Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

In the three weeks, the incident kept on fomenting. Almost every major sect in the core worlds was being roasted.

In the meantime, from certain corners on the Spiritual Nexus, a brand-new opinion was quietly released and soon spread out virally.

“Jin Xinyue is certainly not right, but she is quite pitiful, too. Think about it. A hundred years ago, as a saintess of demons who shouldered the destiny and future of all her compatriots, she was merely in the demon king stage or the Core Formation Stage. Faced with the almighty giants that had controlled the Old Federation for hundreds of years, did she really have a choice other than to lower her proud head and listen to them obediently?”

“Yes. She went through so much trouble doing so many things against her will, but she earned less than ten percent from the gains. Most of the benefits were looted by the major sects!”

“Jin Xinyue was innocent. A hundred years ago, she was a kind, innocent girl. Otherwise, why would the legendary Vulture Li Yao, the dominator of three Sectors, have recruited her as a disciple? She is Li Yao’s disciple, and Li Yao is our great hero. So, she must be a good person!”

“It’s a shame that Li Yao left too early. Without the protection of Li Yao, how could such a vulnerable girl as Jin Xinyue have protected the future of her people and resisted the storms of the outside world on her own?”

“Those wretched giants threatened her with the future of demons after Jin Xinyue lost her master in her most vulnerable moment. They forced her to cross the line further and further, asking her to do so many bad things!”

“Jin Xinyue did not have a choice. She was so pitiful!”

“I am a demon, and I am a real citizen of the federation, but I will forever be proud of my bloodline! It was not until today that I learned that Jin Xinyue secretly carried such heavy burdens for the demons to receive equal citizen rights and that the major sects that belong to the old era could be so shameless!”

“I am also a demon. Of the hundred billion people in the federation, demons make up almost thirty billion. We absolutely support Jin Xinyue, and we will not allow any major sect to sit on our neck and manipulate us as if we are their horses and hounds!”

“Our loyalty is to the federation, and we will only fight for the federation. We will not be taken advantage of by the major sects anymore. We will not stand our leader Jin Xinyue being played by the major sects as a marionette!”

“I am not a demon, but I am from the Water Crystal Sector, one of the ‘four new worlds’ in the eyes of the people from the core worlds. I absolutely support the opinions of the demon patriots. The Star Glory Federation belongs to all the people of the seven Sectors. It is definitely not a property of the major sects and the ancient houses that are remnants of the old times and no longer used to the new era!”

“The New Federation calls for new sects that can really stand for the interests of all the people in the seven Sectors!”

Similar opinions swept across every corner of the grand-unified Spiritual Nexus in only a couple of days like a surging superstorm.

As the investigation went deeper and deeper, the major sects and traditional families of training with hundreds of years of history caught the attention of the independent investigators one after another. New scandals were being exposed almost on a daily basis. While all the people were dumbfounded and infuriated, they further proved the correctness of the opinions listed above.

The market reacted strongly to the ‘Dim Moon Plan Incident’.

The major sects from the core worlds and their affiliated sects plummeted in the financial market like a great landslide.

Needless to say, some of the leaders of the sects and the patriarchs of noble families had already been or were about to be investigated because of the scandal.

Various sources said that the serial exposure of scandals would certainly cause a great reshuffle to the federation both economically and politically.

The ancient giants that had succeeded and expanded to this day since the Old Federation was founded more than a thousand years ago were likely to be broken up and restructured.

After they were broken up and restructured, their influence on the New Federation would plunge.

To some extent, this was an accidental but reasonable ‘change of dynasties’.

The old magnates and interest groups were bound to leave the stage together with the name ‘Old Federation’, whereas new magnates and interest groups would rise like a morning sun and continue illuminating the land of the New Federation!

At this moment, although the voting had not begun yet, the result of the election was already preordained.

Ding Lingdang, the Patriots Front, and the new worlds were the greatest beneficiaries of the incident.

The ancient sects in the core worlds, mired in scandals, barely had enough time to take care of themselves. All they were trying to do was perform a decent curtain call. They were unable to compete with the strength behind Ding Lingdang and the angry people who were gradually choosing to side with her when they had lost most of their supporters.

The twelve most authoritative news outlets of the federation made predictions on the result of the election. The odds of Ding Lingdang being elected had been raised to above eighty percent, and the odds that Jin Xinyue was elected were less than seven percent.

Despite the seemingly absurdness of the predication, it was not greeted with much objection.

Even Jin Xinyue’s most hardcore supporters had to admit that Ding Lingdang was more suitable to be the Speaker of the Federation and lead them to defend the brightness at this moment faced with the undeniable evidence.

Because of the prevailing opinion, or under the subtle manipulation by someone on the Spiritual Nexus, the era of ‘Speaker Ding Lingdang’ seemed to have arrived earlier.

