The capital planet had been the capital of the demon dynasty and the civilization of mankind for tens of thousands of years. Not only was it the main battlefield where the Supreme Emperor fought the Blood God ten thousand years ago, but it was also the last battlefield where the demon dynasty collapsed. It was also an important battlefield in the primeval war hundreds of thousands of years ago. Naturally, countless relics were hidden below the ground. Many of them had been discovered by the underground hominoids one after another.
However, the underground hominoids had suffered great losses in the past. After they accidentally leaked the information about the relics, the ferocious Immortal Cultivators would come one after another, resulting in a disaster where the entire town would be annihilated.
After suffering hundreds of losses, the underground hominoids had all turned into mutes who cherished their words as much as gold. They would never reveal any information about the relics to outsiders. Whoever was bold enough to talk too much would have their tongues pulled out and their throats cut open by their compatriots without any mercy. Their blood would be drained out of their body.
Therefore, the Immortal Cultivators hadn't excavated too many valuable relics below the ground of the capital planet for a hundred years. They thought that most of the relics had been excavated.
Nepenthe soon won the trust of the people in the forgotten corners at the bottom level fifteen thousand meters below the ground. It was quite ironic when one thought about it. Deep below the ground, people trusted the Nepenthe believers, the Ultimate Benevolence believers, and even the spies of the Holy League much more than they trusted the Immortal Cultivators of the government.
The intelligence about the relics that the Nepenthe believers collected made Long Yangjun feel that she had found the ultimate treasure.
She had the keenest senses about the primeval relics in the first place. With the few pieces of intelligence, she discovered dozens of primeval relics in a row.
Most of the relics had decayed, eroded, and melted into fossils.
However, some of the relics were perfectly preserved by chance and still contained rare treasures, such as the "Heavenly Crystal" that she was using right now!
"Under the guidance of the Nepenthe believers, I excavated a few valuable relics in a row. I got the Heavenly Crystal and some armor and magical equipment for self-protection. I also had a clear understanding of the heritage that I grasped. I was finally ready to travel to the major cities of the Immortal Cultivators on the surface of the planet."
Long Yangjun said, "Besides, Nepenthe was already quite influential at that moment. I was worried that the Immortal Cultivators might suppress us if we continued growing. In a hurry to get away from the trouble, I insisted on leaving the underground world and returning to the surface of the planet despite the persuasion of the believers.
"Later, I ran into some Immortal Cultivators of the Dongfang family. After a series of twists and turns, I snuck into the royal palace under the name of 'Dongfang Mingyue'. You know what happened later.
All in all, after I returned to the surface of the planet, and especially after I snuck into the Dongfang family, I barely contacted the Nepenthe believers below the ground. After all, they could do whatever they wanted, and it was none of my business how much trouble they caused. For Prime Minister Dongfang Wang of the Imperium, it might not be a big deal to have a Demonic Cultivator following him, but it would be too appalling to have a guy who was suspected to be a secret agent of the Holy League!
"Therefore, I did not have any premeditated plans in the beginning. I was only forced by the situation, and now that things had escalated to this point, I never even thought of returning to the underground world to 'guide' the Nepenthe believers unless it was absolutely necessary. But it couldn't be helped. Blackstar the Great had suddenly jumped out of his coffin and possibly controlled the surface of the entire capital planet. So, I could only bring you and Li Jialing to this place! After all, there were no surveillance cameras in this place, but there were still some shrimps that could be used!
"It was not until I returned to the underground world that I discovered that Nepenthe was more than ten times more powerful than when I left. Also, they were planning a world-shaking uprising. If it worked out, it was very possible that the residents of hundreds of underground towns would be 'relieved of their pain, purged of their soul, and returned to eternal tranquility'. In all honesty, it was really none of my business. It was all their own doing. I did not expect that they would play such a big game, either. I'm having a headache right now, worrying in secret!
"Fame is just like fattening pigs. When hundreds of underground towns are in trouble at the same time, it will be impossible for me, the 'Serenity Seraph', not to be famous! By then, I will certainly be remembered by Blackstar the Great, Li Linghai, Queen of the Imperium, and the tough guys in the four Kurfürst families. Even the experts of the Holy League will learn of my existence. I haven't decided whether or not to join the Holy League yet, or whether or not I should be a happy extraterrestrial devil! What a headache!
"Come on, Monster Li, I've told you the cause and effect. All in all, I am truly innocent and unlucky in the whole thing. I got myself into so much trouble for no reason. Come and give me an idea. Let's see how such a huge mess can be resolved!"
Long Yangjun crossed her hands and looked at Li Yao pitifully, half mischievously.
Li Yao almost had goosebumps because of her weird eyes. Taking a deep breath, he analyzed Long Yangjun's every word carefully and shook his head. "That's not right."
"What's not right?"
Long Yangjun bulged her eyes, with tears popping up in her eyes. Biting her lips softly, she shivered pitifully. "I told you everything willingly because I regarded you as a friend. I almost cut my heart open for you to see, and you still don't believe me? Didn't you say that you would regard me as a friend at the beginning? Could it be that you still hold the obsession of 'those who are not of my race must have a different heart' and look down on a monster like me? "
"Cut the crap. Nobody can show off their acting skills in front of me. Nobody."
