Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The closer one got to the orbit docks, the more they would sense the ambitions of human beings to change the world and conquer the universe. Two orbit docks that fully surrounded the planet had been built, and the third ‘Uranian Ring’ was under construction. The super dock and space metropolis that looked like a long bow had only just started being built, but it left the deepest impression on Li Yao because only when he saw the starships and workers who were busy working around the new orbit dock was he finally convinced that the two splendid celestial bodies that he had previously seen, which were emitting their brilliance even in the scale of the grand universe, had in fact been made by the human beings who appeared to be ants if not dust!

As the carrier approached the First Uranian Ring, they turned off their own power and allowed the rune arrays of the First Uranian Ring to lock onto and capture the vehicle, drifting toward the port.

More and more starships appeared nearby until it was even possible to see the emblems and pennants that were painted on each of the starships. Compared to the super-enormous carriers, engineering starships, and main-force warships of the federal fleets, their own carrier was rather slender. Often, when several gigantic starships leaned toward them like mountains, they could not help feeling that they would be crushed. But with the guidance and navigation of the spiritual and magnetic field, the other starships simply flew past them unhurriedly, like a bunch of lazy whales.

“Wow!”

Many people who had spent their entire lives on Firefly, born, raised, and aged in the sea of stars alone, were deeply awed by the glamorous exhaust flames when at least a thousand starships crowded together. They were exclaiming at the splendid view.

During the incessant gasps and exclamations, they passed the Second Mother Port of the Burning Prairie Fleet, which was also the biggest starship production base in the ‘four new worlds’.

The solemn and inviolable starships had entirely renewed plate armor, which was polished to be even smoother than a mirror. There was no sign that they had ever been scratched by the cosmic dust at all.

Illuminated by the sun and the exhaust flames of the thousand starships nearby, they were reflecting deep, dark golden colors, like the ridge of a continuous mountain that boasted infinite strength.

On the orbit dock behind them, countless iron tentacles extended all the way down into the atmosphere of the Uranian Ring Planet until they stabbed deeply into the mother lodes below the surface of the planet, transporting the metal and crystal resources from there directly into the docks.

In space, a lot of starry brilliance was flying toward the Uranian Rings, too, as if they were shooting stars that had been conquered, manipulated, and made use of by human beings. They were all man-made asteroids that used to be part of the resource planets. Before, the collection and purification work used to be conducted on the resource planets. But later, a more convenient approach was invented, which was to blow up part of the resource planets, install engine units on them, and push them toward the Uranian Rings. The collection, purification, manufacture, and assembly procedures were concentrated in the same place, and the efficiency to produce starships was greatly improved.

If the probe distance of the crystal cameras were increased, they would be able to distinguish some details of the Uranian Rings on the fuzzy picture. At such a distance, the Uranian Rings’ sense of smoothness, elegance, and unity would completely vanish. They were an iron forest from which countless branches were stretching out. Just like Firefly, which was under major maintenance, ‘twigs’ made of super alloys stood erect on the surface, and new twigs bifurcated at the end of the previous twigs. Growing just like that, the Uranian Rings occupied every tiny bit of space other than the sailing routes. At the end of every ‘narrowest’ twig was a starship that was being maintained or produced.

From that point of view, the ‘twigs’ were sort of like umbilical cords. The Uranian Rings, beasts of the planetary level, collected and absorbed metals, minerals, crystals, and everything from the Uranian Ring Planet and the hundreds of resource planets nearby without pause. They chewed and digested the resources and sent the nutrition into the starships incessantly through the ‘umbilical cords’, breeding the iron beasts one after another that were about to raise surging tides in the universe.

Such a picture was not ‘natural’ at all, but it was quite ‘human’.

The carrier slowly connected to one of the ‘twigs’ extending out of the Uranian Rings. It was the first stop of the delegation, the Uranian Ring War Museum.

Wars were the most extreme outburst of potential of a civilization.

Through wars, it was possible to learn the true face of a civilization within the shortest amount of time.

Therefore, the representatives from the center of the cosmos had chosen this place for their first stop, where they were greeted by a Communication Committee made of people from the federal government, military, Cultivation sects, and academic fields.

Because of the subtle if not awkward relationship between the Star Ocean Republic and the Star Glory Federation, and since the federation was fully focused on the preparation for the war to come, both parties had agreed that they would discuss more about practical questions during the communication and negotiation and put aside controversial issues such as legitimacy and rightfulness.

Therefore, the delegation was not of a high level on the surface, and it was purely under the banner of Election Observation Delegation. Correspondingly, only a limited number of people from the government and the military were in the Communication Committee that the federation had sent out. At least, there were not many of them in the beginning.

