Him and their stars.

Chapter 2218 I Still Want to Refuse

In reality, before this, Tiyangkai and the Flame Wyverns, realizing that these crystal clusters had lost their ability to resist, had already begun to feast on them.

Of course, they maintained a safe distance from each other as much as possible. The several chieftains of the Tiyangkai tribe even spread their tentacles, ready to take action at any moment to protect their cubs.

The largest male dragon in the group, who is also an ally of Saifulus, is hovering in the middle of the line, which is also a very obvious deterrent move.

Overall, these two cannot be considered to have a complete upstream and downstream relationship in the food chain. With a feast like crystal clusters, the possibility of war is indeed not high.

Yu Lian had to admit that all animals with social attributes could still gain human favor.

He slowly landed back on the back of the racer, slightly out of breath, and waved his hand slightly. A ball of light slowly floated into his palm.

That thing was like a small-scale spiritual variation, vaguely concealing a dying demonic eye, and still enveloped in a constantly shifting misty psychic energy wave.

However, when it fell completely into Yu Lian's hands, it immediately solidified, and all the strange spiritual light changes naturally stopped.

Needless to say, this is the characteristic left behind after the fall of this Void Realm Lord. It is an extremely rare material with more spirituality and higher level of mystery than all the top-grade zero elements.

However, before he could examine the object's properties in detail, a faint, familiar red light quietly appeared in the void that had just been "purified" in front of him.

Yu Lian sighed, his face full of disdain.

Of course, the red light did not directly condense into a gemstone shape, but instead outlined a human figure.

Yu Lian rolled his eyes in disgust and vigorously dusted off his sleeves, which were being enveloped by invisible cosmic radiation, as if slugs had stuck to them.

The human figure gradually became clearer, transforming into an old man wearing the uniform of an Imperial Grand Marshal. His white hair was meticulously combed, and his sculpted face was dignified and profound, yet he possessed the upright posture and robust physique of a young man.

He floated quietly in the starry sky, gazing calmly at Yu Lian with an elegant and gratified smile.

That was Emperor Elithel, the previous supreme ruler of the Galactic Empire, who had just passed away a month ago.

In the three thousand years of the Galactic Empire's history since entering the space age, there have been four Emperors with nine rings, whose average reign lasted over three hundred years. However, Emperor Elithel's end was certainly the most undignified. Considering that it was all his own fault, Yu Lian couldn't help but feel a little humanitarian sympathy.

Furthermore, he certainly never imagined that after his demise, his image would be so cruelly abused by the very entity he most wanted to rebel against in his lifetime.

In a sense, wouldn't this be considered a form of desecration of a corpse?

Yu Lian looked around and found that the starry sky and universe he could perceive seemed to have been frozen in a strange stillness, as if a freeze button had been pressed.

He knew that what was stagnant was not the universe, but his own perception of the dimension of time. He couldn't help but sigh, and with a pained expression, he gave the other person the middle finger: "Didn't we agree to choose the interface with the least hostility? What is this?"

The "emperor," wearing a very expressive, amiable smile, said, "Users have raised questions, which likely reflect some concerns about the presentation of the interface. This reflects users' strict requirements for the external appearance of the interface."

"Who the hell is your user!" Yu Lian roared in fury.

The "Emperor" pretended not to hear, still forcing a rather amiable expression on his face: "Let's analyze the user's needs. He may not be able to accept the interface using the image of his own relatives and friends, so we can try to consider the image of the enemy. Although they are enemies, they are in opposition due to issues of stance and ideology, without personal grudges, and the possibility of achieving basic effectiveness is more than 43%."

Yu Lian stared at the other person, and surprisingly felt that this artificial intelligence was quite reasonable, at least for now. So he put his hands in his pockets and said, "So, what do you want to do this time?"

The "Emperor" seemed to have finally sensed Yu Lian's goodwill, and despite being an interactive interface, it appeared more vibrant than before.

He gazed at Yu Lian, a hint of genuine emotion on his face: "Yu Lian, do you have a dream?"

Yu Lian glared at the other person, not wanting to speak, and only barely managed to stop himself from throwing the Dawn String in his face.

“I have it, and the one who has been falling all along also has it.” He added, “At the age of two hundred, I entered a realm that no one before me had ever reached, and became the most powerful emperor in the history of the empire! I realized that I could actually control the power of the Void Crown.” Yu Lian realized that this guy was now speaking in the tone of Emperor Elither.

