Hearing what Long Yangjun said, Li Yao thought of the previous Speakers of the Xing Yao Federation. The ten-year tenure was already a huge burden on the body and the soul. Many people's levels plummeted after they resigned, and they could not make any further progress for the rest of their lives.
The Imperium of True Human Beings was at least ten times larger than the Xing Yao Federation. The pressure on the prime minister of the Imperium was indeed immeasurable!
Thinking about that, Li Yao somehow remembered his wife. Thankfully, Ding Ling Dong was only going to be the Speaker for five years, and she would not be reelected. It shouldn't be a heavy burden on the body and the brain, right?
Now that he was at the center of the cosmos, it was more convenient for him to search for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. He should spend some time looking for some nourishing medicines for Ding Ling Dong after he returned to the Federation.
"Now that I think about it, Dongfang Wang's fall was inevitable. His ambitions were impossible to realize since the very beginning. Most people in the four Kurfürst families, including the Dongfang family, have been dissatisfied with him for a long time. Whether or not the reformists were involved, he couldn't have been the prime minister of the Imperium for long. He would've been kicked off in a dishonorable way."
Naturally, Long Yangjun did not know what was going on in Li Yao's head. She went on, "The reason is simple. Both the four Kurfürst families and the warlords at the peripheral worlds of the Imperium only want to dominate their own area. They do not want to be overtaken by anybody, be it the emperor, the queen, or the prime minister.
"The prime ministers of the Imperium in the past were not as powerful or as prestigious as Dongfang Wang. They were merely mediators and hosts recommended by the four Kurfürst families. If the prime minister's words were pleasant, they would listen to them. If they were not, they would just ignore them. How refreshing it was!
"However, in the past hundred years, Dongfang Wang has led the Dongfang family to rise unstoppably, which has seriously damaged the interests of the other three families. Also, with the glorious victory of the Imperium's counterattack, he has accumulated so much prestige among the people that he has earned the title of 'prime minister of iron and blood'. Right now, he is even extending his hands into the army. Let me ask you, what does he want exactly? To be a second Blackstar the Great?
"The tallest tree in the forest will be the first to be blown down. Dongfang Wang is too dominating and too dazzling. The Imperium will not allow such a dominating prime minister to exist. Everybody will attack him together and destroy him, or at least slow him down so that the original interests will be maintained!
"The reformists came at the right time. The other three Kurfürst families and the opposers within the Dongfang family naturally 'reluctantly' and took your side. Hehe, in fact, must've been very happy.. otherwise, do you think that the leaders of the cunning's's's words's persuasion alone alone's?"
Pondering for a moment, Li Yao couldn't help but agree more.
He also felt that the Li family, the Song family, and the Yun family had changed their course too fast, so fast that they almost lost the dignity of a thousand-year-old family. However, it did make sense after Long Yangjun's analysis.
"You may find it hard to believe, but Dongfang Wang is truly an out-and-out 'patriot'."
Long Yangjun smiled. "Or rather, all his ambitions are to become the greatest prime minister in history, revive the Imperium of True Human Beings, completely annihilate the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, and leave his name as the 'prime minister of iron and blood' in the vast history of the civilization of mankind.
"It's a pity that the man's head is too simple. Or rather, the high-speed calculations every day, every hour, every minute, and every second in the past twenty years, especially the planning of such an enormous mission as the 'Imperium's counterattack', have drained all his wisdom, keenness, and computational ability. Nurtured by the glorious victory, his ever-expanding ambitions have blinded his last wariness, making him dull, stubborn, and even wishful in all the fields other than the Holy League.
"He thought that he could continue to govern the entire Imperium with the prestige of the victory and the right to distribute the trophies. Little did he know that his existence had already been an eyesore to too many people. Eventually, he was doomed. Didn't he have only himself to blame for the disaster?"
Li Yao was silent. After listening to Long Yangjun's analysis, it was indeed not surprising that Dongfang Wang was defeated so quickly.
Long Yangjun sighed and said, "After Dongfang Renxin's secret research institute was compromised, Dongfang Wang knew that he had lost the war. He also knew that the secret research institute would never have been discovered unless somebody in his family betrayed it. At this moment, he finally realized that the enemy that he was faced with was not the queen or the reformists but the entire universe!
"If the enemy were only the reformists, he could've summoned his courage and fought hard. But faced with the entire universe, what chance did he have to counterattack? Dongfang Wang did not expect that he would end up like this after winning such a great victory for the Imperium. He was rather frustrated and self-destructive, and he did not want to organize an effective counterattack at all. Otherwise, as the 'prime minister of iron and blood', he could've struggled for a while. Do you think your progress would've been so smooth?
"Forget it. It's useless for me to say anything. Why don't you go and listen to him in person?"
Li Yao thought quickly and asked, "What will Dongfang Wang say to me if he knows who I am?"
