Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Of course, it’s good to have real chocolate, but most of the time, resources are scarce, and you can’t have both.”

The mental devil replied, “It’s good enough to eat chocolate that tastes like sh*t. At the very least, you can live.”

“Even so, you can’t force them to eat the food without respecting their feelings. At least show them the menu and the raw materials first!”

Li Yao shouted, “It’s just like how Yun Haixin treats his wife and his children. He thinks that he is very devoted, very caring, very responsible, and even very sacrificial, and that he has arranged a ‘bright future for his family. But in fact, has he ever asked his family if they are willing to live such a life?

“No. He never asked. He only regarded his family as… objects that had no spirit, no feelings, and no dignity. They were his accessories that he could move around as he wished. At first, he moved them to Eternal Brightness and erased their past. After twenty years of living like pigs, they were even better

now. He was going to turn his family into ‘heads in tanks’ and continue immersing themselves in virtual games!

“Do you really think that ‘memory’ and ‘self’ can be completely separated?

“Do you really think that someone is willing to abandon everything in the past, even to the point of being injected with false memories, condensing them into a false self, and live the happy life of a brain in a tank?

“No. It’s impossible. Even though Yun Haixin’s family seems happy, it is merely her self-righteous happiness. They have been deprived of the right to choose, the right to think, the right to fight for themselves, and the right to control their own lives. Everything is under Yun Haixin’s control!

“And whether it is the Supreme Master or the Puppet King, they are just an even larger version of the heart of the sea of clouds. They have devised a seemingly bright and magnificent blueprint. With the excuse of ‘for your own good’, they have used deception and coercion to envelop and control everyone.

They have deprived mankind of their birthright and turned everyone into their plaything! If I don’t have a choice, I don’t have freedom. If I don’t have freedom, I don’t have self. When I don’t have a choice, there is only heaven. Heaven is equivalent to hell. This is why I am so angry!”

“Oh.”

“So,” the mental devil said, “you are not against the Phantom Plan anymore?”

“I don’t object to Lu Qingchen’s idea, but I strongly object to his approach.

Li Yao said, “If the puppet king, Lu Qingchen, could openly throw out his ideas, publicize all the details, and even recruit a group of volunteers, telling the volunteers all the details of the ‘brain in a jar’ and the ‘Phantom Plan’ very clearly, why would I object to the construction of a spiritual world as a

residential area of the Spirit Clan if it was completely voluntary?

“Not only am I not against it, I am also very interested in exploring such a spirit world and even contributing my wisdom and resources to enrich it!

“But look around you. Look at the explosions, flames, and screams. Do you think that the puppet king, Lu Qingchen, has ever respected the people whom he called ‘compatriots’? Does he care about the dignity, freedom, and choice of those people?

“This is the biggest difference between me and Lu Qingchen.

“Lu Qingchen was too self-righteous. He thought that he had grasped the ultimate direction of the development of mankind and could paint the blueprint of the future of mankind at his will. In the process, he considered the lives, dignity, and freedom of thousands of people as the ‘paint of his great

painting.

“But I don’t know. I really don’t know what the future of mankind will be like and what it should be like. I only know that I am just a mortal with limited wisdom and abilities. I shouldn’t, and I’m even less interested in, planning and restricting the future of mankind!

“Lonly want to do everything I can to wake up my compatriots and help them regain the power to choose, the wisdom to think, and the courage to fight. Then, I believe that thousands of compatriots of mankind will create the best future for themselves. There will be no need for any gods, devils, saints,

prophet, emperor, or father of the nation to take their place!

“Then, you have chosen the most complicated and difficult path.

“That should be the case in theory most of the time,” the mental devil said. “But there are always unexpected problems in reality. We have to compromise and choose… a more straightforward and convenient approach, just like what Lu Qingchen is doing right now.

“Some things can be compromised, but the bottom line must not be stepped on! For example, if you ask me to crawl into the shell of a spider tank, dress up gorgeously, and pretend that I’m a primary school girl, it wouldn’t matter even if I were to do a round dance. But if you ask me to sleep in Chu

Zhixiao’s arms, that would absolutely not do!”

Li Yao said resolutely, “This is my bottom line. Do you understand?”

“Understood.”

The mental devil was considerate. “If you cross the line, you will die miserably.

“Something like that.”

Li Yao said, “All in all, it’s impossible for me to stand by and watch the lives and humanity of so many innocent people being trampled upon and cooperate with the trappers!

“”Wow—”

“Why do I suddenly feel that you are so awesome, so dominating, and so manly? Even my soul power is surging and being absorbed by you?

