by <unknown>
"The things that you don't want?" Li Lingfeng's smile became even deeper as he appreciated the dead bodies of the Immortal Cultivators that had been torn apart by Li Jialing just now. "With everything coming to this point, there is no need to keep lying to yourself. Did you dare say that you killed so many people because you completely lost your sanity? Did you not feel unparalleled ecstasy in the middle of the crazy slaughter? Was it not the urge that had been deeply lying in your mind all the time under the suppression of the goddamn shackles?
"Look at all the broken bodies here. They are the best evidence to prove that you are a natural-born Immortal Cultivator and the most perfect Immortal Cultivator. This is your natural instinct. This is the real you. I merely pushed the boat along the current to set it for sailing. That's all."
As if hit by lightning deep inside his soul, Li Jialing appeared astounded and felt like crying.
Seeing that he had calmed down somewhat, Li Lingfeng asked, "Should I help you examine your body first? Although your body boasts very powerful self-recovery abilities, this is your first slaughter after all. It will be safer if you have a full physical examination."
"Don't touch me!" Li Jialing jumped to his feet as if he had an electric shock. Holding his arms, he shuddered with tears running out of his eyes. "Don't touch me. Please. Don't touch me. Just leave me alone. I need to calm down. Please, please…"
"Alright, alright, alright. It's true that you need to calm down and figure out your real identity and destiny." Li Lingfeng raised his hands to show that he meant no harm at all. "There is no need for you to beg me or be so wary of me. I told you last time, and I will repeat it today. You were never a test subject. You should know very well that absolutely nobody would invest so many resources into an insignificant test subject. In my eyes, you are the most perfect warrior of the Li family and a new-generation, most standard Immortal Cultivator!"
"I don't understand." The young man's eyes gradually focused, as if he had been caught in Li Lingfeng's pace before he knew it. He had completely broken free from his previous panic and disgust. Ignoring so many people who had been killed by him nearby, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Tell me the truth. If I was never a test subject, why have you been torturing me so cruelly all these years?"
"Torture?" Li Lingfeng burst into laughter. Then he suddenly changed his face and glared at Li Jialing. "Boy, you don't know what is good for you at all. You think that anybody is qualified to bear such 'torture'?
"Let me tell. This is not torture but the most cutting-edge and the most efficient way of training. Too many people are begging for it but can never get it!"
Chapter 2075: The Origin Plan! |
"Training…" Li Jialing was at a loss again. His eyebrows and his lips shuddered slightly, and he played the role of a perplexed young man perfectly.
"Yes. Only after you taste the bitterest of bitterness can you grow into the best of the best. I do not need to explain such a simple logic to you, do I?" Li Lingfeng sighed and said gravely, "As either a member of the Li family or an Immortal Cultivator, honing yourself in the cruelest and craziest ways, making breakthroughs on the path of evolution incessantly, and advancing to the unprecedented levels that have never been reached before—that is your destiny!
"Every member of the Li family has been through that. Everybody tortures, torments, and whets themself in the cruel environment where only the fittest survive. They tear their flesh into shreds, grind their bones into powder, and burn their guts into ash before they condense all the pieces together and build them into a new self!
"That is as much the case for you as it is for anybody else of the Li family, including myself. Do you think that I suffered less pain than you when I trained myself at the beginning?
"It is true that most members of the Li family never shoulder the extreme pain that you had, but that's only because they are unqualified. Those people will never grow into a perfect warrior like you. The destiny awaiting them is to die an unknown death as cannon fodder in an insignificant war, or they'll be dispatched to a remote resource plant under the control of the family, where they will live their boring, tasteless life.
"Look at the corridor that is filled with guts and broken limbs behind you. Look at your hands that are stained with blood. You should know this already. You are different from those worthless, hopeless guys. That is not your destiny. You were born to dominate the world as the greatest glory of the Li family!"
Li Jialing stared at the bloody pathway behind him again.
This time, he did not tremble but stuck out his long, narrow tongue, licking his lips that were covered in bloody, with voracity beaming out of his eyes.
Watching the young man who looked like a ferocious beast that had just been let loose, Li Lingfeng smiled in comfort.
"I don't understand." Taking a deep breath, Li Jialing regained his tranquility. He stared at Li Lingfeng and asked, "Why me? You have so many sons, grandsons, and great grandsons. Why did you have to pick me for such refinement? My parents were only unknown, bottom-level warriors of the family. Or were they—"
The young man's eyes shuddered as he observed Li Lingfeng's face.
Li Lingfeng smiled warmly. "It is not what you are thinking. I never attach much importance to lineage. Or rather, whoever has the blood of the Li family flowing in their veins is qualified to be my heir. As for whether or not they are my own offspring, that is not important.
"What I need is a real expert. There are a lot of useless descendants among my offspring. I despise them as much as anybody else does.
"Come on. Show me the 'masterpiece' that you have just created, and I will tell you all the truth."
"Truth…"
Flames flowed out of Li Jialing's eyes. He stood up without a sound and walked to the bloody pathway.
When he accidentally stepped on a few bones on the ground and broke them, he did not even bother to blink.
