Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 593
"However, during the refinement of demon beasts, the evolution went out of control. Many demon beasts walked through the journey of evolution that took human beings millions of years in only decades, ending up with intelligence that was on par with that of human beings.
"They were later known as the demon race."
Li Yao swallowed hard. "Is it true?"
"Of course not. Or rather, not entirely," Chu Zhengqing said. "After forty thousand years, we have such a profound understanding today about biochemical technology and gene theories that we can even produce biochemical brains that boast unparalleled computational ability. But still, we cannot endow true intelligence to demon beasts. How could the ancient Cultivators forty thousand years ago have achieved that in only less than a hundred years?
"But the human beings' theory has its own merits. Perhaps, if we combine the theories of human beings and the demon race, we will be able to get a glimpse of the real history."
"Combine the theories?"
Li Yao thought quickly and breathed fast.
"Exactly," Chu Zhengqing said. "Maybe, forty thousand years ago, there was indeed a human being who developed a powerful biochemical drug that allowed the mutation to a certain degree inside animals.
"However, the drug was not enough to generate intelligence equal to that of mankind inside the mutated animals. Therefore, it could not play a decisive role in the wars.
"Just think about how difficult it is to give an animal the intelligence equal to a human being!
"However, it is much simpler if we change our mindset.
"If we cannot give the wisdom of human beings to animals, how about we give the bodies of the animals to human beings?"
Li Yao was dumbfounded, feeling that his throat was dry.
Yan Zhengqing continued. "You don't know human beings, especially the ambitious, insane Cultivators among them. If a certain drug can boost the combat ability of an animal by ten times, turning the animal into the toughest of its species, then at least one in every ten thousand Cultivators would not be able to resist the temptation of injecting the drug into themselves."
"That means—" Chu Feiyin finished her father's conclusion for him. Young and aggressive, she seemed to be particularly fond of the devastation on the faces of the believers of Chaos. "The demon race is probably the descendants of mankind. They are just a different type of human beings who have cracked part of the gene strands and activated the primeval form because of the Demon God Virus injected into them."
Li Yao hesitated for half a second, wondering whether or not he should really put on a devastated face.
But the bewilderment on his face right now was already indicative enough of his shock.
He did not close his mouth until three seconds later. He stammered, "How—how do you know?"
"We do not know," Chu Feiyin said. "That is just a hypothesis. This is how we do our research. When we find a strange phenomenon, we throw out a hypothesis to explain it, until new evidence that we find proves it or disproves it in the end.
"Different types of demons, and even demons and human beings, have no reproductive isolation and are able to have children.
"The elites of the Blade of Chaos can even change between two or even multiple forms freely.
"The newborn demons, whichever clan they belong to and regardless of whether they are silver-blood or black-blood, are alike to the infants of human beings. The features of the demon race will not show up until they gradually grow mature.
"All this evidence supports our hypothesis that human beings and demons share the same origin.
"However, we are still lacking conclusive proof. That's why we accepted the offers of Elder Nether Spring and the Blade of Chaos, eventually ending up in this place. We are here to look for an answer, to find out… what we are exactly."
Right then, the lifts leading to the next floor were activated. Bright blue lines popped up everywhere on the black pillars, splitting and interweaving into flower-like rune arrays.
"Master Chu!"
Li Yao gritted his teeth and asked, "Since you worked for Elder Nether Spring before, you must've seen him in person, right?"
Chu Zhengqing eyed Li Yao suspiciously.
"Have you told your theories to Elder Nether Spring?" Li Yao asked. "Did he believe you or not?"
Chu Zhengqing nodded and said, "Elder Nether Spring is definitely not the most broad-minded demon, but he is truly very smart and certainly a specialist in the studies of Chaos.
"In fact, I often discussed with Elder Nether Spring. Even the hypothesis that human beings and demons share the same origin was come up with and perfected by us together.
"Without the funds, resources, and support that Elder Nether Spring provided, we wouldn't have learned as much about the Mausoleum of Chaos at all."
"Elder Nether Spring was a co-proposer of the same-origin hypothesis?" Li Yao was completely startled. "I don't understand. If—if your theory is true, and demons are just human beings in a different form, what is the meaning of the war between us and the Heaven's Origin Sector?"
Chu Zhengqing's eyes suddenly turned sharp.
Li Yao blinked and lowered his head. "I'm told that a lot of demons have been killed in the war, and more are being forced to leave their homes as refugees. Even me and my sister ended up being slaves because of the goddamn war. I'm also told that the Heaven's Origin Sector is a vast place, and human beings there boast quite a high capability, too. We might not be able to completely occupy the Heaven's Origin Sector even if the entire Blood Demon Sector is drained.
"Before, I thought that human beings and demons could never live in peace, and we could not cease fighting even if the last drop of our blood was shed.
"However, if even the big shots such as Elder Nether Spring partly agree to the hypothesis that human beings and demons are the same, what's the reason for the two parties of the war trying their best to destroy each other?"
