Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Absurd! It’s utterly absurd!”

Wuying Qi gradually recovered from his initial shock and was accustomed to Li Yao’s continuous mental attack. He mocked unregretfully, “The rules that you called ‘morals’ were invented by human beings for survival, weren’t they? Only when you can survive and catch your breath can you pursue more things. If the civilization of human beings perishes, what will be the point of the obsolete rules and morals?

“In any case, what I’m doing today is to defend the civilization of human beings!”

“This is our biggest difference. Both of us believe that we’re fighting for mankind, but our definition of ‘mankind’ is too different.”

Li Yao stood at the center of the red star, and the red star turned into his suit and a Colossus for his soul. He opened his hands, raising tides of light hundreds of thousands of kilometers high, confronting Wuying Qi. “What makes you a human being? Your appearance, your language, your genes, or your soul? Maybe in the past, you would be a human being if you had the appearance of a human, talked like humans, and embraced the human culture.

“But in the future, when genes can be freely modified, when humans can reshape themselves by activating the legacies of the thirteen carbon-based lives from the primeval age, and when they can even upload their souls to the Spiritual Nexus and crystal processors—no, such a future has already arrived. Neither the demons whose genes have been highly modified nor the spectral Cultivators who have abandoned their physical forms are human beings in the traditional sense, but we still acknowledge them as part of our civilization and our own kind.

“Then, if humans are not defined by their genes or souls, what should they be defined by? What can prove that they are humans, not evil beings?

“What else can serve as the essence of human beings except for the rules that are beyond survival, beyond instincts, and beyond everything?

“In my opinion, if people like you can kill billions of people, drive another billions of people crazy, and turn another billions of people into puppets who know nothing but obedience, you and your accomplices are no longer human beings, but beasts and bugs in the skin of humans!

“A civilization made of thousands of beasts and bugs like you is not the civilization of mankind, but a civilization of monsters!

“The real civilization of mankind will come to an end when you destroy Empyreal Terminus. By the time you and your soldiers occupy the three thousand sectors, the real mankind will be dead and replaced by monsters!

“Even if billions of years later, your descendants claim the whole universe under the flag of mankind, it will not be the continuation and victory of mankind, but those of monsters which have nothing to do with the human beings today! A species whose members think absolutely the same and a species that can easily sacrifice tens of billions of people for a purpose can never become real human beings and does not deserve to be a civilization!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Li Yao’s thoughts gathered into countless burning meteorites that flew at the black sun.

However, they were blocked and absorbed by the wild tentacles of the black sun.

“Hehehehe. You are truly brazen. You’re just talking about useless things on the moral high ground!”

Wuying Qi chuckled in a low voice. “At the very least, I’ve devised the Next Sun Plan for the future of mankind. What about you? What can you do except sabotaging it like a naïve high school student? You are just an unhelpful hypocrite. Can you come up with a more reasonable solution than the Next Sun Plan to direct the future of mankind? How can you save mankind if you deny my plan but cannot offer a new one?”

“I have never believed that I’m the smartest of mankind, and I’m never interested in directing their future.”

Li Yao said casually, “However, if we’re talking about a crazy, stupid plan like Next Sun Plan, which is nothing more than a child’s play, I can easily come up with dozens of them in half a minute!

“You don’t believe me? Alright, I’ll waste five precious seconds and show you the most amazing computation and deduction abilities!

“Let me see… Got it. The greatest trouble that you think human beings are faced with is a lack of resources and solidarity, which can be solved by virtualization.

“Thanks to the progress in modern crystal processors and Spiritual Nexus, scanning human brains and digitalizing the souls are possible. I believe that very soon, human souls will be able to get rid of the limit of the brains and live in specially-designed crystal chips.

“By then, the consciousness of thousands of people can live on a tiny chip, and only the most essential organs on the body will be kept. In such a way, human beings’ demand for resources and the environment will be significantly lowered. They can live freely even far below the ground.

“Even more amazingly, human beings will barely die in this virtual world. Resources will be nothing but data, so selfishness won’t be a problem. Those who are unwilling to cooperate and share can establish their own space and enjoy it, while the others can focus on the development of civilization and the mysteries of the universe without worrying about material needs.

“I call the brand-new human beings ‘Spiriters’ and their world Spiriters’ Realm. When the new human beings intend to change the material world, they can choose to live in artificial bodies whose sizes can vary from a regular human to a starship or even a space fortress. Those facilities can be controlled by Spiriters. Even if they are destroyed, the Spiriters will be able to flee back to Spiriters’ Realm as long as the network is smooth.

“Such new human beings have better survival abilities and consume fewer resources. Their conflicts will be reduced. Also, they can hibernate during long-time space voyages, and they can infer the optimal strategies for their civilization in different virtual worlds. After they find the answer through thousands of attempts, they can implement it in the material world. It will be perfect!

“Well, this is a solution that I’ve come up with after five seconds of thinking. I’d like to call it the Virtualization Plan. It’s no worse than your Next Sun Plan, right?”

Wuying Qi was stunned.

“Well…”

He found it hard to believe. “Did you really come up with that just now?”

“Of course. How long do you think it should take? Ten years? No. It’s just a piece of cake for me!”

Li Yao said, “So, don’t presume that your brag is really something, or that human beings must be led by a lunatic like you. When I brag crazily, I’ll be a hundred times scarier than you! Come on, tell me honestly, is there any flaw in my solution? Why is it that your Next Sun Plan the only correct path and that my Virtualization Plan doesn’t work?”

Wuying Qi was deep in thought.

He could’ve crushed Li Yao with his overwhelming mental power, but violence would not convince everybody in the mind network. However, he had little time to locate the flaws in Li Yao’s elaborate narration.

“You’re speechless now, aren’t you?”

Li Yao sneered, “Actually, the Next Sun Plan that you devised after decades of hard work is as much crap as the Virtualization Plan that I came up with after ten seconds of thinking. You can’t find any flaw because flaws are all over them, which in a way makes them unflawed.

“Maybe both of the plans are somewhat practical for a millennium, but there will be infinite technical, ethical, and moral problems and risks when the plans are implemented. You will have to pay an enormous price and be prepared to seek remedies.

“Only by exploring, discussing, and testing again and again can we turn a plan on paper into reality and embrace tomorrow. The work cannot be accomplished overnight. It requires the wisdom, efforts, and acknowledgment of thousands of people! On the other hand, we can just talk about Next Sun Plan or Virtualization Plan irresponsibly without considering the actual consequences, but how are you going to overcome the technical conundrums or deal with the unexpected situations? Can you bear the responsibility if your plan doesn’t work in the end?

“All in all, you are a classic condescending madman who has more ambitions than abilities and who thinks he can save the world with a precious plan that he has come up with. However, as I have proven, I can easily come up with a dozen of such lousy plans in a minute. But am I arrogant? Do I consider myself a savior of the world? Am I as shameless as you? Why are you silent?”