by <unknown>
Li Yao cackled again, so unpleasantly that it sounded like a crow hovering above carrion.
"Why, am I not right?"
Li Yao's laughter came to an abrupt end. He glared at everybody. "Why are you not laughing, huh?"
"Hehe… Hehehehe…"
The many managers, shareholders, and investors were all sweating hard. Looking at the aggressive Exos and battle puppets around, they hurried to echo in uneasiness.
"That's right. Laughing is better than crying, and certainly much better than screaming after being skinned by me and hopping around with your bleeding body."
Li Yao continued, "All in all, Director Jin convinced me. Whatever your relationship with the four Kurfürst families was until today, and whether or not you were involved in any plot or scheme, I'll let bygones be bygones. Nobody will bring it up again!
"However, the battle of the Seven Seas is about to begin. The cause of the reformists is in danger. It is time you make a clear decision about your stance.
"The business of gaining advantage from both sides can't last. I know that standing behind you are the Sector Masters, warlords, and experts from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium, if not the important persons in the four Kurfürst families. As their spokespersons, you are discussing in the grand conference room of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors how to resist the coalition fleet of the four families, while your masters are rushing to this place on fierce starships, determined to completely destroy it here. Can there be a more absurd thing in the entire universe?
"It's time to make up your mind, everybody. You have only two options.
"You can side with the four Kurfürst families and completely destroy the Seven Seas Grand Market, the enterprise of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists, the free coins and various resources that you have accumulated through hard work for a hundred years, and the hope for you to change your fate and climb the infinite peaks!
"Yes, it is possible that your life will be safe for now, but you will forever lose the chance to compete with the four Kurfürsten. You and your offspring are destined to be the dogs of the four Kurfürsten that are only qualified to feed on their leftovers.
"We are all very clear that there won't be a second Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. There won't be a second great opportunity for you to change your fate. You will crouch in a corner for all eternity like dogs whose legs have been broken, moaning and crying for help!
"Oh, I almost forgot, even if you want to be dogs, it may be impossible for you to accomplish your wish. Who knows how the four Kurfürsten will treat the people like you who had second thoughts before after they stabilize the situation and take back the capital? Is it really troublesome to start a great purge?
"Hehe, those of you who came from the four families, may I remind you to be cautious, because people always loathe traitors a hundred times more than they loathe enemies.
"Director Jin and I are lenient enough to forget the past, but if the petty leaders of the four Kurfürst families learn what you did here, do you think they will just drop it?"
After hearing that, many people looked even more awful.
"If that is not the result you're looking forward to, you have only the second option now!"
Li Yao suddenly raised his voice, which swept across the entire room like a black storm and rumbling thunder again. He opened his arms, as if he were holding the shoulders of all the Immortal Cultivators. "You can stand on the side of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the reformists, and me! We will fight together with the magnificent Black Wind Fleet to strike the arrogance of the four families and shatter their evil plan to destroy the Seven Seas Grand Market. Then, we will launch a thunderous counterattack to overthrow the four Kurfürsten, carving up the population, resources, and market at the center of the cosmos. Then, you will share the many worlds at the edge of the cosmos with me!
"Eventually, all of us will be the masters of our fate. We will be the most lawless and dominating Immortal Cultivators who control the Imperium and the entire universe!
"The universe is great, but not as great as me. If you do not have such determination but prefer to be an obedient dog, why did you bother to become an Immortal Cultivator in the first place?!"
Li Yao's roar shattered the eardrums and the defense line in the heads of countless Immortal Cultivators.
The investors and partners from the four families had mostly chosen to be present through holograms. Their real bodies were indeed marching at the Seven Seas Space Zone on their respective starships in the middle of an enormous, aggressive coalition fleet exactly like Li Yao said.
It was time to make a final decision!
"Black Wind King—"
Jin Yuyan seized the opportunity to ask, "That being said, where is your Black Wind Fleet exactly, and how good is it after drifting for a hundred years?"
Everybody pricked their ears for the question.
That was right. Li Yao's bragging was not important. What mattered was the Black Wind Fleet!
"The Black Wind Fleet is naturally at where it should be. A saber is the sharpest when it is about to be unsheathed."
Li Yao smiled mysteriously. "As for the strength, you can rest assured about that. Although the Black Wind Fleet floated in the infinite sea of stars for a hundred years, we barely encountered any gory battle. The attrition was not high.
"On the contrary, after crushing Firefly, we received abundant secret treasures of the government-in-exile of the Star Ocean Republic. We also split and reorganized Firefly into a new brand fleet. Many elite warriors on Firefly were captured and educated into Immortal Cultivators, with a much higher combat ability than before.
"Also, the barbaric worlds have also provided us with incessant soldiers. Those fearless barbaric warriors are the best infantry. They are all rubbing their hands impatiently, desperate for a great battle.
"I assure you that the Black Wind Fleet today is multiple times stronger than a hundred years ago. It is definitely a cutthroat dagger!"
