How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 366: Huang Laohan announces to the world, the great sage sneaks into Chencang

The airspace around Macragge has been somewhat chaotic lately.

Although as the homeworld of Primarch Robouti Guilliman and the Ultramarines, the airspace around Macragge has always been busy with countless visitors based on political, economic, military and religious reasons, and has often been baptized by various wars, but in recent times, the reason for the pressure on the dispatch of the surrounding airspace... strangely enough, it is the many visitors from the Imperial Fists.

Diglis found this situation understandable, but he didn't quite understand it.

The understandable part is that not long ago, the alarm issued by the gene seed bank on the Macragge satellite did allow the Ultramarines to find the long-lost Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Rogal Dorn, among the "invaders". When this good thing that was like pie in the sky and almost everyone felt "too unreal" happened before their eyes, the Ultramarines Chief Think Tank Varro Digris, who was one of the people who saw Robert Guilliman burst out of the mechanical reliquary of the Archmagos Cawl with a roar, ended his 10,000-year stasis and got angry at the Black Legion that was in front of him, accepted it well. After a simple biological and psychic examination, plus a little indication of the Emperor's manifestation in his mind, Digris was convinced that this was indeed the Primarch of the Imperial Fists (after all, the physiological parameters of the Primarch level were there), so he ordered that in addition to notifying his gene father of this unexpected situation, the Imperial Fists should also be notified out of courtesy.

The part he didn't quite understand was that, even in the warp, this message probably hadn't crossed the vast universe to reach the Phalanx yet, but a fleet of the Black Templar Expeditionary Force had already arrived in front of Macragge. And from this point on, the situation quickly became out of control. The first thing each regiment asked after entering the country and connecting to the radio frequency was always to ask, "Has our Gene Father Rogal Dorn really appeared again?" - It was as if all of them had received the news at the same time.

How did the news leak out? Diglis didn't dare to think too much, nor did he dare to ask too much. He could only say that it was definitely not him, and he also felt that his genetic father would not make such a decision.

But to be fair, although this series of unplanned busyness did cause some trouble to the Ultramarines, it also actually helped a lot: at least, if the Primarch of the Imperial Fists was busy meeting his descendants ten thousand years later, he would not have tried to find a ship on Macragge every now and then that would allow him to return to Holy Terra immediately so that he could continue to fulfill his obligations and apologize to the Emperor for his long-term disappearance.

The orders uploaded from Macragge's Glory showed that the Ultramarines Primarch changed his schedule immediately after receiving the news, preparing to return to the court, and hoped that his brothers (although the identity and loyalty of one of them were questionable) could stay in the Hera Fortress before he returned to his home planet. In actual implementation, Digris soon found that it was not difficult to control Fulgrim's clones, because his attitude was quite cooperative, and Akuldona, who seemed to have decided to stand firmly on the side of the clones, would not take the initiative to create some problems; Gabriel Santo's mind was not on these events related to politics or interpersonal relationships, and he was a centrist who watched from the sidelines; the one who worried him the most was Rogal Dorn:

As a member of the Loyalists, Digris believed that he had an obligation to meet the various requests of another Loyalist Primarch as much as possible. This was not only his duty as a Space Marine, but also to reflect Macragge's hospitality. But when the request of this Loyalist Primarch contradicted the orders of his Gene-Father, what should he do?

At this moment, the Black Templar Expeditionary Force suddenly appeared in Macragge's face without any sound, and indeed pulled Digris out of this dilemma at the right time. The Chief Think Tank had to admit that he was somewhat grateful to this group of theoretical uninvited guests. But - there were too many theoretical uninvited guests, right?

First the Black Templars, then the Blamers, then the Hammer of Dorn, then the Sons of the Phoenix—it hasn’t even been a month since this happened! Robert Guilliman, who was the first to know about the situation, hasn’t even had time to get back from his expedition! Where did you get the news and arrive so coincidentally! The Black Templars—Digris turned around and looked at the shining Emperor’s Champion in the procession, thinking that the issue of the Black Templars coming uninvited could probably be resolved here—but how did the other chapters know about it? !
Again: after several meetings with the Chapter Masters and Librarians of these Chapters (or, several meetings with verbal or physical conflicts), the Chief Librarian learned that the above Chapters were surprisingly consistent, saying that they all got the news in some golden dreams. After spending a lot of time on self-examination, the Librarians or priests in the Chapters also agreed that the brothers who saw similar dreams were not contaminated by Chaos. Digris followed suit and completely changed his attitude: he did not dare to think about this issue, nor did he dare to ask.

