Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao watched everything in bewilderment.

He did not know whether it was a real picture of the primeval era or an exaggerated depiction of a symbol. In short, the tentacles that extended out of the void tied up the immigration starships one after another. No matter how the particle cannons and vacuum torpedoes of the starships attacked, it did not care. Instead, all the starships, together with the Primeval Lord of Heaven, were dragged into the purple gap.

Then, Li Yao’s vision seemed to have turned into a bizarre dream. In the middle of the surging tides that were as splendid as a kaleidoscope, he saw an enormous monster that seemed to have occupied half of the sea of stars. It had ten thousand tentacles and a hundred million translucent organs that looked like eyes. They were emitting vague brightness and were filled with inexplicable weirdness and fear.

Then, the colorful pieces condensed again, and the chaotic space and time were stabilized again. The migration fleet of the Primeval Lord of Heaven was brought to a brand-new world, a ‘paradise’ that was full of spiritual energy and crystals and inexhaustible energy!

“This—this is—”

Li Yao’s soul was shivering in excitement, as if he could taste the endless spiritual energy in the picture. “What is this?”

“As you can see, it is a foreign species that can jump freely in the four-dimensional space. We call them ‘Void Hunters’.

The voice explained, “Although the ‘Primeval Civilization’ was one of the earliest civilizations to be born in the sea of the universe, we are not the first intelligent creatures to be born. Long before us, countless intelligent alien species were born in the natural paradises where the spiritual energy was abundant, forming a giant ‘cosmic ecosphere’. The Void Hunters were one of them.

“However, although they wasted billions of years, they did not create a highly developed civilization. Most of the alien species in space were ignorant animals who lived on instinct like the ‘Void Hunters’. Their IQ could not have been higher than that of a seven-year-old child. Only a few alien species in space developed a society with slavery.

“Why?”

Li Yao found it hard to believe that a civilization had not developed despite billions of years of precious time despite the abundant spiritual energy and the enlightenment of preliminary wisdom!

“On the ancient Earth, many species thrived for billions of years and resisted multiple mass extinctions. They were known as ‘living fossils’, such as turtles, crocodiles, and cockroaches, but they never developed wisdom or civilization.

The voice said, “The bottom line is, the so-called ‘civilization’ is not necessary for life, and evolution is definitely not an eternal path. The so-called ‘evolution’ is just a helpless evolution resulting from the drastic changes of the environment.

“Life is a very lazy thing. As long as the environment hasn’t changed much and it can survive, it will never think of changing or evolving.

“Take turtles, crocodiles, and cockroaches for example. They are the kings of their respective fields, or the top predators at the top of the food chain, or they boast unparalleled defense and unbelievable survival ability. They don’t need wisdom or civilization. They can live a good life and pass on their genes, too.

“Therefore, what motivation do they have to change and ‘evolve’?

“The same goes for the Void Hunters. You can simply imagine them as giant octopuses that boast the ability to jump in the sea of stars and survive in vacuum. They chase after the meteorites and asteroids that contain mother lodes of crystals in the vast sea of stars by instinct, extend their tentacles out of the space crevices, tie up the meteorites, and absorb the energy inside the crystals with the specially-constructed negative-pressure suckers. Such instincts have allowed them to reproduce comfortably in the center of the sea of stars for billions of years. Their enormous size and unpredictable abilities make them invincible. Even if they run into enemies that they cannot afford to mess with, they can always crawl into the four-dimensional space and run away to millions of lightyears away. What can wisdom and civilization do for them?

Li Yao thought carefully for a long time.

He had to admit that the voice was right.

A creature born in a natural paradise with abundant spiritual energy who was born with the ability to absorb crystals, absorb energy, and cruise in the air did not need to develop an intelligent civilization.

Just like the children of rich and powerful families, there was no need for them to work hard.

Only human beings, the hairless monkeys from the Spiritless Space, who crawled and struggled to survive, the weak and pitiful primates, had the need to evolve into super intelligent beings and create a prosperous civilization.

“Then—”

Li Yao felt that his mouth was dry. “All the remaining immigration starships were brought to the ‘paradise’ in the center of the universe by the ‘Void Hunter’? Didn’t it swallow you?”

“Part of it.”

The voice said, “The Void Hunters are the most adept voyagers in the sea of stars. They are born with the ability to perceive the shadow ripples when a four-dimensional storm is projected into the three-dimensional universe. With the shadow ripples, they can create fleeting wormholes and perform super long-distance space jumps to chase after the erratic meteoroid showers and resource planets.

