At the edge of the universe far away from the star in the Divine Rain Sector, the radiation of the star was so feeble that it was almost nonexistent. In the dark, cold swamp of the universe all year round, a bloody chase and slaughter were taking place.
The remaining soldiers of the Divine Rain Fleet were like panicked animals. They tried their best to flee to the depths of the universe that was further, darker, and colder. They were even trying to escape to the other Sectors that belonged to the Li family through space jumps without caring about anything.
The fastest destroyers of the Thunder Fleet, on the other hand, were like sharp teeth that tore the softest abdomen of the fugitives from all directions. Before the ripples of space quakes appeared around them, they tore terrifying wounds on the shells of their starships, forcing them to stop the operation of the space jump units and reduce the regular cruising speed so that they could grit their teeth and fight the pursuers.
Then, it was the time for the Colossi such as the Gold Vulture to show their power.
Under the cover of the fierce barrage on his own side, Li Yao broke into the starships of the Divine Rain Fleet time and time again. His saber opened layers of plate armor more than easily as if he were opening a can of food.
As long as the Gold Vulture crawled into the starships, almost nothing could stop him from going on a rampage.
Li Yao did not intentionally kill too many Immortal Cultivators. Instead, he simply marched forward and destroyed the energy center directly with his deepest understanding of the starships. As a result, the colorful spiritual shields and power units of the starships were all dimmed, and they lost all combat ability. They could only be captured by the enemy obediently.
The intermittent gold brilliance became the greatest fear in the hearts of the remaining soldiers of the Divine Rain Fleet and the loudest cheer for the soldiers of the Thunder Fleet.
Under the powerful attacks of the Thunder Fleet and Li Yao's unstoppable assault, the remaining soldiers were like small animals that had been dragged into a swamp by crocodiles. Their struggles were getting weaker and weaker.
Suddenly, a weird wave seemed to have spread to all the starships of the remaining soldiers. Pale brilliance popped up around all the starships of the Divine Rain Fleet.
Even the starships that were about to leave the battle area voluntarily reduced their speed and turned off their spiritual shields and power units.
Li Yao, who was raising his saber high and preparing to invade a new starship, narrowed his eyes. Very soon, he received a message from the rear. The Divine Rain Fleet and the ground troops of the Divine Rain Planet had all surrendered. The Li family's attitude had completely changed, and they were willing to support the righteous action of the reformists to renew the Imperium together!
…
On "Iron Torrent", the flagship of the Thunder Fleet …
As the flagship of the third battle area of the expedition army, Iron Torrent carried a couple of Colossi all year round. Naturally, it boasted a well-equipped maintenance center for the Colossi.
Li Yao's Gold Vulture used "Iron Torrent" as its nest for now. After a fierce battle, it had to be maintained in the most comprehensive way to refill ammunition and inject new fuel before it could be stored in the Cosmos Ring.
The moment he crawled out of the Colossus, he saw that countless pairs of eyes were looking at him in awe. Both the Thunder Fleet and the experts of the other dozens of Sectors in the third battle area had a deeper understanding of Li Yao as an "angel". The glorious image of "Vulture Li Yao" was finally established.
Li Yao did not have the time to nod and smile at the soldiers, nor did he have the time to examine the Colossus, before he was summoned by Lei Chenghu to discuss the next step of the operation.
However, when he came to Lei Chenghu's command room, he discovered that Lei Chenghu was the only commander in the room. There were no other commanders of the coalition fleet. There was not even a hologram.
"The Li family has compromised. We have won the first round of the gamble."
Lei Chenghu crossed his hands, overlapping his fingers of flesh and iron. Staring at Li Yao coldly, he said, "According to the latest news, Li Jiande, the current leader of the Li family and one of the four Kurfürsten known as' Silver Fox ', suddenly fell into a coma and was unable to deal with the affairs of the family at all. Li Mingxuan, the queen's father, has temporarily taken over as the leader of the family.
"Hardly had Li Mingxuan become the temporary leader of the family when he immediately ordered the defenders of the Divine Rain Sector to surrender. He also expressed his deep understanding and absolute support for the reformists and the soldiers in the frontline who were bathed in blood.
"Were you aware of the matter in advance? What's your opinion?"
"Huh?"
Li Yao blinked quickly. "Li Jiande, the old leader of the family, suddenly fell ill and was about to pass away. Then, the new leader of the family was the queen's father, and he announced full cooperation with the reformists the moment he took over? Well, well, was the mole of the Li family that the queen was so confident in her father Li Mingxuan, the 'father-in-law' of the Imperium? It feels rather weird! "
"You really don't know?"
Lei Chenghu observed and analyzed Li Yao's face carefully. Slightly surprised, he frowned and said, "It seems that the queen did not tell everything to you, her trusted subordinate!"
"As I said, the queen and I are not very familiar with each other. We are just regular friends. I am not her trusted subordinate at all!"
