After hearing that, a lot of the Immortal Cultivators nodded their heads quickly.
Those qualified to be present in this conference room were all the most sordid and cunning guys, who could come up with a couple of tricks in the blink of an eye. How could they have not been suspicious of someone who rose abruptly and brilliantly like Li Yao?
Before, Li Yao was endorsed by Queen Li Linghai, and he was simply a fighter. So, they could let go of Li Yao’s background and origins and accept whatever Li Linghai claimed.
However, the situation of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and even the entire Imperium was at the most critical moment of change. They couldn’t help but feel skeptical now that Li Yao had appeared out of nowhere again.
For a moment, many Immortal Cultivators were looking at Li Yao cautiously and warily.
The Immortal Cultivators whose holograms were in the Seven Seas Grand Market instead of their real bodies had even fewer reasons to be scared of Li Yao. They simply whispered to each other.
Li Yao narrowed his eyes with a gloomy face, as if he did have secrets that he would rather not talk about.
Qi Yuanbao grew even cockier after seeing that. He laughed. “Vulture Li Yao, just confess your identity if you can! If you find it impossible to open your mouth, you can kill me and keep my mouth shut alternatively! But even if you do kill me, you will never bend so many great heroes here!”
Li Yao rolled his eyes again and again, before he said coldly, “Qi Yuanbao, you seem very certain that there is something wrong with my identity?”
“Of course!”
Qi Yuanbao shrieked, “All the Immortal Cultivators here are experts above average. Everybody knows how many resources must be consumed and what a powerful force must be depended on in order to raise an experienced expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage! It is needless to say that even your Colossus is a rarely-seen product in the four Kurfürst families! The Imperium in the past hundred years couldn’t have raised such an expert like you or witnessed such a Colossus! I’m even suspicious that you are not from the Imperium at all. Who are you? Speak! Speak now!”
“That’s right…”
The other four senior managers talked to each other for a while, before an old senior manager said prudently, “Fellow Cultivator Li, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors only wants to do business in peace and does not want to wage war at any force, but you have to give us an explanation now that you have barged in recklessly today. How else is the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors going to be respected in the Imperium in the future?”
“Exactly!”
Qi Yuanbao declared brutally, “If you cannot give a satisfactory explanation, we will not let you do whatever you want even if we have to die with you!”
The atmosphere grew intense again.
The doors around the conference room were suddenly wide open, and countless defenders flooded in like an iron torrent.
The sky and ground outside were also brimming with crystal suits, armed shuttles, and all kinds of powerful attack magical equipment. Even several cannons that were designed for warships had been dragged onto the planet and aimed at the “Arsonist”!
Since the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was bold enough to challenge the four families, it certainly had remarkable strength. Not only did it have the “four gods of death”, assassins in the Divinity Transformation Stage, but it also had plenty of battle-type Immortal Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage. There were thousands of experts in the Core Formation Stage too, who were also capable of fighting after putting on advanced crystal suits.
When there were too many ants, they could bite an elephant to death. It was a truth that worked for both the Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators.
The grand conference room was filled with silence. Everybody held their breath and secretly touched their Cosmos Rings as they waited for Li Yao’s reply.
“Hehe! Hehehehe! Hahahahahaha!”
Li Yao opened his fingers and stabbed them into his messy black hair while he let out the crazy, fearless laughter.
In his laughter, the black flames of spiritual energy around him burst into and turned into black air currents that were visible to the naked eye.
The black tornado that could swallow everything took shape again!
The black storm immediately enshrouded the whole conference room, making it hard for the Immortal Cultivators to keep steady.
Qi Yuanbao suffered the worst. Faced with Li Yao’s overwhelming and brutal vibe, every muscle on his face was shivering crazily under the blow. He could barely keep his eyes open.
“Vulture Li Yao is never a stealthy man, and I hate the hilarious tricks such as pseudonyms or camouflages most. Besides, with my power and my armed force today, I can easily whip the galaxy and savage the sea of stars. Why do you think I am afraid to speak it? Just open your eyes, prick your years, and keep your mind from being blown. Listen up!”
Li Yao’s voice was like an astounding thunder in the black storm that bombarded every seat in the grand conference room, which seemed to be only one-hundredth of its previous size under the suppression of his spiritual energy. The Immortal Cultivators in the room found it barely possible to catch their breath.
Even the remote participants whose real bodies were thousands of lightyears away also felt the haunting fear, which was stabbing their spines heavily like needles out of the light beam.
