by <unknown>
The queen shouted angrily again. Her gracefulness and inviolability at the beginning were thrown away, and she declared in obvious fury, "Whatever I am, it is not your place to judge me or to save me!"
"As I said, it is just my guess."
Li Yao said, "Perhaps my pop only wanted me to give you a hand with my extraordinary combat ability and my powerful Colossus. Simple as that."
"Huh…"
The queen was obviously tempted.
No matter what, an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage plus a Colossus was definitely not a random present that she could see every day.
Li Yao was different from Li Lingfeng. Li Lingfeng had his own supporters, forces, ambitions, and complicated connections. Even if the two of them really cooperated, there would be tremendous trouble. It was needless to say the possible conspiracies and even secret plots against each other.
Therefore, Li Linghai would rather kill her biological brother to resolve the trouble once and for all than work with him.
But Li Yao was different.
He was an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage who had zero backgrounds and dependencies and who could be loyal enough to her "theoretically".
As long as there was the slightest opportunity, nobody would wish a Divinity Transformation Stage expert to be their enemy instead of their ally.
"Go on."
The queen thought hard for a long time, only to come up with no loopholes in Li Yao's statement.
The scenes that Li Yao described were in no contradiction to all her known intelligence. They also matched the classic deductions made by the specialists of the Imperium.
Therefore, after pondering for a moment, she simply said, "Tell me your stories in the Martial Meritocrats Sector. Why did you risk ruining 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'?"
"The Martial Meritocrats Sector was the first stop after I jumped to the Imperium of True Human Beings."
Li Yao said quickly, "I chose this place for a simple reason. The patterned tidal outbursts of the Devilish Scorpion Nebula was a natural gargantuan star beacon that could significantly improve the accuracy of my jump. After all, the navigation system of my super tiny starship was not so reliable.
"After I jumped to the Martial Meritocrats Sector in the Devilish Scorpion Nebula, I naturally was filled with indignity when I saw so many ordinary people struggling in pain on the Land of Sins, and I made up my mind to help them.
"Before, I did not plan to make such a huge scene. I only hoped to sneak into 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky' to steal some intelligence before I figured out what to do next. However, the discovery of Li Jialing disrupted my whole plan.
"On one hand, I had to distract everyone's attention with an astounding performance so that he could run away. On the other hand, I still wanted to save the ordinary people in the Martial Meritocrats Sector. Furthermore, and perhaps a selfish reason, my belief was on the verge of collapse after the destruction of Firefly, and I needed a gratifying battle to reinstate my belief as a Cultivator.
"Because of the three reasons, the battle took place. You should know what happened later since you were lurking not far away after all.
"This is about the whole story. You can choose to believe it or not, and you can choose to kill me or not!"
Li Yao held his head high and bulged his eyes after he was done, like a statue that was marching to a battle valiantly.
Li Linghai was silent for a long time, and there was still not the slightest expression on her face.
But the drastically changing thunderstorm in the sky more or less revealed the intense debates of her with herself in the heart.
In the end, the queen took a long breath and said coldly, "If I do not kill you, what will you do?"
Li Yao smiled, his eyes glittering. "In that case, I'll certainly abide by my pop's last words and follow Your Grace, to protect you and to be protected by you, to save you and to be saved by you!"
"Shut up. Like I said, I need neither your protection nor your salvation!"
The queen seemed to have had enough of Li Yao's wittiness, and her face was brimming with killing intent as she glared at Li Yao for a long time. Then, something occurred to her. She managed to hold back her urge and said, "Right, did he ask you to bring anything to me?"
Li Yao blinked his eyes and nodded his head. "He did. It is a… or half a weird metal stick that looks like some sort of key."
The brilliance in the queen's eyes flashed, and she demanded, "Give it to me!"
Li Yao, however, shook his head. "No."
"Huh?"
The queen's killing intent turned into visible wind blades that were released from her crazily dancing white hair. "I beg your pardon?"
"I promised my pop that I would give his last item to the 'real' Li Linghai."
Li Yao calmed down as he went on, "However, according to what I have seen today, everything that Your Grace did was far from what the Li Linghai that my pop talked about would have done. I will never give my pop's most precious item to such a random Li Linghai.
"Even if I have lost my home, my compatriots, and my family, even if I have been reduced into nothingness and desperation, and even if my beliefs are collapsing and I can't be more confused right now, I still have the dignity of an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage!
"Your Grace, your level is higher than mine, your techniques better than mine, and you may have a myriad of powerful magical equipment in your Cosmos Rings. If you are determined to kill me, I won't be your match at all.
"But you must believe me. Even if I may inevitably be killed by you, I will certainly be able to destroy the Cosmos Ring and make it impossible for you to find the half key before my death!"
"Are you threatening me?"
Li Linghai's white hair stood up, and she couldn't have looked more intimidating. One word after another, she declared resolutely, "The queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings does not take any threats!"
"This is not a threat, but only a statement of facts."
