by <unknown>
The tokens had been baptized with the blood of the many experts from the five worlds of Immortal Cultivators. After the experts branded their unique spiritual stripes into the tokens with their blood, it was equal to their own signature and stood for the absolute submission of themselves and the forces they belonged to.
Other than that, there were two more items.
The first one was a battle emblem that had been carved into the shape of a black hurricane but also had a lot of moveable components. After Li Yao held the emblem in his hand and inputted spiritual energy into it, the emblem would automatically reshape into a portable crystal processor that covered his wrist.
It was the 'seal' of the Black Wind King. The confidential information about the five worlds of Immortal Cultivators and the Black Wind Fleet was all stored inside. Together with the telepathic thoughts of the user, it could also trigger a special stamp, which was the identity symbol and personal signature of the Black Wind King. At least within the territory of the Imperium, it would encounter no obstacles.
The second item was a finely made scepter that was carved with the lightning trident of the Imperium of True Human Beings. It was the commander's scepter that the emperor had granted to the general commander of the expedition army.
After the scepter was opened from the middle, a jade chip with an astonishing storage space would be seen. It was used to record all the military accomplishments in the expedition. After the victory, the jade chip would be delivered back to the capital city for scanning and reviewing. The relevant personnel would be able to receive rewards from the emperor based on the records and redeem different benefits.
The jade chip had stored the information of all the galaxies and sailing routes that the Black Wind Fleet had passed in the hundred-year expedition. It was a map from the Imperium to the federation, or rather, from the federation to the Imperium.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The portable crystal processor that represented the Black Wind King boasted the function of automatic adjustment and memory. It covered Li Yao's left wrist in the most comfortable way and brought no hindrance at all as if it were a second layer of skin.
The scepter, on the other hand, was neither too light nor too heavy. There was no telling what it was made of, but it felt smooth and warm. One would inevitably feel reluctant to let go of it once they grabbed it.
Li Yao smiled. Playing with the item for a while, he simply put the commander's scepter back on the metal tray as if it were not a big deal before waving his hands and absorbing it as well as the five tokens into his Cosmos Ring.
"Are we good?" Li Yao turned around and looked at Di Feiwen. "I have shown you enough respect by not wearing a vest, a pair of slippers, and dying my hair into multiple colors as I said I would a few days ago. Just cut off all the redundant formalities!"
"This is already all of it." Di Feiwen lowered his head deeply. "However, aren't you going to say anything to us? We are an army that just surrendered after all, and we are all uneasy and confused about the future."
"Huh…" Li Yao thought for a moment. Waving his hands at the Immortal Cultivators whose nerves and muscles had been intensified to the maximal point half in reverence and half in anxiety, he said, "Sit down now. Let's talk. What? No seats are arranged? Fine. We can sit on the ground. Let's have a nice talk."
While talking, he sat on the ground and crossed his legs, blinking his eyes and looking at the many Immortal Cultivators.
The Immortal Cultivators looked at each other in bewilderment, not expecting the new Black Wind King to be so casual. But now that the 'slaughterer of deities and devils and destroyer of space gates' had sat directly on the ground, were they bold enough not to follow him?
Amid awkward coughs, the Immortal Cultivators sat on the cold deck one after another. The more they looked at each other, the weirder they felt, especially the experts in the Core Formation Stage and the Nascent Soul Stage. They were quite ill at ease to see themselves and their companions on the ground.
"I heard your vow just now. It was very good and very impressive. 'Supreme master' and whatnot truly made me elated."
Seeing that everybody had sat on the ground cross-legged like him, Li Yao nodded in great satisfaction. Then he changed the topic and said, "However, it was all bullsh*t. I did not sense your sincerity at all. I assume that you must've made the same vow when Heiye Ming became the 'Black Wind King' in the past, didn't you? You swore to obey the leader forever and die for the leader anytime and anywhere, right? But right now, even the ashes of Heiye Ming are already gone, and I don't see any of you killing yourselves in honor of him or coming at me to avenge him!
