by <unknown>
Li Wuji had been working hard for the "National Protection Army" without any second thought. Considering his weakness, it was impossible for him to play any trick too.
The moment he returned to the Blue Sky Market, he had witnessed the advanced competition between Li Yao and Boss Bai. It was both deterrence and a pacifier. For a standard Immortal Cultivator like Li Wuji, it was their natural instinct to submit to the strong. The stronger Li Yao and Boss Bai were, the more loyal he would be.
"I'm never troubled to serve Fellow Cultivator Li and Commander Bai."
Li Wuji bowed at them humbly and said sycophantically, "Fortunately, I have accomplished the task that you entrusted to me. The route of the four families' army, the distribution of the army, and the time of their gathering have all been collected!"
According to Li Wuji, the battle at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium had long begun, but it would not be a quick battle of fleets, but a protracted war of attrition.
On the four families' side, they had just lost the capital and the emperor. They were also scared that the reformists in the capital would ambush their territory. So, they were unwilling to mobilize their elite troops to attack the rebels at the edge of the Imperium.
The reformists in the capital seemed to have a bright future, but they simply had too few troops, and they could not afford any failure or attrition. So, they were unwilling to attack easily either.
On the other hand, the Imperium still had tremendous elites in the "newly-recovered territory" that was just taken back from the Covenant Alliance. They were known as the expedition army.
The expedition army was a complicated, gargantuan group, and the branch fleets came from various places. They did not have a leader, but a lot of young officers in the expedition army respected Lei Chenghu, the highest commander of the Astounding Thunder Fleet, as their commander.
Theoretically, Lei Chenghu was a great general of the reformists, who had entered into the heartland of the Li family like a nail brutally. But in the half a year that followed, he did nothing at all, as if he had completely vanished.
The whole thing couldn't be more interesting.
Chapter 2501: The War in the Gray Swamp |
All in all, the few most capable forces in the Imperium of True Human Beings, including the "New Imperial Guards" that had been reorganized by Blackstar the Great based on the Deep Sea Fleet, the expedition army which remotely cooperated with the Astounding Thunder Fleet, and the elite troops of the four Kurfürst families made of the core members of the families who would never abandon the honor of their families, were either staying still or stalling each other. It was impossible for them to be mobilized to the edge of the Imperium easily.
Therefore, the participants on the battlefield at the edge of the Imperium became the mediocre fleets of the four Kurfürst families, the fleets of their vassal families, the new warlords of the peripherical worlds, and the mercenaries, space pirates, assassins, etc., who had been attracted by money.
The many participants of the war each had their own plans and were not on two utterly opposing sides as they appeared to be.
It was true that the four Kurfürst families were trying to annihilate the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists to defend their monopolization interests. However, the "four families" were not only four people. They were made of countless living individuals who each had their own thoughts and who placed their own interests above the interests of their families.
The four families had reaped inestimable benefits through power, but the benefits were not distributed to all the family members evenly. The privileges of the main bloodline and the secondary bloodlines and the privileges between the low-ranking family members and the high-ranking family members could have a major difference.
As the saying went, "inequality rather than insufficiency is the source of maladies". The unfairness in the distribution of benefits was enough to fill the secondary bloodlines and the low-ranking family members with anger. When the anger was mixed with the Immortal Cultivators' selfishness, it was enough to destroy all their loyalty to their families.
Many members of the four Kurfürst families had been in a clandestine relationship of interests with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors in the past hundred years.
It was even safe to say that a lot of people in the four Kurfürst families had made major contributions for the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to grow from an unimportant business group into an organization that could influence the politics of the Imperium!
Zuo Tianying, the former manager of the Blue Sky Market, promised Boss Bai when trying to persuade him that even if Boss Bai wanted the latest warship of the four families, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would still be able to smuggle it for him. It was certainly not bragging.
In the conspiracies of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and some of the people in the four families, those thieves of the four families would get the latest warships out and fabricate a nonexistence "space storm", which reportedly caused the destruction of the warship. Then, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would have the new warship, while the thieves of the four families would gain tremendous profits as well as the friendship of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. The profits and the friendships could significantly help the thieves to improve their strength and distinguish themselves in the cruel family competitions. It was almost a perfect "win-win".
Even the latest warships could be smuggled from the four families' territory to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. It was needless to mention other things such as crystal suits, intelligence, or resources.
After all, no matter how big the cake of the family had been made, what the descendants of the secondary bloodlines got was just the tiniest slice. They and their offspring would never be the Kurfürst for the next ten thousand years. So, why did they have to be so stubborn?
Besides, they were not betraying their families. They were only picking several fruits from the big and deeply-rooted families. Did it really matter? Could the magnificent four Kurfürst families collapse because of the loss of a minor warship or the leakage of a few pieces of unimportant intelligence? Hahaha. Absolute impossible!
