Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Although he had spent more than a hundred years in the world of Cultivators, Li Yao still remembered Earth from the uncanny dream in his childhood.

It was a world without spiritual energy. So-called training and devils were nothing more than groundless tales. In other words, it was a bunch of ordinary people who resided in that world.

Although they were ordinary people who never perceived the mysteries of the spiritual energy, the earthlings had mastered techniques that could be performed without spiritual energy and the most erratic laws of nature, thereby developing a brilliant and glorious ‘non-spiritual civilization’.

Like the citizens of the federation, the earthlings had their own feelings and emotions. While some of them were ambitious, unpardonable schemers, the majority of the people still lived their lives with kind, tenacious hearts, striving and struggling to protect their families and their happiness.

For Li Yao, everybody in the universe could be a friend, and the civilization of mankind was an inseparable hole. All the ordinary people were targets of his protection. He would not kill any of them for no reason, much less destroy the Earth and slaughter six billion earthlings.

Besides…

His former self in his previous life was also one of the six billion people and a common earthling. Why on earth would he destroy the home of his previous life without a good reason?

However, the voice was still echoing next to his ears:

“Run away now. You can’t destroy it. It is too dark and too strong!”

If ‘it’ referred to Earth, that would be rather peculiar. In the solar system, a barren place without spiritual energy, nuclear weapons were the toughest ‘magical equipment’. But the power of such weapons could hardly be called unbelievable. Also, due to the limited conditions of usage, without the best of luck and the determination to sacrifice millions of civilians, they could barely deal a fatal blow to a Cultivator in the Nascent Soul Stage or the Divinity Transformation Stage.

Then, what was the ‘darkness’ of Earth referring to? And why was it ‘strong’ at all?

To this moment, Li Yao could still sense his sorrow, desperation, and fury when ‘he’ was floating in the orbit of the blue planet.

He could tell that the ‘destruction’ that he intended to initiate was not of an evil nature at all. The Vulture Plan was not a foul plan but an effort of justice. Then…

The mental devil chuckled in amusement. “Of course. All evil supervillains believe from the bottom of their heart that they are saving the world as symbols of justice when they implement an evil plan or that they are forced to do what they must! Would any of them admit that they are unpardonable, despicable, and cunning bad guys?

“That was the case for Yan Xibei, Xiao Xuance, Lu Zui, and Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan. Even Elder Nether Spring from the Blood Demon Sector thought that he was creating ‘a third life form’ for the evolution of the entire species when he carried out the Spore Stratagem, didn’t he?

“Right now, it is your turn to walk on that path again. This is your destiny…”

“Damn your destiny,” Li Yao snorted. “Even Long Yangjun knows the difference between ‘destines other people give me’ and ‘my real destiny’. Am I going to be at the mercy of the uncanny ‘destiny’ like an idiot? Before I figure out everything and whether it is righteous or evil, I will never ‘destroy the Earth’ as a puppet of a certain existence!”

“I understand it now,” the mental devil said. “You are looking for some psychological comfort. You are trying to figure out if ‘destroying the Earth’ is actually a deed of justice that is not in violation of your morals under certain extreme circumstances, right?”

Li Yao hesitated for a moment. “I guess so. In any case, I will not believe that the previous me and my companions who were involved in the Vulture Plan were crazy lunatics. Come on. Let’s have a brainstorm. Is there a possibility where ‘destroying the Earth’ is moral, justified, and not against the interests of the weak?”

“You are too greedy.” The mental devil smiled. “Morals and justice are all relative. The universe is a vast place, but there are few occasions where you can have all the best. In many cases, being weak is itself a sin. The weak are destined to be hurt by the strong. This is a law of nature. Or rather, this is an ‘ecological balance’ of a higher level.

“However, when it comes to a scenario where Earth has to be destroyed, we certainly can find some. For example, the classic ‘kill one to save ten thousand’—the entire universe, including Earth, is in grave danger, and only the sacrifice of the Earth can save the whole universe.”

Li Yao shook his head, not entirely convinced. “Isn’t that theory from Blackstar the Great? That was exactly the rhetoric he used when he destroyed Karan—only by sacrificing Karan could the invaders from the Covenant Alliance be defeated and the entire Star Ocean Republic be saved! What happened in the end? The center of the cosmos is still mired in a thousand-year war. The only thing that was ‘saved’ was perhaps his ambition.

“If I am to destroy Earth for no better reason than to save the universe, would I be any different from Blackstar the Great?”

“No, the situation is different,” the mental devil said creepily. “Blackstar the Great destroyed Karan for his selfish interests as a ‘stepping stone’ for him to ascend to the highest power. From the perspective of general morals, he naturally should be criticized.

