Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao slapped his thigh and remarked in a loud voice, “Yes, you can’t be more right. This is exactly what we discussed when we were still in the Star Glory Federation. Suppressed by the Immortal Cultivators’ idea of ‘survival of the fittest’, the whole civilization will only become hierarchical exploitations. Those in the Divinity Transformation Stage oppress those in the Nascent Soul Stage, those in the Nascent Soul Stage oppress those in the Core Formation Stage, those in the Core Formation Stage oppress those in the Building Foundation Stage, those in the Building Foundation Stage oppress those in the Refinement Stage, those in the Refinement Stage oppress the ordinary people, and then the ordinary oppress and hurt each other. Eventually, it will escalate into everyone against everyone!

“Such an Imperium of True Human Beings has wasted most of its strength on internal strife even though it boasts millions of Immortal Cultivators and starships and hundreds of prosperous worlds. It is only reasonable that the Imperium is no match for the Covenant Alliance. The Imperium might not have the power to destroy a ‘barbaric and remote’ country like the Star Glory Federation.

“This is exactly also why I have snuck to the center of the cosmos swearing to turn the Imperium of True Human Beings upside down!”

Long Yangjun smiled casually and shook her head. “If you think that I’m just talking about systems and ideologies and that the chaos here is only caused by the cruelty lying in the true path of immortality, you will be too shallow and shortsighted.

“In my opinion, this is not a problem unique to a country or a civilization but a terminal disease caused by the character that all intelligent lives share.

“While the Imperium of True Human Beings is so decayed, was the Great Qian Dynasty where I once lived any different? The Star Ocean Republic was founded by the Cultivators, but was it not corrupted in its last years?

“There’s still the Great Dark Age of demons, which is too far away from today for us to know the well-being of the bottom-level people at that time. But the Blood Demon Sector, as a ‘living fossil’, can give us a clue. Inheriting the ‘Four Pillars System’ of the Great Dark Age, the Blood Demon Sector paralyzed the people with the groundless superstitions that they called ‘obliteration, rebirth, immortality’. Had it not been for your arrival, wouldn’t the demons at the bottom of the Blood Demon Sector still be mired in such lies?

“The Great Qian Dynasty was established by the ancient Cultivators, the Blood Demon Sector was governed by demons, the Star Ocean Republic was founded by Cultivators, and the Imperium of True Human Beings was created by Immortal Cultivators… Four forces of different eras and places, four entirely different systems and ideologies, but the results are all the same. Do you still not feel that it is an inborn disease of humanity, but only the ideas of ‘true path of immortality’ are wrong?”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said firmly, “That is not the case in the Star Glory Federation. I believe that the federation will certainly carry out the real path of the Cultivators to the end. The strong will protect the weak, and the weak will support the strong. When the whole civilization is united, it will certainly push forward to the land that none of the Great Qian Dynasty, the Demon Beast Empire, the Star Ocean Republic, and the Imperium of True Human Beings has ever reached!”

“Is that so?”

Long Yangjun asked, “If the Star Glory Federation is entirely different from the four countries above, may I ask what exactly was the ‘magical equipment graveyard’ where you were born in? Also, I’m told that there are also ‘underground ghost cities’ in the federation, and there are also countless people who live underneath the surface of the planet.

“Of course, I do not need your defense to know that most of the underground cities of the Star Glory Federation are shallow with environments not nearly as harsh as what their counterparts in the Imperium have. Also, the Star Glory Federation is trying to improve the situation on the ground. Places like ‘magical equipment graveyards’ are getting fewer and fewer.

“But in my opinion, the Star Glory Federation is just a stand-alone case that cannot represent general humanity.

“When the Star Glory Federation was born, it was already faced with the severe military threats of the Blood Demon Sector. Every day could’ve been its last day. So, the people could only stick together. The strong and the weak had to support each other and fight for each other.

“After the Star Glory Federation defeated the Blood Demon Sector, and the pressure for survival had just been mollified, two behemoths that were the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant showed up. Within the foreseeable future in the next several hundred years, it is hardly possible for you to defeat them. Naturally, the Star Glory Federation cannot give up ‘unity’.

“Also, there have also been a series of fortuitous incidents and uncanny factors such as you. As a result, the Star Glory Federation discovered Boneyard, which has plenty of resources, and the Kunlun relic, which boasts tremendous primeval treasures, giving it an edge in resources and technologies. That’s why the federation seems to be flourishing vigorously in the golden years today.

“I’ve been thinking about an interesting question. What if you weren’t there? What if there were never a person named ‘Vulture Li Yao’ in the history of the federation? What would the federation have become? Would it have fallen to the bottomless abyss when it could not bear the gravity of humanity anymore, exactly like the Ancient Sages Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, the Star Ocean Republic, and the Imperium of True Human Beings?”

The more Long Yangjun talked, the softer her voice became, and the more mysterious her look became. In the end, she even blew at Li Yao.

