When she mentioned Blackstar the Great, the unparalleled man of the time, Li Linghai suddenly grew excited. Her eyes that had been as cold as ice all the time were glittering as she raised her voice and said, “In fact, the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators share a lot in common. A country that has developed for a thousand years will inevitably have all sorts of interest groups, the abnormally expanding cancers that suck the benefits of the people.
“The last years of the Star Ocean Republic are exactly the same as the Imperium of True Human Beings right now. Rotten wood was respected as officials in the court, and wolves and tigers occupied the sea of stars. The four Kurfürst families that control the politics of the Imperium today already took shape at that time, except that they were far less gigantic and awesome back then.”
Li Yao thought for a moment and sighed. “In fact, when I was on Firefly, I read some of the files declassified by the National Archive Library. Your criticisms on the mess at the last years of the Star Ocean Republic are not entirely wrong.”
Li Linghai looked at Li Yao in approval and nodded her head. “It is great that you honor the facts, unlike the other hypocritical Cultivators.
“All in all, the many diseases that the Imperium has today could also be found at the last years of the Star Ocean Republic, and it was already hopeless, which could be seen by the fact that a tiny Alliance of the Holy Covenant at the edge of the cosmos was able to crush the Star Ocean Republic’s army.
“If the Cultivators’ governance at the time was truly perfect, and the Cultivators and the ordinary people were really united in the same community without any grudge, how could the Star Ocean Republic, which occupied the center of the cosmos and boasted many prosperous worlds, have come up with no solutions to deal with the outweighed Alliance of the Holy Covenant?
“Therefore, Wuying Qi, as the border commander of the Star Ocean Republic, motivated by the lofty ideals of saving the country, the people, and mankind, purged the entire Star Ocean Republic with fire and blood when he had enough of it, trying to cut all the cancers and make his country, his people, and his civilization great again!
“In Blackstar’s dream, a great government that had absolute power and could reach the most fundamental level in the vast sea of stars would be the core for the renaissance of the civilization of mankind. The noble families and their traditions did not have a place in the utopia. Those who were to handle the specific affairs should only be the civil servants of the government and His Majesty’s hounds.
“By the same logic, even the farmers at the most barren planet in the most remote space zone of the Imperium should pledge their loyalty to the government, to the Imperium, and to His Majesty himself, instead of being controlled by a certain sect leader, Sector Master, or fleet commander.
“In such a way, the Imperium would be able to carry out the best of ‘fairness’.
“His Majesty and the government under him would directly control all the resources in the Imperium. A clean, rigorous, and independent prosecution system, and the cold and ruthless envoys who boasted high combat ability and pledged loyalty to the emperor, would monitor the implementation of the ‘contribution system’ in local places. Should any case of corruption or cheating be discovered, harsh punishments would immediately be underway.
“In the meantime, through the abundant resources that were directly under His Majesty’s control, public education would be greatly promoted. The faculties of the public schools and the investment in the training facilities would be improved to ensure that both the descendants of the Immortal Cultivators and those of hominoids could be admitted into schools of similar levels equally, receive similar education, and be tested under the same rules. Origins did not matter, and potentials were all that counted. The strong went up, and the weak walked down. Everybody would be convinced by the fair system.
“All in all, while Blackstar the Great’s Imperium persisted in the differences between ‘true human beings’ and ‘hominoids’ and ensured that most of the resources were inclined to true human beings to achieve the maximal returns, it was also the Imperium’s responsibility, even at the cost of abundant resources, to make sure that the channel of ascension between ‘hominoids’ and ‘true human beings’, between ‘low-level Immortal Cultivators’ and ‘high-level Immortal Cultivators’ was unhindered, open, and fair and square.
“The two points were in an interdependent relationship, like the two legs or fists of a man. Neither of them could be thrown away.
“That is the only pure true path of immortality. It is the optimal configuration of resources and the only hope for humanity to thrive in the dark universe.
“The ‘true path of immortality’ that the nobles of the Imperium promote today only keeps the first point, ‘survival of the fittest’, and ignores the second point, ‘open, fair, and square competition’. It is completely an emasculated version. How can it possibly lead the civilization of mankind to continue to move forward?”
Li Yao blinked his eyes fast, but he still decided not to argue with the queen on the unimportant details. “Alright, although I don’t quite agree with the idea of regarding humans as resources and war machines, I have to admit that if public education is greatly promoted so that the offspring of all the ordinary people will have equal rights and conditions in training, and if the openness and fairness of the ‘potential tests’ and ‘contribution point system’ can be ensured, allowing everyone to compete from the same start line, it will at least be much better than the current Imperium.”
