Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

They passed a square that was blocked by barbed wires. In the square, many patients wearing gowns of blue stripes were enjoying the sunlight. They all had metal rings on their ankles and their necks. There were also sensors on their heads that outputted the data on their brainwaves all the time.

Most of the patients were calm. Basked in the warm sunlight, they stared at the ocean far away.

But some of the patients, whose eyes were hollow and bloodshot, paced back and forth and looked at the people around them maliciously. Such patients were all separated by barbed wires so that they would be alone in their space.

When Li Yao and Long Yangjun passed by, some patients kept watching the ocean, some mumbled something to the strangers, and some were laughing and howling at them while crouching next to the barbed wires like beasts.

Li Yao and Long Yangjun seemed to be passing through a discredited zoo that was full of hungry beasts.

“Are they all from the Covenant Alliance?” Li Yao asked Long Yangjun in a low voice.

“Not really. Those are regular psychopaths.”

Long Yangjun was amused by what she said. “However, the psychopaths that have been sent to Director Zhuge are hardly ‘regular’. They are mostly nefarious criminals and murderers. Only those who murdered dozens of people consecutively, killed their whole families, or poisoned all the children in a school without feeling guilty are qualified to be caged here. They are the real scumbags, demons in human skin, and more like apes than humans. All in all, don’t feel sorry for them at all. If you have read the files on the crimes that they committed, you would treat them ten times more cruelly than Director Zhuge does.

“Speaking of which, I kind of like those psychopaths. Normal people, bound by morals and society, often have to hide and even twist their real selves. The Cultivators have the Cultivators’ morals, and the Immortal Cultivators have their own. Everybody’s heart wears a mask, although the masks might have different appearances.

“Only those psychopaths, whose brains have been corrupted by extraterritorial devils and whose hearts have been liberated, can unleash their purest side without caring about anything. If Cultivation means finding out one’s real self, those people would probably be great Cultivators.

“Did you know that when the solar storm Wuying Qi raised swept across the whole Empyreal Terminus Sector, few people in the Third Research Institute—both the patients and the doctors—were hardly affected? Some of the severest patients had no reaction even though they were directly exposed to the brainwashing waves.

“A person cannot die twice, and a collapsed building cannot collapse again. A patient whose mind has completely collapsed can’t be brainwashed, can he?

“Comparing those psychopaths with the people of the Covenant Alliance is the greatest feature of the Third Research Institute. We always say that the people of the Covenant Alliance are inhumane lunatics, but we can hardly study them directly. We can only find another bunch of inhumane lunatics who are easier to find and study. By juxtaposing the two groups of lunatics and studying their similarities and differences, we can explore the mysteries of the Covenant Alliance with the psychopaths as a frame of reference. That’s Director Zhuge’s approach.”

Led by Long Yangjun, Li Yao finally found Zhuge Jinglun, the mental specialist who had been staying away from politics.

Zhuge Jinglun was a typical devoted researcher. His hair was even messier than Li Yao’s, and his filthy gown was stained with suspicious stains and fluids. There was no telling when he last washed his face because the wrinkles on his face were laden with dirt. He looked absolutely no different from the targets that he researched on outside.

Apparently, he was one of the researchers who were interested in nothing except their studies. No matter what happened outside or who became their boss, they wouldn’t even bother to bat an eye.

Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King, was one of the most awe-inspiring names in the Imperium, but when Long Yangjun introduced Li Yao to him, he greeted Li Yao simply and rubbed his hands, not knowing what to say.

He was closer to Long Yangjun, probably because Long Yangjun had been offering him funding and specimens since she held the power of the Association of Demon Hunters again. His eyes glowed the moment he saw Long Yangjun. Ignoring Li Yao, he asked, “President Dongfang, you’ve come at the best moment. We’ve just improved the Ring-Tu Test, and the accuracy has been increased by more than 2.5%. Would you like to take a look?”

He talked so proudly as if he were a big boy who just invented a new game.

“A new-generation Ring-Tu Test? Of course I would.”

Long Yangjun coughed and looked at Li Yao. “However, Director Zhuge, as I told you last time, ‘Dongfang Mingyue’ was a fake name that I used when I worked as a spy. My real name is Long Yangjun. You’d better call me ‘President Long’.”

“Of course, President Dongfang. Your name is Long Yangjun, right? Got it, President Dongfang!”

Zhuge Jinglun rubbed his hands in excitement. “This way please, President Dongfang and Black Wind King!”

Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other before they followed Zhuge Jinglun into the test area on the third floor underground.

Bound by the Path of Ultimate Benevolence, the people of the Covenant Alliance did not have feelings, but to sneak into the Imperium, they could simulate feelings vividly.

The Ring-Tu Test was exactly a method in mental studies to distinguish real feelings from simulated feelings. It was also the last defense line for the Imperium to resist the spies of the Covenant Alliance.

For hundreds of years, the Covenant Alliance had been revising their simulation techniques and deceiving the Ring-Tu Test for generations.

The Imperium, on the other hand, had been upgrading the Ring-Tu Test too, trying to make it keener and more accurate, so that it could distinguish the spies of the Covenant Alliance that were hiding among the normal people.

Zhuge Jinglun brought Li Yao and Long Yangjun to a mirror whose back was transparent. On the other side of the mirror was a test room where the researcher and the test-taker were seated.

The researcher was a young man who was wearing a gentle smile.

The test-taker, on the other hand, was a ferocious middle-aged man who had a beer belly.

The researcher typed on his mini crystal processor and smiled at the test-taker now and then, indicating that he was well-trained.

The test-taker, however, was bound to his seat by metal ropes, agitated and uneasy. His hollow eyes emitted beastly light now and then while he growled.

The desk between the two of them was an enormous tablet where abstract patterns that looked like colorful swirls were changing splendidly all the time.

Illuminated by the colorful tablet, the cold wall and the white ceiling looked like the brain of a psychopath.

Those colorful patterns were exactly Ring-Tu.

“Sorry, but I cannot cancel those messy spots of light.”

The researcher finally finished typing the last rune on his mini crystal processor. He rubbed his neck and smiled at the test-taker apologetically. “You’re not dazzled, are you? Tell me, what do they look like?”

“What the f*ck is the meaning of this?”

Like a trapped beast, the test-taker asked warily, “Has the test begun? Is this part of the test and I have to say it? Huh?”

“No, no, no. Don’t be anxious. Relax. Just relax. This is—”

The researcher opened his hands and said, “This is just a regular examination. You know that this is the best asylum of the Imperium, and you’re lucky to be sent here with all the crimes you committed. However, we have to ensure that you do not harm other people. Therefore…

“Look, I don’t know what those light spots and patterns are either. It’s the work of the obnoxious people above me who think they’re smart. My job is to turn on the switch and ask whoever sits before me questions every day. Then, you’ll enjoy the sunlight and the ocean, and I’ll go home after work. Simple as that. This is just my duty. Let’s just get it over with, alright? Relax. Take a deep breath and be ready to answer questions. Okay?”

The test-taker murmured again and nodded unwillingly.

The researcher smiled and turned on another piece of mini magic equipment on the desk that looked like a combination of a magnifier and a telescopic sight. Through the device, the test-taker’s eyeballs, as well as the reflections in them, could be clearly seen.

“What’s that? What the f*ck is that?”

The test-taker grew anxious again.

“Relax. Relax. It’s just an… unimportant gadget. I’ve been working in this room for three years, and I never care what it is exactly. Let’s just ignore it and get going, shall we?”

Clearing his throat, the researcher asked, “The first question. Imagine that you see a green wasp on the back of your hand when you unintentionally raise your arm, what will you do?”