Chu Zhengqing laughed. All his wrinkles were pushed together, making his face look like an old tree that had grown for ten thousand years.
He patted Li Yao's shoulder softly and said, "Your name is Bloody Claw, right?
"Bloody Claw, you are too young. Maybe in your eyes, a war needs a reason. We are demons, and they are human beings. That's why we have to kill each other.
"No. It's not like that.
"In the era of ancient Cultivators forty thousand years ago, there were no demons, but human beings still fought against each other for tens of thousands of years until they initiated an ultimate war that almost destroyed all three thousand Sectors.
"Later, in the Demon Beast Empire thirty thousand years ago, humanity declined, and the demon race rose to the peak. However, demons were still attacking each other incessantly. The demons killed in the civil wars because of the change of dynasties were much more than those killed by the sabers and swords of human beings.
"This is the truth about wars," the old demon said casually.
"Wars never change, and wars do not need a reason."
Chapter 893: Insane Experiments |
The shell of the black pillars slowly split apart, revealing a room that could accommodate almost ten muscular demons. For safety reasons, the storage slots of biochemical beasts were shifted to the lower space together with the explorers.
The stone pillars operated for almost half a minute in silence, covered in mysterious blue brightness, before they finally arrived at the second floor of the Mausoleum of Chaos.
The environment of this floor was entirely different from the temple above. Except for the vast space in the center that appeared to be a square, dense pathways covered the walls. At first glance, the place was an enormous honeycomb.
A lot of corpses were scattered on the ground just like the floor above. The explorers were no longer surprised to see them. After making sure that there were no constituents of venomous gas or poison in the corpses, they marked the dead bodies with natural fluorescent paints before they began to explore the surroundings.
Li Yao saw Yuchi Ba place meatballs that looked like lumps in the corners of the central square together with a few members of the core squad.
It was said that they were very amazing demonic artifacts that could gather the weak bioelectricity floating in the air and display the image of the bioelectricity after enhancing it.
If the bioelectricity left in the air was powerful enough, it was possible for them to see the views of forty thousand years ago.
Bo! Bo!
All the balls were set and connected to each other via the synthesized nerves. They uttered a soft sound at the same time, and the tops of the balls blossomed like flowers. A few antennas that looked like stamen protruded out and shivered slightly.
Li Yao sensed that mystic rays were being triggered from the 'stamen' and spreading out like a tide. Soon, the entire square was filled up, and everything was soaked in a bright green ocean.
Soon, images were flashing, and clusters of shadows really appeared out of nowhere.
However, perhaps because of the vastness of the room, most of the bioelectricity had dispersed. The shadows were all extremely blurred. The explorers could only see that the shadows were running and chasing each other quickly and that they would rush into each other and roll over on the ground. However, no details could be seen clearly.
Very soon, the shadows dispersed into an overwhelming army that occupied the entire square like silent statues.
"It seems that an army of Chaos once gathered in this place. Or rather, this is the place where the army of Chaos was manufactured."
Chu Zhengqing and other researchers explored the area with the shadows as leads. Soon, they discovered new skeletons.
The surface of many skeletons was still reflecting vague metal colors in weird forms. It was not hard to imagine that the skeletons must have been unbelievably strong when they were still alive.
After collecting a lot of files in the square, the explorers dispersed and explored the pathways on the walls.
The ends of the pathways turned out to be research rooms. Perhaps due to an emergency, the gates of most of the research rooms were not closed, and most of the defense rune arrays remained deactivated or had even been sabotaged. Therefore, it was rather convenient for them to go in.
The coverage of every research room was extremely impressive. They also boasted a fine ventilation and defense system. However, Li Yao could tell with a single look that the spiritual energy of the defense system had been used up.
Somebody fully activated the defense rune arrays of this place in order to resist something, Li Yao thought to himself.
A lot of magical equipment and training facilities were scattered on the ground. Li Yao had not seen many of them even in Ou Yezi's dreams.
At the center of the research room stood an enormous stone platform on which dense spiritual stripes had been carved into the shape of a human being. There were also iron chains and rings nearby, which seemed sufficient to tightly tie somebody to the stone plate.
Bo!
Another demonic artifact that could enhance the bioelectricity was placed at the center of the stone platform and activated!
Maybe because the bioelectricity stagnated there due to the limited space, or maybe because a lot of unbelievable training sessions had taken place on the platform and led to the accumulation of the bioelectricity, the image that they captured in this place was much clearer than the image in the square.
Six clear shapes of human beings were all wearing fully enclosed robes that were glittering in silver colors. Even their faces were covered by weird bronze masks. Vague brightness was flowing on the surface of the masks, indicating that they could filter the air and kill the germs.
It seems that the ancient people were not as ignorant as we thought them to be. At the very least, in this place, they already had the concept of killing bacteria, Li Yao thought to himself.
The six people were all leaning against the stone platform that looked like both an operation table and an altar. On the stone platform, a naked human being was lying.
