“Well…” Li Yao scratched the back of his head, hesitating. However, seeing the brutality in his wife’s eyes, he immediately nodded heavily. “Exactly! I did!”

　　“Now, that’s the right attitude.” Ding Lingdang smiled in satisfaction. Taking each other’s hand, the two of them walked to the end of the clouds on the steps made of their spiritual energy.

　　They seemed to be standing on the top of an unpredictable abyss while observing the vast and boundless land and the sky that was even more vast and boundless in the distance.

　　After a long silence, Li Yao finally struggled to open his mouth. “What’s your opinion on the exploration of the dark nebula today?”

　　Ding Lingdang narrowed her eyes. Her palms were moving slowly in the middle of the sunlight, as if she were trying to pick up a handful of water from the river of rays. “I’m just a simple warrior. I don’t know much about issues where refining and intelligence are involved. Why don’t you say your opinion first?”

　　“I think that the mission has to be carried out, even if it means that we will be short of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator! If we don’t go, there will be too many risks in the future, but if we do, we may be able to find a relic even more splendid than Kunlun and even make a powerful ally!”

　　Li Yao had apparently given it a lot of thought while he was on the flight in the clouds. He was not stopping at all now that he had begun. “But as for the candidates for the mission, Professor is certainly not the best choice.

　　“It’s not that I am not confident in his capabilities, but as the star spirit, he is now the master of the most powerful super crystal processor of the three Sectors, and he is responsible for countless revolutionary magical equipment projects. He will be one of the pillars for the three Sectors for the next hundred years. We can’t do without him!  ( Boxno vel. co m )

　　“As for other candidates, I’ve managed to come up with a few names. For example, Guo Chunfeng, director of the Secret Sword Bureau.

　　“Known as the ‘strongest Core Formation Stage Cultivator in the three Sectors’ and boasting talents spanning the four domains, he would’ve made a perfect candidate! First of all, intelligence collection is the job that he has been doing all his life. Moreover, he is also a reasonably good refiner. After a year and a half’s intensive training, he will certainly be able to learn how to maintain and assemble the ‘space gate’.

　　“But the same problem will happen if Brother Guo is chosen. His role in the secret frontline of the federation is equally irreplaceable. Considering that the people of the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance look identical to us, it will be even easier for them to infiltrate the federation than the demons in the past.

　　“Intelligence and anti-infiltration works will certainly be of paramount importance in the future war!

　　“Besides, Brother Guo is one hair away from the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. At a moment of life and death, the gap of one hair may mean great trouble. It is still not safe enough to choose him!

　　“As for the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, they are mostly adept in just one certain field. It may be not satisfactory enough to ask them to grasp the skills of a different field through intensive training.”

　　Ding Lingdang chuckled and said, “I know what you are doing now. You are simply bragging about yourself and think that nobody except for you is suitable for the job. Right?”

　　Li Yao blushed. “I didn’t mean that, but it’s true that I’m more suitable than Professor Mo Xuan and Brother Guo. Most critically of all, I don’t think that I will be able to play too important a role in the federation in the next hundred years if I stay.

　　“I’m a core member of the Colossi Project, but we have already assembled five Colossi. Both the assembly procedures and the piloting skills have systematic operation manuals right now. Further studies will require cutting-edge theories.

　　“It’s not just the case for the Colossi. Other magical equipment is the same.

　　“You know that I’m better at practical operations. I really don’t know the first thing about the latest theories. I doubt I can contribute much in the future.

　　“The Glorious Sunlight Group, the Double Dragon Union, and Skyfire are similar. Nominally, I have a lot of shares in the enterprises, while in fact, I’ve been entrusting everything to the managers!

　　“The Glorious Sunlight Group is now managed by the seniors in Wu Mayan’s family and Xiong Wuji. The Double Dragon Union is led by my senior brother Fiend Blade Peng Hai. Skyfire is supervised by the Fire Ant King and Jin Xinyue at the same time. All of them are a hundred times better than me in terms of management and operation. Even without me, the three enterprises will still grow prosperously!

　　“After thinking for a long time, I feel that I’m more of a ‘mascot’ in the federation right now. There shouldn’t be much influence on the federation even if I’m away for a while, should there?”

　　While speaking, Li Yao suddenly felt that his heart was heavy. After a long hesitation, he said softly, “I feel that I will be the best choice for the mission from whatever perspective. The only problem is you.

　　“You have read the files just now, too. Looking for a mysterious Sector inside a dark nebula is like groping for a needle in a sunless swamp. There’s a good chance that it will take decades!

　　“Now that we have both advanced into the Nascent Soul Stage, our cells are extremely vigorous. As long as we don’t exhaust ourselves too much in the next hundred years, our bodies will be as healthy as now in a hundred years.

　　“However, it is a hundred years that we are talking about after all!

