"I'm not angry. Instead, I appreciate your frankness. Frankness is a good beginning for our cooperation," Li Lingfeng said gloomily.
"At the very least, you are willing to be honest with us, which is much better than insisting on your ridiculous identity as a 'Cultivator'."
Li Yao couldn't help but knock the helmet of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit softly and retract the visor, revealing a 'deeply sympathetic' face. He bulged his eyes and said, "You find the identity of a 'Cultivator' ridiculous, too? You find it extremely absurd, too, don't you? That's exactly what I thought when those assholes designed the identity for me!
"I cursed at them at that time. What's wrong with all of you? Have you lost your mind? Have you lost all rationality and logic? I certainly had to show the strength of the Divinity Transformation Stage and the Colossus in the mission, but the Cultivators were just a bunch of stray dogs that had been maimed and killed a thousand years ago! How idiotic must one be to believe that the Cultivators would send a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator with a Colossus for a mission?
"That — that's simply impossible. Even a pig's brain wouldn't have believed it. Even a novel written in such a way would be cursed by the readers for being too exaggerated, outrageous, and giving a halo to the villains such as the Cultivators. It was impossible for me to fool you and the cunning, resourceful big shots of the Li family!
"To be honest, I've disguised countless identities in my life. I can even disguise myself as a sixteen-year-old whore vividly. But this time, I was asked to pretend to be a Cultivator in the Divinity Transformation Stage. It was — it was a rather difficult challenge. I couldn't imagine what a 'Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator' was like at all!"
Li Lingfeng nodded slowly. "I understand it very well. The high and mighty big shots of the families and the commanders of the coalition fleets never care about the actual situation in the frontline but expose the most specific executors to all kinds of unnecessary risks.
Li Yao rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Why, Fellow Cultivator Li, are you trying to find out which family I am from or which coalition fleet I belong to? That doesn't seem to be important.
"Anyway, guess what those bastards said to me? The winner does not need to explain or be punished. As long as I can sabotage your plan neatly and destroy 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky', nobody will care whether or not the 'Cultivator from the sky' is real.
"Furthermore, even if all the forces and people know that I am a fake Cultivator and that it is just an obvious disguise, so what? Your stream platform has been destroyed, and the Heavenly Eye Group is likely to be acquired and swallowed by somebody else. The 'Cultivator who fell from the sky' will never show up again. It was a clean and neat operation without any repercussions, right? "
"No, there will be repercussions."
Li Lingfeng said coldly, "The legend of the Cultivator will spread out in the sea of stars. Countless hominoids will be motivated by the nonexistent scumbag and cause great trouble. The overall interests of the Imperium will be seriously damaged."
Li Yao laughed. "I didn't know that Fellow Cultivator Li was such a noble patriot. Rest assured. The Imperium is so powerful, and the Cultivators are not even a problem. A half-true legend and a few videos that can be simulated by a random crystal processor will not hurt the foundation of the Imperium.
"Besides, all the families and the relatively independent Deep Sky Fleets are doing the same. The interests of the families and the fleets will always be higher than the interests of the Imperium, won't they?"
"Yes. You have succeeded. Beautifully done."
Narrowing his eyes, Li Lingfeng said, one word after another, "Even though I am on your opposite side, I have to admit that it was a clean, textbook operation of stealth and sabotage. Other people will only appreciate your ruthlessness, decisiveness, and ruthlessness. They will not care about the hilarious fake identity of a 'Cultivator' at all."
Li Yao raised his eyebrow and whistled softly. With a smile, he said, "What, you really don't hate me? Your calmness right now is a bit fake, Fellow Cultivator Li! "
"Of course I hate you. I can't wait to skin you, grind your bones, and mince your body into pieces."
When he thought of the damage that Li Yao caused in "Manjusaka, the City in the Sky", the brutality in Li Lingfeng's eyes could not help but surge out again. "To be honest, if I were in the same situation as yesterday, or even if I were only half an hour ago, when eight warships and hundreds of elite warriors were chasing after me together, I would never let go of you. I would torture you for ten years while you were still alive. Then, I would extract your soul and shatter it into pieces so that you would never be reincarnated again!
"But right now, is there any point in talking about that? Even if I hate your guts, so what? Right now, the greatest threat to me is not you but Li Linghai. Also, the greatest threat to you is not me but Li Linghai, either!
"Like you said just now, 'business is business'. There is no personal grudge between you and me. Even if there is an irreconcilable grudge between us, we can still make temporary compromises at the moment of life and death, can't we?"