All the Immortal Cultivators seemed to have fallen into a nightmare. In shock, they watched Li Yao raise his right hand high in the black storm, where a black Cosmos Ring glittered and dumped a delicate scepter. The scepter was then grabbed by Li Yao.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The scepter seemed to have entailed infinite strength and information. After being grabbed by Li Yao heavily, light, shadow, and information immediately flowed out among his fingers into countless soul marks. It looked like many tiny figures were crouching around Li Yao and worshipping him.
“They are the… soul marks of the captains and experts of the Black Wind Fleet who left the capital for the edge of the cosmos more than a hundred years ago!”
“It seems true. They are truly the air of the experts of the five worlds including the Black Wind Sector. I know a few of the experts!”
“So many experts of the five worlds have sent the soul marks that represent their submission to Vulture Li Yao. That’s… That’s impossible!”
“This scepter… Is the scepter in his hands the legendary—”
A lot of the Immortal Cultivators jumped to their feet.
Years ago, the series of events where the Black Wind Fleet blackmailed the government and escaped from the Imperium after getting tremendous resources, leading to a serious economic crisis, was deeply associated with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, if not planned by it behind the curtain. Di Feiwen, the deputy commander of the Black Wind Fleet, was one of the high-level managers of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors too.
Therefore, there were naturally many managers and shareholders in the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors who knew the experts of the Black Wind Fleet as well as the scepter.
Qi Yuanbao and Wuying Qinxin were awed by the scepter that Li Yao suddenly took out and the soul marks that he activated too. It was like Li Yao had slapped their faces a hundred times with his black hands. Even the fire of his soul was almost blown out.
The sister and brother looked at each other in bewilderment. What else could they have done except for holding back their tears?
Li Yao’s showoff, however, had not ended yet. After tremendous soul marks flowed out of the scepter, the structures of starships were running out too. For a moment, it seemed that a hundred golden warships that were as magnificent as mountains were surrounding him.
The Immortal Cultivators of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors were all seasoned sea wolves who had been spending their lifetimes in space voyages. They could tell after the first glance that they were the structures of the main-force warships of the Black Wind Fleet, even including the flagship Black Swirl, in the old days!
Such structures were not exactly secrets, but even the starships of the same model would always be specifically modified according to the requests of the commander and the nature of the mission.
The modifications that the Black Wind Fleet did before embarking on the expedition were partly done with the help of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. Many people recognized the unique details that nobody except for the real controller of the fleet could’ve fabricated.
“Has the Black Wind Fleet, which has wandered at the edge of the cosmos for a hundred years, fallen into this guy’s hands?”
“No wonder he is so blatant and dominating. He is—”
Before their exclamations died out, a third torrent of information flushed out of Li Yao’s scepter. They were the star maps of many Sectors at the edge of the cosmos far away from the Imperium. They were the keys to treasuries that all the Immortal Cultivators dreamt about!
“Ah!”
The eyes of all the Immortal Cultivators were occupied by the dense star maps. With greed all over their faces, they couldn’t help but moan in thirst.
However, the star maps that represented sailing routes, markets, profits, relics, secret treasures, and slaves only flashed for half a second before they were retreated by Li Yao.
Many people subconsciously reached for them, only to catch the broken light and shadow in the end.
The overwhelming black storm gradually weakened. The black flames of spiritual energy turned into delicate, splendid feathers that fell to Li Yao’s shoulders and back, covering him in a glamorous black coat. Every feather also had glittering gold stars at the edge, which decorated the black coat with a complicated gold stripe, further highlighting Li Yao’s mysteriousness and domination.
“Now, is there any blind idiot who still can’t tell who I am?”
Two tiny red spots were still vaguely glittering inside Li Yao’s eyes that were as dark as ink, making him look indescribably cold.
Wherever his gloomy eyes reached, the Immortal Cultivators lowered their heads, not having the courage to look back at him.
He looked around the grand conference room, and when all the Immortal Cultivators had lowered their heads under his eyes, he grinned and touched the black scepter, saying casually, “Exactly. I am exactly the Black Wind King, Black Storm Born, the Immortal Cultivator of the Immortal Cultivators, the Commander of the Black Wind Fleet, the Conqueror of the Edge of the Cosmos, the Destroyer of the Star Ocean Republic, the Nightmare Butcher of the Immortal Cultivators, the Dominator and Protector of the Black Wind Sector, the Purple Fire Sector, the Red Spider Sector, the Hard Rock Sector, and the Wild Wolf Sector!
“Qi Yuanbao, you are rather smart for a pig. It’s true that my name has never been heard in the Imperium in the past hundred years. However, I’m back today, with a Black Wind Fleet that is ten times stronger than a hundred years ago! A hundred years from today, every Immortal Cultivator in the Imperium of True Human Beings will bend before me, hear my magnificent feats, and press forward to claim more glories following my saber! Haha, hahahahahaha!”
Li Yao laughed crazily.