Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Our civilization paid such a high price that we finally transported our precious gene pool to the new, remote universe that was wreathed in overlapping folds of space.

The voice continued, “According to the normal sailing and colonization procedures, the spiritual puppets should unfreeze all our genes and breed a new generation of human beings. When they are still in the embryonic state, they will carve the wisdom and history of our civilization into the brains of the newborns. In such a way, the glory of our civilization will be restored within several hundred years.

“However, the enemy’s shadows have covered the entire Universe Ocean. Even if the Primeval Civilization is restored to its peak state, it is still not enough to compete with the enemy. Our civilization has been on the wrong path since the very beginning. Even before our civilization was born, when the earliest life began to evolve, we made a fatal mistake.

“The final height of a civilization does not depend on the hard work of the last tens of thousands of years, but rather, it depends on the choice of evolution in the beginning billions of years ago. This is a bit like the butterfly effect. The small mistakes made a long time ago have become irreparable defects after billions of years of superimposition and enhancement. On the other hand, a certain gene fragment inadvertently preserved billions of years ago might one day shine brilliantly and save the entire civilization.

“Maybe, when the ancient fungi were wandering in the boiling primitive ocean, the subtle changes of the membrane of their cells determined the efficiency of the absorption and utilization of cosmic rays for human beings billions of years later. Maybe, some newly-born multicellular creatures adopted a new way of reproduction. As their offspring, we will have ten times more reproductive ability billions of years later, too, and we will be able to build an army ten times larger than ours to resist the strong enemies in only several hundred years.

“All in all, the experts, scholars, and top experts of the Primeval Civilization have racked their brains in every field to achieve perfection. If such a perfect state is not enough to resist the enemy, there is only one way left.

“We will restart our civilization and excavate the possibilities that have been overlooked and abandoned in the billions of years of evolution. Starting from the spores and the embryos, we will modify and strengthen our civilization.

“In a very common terminology in the field of games, we have decided to cut off our civilization and retrain ourselves.

“Huh?”

Li Yao was dumbfounded.

“It is indeed a crazy, absurd plan with an extremely low success rate. But since we will be found by the enemy sooner or later, and we are no match for the enemy no matter how hard we train ourselves, isn’t it our only choice to restart our civilization and ‘cut off our training?”

The voice said, “This time, our civilization is not starting from scratch. Countless treasures are buried deep inside our genes, and we can be guided to a certain extent. Is there any reason why the new version of the Primeval Civilization cannot be stronger than version 1.0?”

Pictures popped up in Li Yao’s head again.

Countless translucent but broken starships arrived in the Pangu Universe and exploded in the most brilliant fireworks. Like burning dandelions, they threw billions of pieces of the gene pool into the universe and spread out.

“To ensure the possible diversity of new evolutions, we threw the ‘life capsules’ that stored a lot of gene banks to the harsh planets. Even the asteroid belts where life was theoretically impossible were filled with our seeds of life. Then, we built a ‘black wall’ with the natural features of the space folds and covered the entire Pangu Universe as a warm, comfortable, and safe incubator.

The voice said, “Our purpose is to produce ‘Primeval Civilization Version 2.0’, which is even stronger than us. We don’t care what you call your civilization. We don’t care what you look like or whether or not you have a fixed body of flesh and blood. We only have one requirement for you-we hope that you have more potential than us and give us a glimmer of hope to defeat the enemy.

“In order to test whether or not you really have potential, we will leave the primeval relics and the tower before your civilization is completely obliterated. I believe that you will definitely find this place when your civilization develops mature space navigation technology and has a profound understanding about cosmology and four-dimensional space science.

“If you pass the test and prove that you have the potential to defeat the enemy—the flood tide—then, we will acknowledge you as the out-and-out ‘Primeval Civilization Version 2.0’, our upgraded and strengthened version, and our most rightful heir. We will let go of all our legacies, including the detailed history of the Primeval Civilization, all our technological achievements, the genetic maps of the alien species that we conquered in space, the methods to travel through the four-dimensional space freely, and the methods to steer the four-dimensional storms, and even the super warships that we left behind… Everything will be yours.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the legacies will allow your civilization to soar for millions of years in only a hundred years.

“On the other hand, if you fail the ultimate test, there will be no need for you to waste your precious time and resources. Even if we don’t destroy you, you will destroy yourselves. Even if you don’t destroy yourselves, if you continue struggling hopelessly, the flood will arrive one day and wipe you out.