“Cut that crap. Do you really think I’m an idiot? Such questions are purely hypothetic. No matter how I answer them, I will only step into your trap.”

Li Yao said solemnly, “Perhaps humanity is truly decided by the environment, but since the Star Glory Federation today can bring out the bright side of humanity so brilliantly today, you cannot argue that humanity only has darkness and evil. In any case, whatever you say, I will not believe that humans are born evil. No matter how difficult it is, I will do my best and make the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance exactly like the federation!”

“Then, you have chosen the longest, hardest, and most twisting road.”

Long Yangjun said gloomily, “As your best friend, it pains me to watch you hit obstacles, crying and bleeding, on the road that is destined to fail, only for you to surrender and give up in the end!”

“Stop!”

Li Yao furrowed his eyebrows. “You are such a horrible ‘best friend’. I think we should just be regular friends!”

“Whatever you say.”

Long Yangjun said with a casual smile, “Anyway, I’ve seen too much darkness of humanity from the Ancient Sages Sector to the federation and from the federation to the Imperium.

“The life in the Ancient Sages Sector was extremely cruel, and everybody would be starving after a famine. As a result, there were the primitive rebels such as ‘Heaven Battering King Qi Changsheng’ and ‘Mother White Lotus Wan Mingzhu’. But at that time, I thought that it was only because the civilization was too underdeveloped.

“After I came to the Imperium of True Human Beings, which was ten thousand years more advanced than the Ancient Sages Sector, where the resources were highly abundant, the synthetic food could feed everybody, and more people were entitled to entertainments and convenient facilities that even the emperors in the ancient times never had the privilege to enjoy, I still see a lot of people who are living in pain.

“In the underground worlds tens of thousands of meters straight down, the five classes are like five universes. Everybody spends every second in extreme anxiety. On one hand, they’re worried that they may fall to the deeper abyss; on the other hand, they try their best to crawl upward through whatever means possible. But even if they reach the world where the sunlight is and become Immortal Cultivators, so what? Will they ever be free from the incessant conspiracies and internal brutalization?

“Perhaps the pain of human beings boils down to not the insufficiency of resources but the expansion of desires. Or rather, it is exactly because of the insatiateness of everybody from top to down that the resources are highly insufficient.

“Desire is a thing that can never be satiated. The desires that can be satiated are not real desires at all. Human beings, on the other hand, are creatures who will find a way to spend up however many resources that are given to them, aren’t they?

“Do you remember what I told you before I left the Star Glory Federation? Humans are devils, and devils are humans. Every human’s brain is made of a devil, and when the devil wriggles, struggles, and screams, that will be the feelings of the human.

“The more humans feed the devils, the stronger and the more ravenous they will be. As the appetites of the devils grow larger, humans’ desires will be stronger too. It is an endless vicious cycle.

“Hehe. What are the so-called ‘extraterrestrial devils’ exactly? Does it really mean ‘devils which come from the extraterrestrial lands beyond the three thousand Sectors’? That is obviously not right. Devils are everywhere in the three thousand Sectors. Is it possible that there are no ‘extraterrestrial devils’ at all, but only ‘devils of desires’?

“Stop glaring at me with your bulging eyes. I’m not criticizing human beings condescendingly as if I were a god. Like I said just now, I do not feel that intense feelings are a uniquely evil nature of mankind. On the contrary, I think that it is very likely to be a special gift left by the Pangu and the Nuwa civilizations.

“Perhaps every civilization of carbon-based intelligent lives, which boasts individuals whose brains are closed and independent, will inevitably witness the polarization of individuals and cannot stop the rampantly flooding desires. That’s why all of them have been destroyed.

“The Pangu civilizations’ alliance must’ve realized the problem. They are terribly scared of their feelings and call their emotions and desires ‘devils’, trying their best to seal their ‘inner devils’. To avoid having emotional fluctuations in the complicated and dangerous environments, they even abandoned the explorations of the outside world and created a tool named ‘human being’ to explore and modify the universe on behalf of them. As for themselves… they might have exiled themselves to the meditation state where they could not feel anything, right?

“However, despite everything they did, they could not stop the rise of desires. A rebel appeared among them at last—the Nuwa Clan.

“The extremity of everything is often its contrary. The consequence of repressing feelings and desires for a long time was the most complete indulgence! Led by the Nuwa Clan, all the intelligent lives in the alliance who could not stand the lack of feelings and desires rose to resist, eventually leading to the great demolition of the primeval civilization!”

“Wait!”

Li Yao was confused. “On one hand, you claim that feelings and desires are extremely terrible and will lead to eventual destruction. But on the other hand, you say that feelings and desires are unavoidable and that they will unleash a huge power if they are highly repressed. Then, which side are you on exactly?”

“Why are you silly again?”

Long Yangjun smiled. “I have the dual legacies of Pangu and Nuwa in the first place. Of course I’m on both sides, and I think they both made excellent points!”