"I know you have always been curious about why I picked you from all the younger generations of the Li family when you seemed so plain and unattractive. And more importantly, what was the seal that haunted your head, baffled you, and prevented you from killing about?"
Roaming among the broken corpses at east, Li Lingfeng said casually, "For someone as smart as you, you should've vaguely guessed that the so-called 'seal' is quite similar to the Three Fundamental Laws."
Li Jialing's pupils constricted violently. He scratched his skull unconsciously. "Three Fundamental Laws? The Covenant Alliance?"
"Yes. It is a very complicated issue, which can be traced back to the Origin Plan, a program to raise future warriors for the family, personally planned and implemented by me decades ago."
Li Lingfeng took out a green, translucent ball from his pocket and tossed it at Li Jialing. "This is all the information and data about the Origin Plan. I prepared it a long time ago as a gift for you when you are completely awakened."
Blinking his eyes, Li Jialing held the green ball in his hand and inputted a stream of spiritual energy into it.
The ball flew from his palm and to the height of his eyes, triggering a panoramic light beam. Infinite information poured down like a waterfall.
"The Origin Plan was a program drafted and implemented by me in order to raise super warriors for the next generation of the family. It was a bit avant-garde and experimental," Li Lingfeng said. "You know that as one of the four Kurfürst families, the Li family has always attached great importance to the education of the next generation. Only the elites of the elites can be real members of the Li family. Garbage who have the blood of the Li family but do not want to make a name for themselves should be eliminated without any mercy no matter their parentage.
"Therefore, almost since the moment they are born, every member of the Li family has to receive the nurturing of the best resources and the harshest training of optimization.
"However, different people have different talents after all. In many cases, it is already too late after the fetus grows in the womb
for ten months. From the perspective of eugenics, the real training should start from the womb. No, it should start from the zygote, or even before the two life seeds are combined!
"The Origin Plan was exactly such an avant-garde, experimental program to culture and refine the subjects when they are still life seeds. I carefully selected the life seeds of almost ten thousand strong warriors of the family, refined and strengthened them with all kinds of secret arts, and further screened and nurtured them after they were combined into zygotes. Eventually, the ten most ideal fetuses were chosen.
"Yes. From the ten thousand carefully-selected life seeds, ten were screened out in the most selective way. They were nurtured with the most precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, many of which were even directly excavated from the relics of primeval battlefields and likely won't be found again. You can imagine how strong the fetuses must've been!"
Li Jialing's eyelids shivered. "I was one of the fetuses?"
"Precisely." Li Lingfeng smiled. "Why else do you think you can boast such strength at such a young age?"
"I still don't understand," Li Jialing said. "If it is a program to raise new warriors for the family, why was it never announced to the public but always kept a secret? Also, what are the Three Fundamental Laws that have been haunting my head and were eradicated only just now about?"
"Because the Origin Plan was a complete failure." Li Lingfeng sighed. "At that time, I placed the ten meticulously-chosen fetuses near a neutron star to be strengthened by the radiation. But the starships of the Covenant Alliance jumped out of nowhere and tried to seize the products of my careful refinement. In the fierce battle, nine of the fetuses were destroyed, and the last one was polluted by the foul forces of the Covenant Alliance. It was implanted with their evil seal, which was part of the remnants of the Three Fundamental Laws."
"Well…" Li Jialing was somewhat at a loss. "It's not like you ran your experiments on the frontlines, did you? How did the people of the Covenant Alliance show up?"
"You've asked the most critical question," Li Lingfeng said thoughtfully. "You know that the internal conflicts within the Li family are very fierce. Competition is everywhere. Perhaps some people did not wish to see my plan succeed in their struggle for power, and they were even reluctant to see me gain ten perfect warriors who were much stronger than their peers. Therefore, they 'accidentally' leaked the information, hoping to disrupt my plan with the hands of the Covenant Alliance.
"All in all, because of the unexpected assault from the Covenant Alliance, the Origin Plan that cost me years of hard work and tremendous resources was almost entirely ruined. Although one last fetus survived, it had been corrupted by the Three Fundamental Laws of the Covenant Alliance. Nobody could tell what kind of person it would grow into eventually. I did not dare expose your existence, either!"
Li Jialing blinked. "Why not?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Li Lingfeng said. "Because you were already 'corrupted' by then. How could the Li family have kept a monster contaminated by the Covenant Alliance alive? Wouldn't it be a great humiliation for the Li family? Countless people would chastise me with you as an excuse!"
Li Jialing was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Why didn't you destroy me?"
Li Lingfeng smiled bitterly, with caring light beaming out of his eyes. "If I say that I dedicated all my energy and hope into the 'Origin Plan', the ten perfect fetuses were more important to me than my own blood descendants, and I could not bear to abandon my life's work when the other nine fetuses were destroyed by the Covenant Alliance, would you believe me?"
Biting his lips softly, Li Jialing pondered for a moment and asked, "Therefore, you hid my existence, fabricated a new identity for me, and let me live in the Li family as a common member, right?"