“However, his personal vileness and evilness do not mean that the choice of ‘kill one to save ten thousand’ is not worth discussing.

“There were mainly two problems in the event where Blackstar the Great destroyed Karan.

“Firstly, Blackstar the Great’s real purpose, of course. He destroyed Karan to realize his own ambitions, to seize the highest power of the Star Ocean Republic, and to overthrow the Star Ocean Republic to establish a new dynasty, not purely for the lofty ideal of saving the Star Ocean Republic.

“Secondly, and more importantly, while the Alliance of the Holy Covenant boasted part of the relics of the Pangu Civilization and developed technology slightest more advanced than the Star Ocean Republic’s, the civilization level of the two parties did not have a significant gap, and their comprehensive national powers were on par.

“Look. A thousand years later, the Imperium of True Human Beings is still able to launch a strategic counterattack at the Alliance of the Holy Covenant and secures great triumphs. It means that they are opponents of the same level. Even if the cruel choice of ‘kill one to save ten thousand’ is not made, there are still possibilities of victory through regular approaches.

“Assuming that Blackstar the Great had not detonated Karan, the invaders of the Covenant Alliance might’ve marched in and caused greater losses, but they still could’ve been defeated.

“Perhaps the ‘greater losses’ might have been several times more than the eight million victims on Karan. But no matter how great the losses might be, it was a price worth to be paid in order to maintain the morals and justice of the Star Ocean Republic.

“However, what if neither of the two conditions above existed?

“Since this is a brainstorm, let’s remove all restraints and imagine such a situation. First of all, ‘Wuying Qi’ is not an ambitious, potential Immortal Cultivator who loathes ordinary people but a kindhearted, upright, and selfless Cultivator and the highest commander of the border watch of the Star Ocean Republic.

“Secondly, the aggressive Covenant Alliance is not a force on par with the Star Ocean Republic, not a member of the civilization of mankind, not the Pangu Civilization that is directly related and in line with mankind, but one weird civilization form a hundred times stronger than mankind that we cannot comprehend at all. It can barely be called a ‘civilization’.

“Under such circumstances, a certain core of commanding for the weird civilization form—let’s call it ‘maternal brain’—happens to land on Karan, giving mankind the only opportunity to destroy the civilization.

“Wuying Qi, as the highest commander of the border watch with abundant battle experience, immediately reached the conclusion that if the ‘maternal brain’ is not destroyed immediately, there will be no opportunity to resist the alien invaders in the future, and the entire civilization of mankind including the Star Ocean Republic and Karan will be destroyed. They will even have an outcome even more miserable than death. In the subsequent hundreds of thousands of years, the civilization of mankind will go through a period that is a hundred times darker than the ‘Great Dark Age’.

“Let me ask you. Under such circumstances, the upright, selfless Wuying Qi decides to stay on Karan to stop the ‘maternal brain’. Eventually, he sacrifices himself, detonates Karan, and kills the ‘maternal brain’, which causes the collapse of the alien invaders and saves the entire civilization of mankind.

“In such a case, my dear Monster Li who is full of sense of justice and morals, would you tell me if the future generations are qualified to condemn such a ‘Wuying Qi’?”

Li Yao frowned hard for a long time before saying, “You set up a conclusion first and then offered harsh conditions according to the conclusion. It’s equivalent to shooting an arrow at a target randomly and then drawing the bullseye on where the arrow lands. How can you ever miss the target in such a case?

“In your example, a weird life form, which is a hundred times more powerful than the civilization of mankind and utterly irresistible for us, has only one ‘maternal brain’ as the highest commanding core, and the ‘maternal brain’ is idiotic enough to land on a hostile planet that contains abundant explosives without any protection. When the planet is finally detonated, it cannot even release part of the remaining soul or find a successor? That is the most stupid thing I have never heard!

“If you ask me, even if such a weird life form that is a hundred times more powerful than the civilization of mankind does exist, it is impossible that they have only one ‘maternal brain’. It is very possible that they have thousands of ‘maternal brains’ like synapses.

“Even if they do have only one ‘maternal brain’, after the ‘maternal brain’ dies, some other replacements similar to the synapses can spontaneously grow into a new maternal brain.

“Otherwise, the universe is too dangerous a place for such an idiotic species to develop to be a hundred times more powerful than the civilization of mankind, right?

“Therefore, even if detonating Karan can annihilate one maternal brain, it will be utterly meaningless because thousands of maternal brains will show up later, and we cannot detonate thousands of habitable planets!”