Yue Wushuang sent the latest intelligence that she had just collected through the secret channel to the light beams of the reformists.
According to the intelligence, the queen, who had been recuperating on the Eternal Spring Island, a famous royal garden in the capital of the Imperium, had been officially declared dead half an hour ago because of the infection of a rarely-seen alien virus that led to the bleeding of multiple organs including her brain. All the royal doctors failed to find anything wrong with her.
In the meantime, Emperor Shenwu of the supreme Imperium of True Human Beings suffered the same alien virus, but his symptoms were even milder than the queen's. He was receiving the full treatment of the royal doctors and the medical teams of the four Kurfürst families. He should be fine, but he would need to rest for a long time. Naturally, he would have to be sent to the sacred land under the control of the four Kurfürst families for "rest".
Compared to the assassination of one of the five hundred elders of the Imperium, the sudden death of the queen and the serious illness of the emperor were barely news.
In the recent five hundred years of the Imperium of True Human Beings, "emperor" was a high-risk profession in the first place, and they often died abruptly every few decades.
The original Emperor Tianzheng, who later changed his name to "Shenwu", had been on the throne for nearly sixty years. It was time for him to "return to the heavens".
Of course, the top secret intelligence was only secretly circulated among the Council of Elders and the few central government agencies. It would take at least half a month for it to reach the ears of all the nobles and magnates.
It would take at least another half a month before the national funeral was officially announced to all the people through the news and announcements.
By then, Queen Li Linghai of the Imperium would have definitely "collapsed"!
However, the reformists and ambitious schemers gathered in the top-secret communication room of the Deep Sea Palace knew very well what the vague intelligence meant.
It meant that the four Kurfürst families had already tried to kill the queen.
It also meant that the four Kurfürst families were determined to completely destroy the political life and even the physical body of Queen Li Linghai of the Imperium.
Did the so-called "rarely-seen alien virus" really exist, and was it really "rarely-seen"?
The former was probably true, but as for the latter, there were plenty of similar viruses in the biochemical laboratories of the four Kurfürst families.
Thankfully, Li Linghai was forced by her own brother Li Lingfeng to leave the capital at risk, but she left a stand-in on "Eternal Spring Island". As it turned out, the "rarely-seen virus" of the four Kurfürst families hit the secondary vehicle by accident.
However, so what if Li Linghai was still alive?
As long as the four Kurfürst families agreed that the queen had died of the virus infection and the soul failure, who could object?
Who would dare to admit that this white-haired demoness whose hair was standing up and dancing wildly in the void like a goddess of vengeance was the real Li Linghai?
Besides, even the emperor had fallen to the hands of the four Kurfürst families and been forced to "rest"!
Li Linghai was not the only one who knew how to order his subjects around. The four Kurfürst families were more than familiar with the job, too.
Before Emperor Shenwu passed away with the Empress, he could still squeeze out the greatest value from him.
The stormy combo of the four Kurfürst families was too hasty and brutal. There was no telling how long they had been planning in secret, but the generals of the reformists were more or less dumbfounded.
For a moment, the situation took a turn for the worse. One could almost hear the noises of giant rocks crashing down from the cliff into the bottomless abyss.
Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment. Except for Yue Wushuang who had been as cold as ice and Jin Yuyan who was beaming with joy, everybody else was at a loss.
Of course, they had to eliminate the weirdo Li Yao too.
"I didn't see it coming …"
The mental devil said gloomily deep inside Li Yao's head, "After you advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage, you are even better at trapping your teammates. You haven't done anything yet, and you have already tricked the queen so miserably!"
"Stop kidding. Is it my fault? It was clearly her own fault. Did she really think that the four Kurfürst families, who had dominated the Imperium for a thousand years, were fake? "
Li Yao sniffed and replied.
However, he was very curious. How exactly was the ambitious queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings going to counterattack when the enemy's every move was full of killing intent and almost stabbed a knife into the throat of the reformists?
Li Yao still remembered what Li Linghai said in the thunderstorm in the Sand Primitive Sector.
He also mentioned that she was brimming with the air of the supreme emperor and dominator of the stars when she performed the technique "Dragon Over the Sky".
She was a woman who had received the heritage of the legendary "Supreme Emperor". She wouldn't be killed so easily, would she?
Li Yao stared at Li Linghai without blinking, not letting go of any detail about the white-haired witch.
