Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Vaguely guessed what the “reason” that Long Yangjun mentioned was, Li Yao was breathing heavily.

Long Yangjun smiled and said, “Think about it. Under what extreme circumstances do you think people will abandon their feelings willingly?

“Oh, there is no need to think about it at all. You’ll know it if you look at the incident of Nepenthe in the Great Iron Plants below the capital that we just went through. Extreme shortage of resources, extreme pain and exploitation, and extreme desperation. With those mutually-affective conditions, people will abandon everything including feelings voluntarily without any deception or coercion!

“Then, is it possible that extreme dread was the reason?”

Li Yao was silent for a moment. He asked when he knew the answer, “The ‘extreme dread’ for what?”

“You have guessed it.”

Long Yangjun said casually, “The Flood. The ‘extreme dread’ for the Flood that was capable of destroying everything, erasing everything, and eliminating everything.

“For all the time, we have speculated that the Pangu’s alliance was incapable of crossing the black wall and that they were confined to the three thousand Sectors for technological reasons, which resulted in the tragedies such as shortage of resources, relinquishment of feelings, the temptation of devils, the rebellion of the Nuwa Clan, etc.

“But let’s change our mindset. What if the Pangu’s alliance was already capable of crossing the black wall and exploring the extraterrestrial lands when the Pangu’s alliance was developed to the peak?

“Think about it and walk in the shoes of a leader during the prime days of the Pangu’s alliance. Your civilization is made of thirteen highly-developed carbon-based lives who were full of bravery, wisdom, technologies, and morals. You are already capable of absorbing energy from stars freely and creating brand-new life forms. Naturally, you are striving ambitiously to conquer the known and unknown universe.

“Nothing can possibly stop your ambitions. How can a minor black ball make you abandon your feelings and your lofty ideal? That’s a joke!

“With the most advanced technologies of the entire civilization, you have finally established a massive, incredible expedition fleet. Overcoming all the difficulties and resolving the complicated, previously-unknown questions, you are finally crossing the moat that confined the civilization, the ‘black wall’ made of desolation and void. You find yourself in a grand universe countless times vaster than the three thousand Sectors!

“It seems to be a bright and beautiful ending, does it?

“It’s a shame that the grand universe beyond the black wall is far beyond your imagination. This is not a prosperous land brimming with crystals and spiritual energy, not even a ‘dark forest’ which is dangerous but at least vigorous, but a wasteland, a desert, and an area of residues that have just been savaged and chewed by the ‘Flood’. All lives, all civilizations, be they kind or evil, advanced or primitive, with or without real entities, have been destroyed by the Flood.

“Are you imaginative enough to picture that? After all the difficulties and sacrifices, you have finally crossed the black wall with the hope of the entire civilization, only to witness such a cataclysm, such destruction, and such a rampant Flood!

“What is even more dreadful is that the Flood, which has destroyed everything, is probably not far away yet. Since you are capable of crossing the wall and discovering the Flood, the odds are quite high that the Flood can discover and destroy you—the three thousand Sectors where the Pangu civilization is at!

“So to speak, the three thousand Sectors are somewhat similar to the Ancient Sages Sector, my hometown that is surrounded by the dark nebula. They are both covered in a layer of seemingly impenetrable and extremely thick barrier, which barely any information or material can pierce through.

“Such a barrier is a burden, a seal, and a curse, isolating the civilization inside from the rest of the world and making it lonely in the grand universe. But from another perspective, isn’t it some sort of protection too?

“Without the cover of the dark nebula, the Ancient Sages Sector would’ve been involved in the bloody battle of the ancient Cultivators forty thousand years ago, or discovered by demons, or involved in the collapse of the Star Ocean Imperium, or conquered by the Imperium of True Human Beings, wouldn’t it?

“By the same logic, with the protection of the seemingly desolate and vacuous ‘black wall’ outside of the three thousand Sectors, it is very possible that any external observer will think that this is just a land of death and silence, which has absolutely nothing, like a lifeless ocean or a dry desert. Little do they know that there are islands in an ocean and oases in a desert!

“Perhaps it is exactly because of the black wall that the Flood is uninterested in wasting its energy to explore if there is prey behind the black wall. That’s why they let go of us for now. After all, the scrumptious food like the ‘wizardly civilization’ is already enough to keep its belly full for a while!

“But if the Flood discovers that a fleet has dashed out from the behind of the black wall, it will immediately infer that there must be a highly advanced civilization in the desolation and the void. Then, do you think that it will still be lazy and let us go?”

Li Yao was sweating hard and lost for words.

“Right, my speculation is not very strict. Perhaps the expedition fleet of the Pangu civilization did not discover the Flood directly. If they did, the Flood would’ve probably discovered them too. Then, we would have been destroyed a long time ago!”

