Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1581
"So, human beings are fundamentally the same as the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan. They are just the different appearances of the same carbon-based intelligent life. As long as you want, you will be an out-and-out human being. I believe that even if some of the people find you unacceptable, dreadful, or even detestable temporarily, most people will accept you, trust you, and support you given time. At least I can!"
Long Yangjun scorned, "Childish."
"Childish… It's indeed somewhat childish, but you are thinking exactly the same somewhere deep inside your heart, aren't you?"
Li Yao continued staring at Long Yangjun. "You are unwilling to live in loneliness forever as an 'alien'. You crave to meet your own kind, communicate with your own kind, and speak out all your secrets. That's the reason why you talked so much to me just now.
"In the boundless sea of stars, nobody is a lone island. Everybody yearns for communication, sharing, and living together with their own kind. I am not an exception, and neither are you.
"If you are as proud and indifferent as you claim to be, you shouldn't have told anybody anything. No, no, no, you shouldn't have shown it to me in the very beginning! We could've minded our own business and explore our respective secrets and origins. Wouldn't that have been great and safe?"
Long Yangjun's pupils constricted violently, as if her most sensitive concern had been brought up. There was even killing intent as she was embarrassed and infuriated by Li Yao.
"Make no mistake. I'm glad that you regarded me as a friend and were willing to talk to me, which also gave me an opportunity to chat with a friend and relax myself, sharing secrets with each other."
Li Yao did not respond to Long Yangjun's killing intent at all. With his hands open, he said aloud, "Trust me. Publicizing the so-called secrets won't be a big deal. In many cases, you are just scaring yourself.
"Just now, you said that the Pangu civilization sealed themselves because of extreme fear, and they probably had never even seen the real appearance of the Flood. But aren't you the same? Out of the fear for the unknown and the mistrust for other people, you have completely sealed yourself and only show up in public under the false masks such as 'Lead Eunuch Wang Xi', 'Dongfang Mingyue', or 'Serenity Seraph'. Only when you are with me, a monster who is almost as peculiar as yourself, can you slightly let loose of yourself and allow the real Long Yangjun to surface and catch her breath. Is such a life not tiresome and boring? Is it really fun?
"Now, I have already made up my mind to change myself and everything. Are you willing to follow me?
"Just follow up, Long Yangjun! Even Xiaoming and Wenwen, the creatures who were born not long ago and who are much weirder than you, are bold enough to admit their identities after the meticulous calculations. Are you not even as courageous as Xiaoming and Wenwen? You daren't face your real self when you are intrepid enough to fight Blackstar the Great for three hundred rounds?"
His questions that were like a torrent that had just broken the dam obviously collapsed Long Yangjun's confidence. Her eyes were rolling, and her breath was in disorder.
"You do not need to answer me right now. Just tell me the answer tomorrow."
Li Yao went on, "I'm going to find Boss Bai and the Fist King now and ask them to share the most secret intelligence openly too. Then, we will build up the super invincible gold team—the 'partnership of pyromaniacs'! Of course, I'll be the first one to talk, about Earth, about the dreams, and about myself!
"'Vulture Li Yao' couldn't have walked to this day without my trustworthy friends! I believe that my friends won't disappoint me this time. And you, you won't disappoint me, either!
"You must come to the meeting where we will establish the 'partnership of pyromaniacs' and honor our friendship tomorrow. You can speak last if you want. I'll be waiting for you!"
Li Yao ran faster and faster and disappeared before Long Yangjun could say no.
Long Yangjun was left stunned below the artificial moon for a long time. Kicking a pebble below her feet, she murmured, "… What an idiot!"
Chapter 2488: Forum of the Eccentrics |
The next day in the morning, the artificial sun was shining, and the air was filled with a pleasant fragrance. When Boss Bai, the Fist King, and Long Yangjun gathered again for the meeting, they discovered that Li Yao had arrived earlier and that the meeting room had been redecorated into a whole different atmosphere.
