Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Unlike before, Li Jialing was not convinced by Li Yao. Instead, he said softly but resolutely, with determination beaming out of his eyes, “I am not deceived by Sister Long, and I do not think that everything she said and did was right, but it doesn’t mean that anything she said makes no sense!

“Brother Yao, did you know? Before I came here, I only knew that there were certain towns numbered beyond 10,000 deep below the capital, and I thought that they were no different from the common underground towns even though they might be more badly short of resources and chaotic and harsh than the surface of the planet.

“It never occurred to me that the insufficiency, barrenness, chaos, and harshness were so severe.

“This place and the surface of the planet are two worlds. The people here and those on the ground are actually… two species!

“Hehe. In the past, I thought that the world I grew up in was a burning inferno, and Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan were the foulest and most dreadful fiends. But now, I have realized that I never knew what a real hell should be like. How childish and hilarious I was!

“It’s true that Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan refined me through all the cruel methods, often giving me the most excruciating agony, but they never limited me in terms of resources. Whatever training resources I needed, I would be given immediately. Sometimes, they were even poured into my body even though I didn’t want them.

“Besides resources, there were also techniques, knowledge, and information, which were inoculated into my brain and opened my eyes. Whatever Li Lingfeng had in mind, and whether or not he was simply trying to build me into a secret weapon to deal with the queen, he at least never restrained my feelings and desires. If anything, he tried to activate my feelings and release my desires through anything possible, opening brand-new gates for me one after another against my own will!

“At that time, I truly loathed him and wanted him dead. I didn’t understand at all why he asked me to learn so many things, grasp so many techniques, and master such powerful strength. I did not like it one bit, and I thought I was the most miserable person in the world.

“Today, after seeing the people who are sealed below the ground, I realized how ostentatious and hypocritical I was. The things that I hated and refused in the past are unavailable and even unthinkable for the underground folks no matter how they dream and struggle for them!

“Li Lingfeng perhaps did have bad intentions, but he was also really raising me as an heir and digging the infinite potentials in me. Even though he deserved his death, I do not hate him as much as I did in the past now.

“There are also my partners, the bottom-level members of the secondary branches of the Li family. I thought that their lives were rather difficult. They had less than one tenth of what the heirs of the main bloodline had, and they had to undertake the arduous family missions. Sometimes, they were even the living targets for the heirs of the main bloodline. When they distinguished themselves, it was very possible that they would be eliminated by dirty tricks.

“But at the very least, keeping themselves fed and warm was not a problem. Theoretically, there was still a chance for them to distinguish themselves, even if the likelihood might be only 1% of the heirs of the main bloodline. But that was still a chance!

“What about the locals here? No sunlight, no resources, no safety, no knowledge, and not even one billionth of a chance for a new life. Ever since they were born, their future has been predestined, which is to freeze and decline slowly in the darkness, until they melt into the rocks as dust without a sound.

“Looking at their life, I suddenly feel that all my complaints, hatred, and fury in the past are so pale and helpless. I even have a… subtle sense of guilt, feeling that I do not deserve such a life and such enormous strength!”

“Wow…”

Li Yao found it hard to believe. “Seriously? Are you really Li Jialing? How did you become so mature after only ten days?”

“Perhaps I had always been mature enough to figure out a lot of things, but I did not want to be mature or think hard.”

Looking at the town in the mist, Li Jialing said casually, “In the past ten years, I’d been resisting Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan with all my wisdom. I camouflaged myself carefully every day and activated my brain cells to the maximum every second while I considered the ways to deal with them.

“The techniques, schemes, and conspiracies that they poured into my head by force consumed a lot of my computational ability too. My soul was like a tightened bowstring all the time, and I felt neurasthenic.

“Therefore, after I escaped from their control and my nerves were relaxed, I simply let go of everything. I did not want to think about anything but only hoped to live a carefree, unrestrained life.

“It’s true that I’ve been resisting and evading, resisting the life that Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan planned for me and evading the fate that I should’ve shouldered.

“I want to wander to a random town at the edge of the cosmos and live the rest of my life in anonymity, which is an evasion. But isn’t it another evasion to listen to your arrangements on everything and regard you as a guardian angel, Brother Yao?