It was the common mindset for the descendants of secondary bloodlines in the four Kurfürst families.
Part of the descendants of the main bloodlines, who hadn't been particularly successful, also thought so.
While their positions in their families were low, they were large in number and controlled most of the lowly but down-to-earth jobs. They were essentially the cornerstones of their families.
The cunning merchants of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were best at attracting and corrupting such noble descendants. In the past hundred years, they had won the fondness of a lot of people in the four families through various methods. The "cornerstones" had already been riddled with holes.
Right now, at the bottom level of the four Kurfürst families, there was even a weird, popular theory. What the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists were doing was actually to force the leadership of the four families to see the power of the bottom level and prompt them to distribute more benefits to the bottom level. Therefore, the greater fuss the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors caused, the more the secondary bloodlines of the four families would benefit.
It was one side of the coin.
On the other side of the coin, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was also not a unified group made of determined people, but one made of countless cowardly, greedy, and boneless individuals.
Merchants were the most audacious and reckless people in the world. For 300% profits, they would not hesitate to wave their sabers at Blackstar the Great.
But at the same time, merchants were also the weakest and the most capricious people. As long as Blackstar the Great or the four Kurfürsten could offer a 301% price, say, the temptation of a certain franchis
e right, the same merchants would not bat an eye and would sell their own parents.
Perhaps the business leaders such as Jin Yuyan, who was farsighted with a clear head, understood the consequences of making deals with the wrong people, but most members of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors could barely resist the enticement of interests before their eyes.
Therefore, the four Kurfürst families also had many spies within the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. They had won the secret allegiance of many members of the alliance too.
In short, the four families and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were not two black-and-white sides. There was in fact a chaotic, obscure gray swamp, which everybody had submerged themselves into willingly for their interests. The only difference was whether they were deep gray or bright gray.
A member of the four families could be working for the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors because his fatal secret was controlled, like Li Wuji.
But at the same time, he could be appointed by his family to allure and coerce certain members of the Business Alliance, even truly receiving the secret letters of loyalty that the members of the Business Alliance wrote to the Kurfürsten.
The members of the Business Alliance who wrote the secret letters to pledge loyalty, on the other hand, could be actively tempting some other members of the four families, attracting them into the swamp in clandestine deals for all kinds of interests.
In the meantime, both the members of the four families and the members of the Business Alliance, when encountering a weak enemy, passer-by, or friend by accident while they were on a trip, might also change their faces quickly and play the role of space pirates, swallowing the victim from the skin to the bones.
It was exactly the absurd and chaotic war that was going on at the edge of the Imperium right now.
Of course, all the messy forces, who did not have the slightest loyalty or credit and who had been planning for their own interests, would eventually sort everything out in the turbulence and find the wind indicator, which would be the result of the battle of the Seven Seas Grand Market.
After the battle of Seven Seas was settled, both the descendants of the four families and the members of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would immediately understand the role they should play.
As a matter of fact, those selfish Immortal Cultivators had always played only two roles. They were either the victors or the followers of victors.
When the day came, the losers would be taught a profound lesson about how inevitable and unstoppable their failure was.
In the training room in the Blue Sky Market, Li Wuji confessed everything he knew.
Not only had he accomplished the mission that Li Yao and Boss Bai entrusted to him perfectly, but he had also even secretly got in touch with certain treacherous guys in the four families and the guys whom he could blackmail. He made a list of names and encouraged Li Yao and Boss Bai to attract those people into their cause too.
That was exactly the weirdness of human psychology. It was certainly a shameful thing to eat s*it alone, but if more people were dragged into the septic tank, including those who were in much higher places than himself, such a thing would not seem as unbearable.
By then, being the first person to eat s*it would even be something worth being proud of!
Li Yao and Boss Bai naturally took in all of Li Wuji's "kindness".
"My lord, if our cause does succeed in the end, you will be the greatest contributor!"
Li Yao patted Li Wuji's shoulder with a smile.
Since Boss Bai was playing the bad cop, he could only play the good cop and give Li Wuji hope. "You are now only a marquess. Is that really anything? Your future is nothing but promising!"
Li Wuji did not necessarily believe what Li Yao said, but he had to pretend to be "flattered", not even having the courage to wipe the shoulder that Li Yao had just patted. Hesitating for a long time, he still summoned his courage and asked, "Fellow Cultivator Li, I wonder… what is 'our cause' exactly? I'm… I'm rather confused!"
"It doesn't matter what our cause is specifically. Is it really important to know whether we are on the four families' side or the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors'?"
Li Yao waved his hand and declared, "What matters is that we have such a magnificent fleet. This is our foundation and the greatest support for our fortune and power! As long as we have such a support, the four families, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, or any other forces have to give us enough respect, don't they?