　　“Therefore, I need to hear your opinion. I hope that you can make a decision for me!

　　“Honey, if you too think that I’m the most suitable candidate, I will join the mission, but if you don’t think I should go, we can go to the professor right now and decline the mission!”

　　Ding Lingdang heaved the rays of sunlight in her hands to her face. Staring at her husband through the brilliance, she chuckled. “I get to make the call? You are so obedient?”

　　“Of course!” Li Yao clapped his hands. “Happy wife, happy life!”

　　“Very well, then,” Ding Lingdang said with a smile. “Now, I can formally, gravely, and seriously tell you that, if what you said just now are all your reasons, I don’t want you to go!”

　　“Huh?” Li Yao was dumbfounded.

　　“What? Did you think that I would agree because I should understand the importance of the big picture?” Ding Lingdang sniffed and poked Li Yao’s chest hard. “In fact, I think that Professor Mo Xuan was quite right about one thing. Li Yao, don’t overestimate yourself. The world can run normally every day without any individual, can’t it? Why do you have to show off and solve every conundrum in person?

　　“Are Professor Mo Xuan, Brother Guo Chunfeng, or any other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators who have done intensive training really not as good as you and absolutely incapable of such a mission? Are you that awesome?

　　“Chances are that they will accomplish the mission even better than you will!

　　“As for the vacancy after they leave, it is even less of a problem. I don’t believe that we can’t find two people who are suitable to be the director of the Secret Sword Bureau or the president of the Refiners’ Association when the population of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector is already tens of billions!”

　　Ding Lingdang was poking Li Yao’s chest hard after every sentence. Li Yao was gasping and grimacing in pain.

　　At this time, however, Ding Lingdang began to rub Li Yao’s chest with her hands softly as she said, “All in all, the federation has countless superheroes. You are not the first one, and you will not be the last. Even if you hide in our home and sleep all day, the sky will not fall down, the earth will not collapse, and the end of the world will not come!

　　“But I have only one husband, and I’m too lazy to find a second one.

　　“You are not that important to the federation, but you are more important to me than anything else. Do you understand?

　　“Therefore, if your reasons are what you gave me just now, then this is my answer—No. Absolutely no! Whoever dares to fool you into the mission with bullsh*t reasons such as ‘devotion’, ‘patriotism’, or ‘sacrifice’, I will blow up their head!

　　“You have done enough for the federation. Even if you do have your responsibility as a Cultivator, you have long fulfilled it!”

　　Li Yao was rendered speechless by his wife. He was dazed in the clouds for a moment.

　　Pondering for a moment, he felt that there was a deeper meaning to her lines. “You will not agree if my reasons are what I gave you just now. So, you may agree if it is for something else?”

　　Ding Lingdang grinned and suddenly said, out of context, “Li Yao, thank you.”

　　Li Yao was even more curious. “Thank me for what?”

　　“Did you know? In fact, a long, long time ago, before I met you, and even for quite a while after I met you, I thought that I would never be married in my entire life.” Ding Lingdang opened her arms, melting herself in the gold sunlight. “After all, you know my personality best. I’m too uncivilized, and I’m too fond of adventures. What I like best is to blow a demon beast’s brains out of its head. When I’m training crazily, I may not take a break for three days and three nights, during which time I know absolutely nothing around myself!

　　“I’d been thinking before—what kind of man would accept such a wife? Most men prefer girls who are cute, quiet, and homey, instead of crazy ones like me, right?

　　“But after so many years into our marriage, you have always supported me. You never stopped me when I enrolled in the highly-dangerous, experimental training programs, when I fought the strengthened demon beasts with real guns and ammos, and even when I trained at the edge of the gravity sphere of the pulsar, where I might have been dragged into it and compressed into a point smaller than dust if I was incautious.

　　“When I reported the training subjects to you exactly as they were, I could see the worry in your eyes, but you never stopped me, not once. Instead, you encouraged me while pretending to be lighthearted. Tell me, why?”

　　Li Yao’s face was redder than the morning glow. He scratched his nose and said, “Do I need a reason? All the things were what you wanted to do. You could gain happiness, realize your dream, and even find the true meaning of life from them!

　　“As your husband, of course I had to support my wife to do anything she wanted and to shine brilliantly to her heart’s content!”

　　Li Yao smiled carefreely again.

　　The sun reappeared behind him, putting her in a glorious halo. Pairs of wings seemed to be growing from her back.

　　“This is exactly what I want to say to you,” Ding Lingdang said. “Regarding the issue just now, if you reason is simply ‘the country needs me’, then I will absolutely say no. Your country does not need you, but I do!

　　“The only way you can win my support is if your reasons have nothing to do with the country, the planet, the civilization, the future, or anything grandeur, but simply ‘I want to go’!”