"I am not pointing it out to specifically humiliate you nor to ask you to kill yourselves or come to be killed by me. I'm just saying, could you just drop the condescension of the Immortal Cultivators as if you are in the highest sky? Are you not cold and tired of standing on the 'peak of evolution' from dawn to dusk? Let's just put aside the meaningless exaggeration and have an honest, sincere conversation today, shall we?
"I'll be honest with you. In fact, when General Di Feiwen asked me to take the position of 'Black Wind King', I was quite reluctant because it was obviously a fiery pit that is full of iron sticks at the bottom of it. You do not mean to elect a nemesis to be your leader at all; you are only hoping to fill the pit with me and step on my shoulders and head to earn greater benefits for yourselves. That's all.
"If I'm being completely honest, not only did I have to resolve the problems on the federation's side, which is in fact not a big deal, I will also possibly be involved in the turbulence between you and the Imperium and obliged to help you resist the ambitions of the warlords and the fury of His Majesty with the resources of the federation.
"Whether the five worlds of Immortal Cultivators including the Black Wind Sector have fallen to the hands of the Imperium or the Covenant Alliance, to take them back will be no different from plucking a tiger's teeth from its mouth. Do I not have anything better to work on than doing such a painstaking and unrewarding thing?
"I could've declined it. But then General Di made more than a hundred vows, claiming that you have deeply understood your mistake and will certainly correct your mistakes. Also, your Black Wind Fleet is not a pure expedition army but a fleet of immigrants. The population of civilians who escaped from the five worlds of Immortal Cultivators is multiple times greater than the number of warriors and Immortal Cultivators.
"However unforgivable you may be, most of the civilians are innocent after all. It is for the sake of the civilians that I finally took the hot potato. You must remember that.
"That being said, no matter how hesitant I was before, now that I have already taken up the responsibility, there is no way that I will slack off or quit halfway! I will consider the post of 'Black Wind King' as new training and do my best!
"It is universally known that the Cultivators will liberate the three thousand Sectors and reform the entire universe. If we cannot reform a tiny Black Wind Fleet or enlighten thickheaded soldiers like you, how can we expect to march to the center of the cosmos?
"Well, General Di, give me some water."
Di Feiwen was still dazed by what he had just heard and did not realize what Li Yao meant.
Li Yao frowned. "Water. Tea is unnecessary. Cold water will do."
"Oh? Okay, okay."
Li Yao poured half a bottle of water into his stomach. Wiping his lips with his sleeve, he went on. "Your identity is now very awkward. You may be called intruders, but most of you are the members of the fleet near the brown dwarf who have always been dozens of lightyears away from the federation and did not even have a chance to see the border of the federation. You may be called captives, but General Di has offered to surrender while keeping you organized. According to the policy in the 'letters of persuasion' that the federation presented, it can almost be counted as a 'battlefield uprising'. More importantly, the homeland of the Imperium is still coveting the edge of the cosmos and will
likely become our mutual enemy. So, the name of the Black Wind Fleet must be kept in order to deceive the enemy, and part of your independence will have to be maintained.
"Therefore, I had quite a headache for days about the relation between the federation and the newborn Black Wind Fleet. I can only say that we should begin by seeking common ground while reserving the differences. Whether we are going to cooperate, integrate, or reform, we must have a starting point, which is the common values of the two parties. Are there common values between the federation and the Black Wind Fleet? I think the answer is yes. We both have infinite loyalty and passion for the 'civilization of mankind'.
"The Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators, despite all the disagreements on the specific approaches, at least believe in the supremacy of mankind and will not allow any alien species to rule us. We are all willing to sacrifice ourselves for the civilization of mankind, aren't we?
