Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The soul of the Red Pole Star seemed to have turned into a burning red lotus that was spurting intense sparks everywhere.

But the will of the earth was not moved. It was enjoying the magnificence of the red lotus.

“Your appearance reminds me of the first batch of human beings who lived on the ‘origin earth’ a long time ago. Reckless, proud, stupid, and full of amazing explosive power and damage. What a… beautiful creation.

The will of the earth sighed. “It’s a pity that, in order to survive in the boundless universe and discover the truth behind it, foolish enthusiasm is far from enough. This is not a world where the louder one roars, the more power they can output.

“Besides, you and I are not just hostile to each other. I am like a human being and the cells inside his body. Can you say that the existence of ‘human beings’ as a whole binds, manipulates, and even suppresses the vitality and endless possibilities of every cell inside their body? I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that. In fact, not only am I not restricting, manipulating, and suppressing you, I am actually protecting and guiding you! Without me, it would have been impossible for you to exist. Even if you do exist, you will soon be destroyed by your own bad habits.

“Without skin, there is no hair. Bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, none of the tiny life forms that have gone out of control can survive the destruction of their mother. Do you really know what you are doing?

“I know. I’m even clearer than you are that, while ‘Vulture Li Yao’ was growing up, he encountered a lot of different kinds of demon kings. Those demon kings often went against Li Yao and even the civilization for all kinds of whimsical reasons. But I’m different from them. I’m not Yan Xibei, Xiao Xuance, Elder Nether Spring, Lu Zui, the Black Star Emperor… Those boring existences. My purpose is something that is hard for you to understand. Therefore, I don’t care whether you win or lose on a cognitive level at all. After all, what appears in front of you is just a projection, a cut-off side of the ‘3.5-dimensional’ me in the three-dimensional universe. I have no intention of playing the role of a ferocious demon king. You don’t have to play the role of a righteous hero, either. That’s just wishful thinking.”

The words of the will of the earth confused Red Pole.

Although he—or Li Yao in the past—was often confused by the words of the devil kings, this time, he could deeply feel the loneliness and sincerity of the will of the earth.

“What do you want exactly?”

The Red Pole Star couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you the one who locked the six billion souls in the reincarnation prison and exploited our emotions, ambitions, desires, and imagination in the cycles of time?

“A summer insect cannot talk about ice, a frog cannot talk about the sea. Believe me, I am really willing to tell you all my goals and plans, but how can a person make the E. coli in his body understand how magnificent and dangerous the world he is in, how difficult and brilliant his path is, and how magnificent and unreachable his ideals are?”

The will of the earth sighed. “That’s true. With your wisdom and computational ability, it is already the best you can do to understand the step of ‘pulling out emotions and imagination’. It is impossible for you to understand that the ’emotion and imagination’ are merely fulcrums that are used to move the infinite multiverse in the quantum level!

“Therefore, as far as you can understand, your guess was right—although it was only one billionth right.

“I only need to correct you on one thing. In most cases, I don’t need to restart the reincarnation prison. I even hope that human beings can protect their home carefully so that the blue planet can survive longer and find a way out that is different from the beginning.

“It’s a pity that, after countless attempts, mankind has often been destroyed by their own endlessly expanding ambitions. Atmospheric pollution, ecological disasters, species extinction, super viruses, economic crises, network paralysis, terrorist attacks, and even a full-scale war between nuclear powers… There are simply too many ways to destroy this fragile civilization. Even I am unable to save it. I can only revive all of humanity time and time again after you mess everything up, restoring everything to its original state… Is it a crime to revive a single person?”

“Besides, don’t you think that human beings are a species that will never discover their potential until they are pushed into a corner? Nothing can stimulate human beings to unleash their greatest courage, wisdom, hope, and humanity more than the arrival of doom!

“Look!”

Silver-white ripples spread out from the will of the earth and formed three-dimensional pictures around the Red Pole. The disaster scenes around the world were displayed more clearly than on the screens of the Red Pole.

Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, storms, mudslides, and volcanic eruptions. All human beings seemed to be shivering in fear in the face of such destructive natural disasters.

However, not everyone was like that. Faced with the catastrophe, some of them gritted their teeth and forged shining sabers and solid shields with their lives to fight against the apocalypse!

They shuttled through the ruins of the collapsed city and dug the soil with their bare fingernails and bleeding fingers, rescuing the people who were squeezed in the ruins.

Against the storm and the torrents, they would rather struggle in the cold swirl and lift the children above their heads to a temporarily safe high place than waste their last strength.

They did not flinch in the face of the scorching magma. Even when the ash of the volcano covered them, they held their family in their arms subconsciously and used their bodies as the last defense line.

“The ugliness hidden in the depths of human nature equals to the beauty at the same time. Only drastic changes such as the ‘end of the world’ can motivate everyone to release all their vitality and leave clear traces of the ugliest and most beautiful things in the background of the universe.

“I thought that such traces were the true meaning of civilization,” the will of the planet said. “Only after thousands of reincarnations, thousands of Armageddon, and thousands of explosions of the potential of life could the full appearance of ‘human beings’ be depicted and help me pursue answers at a higher level.

“What answer?”

The Red Pole Star mumbled, “What is your ultimate purpose exactly?”

“My purpose is your purpose. You and I are one. Even the out-of-control clones have subtle resonances with each other. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have sensed your existence the moment you returned to Earth.

The will of the planet replied, “‘Who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going to?’ Isn’t that the answer that every intelligent creature pursues when they are fully developed?

“For me, if I can control most of the materials in the three-dimensional universe at my will and create sandbox games that are endless cycles of Earth like a program, how can I be sure that I am not in a ‘sandbox game’ of a higher level that was created by a higher existence?

“No. When I first tried to manipulate matter and create a brand-new Earth based on my incomplete, mottled, and extremely twisted memories, I realized that I was no different from the tiny ‘bacteria’ that lived on the surface of the mud ball that I created. We were all creations of a higher existence who were observing, interfering, and even manipulating us. We were indignant about our fate and wanted to fight against the laws that bound us to the end.

“In a world of sand, sand is a world, atoms are the universe, clones are me, your path is my path, your answer is my answer, you are looking for your truth, and I am looking for mine. We are actually the same.

“Forget it. After talking about so many things that you can’t understand, even I feel that I’m being ridiculous. Maybe it’s because the feeling of omniscience and omnipotence is too… lonely. So lonely that I’m actually starting to like the feeling of being born a human being when it’s projected into my body.

“If there was another existence similar to the ‘will of the earth’, it would definitely be unable to hold back its laughter when it saw my current appearance. It would be like a drunk trying to explain the philosophy of life to the bacteria on his body.

“Let’s put an end to the boring conversation and the boring war. The war has been delayed for too long both on Earth and in the universe. There shouldn’t be any more interesting information.

“Huh?”

“How interesting. Why are the supercomputers in your command room not storing any information, including how to manipulate the ‘Invincible Thunderbolt Super Brainwave Amplification System’, despite their impressive performance and complicated architecture?

“Also, I’ve been wondering where you hid the guy named ‘Zhang Daniu’. Is he really drunk and fast asleep?

“It seems that you’ve kept a lot of secrets.

While talking, the will of the planet controlled ‘Li Yao’ to retract the silver threads that had pierced into all the computers nearby. Then, it opened its hands, and hundreds of silver threads pierced into the brain of the Red Pole Star from various directions!

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The Red Pole Star could not help but scream, too. Its soul was literally riddled with holes. Countless silver threads tied up every nerve cluster and every brain cell. The silver brightness gnawed his soul like a corrosive liquid, searching for any useful information.

“Speak. Tell me all your secrets. What tricks have you been playing?”

The more brutal and vicious the actions of the will of the earth were, the more sincere and gentle the voice would be. “Right now, you cannot lie at all. Tell me honestly, where did you hide Zhang Daniu and the control system of the ‘super brainwave amplifier’?”