Long Yangjun smiled and said, "I will tell Dongfang Wang that you are not on the same side as Li Linghai, Queen of the Imperium. You are more inclined to the military. Recently, you have been very close to Lei Chenghu, Marquess of Liaohai, which has raised Li Linghai's suspicion. So, guess what Dongfang Wang will say to you?"
Li Yao frowned and said, "Dongfang Wang trusts you so much that he believes everything you say?"
"He might not trust me, but who else can he trust except for me?"
Her hands behind her back, Long Yangjun said casually, "Don't forget that I have been 'loyal' to him until the last moment!"
"Speaking of which, there is something else that I would like to know. How exactly did you win Dongfang Wang's trust in the beginning? How did you explain your background, identity, and capability? Dongfang Wang is not an idiot. It is impossible for you to become his trusted subordinate if you make up an identity."
Li Yao thought for a moment and took the initiative to say, "I told Li Linghai that I was a Cultivator from Firefly. She was more or less convinced. You wouldn't use the same excuse, would you?"
"Firefly, the Star Ocean Republic?"
Long Yangjun was amused. "I like the way you lie without a draft. Why didn't I come up with such a clever excuse? I'm not smart enough to tell Dongfang Wang that I was a Demonic Cultivator who had wandered to the Imperium. "
"Huh?"
Li Yao was greatly surprised. "A — A Demonic Cultivator? Dongfang Wang did not capture you immediately but regarded you as his trusted subordinate? "
"If Li Linghai did not capture and execute you as a Cultivator, why did Dongfang Wang capture me when I pretended to be a Demonic Cultivator?"
There was vague mockery in Long Yangjun's voice. "Dongfang Wang and Li Linghai are the same kind of people. They have no morals, no ideals, and no friendship in their eyes. The only thing they care about are interests and schemes.
"Who is the greatest enemy of the Imperium right now? It is the people of the Holy League who are emotionless and are like machines. The Demonic Cultivators, on the other hand, are all guys who are so emotional that their emotions are almost overflowing. They are the most irreconcilable enemies of the Holy League. The enemy of an enemy is a friend. One or two Demonic Cultivators cannot ruin the great plan, just like one or two Cultivators are not enough to threaten the Imperium.
"After all, for the leaders such as Li Linghai and Dongfang Wang, there are two advantages for the strong aliens like us.
"Firstly, we are isolated and helpless in the Imperium. It is impossible for us to conspire with other people except for joining them.
"Secondly, our identity is our greatest weakness. If they want to burn the bridge after our value is drained, they only need to expose our identities as' Cultivators' and 'Demonic Cultivators', and we will be the rats that everybody wants to beat. They won't even need to lift a finger on us. It is even more convenient than the garbage bags that can be thrown away after they have used us once.
"So, is there any reason why they do not trust us and value us? Li Linghai values you because you are a Cultivator, and Dongfang Wang regards me as his trusted subordinate because I am a Demonic Cultivator. "
Li Yao thought for a long time and did not seem to find any loopholes. Then, he asked suspiciously, "Wait. Demonic Cultivators have to be adept at using 'tenebrum energy', right?"
"Are you talking about this?"
Long Yangjun extended her index finger. Cracking sounds echoed on the tip of her finger. Very soon, a deep purple ball of lightning appeared and raged in all directions as if it were alive and emotional.
"This is … tenebrum energy!"
Li Yao bulged his eyes. He clearly sensed that it was much more violent and intense than the regular spiritual energy. "Wait. You are not really a Demonic Cultivator, are you?"
"As an expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage, your narrow-mindedness is truly regrettable."
Long Yangjun raised her finger and made the deep purple ball of lightning revolve quickly. As it revolved faster and faster, the electric arcs became more and more colorful, as if the elves of lightning were dancing on her fingertips. "I thought that you should've realized that 'Cultivator' and 'Immortal Cultivator' are just artificial definitions after all the storms and shocking changes. In fact, is there a clear boundary between Cultivator and Immortal Cultivator? Who can tell?
"Isn't the so-called 'Demonic Cultivators' the same? Is there really such a thing in the universe?"
"That's different."
Li Yao said warily, "The Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators only have different beliefs, but what they train themselves with is spiritual energy. Naturally, it is hard to tell the good from the evil. However, what the Demonic Cultivators train themselves with is the evil 'tenebrum energy' that can corrupt people's minds. I've been through quite a few tragedies of the arrival of extraterrestrial devils and witnessed thousands of victims being corrupted by the tenebrum energy with my own eyes!"
"That's hilarious. I thought that you should've grown into a college student after all the things you've been through. I didn't know that you were still a high school student," Long Yangjun said slowly.
"Do you really believe that there is such a thing as' righteous energy 'and' evil energy 'in the universe? It's true that both the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators train themselves with spiritual energy. So what? How many wars have been fought with spiritual energy as the main weapon? How many innocent people have been blown into smithereens by spiritual energy? How many planets have been destroyed by the bombardment of spiritual energy? Let's take the Imperium of True Human Beings for example. Have the Immortal Cultivators caused any less slaughter and destruction with spiritual energy? Is this the so-called 'righteous energy'?
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