2133 The Young Man’s Armor and… Tusks!
“Are you really alright?”
Li Yao felt that Li Jialing’s soul at this moment was like a shaking plaza that was about to collapse abruptly, and inside the plaza were countless crystal bombs that would explode at first touch. With cold sweat pouring off his head, he continued comforting the young man considerately, “I know that such a family ethical drama must be too hard for you to accept for the time being. Why don’t I stall your uncle first so that you can burst into tears and wail hysterically for a while?”
“… That will be unnecessary.”
Li Jialing took a deep, deep, deep breath.
Li Yao seemed to hear every muscle and every nerve inside the young man’s body being stretched so tightly that even his bones were about to be minced apart before they were gradually relaxed one after another.
The young man calmed down.
It was quite a creepy, if not terrifying, feeling.
The young man seemed to have turned into a completely different person in only a few seconds. Outside of his true self in the deepest level, a thick, cold armor that was embedded with tusks had taken shape.
Or rather…
He had removed the armor of the “regular young man” that was his disguise and finally revealed his cold, indifferent, heartless, and dark true self!
“I’m fine. I really am.”
Li Jialing said in a low voice, “Brother Yao was quite right. As an Immortal Cultivator, and growing up in a swirl of power like the Li family, parental bonds are nothing but jokes. This is quite regular!”
“Well said!”
Li Lingfeng burst into laughter. “Of course you are fine. That is the only way that you can deserve my decades of tutelage for you. For all those years, I have taught you schemes, betrayals, slaughters, and negotiations. I taught you to be untrustworthy, iron-hearted, and seek only after your own interests. Everything I did was meant for you to be as calm and rational when the moment came as you are right now!
“Even the ancient people knew that those who are born into the royal family will never be privileged enough to enjoy the love and friendship of the ordinary people. That is the price of power! Crushed by the absolute power, any parental bond will be blown into nothingness!
“The Li family controls so many worlds. Our power is a hundred times greater than that of the sovereigns in ancient times. On the other hand, your mother is the authentic queen of the Imperium. What a mother-son relationship do you expect with your identities? Wouldn’t you be too silly if you expect so?”
“You’re quite right, uncle.”
Li Jialing replied calmly. His voice that was as cold as an iceberg made Li Yao shudder. The young man was more and more adapted to his role after only ten seconds. He scorned, “However, why should we trust you 100%? Even if Li Linghai is truly my gene provider, is she really here to kill me? Is it possible that you are simply making things up in your desperate struggle because you don’t have any other choices now?”
Li Yao swallowed and asked in a low voice, “Hey, are you really alright?”
Li Jialing said indifferently, “I’m fine. In fact, I’ve never felt better. At the very least, I know who I am and where I came from now, don’t I?”
Li Yao was slightly dazed, not knowing how he should respond to the young man who was terrifyingly calm.
Li Lingfeng said solemnly, “With everything coming to this point, is there any reason for me to deceive you? You can figure out everything if you think about it carefully. If she hadn’t been planning it, how could Li Linghai have arrived so fast?
“It’s been less than 24 hours since Mr. Mysteries next to you disrupted my quest of ‘Dying Light’ and blew up ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’. Even the reinforcements of the Li family in the frontline haven’t been mobilized, gathered, regrouped, and teleported to the Martial Meritocrats Sector. How on earth can Li Linghai be so fast?
“Also, the matter has nothing to do with her at all. As the queen of the Imperium, she should have more important things to attend to. Why is she qualified and have the time to meddle in my affairs?
“There is only one possible answer—she has been here since a long time ago!
“She did not come for Mr. Mysteries next to you. It was possible that she did not even know his existence. Since the very beginning, her target has been very clear, which is you!
“I estimate that she has long learned the secret that I’ve been hiding you under my custody, but she simply held herself back and pretended she knew nothing of it while concocting in secret how she could completely ‘dispose of’ you.
“It was her best opportunity when I left the Li family’s fief for the Martial Meritocrats Sector to push forward the quest of ‘Dying Light’. Her secret fleet must’ve been lurking somewhere at the edge of the Martial Meritocrats Sector while monitoring my operation.
“Perhaps, if Mr. Mysteries hadn’t intervened, she would’ve jumped out of nowhere and performed a cutthroat attack at the most intense and chaotic moment in the middle of the quest!”
Li Jialing asked, “If it was a secret fleet, it couldn’t have had a large number of starships. How could they have broken into ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’?”
“Don’t you understand?”
