Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao, Zhou Yifu, and Wei Qingqing were all stunned as if they had been crushed by a super high-speed crystal train. After half a minute of silence, Li Yao asked suspiciously, “Master Gui, you are demon of a senior generation. Are you not hostile to the civilization of mankind? Do you really want the civilization of mankind and that of the demon race to pass on together?”

“I admit that the civilization of mankind and the civilization of demons are antagonistic, but it doesn’t mean that I have to hate human beings.”

Holding his stick, Gui Suishou said unhurriedly, “Observed from a scale of billions of years, the war between us is just the mutual absorption of two germs. What’s there to loathe if one germ devours the other one?

“Besides, the Monument Plan that I just proposed is merely a design. To make it come true, we have to accomplish thousands of breakthroughs in astrology, informatics, artificial intelligence, soul hibernation, space jumps, and many other fields.

“Eventually, we will have to produce such a ring that contains enormous information, we will have to transform countless experts into ‘grandpas’, and we will have to make sure that those ‘grandpas’ wake up healthily and retain their normal memories, self-awareness, and thinking ability after sleeping inside the rings for billions of years!

“Also, after we cast the rings into the universe, we will have to ensure that they will not be destroyed by cosmic storms, supernova outbreaks, and black holes in the years to come.

“Think about it. How many technologies will be required in the attempt? The historians, and even the strength of the Blood Demon Sector alone, will not be sufficient to put it into practice.

“After all, artificial intelligence and space jumps are the specialties of the Heaven’s Origin Sector and Flying Star Sector!

“That’s the reason I’m here to join the meeting in person at the cost of my precious longevity. I’m hoping to concentrate the technology and resources of the three Sectors to accomplish the breakthroughs and realize the Monument Plan!

“After all, the universe is too vast a place, and the hibernation will be too long. The tinder of our civilizations, after floating to the depths of the universe, will be separate from each other. We will root and sprout in a different time and place, never to meet each other again. This is perhaps also a way for us to let go of the hatred between us. Hahahaha!”

Li Yao clicked his tongue and said, “Let’s forget the technological difficulties for a moment. It is not going to be easy to find ten thousand ‘grandpas’ who are willing to hibernate for billions of years, knowing that ninety-nine percent of them are perhaps never going to be awakened again, is it? We will not allow any kind of coercion!”

Gui Suishou smiled and said, “My young friend, it appears to me that you don’t know much about humanity after all. You don’t need to coerce anybody into doing anything. As long as the news is out, countless spectral Cultivators will definitely volunteer for the job. For example, the little girl next to you is already tempted, isn’t she?”

Li Yao was greatly surprised. He turned around, only to discover that Wei Qingqing was in such a trance that her mind seemed to have drifted to billions of years later in the river of time!

“Sister Qingqing, you are not thinking of being one of those ‘grandpas’, are you?” Li Yao found it hard to believe and even a bit creepy.

“If we are truly running to a dead end, and the Imperium or the Covenant Alliance is about to destroy us, why shouldn’t we make such an attempt if the technology allows?”

Wei Qingqing gradually turned solemn and grave. Her shoulders slightly lowered, as if a new mission had been added to them. “Maybe Master Gui is right. We are no match for the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance right now, but in such a way, the tinder of our civilization will be preserved for billions of years, when it will be ignited again in a different time and environment!”

Li Yao frowned. “But isn’t it too much a sacrifice for those ‘grandpas’? We are talking about a hibernation of billions of years!”

“That isn’t really a big deal. Since it is ‘hibernation’, one will be unconscious as if he is completely dead, right?”

In a smile, Wei Qingqing said, “Is one billion years any different from one year? For this ‘grandpa’, he will be just a sound sleep. His eyes close and open again, and infinite time has already passed.”

Li Yao was somewhat angry. “What if the plan fails? What if the ring is never found by another civilization?”

“If it isn’t, the grandpas will be essentially dead forever, but the federation will have been destroyed, and all the Cultivators must’ve been killed anyway. Does it really matter how the grandpas die?” Wei Qingqing replied disapprovingly.

Li Yao was rendered speechless again.

He had almost forgotten that Wei Qingqing, although leaving the impression that she was just a small orchid, boasted courage that was utterly disproportionate to her weak body.

On the Grand Desolate Plateau, when she had only just graduated from college, she had already been brave enough to stride forward against the furious beast tide!

She was definitely not scared of death!

“Li Yao, I’m different from you.”

