Squeak. Squeak …
The hanging man swayed in the air, and the noise made by the steel cable was particularly ear-piercing in the quiet torture chamber.
Heiye Ming hinted his subordinates to open the lower half of the hanged man's iron mask so that he could speak again. But the hanged man spurted out so much saliva that the spies of the Imperium had to use a pipetting machine to drain the mucus from his mouth.
"Of course, I'm telling the truth."
The hanging man's voice was very calm, monotonous, and even dry. He did not sound like he had just been through the most torturous torture, nor did he sound like he was still hanging upside down in midair, unable to move even his little finger. "As the commander of the expedition army of the Imperium, even if you don't believe me, you should at least believe in the power of the interrogation and soul-searching magical equipment of the Imperium."
"I want you to repeat Jin Xinyue's plan," Heiye Ming said coldly.
"I've said it twenty-two times," the hanging man said coldly.
"But you never said it under nineteen times the pain limit, did you?" Heiye Ming said. "According to the experience of the Imperium, even the most brilliant trickster can barely lie under fifteen times the pain limit. So, I'm sorry."
After saying that, Heiye Ming gestured at his subordinates before the hanging man said anything.
The so-called 'pain limit' was far more painful than a woman's natural childbirth. If it was multiplied by nineteen times, even the toughest nerves and the most powerful soul of a Cultivator would barely be able to endure it.
The hanging man grunted. The mucus in his mouth began to secrete again. Pink bubbles popped out of his nose, too, making him look like a fish that was about to die.
Hinting for his subordinates to monitor the hanging man's breathing, heartbeat, brainwaves, and spiritual energy, Heiye Ming said, "Talk now. Repeat everything you said in the state of five times the maximum pain, nine times the maximum pain, and thirteen times the maximum pain. Repeat it for the last time."
The hanging man vomited thick saliva and blood, but his voice was as calm and dry as ever. "The real 'Dim Moon Plan' is not as simple as a 'fake surrender'. As the sequel of the 'Red Tide Plan', or rather, the Twin Plan, it has been initiated and developed since almost a hundred years ago.
"The main targets of the plan are not just the Black Wind Fleet of the expedition army of the Imperium but also the renowned sects of the Xing Yao Federation and all the human beings in the Federation. In other words, the Federation itself!
"Jin Xinyue has three identities. She is the leader of the demon race, Li Yao's disciple, and a leader of the Federation.
"Therefore, the complete version of the 'Dim Moon Plan' has three purposes. It is to realize the renaissance of the demon race, to realize the complete governance of Li Yao's group, and to make the federation defeat the expedition army of the Imperium and consolidate the regional hegemony at the edge of the cosmos. It will be a critical factor that can influence the outcome of the war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance."
"Wait."
Frowning, Heiye Ming looked at the few spies of the Imperium on the light beam. "Is he under nineteen times the ultimate pain? Why is the frequency of his breathing, heartbeat, and brainwaves not much different from when he was under nine times or thirteen times the ultimate pain? "
"Yes, commander," the spy of the Imperium said. "He is indeed under nineteen times the ultimate pain!"
The hanging man smiled. "Compared to the future of the civilization of mankind, personal pain is insignificant. For the Imperium, for the true path of immortality, and for the thousands of compatriots of mankind, I will try to control myself and convince you of everything, General Ming."
Heiye Ming sniffed. "Go on."
"You must've seen a lot of Jin Xinyue's methods to deal with the renowned sects of the Federation, General Ming," the hanging man said. "My speculations have been confirmed.
"Jin Xinyue tied herself to some of the renowned sects a hundred years ago. She also pretended that she had completely fallen out with Ding Ling Dong, Guo Chunfeng, and the rest of them and that she could only count on the renowned sects. She also helped some of the noble sects defeat the other noble sects that were not easy to control.
"In fact, although she was never in a good relationship with Ding Ling Dong, she should've been on the same side with Guo Chunfeng. The so-called competition and opposition between the 'Secret Sword Bureau' and the 'Dim Moon Fund' was just an illusion. It was part of the 'Dim Moon Plan'."
"Why did Guo Chunfeng cooperate with Jin Xinyue?" Heiye Ming asked. "What was the basis of their trust?"
"I don't know," the hanging man said. "It was a top secret that only the two of them knew."
Heiye Ming looked at the spy of the Imperium who was operating the polygraph. The spy nodded, hinting that the hanging man was not lying.
The hanging man's eyes were still covered by the iron mask, and he could not see anything, but he seemed to boast the ability to see through things. He said, "There's no need to look. I'm not lying."
"I'll be the one to judge whether or not you are lying," Heiye Ming said. "All you need to do is keep talking."
"Jin Xinyue and Guo Chunfeng, together with the two intelligence agencies of the Federation, collected enough evidence to overthrow the renowned sects over decades," the hanging man said. "In the end, they detonated everything with the rebellion of Firefly, and Jin Xinyue dragged the renowned sects to their deaths!
"The appearance of Firefly was an accident. But even without Firefly, Jin Xinyue would've arranged another scandal that was more extreme to detonate herself and blow the renowned sects into smithereens by the way!
"As a result, all the obstacles to the complete governance of 'Li Yao's group' were cleared. More importantly, Jin Xinyue was created as a false impression that she had nowhere to go and was about to be disgraced or even imprisoned. Her dream of a hundred years was shattered, and she had lost everything. Therefore, very reasonable conditions were created for her 'betrayal'."
Heiye Ming nodded and said, "Indeed. 'Feign surrender' is a very ancient tactic that has been around since human beings created wars. However, to plan a 'feign surrender' in decades if not a hundred years, Jin Xinyue is indeed a dreadful woman!"
