Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

by <unknown>

  After slicing and scanning the well-preserved brains, valuable experimental data had been retrieved, which was of great help when it came to the studies on the souls of the many races in the Pangu civilization.

  Chapter 2581: Doing the Same? |

  In the thousand years of war against the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, the Imperium of True Human Beings was also faced with the problem of the citizens of the Imperium being captured and brainwashed by the Covenant Alliance. A lot of people of the Covenant Alliance as well as the previous citizens of the Imperium had been captured and brainwashed by the Covenant Alliance.

  In order to recover the brainwashed citizens of the Imperium and to explore the mysteries of the "Three Fundamental Laws", the Imperium performed all kinds of research on the brains of the people of the Covenant Alliance. Precious brain tomography had been retrieved, allowing them to gain a better understanding of the brainwashing technology.

  The so-called "brainwashing" looked mysterious and unbelievable, but it was in fact just an upgraded version of mind interferential technologies such as psychological hints, deep hypnotization, etc.

  All of human beings' self-cognition and free will originated from the feedback of the material world, which was even branded in the brain cells in some sort of conditional reflexes. The ideas and beliefs that one firmly believed in boiled down to the glittering sparks inside the brain cells that were not unchangeable.

  As long as the relevant areas in the brain were located and certain tiny operations were performed on the brain cells, resulting in permanent pathological changes, it would be possible to completely change the way one thought.

  There were plenty of medical cases where one's personalities were greatly changed when parts of the brain tissues were excised or implanted after brain surgeries.

  Some people even grasped skills that they had been absolutely unaware of after their brains were severely injured in an accident that resulted in the loss of part of their memories.

  While those cases were not real brainwashing, the mechanism was still the same.

  As for the spectral Cultivators who did not have brain tissues, only souls, it was even easier to interfere with and modify them. Without the protection of artificial bodies, the ghosts in a natural environment were very likely to split apart or even be completely lost. They even sometimes mixed with the brainwaves of other people, turning into inexplicable beings.

  All in all, technically speaking, "brainwashing" was not a fantasy but a congregation of the essence in the fields like medication, hypnotization, and meditation. It was a real thing.

  Li Yao was good at mental attacks. He could create horrifying illusions inside the enemy's head, caging the enemy in the greatest terror. Was that not another example of brainwashing?

  If the enemy's soul was slightly weaker, they would even consider the illusions as reality and dwell in it for the rest of their lives, unable to break free at all.

  After Li Yao came to the Imperium of True Human Beings, Li Yao had got the brain tomography of many people of the Covenant Alliance through Li Linghai as well as Xiaoming and Wenwen.

  He compared the images with the brain tomography of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan that he discovered in the Star Glory Federation. To his surprise, he noticed very similar mutations in a specific area in the brains of the people of the Covenant Alliance, the Pangu Clan, and the Nuwa Clan!

  Human beings who were no more than two meters tall and the many species of the Pangu civilization whose heights varied between a couple of meters to a hundred looked vastly different on the surface.

  However, their brains were surprisingly similar and only differed in sizes. The structures of their brains were almost identical.

  If one was nitpicking the difference, it would be that the brains of human beings were more delicate than the thirteen species of the Pangu civilization. It was almost like that the advantages of the brains of the thirteen carbon-based lives were gathered in the neatest ways so that a smaller brain and a lower energy consumption could unleash greater potentials in thinking and training.

  After comparing almost ten thousand pictures of brain tomography, Li Yao discovered artificial abnormalities in the same area inside the brains of both the people of the Covenant Alliance and the Pangu Clan.

  Li Yao determined them to be "artificial mutations" because few changes could be found in the same area inside the brains of the ordinary people or the Nuwa Clan.

  Li Yao estimated that the abnormal area should be the mark of the Path of Ultimate Benevolence or the Three Fundamental Laws.

  While human beings were tools that the Pangu civilization created, they were an advanced life who boasted high intelligence and developed thinking abilities after all, and they sought after freedom in nature. To make human beings follow their command obediently, the Pangu civilization naturally needed to stamp on the brains and even the gene strands of human beings, brainwashing human beings incessantly so that they would worship the Pangu Clan as gods.

  Among them, the brain stamp was the most solid one. The dignity, pride, and dissatisfaction of human beings were shackled from the brain cells.

  On the other hand, the Three Fundamental Laws and the Path of Ultimate Benevolence were not exactly the same. The former was only the laws that human beings needed to live by, whereas the latter highlighted serenity and peacefulness for the purpose of reducing the ambitions of individuals and their demand for resources to the minimum. It was a top rule that both human beings and the Pangu civilization had to abide by.

  Before the Pangu civilization brainwashed human beings, they had already conducted brainwashing on the thirteen carbon-based lives in the alliance. By sealing their emotions and desires, they also left deep marks in similar areas inside their own brains.

  However, according to the mental devil, Blackstar the Great's "soul explosion" a moment ago delivered weird waves that were similar to "viruses", which tried to sabotage and modify the same area inside Li Yao's brain.