Long Yangjun said, “What they discovered was the debris, remains, or tombs of the civilizations that had been swallowed and savaged by the Flood, say, the fleeing fleets of the wizardly civilization. Through their discoveries about the alien civilization, they learned everything and the existence of the Flood.

“But the conclusion is all the same, which is that the leaders of the Pangu’s alliance, or maybe even every individual, learned that there was a thing named ‘Flood’.

“Was the Flood a strength that could destroy the entire three-dimensional universe, a fatal beast from the four-dimension or even higher dimensions, or even a certain law that boasted self-will? It didn’t matter. What mattered was that the people hiding behind the black wall must, must, must not be discovered by the Flood, or everything would’ve been doomed.

“No matter how they summoned their courage, wisdom, and will, the Pangu’s alliance did not stand a one-billionth chance to compete with the Flood. Their only outcome, should they be discovered by the Flood, would be destruction.

“It’s not pessimism but a fact—an objective, undeniable fact. Do you agree?”

“… I do.”

Li Yao struggled to say.

“Very well. As a leader of the Pangu civilization, what decisions will you make after the fact is clear?”

Long Yangjun pursued further, “Particularly regarding the expedition fleet that has crossed the black wall and is exploring the extraterrestrial lands.”

“I’m afraid that I’ll have to recall them.”

After a long sigh, Li Yao said with a bitter smile, “The longer they stay beyond the wall, the more likely they will be discovered by the Flood, and the consequence of them being discovered is the destruction of the whole civilization. The best we can expect is some survivors who escape from their hometown like the fleets of the wizardly civilization, struggling to live on before their unavoidable doom.

“Recalling them is the only viable decision.”

“It is a viable decision, but not the only one to be made.”

Long Yangjun said, “If you think about it, after the fleet is recalled, it will be highly unnecessary and unwise to keep it. The fleet is born to cross the black wall, but crossing the black wall is now a dangerous action that may jeopardize the whole civilization. So much as one starship crosses the black wall and escapes, it is possible that the Flood will discover us, which will result in the destruction of the whole civilization.

“However, as long as there are still starships that are capable of sailing to the extraterrestrial lands, who can guarantee that there won’t be any ambitious, bold, impulsive guy who will steal a starship and do something stupid?

“Therefore, to ensure the survival of the Pangu civilization, the abilities of long voyages must be locked or even destroyed. The Pangu civilization did not need the technologies to cross the black wall, at least not until the Flood was confirmed to have completely ebbed!”

Li Yao couldn’t help but clenched his fists.

The civilization of mankind had been developed for a hundred thousand years, and the technologies to cross the black wall and sail to the extraterrestrial land had always been pursued after. Did the Pangu civilization really once master the technologies only to abandon them in helplessness?

That was too pitiful and pathetic!

However, if the Flood was truly wandering outside of the black wall searching for the next target covetously, the Pangu civilization’s self-sealing seemed rather reasonable and unavoidable.

“After I realized that, another problem that once bothered me was answered too.”

Long Yangjun said solemnly, “We discussed the problem before. It is about why the Pangu civilization destroyed their crystal processor technologies on a large scale, suppressing their expertise of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus to the level that was no higher than what mankind is capable of today.

“At first, we thought that the Pangu civilization was scared of the birth of ‘artificial intelligence’ and that they suppressed their knowledge of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus with everything they could do in order to prevent ‘artificial intelligence’, or ‘virtual life’, from coming to this world.

“Now that I think of it, we were possibly wrong again. Even the civilization of mankind has a lot of visionary people who are unafraid of the dawn of artificial intelligence. They are even willing to live in peace with information life and improve their own civilization with the help of the information life. Did the Pangu civilization never have any such creative and considerate leaders?

“No, perhaps what the Pangu civilization was scared of was not artificial intelligence itself. It was because the high-speed development of artificial intelligence would certainly result in the technological boom of space sailing technologies. Once things like ‘GHOST’ were created, countless starships would be able to cross the black wall. There was nothing that the authorities of the Pangu civilization could’ve done to stop it.

“Just like what I said just now, so much as one starship that was installed with artificial intelligence successfully escaped out of the black wall, only to be detected by the Flood, the whole civilization would be destroyed.

“Therefore, in order to prevent the starships from setting sail, the Pangu civilization simply locked and suppressed their development of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus so that the artificial intelligence that could assist starships in voyages would never be invented. In such a way, all the loopholes were filled from the root, and the Flood would never find them.

“You should understand it now, Li Yao. Perhaps it was not the infinite black wall that stopped the development of the Pangu civilization, but fear. Their extreme fear for the extraterrestrial lands and the Flood made them seal, restrict, erase, and lock themselves!”