2375 Succeed, or Sacrifice!

Passing the obstreperous huts that felt like a chaotic whirlpool and the underground hominoids who had covered themselves tightly with capes, Li Yao sensed the air of an upcoming storm from the seemingly peaceful streets.

Unusual high-frequency vibrations filled the air. Deep inside the darkness of the dilapidated alleys, people sitting cross-legged on the ground were everywhere. They must’ve all entered the state of telepathy, passing the clandestine signals regarding the riot tomorrow and conducting the last preparations.

It was exactly like a volcano where magma was about to rise to ten thousand meters tall. The intense smoke had been gathered in the crater, and nothing could prevent it from roaring.

It was exactly in such intense reverberation of brainwaves that Li Yao and Long Yangjun reached the home of Xu Zhicheng, the Grand Guardian of Nepenthe.

As a model worker of the Great Iron Plants and the manager of the living area, Xu Zhicheng boasted the most spacious cave. It was the center of Nepenthe’s secret activities.

Because Li Minghui and most of the Immortal Cultivators were not in the Great Iron Plants, and the uprising would take place tomorrow, the Nepenthe believers stopped covering their operation. Tremendous tall, strong believers of Nepenthe were entering and exiting Xu Zhicheng’s cave with full packages but indifferent faces, carrying his order to other living areas and even the central posts of the factory areas.

Seeing that Long Yangjun had arrived, all the Nepenthe believers bowed at her deeply. Even Xu Zhicheng came out to greet her. The other people were asked to go somewhere else, and Long Yangjun and Li Yao were invited to go to the room for further discussion.

Entering the room behind Long Yangjun, Li Yao closed the door on the entrance of the cave and spread his senses to the entire cave. The cave was approximately a hundred square meters, which was almost luxurious in the underground worlds where space was highly limited. It had been divided into three parts. The innermost part was Xu Zhicheng’s bedroom, and the outmost part was his living room and the place where he handled the affairs of Nepenthe. There was not much furniture except for a long table made of tempered iron. The place was rather neat and tidy.

In the middle part of the cave that spanned horizontally, however, was a bunk bed made of iron. There were also a lot of toys that were made of iron wires, screws, and magical equipment components on the desk nearby. They were perhaps the most beloved objects of the house owner because they were all glittering after being touched day and night.

On the wall, there were a lot of things that were similar to certificates and medals. All the certificates had been preserved in glass frames carefully and hung on the wall squarely.

This place was probably where Xu Zhicheng’s sons used to live.

Li Yao noticed a detail.

The Great Iron Plants were heavily polluted. The air was full of dust and various sticky pollutants. It would only take half a day for a table to be covered in a thin layer of stains that could barely be cleaned.

In order not to draw any attention, Li Yao did not activate his spiritual energy when he snuck in. His cape had been wreathed in sticky dusk after only half an hour, and he could not shake it off at all.

The huts of the workers that he saw on his way here were also dark and covered in dust.

Xu Zhicheng’s home was the same. In the living room outside and his own bedroom, there was a dense, black coating on the wall, the floor, and even the bed, and five-finger marks would be left on it if one were to touch it with their hands. The people here were probably used to such an environment and did not consider the dust and the pollutants to be a big deal anymore.

But in the small room where the bunk bed was kept, it was clean and dustless.

The toys on the desk made of wasted iron and the certificates on the wall, in particular, were so spotless that they were almost shining.

Somebody must’ve been wiping them carefully after every couple of hours in order to keep them as shiny as new.

Did the Grand Guardian do it himself?

Did those certificates and toys belong to his sons?

Were the clumsy toys made of wasted iron jumbled by Xu Zhicheng one screw after another a long, long time ago for his sons in person?

With all the questions, Li Yao looked at Xu Zhicheng, the Grand Guardian and the actual leader of Nepenthe.

Xu Zhicheng had a most common name, which did not carry any dominating air or mysteriousness.

Exactly like his name, he was an old worker with a headful of gray hair, a face of wrinkles, and scars all over his body.

Even though he was about to lead thousands of people to wage a war against the Immortal Cultivators tomorrow, he was still wearing the work uniform that had been sewed and washed so many times that it had lost all the original colors. He did not have the charisma of a leader of an uprising army or the evil vibe of a cultist. He was nothing like what Li Yao imagined an overzealous believer of the Path of Ultimate Benevolence should be like.

According to Long Yangjun, boosting the brainwaves of thousands of people to resonate with the methods of telepathy was essentially a brain exercise that was beneficial for the people at the center of the reverberation to awaken their spiritual roots. After years of training, Xu Zhicheng had miraculously awakened his spiritual root and advanced to approximately… the Refinement Stage!