"Then—"
His eyes glittering, Jin Yuyan asked, "When will the Black Wind Fleet arrive?"
"It will depend on your performance."
Li Yao sniffed and said, "Getting to the bottom of it, this is your war first and then mine. If you are united and fight together, and the Immortal Cultivators in the coalition fleet of the four families cooperate with you, showing a chance of victory, the Black Wind Fleet will naturally march out at the most critical moment!
"However, if you are all vacillating and hesitative, hoping to take advantage of both sides, why would I bother to help you at such great risks?"
"Fair enough."
Jin Yuyan said, "All in all, as long as we fight hard, the Black Wind Fleet will certainly show up?"
"Of course it will!"
Li Yao declared resolution, "You and I are interdependent on each other and share mutual interests. How can I benefit from it if I watch you be annihilated by the four families while doing nothing?
"The news of my arrival cannot be kept a secret for long. It will spread out to the entire universe. It is safe to say that the four families and I have already fallen out. If I do not cooperate with you to destroy the four families, should I just wait for them to divide and conquer, killing you first before killing me?
"So, just rest assured about that. In short, you can just charge forward boldly without worries, and the Black Wind Fleet will definitely cover you as your strongest support!"
Chapter 2550: The Black King's Palace! |
Honestly, if any of the Immortal Cultivators believed Li Yao's bulls*it that they could charge forward valiantly while counting on Li Yao's cover, their brains would've been too seriously wrong for them to survive to this day.
However, strength was most worshipped by the Immortal Cultivators. Compared to the tiny fleet in their hands, the Black Wind Fleet was definitely an irresistible primordial beast.
Besides, as the Immortal C
ultivators thought again and again, they believed that Li Yao was not entirely wrong. Two tigers could not live on the same mountain. It was impossible for an ambitious warlord from the periphery like "Black Wind King" to live in peace with the four Kurfürst families.
A war between the Black Wind King and the four Kurfürsten was inevitable. Wasn't the present the best opportunity?
Therefore, while the Black Wind King would not lead the charge for them, if they did fight together and reveal the weakness of the four families' coalition fleet, the Black Wind Fleet would certainly show up and finish the battle in a critical strike.
Li Yao did not give them any chance to think carefully. Raising his right arm high, he clenched his fist and bashed his chest hard, before he waved it out like a saber, a hammer, or a warship that was flying to the heart of the universe.
"Long live the Imperium!"
Taking a deep breath, he roared in a soul-stirring voice, "Our cause will succeed. A brand-new Imperium will arrive. Long live the Imperium, long live the Immortal Cultivators, long live the civilization of mankind!"
It had been a long time since the Immortal Cultivators heard such a sincere and heartfelt roar.
The voice was so pure, genuine, and even extreme that the body of the Black Wind King seemed to be expanding nonstop, further highlighting the selfishness and insignificance of their own souls. It was true. Were they Immortal Cultivators at all when compared to such a Black Wind King?!
"Long live the Imperium!"
"Long live the Immortal Cultivators!"
"Long live the civilization of mankind!"
Whether they meant it or not, all the Immortal Cultivators began to roar together with Li Yao.
The roars flooded out of the headquarters of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors again like a torrent of thunders, filling the internal district immediately before overflowing to the external district and even the entire Seven Seas Space Zone.
Very soon, all the merchants, killers, mercenaries, and spies lingering in the Seven Seas Grand Market learned the astounding news. The Black Wind King, a capable warrior who was on par with Lei Chenghu but a hundred times more ambitious than him, had returned and declared unambiguously that he was going to resist the four families on the side of the reformists and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors again!
The shocking news was exactly a rapid cardiotonic for the panicked Seven Seas Grand Market.
The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors again had plenty of capitals. However, capitals had to be combined with violence in order to let out mysterious reactions and unleash a strength a hundred times more than before.
Before, although Lei Chenghu was on the reformists' side, "reformists" and "Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors again" were not exactly the same thing. Also, Lei Chenghu's Astounding Thunder Fleet and the best fleets of the four families were stalling each other, ready to reinforce the battle at the capital anytime. It was impossible for him to jump to the peripheral worlds of the Imperium easily.
Whether or not the garrison of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, together with the mercenaries and the assassin groups that had been temporarily recruited, could resist the overwhelming crush of the four families' coalition fleet, nobody was confident to give a positive answer.
To make things worse, even Director Jin Yuyan was assassinated before the final battle. Their confidence and morale had hit rock bottom.
However, as it turned out, Jin Yuyan was not dead at all but neatly resolved the four families' series of schemes. He had also invited such a powerful person as the Black Wind King to help with the battle!
A well-trained army was much better than a large army. The covetous Black Wind Fleet would certainly bring enormous pressure to the coalition fleet of the four families, adding more unexpected factors to the battle of Seven Seas.
The confidence and morale that had just hit rock bottom immediately bounced back, as shown by the futures index in the Commodity Market.
