However, from the fact that she was ruthless enough to kill Li Lingfeng, her biological brother, and even tried killing her biological son, she indeed boasted the determination to achieve her purpose through whatever means possible even if the universe would die together with her. She was a red-eyed gambler deep to her bones.
Right now, the reformists and the oppositions of the four Kurfürst families, who were scattered in the sea of stars, panicked and unorganized, were perhaps exactly in need of the leadership of such a lunatic and gambler.
Everybody was deeply awed by Li Linghai’s half craziness and half fortitude.
They were also deeply attracted by her transparent eyes that were as deep as swirls, and they could not help but fall into Li Linghai’s thinking pattern.
Many big shots among the reformists were powerful people in their local areas who were rather independent. Now that they had the courage to defy the orders of the four Kurfürst families, they were certainly not to be driven by Li Linghai easily.
But right now, did they have any choice except to absolutely trust the queen of the Imperium whose death was about to be officially announced by the authorities?
The meeting lasted six hours in total. All the reformists that had been lurking in darkness surfaced one after another, contributing the resources, armed forces, and intelligence channels under their grasp and promising with the name of themselves and their families that they would fight to the end for the construction of a new Imperium even if it meant their own death!
Many of them had been contacting Li Linghai alone and did not know that other people were so deeply involved in the cause of the reformists. Hearing that so many resources and armed forces were at the disposal of the reformists, they were greatly surprised, and the confidence that had just hit rock bottom was burning furiously again.
Li Linghai’s brain functioned quickly like a high-level crystal processor, while she distributed and organized the resources when she was as dazzling as lightning.
Commanding the big shots of the reformists to hide away from the search, rescuing the fellow Cultivators who were already under arrest, uniting all the oppositions in the entire universe in the fields of military, politics, economics, media, and other fields, attacking the Council of Elders in the court of the Imperium that was under the control of the four Kurfürst families, and also influencing the troops in the frontline to win the army over… Everything had a decision, which was carried out in an orderly fashion.
Even Li Yao could not help but secretly compliment in his heart when he saw her issuing the orders calmly and smoothly with barely any gap in between, which almost felt like art.
The white-haired queen of the Imperium was tougher than his wife Ding Lingdang in terms of combat ability, but her craziness and brutality were like a strengthened version of Jin Xinyue.
She was almost like a combination of Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue after they were enlarged ten times.
If such a woman was to lead the entire “new Imperium” soon in the future, would it be better than the current situation or worse?
If the situation was worse, how should Li Yao stop her, or “transform” her?
After each order was given, one of the high-level officers of the Deep Sea Fleet would leave the communication, or one of the holograms triggered by the remote communication would be gone. They all began their work immediately.
Six hours later, Li Linghai issued the last order without any expression on her face.
Jin Yuyan, Yue Wushuang, Dongfang Sheng, Tu Zhengdao… Her right-hand men had all left the communication room.
A thunderstorm raised by the reformists would soon sweep across the entire Imperium.
The enormous secret communication room was like a sphere palace that did not have any gap on the arc-shaped wall, which was as smooth as a mirror, giving a feeling of coldness and depression.
The only persons left in the room were Li Linghai and “Vulture Li Yao”, her personal bodyguard.
Looking at the last line of words dispersing into starry spots and disappearing into the darkness like burning butterflies on the light beam in silence, Li Linghai suddenly grunted, and her face that had always been covered in ice cracked, with a hint of pain flowing out. Her body slightly shivered, and she seemed about to collapse on the floating disc.
Even though she had an immeasurable Cultivation at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage, her brain was still seriously exhausted and was on the verge of being burned after processing complicated intelligence and orders for six hours straight at a high intensity like a human-shaped crystal processor.
As her personal bodyguard, Li Yao felt that he was obliged to give her a hand. He stepped onto Li Linghai’s floating disc and supported the queen of the Imperium carefully.
Somewhat out of his expectation, the proud and cold queen did not reject his kindness. She simply kept her eyes shut, and her face was extremely pale, with dense sweat leaking out of her forehead.
It seemed that the four Kurfürst families’ sudden attack, which aimed to completely erase her both politically and physically, was quite a great strike on her. She was definitely not as zealous and determined as she demonstrated to other people.
In a trance, Li Yao even had an illusion. He seemed to see a twisted and feeble soul, which was the real Li Linghai, through the queen’s carefully disguised face and the solid armors behind the face!