“The Void Hunter, on the other hand, sensed the exhaust flames released by the immigration starship and regarded our fleet as a meteoroid belt that contained abundant energy. That was why it showed up in the four-dimensional space and swallowed us.

“However, as you may have discovered, at that time, our fleet of immigrants was running out of ammunition and food. There was barely any fuel left in the fuel warehouse. The ‘Void Hunter’ crushed and swallowed three immigration starships. Finding that it could not squeeze out much energy except for the rusted garbage, it gave up eating.

“Although it did not evolve into a civilization in the truest sense, the Void Hunters were, after all, an intelligent species that had thrived in the center of the universe for billions of years. Very soon, it discovered that the Primeval Beings inside the starship were actually a tiny life form, too.

“At that time, in the center of the universe, there was a standard to determine the strength of life and the risk.

“Basically, the thicker the spiritual energy stored inside the body, the more proficient one is in manipulating spiritual energy, and the stronger one is, the more dangerous one is.

“Although the Primeval Lord of Heaven has been exposed to a few crystals that fell from space on Earth and practiced preliminary techniques, we are still new to the technology and barely know anything about it. Most of the propulsion systems, including the starships we are on, are based on chemical energy and atomic energy, too.

“The Void Hunters cannot understand our complicated social form and civilization, nor can they perceive the potential and danger behind our feeble appearance, nor do they understand the advanced technology and complicated industrial system that our starship represents. In their eyes, we are just... harmless bugs.

“Harmless bugs?”

Li Yao couldn’t help but laugh.

Human beings, the toughest species in the sea of stars, had been mistaken for bugs by a giant octopus. How interesting.

“The Void Hunters regard us as ants. It doesn’t matter whether we are stomped to death or ignored.

The voice said, “But for the survivors of the Primeval Clan, the appearance of the Void Hunters is tantamount to an apocalypse. Our world view and scientific outlook have been shattered. The endless surging spiritual gas in the natural paradises that are coming at us makes our survival instincts, which are on the verge of extinction, expand again and unleash the fiercest flames.

“All the survivors immediately took action and racked their brains to figure out how to survive in such a weird and fertile environment.

“Not long after, a few wise men whose brains had evolved greatly and could amplify and release brainwaves freely found a solution. They tried everything they could to reach an agreement with the Void Hunters. The two parties formed a harmonious symbiotic relationship, and the Primeval Lord of Heaven turned into the ‘biotics’ and ‘parasites’ of the Void Hunters.

“Well—”

Li Yao was dazed. “How is that possible?”

“The Void Hunters are travelers who travel in the vast universe by themselves. They don’t have a sense of community or society. However, during the long, desolate journey, they inevitably feel lonely and bored, too. Since they often travel in the four-dimensional space and tear apart their neurons, their nerves will be affected eventually.

The voice continued, “In order to survive, a special profession named ‘Dream Maker’ was born in the Primeval Lord of Heaven. It performed ‘soul massages’ on the Void Hunters with its complicated brainwaves and weaved all kinds of glamorous dreams. Naturally, the Void Hunters could not understand the memories and feelings of the Primeval Lord of Heaven, but the bizarre dreams that poured into their nerves made them feel very comfortable, as if they were being tickled.

“Just like that, the Primeval Lord of Heaven parasitized the Void Hunters and managed to survive with the ‘remnants’, or fragments of crystals, that it leaked out of their tentacles. The Void Hunters, on the other hand, massaged our hearts with our abundant emotions and imagination to eliminate the loneliness of the long journey and the side effects of space jumps.

“The symbiosis seems to be very harmonious, but there are subtle dangers in it.

“One day, when the Dream Makers on a starship were performing the ‘soul massage’ for the Void Hunters, their starship was suddenly minced into pieces by the Void Hunters. The millions of survivors who managed to reach the center of the universe perished on the spot.

“The rest of the survivors were greatly shocked. They did not know how they had pissed off the Void Hunters.

“It was not until almost ten million people on the other four starships were casually killed by the Void Hunters that the remaining people gradually came back to themselves. It was because the ‘dreams’ that the Dream Makers on the starships created for the Void Hunters were too outdated and boring. They were repeated too many times that the Void Hunters grew impatient.

“It was the most humiliating and dangerous moment for the Primeval Civilization.

“In order to survive, the Primeval Beings had to rack their brains and weave beautiful, brilliant dreams in order to help the Void Hunters scratch their itch. They could not stop for a moment and had to send out the most interesting brainwaves every second. When the brainwaves were dull and lackluster, it was the day of the total destruction of an immigration starship!