Li Lingfeng raised his voice as he said, “She only needed to break into ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’ if she wanted to rescue you. But if her purpose since the very beginning was to kill you and keep your mouth shut, she would not need to bother my main fleets and the space fortress at all. She only had to jump out of nowhere and obliterate the area you were at after ascertaining your coordinates. Then, she could just escape without alarming anyone. She could even let ‘Starlight’ take the blame for the assault.
“If everything went well, she would’ve returned to the capital of the Imperium in three days. By then, even if I had abundant indirect proofs in my hands, what could I do?
“This must be what was on her mind. The starships and crystal suits that she brought this time do not have any sigils or emblems. They must be a secret troop that she founded in person. But the starships have been through sanding and added with many wasted metals, which are in fact a similar style to the ragged starships of Starlight. Are these still not enough to prove my point?
“Of course, nobody expected that this mysterious friend here would suddenly pop up and disrupt everything, both ruining my decades of hard work and completely interrupting Li Linghai’s pace. She was forced to chase us to this place at risk!”
Li Yao rubbed his nose. “Well, you’re welcome. It was my pleasure.”
Li Lingfeng glared at Li Yao, and the brutality in his eyes was even more eye-catching than the flashes of lightning in the sky.
Tilting his head and thinking for a while, Li Jialing said slowly, “Even if what you said is true, it doesn’t prove that she has no intention of saving me. What if her secret fleet was lurking at the edge of the Martial Meritocrats Sector just in order to steal me away at the most critical moment?”
“Haha, hahahaha. You still have some sort of expectations for your gene provider—or your ‘birth mother’, if you will—don’t you? I suggest you abandon such naïve and ridiculous ideas because they will only make it more painful!”
Li Lingfeng grinned hideously. “Do you think that I am both cruel and sordid? Then let me tell you. Compared to your mother, who seems to be straightforward and outspoken but has such a sophisticated heart that she almost deceives the Li family and even the entire Imperium, your uncle is almost a pure and flawless Cultivator!
“Are you not curious about one thing? If you are Li Linghai’s biological son, why did you fall into my hands, and why was I the one who raised you up in secret?
“Also, why have I invested so many resources on you without caring about the costs, to build you into a secret weapon to deal with Li Linghai, when I know your relationship with Li Linghai very well? Isn’t it common sense that mothers and their children are naturally connected? Was I not scared that you would join Li Linghai’s side after you found out the truth, in which case I would be losing everything and gaining nothing?”
Li Jialing was slightly dazed. “Perhaps you were too conceited to think that I would ever find out about the truth?”
“Hehe. If you think that way, you are underestimating your uncle and your birth mother greatly.”
Li Lingfeng said, “Your uncle is in the Divinity Transformation Stage, and your mother’s level is even higher than mine. As long as the two of you meet each other at close distance, how would she not have recognized that you are her biological son?
“When that happens, it would be a probable event that the son and the mother would team up against me. So, wouldn’t I be committing suicide and raising a gravedigger for myself?”
Li Yao and Li Jialing both frowned and thought hard.
It did make no sense. However arrogant Li Lingfeng was, there was no reason why he would leave such a great loophole!
“I was bold enough to do everything I did, and I was confident that you would stand by my side even if you learned the whole truth, for a simple reason.”
In a smile, Li Lingfeng spat out the answer unhurriedly, “Because this isn’t the first time, but the second one, that Li Linghai has tried to kill you!
“She killed you once decades ago. Or to be more exact, she disposed of you while you were still in the fetus state. At that time, she thought that she had completely disposed of the redundant fetus that was you. Little did she know that you survived the catastrophe and was saved by me in the end.
“Li Linghai at that time did not have the intimidating power and strength that she has today. So, I was still able to cover your existence for decades and eventually found a way to raise you up in secret!
“Do you understand now? Although Li Linghai is your birth mother, she has always considered you a trouble. She tries everything she can to kill you, and she already killed you once!
“As for me, I am only your uncle, and I did not save you because you are family, but because I regarded you as leverage and intended to build you into a secret weapon.
“However, objectively speaking, it was indeed me who saved you, raised you, and protected you at the most critical moment. I even summoned all the resources at my disposal to bring you up without any reserve!”
Li Jialing’s body trembled, and his voice became even colder. “So, I owe you a ‘thanks’, uncle?”
“Hehe. I never expected a thank you from you. I know that you hate my guts, but I couldn’t care less about your gratitude or hatred!”
Li Lingfeng sniffed. “I am now only telling you the truth as it is. Then, please think carefully with the calmness and rationality that I have inculcated into you after all those years whom you should side with, your uncle who saved and raised you, or your mother who has been trying to kill you time and time again?”