  "Therefore, it is very possible that Wuying Qi possesses brainwashing technologies similar to what the Covenant Alliance uses—the brainwashing technologies from the Pangu civilization in the primeval age?"

  Deep in thought, Li Yao recalled his conversation with Long Yangjun when Nepenthe overthrew the Great Iron Plants below the capital planet.

  At that time, Long Yangjun told Li Yao that Wuying Qi could be deeply associated with the Covenant Alliance. The two parties could even be the two sides of the same coin. Or maybe Wuying Qi and certain other ambitious schemers intended to control 99% of human beings through brainwashing technologies so that most of the weaklings would forever be the slaves of the experts. However, things went out of control in the end, and people's absolute loyalty toward the Pangu civilization was "activated". That was how the weirdo that was the Alliance of the Holy Covenant was created.

  Li Yao was rather skeptical at the beginning because it would be too appalling if the truth was like that.

  However, from what he had seen, Long Yangjun's prophecy was probably right. Wuying Qi and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant were very likely to be complicit. At the very least, they mastered the same dreadful brainwashing technologies that could deprive human beings of their most precious free will!

  "We need to calm down and think about what Wuying Qi wants exactly."

  Rubbing his temples softly, Li Yao said, "In order to sort through the whole thing and see through the scumbag's real purpose, we must eliminate the unexpected factor that is us first, because Wuying Qi couldn't have foreseen our involvement when he activated his plan.

  "If we hadn't shown up, Jin Yuyan should've been assassinated by Red Lady, Qi Yuanbao, and Wuying Qinxin before the war one way or the other. Then, the Seven Seas Grand Market would've fallen into chaos. Disrupted, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors couldn't have resisted the scourge of the coalition fleet of the four families.

  "Under such circumstances, it would be very reasonable for Lei Chenghu's
Astounding Thunder Fleet to grit their teeth and jump over to save the day. Everybody would've thought that it was a choiceless choice that the reformists resorted to!

  "The reinforcement of the Astounding Thunder Fleet would've significantly weakened the defense in the capital. The Imperial Guards and the Deep Sea Fleet were absolutely not enough to resist the ace fleets of the four families. It's almost like they were taking off their clothes and alluring the four families to attack the capital!

  "What is most delicate is that all the moves would've been smooth and unforced. It's impossible to tell that Wuying Qi was behind the curtain at all. Qi Yuanbao and Wuying Qinxin would've taken care of everything!

  "However, we unexpectedly appeared.

  "Not only did we save Jin Yuyan, but we also brought the news of the arrival of the Black Wind King. We even fabricated a nonexistent 'Black Wind Fleet', significantly boosting the morale of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. They were almost capable of defeating the coalition fleet of the four families on their own.

  "As a result, the Astounding Thunder Fleet was no longer in a situation where they had to reinforce the Seven Seas Grand Market.

  "If the Astounding Thunder Fleet stayed in the four families' heartland, the four families' ace fleets would never attack the capital blatantly on a large scale, which seems to be something that Wuying Qi was very unwilling to see. Therefore, he showed up in person and even sacrificed the very important card that was Wuying Qinxin in order to sabotage the Seven Seas Grand Market and crush the confidence of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.

  "While his actions more or less gave the Astounding Thunder Fleet an excuse to reinforce them, it seemed more or less abrupt and coincidental, and not nearly as secretive and natural as the previous plan.

  "It's very easy to understand why Wuying Qi wanted Jin Yuyan dead. He was very clear that Jin Yuyan's beliefs were absolutely incompatible with his own, and the two parties would end on bad terms sooner or later. Therefore, he might as well kill the enemy before Jin Yuyan discovered his real identity and direct the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors to die together with the four families. After the damned merchants and the even more damned free coin were destroyed, it would be easier for his reign in the future.

  "However, it is rather perplexing that he was so desperately alluring the ace fleets of the four families to attack the capital. What arrangements does he have in the capital that make him confident in destroying the ace troops of the four families at the same time?"

  Li Yao recalled the gigantic hole that Wuying Qi had dug out below the ground of the capital planet.

  Wuying Qi had just gained control of the capital. Instead of regrouping and training all the fleets, he activated tremendous labor and devoted countless resources to the underground construction work. Was the hole the secret weapon that made him confident in destroying the ace fleets of the four families?

  "Do you still remember Wuying Qi's rise? He gained his fame at the beginning by detonating Karan, where his command center was located, as a border general and annihilating the invading fleets of the Covenant Alliance by the way."

  The mental devil said, "Is it possible that Wuying Qi is planning to do the same this time, if not a hundred times more intense? He is going to allure the enemies' most elite fleets to land on the capital planet and then blow up the whole planet together with the tens of billions of people on it as well as all his enemies!"

  Chapter 2582: Differences Between Propaganda and Reality |

  "Isn't it a bit too… whimsical?"

  Li Yao did take the possibility into consideration but did not find it very plausible after much deliberation. "First of all, it is very difficult from a technological point of view. Karan was only a resource planet that was extremely small in size, and it contained highly-condensed super-energy minerals below the ground. That was why it could be detonated instantly, making the blast sweep across the whole space zone. Such a unique resource planet is rather hard to come by even in the entire three thousand Sectors.