The One on the Throne had his reasons for sending such a mass message. Degrees certainly wasn't jealous that the Ultramarines didn't report similar events when his Gene-Father returned to the Imperium. Absolutely not.

On the other hand, although Rogal Dorn, who inexplicably fell out of the warp and was "missing a hand and obviously aged a lot", temporarily slowed down his request for the plan of "returning to Terra" under the siege of his own descendants, and indeed began to familiarize himself with the current situation of the Empire under the guidance of the Imperial Fists (or, in other words, the war history report). Everything seems to be stable and improving, but this does not mean that this Primarch, who is very different from Robert Guilliman, will not cause more problems for his current management of fortresses, battle groups and planets:
For example, when Dorn first saw the Primaris Space Marines among the Ultramarines of Macragge, he expressed a lot of complaints about the cultivation method and surgery that "made changes to the biological alchemical creations left by the Emperor"; after discovering a large number of Primaris Warriors in the array of the Black Templars, he didn't say anything, but he was obviously not very happy, and said "I must talk to Guilliman about this issue"; then, when the Sons of the Phoenix, a chapter formed during the Ultramarines Founding and composed entirely of Primaris Space Marines, appeared in front of him with solemn ceremony and surrounded by fanatical believers of the state religion and pilgrims, Dorn was furious and announced loudly in front of everyone: "You are not my sons!"

Naturally, after the Primarch left the meeting in anger, the interrupted meeting turned into a complete disaster. All the Sons of Phoenix were undoubtedly hit hard by this, and the mortal servants and pilgrims who followed them cried and began to fight each other or commit suicide in the despair and madness of the collapse of faith. The Ultramarines took a lot of effort to control all the Space Marines of the Sons of Phoenix before the situation deteriorated further, and isolated them from the other three Imperial Fists that were temporarily stationed in the fortress - because of the Primarch's words, the eyes of the other successors began to look at the Sons of Phoenix strangely.

Digris didn't know why Dorn made such an arbitrary conclusion about this relatively new chapter when they had just met, when all the Astartes had just taken off their helmets and knelt on one knee, and no one had spoken yet. Even if he took a step back, he could have waited until all the ceremonies were over and then expressed his opinion in a less public occasion, or questioned Robert Guilliman, who presided over the Extreme Founding, in person half a month later. But he went straight to the point in a very inappropriate occasion -

Imagine the character traits of the Imperial Fists Astartes, perhaps they were inherited from Lord Rogal Dorn. The Librarian tried his best to convince himself. Not every Primarch is like his genetic father, who is wise and brave while also being able to do everything well.

"I think the problem may be the step of 'everyone taking off their helmets.'" Akuldona, who relied on his spiritual body to move freely in places in Hera Fortress that the think tanks could not take care of, and therefore could understand all the causes and consequences relatively easily even if he was not present at the time, said to Digris, "Although the essence of the problem is not there, I tend to think that it was the 'last straw that broke the camel's back.'"

Digris admitted that this loyalist and somewhat elusive Emperor's Children Cursed was often an "uncontrollable factor" that made him nervous and wary; but he also had to admit that Akuldona was indeed a very good mouthpiece: not only was he very useful when facing the clone of the rebellious Primarch, but for some reason unknown to Digris, sometimes Rogal Dorn would be willing to listen to him.

The chief think tank was therefore willing to take into account the other party’s unsolicited opinions: “Would you like to hear more about it?”

"Well, how should I put it..." Akuldona hesitated for a moment, then revealed his physical form among the Ultramarines. As the firstborn son, he looked up at Digris who had already crossed the Rubicon River, and took off his purple and gold helmet:
"Well, take a closer look at the Sons of the Phoenix, then take a closer look at Lord Dorn and the other Imperial Fists, then take a closer look at me. I may not be that typical, but you have also seen the faces of Vespasian and Tarvitz in psychic communications. Think about them. If that doesn't work, think about the clone."

