Long Yangjun was amused. “‘Immortal Cultivator’ is just a name, a reference, and a mask. A mask can be freely changed, and even the face behind the mask can be entirely deformed, but the man-eating bones below the face have never changed in history.

“The masters of the man-eating bones were known as ‘family elder’, ’emperor’, and ‘deities’ in the age of ancient Cultivators tens of thousands of years ago. In the thirty thousand years of the Great Dark Age, they were ‘Ultimate One Demons’ and ‘saint-blood demons’. When it came to the Star Ocean Imperium, chances were that they got rid of their feathers and fangs and snuck into the Imperium’s army, pretending to be ‘Cultivators’ shamelessly, and eventually leading to the collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium.

“In the thousands of years of bloody wars after the meltdown of the Star Ocean Imperium, they were the warlords, tyrants, dictators, and ‘saviors’ in the universe. After the Star Ocean Republic was established, they corrupted the parliament without anybody knowing it and became the degenerate representatives in it. Naturally, after the rise of the Imperium of True Human Beings, they put on yet another fancy, ostentatious mask and changed their name into ‘Immortal Cultivator’!

“Do you honestly think that Blackstar the Great is the evilest human being in the universe and that there had been no Immortal Cultivators before Wuying Qi thought of the name ‘Immortal Cultivator’? Was it strange at all that the lords and emperors in the ancient times, the Ultimate One Demons in the medieval age, or the corrupted Cultivators in modern times would brainwash and enslave their own kind?”

Li Yao thought carefully for a long time before he replied, “If your deduction is correct, Blackstar the Great is probably greatly related to the whole incident!”

“Yes, that’s what I thought, too. After all, Blackstar the Great and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant rose almost simultaneously. It was exactly because of the Covenant Alliance’s invasion on the Star Ocean Republic that such an abnormal freak as the Imperium of True Human Beings was created. In the meantime, it was because Wuying Qi usurped the supreme power of the Star Ocean Republic that a civil war broke out, giving the Alliance of the Holy Covenant more opportunities to corrode the worlds at the center of the cosmos.”

Long Yangjun said, “We discussed before how Wuying Qi could steal the country as a foreigner after only working in the border defense army of the Star Ocean Republic for decades. It was simply too fast and too incredible.

“Was the Star Ocean Republic at that time really so decayed and corrupted that not a single general who was familiar with wars could be found, and Wuying Qi had to be the only candidate to save the day?

“But if we make the bold assumption that Wuying Qi was associated with the initial people of the Covenant Alliance, it would be much more reasonable.

“Wuying Qi was not necessarily the mastermind who ordered the production of the first people of the Covenant Alliance, but chances were that he was involved in the whole incident as an assistant or an observer. From the excavation of the primeval relics to the production of ‘demi-humans’ to the awakening and revolt of the ‘demi-humans’, resulting in the complete loss of control at the edge of the cosmos… It was possible that he experienced everything in person!

“Maybe he reached certain deals with the people of the Covenant Alliance who had awakened their Path of Ultimate Benevolence? It was highly likely. The people of the Covenant Alliance have only lost their feelings and desires but not the ability of rational thinking. On the contrary, many people of the Covenant Alliance boasted rigid but extraordinary computational abilities like spiritual puppets. As long as Wuying Qi raised attractive terms, say, he would help the Covenant Alliance spread its influence to the center of the cosmos, I think that the people of the Covenant Alliance would’ve considered such cooperation.

“Or maybe Wuying Qi was not just cooperating with the Covenant Alliance but also in possession of certain ways to manipulate part of the people of the Covenant Alliance, allowing his orders to override the Path of Ultimate Benevolence. Isn’t that a possibility?

“In any case, Wuying Qi and the Covenant Alliance reached a certain tacit agreement. Conspiring with each other, they carved up the Star Ocean Republic at the center of the cosmos that was reestablished after all the trouble. As a result, the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance became two pythons that entangled each other.

“Later, what exactly led to the fallout of the alliance between Wuying Qi and the Covenant Alliance? Was it because the Path of Ultimate Benevolence of the Covenant Alliance became more extreme and zealous, making them unable to tolerate such an ambitious man like Wuying Qi who was full of desires, or was it because Wuying Qi completely unveiled his schemes, where he was going to replace the primeval gods and rule over all the people in the universe with a supreme stature?

“We don’t know exactly what happened.

“However, if we view Blackstar the Great’s rebirth from that point of view, it will be much more reasonable. Why was he bold enough to surface at such a critical moment, at the risk of causing a civil war in the Imperium, against common sense? Was he not scared that the army of the Covenant Alliance would advance and take the advantage when he and the four Kurfürst families were engaged in a fierce war?

“He is a great man of the time from whatever perspective. It is impossible that he neglected the possibility and just let other people take advantage. The only explanation is that Wuying Qi may interfere with or control the Covenant Alliance’s strategies on a certain level to some extent!”