  "The Empyreal Terminus Sector, on the other hand, is a rather steady habitable planet that is in its prime days. Below the crust and the mantle, most of the materials are alloys in the shape of liquid or solid. Even though tremendous mother lodes can be found, it is barely possible to raise a destructive explosion.

  "The great battle between the Supreme Emperor and the Blood God merely caused the division and movement of the plates at best. It is possible to destroy dozens of cities, but detonating the whole planet and swallowing all the fleets on the orbit nearby? How is it possible? Where is the energy from?

  "Secondly, the leaders of the four families and the commanders of the ace fleets are not idiots. The move that Wuying Qi played in Karan years ago has been reflected in every textbook and countless entertainment work in the Imperium. Everybody is familiar with it, and there must be a lot of people who are trying to duplicate it.

  "I assume that Wuying Qi's revival has gradually been made known to everybody now. How can they not be prepared for him to play his old trick?

  "All in all, if I were the commander of the ace fleets of the four families, I would never attack the capital planet recklessly. I would clear all the forces of the reformists who dared to cruise in space in the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector and establish space gates. Then, I would mobilize abundant cannon fodder troops and ask them to attack the surface of the planet, crumbling the enemy with the sheer advantage in number. The best I would do would be to send out a tiny proportion of air forces to launch bombardments from the sky. If Wuying Qi intends to play self-detonation, he is free to detonate himself. Except for the cannon fodder troops on the surface, he would be earning absolutely nothing!

  "Thirdly, and most importantly, the capital planet is absolutely different from Karan in the past in terms of strategic value. The most reliable supporters for Wuying Qi are the members of the royal families and the Imperial Guards made of them. If he does have ways to transform the capital planet into a gigantic bomb to die together with the enemy, wouldn't he be wasting his offspring, the Imperial Guards, the Deep Sea Fleet, and the Reform Committee of the Council of Elders and ruining his only base right now?

  "Such an exchange is too absurd. It must be noted that even if the four families lose all their ace fleets, they still have abundant mediocre and third-rate fleets, and their dominions would still be intact. However, Wuying Qi will have nothing left if he loses the capital, the Imperial Guards, and the Deep Sea Fleet. Is he going to put all his hope in Lei Chenghu's Astounding Thunder Fleet? No, I don't think Wuying Qi is the kind of people who would entrust their fate to somebody else's hands!"

  "Your analysis is very reasonable. It seems that the trap this time will be highly different from the self-detonation of Karan. Whatever Wuying Qi is digging below the capital planet must be something even more dangerous than a 'planetary crystal bomb'."

  Pondering for a long time, the mental devil opened its hands and said, "However, whatever scheme Wuying Qi is up to below the ground of the capital planet, it makes no difference for us. Whether it is a planetary crystal bomb or something scarier, like a piece of stellar magical equipment whose influence radiates to the entire Sector, there will be no way we can stop it.

  "Jin Yuyan is right. We are trapped in the messy swamp that is the Seven Seas Space Zone tightly, unable to get away. The forces of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs, the Astounding Thunder Fleet, and the coalition fleet of the four families have been entangled with each other. Do you think you can separate them on your own?

  "How are you going to stop Wuying Qi on your own without the support of a fleet? Just drop the fantasies like sneaking into the capital and playing the decapitation move. Let's forget how thorough Wuying Qi's defense in the capital is. Even if the man cancels all the defense and even sends his coordinates to you, waiting for you to kill him on his throne and giving you an advantage by using only one arm and one l
eg, then what? Can you kill him?"

  "What are you talking about? Don't praise the enemy and do ourselves down like that!"

  His eyebrows furrowed, Li Yao scratched his chin hard and murmured, "Loopholes! There must be loopholes! The whole thing can't be so flawless, or I wouldn't feel vaguely uncomfortable. Where exactly is the problem? Got it. There's something that has been baffling me!"

  The mental devil asked, "What is it?"

  Li Yao counted his fingers and said, "Look, we both agree that Wuying Qi did so many things in the Seven Seas Grand Market in order to eliminate the hidden problem that was the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors in advance, in case the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors betrayed him and got out of his control after his identity was exposed, right?"

  The mental devil nodded. "Yes."

  Li Yao went on, "Also, we both agree that Wuying Qi has set up an astonishing trap in the capital and is waiting for the ace fleets of the four families to step into it. At least in Wuying Qi's understanding, the trap is enough to destroy the ace fleets of the four families once and for all!"

  The mental devil nodded again. "That's right. What's the problem?"

  "Nothing. There's no problem with those two things. However, there's a major problem with the next thing."

  Li Yao said, "If Wuying Qi's plan is immaculate, the coalition fleets of the four families in the Seven Seas Space Zone will be destroyed at the same time when the ace fleets in the capital are destroyed. When all the available forces are lost, it is possible that the four families will collapse all of a sudden.

  "However, don't you feel that Lei Chenghu's Astounding Thunder Fleet arrived too soon?

  "Or rather, Wuying Qi messed up the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors too badly and diminished their strength too hard!"