"The Xing Yao Federation did not intend to fight a protracted war," the hanging man continued calmly. "It was impossible for the Federation to survive a decade or two because the Black Wind Fleet was not the only expedition force of the Imperium after all. Even if the Federation could've slowly ground the Black Wind Fleet to death in decades, would it have done any good? Once the second expedition army arrived, it would've been more than enough to annihilate the Federation easily!
"Therefore, the federation has no choice but to swallow the main force of the Black Wind Fleet in a quick battle and force your remaining forces to surrender. Then, it will build up its own strength in the shortest amount of time possible so that the Imperium will not dare send out a second fleet after calculating the cost-benefit ratio of war and conquest. That will be the federation's only chance of survival."
"Swallow my main force?" Heiye Ming said coldly. "Jin Xinyue does have a big appetite!"
The hanging man smiled and said, "Under normal circumstances, such a possibility would've been impossible, but it was not necessarily the case when you were most vulnerable after the space jump.
"General Ming, since you are familiar with the history of the Federation, you must've remembered the battle where Jin Xinyue's father, Jin Tuyi, really seized the power of the Blood Demon Sector more than a hundred years ago.
"At that time, Jin Tuyi was just a puppet who did not completely control the Coalition Army of Demons. But with the collapse of the Eye of Blood Demon, the super teleportation array, he trapped and killed countless experts and troops who disobeyed him, turning himself from a puppet into the real 'master of the Blood Demon Sector'!
"Human strength is limited, but the power of the universe is infinite and irresistible! It is very difficult for the Federation to destroy the main force of the Black Wind Fleet, but the dimensional storms in the four-dimensional space are the real gods of destruction. They are enough to smash any 'toy' that human beings create into smithereens! "
Heiye Ming nodded and said, "Jin Xinyue is trying to replicate her father's battle and the collapse of the Eye of Blood Demon."
"Not replication," the hanging man said. "Twenty-four hours later, of course, she will 'betray the Federation', control all the space gates in the Tian Yuan Realm, and summon the Black Wind Fleet to stab into the heart of the Federation.
"However, when half of your main force is teleported to the Tian Yuan Realm and is in the feeble phase after the jump, and the other half is still in the four-dimensional space in the teleportation state, she will turn off the star beacons, cut off the space gates, and change the jump signals of the space gates.
"In the meantime, the Great White Fleet, which is supposed to help you, will counterattack at such a moment and beat the dizziness of your main force fleet, which has not completely stabilized the three-dimensional form yet. The Burning Prairie Fleet, which is ready to attack, will also jump to your head under the guidance of Jin Xinyue and launch a thunderous strike!
"Half of your main force will be lost in the space turbulence and ripped apart by the dimensional storms in the four-dimensional space, and the other half will be hit hard before they can stabilize themselves. How can you not fail?"
The shocking intelligence, however, did not make Heiye Ming blink at all. He continued asking, "Got it. This is the way to defeat the Imperium. But what about the rise of the Jade Clan?"
"Jin Xinyue has a highly confidential daring team of demons," the hanging man said. "They are all carefully selected in the dark war in the past hundred years. They are the most loyal, worshipful, and passionate people of the demon race. Their loyalty to the demon race is as indestructible as the Immortal Cultivators' loyalty to the Imperium.
"Jin Xinyue must've deployed some sort of secret weapon at the periphery of the Tian Yuan Realm that needs to be manipulated by the daring team of demons. It is very likely that the weapon will launch a critical strike against the Black Wind Fleet.
"Once it succeeds, the demons will be the decisive factor in the battle and the greatest contributors who will save the day!"
"So what?" Heiye Ming asked.
"Don't you understand, General Ming?"
The hanging man said with a smile. "The spiritual energy in the sea of stars is gradually becoming abundant again. As a species, the demon race is destined to never prosper again. It will only weaken and perish.
"Right now, the Federation has a population of a hundred billion, of which thirty billion are demons. They account for thirty percent of the population. They still have some influence, but that's the best they can do.
"The Xing Yao Federation will never be content to stay in a corner of the cosmos. They are destined to march to the center of the cosmos with great ambitions.
"When the Federation does have ten, twenty, thirty, or even more worlds, where almost all the inhabitants are human beings, how low will the population proportion and influence of the demon race in the Federation be?
"The demon race is destined to decline. Even Jin Tuyi's Red Tide Plan a hundred years ago was not meant to save and revive the demon race in the physical sense but a spirit, a heritage, a symbol, a … symbol.
"The Xing Yao Federation's struggles and construction in the past hundred years have been for the war against the Black Wind Fleet today. This is also the real 'founding war' of the new Federation. If it wins the war neatly, the new Federation will have the ability to march to the center of the cosmos!
"Therefore, if the war is won by the demon race, the demon race will become the heroes who saved the Federation at the critical moment and the greatest contributor to the Federation's march to the center of the cosmos. Then, they will leave a splendid, glorious, and ineffaceable mark in the history of the new Federation!
"From then on, nobody will be able to talk about the grudge between the Blood Demon Sector and the Tian Yuan Realm in the past. Nobody will be bold enough to discriminate against and be wary of the demon race. Even if the Xing Yao Federation governs the entire universe one day, the most important pages in the history books of the Federation will certainly be the glorious poems where the demon race fought and sacrificed valiantly for the Federation in the war!
"The fleshly body will decay eventually, but the spirit and the will will last forever. Jin Xinyue inherited her father's will and developed the Dim Moon Plan based on the Red Tide Plan. It is not meant to revive the body of the demon race but to redefine the word 'demon'.
"In the past, the people of the Federation might have thought of blood, slaughter, ugliness, and hatred when they heard 'demon'.
"But after the war, all the people of the Federation, and all the people of the Federation who will govern the three thousand Sectors in the next ten thousand years, will only think of one word when they hear 'demon'. Hero!
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