“In many cases, I knew clearly that you were not telling the truth or not even making any sense, but I was too lazy to argue with you. So I simply seconded to you and let you handle everything. I knew that you must be considering on my behalf, so why would I bother to consider for myself independently? I have never been a man who likes to quarrel or show off!”

Li Yao: “Well…”

Li Jialing had never looked more grave. “However, after seeing the hopeless people below the ground and their fate that is a hundred times more miserable than mine, it suddenly occurred to me that my life is not the curse that I thought it was in my self-pity but actually the most unbelievable bliss!

“At the very least, after all the sufferings and tortures, I now boast overwhelming strength and exuberant feelings, and I have got a general picture of what the universe looks like! If I don’t do anything with my strength, would I deserve the bliss that the locals of the underground world are never entitled to?”

Li Yao was quite shocked by the brilliance in the young man’s eyes. In a trance, he felt that the dominating vibe of the “Imperial Fire Pearl” was dashing out of the young man’s eyes. He couldn’t help but feel amazed. “Then, what do you want to do exactly?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet.”

The determination in Li Jialing’s eyes turned into deep confusion. He shook his head and said, “I haven’t decided on the path that I will walk on yet, but it doesn’t matter. I still have plenty of time to observe the world carefully and consider my path.”

“Young man, you’ve finally had an epiphany!”

Li Yao placed his warm hands on Li Jialing’s shoulders and remarked with mixed feelings. “In fact, the first time I met you, I could already tell that you were naturally-endowed. Your spiritual root was as thick as a tree, and flames were erupting from your skull like a volcano eruption! You are a great dragon, not a shrimp at the bottom of the pond. You are born for great achievements!

“I never said it to you because I thought you were still young, but since you have such a deep understanding today, come on and be a Cultivator just like Brother Yao. Let’s save the world and defend the peace of the universe together!”

“Excuse me, Brother Yao.”

Li Jialing slowly moved Li Yao’s hands away and said solemnly, “First of all, I only want to live up to my… special life, but it does not mean that I want to save the world!

“Secondly, and more importantly, can I save the world by being a Cultivator?”

“Of course!”

Li Yao blurted out without even thinking, “The path of the Cultivators is very effective. Brother Yao has advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage at such a young age all because of that. I even almost blew up Blackstar the Great, the ancestor of all Immortal Cultivators, into smithereens in one attack! Are you turning down the path of the Cultivators and insisting on the true path of immortality?”

“Yes, it’s truly incredible that Brother Yao is one of the few geniuses who have advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage at such a young age, but…”

Li Jialing hesitated. “Well, how should I put it? I do not want to be like you.”

“What do you mean?”

Bulging his eyes, Li Yao scratched his cheeks. “You do not want to be like me? Is there anything inappropriate about the way I look? Am I not handsome and charming enough?”

“No, I am saying that being a Cultivator or an Immortal Cultivator is not the focus of my thinking. It doesn’t even matter whether or not Blackstar the Great can be blown up!”

Pointing around, Li Jialing said, “The underground folks have lived in darkness for ten thousand years. They had been living like this long before Wuying Qi and the Immortal Cultivators were born. Can you rescue all of them by blowing Blackstar the Great into smithereens in one attack, Brother Yao?

“Even if you were ten times stronger, Brother Yao, and you blew up Prime Minister Dongfang Wang in one attack, Blackstar the Great in another, and then the four Kurfürst families in a round of crazy bombardments, then what? Will everyone including the underground folks be immediately reborn and given a resourceful, carefree, and happy life?

“If your answer is yes, Brother Yao, would you tell me the specific procedures? Perhaps I will truly join your path!”

Dumbfounded, Li Yao was lost for words.

“Forget it. I know that the question is too huge for an answer to be found so shortly. Not just Brother Yao and Sister Long, even Blackstar the Great wouldn’t have an answer. Perhaps nobody in the entire universe can find a perfect solution, not even the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan in the past. Why else would they have been completely destroyed?”

Li Jialing patted Li Yao’s shoulder and comforted him, “I’m just telling you some of my random thoughts. Please don’t take it personally, Brother Yao, and don’t waste your precious brain cells on such philosophical questions. Your wounds are not entirely healed yet, and you should focus more on maintaining your body and brain. As for my path, I will think more about it and figure it out on my own.”