Flowers and fruits were on the table. Xiaoming and Wenwen were standing at the door, wearing ribbons and greeting them with "welcome, welcome!" and with rigid faces. A red, eye-catching banner was also flying on the top of the meeting room, which said "The Forum of the Advanced Eccentrics of the Pangu Universe".
Boss Bai, the Fist King, and Long Yangjun looked at each other in bewilderment, lost for words. It was not until a long time later that Boss Bai finally spoke on behalf of them, "Li Yao, what the heck is this supposed to mean?"
"This is a theme that I've come up with for the meeting!"
Li Yao greeted them with an affable smile and explained, "The so-called 'Pangu universe' refers to the three thousand Sectors that are surrounded by the infinite black wall. 'Three thousand worlds' is a narrow, ambiguous phrase. Since the Cultivation civilization has three thousand Sectors, it is possible that the wizardly civilization is made of a lot of worlds too. 'Pangu universe', on the other hand, is much more accurate. I suggest we refer to our hometown with this phrase in the future."
"No, the Pangu universe is not a big deal, but what do you mean by 'eccentrics'?"
Boss Bai glared at him. "You are eccentric!"
"Compared to the… regular residents of the Pangu universe, I'm indeed somewhat eccentric."
Li Yao said casually, or rather, shamelessly. "Not only am I eccentric, but everybody here is slightly off the track too. This is the reason why we are gathered here and the focus of our meeting today!
"Come on, let's take a seat and cut to the chase. I talked to you guys in person last night. I believe everybody understands the importance of candor right now.
"First of all, no matter what advanced eccentrics we are, the strength of the individuals is always limited when faced with the overwhelming universe. Even if we bury our secrets in our hearts and somehow become a hundred times stronger, it will still be barely enough to resist the cold, dark universe and to realize our dreams on our own.
"I need the help of each and every one of you, and I believe that there will always be a time when you need my help.
"Besides, we are all smart guys with remarkable computational abilities. Even if a certain someone doesn't tell, can't other people guess it out? Here, hasn't Boss Bai guessed the Fist King's identity, and the Fist King guessed that we are from a certain country of Cultivators outside of the Imperium? Thankfully, the two of you were rational enough to not burst into real conflicts, but it is inevitable that you are slightly wary and concerned, isn't it? As time goes by, and when the situation changes, will the wariness and the concerns expand into a real chasm and lead to a real conflict?
"Boss Bai, Long Yangjun, the two of you escaped from the federation one after another. Your identities have been exposed. There is no reason to keep it a secret from the… poor eccentrics here when everybody in the federation knows it, right?
"I'm the same. I have grown from an unknown scavenger in the magical equipment graveyard into a strong, dominating, unparalleled superhero that is admired by everyone. It is only reasonable that you are skeptical about my unbelievable performance, right?"
"Enough."
Boss Bai said coldly, "Boss Bai does not need to hide anything from anybody. Don't think of me as such a cowardly and stealthy person!"
"I agree."
The Fist King also said calmly, "Regarding your proposal, I inferred hundreds of times last night. It is true that exposing my secrets will result in more risk, but taking the returns of the tighter cooperation, the risk will be worth it."
"That's great. Then, let's reintroduce ourselves!"
Li Yao picked up an apple and bit it hard, with the juice splashing everywhere. Looking at the hole on the incomplete apple, he finally made up his mind and said, "I, Vulture Li Yao, as you know, am from Floating Spear City of the Star Glory Federation. Fist King, this used to be the secrets of the few of us, but it is now your secret too. I hope that you can understand our trust for you.
"You must know most of my experiences. However, the secret that I have never told anyone except for my wife is—I've been having a weird dream since childhood, one about Earth and one where 'witchcraft' and 'ABCD' showed up. That dream is perhaps the source of my strength!"
Li Yao briefly described his dream about Earth and concluded, "I don't know what happened exactly. Was a certain 'earthling' teleported to the Star Glory Federation, possessing the body of a dying infant in the federation, or was it only certain… information waves from the Earth that traveled through time and space and got received by an infant in the federation?