Well, that's understandable. In this world, perhaps the one who understands the emperor best is the empty crown.

“I know the entire capital city, this star field that I have managed for two hundred years, every spiritual energy vein and every inch of spatial structure, as well as I know my own body.”

That's a bit of an exaggeration, Yu Lian thought. If you really knew so much, how could Brunhilde come and go as he pleased?

Or perhaps, people don't actually understand their own bodies very well? That's quite possible.

"I will advance to a realm beyond the gods. I will be invincible," he added.

"So, you left behind the remains of the Dimensional Abomination, collaborated with the Ring Serpent to create the most powerful extra-legal entity, and let it invade and devour your people, tearing apart your fleet—all for the Tenth Ring, right? I already know that." Yu Lian shrugged. "Although I don't know what scientific basis your methods have, I've seen similar scenarios before. Emperors who use the nation's fortune as a sacrifice to achieve immortality, kings who wage war to create an evolutionary stage for themselves—it's all too common. It's so evil it's almost cliché!"

"These are all prices worth paying."

Yu Lian sneered, "I understand, I understand. This is the price of being vulgar."

When the fusion is complete, my soul will no longer be confined to this aged body, but will pervade it, existing alongside planets, spaceports, orbits, all shipping routes, and the physical laws of the universe. I will also exist alongside all the mystical virtual networks.” He paused, his fervor turning to anticipation, and smiled, “Young man, do you know that psychic energy is merely a network?”

Yu Lian was slightly taken aback, fell into deep thought, and then suddenly realized something, his eyes widening in shock.

So psionic energy is some kind of massive, cosmic-level magical network? That's something he hadn't considered before, but upon closer inspection, it actually makes a lot of sense!
Well, all we psionicists do through countless life-or-death training and adventures are basically just a bunch of disguised download-type wizards, huh?

He continued, “We all agree that the power of the mystical comes from the soul, from the spirit, from the will. But all of this is just how we extract power from that vast void network. Our enhanced bodies, our embodied supernatural energy, and the Zero Element are all projections of this mystical network into the real world. We are merely tools for this power to influence the universe. Only by becoming a Tenth Ring, only by reaching such a pinnacle, can one become the master of this power.”

The emperor still had no evidence, yet he firmly believed it all. Perhaps, he had to believe it to prove that his life wasn't a joke.

"When I truly master this power, I will also master the entire mental network of psionicists. I will also understand all the information of the Empire as if it were my own body. This is what can create true greatness, and this is what can lead the progress of civilization."

Yu Lian thought of the vast databases in the Imperial Library and pondered for a moment.

"But I have already perished." The emperor sighed, but his face still shone with obvious expectation, as if he had grasped at a straw.

"But now we have you and Brin. You can realize my ideals in my place. You can achieve the truth before you turn thirty, giving you two hundred years to reach the realm of the gods. You can obtain the certification of the Void Crown, through which you can control the network of spiritual veins. You can also control all the information within the kingdom. Mountains, rivers, plants, the sun, moon, and stars are all your most loyal followers. That is true rule, that is leading the empire and human civilization to a new ascension, we..."

He had to shut up again. Because Yu Lian had already unleashed the Dawn Sword and smashed all those dimensional orbs into his face.

The interactive interface that transformed into the emperor distorted and rippled, and the projection of the entire person fluctuated and stretched, as if it had fallen into a funhouse mirror. It flickered for a full half minute before belatedly swaying back.

"You refused again." He sighed, his eyes filled with confusion.

“Of course I will refuse,” Yu Lian said.

"What's the reason?" The interface returned to its usual calm and wooden state, like that of an artificially stupid person.

“Normally, I didn’t need to explain this to you, but since we’ve come this far, I have to tell you that I was actually a little tempted,” Yu Lian sighed.

"To be honest, how could a legitimate psychic not yearn for the realm above the gods that you described? How could someone who has tasted power not be filled with anticipation for so-called eternal, yet wise, rule?"

“So shouldn’t you embrace this future?” he calmly advised. “It’s a shared prosperity that will elevate civilization.”

"If you hadn't used that word, I would have given in." Yu Lian snorted coldly, then said solemnly, "Then I should refuse while I still understand people's hearts!"

(End of this chapter)