Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Xiong Wuji sat on a green rock next to the pond, his artificial hand knocking the rock softly. He gazed at the reflection of the moon in the pond before he opened his mouth a moment later. ”The purpose of our meeting today is exactly the big deal. However, before we get into the details, I would like to know whether or not you have a new understanding of the apocalypse.

”Last time we talked about the apocalypse, you were merely listening to Sha Yulan’s narration. But now that you’ve experienced the full outbreak of an egg of apocalypse. I wonder, as a space resident, can you explain the mystery of the apocalypse from a new viewpoint? What is the so-called apocalypse exactly?”

Li Yao found a smaller rock near Xiong Wuji and seated himself on it. He kicked a pebble below his feet into the pond. After a ’plop’ sound, the reflection of the moon broke into pieces of silver brightness, as if the pond were a breathing universe.

”I fell into a trance during the battle of the apocalypse. Several hours of high-intensity combat only lasted five minutes in my perception. I felt that I had turned into an entirely different species, and I was completely captivated.”

Li Yao was deep in thought. ”After the battle of the apocalypse, I discovered that, although my level had no significant improvement, my skills in killing had made great progress, and the lust for killing had been lurking inside my body all the time.

”I have become better at fighting and slaughtering!

”It did not happen to me alone. Wu Mayan, who took part in the battle of apocalypse for the first time, had a similar experience. He made a major breakthrough in the battle and reached the 16th level of the Refinement Stage!

”We must note that he is not even fourteen years old yet!

”Such odd phenomena have been baffling me.

”I’ve been reflecting on the entire process of the outbreak of the egg of apocalypse and the significance of apocalypses at night sometimes. I pondered why it launched such complicated, inefficient attacks to Iron Plateau. The outbreaks of the eggs of apocalypse are not destructive events at all; they are merely… rehearsals!

”This morning, a very bold assumption that could explain the whole thing suddenly occurred to me!

”I would’ve discussed the matter with you even if you hadn’t summoned me.”

Xiong Wuji’s eyes suddenly rolled. He asked, ”What’s the assumption?”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao replied, ”Many people consider apocalypses as doom or weapons that the more developed civilizations utilize to destroy mankind. But I don’t think that theory is valid. It cannot explain all the different types of apocalypse, either.

”There are many legends in the ancient Cultivation world about experts fighting against apocalypses. It is said that such experts would ascend to a holy land where they would meet many bizarre-looking deities after they successfully resisted the apocalypses.

”If the purpose of apocalypses is destruction, how can you explain the holy land and the deities?

”As for the assault against the Iron Plateau Space Zone, although the apocalypse almost wiped out Iron Plateau, the previous knowledge of the Titan Warriors was transported here, too!

”Therefore, my assumption is that the apocalypse was indeed launched by the Titan Warriors. But their purpose was not destruction, but the dissemination of their civilization in a certain way!”

”Oh?”

Xiong Wuji tried to hold back his surprise and observed, ”That is very illogical. Why would a civilization leak their precious knowledge to someone else randomly? What benefits could the Titan Warriors get by offering their knowledge to us?”

Li Yao nodded and said, ”The motivation of the Titan Warriors troubled me for a long time. It is definitely absurd under normal circumstances. A Nascent Soul Stage harassing an unfamiliar young man he met on the road and insisting to offer all his Cultivation to the stranger is bizarre; how could such a thing happen?

”But then, I come up with an explanation.

”What if the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator is about to die?

”What if the civilization of the Titan Warriors is on the brink of death or has already fallen?”

Li Yao’s eyes glittered as he mumbled, ”Survival, continuity, and expansion are the instincts of every civilization. Generally speaking, the Titan Warriors will in no way pass their knowledge to somebody else easily. However, if their civilization has encountered a catastrophe and the experts among them find it impossible to avoid the disaster, then…

”Hide the tinder of their civilization in materials like meteorites and let it roam about the universe, searching for an appropriate planet and species to accept the gift.

”Isn’t it a plausible possibility?”

Sha Yulan couldn’t help but interject, ”If it were a gift, why did they give it to us in such an extreme and cruel way?”

Li Yao smiled coldly. ”If you have experienced the Titan Illusionary Land, you will know that the Titan Warriors are definitely not at all kind. To fight is their natural instinct, and their civilization is based on fighting, too!

”Therefore, their knowledge must be passed on in the most rough and brutal way, because they were trying to pick out the most coldblooded and ruthless warriors!”

Sha Yulan was curious. ”But what if we failed to persist and were entirely destroyed?”

Li Yao answered, ”If we were destroyed, we were destroyed. I imagine that we are not the only subject that the Titan Warriors’ knowledge was sent to. Chances are that many other ’apocalypses’ are still floating in the sea of stars. They are tests for civilizations, and only the species that have passed the test are qualified to accept their knowledge!