Li Yao’s pupils constricted quickly. He said coldly, “Yes. Perhaps Blackstar the Great did not reject the people from the Covenant Alliance. The only problem is, how can they worship the Pangu Clan who were gone hundreds of thousands of years ago? The people of the Covenant Alliance should worship him and regard him as the supreme god and savior!

“Before his fight with me, Wuying Qi expressed his abhorrence against the ‘false Immortal Cultivators’, claiming that he had a way to settle the ‘false Immortal Cultivators’ once and for all. At that time, I thought that he was just bragging. After all, the universe is too vast and boundless. Who could he count on if he intended to rule over the three thousand Sectors without those ‘false Immortal Cultivators’? But now that I think of it, if he can redefine the Path of Ultimate Benevolence and ‘reboot’ the brains of the people of the Covenant Alliance, is it possible that he can turn himself into a god of the Covenant Alliance?

“The selfless, tireless, fearless people of the Covenant Alliance who never disobey will be the best tools for him to curb the ‘false Immortal Cultivators’. They will be the puppet sabers that will absolutely carry out his will to the end!”

Long Yangjun put on a rigid smile and said, “You’re thinking much further than me. But on second thought, your theory is indeed self-consistent and explains why Blackstar the Great chose to rise at such a moment.

“However, it is not related to what’s happening right now, and we need more pieces of evidence to consolidate our speculations. Let’s go!”

Li Yao was stunned. “What?”

“Let’s go now!”

Long Yangjun said matter-of-factly, “You too have seen that the Great Iron Plants is in chaos and Nepenthe has been exposed to the Immortal Cultivators. The situation is beyond control. Do you want to die with the Nepenthe believers?”

Li Yao shook his head slightly, focusing his eyes on the burning battlefield.

He had been observing the battlefield since the beginning, mostly the fixed firing points, the automatic turrets, and the pivots of the defense rune arrays.

At this moment, tremendous battlefield parameters were flooding into his eyes incessantly, and a detailed combat plan was being generated quickly deep inside his brain.

“You know that I can’t run away from such things,” Li Yao said softly.

“Are you serious?”

Long Yangjun looked at him in disbelief. “You are even sicker now? You can’t be that stupid, can you? Do you have any idea about your body conditions? Tell me the truth, can your broken soul sustain you in the Nascent Soul Stage for two minutes?”

Li Yao sniffed and said determinedly, “Vulture Li Yao has seen worse in the thousand dangerous battles from the edge of the cosmos to the center of it over the past hundred years. I may have suffered certain minor wounds after the battle with Blackstar the Great, but you are greatly underestimating me if you think that I can only do it for two minutes! However weak I am right now, I can easily maintain the Nascent Soul Stage for two and a half minutes!”

Long Yangjun smiled even more hideously. “Fine, fine, fine. Let’s say that you can keep yourself in the Nascent Soul Stage for three minutes, then what? The Nascent Soul Stage does not mean invincibility. Your enemy has thousands of the most advanced battle puppets. Let’s say that each of them launches a hundred super-tiny self-exploding flying swords at you. Just calculate how many of them there will be in total. Are you sure that your body can handle it?

“Besides, Li Minghui has so many Immortal Cultivators under his command. Do you know that enough ants can bite an elephant to death?”

“It doesn’t matter!”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao blinked his big and sparkling eyes and looked at Long Yangjun full of expectations. “Even if I am too heavily wounded to fight anymore, I still have two life-and-death brothers with me who will certainly try their best to help me resist the Immortal Cultivators!”

Long Yangjun: “… Two? One of them is Li Jialing, but who is this other one? It can’t be me, right?”

Li Yao nodded his head quickly. “Yes!”

“Cut the crap. I remember that a certain somebody drew a line two days ago and said that I was not his ‘best friend’ but just a ‘regular friend’. You can’t expect a regular friend to help you resist the infinite wrath of Blackstar the Great, right?”

Long Yangjun spat on the ground and declared angrily, “Most importantly of all, this battle is utterly meaningless. The Nepenthe believers are asking to be killed. Their riot does not concern the big picture and will not change anything at all.

“If they win temporarily, the days below the ground will not be brighter. If they are entirely wiped out, the situation will not be any worse! In the great game of the Cultivators, the Immortal Cultivators, the people of the Covenant Alliance, the extraterrestrial devils, and perhaps the primeval races, the insignificant battle here can barely be called a spindrift.

“Therefore, if you are ruthless enough to challenge Blackstar the Great, I’ll more or less understand you, and even if you are killed by Blackstar the Great, it will not be a disgrace for ‘Vulture Li Yao, dominator of three Sectors’. It will be a rather brilliant and glorious way of death.

“But you are now going to participate in an insignificant, meaningless battle, together with a bunch of miners and farmers, expecting to be beleaguered and killed by the spiritual puppets and the low-level Immortal Cultivators? What… What’s wrong with your head? Is it meaningful? Does such a way of death carry any significance?”

Long Yangjun seemed to be rather angry about Li Yao’s stupidity. She was grabbing Li Yao’s shoulders hard while trying to press her roars into his unreasonable brain.