"The Black Wind Sector, the Wild Wolf Sector, the Hard Rock Sector, the Purple Fire Sector, and the Fiery Spider Sector are all at the borderland between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance. So, a lot of you are heroes who've fought the inhumane puppets of the Covenant Alliance to defend the feelings and freedom of mankind. In the past months, I've heard the heroic deeds of a lot of people. For example, there is a General Zhou Tailong, nicknamed 'Bloody Spear'…"
From the Immortal Cultivators who were sitting cross-legged, a muscular man who was almost three meters tell, covered in tremendous metals and crystal components all over the body, with a circle of wolf fangs embedded to the forehead and only a sole eye left, suddenly rose up and roared, blushing, "Commander, Zhou Tailong is at your service!"
Li Yao rubbed his ears and eyed Zhou Tailong for a moment. He nodded and said, "Greetings, General Zhou. I'm told that in the Battle of the Green Dragon Planet a hundred years ago, to guard the retreat of the main troops of the Wild Wolf Sector, you stalled three crystal suit legions and one orbit fleet of the Alliance of the Holy Covenant for seven days and seven nights with only one crystal legion. When you finally accomplished the mission and broke out of the siege, there were only twenty-one survivors in the legion, which had more than a thousand and nine hundred people in the beginning."
Chapter 1875: Feats Are Feats; Faults Are Faults |
"Yes!" 'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong replied in a loud voice. "The 1,932 brothers of the 'Green Wolf Legion' and I were all natives of the Green Dragon Planet. The Green Dragon Planet was a node on the sailing route of space jumps between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance that was of paramount military significance. So, my hometown was always plagued by war. It was assaulted and savaged by the Covenant Alliance many times.
"People of the Covenant Alliance are all puppets of the fiends. Their brutality and inhumanity are beyond the imagination of the people of the federation. The war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance is a hundred times crueler than the competition between the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators. The Immortal Cultivators hate the puppets a hundred times more than we hate the Cultivators, too!
"You might not know this, commander, but every time the puppets scourged my hometown and stole tremendous population, they would send both the Immortal Cultivators and the homi… the ordinary people into their so-called 'holy temple', where the emotions of the captives were removed, transforming them into the cruelest and most heartless war machines. Those were human-shaped dolls that did not recognize anything they were familiar with. Even when they were faced with their hometown and family, they did not have any emotional fluctuations but simply poured their firepower on the enemy.
"My father, two brothers, and one… son were captured by the Covenant Alliance and brainwashed through modification just like that. They were reshaped into battle puppets of the Covenant Alliance and sent back to the area around the Green Dragon Planet to fight. In such a way, the Covenant Alliance made family members attack each other in order to diminish our determination to resist.
"The Covenant Alliance is too evil for me to reserve anything and not fight with my all!"
Li Yao was silent. He recalled the last words of his foster father who had possibly been from the Covenant Alliance.
"No matter how evil the Imperium of True Human Beings is, the Alliance of the Holy Covenant will only be a hundred times more so. In the sea of stars today, the Imperium is the only defender of the last glory of mankind."
Righteousness and evilness were a pair of relative concepts. The Black Wind Fleet's conquest of the Star Glory Federation was certainly a violent aggression. However, before that, in the war to resist the puppets of the Pangu Civilization, the guys such as 'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong became the righteous side and unquestionable heroes.
Human beings and humanity were really complicated!
'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong held his head high and declared, "If I may tell you, commander, military accomplishments are highly appreciated in the Imperium of True Human Beings. Most of the nobles, generals, and experts all have experience of fighting life and death battles with the Covenant Alliance. The Immortal Cultivators locally born and raised in the frontier have almost all risen from mountains of corpses. Too many of our family members were killed by the Covenant Alliance miserably, and too many were modified into deformed battle puppets who had nothing but their skin left. We all hate the Covenant Alliance's guts!
"Commander, you just said that we did not submit to you sincerely and were merely tricking you to earn more benefits for ourselves. That couldn't be more wrong!
"I can't say for other people, but personally, I really admire your valiance, commander. I loathe the slaves of the Covenant Alliance who degrade themselves by serving as the Pangu Clan's puppets more than anything in the world, but I must admit that the Pangu Clan is indeed invincibly strong. By only arming their lackeys with some of the relics, they are already enough to make the Covenant Alliance compete with the Imperium. If the real Pangu Clan come into the world again, how terrifying and unstoppable will they be?