”It can be compared to an evil wizard who kidnaps a lot of children and forces them to go through the harshest and bloodiest training. It doesn’t matter if most of the children are killed in the process as long as the strongest, meanest, and toughest one survives through everything and picks up his knowledge! That’s all he desires!

”The apocalypses that the ancient Cultivators experienced and the holy land and deities they witnessed must’ve been for similar reasons. They passed the test of certain civilizations and received parts of their heritage!”

Sha Yulan shuddered and murmured, ”Horrible. If that’s the truth of apocalypses, it will be so horrible.”

”Horrible, but natural and reasonable.”

Li Yao squinted and continued, ”For example, if the civilization of mankind is coming to an end one day and there’s no other choice expect to send out our heritage that stores the essence of our civilization, will we not put some tests on the heritage? Will we grant the knowledge to whatever species is lucky enough to gather it?”

Sha Yulan was somewhat confused. ”I don’t understand.”

Li Yao explained, ”Let’s say that there is a creature that looks like a hybrid of centipede and maggot. Do you want the tinder of human civilization to be passed on to them?”

Sha Yulan shivered and shook her head subconsciously.

Li Yao said, ”That’s right. The creature that looks like a hybrid of centipede and maggot is still within the range of our perception after all. But I think that, given the vastness of the universe, it’s quite possible that there are countless other life forms that we cannot understand at all.

”Imagine that the heritage of mankind finds two species when it travels in the boundless universe. One of the species are basically rocks that have come to life and can’t be called a life form at all in our eyes, while the other species looks like monkeys.

”Which of the two sides will we offer our heritage to?

”We will doubtlessly choose the monkeys.

”Imagine again that there are two monkey species. One of them is mild and gentle and believes in justice, order, and ethics, while the other is brutal and aggressive to the point of parricide. Who will we wish our heritage to be passed to?

”Obviously, we will set up an extremely complicated examination system in our heritage to determine whether or not the life form and the moral principles of a certain species befit our tradition. If possible, we will choose the species that is closest to us to accept the tinder of the human civilization, won’t we?

”Everything that has happened to the Iron Plateau Space Zone was perhaps merely a judgement made by the civilization of the Titan Warriors.

”The Titan Warriors’ civilization is based on wars. Violence is their highest moral standard!”

Sha Yulan smiled bitterly. ”If that is really the case, I really wish that we could’ve rejected the uncanny gift!”

Li Yao’s voice was somewhat gloomy. ”Now that the Titan Warriors have found a species that is similar to themselves, how can they abandon it casually? I’m even beginning to think that the apocalypse is not just about passing on the knowledge. It is also meant to transform the humans on Iron Plateau without anybody realizing!

”The eggs of apocalypse that break out every ten years or so have mired the Iron Plateau natives. All the resources have been dedicated to war preparation. It’s impossible for the civilization to advance into a higher phase. In the end, we will become a fighting species that knows nothing about construction and everything about destruction.

”In every battle of the apocalypse, after each fighting will reverberation, the knowledge of the Titan Warriors will be further entrenched in our brains!

”If it goes on like this, things may still look the same in the hundred or thousand years to come. But what about tens of thousands of years?

”Isn’t it possible that the human civilization on Iron Plateau will forget everything, fight in the most primitive ways, and become the new Titan Warriors?

”I said ’heritage’ just now. On second thought, the word is not accurate.

”The process is more like a ’possession’. A civilization is trying to possess another civilization. The Titian Warriors are trying to reincarnate themselves in the bodies of the Iron Plateau natives!

”Think about the qi-trainers who dwelled in the Titan Illusionary Land for too long and lost their minds.

”From our perspective, they’ve become mentally deranged. But if we were to look at them from a different perspective, aren’t they the new generation of Titan Warriors?

”Let’s review the story I told in the beginning. A dying Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator found a young man on the street and demanded that the young man accept his heritage no matter what. Did the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator really want to pass on his knowledge, or was he planning to steal the young man’s body and be reborn in it through special methods?

”This is the truth of the apocalypse that I have come up with. It is not trying to destroy us but transforming us into ’them’!”

Li Yao finished his speech and looked at the two of them peacefully.

Sha Yulan was dumbfounded, her body shuddering beyond her control.

Xiong Wuji, on the other hand, was completely emotionless. He seemed to have figured out the point long ago.

”Excellent.”

He talked slowly. ”Your speculation is exactly the same as what I’ve been thinking lately. However, I didn’t see things as clearly as you because I’ve been part of this game all along. Now that you’ve mentioned it, everything is beginning to make more sense now!

”If our understanding of the apocalypse is similar, a lot of time can be saved in convincing each other in the deal that I’m about to propose.

”Li Yao, the deal I’m going to propose concerns not just you and me but also the fate of Iron Plateau!

”Let’s be honest here. I’m hoping to eliminate the chasm that has lasted five thousand years and re-establish communication between the Iron Plateau natives and the space residents!”