“If that’s the case, what’s the point of your existence? Why don’t you restart and give up your living space for the next generation of civilization? Do you agree?”

Li Yao felt that every ripple of his soul was turning into a drop of hot blood. All the blood was flooding into his brain, raising crimson tides.

He did not expect it to be like this!

Over a hundred generations of civilizations, the rise and fall of countless carbon-based intelligent life forms, countless impassioned and moving stories, countless touching and soul-stirring legends, and countless people’s laughter and free will turned out to be nothing more than ‘version upgrade tests’ that the Primeval Civilization carried out to strengthen itself.

“What do you think we are exactly? What do you think intelligent creatures with emotions and souls that are made of flesh and blood for generations?

Li Yao bellowed, “What’s the difference between you and a flood?”.

“If you encounter a real flood one day, you will know the difference.

The voice said.

The species that were willing to jump into the engine furnaces one after another in order to preserve their civilization were apparently the real space civilizations. The feelings of ordinary human beings had been obliterated a long time ago, but they had elevated their feelings into something deeper and purer. “Now, shall we continue the test?”

“If I refuse to take the damn test, or if the test results are not to your liking, you will destroy the civilization of mankind, won’t you?

Li Yao sneered.

“To be honest, I’m not very optimistic that you can pass the test, because your genes are so similar to ours that they are almost 100% replicas of ours. It will be difficult for you to discover and correct the mistakes that we’ve made before.

The voice said, “However, you are not the only tester today. Restarting the Pangu Universe depends on the performance of the other testers.”

More vivid pictures popped up in Li Yao’s brain.

He vaguely saw that the strongest Cultivator of the Pangu Clan, ‘Obliteration’, and the strongest Cultivator of the Nuwa Clan, ‘Long Lianzi’, had passed through the black stargate and entered the ultimate test, only to find that they were crouching in two bright gold, translucent fetuses as babies.

Lu Qingchen and the mental devil were also crouching in the two embryos in translucent, half-solid forms.

It was not hard to guess that his body of flesh and blood looked the same.

Li Yao even saw that Ding Lingdang, Long Yangjun, Boss Bai, Li Jialing, and the rest of them had broken into the tower and were approaching the black stargate.

“They’re here!”

Li Yao was suddenly alarmed. He couldn’t help but worry for Ding Lingdang and the rest of them. He didn’t know whether or not they could pass the tests of ‘Thunder Valley’, ‘weight ocean’, and ‘major avalanche’ and whether or not they could walk on the right path of evolution from the archaea to the apeman.

“If one of the testers passes the test, the entire legacy of the Primeval Civilization will fall into his hands.

The voice said, “Then, the future of the Pangu Universe will be decided by him.”

Li Yao was silent for a long time. Then he gnashed his teeth. “Come on. How do you want to test our potential?”

“It’s simple. You will first see the summary of the history of the Primeval Civilization in the era of planets and get a general understanding about our civilization. Then, it will be the first major crisis and turning point of our civilization. At that time, you will lead our civilization to survive in the boundless sea of stars as the leader of our civilization.

The voice said, “Of course, your performance is no better than that of the real civilization in the sea of stars, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t care about the outcome. We just want to see your choice clearly and infer your potential.

“Remember, when you make the wrong choice, you have three opportunities to correct yourself. I will give you three correct suggestions, but when you make the fourth mistake, you will be eliminated mercilessly. Do you understand?”

Wa

Li Yao’s fury turned into fighting will. The waves inside his brain condensed into a forest of coldly shining swords and spears. He said solemnly, “Understood. Come on!”

Hardly had his voice faded away when the sky changed color and the stars moved. The flow of time was ten thousand times faster. The canine teeth and hair of the tribesmen all fell off, making them taller, more beautiful, and more in line with the aesthetics of modern people. The rough stone axes and bone spears in their hands were replaced by bronze or even black iron weapons. On the ruins of caves and nests, magnificent metropolises rose up. The residents of the metropolises replaced the simple dry leaves and hides with glamorous robes and leather armor.

This was a real civilization!

“They are the first ancient civilizations that were born on our mother planet and the origin and prototype of the Primeval Civilization.

The voice said, “Different regions and species are known as the Sumerian Civilization, the Ancient Egyptian Civilization, the Indus River Civilization, the Huaxia Civilization, the Crete Civilization, the Olmec Civilization…”