"Yes," Li Lingfeng said. "In the report that I submitted to the family, I lied and said that the ten fetuses were all destroyed. The rest is history.
"Countless eyes in the family were staring at me the whole time. So, I could not arrange appropriate training sessions in the family directly for you. Wuying Lan, the owner of Manjusaka, is an old friend of mine. Only here can we do our best together to crack the seal of the Covenant Alliance deep inside your soul and boost your potential in order to see the end of the Origin Plan!
"This is about everything that has happened so far. The details are all recorded in the jade chip. You can take your time to examine them.
"Jialing, you have every reason to hate me, for performing strengthening and modification on you when you were still a life seed, for not telling you the truth for so many years, and for conducting such cruel training on you. But no matter how much you hate me, I want you to be clear of one thing.
"Every generation of the most distinguished heir of the Li family has been through the same thing.
"Pain is the greatest treasure. Whoever grasps the treasure will be qualified to grasp the entire world.
"Live up to your potential, and don't fail your fate!"
Chapter 2076: Schemer Behind the Curtain! |
Li Jialing was stunned for a long time as he listened to Li Lingfeng. His lips shivered for a moment, before he stabbed his fingers into his blood-mottled hair. After thinking for a long time and raising his head to observe Li Lingfeng, he finally said, "Why didn't you tell me the whole truth before?"
"Firstly, cases such as yours who are corrupted by the barriers of the Covenant Alliance are very rare. Neither I nor Wuying Lan knew how to crack it without causing any side effects," Li Lingfeng admitted frankly. "Eradicating the seal deep inside your brain and your soul with brutal force would very likely damage your soul, which would affect your further advancement in the future and even your ability to think normally. It is a highly infeasible plan.
"Impose stimulation of a certain degree on you so that your brain will break the seal of the Three Fundamental Laws from the inside after tremendous pressure is accumulated there. I believed that this was the best solution.
"From what I've seen now, I can say that we adopted the right methodology. You have indeed broken the Three Fundamental Laws with your own strength!
"Secondly, and also more importantly, it was for your own safety.
"You must know that there have always been forces within the family who oppose me. As my position rises higher and higher in the family, more and more people envy me, hate me, and want to overthrow me through whatever means possible. The tallest tree in a forest tends to be destroyed by the wind first. Since I am a common target for everyone, those people are wasting no time looking for my weakness.
"Think about it. Should they have found your real identity and learned that you were still 'corrupted', how would they have treated you, and how would they have used you against me? If you had fallen into their hands, you would have really begged to be killed!
"Therefore, it was for your own safety that I never asked anything about you in daily life and acted as if your life and death was none of my concern. I feared that the eyes that were everywhere would see through the real relation between you and me.
"I couldn't tell you anything until today, when you completely shattered the shackle deep inside your soul and awakened your real strength. You are now finally able to become a super warrior walking in the daylight representing the future of the Li family!"
Li Jialing took a deep breath, as if he were caught in a trance by Li Lingfeng's charming words. After a long daze, he said, "That—that explains a lot. Then, what am I going to do next?"
Li Lingfeng smiled and patted the young man's shoulder where the muscles were still tightened. "You have finished your initial training. From now on, you will stay by my side and receive my personal tutelage.
"Trust me. There are many worlds waiting to be conquered by you, many enemies to be hunted by you, and many glories to be reaped by you. Haha. Hahaha!
"As it happens, we have a reasonably interesting game right now. It is an epic quest regarding Starlight, the resistance group of the Cultivators. It is ve
ry suitable for you to enjoy yourself. Why don't we go to the control center? I'll ask Wuying Lan to explain the details to you."
"I—I—" Unused to Li Lingfeng's warmth, Li Jialing said in a shivering voice, "I don't know. My head is still a mess. I want to be alone for a moment to calm myself down. Is—Is that okay?"
"Of course. Absolutely. I'll ask Wuying Lan to arrange an advanced suite for you. It's true that you should take a good rest, and clean all the stinky vomit on your body while you're at it. Are you sure you don't need a full physical examination?"
Li Jialing's body trembled as he said unconsciously, "Maybe—Maybe in a couple of days. I'm feeling great right now. Can we do the examination in a few days?"
Li Lingfeng smiled. "Of course. Then, clean yourself up now. I'll be in the control center."
Delight and disbelief beamed out of Li Jialing's eyes. "Can I really go to the control center?"
"Certainly. Don't forget…" Li Lingfeng patted the young man's shoulder heavily again. "Of the hundreds of thousands of descendants of the Li family, you are the one that I think most highly of and have dedicated the most effort to. Chances are that you will even become my true heir someday. You can go wherever and do whatever you want!"
"Whatever I want…"
A hint of animality suddenly flashed inside the young man's eyes, and his lips curled into an aggressive smile.
The aggression only made Li Lingfeng smile even more thoughtfully.
Li Jialing summoned his courage and said, "I—I have two questions."
"Just spit them out. Whatever you want to know." Li Lingfeng smiled, even more amiably and gently.
"Firstly, who are my birth parents?" Li Jialing asked. "They shouldn't be as simple as the pair of inferior warriors that you told me earlier, should they?"