Li Yao rolled his eyes again and again, and the smile on his face was even more intense. "Exactly. 'Business is business, and interests are interests'. For survival, anything can be compromised and traded."
"Besides, you are just a tool," Li Lingfeng said.
"I know all the public experts above the peak of the Yuanying Stage in the Imperium. Their techniques, attack patterns, and the Colossi they are riding are all in my head. But there is absolutely no such mysterious existence as you among them.
"Then, the answer is obvious. You are a secret weapon that a certain family has been raising in secret, just like how I raised Li Jialing and Li Linghai raised 'Deep Sea Fleet', her secret armed force.
"Just now, you said that you can disguise countless identities so well that even a sixteen-year-old bitch will not be a problem for you, which further proves my speculation.
"You are one of those 'imposters' or 'ghost warriors' who help the family do the clandestine deals and carry out the most bloody, dark, and dangerous missions, right?"
Li Yao's pupils constricted violently, as if he had been stung by a nonexistent needle. His voice suddenly turned cold. "Ghost warriors? I don't really like that name. "
"I know that you don't."
Li Lingfeng smiled. "Every deeply-rooted ancient family has such a tragic person as you. You boast unparalleled strength, but you can never show your real face to other people or enjoy the dignity, power, and glory that you deserve! Instead, they have to carry out the most dangerous, evil, and hideous missions time and time again. One moment of carelessness, and they will either die miserably in the frontline or be thrown out by the family as scapegoats when their schemes are uncovered!
"Take your mission for example. Sneaking into 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky' on your own to sabotage the place and face my thunderous wrath. It is needless to say how dangerous it is. You may be killed by me at any moment.
"Even if you can retreat in one piece for now, should anything leak out, the Li family will burst into fury and find the force that you belong to. Chances are that you will be traded and sacrificed. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now that I think about it, I am indeed miserable, but you are not much better than I am!"
During the confrontation between the two of them, Li Yao seemed to have lost his cool for the first time. He said stiffly, "Fellow Cultivator Li, what are you trying to say exactly? We don't seem to have much time left!"
"I'm trying to say that we are actually the same kind of people. I understand you!"
He was even more sincere than when he was talking to Li Jialing a moment ago. "Although you are in the dark and I am in the light, we are in fact the same. We are both tools of the family.
"Haha. Everybody knows that I am one of the best members of the middle generation of the Li family and the chosen 'next Kurfürst'. But how many people know that I am actually just a 'common target' that has been pushed to the center of the storm by the big shots of the family? 'The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be destroyed by the wind'. Do my seniors not understand such a simple logic? If they really want me to be the leader of the family and the Kurfürst, there is no reason for them to announce the matter publicly. They could've trained me in secret, supported me, and given me more soldiers and power, couldn't they?
"But now, they are announcing to the whole world that I am very likely to be the next leader of the Li family and the next Kurfürst. What is the meaning of this? They are obviously pushing me to the position to help them resist the storms and arrows from inside and outside the family so that I can protect the real heir that they admire in the future!
"Hehe. They think that I have really lost my mind because of my ambitions. In fact, I know exactly what they are up to!
"I am absolutely not willing to be a tool. 'Manjusaka, the City in the Sky', the Heavenly Eye Group, the slaughter stream platform, and Li Jialing's incident are all attempts that I made to get rid of the pathetic fate!
"I am the master of my own fate. The real big shots of the Li family all regard me as a fool, a puppet, and a tool. But I, Li Lingfeng, will certainly let them know who will laugh to the end and who is most qualified to control the entire Li family!"
As he reached the end of his speech, Li Lingfeng was already quite aggressive.
Li Jialing, who had been raised by Li Lingfeng in secret, did not know that his uncle, whom he had always regarded as a fiend, had such a side. He was stunned for a moment.
Sensing the subtle emotional changes, Li Lingfeng smiled and said to the young man casually, "What's wrong, Jialing? You didn't know that your uncle was such a person? In fact, you should've realized it. Otherwise, where do you think the extremely rebellious, defiant nature deep inside your soul came from?
Pausing for a moment, he extended his hand to Li Yao and said, one word after another, "Also, I believe that any expert who has advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage will not be willing to let their fate be completely controlled by a family, a fleet, or a sect and be reduced to a rat in the gutter that cannot be exposed to the light!
"Your Colossus is so tough. Have you never thought that it would show up in the sky of the Empyreal Terminus Sector in broad daylight one day?"
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