The concerns for Jin Xinyue were no longer whether or not she could become the Speaker, but whether or not she would offer to withdraw from the campaign and resign as the leader of the Ministry of Equality and Development so that she could officially be accused and even sent to prison.

After all, law was supreme in the federation. However many reasons she had, it was still not justifiable to violate the dignity of law.

If a certain ‘director’ had been manipulating the entire ‘avalanche’ from behind the scenes, then she had almost taken everything into consideration so far, except for one thing.

However smart and meticulous she was, it was impossible for her to foresee that ‘Team Red Lotus’ was not a real ‘Team Red Lotus’ but made of twelve old monsters from the Ancient Sages Sector in the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage or even in the Divinity Transformation Stage, who had survived hundreds of years in the unpredictable, complicated battles in the Ancient Sages Sector!

If Team Red Lotus were really Team Red Lotus, made of a bunch of experts in the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage at best, who had hibernated for hundreds of years and was ignorant of the latest situation, it would have been impossible for them to tell the truth about the girl who claimed to be Moonfall’s sister.

But after Moonfall’s sister submitted herself to the twelve experts from the Ancient Sages Sector, in only half a day, the keen-sighted and sophisticated old monsters all came to the same conclusion.

She was lying.

…

A carrier painted with the emblem of the Star Ocean Republic was slowly sailing toward the ‘Hundred Flowers Space Zone’, a transfer station of space jumps for the seven Sectors of the federation. They would refill their supplies there before they directly jumped to the capital of the federation.

In a secret room on the starship, Team Red Lotus, or rather, the twelve old monsters including Li Yao, were analyzing the abrupt changes in the federation over the past half month.

They were not as worried as certain people on the Spiritual Nexus, who believed that the federation would soon be screwed because of such a great scandal.

It was just another internal conflict among the leadership and struggle for power. Not only had they seen too many such things, many of them had also been involved personally and had fun in them. Long Yangjun, Han Baling, and Emperor Phoenix were all experts in the field.

The most critical question right now was not the strife of the leadership in the federation itself but the nature of it. Was the conflict chaotic and uncontrollable, or was it intentional and controllable? Was it going to revolutionize the country, unite the people, and increase the federation’s combat ability, or was it going to divide the people, aggravate the contradiction, and weaken the federation’s military power?

If it was intentional and controllable, who had been directing everything behind the curtain?

That person should be the real dominator of the federation in the days to come. If they were going to negotiate with the federation on the terms of joining the federation, they should speak to that person.

“The girl lied. Even if all the information stored in the jade chip is true, she still lied,” Han Baling, the magnificent monarch of the Ghost Qin who probably would have overthrown the Great Qian Dynasty and united the Ancient Sages Sector had it not been for Li Yao and Heiye Lan, observed casually. “She received very professional and advanced training on her soul, which allows her to control her brain precisely and fool the general lie-detecting magical equipment and specialists. But naturally, she could not deceive the Cultivators here.

“She was lying. All her talk about ‘Moonfall’ being killed and her escaping to here in a hurry was fake. The whole thing did not go out of control after a scandal was leaked out by accident; it has been well-planned since the very beginning, one event after another, with the sole purpose of dealing a fatal blow to the major sects of the core worlds!

“The conclusion is obvious. There’s no need to talk more about it. The real focus of our attention should be, who has been manipulating everything behind the curtain?”

Glamorous brilliance flowed out of Long Yangjun’s eyes. She smiled. “What’s your opinion, Fellow Cultivator Han?”

Han Baling projected a light beam with his mini crystal processor. “It’s simple. Whoever gains the greatest benefits from the whole event will be the person behind the curtain.

“No. I am not referring to Ding Lingdang. Ding Lingdang and the Patriots Front alone are not enough to infiltrate Jin Xinyue’s base and retrieve so many critical files.

“Please look, everybody. This is a chart of the top hundred super sects in the Star Glory Federation, divided into two parts. Those on the left that are marked as red are the seriously weakened sects because of the scandal, while those on the right are the sects that are barely affected.

“Take a look at it carefully. Do you notice anything?

“Look. The seriously weakened sects on the right are almost exclusive traditional conglomerates that have been passed on for hundreds of years.

“Those on the right, such as the Glorious Sunlight Group, the Double Dragon Union, the Mountain Sea Sect, the Great Horn Exo Society, Iron Plateau Development Inc., Blood Demon Biochemical Inc., Blood Demon Pharmaceuticals… They are all new powers that have only risen in the past hundred years!

“Those new powers are the greatest beneficiaries of the event. It is not hard to imagine that they will replace the traditional sects and establish their own dynasty in the near future!

“Do the new powers share something in common?

“Of course, I believe that all the fellow Cultivators have seen through it after a quick glance. They are all deeply associated with each other, and their connection to each other eventually boils down to one person.

“Hehe. If I had to make a name for the new forces and view them as a collective group, it would be a very simple one—

“Li Yao’s group!”