Li Yao struggled on as he said, "If you want to get the half key, there will be only two ways. Either you are convinced by me and transformed into the woman that my pop loved or even… a Cultivator, or you can persuade me into believing in the true path of immortality so that I will be a hardcore, pure, and unquestionable Immortal Cultivator!"
The queen stared at Li Yao gloomily.
Li Yao looked back at the queen with all of his spiritual energy, not giving in at all.
Even Li Jialing was glaring at the queen with a pair of eyes that couldn't have been wider while hiding behind Li Yao's back.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Dazzling sparks were raised in the collision of eyes. Every spark exploded like a crystal bomb, burning into an ocean of flames among the three of them.
The competition of their eyes even eclipsed the thunderstorm outside.
Suddenly, something amazing happened!
The queen grunted and vomited blood. She was defeated!
She appeared aggressive and dominating a moment ago, but she was like a collapsed reservoir right now. She couldn't have looked more lethargic!
She was even barely able to keep herself steady and almost fell to the ground.
What the heck?
Li Yao wondered since when had his eyes become so awesome. For as long as he could remember, he had only been practicing his tongue and his face.
"Be careful!"
The mental devil took the opportunity to remind him. "She seems to be playing tricks!"
Chapter 2152: The Queen's Personal Bodyguard |
"You…"
Li Yao spoke to the queen hesitantly, "Are you hurt?"
"Of course I'm hurt!"
The queen laughed rather devastatingly. There was no telling whether she was mocking Li Yao or herself. "Why else do you think I was patient enough to listen to all your jibber-jabber? However useless Li Lingfeng was, he was an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage after all. Do you
think that I did not need to pay any price to kill him with such an unbelievably overwhelming technique as 'Dragon Over The Sky' that was of the Supreme Emperor's own creation?
"In order to kill Li Lingfeng, I activated 'Dragon Over The Sky' to the maximum almost by exploiting every drop of my life energy and focusing my soul into a 'sword of true dragon', which dealt a heavy blow on myself when he was obliterated. I have only been bluffing since then.
"I thought that you would immediately escape in fear after witnessing that I slew an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage whose level was even higher than yours in one attack. In that case, I would have enough time to rest and recover before I figured out whether I should continue hunting you or simply return.
"But I did not expect that you had such a secret identity and that instead of running away, you had a conversation with me for such a long time. Naturally, my wounds attacked when I couldn't suppress them any longer."
"That does make sense!"
Li Yao was greatly enlightened. He was quite puzzled a while back because Li Lingfeng was an expert at the high level of the Divinity Transformation Stage after all, however incapable the man was. If the queen could stab him to death in one attack casually, everybody in the Divinity Transformation Stage should feel ashamed.
It was only reasonable that the queen almost exploited all her vitality and soul in order to perform "Dragon Over The Sky", the dominating technique that solely belonged to the Supreme Emperor ten thousand years ago!
"Careful. She may be lying."
The mental devil, however, reminded him again, "It is possible that she is intentionally showing her weakness to allure you to attack her because she cannot tell if what you said just now is true. If you attack her while she is 'feeble', it will prove that all your fancy words just now are made up, and she can easily perform multiple metamorphoses in 0.1 seconds. Do you believe me?"
Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, "That is a possibility too. But it is very likely that she is truly wounded. I don't believe that she is so strong that she can take down someone in the Divinity Transformation Stage without paying any price!"
The queen's eyes moved between Li Yao and Li Jialing, as if she were at their mercy now that her disguise had fallen apart.
However, while Li Yao's words just now were half true and half false, he did mean to get in touch and even cooperate with Li Linghai sincerely.
Besides, considering the situation right now, what could he achieve even if he were to kill Li Linghai? The reign of the Immortal Cultivators would not end here, but Li Yao and Li Jialing probably would.
Li Yao sighed and extended his hand to the queen.
The queen stared at his hand for a long time and frowned. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Well, it means that if Your Grace is too uncomfortable to stand, I can support you."
Li Yao said sincerely, "As I said, I'm here to help you."
The queen slowly wiped the bloodstain on her lips. Narrowing her eyes, she stared at Li Yao for such a long time that the gloominess almost pierced through every pore on his face.
In the end, she was truly relaxed, and all the killing intents over his body were concealed.
"You were the special emissary of the Speaker of the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic?"
The queen rolled her almost transparent eyes, as if she was calculating Li Yao's value. "You must be familiar with the political struggles, conspiracies, and schemes, right?"
"Not exactly. I am almost a straightforward person, and I am the worst at plots and tricks."
Li Yao said, somewhat in embarrassment, "But I do know quite a few Speakers very well, and I had very in-depth communications with one of the Speakers!"
"Huh…"
Naturally, the queen did not know what Li Yao meant by "very in-depth communications". She thought for a moment and went on, "You were also the captain of 'Team Red Lotus', the Speaker's secret guards. Was it some sort of personal bodyguard and the head of the special forces? If you are given a bunch of capable but disobedient men, are you able to lead them to carry out missions similar to the destruction of 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky'?"
"I think I can."
