Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

”Of course I don’t.”

Tang Ka said, ”The Ultimate Benevolence Masters spend most of their time meditating and listening to the gods who are sleeping. They only show up when they have to pass on the will of the gods to us. I’m just an ordinary Son of Holy Light. How can I know where the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are?

”I’m mostly with my mentor. Well, when the ultimate test is over, maybe I’ll have a chance to meet the director of my academy. Right, an authentic troop of Purgers seems to be stationed nearby. Maybe I’ll meet the commander of this troop as a Purger soon!”

”A director and a commander…”

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, ”Fine, Tang Ka. Is there any way for you to approach them so that I can scan them?”

”Why?”

Tang Ka said, ”I wouldn’t do that for you.. I don’t know if you are an extraterrestrial devil yet!”

”Of course I’m not. Have you not felt my friendliness and sincerity after we’ve talked for such a long time?”

Li Yao said, ”If you can tell me more about the Covenant Alliance and help me approach the big shots like your director, I can teach you awesome refining or battle skills. Trust me. Young man, do you not crave power?”

”That’s not right. I don’t need it.”

After a brief silence, Tang Ka said softly, ”Our talents are the gifts from gods, and it is up to the will of the gods how many techniques we can grasp. The skills that belong to me will be awakened automatically someday. I don’t need unnecessary power, which will deviate me from the right path.”

”Well…”

Li Yao grew anxious. ”Fine, even if you don’t need greater power, do you not have any wishes? Whatever your wishes are, I’ll try to fulfill them for you.”

”No.”

Tang Ka shook his head and said, ”My fate has been decided by the gods. All I need to do is to follow the arrangement of the gods. I don’t need to ask for anything.”

”Seriously? A vigorous teenager like you do not have anything you want?”

Li Yao allured him again. ”I don’t want you to betray your faith. I only want you to see it more clearly and do a little favor for me. Just think. Have you really never encountered a problem that you can’t resolve on your own or a tiny wish that you want to come true?”

What he said made Tang Ka’s soul tremble again.

Ripples spread out in his brain, and the most vivid picture popped up.

Chu Zhiyun, in her red appealing dress, was tied up on the execution table by the thorny ropes that stuck deeply into her plump and smooth body, making her skin pale and turning it into a devastating state.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Slapped by the whip that was stained with venom, the girl moaned in agony and writhed futilely.

”Seriously?”

Li Yao found it hard to believe. ”Who’s this chick? Why do you hate her so much? Your greatest wish is to tie her up and whip her? That seems too mature for your age!”

”What are you talking about?”

Tang Ka was both embarrassed and infuriated.

”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry into your thoughts, but your feelings for this… young lady were too strong. Your emotional waves are like glittering swirls. I can’t turn a blind eye to them even if I want to!”

Li Yao apologized and asked, ”Who’s she? Your enemy?”

”Not at all. She’s my monitor. I don’t want to whip her. I’m only afraid that someone else would hurt her. I want to protect her!”

Tang Ka hesitated for a long time, and his defense collapsed inch by inch. Eventually, he gave up. ”Are you really not an extraterrestrial devil? If you’re not, maybe we can make a deal.”

”Of course I’m not. If anything, I’m the bane of the extraterrestrial devils!”

Li Yao said with a smile, ”Tell me, what kind of deal?”

”Really? You can deal with the extraterrestrial devils?”

His eyes glowing, Tang Ka said, trying to convince himself, ”Maybe I can do you a favor on the premise that it does not violate the will of the gods, but you must help me look after… my monitor. She’s the girl in the red dress that just appeared in my head.”

”Huh?”

Li Yao asked, ”What’s her problem? Right, someone in the Covenant Alliance was wearing a dress? It does look weird!”

”I suspect that my monitor is possessed by extraterrestrial devils.”

Tang Ka said solemnly, ”Recently, she has been talking about weird stuff. She even did something strange with me today. She also said that Ultimate Benevolence Masters are humans, and humans make mistakes, so Ultimate Benevolence Masters make mistakes. That’s outrageous!”

”Oh? Really?”

After a brief stun, Li Yao asked, ”Did your monitor really say that? She seems rather unconventional!”

”She did.”