"It never occurred to me that a real member of the Pangu Clan had been revived at the edge of the cosmos, but even his head was chopped off by you!
"However much our beliefs may differ, I absolutely admire your valor at the very least.
"You are more qualified to lead us than Heiye Ming was because Heiye Ming never killed a real member of the Pangu Clan. I am certain that I'm not the only one holding such a thought. The Immortal Cultivators whose wives and children were brutalized by the Covenant Alliance all admire you most. This is the biggest reason we are willing to listen to your command!"
Li Yao sensed the surging soul of 'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong, only to discover that the guy was not lying.
On second thought, it did make sense. There was actually not much hatred between the Imperium and the federation. It was disagreement and mutual wariness at most.
However, the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance had fought bloodily at the center of the cosmos for a thousand years. How many atrocious things had taken place in the meantime, and how much overwhelming hatred had been accumulated?
The Covenant Alliance regarded the Pangu Clan as their supreme gods, but one of their gods had been slain by Li Yao ruthlessly. No wonder the Immortal Cultivators who considered the Covenant Alliance as their sworn enemy would view Li Yao in a different way.
'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong's words, however, made Li Yao almost feel embarrassed. He coughed and said, "I'm also told that there is a Major Yuan Qing, nicknamed 'Blue Spider'. He is an expert of reconnaissance in the Black Wind Fleet and has discovered twenty-seven world fragments while locating tremendous techniques and magical equipment in them, right?"
Hardly had 'Bloody Spear' Zhou Tailong sat down when an Immortal Cultivator who was short and slender, wearing a metal mask, slowly stood up. He bowed at Li Yao deeply before he removed the mask that sealed the left half of his face.
Hu!
A cluster of green mist that seemed to be made of tiny mosquitoes and bugs immediat
ely dashed out of his cheeks and danced crazily around his head, as if it was a certain weird fire that was about to gnaw all the remaining flesh on his face.
"Commander, I used to be a member of the 'Association of Star Scouters' in the Imperium of True Human Beings. The 'Association of Star Scouters' is essentially the same as the 'Occult Orbs Fellowship' in the federation. They were both established to excavate the world fragments, battlefield debris, and ancient relics."
'Blue Spider' Yuan Qing, who looked weird, spoke casually.
"The environment at the center of the cosmos is a hundred times more complicated than at the edge of the cosmos. The number of the world fragments, battlefield debris, and ancient relics is a hundred times larger, too. Naturally, their danger is incomparable to the world fragments at the edge of the cosmos.
"The world fragments at the center of the cosmos may have highly-precise and weird traps and automatic, permanent war machines left or 'apocalyptic weapons' left by the prehistoric civilizations. There are even the mysterious but dangerous alien beasts who travel to the world fragments through wormholes and consider the places their lairs. Naturally, it is possible to encounter the exploration teams from the Covenant Alliance, too.
"All in all, the center of the cosmos is like the only lake in the middle of a forest, where predators and uncanny creatures all gather.
"I have been lucky enough to stay in one piece after discovering twenty-seven world fragments for the Imperium, except that I was reduced to such a wretched appearance because of a bite to the face by an anonymous bug. Despite the treatment of the doctors and specialists in the Imperium, they were only able to prevent the wound from enlarging but could not cure it.
"But I was already unbelievably fortunate to have kept my life compared to my teammates in the exploration squad."
Li Yao observed the face of 'Blue Spider' Yuan Qing for a while and asked him to sit down again. He concluded, "Resisting the inhuman Covenant Alliance, excavating the many relics left by the Star Ocean Imperium and even the prehistoric civilization, fighting against the extraterrestrial devils or other alien species, exploring the depths of the universe that have never been visited before… All the endeavors are for the future of mankind. Even though you have come to the Star Glory Federation, your past accomplishments will not be denied.