"Of course, both our cause and your position require much more than the current fleet. Only by further expanding and building up ourselves in the battle of Seven Seas can you rise and your future be better ensured, allowing you to even become the Kurfürst in the end!"
Li Wuji bulged his eyes and swallowed hard. "About that…"
"Trust me."
Looking at Li Wuji in the eyes, Li Yao spoke with a voice that was piercing into the guy's brain. "Vulture Li Yao is a super expert that everybody in the Imperium knows. I have my dignity, and I am always best known for my credibility. How can I lie to you? If you work for us dutifully, chances are that we can establish a branch fleet for you to command after the battle of Seven Seas is over. Consider it as a replacement for your former fleet. I assure you that it will be stronger than the previous one. Just rest assured about that!"
Chapter 2502: Black Iron |
Li Wuji would've only trusted Li Yao's "credibility" if his brain had been damaged because of sinking in the septic tank for too long.
However, having lost his entire fleet, he did not have a second option.
Also, according to his secret observation in the Blue Sky Market, what Boss Bai was trying to build was indeed not a bloated, gigantic regular fleet, but a rapid response fleet that was small but elite. As a result, abundant starships would certainly be outdated. They could be used to establish a mediocre fleet that was commanded by someone.
In that case, why couldn't the "someone" be him, Li Wuji?
Revenge was a dish best served cold. Whether or not he was to settle the scores with Boss Bai for his insult, there was no need to end on bad terms with the guy right now. Instead, he needed to cooperate with the guy without reserve and recover his fleet first.
Having made up his mind, Li Wuji discussed with Li Yao and Boss Bai respectfully on the battle plan of the next phase, before he bowed at the two of them deeply and stepped backward out of the room.
"I never knew that there could be such… Divinity Transformation Stage experts."
Looking at Li Wuji's back that was getting further and further away, Li Yao said with mixed feelings, "Why do I feel that there aren't many real heroes at the magnificent center of the cosmos and that the people in the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage here are far worse than the people of the same level at the edge of the cosmos?"
"It's perfectly normal. The two parties have entirely different living environments and training methods. Even if they are at the same level, they are not exactly the same."
Boss Bai said casually, "The trainers at the edge of the cosmos have all groped independently and struggled to succeed in the harshest environment with the slightest resources. While the odds for us to advance into the Nascent Soul Stage and the Divinity Transformation Stage are very low, and our advancement is much more dangerous than that at the center of the cosmos, we will earn a lot after we succeed. Our bodies, our souls, and our minds will be polished in the most extreme way!
"What about the trainers at the center of the cosmos? Hehe. They often have the best family environment, the most perfect training facilities, and astronomical training resources. Whatever they want, they could extend their hands and get it, unlike us who have to fight bloody battles for the slightest resources!
"I was told that there is even a lot of massive magical equipment in the Imperium of True Human Beings that can deal with the 'apocalypses' attracted by the advance
ment into higher levels. Think about it, even the apocalypses are no longer a threat to the high-level trainers. Such high-level trainers are purely piled up by resources and the environment. They are the flowers in the greenhouse that have never seen any real wind. How can they compete with us?
"It's like there are two magnates in the mall. One of them is born in a renowned family, studies in the most excellent schools, and inherits the family enterprise the moment he graduates. But the other is born in a poor family and builds an enterprise from scratch one coin after another.
"If the two of them boast equal assets, Li Yao, who do you think is the more determined and ambitious one and who is more likely to win the business war?"
Slightly stunned, Li Yao nodded his head quickly in epiphany. "That sounds very reasonable. It is exactly the case in Long Yangjun's Ancient Sages Sector. The barbarian soldiers born in the remote, bitter lands whose wilderness is not entirely tamed may turn into elite troops after some training. They are often much more brutal and tougher than the army of the central dynasties. Right now, the Cultivators from the Star Glory Federation are exactly such 'wild barbarians'!"
"That's exactly right!"
Boss Bai laughed aloud. "That's why I've always been telling my brothers. In training and fighting, the level is certainly very important, but it is not the most important thing. For the people at the same level, every warrior from the edge of the cosmos can defeat two or three flowers in the greenhouse that is at the center of the cosmos. That's certainly not an exaggeration!"
Li Yao recalled the battles that he had experienced after he came to the Imperium and realized that it was right.
"The key is not the level, but the belief."
Boss Bai extended his hands at the artificial sky, trying to grab a piece of the blue sky into his palm. He said, "I am fighting to break out of the Pangu universe and cruise among the billions of stars. You are fighting for all human beings in the Pangu universe… or at least for the Star Glory Federation. That is the reason why we are fighting and the source of our strength!