Tang Ka said, ”I think that she must’ve been possessed by extraterrestrial devils without her knowing it. I fear that she will fall deeper and deeper until she reaches a tragic ending. So, whether or not you are an extraterrestrial devil, you must have ways to destroy the extraterrestrial devils in her, right?”

”Well…”

Li Yao thought for a moment and said, ”Let’s leave aside whether or not your monitor is really possessed by extraterrestrial devils, but isn’t the Covenant Alliance best at exorcism? If you think that your monitor is possessed, why didn’t you report it to your mentor? They’ll certainly help her, right?”

”Well, of course they will.”

Lowering his head, Tang Ka said, ”If the mentors and the director learn of the monitor’s situation, they will definitely cure her with the holy light, but as a result, she might lose her memories and forget who I am. She will turn into one of those bottom-level workers or soldiers who can’t think.

”I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t want the monitor to be corrupted, but I don’t want her to be deprived of her memories and thinking ability either.

”I’ve been worried and scared for a whole day. I want to help her, but I don’t know what to do. I want to report to the mentors, but I’m scared that they will make a fuss out of it.

”So, can you secretly help me cure her and banish the extraterrestrial devils from her so that she would think normally and become a Purger together with me? She can always be my commander.”

”Under normal circumstances, there’s no way that an unparalleled expert who dominates the universe would get involved in the romance of two teenagers. That’s too low!”

Li Yao said, ”However, brave young man Tang Ka, you’re lucky to meet me. Deal!”

The boots of the patrolling soldiers thudded outside of the toilet.

”Go back to sleep. Let’s talk later.”

Li Yao said, ”Don’t forget to flush!”

Tang Ka quietly returned to his camp. His fellow students were all sound asleep, with vague snores echoing in the camp.

However, when he took a glimpse at his monitor’s bunk before he slipped to his own, he noticed that she had sat up at some point and was gazing at him.

Tang Ka’s body stiffened immediately.

Expressionlessly, Chu Zhiyun curled her finger at him, hinting that he should come close.

Tang Ka obediently approached the monitor’s bunk and asked in a low voice, ”W-What’s wrong? I went to the toilet just now.”

”You’re being too nervous.”

Chu Zhiyun looked at Tang Ka suspiciously but didn’t ask. She simply said, ”You must learn to control your feelings in the following six days and freeze them like ice, or it would be impossible for you to pass the test and become a Purger, do you understand?”

Tang Ka nodded.

”Should you fail the ultimate test, you would likely be sent to the holy temple where your memories and your thinking ability would be wiped out.”

Chu Zhiyun continued coldly, ”Nobody except the Purgers, the Lurkers, and the other few classes should possess such dangerous abilities. Are we clear?”

Tang Ka nodded again. That seemed to be the only thing he could do in front of his monitor.

”Very well. Go back to sleep.”

Chu Zhiyun lay down and covered herself with her quilt, exposing only her head to the air. She looked at Tang Ka and said, ”Why are you still standing here? You want to attract the attention of the night watchers?”

Dizzily, Tang Ka did not know how he climbed to his bunk at all.

He was not relieved until he completely buried his bed in his quilt.

”She’s your monitor?”

Li Yao’s voice popped up again. ”Do you love her?”

As if he were burned, Tang Ka shook his head quickly. ”Your so-called ’love’ is the evilest and vilest thing that the extraterrestrial devils created. I will never be haunted by such a groundless and meaningless concept! She’s my monitor. I obey her just like how I obey the Ultimate Benevolence Masters and the will of the gods.”

”Oh? Really?”

Li Yao said, ”So, ’love’ is strictly forbidden in the Covenant Alliance? I’m curious. How do you have babies? I know that you have plenty of man-manufacturing factories, but artificial fertilization and reproduction consume a lot of resources and don’t have a high success rate. Most people in the Covenant Alliance must have been naturally born, right? Theoretically speaking, in order to be pregnant, you have to… You know, I don’t want to talk dirty to a stranger… But you have to be like a puppy that shivers on another puppy’s back as if it’s being electrocuted.”

Tang Ka asked, ”Are you talking about ’gene succession’?”

”… Probably.”

Li Yao said, ”Let’s call it ’gene succession’. If love is forbidden here, how will you determine the target… with whom you conduct ’gene succession’?”