Li Yao's eyes were like two deep wells, one red and the other black. His face turned extremely calm and thoughtful. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Perhaps everything you said is true, but if the same pieces of truth are arranged and combined in a different order and method, they can reach a completely different or even diametrically opposite conclusion.
"Do you know what's the most suspicious thing about the whole thing? It's that you were too passive. You were led by the nose by the enchanted miners, the Nepenthe believers, and the spies of the Holy League step by step, and you could not control the escalation of the situation at all.
"Such passivity, blindness, and weakness do not look like the Lead Eunuch Wang Xi who played the Three Saints, the Four Rapscallions, the Monk, and the Emperor in my memory, much less the Long Yangjun who tricked me and the entire Federation and did not confess her identity as a spy of the Pangu until the last moment!
"So, were the facts as you said, and you only did it out of kindness at the beginning in your desperation to rescue them, but you did not expect that things would gradually get out of control and become irreversible? Or maybe, behind the enchanted miners, the Nepenthe believers, and even the spies of the Holy League were a hundred invisible strings, and all the strings were controlled by you after zigzagging? "
Long Yangjun rolled her brilliant eyes again and again. "Why would I do that 'intentionally'? What benefits can I get by gathering such a bunch of mobsters? "
"Yes."
Li Yao nodded and extended three fingers. "Firstly, you can use them for 'social experiments' to explore the origins of the Holy League and consider whether or not you should stand on the Holy League's side. Secondly, you can use Nepenthe to attract the believers of Ultimate Benevolence and the spies of the Holy League so that you can take the opportunity to absorb the techniques and secret arts that they practice, which are of the same origin as yours. They can significantly make up for the shortcomings of your heritage. Thirdly, only by establishing Nepenthe can you infiltrate the forgotten areas, win the trust of the residents of the five-digit towns, and locate the primeval relics that are buried twenty thousand meters below the ground as quickly as possible!
"I don't know if you have any deeper purposes yet, but the three benefits alone are enough for you to take the risk and establish Nepenthe!"
Long Yangjun listened to him quietly and said, "It sounds very reasonable, but it's a pity that everything is just your speculation. You don't have any proof."
"That's right. I don't have any proof, and I don't believe that I can find any."
Li Yao looked at Long Yangjun and said solemnly, "Therefore, I can only ask you as a friend — was my guess correct just now?"
Biting her lips softly, Long Yangjun looked at Li Yao in the most aggrieved way. She was so wronged that her tears were about to roll out like pearls. Suddenly, she burst into laughter, and her face completely collapsed. She kicked her legs crazily and clapped her hands. "Monster Li is indeed Monster Li. Can't you be fooled even with all that? It's true that the sloppy, simple-minded, and idiotic high school student was just a disguise, and this is your real face right now.
"Let's assume — listen carefully — that I'm talking about the assumption right now. If your guess is correct, and I slightly 'enlightened' and 'pushed' certain people in the beginning so that the whole thing would develop in the direction that I expected, what should you do? What can you do?
"Fight me to the end, and even kill me? Can killing me solve the problem? Other than me, in the hundreds of Sectors of the Imperium of True Human Beings, thousands of spies of the Holy League and believers of Ultimate Benevolence are secretly establishing 'Nepenthe' large and small!
"Admit it, Li Yao. The battle that you are faced with today is entirely different from any battle in the past hundred years!
"In the past, you were faced with specific enemies. No matter how ferocious, powerful, and arrogant they were, as long as you killed them, the problem would be solved, and the world would be saved!
"In the Flying Star Sector, you killed Xiao Xuance and stopped the 'Grand Illusionary Soldier Plan'. In the Blood Demon Sector, you killed Elder Nether Spring and shattered the 'Spore Stratagem' with the support of Jin Tuyi. When you returned to the Xing Yao Federation, you killed Lu Zui and Zhou Hengdao. Hehe. You saved the Federation again and facilitated the birth of a new Federation. When you returned to the Federation for the second time, you defeated Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan and killed Heiye Ming and Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan. Ha. You saved the world at the most critical moment again!
"It's the same every time. It's so straightforward, easy, and quick. It's almost like a virtual game where there's a supervillain at the deepest part of every level. As long as you defeat the supervillain, everything will be resolved.
"But not this time. It's not so simple this time, Vulture Li Yao.
"Even if you kill me, you will not be able to solve the problem of 'Nepenthe'. Even if you kill Blackstar the Great, a second ambitious schemer who is more greedy and brutal than him will show up very soon. Even if you completely destroy the four Kurfürst families, it is impossible for you to destroy all the warlords and nobles. Even if you sneak into the Holy League by yourself again, crawl through the ventilation tubes and sewers a hundred times, and slay the controller of the Holy League in the end, hehe, you will not be able to completely clear the soil where the Holy League was born.
"Perhaps what Prime Minister Dongfang Wang said before his death was right. This time, your enemy is no longer a specific ambitious schemer, tyrant, or dictator, but the boundless universe as well as the dark side of the civilization of mankind that lives in the boundless universe and is born under the illumination of starlight.
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