When the queen of the Imperium heard the news of her "death", except for her hair that was dancing crazily like a waterfall, her eyelashes did not even shiver at all.
Her eyes, which were originally sparkling and translucent like the condensation of dewdrops, became even more ethereal. Her thoughts seemed to have drifted to the Imperial Capital that was billions of stars away. She gathered all her mental strength and deduced a path of survival in this extremely dangerous situation!
"Fellow Cultivators …"
After thinking carefully for a minute, Li Linghai finally said slowly in the calmest tone, "I know that until this moment, many fellow Cultivators still had unrealistic illusions about the nobles and magnates. They thought that they could negotiate with those people more gently and achieve the purpose of 'renewing the Imperium' in a bloodless way.
"Now, after hearing the news of my 'abrupt death', are there any fellow Cultivators who think so?
"Recognize the reality. The so-called reform is a life-and-death war. The last drop of blood of one of the parties has to be drained. There is no room for mercy, hesitation, or luck!
"The four Kurfürst families are bold enough to assassinate their own elders and the queen of the Imperium. Even Lei Chenghu, a prestigious general in the army who is known as the 'God of War', has been arrested blatantly for 'assisting the investigation'. There's no telling what kind of crimes they are going to fabricate for General Lei!
"Fellow Cultivators, ask yourself, how are you compared to Dongfang Tuo, me, and General Lei? Even if you abandon the ideas of the reformists right now and crawl to the feet of the four Kurfürst families to surrender, will they let go of you when they are as ruthless as they are?
"You, as well as the families, sects, forces, fleets, and even Sectors behind you, have all been mired too deeply.
"You have all seen the arrest list of the special investigation committee. How many names are related to you on it? How long will it take for them to track you down?
"We have all been forced into desperation with nowhere to run. Instead of being minced by a blunt knife and watching our cause and ideology being obliterated, we might as well counterattack and try our best. Even if we die together with the four Kurfürst families, we will illuminate the future path of the Imperium of True Human Beings with the brilliance that we unleash when we are shattered!"
In the end, Li Linghai, queen of the Imperium, seemed to have turned transparent. Dazzling brilliance emanated from the depths of her soul. She was truly like a lighthouse that illuminated the Darkness Imperium!
"But …"
One of the Immortal Cultivators of the reformists hesitated and said, "Many fleets that were inclined to us have been relocated and quarantined. Our secret accounts have been frozen. A lot of our sympathizers and supporters have been captured and imprisoned. Even … you have been erased by the four Kurfürst families, Your Grace. What else can we do?"
"The attacks of the four Kurfürst families were perhaps very aggressive, and they were almost able to cut our throats in one attack, but they made two fatal mistakes."
With crazy flames beaming out of her eyes, Li Linghai extended her fists, both as if she were making a gesture of solidarity and as if she were swearing to everybody. "Firstly, they did not expect that I would leave the capital in secret on the spur of the moment and leave a carefully-produced stand-in behind.
"Also, it was impossible for them to know that my real capability was already in the Divinity Transformation Stage, and I could not have been eliminated by any foreign virus. As a result, they missed the best opportunity to kill me.
"Secondly, and more importantly, no matter how they spied and studied, I'm afraid that they could not have foreseen that the forces of the reformists had expanded to such an extent. They could not have foreseen that the Deep Sea Fleet that we secretly built and the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils that were expanding were already the best troops of the Imperium. They also could not have foreseen that we had Fellow Cultivator 'Vulture Li Yao', who was in the Divinity Transformation Stage at the same time, as an unexpected troop!
"While the four Kurfürst families pushed us to a dead end, they pushed themselves to a dead end, too, because right now, all the smaller nobles, the low-level Immortal Cultivators, and the warlords of the peripheral worlds have seen clearly the ambitions of the four Kurfürst families. They know that they will be waiting to be killed if they do not resist!
"At this moment, as long as we strike the arrogance of the four Kurfürst families hard and raise our arms, we will be able to gather all the forces that oppose the noble families in the entire Imperium!
"In any case, I will not admit that I will 'die' without a sound just like that!"
"I promise you that in less than a month, I will bring you back to the capital openly as the queen of the Imperium of True Human Beings. Nothing can stop me!"
Everybody was somewhat awed by Li Linghai's scorching, crazy aura.
After a long silence, the Immortal Cultivator of the reformists who asked just now finally asked, "Then, what should we do exactly?"
Li Linghai smiled.
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