There was no telling whether it was because of the effects of drugs or because some sort of soul-suppressing techniques had been performed, but the human being seemed rather tranquil, with even resolution deep inside his eyes.
The bioelectricity was extremely unstable, and the images that Li Yao saw were changing constantly. Very soon, the image dispersed and condensed into something new. The human being lying on the stone platform was now floating in midair. His long hair all stood up and danced crazily like vipers while he trained himself, facing against the floating rune arrays.
The few people wearing silver robes and bronze masks, on the other hand, surrounded him and were busy taking notes.
Li Yao noticed that there were both human beings and demons among the strange researchers in long robes, but they seemed to be so familiar with each other that the disparity of their appearance was completely overlooked. They fully devoted themselves to their study.
The training human floating in midair was rather capable. He surpassed the speed of sound multiple times and blew the floating rune arrays into pieces. Although it was hard to see the facial expressions of the researchers, considering that they were nodding nonstop, they seemed rather satisfied with the result.
However, before long, the trainer screamed miserably and fell from midair. He then writhed on the ground, holding his head.
Li Yao thought of something and glanced around the room. Very soon, he located a desk on one side of the research room.
The items on the desk had almost all decayed, but Li Yao was quite familiar with the structure and usage of one pile of the remains.
It was a wood shelf that the ancient Cultivators used to store jade chips.
Li Yao extended his hand and groped. As he expected, he found a jade chip below the rotten shelf.
Naturally, a randomly placed jade chip in this place was not likely to have stored any invaluable techniques. Besides, since it had been unused for forty thousand years, there was no telling whether or not it was still readable at all.
Li Yao hid the jade chip inside his palm and scratched the spiritual stripes on the jade chip with his thumb carefully in the standard method of the Hundred Smelting Clan to clean rune arrays.
A moment later, Li Yao sensed the hard jade slightly soften, and it seemed to have turned into a half-frozen amber. Li Yao smiled in secret and extended part of his telepathic thoughts into the item. As he expected, he read a lot of information pieces from the jade chip.
Li Yao narrowed his eyes and absorbed himself in the information pieces, only to discover that it was an experiment log.
Judging from the analysis, an unbelievable experiment had been conducted in this place!
Are you kidding me? Transplantation of the spiritual root?
The spiritual root was the foundation of every Cultivator; it enabled them to absorb and release the spiritual energy in the universe once it was awakened. Besides, in the training and fighting after they became a Cultivator, the quality of their spiritual root was of paramount importance, too. For example, the release and reception of telepathic thoughts both required the spiritual root, and manipulating the magical equipment remotely could not be done without the spiritual threads that were triggered from the spiritual root.
Therefore, in the Star Glory Federation, the training of the Spirit Actualization Quotient had been attached great importance starting from childhood.
All the courses that the students took were focused on the improvement of the Spirit Actualization Quotient. A lot of strengthening drugs on the market were prepared for those who were desperate to increase their Spirit Actualization Quotient, too.
Even so, achieving the 100% of the Spirit Actualization Quotient and awakening themselves to be Cultivators was still merely a tantalizing dream for most people.
Most of the ordinary people could not awaken their spiritual root and grasp the strength to command the wind and storms however hard they trained themselves.
It was so in modern times when there were perfect training theories and various kinds of strengthening drugs, and it was even more so in the underdeveloped era of ancient Cultivators forty thousand years ago.
The road to divinity was unpredictable. Becoming a Cultivator was more difficult than ascending to the heavens. Without the most coincidental, fortuitous events, most people would not even dream of being a high and might Cultivator!
However, the research that was conducted in this place was trying to break the boundary between ordinary people and Cultivators!
"Cultivators have spiritual roots. When a Cultivator grows old and weary and eventually perishes of natural causes, their spiritual root will wither with them.
"However, most Cultivators are engaged in bloody battles all the time. It is very rare for them to die of old age.
"The majority of the Cultivators are killed in the combat during their prime years, when their spiritual root is in its prime!
"Isn't it a shame that such a spiritual root is wasted just because the Cultivator has perished?
"If we extract the spiritual roots out of the Cultivators who have unfortunately perished and transplant them into the brains of the strong warriors without spiritual roots, can the strong warriors make a great leap forward into Cultivators?"
After combining all the files inside the experiment log, Li Yao finally figured out what an insane idea the predecessors had in mind.
Yes. Insane. Although he had always considered himself to be an audacious refiner, he could only describe it as 'insane'!
It must be noted that, same as the Nascent Soul, the spiritual root was not an organ that existed in reality. One would not find a 'root' that looked like ginseng after they dissected the brain of a Cultivator.
The spiritual root was a mysterious organ that bordered between the flesh and pure energy.
How could it be extracted and transplanted when one could not even see such an organ?
Besides, even if the spiritual root of a Cultivator could be extracted, was it bearable for the brain of an unprepared ordinary person?