"I'll have to ask your advice on the matter."
Everybody listened quietly, not saying anything at this moment but caught in deep thought.
It was not exactly because possession or information transmission was unusual. In a world of Cultivation, bizarre things such as possession, reincarnation, memory transplantation, and memory superimposition were happening on a daily basis. Even Boss Bai was sort of reborn through possession too.
Li Yao had grown into one of the few best experts at the edge of the Pangu universe after only a hundred years naturally because of many fortuitous factors.
However, the so-called "Earth", a center where multiple civilizations gathered, and the "Vulture Plan" to destroy it were too mysterious and thought-provoking.
When the Earth and the Flood were combined, even the Fist King's or Xiaoming and Wenwen's computational abilities were not enough to support the complicated deductions.
"Let's not complicate a simple question. Let's consider this… Earth is to be located at a dimension beyond the Pangu universe. A strong life in the dimension named 'Earthling Li Yao' dissected, compressed, and packed all the information that made up his life before sending it to our Pangu universe. Then, the information was received by your young brain."
Boss Bai pondered for a moment and said, "This high-dimension space named Earth, as a center of civilizations, is very likely to be an asylum where many civilizations hide from the Flood together. So, it will be perfectly reasonable that both Cultivation and witchcraft can be found there."
"No."
The Fist King said, "If Earth is truly an asylum to dodge the Flood, why must it be a 'high-dimensional space'? Why can't it be a 'low-dimensional space'?
"Imagine a two-dimensional life that does not have thickness. As long as it is vertical to our eyes, it will be invisible for us, and it will be in a perfect shelter.
"In other words, when a high-dimensional life observes a low-dimensional life, there will always be blind angles during the observation. Then, assuming that the survivors of the civilizations are determined to avoid the Flood, it will be safer to lower their dimensions and hide in the blind angles of the Flood, won't it?
"That is to say, with the three-dimensional universe we are at as the standard, Earth is very likely to be a world of a lower dimension—maybe a two-dimensional world. Evidence? The evidence is that the earthlings cannot Cultivate or use witchcraft. It is possible that their abilities are restricted when they lower their dimension. They can only reminisce about their abilities through fantasies."
"That still doesn't make sense."
Fascinated, Long Yangjun couldn't help but join the discussion. "If Earth is just a 'two-dimensional asylum', it still can't explain Li Yao's Vulture Plan. Why must he destroy Earth?
"It was mentioned in the weird dreams that countless civilizations were 'confined' to Earth in some sort of infinite loop, which was repeated generation after generation meaninglessly. What does that mean exactly?"
"Wait, just wait a moment."
Li Yao hurried to drag the topic back. "Until we find more intelligence and evidence, we won't reach anything on those impractical topics. Let's go back to our main theme just now. I'm already done. Who's up next?"
"Let me. I've got nothing to hide. Whoever finds me unacceptable is free to duel with me!"
With a sullen face, Boss Bai said, "My name is Bai Xingjian. I am… mixed with the souls of two people, one named Bai Xinghe and the other named Yan Xinjian. No, perhaps there are still rats. The souls of five hundred rats. This is my story…"
Boss Bai introduced his life.
How shameless Yan Xinjian was in the beginning, how painfully he had struggled, how he commanded the army of space pirates to crush the fleet of the Cultivators, and how he met his karma when he tried to advance into the Divinity Transformation Stage, ending his atrocious life under the curse of his wife. Eventually, he became five hundred rats, suffering the half-alive and half-dead torture.
Then, it was about how Bai Xinghe watched Xiao Xuance, "leader of all Cultivators", killed his parents, how he ended up on Spider Den, how he explored the dark, perilous underground fortresses under the coercion of the space pirates, how he rose step by step full of wrath and hatred, and how he turned around and died with the formidable enemy for his son Bai Kaixin.
Eventually, the two unpardonable souls encountered in the darkness below the ground. After years of fermenting and condensing, they finally broke out of the ground and found the body of a newly-dead boy named "Mouse Bai". Reincarnating inside the body, the new-generation Boss Bai began his journey!