Scratching his chin, Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, "I feel that everything is going too smoothly. The old leader was about to pass away the moment we attacked, and the queen's father became the new leader of the family. Also, he has such a strong control over the Li family that he can make all the defenders of the Divine Rain Sector surrender so quickly? Isn't this mole … too awesome? "
"Not the new leader of the family, but the temporary one."
Lei Chenghu tapped the table and said, "There's something I need to remind you. 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande, the oldest of the four Kurfürsten, is a famous old man in the politics of the Imperium. After he resigned as the prime minister of the Imperium because of a serious disease a hundred years ago, it is said that he has been suffering from serious health problems ever since. He has been struggling to live.
"But after a hundred years of struggling at death's door, he didn't really die. Instead, his old enemies in the past, as well as the enemies who had coveted his position in the past hundred years, all died.
"There is even a rumor that this old bastard is not seriously ill at all. Instead, he has cultivated a special secret method. At the cost of his health and life, he can still maintain the terrifying state of the Spirit Severing Stage at the critical moment!"
Li Yao was greatly alarmed. "The Divinity Branching Stage!"
"Yes. In the Yuanying Stage, one has already reached the limits of the human body in terms of strength and computational ability. Starting from the Divinity Transformation Stage, one gradually breaks the limits of 'human beings' and develops toward legends and myths. The so-called 'Divinity Branching Stage' is immeasurably terrifying. The strongest Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium right now is in the Divinity Branching Stage. 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande has been standing at the peak of the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium for a hundred years. How can he be so ill that he is dying?"
Lei Chenghu analyzed carefully, "This' father-in-law 'Li Mingxuan, to be honest, is not a distinguished person. He is just a common elder of the Li family with mediocre aptitudes. How can he be capable of seizing power from the old Silver Fox? Even if he managed to seize power, there is no reason for him to settle everybody in the Li family so quickly and order the Divine Rain Fleet to surrender. "
Li Yao rolled his eyes. "Understood. It's a puppet!"
"Exactly. I estimate that Li Mingxuan is probably just a puppet that 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande pushed to the table. He is just a poor guy who is carefully selected to take the blame."
Emotionlessly, Lei Chenghu said casually, "Right now, Li Jiande is pretending that he is seriously ill and unconscious. He is putting Li Mingxuan on the table as a puppet and supporting the reformists on behalf of the Li family.
"Once the tide of reform sweeps across the entire Imperium, the Li family will naturally be able to reap tremendous benefits. At the very least, it will be able to keep its current assets and position.
"However, if things go wrong, and the fire of reform is about to be extinguished, hehe. The 'unconscious' old fox will certainly jump out and kill his own son Li Mingxuan and his granddaughter Li Linghai in order to 'right the wrong' and annihilate the reformists on behalf of the Li family!
"In such a case, he will be in an invincible position if he stands on both sides. He will not suffer any losses at all."
Thinking carefully for a moment, Li Yao couldn't help but nod his head. "'Silver Fox' Li Jiande is truly a capable man!"
"But isn't your Empress's means even more brilliant?"
Staring at Li Yao's face, Lei Chenghu said gloomily, "I've been guessing who the queen's agent in the Li family was and who was capable enough to challenge 'Silver Fox' Li Jiande and control the entire Li family. It never occurred to me that the queen's agent turned out to be Li Jiande himself. Naturally, she was able to win the full support of the Li family immediately.
"At that time, the situation was pressing, and I was on the verge of doom every minute. There was no time for me to think about it carefully. But now that the situation is more or less settled, I realized that the whole thing did not make sense. If the queen had won Li Jiande's support a long time ago, she wouldn't have needed to fight so fiercely in the Divine Rain Sector at all. On the other hand, assuming that the queen did not win Li Jiande's support, how did she achieve all that in only half a day?
"I put myself in the shoes of the queen. After careful consideration and repetitive deductions, I finally came up with the only solution, which … was similar to my strategy in the Godly Might Prison, except that it was a hundred times more dreadful.
"Fellow Cultivator Li, have you figured it out?"
Li Yao's eyes seemed to be mired in a deep pool of blood, and the mental devil was rolling inside his brain nonstop.
Very soon, he shuddered hard.
Lei Chenghu smiled like a ghost. "You've figured it out, too."
"I really didn't know anything about it."
Li Yao said solemnly, "General Lei, please trust me."
"I trust you, but I trust my instincts even more."
Taking a deep breath, Lei Chenghu mumbled, "My experience, rationality, and computational ability are all telling me that the only way to save the Imperium is to cooperate with the queen. But my instincts are vaguely reminding me that the queen is a person so dreadful that she cannot be calculated or even observed. She is different from all the Immortal Cultivators and even the four Kurfürsten. Nobody knows how she will modify the Imperium in the end, or even completely destroy it!
"Fellow Cultivator Li, although we haven't been together for a long time, and what you say is often very absurd, for some reason, my instincts vaguely tell me that a lot of what you said is true. On some level, you seem to be more trustworthy than the queen herself.
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