“Other than the mobsters of Starlight, I have never encountered any other Cultivator.”
Li Linghai stared at Li Yao thoughtfully. “You are sort of the first real Cultivator that I have met, and you are not exactly the same as what I read from the books either. It seems that we both have misunderstandings toward one another because of the vilifications and the brainwashing propaganda. If we continue the communication, it is quite possible that we may find more and more common grounds and opportunities of cooperation.”
Li Yao smiled. “Maybe. Please proceed, Your Grace. I’m very curious about how Blackstar the Great’s magnificent cause came to an end. How did the open, fair country where everybody had the equal rights of competition, with the great government that had absolute power and integrity, turn into the Imperium today?”
“Nothing but fate could have arranged it.”
Li Linghai sighed and said, “It was almost like a curse. What makes you in the beginning turns out to be what destroys you in the end.
“Blackstar the Great gradually gathered an enormous space fleet during the confrontations and campaigns against the Covenant Alliance. He established his prestige and his team in the meantime before he marched to the capital in the end.
“However, it was also because of the existence of the Covenant Alliance and its haunting military pressure that Blackstar the Great was unable to completely reform the Star Ocean Republic in the way he wanted and build an utterly refreshed Imperium of True Human Beings.
“In many places, the newborn Imperium of True Human Beings still kept a lot of residues of the Star Ocean Republic—the filthy and stinky residues.
“For example, the four Kurfürst families right now, including the Li family, are ‘noble families’ with a long history in the age of the Star Ocean Republic. They hold many seats in the parliament and control the economic lifelines of many fields of the country. They also have several Sectors that are almost their private territories.
“Under such circumstances, if Blackstar the Great intended to completely remove the cancers, he would have to do it at the risk of a ‘hemorrhage’ of the Imperium of True Human Beings. One moment of carelessness, and if the Covenant Alliance took the opportunity to attack, the country might be doomed forever.
“Therefore, in order to pass the turmoil during the change of regimes as quickly as possible, and to get the situation under control so that the Covenant Alliance could be dealt with, even such a strongman as Blackstar the Great had to concede to the seemingly smaller cancers. He attracted the smaller interest groups to strike the bigger oligarchs, thereby accomplishing an incomplete ‘reform’.
“Even so, the newborn Imperium was still faced with the crazy counterattacks of the oligarchs of the past. With the Covenant Alliance outside and the oligarchs inside, the Imperium passed the scariest ten years in its history.
“Hehe, you may understand the war in this period as one where the brave and stubborn Cultivators rose against the evil Imperium from your history books, but in fact, it was just the dying struggles of the oligarchs of the Imperium.
“It was a shame that, although the oligarchs were annihilated by Blackstar the Great in the end, the incomplete reform had overlooked some small fry, which, after hundreds of years of gradual expansion, gradually evolved into the new-generation oligarchs that are stronger, smarter, and greedier, like the four Kurfürst families.”
Li Yao frowned. “Based on what I’ve been educated with, Blackstar the Great did not seem to be a man who would show mercy on his enemy.”
“Everybody has their limits. Blackstar the Great was a human after all, not a god with an eternal life.”
Li Linghai sighed, not without regrets. “Perhaps Wuying Qi could have swept the corrupted system and the greedy, blood-sucking cancers with his wise strategies if he were in his prime years. He would not let go of a single shrimp but see that the great country in his visions was established. However, when he reformed and acceded to the throne, he was already an old man more than three hundred years old. Also, after a lifetime of adventures and battles, his body and his soul had long been seriously exhausted. By the time he was crowned with the name of ‘Blackstar the Great’, he had long passed the prime years of his physical energy, his wisdom, and his combat ability.”
Li Yao thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense.
According to Su Changfa and Di Feiwen’s introductions, Blackstar the Great spent his early years in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, where he was thrown into a volcano and nearly burned alive in the end. Naturally, it was a great damage to his body.
Later, he seemed to have found heritages from a relic of the primeval age of the Star Ocean Imperium, and he was transformed into half a human and half a monster. After that, he wandered for almost a hundred years in the sea of stars before he arrived in the Star Ocean Republic.
After his arrival, for an unknown man of obscure backgrounds to rise to the place of a border general step by step, it would take at least decades, right?
By the calculation, by the time Wuying Qi turned into Blackstar the Great, he was truly several hundred years old; a dying old man like a setting sun.
Time was the greatest power that could destroy all the traces in the universe. Even a top expert of mankind was still not enough to compete with it!
