Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Song Guanghe is definitely not deranged. Besides, it was impossible for the Covenant Alliance to let a psychopath command the troops on a resource planet. His head is very clear, his logic is impeccable, and he remembers everything from his past.”

Zhuge Jinglun explained to Li Yao, “He remembers his childhood and his youth as a noble in the Imperium, he remembers his wife and his three children, and he even remembers how he was modified in the Covenant Alliance, but he has converted himself to the Path of Ultimate Benevolence and completely cut himself from his past.

“Have a talk with him. It will be fun. I’m sure that you’ll have a better understanding of the Covenant Alliance.”

Li Yao met this Colonel Song Guanghe in a secret prison in the deepest part of the Third Research Institute.

The colonel left quite a good first impression on Li Yao. He was a tiny, graceful, and handsome man, wearing the hospital gown as if it were a military uniform.

He did not look as indifferent and heartless as the Covenant Alliance people up above. Instead, there was a warm and sunny smile on his face.

However, it was just an illusion.

According to Zhuge Jinglun, one nurse and one researcher had been deceived by the warm smile and killed by Colonel Song Guanghe.

Nobody saw that coming. The nurse and the researcher were unimportant. He couldn’t escape even if he killed them. Besides, they did not torture him at all. In fact, they had been taking care of him. Nobody knew why he killed them.

After killing two innocent people in a row, Colonel Song Guanghe’s cell was completely locked. Even the air would be filtered before it was transmitted into the room. The wall of the room was transparent on the outside so that everybody could see what Colonel Song Guanghe was doing but he could not see what was going on outside.

When Li Yao saw Song Guanghe, he was watching a soap opera with his hands on his knees like an obedient child. It was one of the programs designed for housewives and full of family dramas and struggles.

He didn’t have a choice. As part of the study, Zhuge Jinglun played emotionally-stimulating stuff for him every day, hoping to detect abnormalities in his brainwaves.

But Song Guanghe’s brainwaves were utterly unchanged although he was watching it wholeheartedly, as if he were staring at an empty wall.

On the nightstand nearby were a few novels and poem collections. Zhuge Jinglun did not want to give him access to crystal processors, so the novels and poem collections were rarely-seen in paper books. The smell of ink made the small prison cell smell fragrant.

It was another test.

But pitifully, though Song Guanghe read the novels and poems with great interest, his mind was absolutely tranquil.

“Colonel Song, I’ve brought a guest to you, a real big shot.”

Through the broadcasting rune array, Zhuge Jinglun spoke to the prison cell.

“He would like to ask you a few questions, and if you answer them well, I may consider improving your living conditions and giving you a bigger room.”

Song Guanghe watched for another half minute. It was not until the two women on the screen finished their fight that he finally moved his eyes back and slowly rose.

Although he could not see what was going on outside, his eyes were fixated on Li Yao through the wall.

“Director Zhuge, just call me Song Guanghe. It has been a long time since I was a colonel.”

Song Guanghe smiled. “I would like to answer any questions from the honorable guest, but a different cell is unnecessary. You won’t change a room for me. You just want to see me burst into rage.

“Besides, this is a nice place. Human beings are just grains of dust in the vast universe, and this room is spacious enough for a grain of dust.”

Zhuge Jinglun looked at Li Yao and whispered, “Do you see how weird the group of Ultimate Benevolence is?”

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao said straightforwardly, “Colonel Song Guanghe, greetings. I’m very interested in the Covenant Alliance and the Path of Ultimate Benevolence. I’m even seeking another way apart from war to settle the conflicts between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance.

“Just now, I saw you watching a TV series that involves love and affairs. What do you think of it?”

“Not bad at all, my honorable guest.”

Song Guanghe kept smiling. “It’s very interesting.”

“Very interesting?”

Li Yao asked in surprise, “How interesting? Can it touch your mind?”

“For example, we know that ants can construct a social system by communicating with each other through their antenna.”

Song Guanghe said, “Assuming that we’re ants, we’ll be able to sense a lot of information through our antenna. We can feel the valiance and the fury of the ants. The battle of two groups of ants will be like a war between two countries. Too many epic heroes and unscrupulous villains will emerge. The legend might even be sung over for generations.

“Alas, we’re not ants but humans. So, when we see the battle of two groups of ants under a tree, we’ll find it interesting, but it’s impossible for us to understand the heroes, the villains, and the legends of ants, right?

“It’s the same for me. When I watch the TV series where two females are fighting over a male, it’s like you watching two groups of ants battle. It’s interesting, but nothing more.”

If Song Guanghe could hear him, Li Yao would love to blow a whistle for him.

The group of Ultimate Benevolence was indeed different from the bottom-level Covenant Alliance people. They had their own logic that would not be rectified easily.

“Then…”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao asked, “If the TV series cannot touch you, what about you in the past? Director Zhuge says that you remember your wife and your children very well. You can’t feel anything special about them? How do you view yourself from the past?”

“Ah, myself from the past.”

The smile on Song Guanghe’s face was unchanged, as if it had been branded on him. He slowly shook his head and said, “It was truly a period of darkness that I would rather not look back at. Affected by the extraterritorial devils, my animal instincts, and the crazy people around me, I was mired in the swamp of sins.

“At that time, I was greedy about power. I craved for the appreciation of the experts, plotted against my partners, and exploited the weaklings.

“I killed my best friend for the leadership of a legion in my family. I married a woman I did not know in order to be promoted. I trained my children in the most extreme ways and asked them to take part in the most dangerous trials for my vanity, and my youngest child died because of that.

“Addicted to power and enslaved by the extraterritorial devils, I even slaughtered five hundred innocent villagers and pretended that they were the soldiers of the Covenant Alliance. I had to do that because it was what almost all the noble officers did.

“Sins. The boundless sins make me shudder in fear. I really don’t know why I felt so comfortable when I was in a black swamp!

“Thankfully, all the sins are gone. The Ultimate Benevolence Masters have taught me the real truth and given me a chance to atone for my sins. Finally, I have found inner peace.

“Honorable guest, you must be an Immortal Cultivator too, aren’t you? If so, you must be mired in the swamp of sins like I was in the past. I hope that you can realize your sins, get rid of the swamp, and find the ultimate peace that belongs to you one day.”

Li Yao’s eyes twitched. “Ultimate peace? Is it the reason why you killed the nurse and the researcher?”

“Yes, I sensed sins from them.”

Song Guanghe said casually, “But more importantly, I saw that they still had a conscience and they were struggling in the black swamp not knowing how to get away, so I gave them a hand and led them to eternal peace.”

“Don’t you think it’s against their wish?”

Li Yao asked, “You were brainwashed against your wish when you were captured, weren’t you? What do you think of that? Do you not think that a man has the right to decide which path they should walk on?”

“If a man wants to cut his wrist, would you not kick the dagger in his hand away ‘against his wish’?”

Song Guanghe asked back. “If a man is hanging himself, would you not take him down ‘against his wish’? If someone is struggling in a fire pit, would you not save him until you ask him politely for his permission?

“Freedom? What freedom? Do human beings really should have the freedom to harm their bodies, to take drugs, to squander resources, or to brutalize one another?

“In the past, I was like a drug addict who waved a sharp blade in an abyss full of fire and venom, hurting myself, other people, and the whole universe. The Ultimate Benevolence Masters saved me and pulled me out of the abyss ‘against my wish’. I was definitely forced, but isn’t such force helpful and necessary?”