mouth that was about to swallow Li Linghai. “I have been reborn today not to be a mediocre emperor for another one or two hundred years, but to revolutionize the Imperium and to create an enterprise that will not change for all eternity!

“Why has the Imperium of True Human Beings been corrupted to the point of dying? Why do the local magnates in the universe turn a blind eye to the Empyreal Terminus Sector? Why are the clowns such as the ‘four Kurfürst families’ bold enough to usurp the power? The only reason is that my ideas were abandoned immediately after I died!

“The bloody lessons in the past thousand years have taught me that to create an enterprise that will not degenerate, I must remain alive forever and be the only emperor of the civilization of mankind in the next thousands of years!

“To achieve eternal life, a perfect carrier is indispensable. I am not pursuing an eternal life for my personal interests, and Li Jialing is not dying to meet my personal desires. Our lives and deaths are all for the Imperium, for the longevity of the realm, and for the civilization of mankind!

“Look at me and tell me, are you not disappointed at the Imperium of True Human Beings today, and do you not want to eradicate all the worthless, selfish, and conspiratorial scoundrels so that the sun will shine in the Imperium again?”

Dark air flowed from the depths of the shadow and split into thousands of streaks, which then crawled into Li Linghai’s almost transparent eyes.

Blackness flashed in Li Linghai’s eyes. Her face was somewhat inert and stagnant at first, but then it became determined.

“… I do!”

The queen of the Imperium gritted her teeth.

“Do you not want to combine the forces of the four Kurfürst families and hundreds of Sectors into an invincible, indestructible army, to completely annihilate the Covenant Alliance, save the civilization of mankind, and ensure the prosperity of the entire universe?” the shadow continued asking.

“I do!”

Li Linghai’s voice was firmer and louder.

“Do you not want the Imperium of True Human Beings to surpass the Star Ocean Imperium in the past or even the primeval civilizations hundreds of thousands of years ago, stomping on all the species that were once gods for us, so that mankind will be the only ‘god’ in the entire universe?” The shadow’s voice was more and more dominating and insane.

“I do! Mankind, as the strongest fighting species in the universe, should be the only true god!”

Li Linghai’s eyes were boiling, and countless tiny black bubbles were flowing deep inside her transparent eyes.

“Then, pay sacrifices!”

The dominance and madness of the shadow were suddenly entirely concealed. Calmer than ever, it said casually, “For the Imperium, for the civilization of mankind, everybody can and must be sacrificed, including myself! It is easy to die a hero’s death, but it is terribly difficult to live and work for the civilization of mankind for a hundred thousand years. As the supreme commander of all ‘true human beings’, I will naturally walk on the difficult path, but I also need the sacrifices of a lot of people to give me a hand!

“Besides, I promised you that I would be careful and try to preserve Li Jialing’s soul, didn’t I?”

The shadow’s voice suddenly softened.

Li Linghai was like someone drowning who caught the last straw, although there was no telling whether it was a straw or a viper. Her eyeballs shivering violently, she asked, “Is… Is it true, Your Majesty?”

“Of course it is true. What I want is his body. Is his soul of any use for me?”

The shadow smiled and said, “If everything goes well, after I occupy his body, his soul will be sent into an artificial body, and he will live for another hundreds of years as a spectral Cultivator. Despite the minor inconvenience in training, his daily life will not be greatly affected. Can you not live with that?”

“I-I certainly can.”

Li Linghai was overjoyed but somewhat found it hard to believe. She hesitated and asked, “I wonder, how much confidence does Your Majesty have to preserve Li Jialing’s soul?”

“Hehe!”

The shadow snorted and became aggressive again. “Are you questioning my abilities?”

“I-I daren’t!”

Li Linghai shuddered hard and kneeled deeply again. “I daren’t at all. I misspoke because I cared about him too much.”

“If you are really concerned about the safety of Li Jialing’s soul, go and persuade him to cooperate with me. As long as he cooperates with me obediently without any struggle, nothing will go wrong at all.”

The shadow said, “However, if he is obstinate enough to resist his destiny under the instigation of the rogues such as ‘Vulture Li Yao’, I cannot say what will happen during the transference of souls!

“Therefore, the safety of Li Jialing’s soul is not up to me but all lies in your hands. Think carefully about what you are going to do!”

Li Linghai’s body trembled. With the craziness of what a mother beast could do to protect her cub, she panted and said, “I-I understand what I have to do now.”

“Good. I knew that you wouldn’t disappoint me!”

The shadow laughed aloud. “The refinement of the three Divinity Transformation Stage experts is almost done. Right now, five forces, namely the four Kurfürst families and the reformists, have been gathered in the sky of the Silver Moon Ocean. Their strength seems overwhelming, but they, in fact, each have their own plans and are highly wary of each other, exactly like the battle here just now.

“Let’s go and tame the forces above the Silver Moon Ocean, find Li Yao and Li Jialing, suppress the entire capital, and then… reclaim the Imperium!”

The raging shadow slowly retreated into Li Linghai’s pores and melted into her long shadow, nowhere to be seen again.

Deep inside the black fog, the roars and moans of the three experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage all weakened, but their air was getting stronger and stronger, as well as more chaotic and evil.

On Li Linghai’s face, her weakness and hesitation when she confronted the shadow just now were entirely gone. The toughness and solemnity of the queen of the Imperium and the leader of the reformists occupied her face again as an indestructible mask.

She narrowed her eyes at the Silver Moon Ocean, with sparks splashing out. There was no telling what was on her mind.

…

Deep inside the Silver Moon Ocean, Li Jialing was utterly ignorant about his fate to be a “soul container”. He was still waiting at the edge of the battlefield obediently for Li Yao who had gone to nobody knew where.

At first, he was indeed clearing the small fries at the edge of the battlefield as per Li Yao’s instruction. However, few enemies were able to run to his place after passing so many defense lines. After clearing up the few small fries, he grew bored and stared at the center of the chaotic battlefield in a daze.

His hands and his veins were itching, and he was wondering if he should also go on a rampage and show himself off like Brother Yao did.

To be honest, it was not in his nature to pursue a free, unrestricted life. That was only the reverse psychology after living more than ten years of suffocative life when he was imprisoned and refined by Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan. You wanted to incarcerate me, so I wanted freedom. Nothing more.

Now that he had truly obtained freedom, Li Jialing found that his real nature was… Well, Li Jialing did not know what his real nature was either. After all, it was quite normal for an adolescent who was less than twenty years old to be confused about his life.

However, because of the training with the fragment of the Imperial Fire Pearl recently, his Cultivation had been soaring like the mushrooms after a rain. His strength was almost overflowing from all his internal organs and veins. His fists were itchier and itchier too. In such a fierce battle, he found it difficult to contain himself from going on a killing spree.

The feeling was almost like his first ejaculation in the middle of a night while he was still in a dream a few years ago. It was simply a natural instinct that could not be controlled at all!