Li Yao said, "But I prefer to carry out similar missions on my own, because in such a countryside as Firefly, few experts were qualified to take action with me. Most of them would've only slowed me down."
"Besides, you are a reasonably good refiner?"
The queen looked at him coldly. "Can you maintain a Colossus on your own?"
"No."
Li Yao shook his head and said, "I am not a 'reasonably good' refiner, but a 'grandmaster' refiner. I am best at the maintenance, upgrade, and modification of the single magical equipment such as crystal suits and Colossi, and I know a thing or two about the runes, the arrays, and the refiners in the age of the ancient Cultivators too."
The queen stared at him without blinking.
Li Yao added helplessly, "I could've been more modest, but you asked me to speak the truth. The truth is that I am really a grandmaster. What choice do I have? It's quite upsetting for me too!"
"… Fine. Let's hope that you are not lying because both the combat ability and the expertise in refining can be verified very easily."
The queen paced and hesitated for a long time. Finally, she made up her mind and said, "Listen up, I am not particularly bothered by your stance and your ideas. After all, the organized Cultivators are no longer at the center of the cosmos, and you can barely call on many supporters on your own. It won't be a big deal to keep you by my side.
"Trust me. Before long, you will accept the real true path of immortality and become an Immortal Cultivator.
"But one thing I do care about is whether or not a person is smart enough.
"I killed Li Lingfeng not because of his ambitions, not because of his brutality, not because of our grudge a hundred years ago, but only because he was an idiot who would bring me infinite trouble. Period.
"I hope that you are smart enough. The smarter you are, the more pleasant our time together will be. Do you understand me?"
Overjoyed, Li Yao nodded his head hard. Thinking for a moment, he shook his head again. "But I won't help you with the looting, burning, or any other immoral things. Should I encounter you doing those things, I'll definitely stop you too!"
The queen frowned hard and gnashed the coldest voice out of her teeth. "Looting and burning? Who do you think I am? The wife of a certain bandit? I am the queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings, mind you!"
Li Yao said, "Well, what I tried to say were things like the 'Land of Sins' and the 'slaughter stream'. My belief won't allow me to do nothing in front of such tragedies. So, I definitely won't help you bully the ordinary people."
"Bully the hominoids?"
The queen smiled. "You are truly adorably stupid. But it does make sense. You are new to the Imperium after all, and you do not know anything about what happened here in the past thousand years.
"It doesn't matter. I'll explain everything to you well after we return to the Deep Sea Fleet.
"Right now, all you need to know is that my target is never the hominoids but the well-respected high-level Immortal Cultivators, the noble families, and the experts who are supposed to die of old age.
"From that point of view, our short-term goals are the same. It was not in violation of your belief when I killed Li Lingfeng just now, was it?
"Tell me, if my ultimate goal is to destroy the four Kurfürst families and the other deeply-rooted families, sects, and forces of Immortal Cultivators, and to achieve the goal, I may even slightly loosen the control over the hominoids, give them more rights, and even get the hominoids armed as my troop—Will you give me a hand?"
This time, it was Li Yao who began to stare at Li Linghai, trying to find out the tiniest loophole on the queen's face.
However, the queen's un-aging face that looked like a snowy mountain was covered in the invisible solid armor again, making i
t impossible for Li Yao to notice anything in her heart.
"Loosen the control over the hominoids, give them more rights, and arm them on a large scale…"
Li Yao thought quickly but still found it hard to believe. "Really?"
The queen laughed. "You will know if it is real a while later. I believe that an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage who worked as the special emissary of the Speaker once is capable of making his own judgments."
"Okay!"
Li Yao nodded his head and said without any hesitation, "If what you do is in the best interests of the ordinary people of the Imperium, as a Cultivator, I will naturally spare no effort in helping you!"
"Then, let's go now. We have already wasted a lot of time."
The queen said, "An expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage is like an awl in a bag. Their sharp edges cannot be hidden no matter what. So, you can stop bother thinking of a false identity.
"The Deep Sea Fleet is a private troop that I have founded in person. Few people are aware of its existence now. Every soldier holds unquestionable loyalty to me.
"I'll tell them that you are a super expert that I raised in secret, some sort of 'ghost warrior' or 'dark assassin', for the purpose of carrying out secret missions that even the Deep Sea Fleet cannot, say, the mission to execute Li Lingfeng this time, for which you have been lurking for many years.
"Now that Li Lingfeng is dead, you can naturally surface and join the Deep Sea Fleet to stay by my side.
"Since you worked as the special emissary of the Speaker once, you can be my personal bodyguard for now. After we return to the capital and receive updates on the current situation, I'll try to fight for a more important and critical place for you. Is there a problem?"
Li Yao thought for a long time. "No problem at all. Right. There is a problem. What about him?"
Li Yao grabbed the young man's rigid shoulders and pushed him to the front.
Li Jialing glared Li Linghai so angrily that his eyes were almost torn apart.
"Him?"
The queen observed Li Jialing up and down for a while before she said coldly, "I almost forgot that there is still such a nuisance."
