Wuying Qi smiled.
The smile of the ancestor of the Immortal Cultivators was like a long, narrow gap in the overwhelming dark clouds, but what was revealed in the gap was not starlight but deeper darkness.
"You still have such a sense of humor when you are about to be killed. I really don't know whether I should hate you or appreciate you, Vulture Li Yao!"
Wuying Qi really stopped. Even though it did not make any difference whether he stopped or not in the illusionary domain, it was at least a gesture of goodwill. He opened his arms at Li Yao and remarked in a seemingly sincere way, "From my personal perspective, you are like a cockroach that cannot be killed or smashed. You have stood in my way time and time again and almost sabotaged my overall plan. I do hate your guts.
"However, I am not only the supreme monarch of the Imperium of True Human Beings but also the leader of the civilization of mankind in the next ten thousand years. From the perspective of the Imperium and the civilization of mankind, you are also a rare talent. Also, you know some … mysteries of the grand universe, which will be of great help to the magnificent plan of the civilization of mankind to march into the infinite universe.
"Therefore, I cannot bear to kill you at all, Li Yao!
"Ever since our meeting in the Seven Seas Grand Market the other day, I've been wondering how our relationship ended up to this point. When I cooperated with you under the guise of Li Linghai, weren't we in a very harmonious relationship? Why are we so incompatible and irreconcilable?
"Compared to the shortsighted, selfish, and corrupted 'false Immortal Cultivators' of the four Kurfürst families, you and I clearly have more in common. Neither of us cares about personal gains and losses. We both crave to contribute all our wisdom and courage to our motherland and even the civilization of mankind. Even more or less, we both understand the vastness of the universe and the narrowness of the world that we are in. We both crave to walk out at any cost, just like the fish that walked out of the forest in the beginning and the monkeys that walked out of the forest in the beginning. We want to walk out of the gloomy prison and the silent grave!
"Why, when we have so many things in common, can't we work together for a great cause and defeat our common enemies together — the selfish 'false Immortal Cultivators' of the four Kurfürst families, the degenerate puppets of the Covenant Alliance who worship fake gods, the boundless universe, and the bizarre, infinite alien civilizations lurking in the depths of the universe!
"Our enemies should be them, not each other. The 'Blackstar the Great' that you know has been highly twisted and vilified by the propaganda departments under the control of the four Kurfürst families. You do not know what the real me looks like or what my ambitions and hopes are. Are you going to gamble everything recklessly and destroy my efforts, the hope of the Imperium, and the future of all mankind including the Cultivators?"
As Wuying Qi talked, more and more black water droplets were floating around, and more and more nerves that looked like spider threads were growing out of the water droplets, which interweaved into a marvelous network. They were even attacking Li Yao tentatively, trying to crawl into Li Yao's pores.
"Cut the crap!"
Li Yao sneered. Flames of spiritual energy burst out of his body and condensed into a solid wall of fire, blocking the attack of the black nerves. "It's true that I don't know what the real Wuying Qi looks like. I don't even know if you are the 'pure' Wuying Qi or if you have been contaminated by something else during your thousand years of dormancy and turned into a being even more evil and terrifying than the original Wuying Qi. I don't care what you say or think exactly. All I care about is what you are going to do. You are going to brainwash the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector on a massive scale and turn everybody including the ace fleets of the four families into your puppet! What's the difference between you and the people of the Holy League if you do that?
"Isn't the so-called free will the most precious thing that makes human beings human beings? Isn't it the bottom line that all the Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators fight for? Isn't it even the 'fig leaf' for the Immortal Cultivators to exploit the ordinary people blatantly? The only Immortal Cultivators that I respect are the warriors who are bold enough to wave their sabers at the resurrected Pangu for their free will. However, as the leader of the Immortal Cultivators, you are even going to erase the free will of human beings. You don't deserve to be an Immortal Cultivator at all. You are even more 'fake' than the four Kurfürst families. Are you qualified to talk about the future of mankind? "
"I didn't know that you knew so much. You even know the whole 'Next Sun Plan'. I underestimated you again. Or rather, your appearance and your behavior are too misleading and easy to be underestimated."