Digris found this very confusing. As Digris observed and thought, he wanted to seek further explanation. Before asking further questions, Digris realized something. Digris began to compare the eagle wings on the Emperor's Children's shoulder armor with the Chapter emblem of the Sons of the Phoenix. Digris thought he had found the problem:
"Belisarius Cawl!" He squeezed out this name from between his teeth helplessly and angrily. ——Anyway, using the gene seeds of the Rebellion Legion in the Extreme Army Construction was definitely not what Lord Guilliman wanted!
“It’s good that you realize it.” Akuldona didn’t try to put the helmet back on, but hung it around his waist. Because the braid he had tied up not long ago was loose again, he simply gave up on letting his hair and helmet fight each other. “I think Lord Dorn is simply pointing out the fact that he is also aware of, and is angry at Lord Guilliman for allowing this project to survive from his instructions until now... If you don’t mind, I can go talk to the members of that chapter and explain things to some extent.”

"Are you sure that revealing this fact will not make them collapse even more severely?" Digris asked doubtfully. He did not have this personal experience, so he could not judge: whether it was more painful for a Space Marine to be denied by his own Primarch that he was his son, or to find out that his bloodline came from a traitor of the Empire, which made the Space Marine more desperate.

Akurdona was visibly stuck. “I didn’t think that much. But…”

"In the current Empire, this is not a good thing for them." Digris pointed out tiredly, "I'm not saying that being denied by one's nominal gene father is a good thing, but the real truth is obviously worse. My suggestion is to let things cool down for the time being. We can explain to the outside world that Lord Dorne has been absent from the development of the Empire for 10,000 years. He just can't accept the Primaris Space Marines well for the time being."

"Then you don't know Lord Dorne very well." Akuldona sighed, "Not that I know that Lord very well, but... at that time, there were always many rumors and stories directly related to the Primarchs circulating in the fleet. Even if I only have such a vague understanding of that Lord, I can assure you that the result of your doing this will most likely be that Lord Dorne will come out in person to clarify the real reason - the kind that will be widely publicized. For a loyal chapter, that is the worst result. So my suggestion is that we'd better solve this problem in advance as privately as possible."

Digris was silent for a while. He was busy clearing his mind of the disrespect he had for another loyal Primarch. After a brief moment of reflection (and self-control), he had to admit that although the means proposed by Akultona were questionable, his general idea was very likely correct.

"I think you are right - I mean the part about 'not making it public'," Digris responded, "but I think the method is still questionable... maybe I should go and persuade Lord Dorne?"

"Although it is true that the person who tied the bell must be the one to untie it, do you really think you can persuade Lord Dorne?" Akuldona asked suspiciously.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

Akurdona opened his mouth and closed it again. He wanted to say yes, but he couldn't.

In fact, he had a simpler solution that was even more "unorthodox" and he knew it would definitely not be approved, so he simply didn't mention it: invite the clone out and put it in front of the Phoenix Sons, and the problem would be solved at least 80% of the time. But even Akuldona, during his time living in the Hera Fortress, clearly realized that perhaps Robert Guilliman was qualified to make this decision, but he, Digris, or even the clone himself, were not qualified to put it into action.

The hidden dangers in every sense are too great.

"...Then I think I should ask Lord Dorne about this matter. At least I need to know whether our guess is correct." Akuldona said dryly, "Then... maybe we can delay it for the time being and solve it after Lord Guilliman returns?"

Diglis frowned warily: "You seem to want this matter to end as smoothly as possible and with a good result."

"I do think so." Akurdona felt there was nothing to hide, so he responded frankly.

"I noticed that you have shown an unreasonable concern for the Sons of Phoenix. I need to confirm why." Digris asked bluntly, and Akuldona showed an expression between worry and warmth in response to this question:
"There's no reason... You are from this era, so you may not understand." His tone was a little depressed, "But for us 'old antiques' from ten thousand years ago, it is such a comforting thing to meet brothers who are connected to us by blood in this era."

Digris wanted to say something, but then he thought about which bloodline the champion swordsman in front of him inherited, so he had to shut up, sighed, and finally changed the subject:

"The Empire is very cruel, especially to you." The Chief Librarian sighed, "Even if you are truly loyal to the Emperor and the Empire, it will still be extremely cruel to you."

He didn't say much, these sentences were enough for the other party to understand the deep meaning. But Akurdona obviously didn't care much about it, he just smiled heartily:
"A true Emperor's Child would see this as a challenge."

(End of this chapter)