Before, when the news that Jin Yuyan had been assassinated was out, the whole market lost confidence in the free coin. Everybody was desperately exchanging the free coins they had into all kinds of goods and hoping to escape before the four families' coalition fleet arrived.
For a moment, the prices were soaring, and the free coin had been greatly devalued. The business order was about to be gone.
After the news that Jin Yuyan was not dead and the Black Wind King had arrived, the market was immediately calmed down. The exchange rate between the free coin and the crystal coin of the Imperium was soon stabilized, and it became even higher than before Jin Yuyan's assassination.
It meant that the free coin was more valuable than a day ago!
The free coin was confidence; the confidence of the Immortal Cultivators from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium and even within the four families in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors as well as the reformists.
The value of the free coin almost decided the ending of the battle of Seven Seas.
Very soon, even the soldiers who were stationed at the floating sentry posts at the border of the Seven Seas Space Zone were full of confidence about the final battle and the Black Wind King. Such a troop was definitely usable!
Jin Yuyan took the opportunity to secretly meet with the powerful warlords and magnates at the edge of the Imperium, reaching underground agreements one after another.
The middle-level commanders and the bottom-level officers of the four families were also important targets for him to attract. He promised them thousands of benefits and temptations on one condition—that those people would shift their sides during the battle and join the cause of brightness and justice.
Other than that, he was also busy restoring the order of the Seven Seas Grand Market and dealing with the guys like Qi Yuanbao, Wuying Qinxin, and Red Lady. However Jin Yuyan hated the few "traitors", it was impossible for him to execute them immediately. After all, they were not by themselves but had countless subordinates and allies, like "Bloody Skull" and "Life Claimer", which were trained by themselves in person. 99% of the members of the assassin groups were unaware of their betrayal or their scheme to assassinate Jin Yuyan.
With a war coming near, those people were the pillars to defend the Seven Seas Grand Market. What would those people think if their leader was executed at such a moment? What would the people of the "Wuying group", which was rather close to Wuying Qinxin, think?
Therefore, Jin Yuyan could only follow Li Yao's suggestion and keep Qi Yuanbao, Wuying Qinxin, and Red Lady in custody until the victory of the battle of Seven Seas.
As for the elite assassination squads that the four families sent to infiltrate the Seven Seas Grand Market, they were not as lucky.
Identified by Qi Yuanbao and Red Lady, those people were all captured, and all their secret bureaus and intelligence networks were unrooted too.
They were all the central members of the main bloodlines of the four families. It was barely possible for them to surrender.
Without batting an eye, Jin Yuyan had all the assassins from the four families executed before the Commodity Market, their stinky blood flowing all over the ground, as a gesture of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors' determination to crush the four families.
Jin Yuyan was occupied for almost half a day before he finally finished the preliminary preparations for the final battle. He was able to catch his breath and went to Li Yao to discuss the operations in the next step and to seek the answers to the mysteries that had been puzzling him.
Li Yao did not stay in the headquarters of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. He asked Jin Yuyan to spare a building that was about twenty floors high as the palace for the "Black Wind King".
He also retrieved countless components from the warehouse of the Seven Seas Grand Market, arming the tower that solely belonged to the Black Wind King. Even Jin Yuyan did not know what he was up to inside.
When Jin Yuyan walked into
the "palace of the Black Wind King", the inside of the building had been completely deformed by Li Yao's modification.
The whole building was crowded with mysterious defensive arrays. All the floors were drowned in the hazy mist where one couldn't see one's own fingers. In the dark mist, countless raging shadows could be vaguely seen. Now and then, the hoots of fiends, the cries of ghosts, and other creepy noises were echoing.
Jin Yuyan felt that he had stepped into an absurd but horrible nightmare after he walked into the building. He could not sense any of the sounds or information from the outside world.
What a brilliant interferential array on the soul!
Jin Yuyan was secretly alarmed. He knew that what he saw and heard was mostly illusions. The defensive arrays that Li Yao had set up could even deceive the experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage like him. Although it was partly because his soul and his brain were not matched, it was still indicative enough of Li Yao's capabilities in magical equipment modification, deployment of defensive arrays, and soul attack besides fighting.
Where does this monster come from exactly? Not only does he have such a remarkable combat ability, but he is also adept at so many side tricks. This is really…
While Jin Yuyan was thinking, a glamorous and eye-catching black shadow slowly descended from the midair.
Every floor of this building was about three meters tall. However, the black shadow seemed to be dropping from a hundred meters high in the middle of thousands of crows, landing on Jin Yuyan's back without a sound.
Greatly alarmed, Jin Yuyan turned around abruptly, only to discover that thousands of black flames were ignited on the black shadow, tearing it apart and revealing Li Yao's real appearance.
Li Yao at this moment had a skin as pale as a dead man, which was even more eye-catching under the contrast of the black mist. He was only wearing a sloppy black robe that seemed to carry no decorations, but if one were to observe more carefully, they would notice that countless goriest scenes of slaughters had been sewed on the black robe. The astounding black seemed to be made of an ocean of blood that had curdled and dried.