Even so, in terms of level, power, combat ability, judiciousness, scheming, or any other ability, Xu Zhicheng was still the weakest opponent that Li Yao had ever seen in his entire life. He was so vastly different from Xiao Xuance, Bai Xinghe, Jin Tuyi, Lu Zui, Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan, and the rest of them that he could not even be compared to them.

However, while Li Yao could face Xiao Xuance, Lu Zui, and Jin Tuyi with confidence and challenge them in bloody battles to the last moment, he was somewhat at a loss about how to deal with Xu Zhicheng who was as good as nothing in terms of strength.

“Serenity Seraph, I’m told that not only have you activated a large batch of ancient weapons, you have also recruited tremendous wildlings from the depths of the underground worlds. This is truly wonderful!”

Xu Zhicheng bowed deeply at Long Yangjun first before he said, “In such a case, we will be more confident about the war tomorrow!”

Just like all the other Nepenthe believers, he seemed to be wearing a heavy mask. When he was talking, his wrinkles did not move at all, and even his eyeballs barely rolled. He did not have the anxiety now that a great war was coming near, nor the fury of having enough sufferings. He was exactly in the “eternal tranquility” that Nepenthe promoted.

He did not look at Li Yao until it was necessary. “If I may ask the Serenity Seraph, this is…”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao introduced himself. “My name is Li Yao. I am a Cultivator.”

“A Cultivator?”

Xu Zhicheng’s eyes were frozen. He considered carefully for a moment before he replied in wariness, “I heard your name before. I’m told that you caused a riot in the Martial Meritocrats Sector at the edge of the Imperium and killed a lot of Immortal Cultivators! So, you are against the Immortal Cultivators too. What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to convince Grand Guardian Xu to abort your uprising.”

Looking at Xu Zhicheng in the eyes, Li Yao went to the topic directly. “You won’t gain anything from doing that!”

Xu Zhicheng was slightly stunned. His pupils obviously constricted, as if he were going to argue with Li Yao in fury, but he simply held it back and turned his eyes to Long Yangjun rigidly, asking in calmness, “If I may ask the Serenity Seraph, is this your intention too?”

“Don’t overthink, Grand Guardian Xu. That is not my intention.”

Long Yangjun said casually, “Since the first day I taught you ‘Serenity Arts’, I have solemnly promised you that I would only teach you two secret techniques but wouldn’t influence your usage of the techniques. Later, after you established Nepenthe and insisted on worshipping me as the Serenity Seraph, we made a deal to each other too. I would never meddle in the affairs and actual operations of Nepenthe. Whatever you are going to do, I would neither support nor object to it. In the meantime, if you were to come to ask for my help when in trouble, it would depend on my mood whether or not I would give you a hand.

“This is exactly the same. You will be in full charge of the issue. I have no intention to steal your power at all.

“But my Cultivator friend here, however, has different opinions regarding your operation and insists on meeting with you.

“Speaking of which, from the perspective of an onlooker, I do feel that he is not entirely pointless. Your operation is so rushed, your enemy is so formidable, and the environment is so rough. It is destined that Nepenthe’s uprising will not succeed. Not only is the entire Nepenthe likely to be destroyed, but the whole Great Iron Plants, as well as everybody living here, may face their doom too!”

“If we can’t succeed, we can at least die for it!”

Expressionlessly, Xu Zhicheng said, one word after another, “Both the Serenity Seraph and your Cultivator friend have seen our living environment and the oppression that we suffer day and night. Do you think that we are scared of death when we are living in hell?

“We… should’ve died a long time ago! If the extraterrestrial devils did arrive that year and corrupted our abnormal bodies and violent souls, we would’ve congregated into an overwhelming torrent and swallowed all the Immortal Cultivators including Li Minghui!

“The extraterrestrial devils did not arrive, and the Serenity Seraph granted us more brilliant techniques and more secret methods of communication, freeing us from pain and fear! In that case, why do we have to hold it back anymore? As long as we can drag the Immortal Cultivators like Li Minghui to die with us, we are willing to pay any price!”

“Grand Guardian Xu, listen to me—”

Li Yao tried to make himself sound harmless and sincere. “We, the Cultivators, are against the Immortal Cultivators too, and we also support everybody defending their dignity and glory with violence and sacrificing themselves when it is necessary. Therefore, I am not stopping you from sacrificing yourselves.

“However, sacrifices should be worthwhile. Meaningless sacrifices will not damage the Immortal Cultivators at all, much less destroying this wretched world.

“Li Minghui is just one of the most insignificant Immortal Cultivators. Even if you really die together with him, you will not change anything. Very soon, an Immortal Cultivator who is even more greedy, shameless, and cruel will come from above and take over his place.

“Besides, I’m highly suspicious if your operation can kill Li Minghui. Maybe even after the sacrifices of tens of thousands of Nepenthe believers, you will only take down a few of Li Minghui’s lackeys and thousands of his battle puppets, which won’t help anything at all!”

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