Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Such three fundamental laws…” Li Yao felt coldness from the bottom of his heart.

Although his foster father had alleged that the ‘Path of Ultimate Benevolence’ was not anything good, this was the first time that he had tasted the ruthlessness, graveness, and precision in it.

The three fundamental laws were like three well-structured, indestructible shackles that had been bound to his body. He felt that he was almost suffocated.

Li Yao grunted and stretched his hands and feet out of natural instincts, trying to struggle out of the invisible shackles.

He vaguely felt that human beings, under the suppression of the three fundamental laws, were completely slaves to the Pangu Clan.

No, they were even humbler than slaves!

Although the Imperium of True Human Beings divided human beings into true human beings and hominoids and also kept a large batch of slaves, it was not hard to tell from the Immortal Cultivators’ words that they also admitted the normal feelings and emotions of the ‘hominoids’. Such ‘hominoids’ were just ‘lowly human beings’ and, through training, could still grow into ‘99% human beings’.

However, seeing that the Pangu Clan manufactured human beings in such a weird way under three inviolable fundamental laws, Li Yao realized that the Pangu Clan did not regard them as human beings, animals, or any creature but a certain tool. They were nothing more than the spiritual puppets!

Therefore, in the eyes of the Pangu Clan, are we simply spiritual puppets constituted by cells? Li Yao asked himself in his heart.

If so, his foster father’s statement that the Covenant Alliance was ten thousand times eviler than the Imperium was more or less understandable.

The splendid black cube, the thousands of metal vesicles where human beings were produced, and the three fundamental laws that were still glowing after hundreds of thousands of years… Such a weird scene turned the sense of depression into thick, black fog that was pressing them and crawling into their body through the pores, leaking into the deepest part of their gene strands.

The shackles that had been broken for eons were showing signs of revival again.

The Cultivator and the three Immortal Cultivators all bit their lips softly, their fists shivering beyond their control, as they resisted the solemn and overwhelming power.

“Senior Su, is this… a factory of the Pangu Clan to ‘manufacture human beings’?” Li Yao asked.

Su Changfa nodded softly, his voice both cold and tough. “Yes. You must’ve noticed that the two parties at war on the primeval battlefield both boasted numerous human soldiers. The Pangu Clan had a lot of human soldiers at their service, too. This place must’ve been where the human soldiers came from.”

Is it true? Li Yao clicked his tongue. “Manufacture human beings…”

“This isn’t any too sophisticated method,” Su Changfa sneered. “Undeveloped as our civilization may be, artificial insemination and test-tube babies are a piece of cake, too. Is it difficult to build an environment that simulates the womb?”

Li Yao nodded. It was quite true. Not just the Imperium, even the Star Glory Federation had quite mature test-tube baby technologies. Also, there were special medical cabins and life-sustaining cabins that could simulate the conditions of a womb. Infertile couples were saved the trouble of having to look for ‘surrogacy’ and all the ethical concerns involved.

However, it was not exactly the question that he was interested in. What he really wanted to know was—

“Why?” Li Yao raised his head, looking at the black pillars in all directions that soared to the ceiling and the metal vesicles that were dangling from the branches. “Human beings can reproduce themselves. Why must the Pangu Clan ‘manufacture human beings’ in such a complicated way?”

“I have no idea,” Su Changfa said. “There has been much speculation. Maybe, human beings who reproduced on their own in the wilderness had unstable genes and could not necessarily give birth to excellent farmers, workers, and soldiers. Also, the ‘production’ was prone to environmental changes. They were often unbridled and tended to act on their own.

“In comparison, if they were manufactured in such ‘factories’, it would be very convenient to modify their genes from the zygotes. The quality and productivity would be very stable. With the minimum nutrition and energy, they could let human beings pass the useless infant and teenager phase and directly grow into ‘mature bodies’. As soon as such human beings walked off the ‘assembly lines’, they would be able to work or fight.

“Most importantly of all, only by manufacturing in a ‘factory’ could the Pangu Clan easily stamp our head…”

With a gloomy face, Su Changfa tapped the temples of his helmet before he thought for a moment and shook his head. “No. Not just the head, but every gene strand in every cell, including the brain cells, was all stamped with the ‘three fundamental laws’!”

Although Li Yao could not see his face, he was still deeply awed by the hateful voice. He could not help but scratch the back of his head.

Of course, the only thing that he reached was a cold helmet.

“We were tools.” Su Changfa’s voice sounded like the cold wind blowing out of the icy caves in the North Pole. “Do you not feel that a tool that could move on their own and could upgrade and copy itself beyond control should be highly dangerous in the eyes of the tool-maker? Such things should be strictly forbidden, shouldn’t they?”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and understood the logic.