"I am certainly not a good guy. By either the standard of the federation or that of the Imperium, I'm a ferocious and monstrous bandit. So, if anyone wants to seek revenge from me or cut my head to claim bounties, it will be perfectly understandable."
Finishing his life story calmly, Boss Bai narrowed his eyes and looked around before he said, "However, whoever wants to kill me must be prepared to be killed by me. Until my dream is realized, I will not die. Nobody and nothing can possibly stop me from marching to the higher dimensions!"
Chapter 2489: Who's the Master of the Universe? |
Everybody fell silent after hearing what Boss Bai said.
Except for Li Yao, all of them were rather shocked.
Possession and reincarnation were not rare, but splitting the soul into five hundred pieces, storing them inside the bodies of mice, and luckily escaping after a hundred years of self-brutalization was too incredible!
Long Yangjun couldn't help but glance at Li Yao, finally understanding what he meant by "eccentrics".
"It's my turn next."
The Fist King said, "Lei Zonglie is not my real name. I do not have a name. I… am not a human being, but a machine."
In the calmest tone, the Fist King quietly depicted his struggle and survival, and how he studied on the Land of Sins in the past hundreds of years, including how he spent a long time inside a forsaken library of human beings and gradually awakened his first wisdom there.
He mentioned almost all the things that he never had the opportunity to in his entire life. In the end, he summarized, "I used to think that 'machine' was my entirety. Little did I expect that the wizardly chip that Boss Bai brought over would open up new possibilities for me. The more I studied the wizardly chip, the more I felt that something in my fundamental data was simmering with impatience and about to burst out, like grass sprouting again in the broken ice after a cold winter.
"In the past, I did not know what my real destiny was, or what I was going to do after I became the strongest in the universe, but now, I have come to the understanding that if my origins are indeed from the wizardly civilization, I'm bound to find the relics and the survivors of the wizardly civilization. Perhaps I will need to face the Flood or go to Earth, the mysterious world in Li Yao's dream, together with him."
"We're the same."
Before the Fist King finished, Xiaoming and Wenwen, who had similar life forms to him, shouted, "Our births were probably concerned with Earth too. So, we naturally need to find Earth, look for the origins of our lives, and perfect our life forms. What if all the earthlings look exactly like us? It would be great if we could find six billion partners!"
After everybody confessed their identity, they all focused their eyes on Long Yangjun.
Long Yangjun's countenance was erratic as she lowered her head, deep in thought for a long time. When she accidentally raised her head, what she saw, however, were the encouraging eyes of Xiaoming and Wenwen.
Long Yangjun was slightly dazed. The corners of her lips rose, as if she were laughing at her own timidity. Taking a deep breath, she said slowly, "My name is Long Yangjun. I am an… ancient person."
"We know that."
Boss Bai said, "Being from the Ancient Sages Sector that is covered in the dark nebula, you naturally count as an 'ancient person', which is too rare among us so many 'eccentrics'. Why are you so cautious, Fellow Cultivator Long?"
"No."
Long Yangjun said expressionlessly, "When I said that I was an 'ancient person', I did not mean that I was from the Ancient Sages Sector, but that I was from an earlier time, the primeval age hundreds of thousands of years ago."
Under the eyes of the stunned Boss Bai and the sparking Fist King, Long Yangjun told her story unhurriedly.
Of course, it also included her speculations on the primeval war, the threat of the Flood, and everything else.
Although the experts at the meeting were capable of communicating in a way dozens of times faster than language, it still took Long Yangjun a good ten minutes before she finally explained her past, her memories, and her deductions.
Her words were like the fiercest space storm that had blown Boss Bai and the Fist King into dizziness, who were not back to themselves until a long time later.
By the time they were finally back to themselves, Boss Bai stared at Long Yangjun for one minute and then at Li Yao for another, before he said with a bitter smile, "Vulture Li Yao, you are truly incredible. It truly baffles me why so many… unbelievable monsters have been gathered around you!"