Gloomily, Wuying Qi was silent for a moment before he said, "However, you still misunderstood the real meaning of the 'Next Sun Plan'. The word 'brainwashing' is highly demonized in the first place. I'm not trying to brainwash anybody; I'm only trying to 'wake up' the people, the corrupted, numb guys who have forgotten their honor and responsibility, so that they can realize the logic of loyalty and selflessness again. They will turn from rusted sticks into the sharpest sabers of the civilization of mankind again!"
"But you have deprived them of their free will and their right of choice!"
Li Yao bellowed, "You are trying to imprint your belief, your will, and your authority on their brains!"
"So what? For 99.9% of people, 'free will' is something that does not exist in the first place."
Wuying Qi said coldly, "Look at the selfish, fake Immortal Cultivators of the four Kurfürst families. Driven by their genes and desires, they waste tremendous resources and pursue meaningless things all day long, such as money, power, position, women, hatred, jealousy, vanity … In the end, they rot in debauchery or die miserably in internal strife.
"Even the seemingly powerful elders or even the Kurfürsten themselves are nothing more than the slaves of their families, their children, their grandchildren, and their compatriots. They are slaves to their genes and desires, not to mention the mediocre, ignorant, ant-like ordinary people.
"Ordinary people never have the right of choice. They are already exhausted just to survive every day. It is their greatest joy and purpose to find a suitable female animal to give birth to their offspring and pass on their genes. Their simple-structured brains cannot accommodate more complicated thinking and higher-level meanings at all. They are some sort of machinery of flesh and blood that has been fully wound by their genes in the first place. Do they have a choice? Do they have freedom?
"Even if they think that they boast 'free will', it is just an illusion that they were inculcated with when they were young and ignorant. It is a self-deceiving illusion. Any civilization will force certain false truths into the next generation and demand individuals to follow certain social rules. Such inculcations are usually realized with decades of education. But right now, we are in an emergency, and I do not have so much time. So, is there a problem with compressing decades of education into a one-time so-called 'brainwashing'?
"Tell me, Vulture Li Yao, haven't the children been taught the superiority of the ideas of the Cultivators and the evilness of the true path of immortality since they were ignorant in the country of the Cultivators?
"Haven't you created a social atmosphere where the children take the ideas of the Cultivators for granted since they were young?
"Haven't you adopted certain hypnotherapies similar to brainwashing on the stubborn criminals in your prisons to wash away their sins?
"I know that, starting from the Star Ocean Imperium, certain areas of the brains of the notorious sex criminals have been cut off to eliminate their inclination to commit crimes. It has been proven that the effect is quite good. It has a positive effect on the criminals themselves and even on the society as a whole. Yes, such an approach will deprive them of their 'free will' to commit crimes. What's wrong with that?"
"They are the most heinous criminals!"
Li Yao couldn't help but shout, "In the country of the Cultivators, except for the heinous felons who are highly violent, the brain surgery and the hypnotherapies are rarely used!"
"That's right. What we are faced with right now is a bunch of ferocious, dangerous criminals."
Wuying Qi said casually, "According to the law of the Imperium and my will, all the soldiers of the four families' coalition fleet were disobedient enough to attack the capital planet. They have all committed the most serious crime of 'treason'. Li Yao, you won't deny that, will you?
"For the maniacs who have committed treason, it is only natural that their families should be annihilated. However, considering the big picture of the Imperium and the civilization of mankind, I am willing to be magnanimous and give those people a chance to be reborn. As long as they submit to my will, they will be able to atone for their crimes with contributions and continue to fight for the civilization of mankind.
"In such a way, the meaningless bloodshed will be minimized. It is the most humane approach. I don't know what you are hesitating about. Do you have to watch me kill them, the most elite warriors of the civilization of mankind, or they kill me and everybody else on the capital planet before you are happy, satisfied, and convinced that your 'free will' has been defended?
"Think about it, Li Yao. You and I both agree that the false Immortal Cultivators of the four families are hopelessly corrupted and twisted. It is impossible to correct them with the regular approaches. Am I going to watch them walk further and further on the wrong path and hurt other people and themselves in the end? Do I have a way to treat them, the Imperium, and all mankind, but do nothing?
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