He recalled the fear in his heart when he was faced with the overwhelming Grand Illusionary Soldiers during the riot of the Immortal Cultivators in the Flying Star Sector.

He had not been scared by the Immortal Cultivators such as Xiao Xuance but the Grand Illusionary Soldiers, tools that were better, faster, and stronger than ordinary people!

Li Yao glanced around at the spiritual puppets around.

Noticing the rotation of his head, ten spiritual puppets that were responsible to protect him immediately reacted and turned to where he was looking.

More than a hundred crystal cameras were glittering in every part all over their bodies, in brilliance that seemed to be some sort of intelligence.

The spiritual puppets could not upgrade themselves. Their production and duplication were under the Immortal Cultivators’ rigorous control, too.

But what if the war base that had been transported to Kunlun did not carry any Immortal Cultivator, and everybody on board was a spiritual puppet, which could upgrade and copy themselves according to the different environment and could spread out to build their own ‘territory’?

Li Yao thought for a moment and felt that such a scene was more dreadful than ten thousand Immortal Cultivators.

“Xiao Tang, it seems that you’re right,” Su Changfa said. “Although this isn’t ‘Wild Shepard’, the most critical battlefield of the ‘God-Sealing War’, it must’ve been another planet designated to the production of human beings just like Wild Shepard.

“Manufacturing human beings would consume tremendous spiritual energy. There must be more underground cities than this one. Chances are that there are hundreds more human being manufacture centers!

“Such an enormous production requires a stable and sustainable energy source. The pulsar is definitely the best choice.

“That’s why the Pangu Clan built such a huge planetary warship near the pulsar. This place was essentially their ‘weapon factory’!

“Then, the purpose of the invaders is also obvious now. They were trying to break into the human being manufacture center to liberate more compatriots!

“Judging from the result, the invaders must’ve achieved their strategic goals. We can see that only a handful of human soldiers were not freed and most of them got away!”

Su Changfa’s words made their faces less awful than before.

Despite their different stances, they were equally happy for a small victory of human beings hundreds of thousands of years ago.

“What is the Battle of Wild Shepard exactly?” Li Yao took the opportunity to ask the question on his mind, hoping to collect as much information about the primeval war as possible.

“The Battle of Wild Shepard was the most critical battle in the God-Sealing War,” Su Changfa explained. “According to the legends, Wild Shepard was the largest human being manufacture center of the Pangu Clan, which must’ve been at least a hundred times more enormous than the one we are in!

“On Wild Shepard, the Pangu civilization incessantly produced the most magnificent human warriors, stamped their cells with the ‘three fundamental laws’, and dispatched them to suppress the ‘wildlings’ who were born in the wilderness and were beyond control!

“The Pangu civilization was overwhelmingly strong and had been on the winning side. All the ‘wildlings’ were going to be suppressed in no time.

“At the moment of life and death, the elite warriors of the ‘wildlings’ assaulted Wild Shepard and broke the magical equipment that was responsible for the inculcation of the ‘three fundamental laws’ inside the human being manufacture center like the crystals here. They also managed to awaken all the human warriors that had been produced with the thought of resistance!

“As a result, a huge batch of human warriors defected in the frontline, and the Pangu Clan was consumed by the fire it ignited. Eventually, it was suppressed, sealed, and slain!

“Judging from the scale of the planet, it is probably not the critical Wild Shepard. This might’ve been a test attack, or an ‘experiment’, before assaulting Wild Shepard. From what we can see, the experiment proved to be successful in the end!”

“Breaking the fundamental crystals and liberating all human beings!” Li Yao imagined the accomplishments of the human experts in the primeval era. He could not help but feel fascinated, and his blood was boiling!

“Exactly. Just like this!” Su Changfa’s voice was mixed with destructive power. The Erratic Light Cannons installed on the shoulders of his crystal suits were glowing with dazzling brilliance!

Kou Ruhuo, the chief of arms, and Tang Qianhe, the navigator, raised their crystal cannon and storm bolter as well!

“Human beings must obey all the orders of the Pangu Clan and not harm the individuals of the Pangu Clan?” Kou Ruhuo sneered. He suddenly opened his helmet and spat on the ground. “Go f*ck yourself!”

The three Immortal Cultivators opened fire at the same time. Dozens of colorful whips of light slapped the transparent cube brutally. The crystals that stored the three fundamental laws generated a shield that looked like a bubble. Rays were spluttering, flames were soaring, and the entire gloomy, horrible human being manufacture center was illuminated!

After a few seconds, the bubble broke apart into nothingness. The dozens of whips of light slapped the fundamental crystals directly. The crystals collapsed all of a sudden. The runes that contained the three fundamental laws shrieked and struggled in the flames of light for a long time before they slowly melted, disintegrated, and vanished, like ghosts that had fallen into magma!