“Because I, ‘Vulture Li Yao’, am truly angry today!”

Li Yao gnashed his teeth. “The relationship between you and me has always been one of mutual gain and loss. I’ve only been travelling in a low profile because I’ve been storing my strength and wisdom with you. Do you think I’ma sick cat if I don’t show my strength? Today, I’m going to beat the crap out

of the puppet king—Lu Qingchen. Nobody is going to stop me!”

“Rest assured. Nobody is stopping you. Just do your best!”

“Ah,” the mental devil said. “The abnormal data of the puppet king seems to be from the building in front!”

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. He quickly steered the spider tank to the side of the road.

The debris of countless flying shuttles was piled up on the roadside. Many of them were still burning and emitting intense smoke, which concealed his existence perfectly.

But the signage of the buildings in front still surprised Li Yao.

“Light City… General Medical Center.”

Li Yao mumbled, “A hospital?”

Out of their expectation, although they had locked onto nine facilities in the City of Light that boasted super crystal processors and even thought of the mainframe crystal processor on the cockpit of Eternal Brightness, the hospital was not on the list.

“Lunderstand now. No wonder the real body of the puppet king is so hard to lock onto. I’m afraid that he is not relying on a super crystal processor at all!”

“Do you still remember the tricks that Lu Qingchen and Mo Xuan played in the federation? One of their nests was set up in the ‘Blue Sky Super Brain Hospital’ in Hundred Flowers City. They used the biochemical brains of countless human beings as carriers of the spirit world!

“Exactly!”

Li Yao remembered it, too. “That explains a lot. A human brain instead of a crystal processor. No wonder he hid it so well. However, that’s the end of his tricks!”

“Listen, my next plan is to go straight to the point. I will use my unparalleled soul power to suppress Lu Qingchen’s soul and drag his remaining soul into the mainframe crystal processor of the spider tank. Then, I will build an illusion with our extraordinary computational ability and give him a taste of

his own medicine. He will have a taste of the endless pain in the illusion. I will beat him, torture him, humiliate him, and force him to confess everything. If necessary, I will even swallow his remaining soul.

“After that, we will be able to inherit all his plans and organizations. We might even be able to manipulate the Heart of God in his name and reach out to the Star Glory Federation and the Star Glory Federation without anybody knowing. When the Star Glory Federation and the Star Glory Federation are

engaged in a strategical war, we will coordinate with each other and free all the members of the Star Glory Federation. How about it? Is it perfect? Are there any loopholes?”

“It sounds perfect without any loopholes.”

“If we ignore the fact that our perfect, flawless plan has been proved to be full of loopholes by the cruel reality in the end, theoretically speaking, it is perfect and flawless.

“What do you mean?”

Li Yao frowned. “What else?”

“There is no ‘or’.”

The mental devil replied obediently, “Forget what I said. Go ahead and bind and imprison the puppet king’s remaining soul. Torture and humiliate him to your heart’s content!”

“Of course!”

Sensing that the abnormal data streams in the air were getting more and more intense, Li Yao realized that the battle between Chu Zhixiao and Yun Haixin must’ve reached the climax not far away. Their mental defenses were all broken. Lu Qingchen, the puppet king, had strengthened the corrosion on

them, too. Even the vague black streaks were much more intense than before, indicating where he was.

Li Yao rubbed his hands and was about to lunge at the source of the puppet king.

But the moment he raised his forelimbs, his soul suddenly smelt something weird.

Naturally, his soul did not have a sense of smell, but the subtle changes of temperature, the subtle perturbations of information and data streams, and his intuition beyond his five senses made him stop and curl up.

Huala!

Just as he withdrew the last ripple of his telepathic thoughts, the windows of many skyscrapers nearby suddenly exploded. Dozens of pure white figures jumped out and floated in the air, locking onto the ‘Glorious City General Medical Center’!

“This is—”

Even without the scanning of his soul, Li Yao could still sense the immense mental power of the white-robed fellows whose every pore seemed to be shining.

In the world of information and data, it was like dozens of burning torches illuminating the twisted sky.

They were all barefooted with solemn expressions. There were no decorations on their spotless white robes except for a battle emblem that represented the arrival of holy light on their chest. They seemed to be high priests of the Sanctuary.

Li Yao had no idea how ‘advanced’ they were. He only knew that the ‘holy light’ inside the brains of the dozens of white-robed priests was enough to illuminate an entire starship.

“Puppet King—”

The saint lights that were released by the dozens of priests crashed into each other brutally. Thunderous noises echoed in their mental world and rumbled toward the center of the hospital.. “You are doomed!”