Li Yao did not find any acquaintances in the Communication Committee, which spared him from the dilemma that he would have faced if an old friend had been there.

He observed the people of the new federation who were standing opposite him with great interest. He discovered that, probably because of the transition from a planetary civilization completely into a universal civilization, the federal citizens of the new generation were slimmer and taller, as if they could swim in the sea of stars to their heart’s content after one jump.

Regardless of their sex and gender, they were equally energetic and in high spirits. The confidence in their demeanor was so obvious that it was almost sharp.

Judging from their clothing, other than the officers who were more difficult to tell because of their standard military uniform, the civil representatives were from various Sectors, including the Nether World Sector. Some of them also possessed some demon features, such as cute rabbit ears, green eyes resembling a cat, and so on. Other people did not seem to be affected at all, either.

It appeared that the New Federation had carried out the integration policy determinedly in the past hundred years.

With their guidance, Li Yao visited the Uranian Ring War Museum. Through the remnants from the war, the war logs of the soldiers, and even simulation games in the Grand Illusionary Land, he experienced the war of thirty years prior.

He had studied many details of the war in the Uranian Ring Sector carefully on Firefly. However, he was quite fond of the New Federation’s narration of the war, which was calm, objective, and slightly conservative. There was not much description of the ugliness and evilness of the Heavenly Light. Everything was simply recorded dutifully like a sketch. In one of the procedures, quite a few solutions that could have completely avoided the war were even simulated in the Grand Illusionary Land.

Only the real victors could be so calm and conservative. It was even confident enough to reflect on the war.

After seeing all the scenes in the war museum, Li Yao was finally convinced that the federation had completely integrated and assimilated the Uranian Ring Sector. This world had become an indispensable part of the Star Glory Federation now.

Then, at the exit of the museum, he saw a statue.

The statue was not a depiction of the merry and lighthearted victors but a sad, lonely young woman who was holding the hands of a little girl in ragged, dirty clothes. The two of them were raising their heads and looking ahead in silence.

What they were looking at was an incessantly rolling list of names that recorded all the victims who had been killed in the Uranian Ring War.

In such a way, the woman and the girl in the statue seemed to be searching for the names of their family wholeheartedly. Their uneasy and complicated feelings could not have been more obvious.

The name list was divided into three columns in three different colors, which recorded all the members of the Heavenly Light, the Earthly Fiend, and the federation that had died in the war.

The detail made Li Yao stop in front of the statue and reflect for a long time.

The interpreter who was accompanying him, seeing that he was apparently interested in the statue, said, “The sorrowful woman in the statue is Ding Lingdang, who is regarded by the people of the Uranian Ring Sector as their ‘liberator’.”

“Ha?”

“Once the Uranian Ring War was over, the Earthly Fiend that were liberated wanted to build a tall and magnificent statue for Ding Lingdang, but she insisted against it and only agreed reluctantly after much persuasion, on the condition that the shape of the statue be decided by herself. In the end, she did not choose an awesome and dominant appearance but decided to build such a tiny, inconspicuous statue without highlighting herself. She even refused to carve her name on the statue. Although the statue has always been placed at the exit of the war museum, few people can recognize that it is the ‘God of War’ of the federation if they are not informed.”

Li Yao stared at the woman who had softness written all over her eyes. He then recalled when they were still in the Grand Desolate War Institution years ago, Ding Lingdang had suffered a meltdown when she was drunk, and she had clung to him, bursting into tears like a lonely, helpless girl. He thought and thought…

“The girl next to her is her daughter,” the interpreter added.

“Huh?”

“Her daughter that she fostered during the Uranian Ring War. The girl’s parents were Ding Lingdang’s comrades when she initiated the uprising in the underground tunnels, but they unfortunately passed away in the war.”

“Anything else? Can you please say everything at once?”

“I’m done. Are you uncomfortably, Representative Lin?”

The tour in the Uranian Ring War Museum was over. Next, the high-level officers in the delegation were about to discuss the details about the joint headquarters with the leadership of the federal army from the General Staff.

Li Yao did not know the first thing about the great battles of thousands of legions. Therefore, he decided not to waste his time. Meng Chixin, Han Baling, Qi Changsheng, and ‘Emperor Phoenix’ Zhu Zongyou, on the other hand, were quite interested in the arts of war.

Through Cui Lingfeng, Li Yao had reserved several places for them in the group of high-level officers. They would essentially be observing the establishment of the joint headquarters on behalf of the Speaker.

As for Li Yao himself, he had more important fields that he could not wait to learn about.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!🥳🎄🎁🎄