After a chuckle, Wei Qingqing said, “You are the most gifted and distinguished genius. You are now one of the most influential people of the three Sectors at such a young age. Everything you do right now will very likely influence the outcome of the war and the fate of our civilization immediately.

“What about me?

“I am just a regular, low-level Cultivator. My talents are limited, and I haven’t had as many fortuitous encounters as you. However hard I try, the Building Foundation Stage will still be the best I can achieve.

“In such an era, a Building Foundation Stage Cultivator matters little to the federation. In the magnificent war in the sea of stars, I am not important or necessary.

“There’s no need to comfort me. We are both clear that it is the truth. For example, if the world that we are living in is a novel or TV series, you will be the well-deserved protagonist and the center of all the spotlights, while people like me will be the supporting characters who cheer and applaud for you.

“Although it is the truth, although I am indeed not smart enough or boast high computational ability and combat ability, and although I seem insignificant, I don’t want to applaud as an supporting character and watch you save the world while doing nothing!

“I want to save the federation and our civilization in my own way!”

Wei Qingqing’s voice was louder and firmer. Her back that seemed to have shouldered an invisible mission was straightened again while she said solemnly, “The me today is just a trivial character for our civilization.

“But if there is really a way to reignite the essence of our civilization together with my remaining soul in billions of years, when it is discovered by a new, primitive civilization, I will certainly try my best and fulfil my responsibility as a ‘guide’ by leading the new civilization that is still living in ignorance and darkness. That way, the fire of our civilization will leave ineffaceable traces in a different time and space!

“I think that it will be the greatest contribution that I, an unimportant teacher, can do for our civilization.”

Her words made Li Yao grow respectful for her again and review the seemingly absurd ‘Grandpa Plan’ from a new perspective.

“I’ve read your files, my young friend Li Yao. Your experiences in the past decade are truly wonderful!” Gui Suishou said with a smile. “I remember that you once encountered an amazing ancient civilization that is made of a Blood Stripe Virus on Iron Plateau in the Flying Star Sector. They were trying to possess a different civilization in order to pass on their own legacy.

“In fact, my Monument Plan is somewhat similar to the apocalyptical possession of the Blood Stripe Virus.

“Maybe, all civilizations are the same. Survival and reproduction are their natural instincts. Faced with their inevitable doom, they will pay even more attention to the reproduction and heritage issues!

“It is the law of nature to age and perish. Everybody, including you and me, will die eventually. But as long as we send out the seeds of our life before our death, and even witness our offspring growing and thriving, death will not necessarily be a dreadful thing, will it?

“Anyway, my young friend Li Yao, will you support my motion and help push the Monument Plan on the Meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage?”

Li Yao was dazed for a moment. Then he realized that Gui Suishou did not come to them and say so many things to them by accident; the guy was here to lobby.

It did make sense on second thought. With the resources at his disposal and his influence in the three Sectors, he was probably the unique one in all the two hundred participants of the meeting.

For some of the large-scale plans that would take decades to finish, even without the public resources of the three Sectors, through Skyfire, the Glorious Sunlight Group, and his friends in the Heaven’s Origin Sector, it was not impossible for him to carry them out on his own!

No wonder Gui Suishou, the old, cunning tortoise who had probably slept more than eight hundred years, would come to Li Yao first after he woke up!

Of course, it was also encouraged in the Meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage.

All the Nascent Soul Stage experts were expected to say whatever they wanted and have the most intense brainstorm during the meeting.

They were free to propose the most ridiculously ideas as long as the ideas were related to the solutions of the problems about the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance. After the ideas were proposed, everybody would discuss and study them. Then, they would figure out how to put the brainstorm into practice and turn it into a real storm that swept across the universe!

“My young friend Li Yao, rest assured. You will not be supporting me for nothing.”

Although a bit snobbish because of his seniority, Gui Suishou was not an unreasonable man and knew the importance of reciprocity very well. He said slowly, “My ancestors have excavated a lot of classics, files, and relics during the thousands of years of history studies. All the discoveries are tradable. I can even share the Great Dream Tortoise Hibernation Art, my family’s secret art, with you.

“I know that, in order to explore more Sectors and build up the New Federation, lengthy and distant space voyages are unavoidable. In the journeys that can take decades, Human Hibernation is a technology of paramount importance.

“The Human Hibernation technology you have right now, however, is too shabby and not worth mentioning!

“If you are willing to support me, I can publicize the Great Dream Tortoise Hibernation Art. Combing the Great Dream Tortoise Hibernation Art with your Rapid-Freezing Technology, you will have real Human Hibernation. You may even be able to train yourself while you are sleeping!”