However, the “feebleness” only lasted one moment. When Li Linghai opened her eyes again five seconds later, there was still nothing but cold ice that would never thaw in ten thousand years in her eyes. She became the unyielding queen of the Imperium who would fight to the end through bloody battles again!
“When they heard the news that I was erased, almost everybody wavered briefly except three people, namely Yue Wushuang, Jin Yuyan, and you.”
Looking at Li Yao, Li Linghai said solemnly, “Yue Wushuang and Jin Yuyan are both the most hardcore reformists and my closet comrades whom I trust most. Your performance, on the other hand, was out of my expectation.”
“Well, it’s because I’m used to such things.”
Blinking his eyes, Li Yao said, “Besides, I have taken your side not because you are the queen of the Imperium but because you were the woman that my foster father deeply loved and never forgot to his death. That reason alone is enough to make me never abandon you or watch you die without doing anything.”
After a long daze, Li Linghai suddenly smiled and said, “It never occurred to me that when my cause dropped to the lowest point on the brink of collapse, it would be a Cultivator who was standing by my side.
“Your arrival is indeed a timely gift of fate. I am truly in need of a strong personal bodyguard like you for a while in the future. Once the four Kurfürst families discover that the person their biochemical virus killed was not me, they will certainly initiate a second round and a third round of assassinations.
“Although I have received abundant heritages from the Empyreal Transcendence Sector, those heritages must not be exposed before the situation is stable. So, it will be inconvenient for me to take action in many cases. I’ll count on you.
“Of course, your loyalty will certainly be duly rewarded. Do you want to take a look at the secret treasures from the Empyreal Transcendence Sector?”
Li Yao’s pupils constricted violently, and he breathed fast.
He could not calm down his messy head despite the Cultivation of the Divinity Transformation Stage, because it was the heritage of the “Supreme Emperor” from ten thousand years ago!
Now that Li Linghai was willing to share the heritages of the Supreme Emperor with him, it meant that her trust for him had reached a new height.
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao shook his head hard. He knew that there was no free lunch in the world and that Li Linghai’s generosity must be up to something.
He was unwilling to fall into Li Linghai’s pace. Managing to calm himself down, he said, “Of course I would like to take a good look at the Supreme Emperor’s legacies, but there is no need to do it now. Let’s talk about the next part of the operations instead.
“Now that Your Grace is willing to share such precious legacies with me, it is obvious that you want me to carry out a certain dangerous, life-blighting mission, don’t you?”
Li Linghai was slightly dazed, not anticipating that Li Yao did not waver at all when faced with such an alluring attraction. She thought even more highly of Li Yao now as she nodded her head and said, “Yes. This is indeed a very arduous mission, but you will not be doing it alone. We will all join the mission for a thunderous attack, and we must rescue General Lei Chenghu no matter what. It will be the key that decides the outcome of our cause.”
“Rescue Lei Chenghu?”
Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked, “Who is this ‘General Lei Chenghu’ who is intimidatingly nicknamed as ‘God of War’?”
It was obvious that “God of War” was not a title that any random person could deserve.
“General Lei Chenghu is a legend of the Imperium’s army. He is the general with the most experience, the most military credits, and the highest prestige in the army aside from the generals and commanders from the four Kurfürst families. ‘God of War’ is certainly not an exaggeration but the most honest remark given by the local warlords and the miscellaneous troops.”
When she talked about the experience of “Lei Chenghu”, even Li Linghai, who had always been proud, had admiration in her tone. “General Lei is from the Lei family of Guangyuan, which is a medium-sized noble family between the four Kurfürst families and the small nobles. He could’ve lived a comfortable and carefree life in the Sector that belonged to him.
“If he was slightly ambitious, he could’ve had conflicts and fought for benefits against the warlords of the worlds nearby by leading his personal troops.
“But General Lei is an exception among the nobles and warlords.
“He is a real, pure, and selfless Immortal Cultivator. After he grasped all the resources of the Lei family of Guangyuan, he indeed expanded the military preparations and established an extremely tough private troop at the cost of all the resources in the family.
“But instead of using the fleet to expand to the neighboring worlds, he simply went into the space to strike the space pirates who lurked in the darkness.
“For fifty years, General Lei had been active in the battlefield against space pirates with his own fleet, clearing almost all the space pirates in the dozens of Sectors and space zones in the fourth quadrant of the Imperium. In the end, as long as the carrier fleets passing the area painted Lei Chenghu’s emblem on their starships, the space pirates would immediately run away in fear. General Lei Chenghu was exactly as tough as that!”
