Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“It sounds that you’re quite great!”

Li Yao asked, “Can you tell me what exactly have you learned in the Holy Light Academy?”

“We learn how to identify and deal with dangerous items.”

Tang Ka said, “For example, when faced with colorfully-decorated and temptingly-delicious food, we have to remove their decorations and their flavors so that only their nutritions will be kept when we eat them.

“As for toys, clothes, and makeup that are not of any actual use, they will be burned immediately.

“The so-called ‘artworks’ are the most dangerous things of all. Our mentors told us that art represents mankind’s admiration for extraterrestrial devils and is the reflection of chaos in human beings’ subconsciousness. We were told to destroy artworks as soon as we spot them.

“Of course, there are other things that can be very valuable, such as the magic equipment and jade chips used in Imperium. Those items can be given to our warriors after the evil information in them is wiped out.”

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“Interesting.”

Li Yao asked, “Anything more?”

“Besides those, we also learn about the complicated relations in the Imperium, such as families as well as the big or small interest groups based on those relations.”

Tang Ka said, “Our mentors told us that the Imperium people attach great importance to the meaningless concepts like bloodlines or family honor. They’re too insistent in passing on their genes without consideration of the fatal flaws in their genes, which results in the maldistribution of resources, social ossification, and family feuds. A lot of precious resources have been wasted because of all these internal conflicts even though the Imperium occupies the most prosperous worlds in the universe. After a thousand years, their civilization is not soaring but sinking. Grandpa Yao, is it true? Do the Imperium people really squander precious resources on unsuitable people just because ‘they’re my children’?”

“Well…”

Li Yao felt like touching his nonexistent nose. “You’re not wrong, but it’s too complicated to be explained for now.”

“Furthermore, we learn about the social classes of the Imperium of True Human Beings.”

Tang Ka said, “Our mentors told us that the Imperium of True Human Beings is the smelliest and evilest country where people care about nothing but desires. It’s a society where men eat men. The powerful people enjoy the most extravagant lives, whereas the weaklings can only live on the leftovers that the powerful ones accidentally drop without any hope of changing their lives.

“To make things worse, the powerful ones are even entitled to manipulate the weaklings. They’ve stolen the power of the gods and regarded the weaklings as their slaves. Is it true?”

“Well, now that you put it that way, the Imperium of True Human Beings feels like a country of devils to me too!”

Li Yao said, “However, speaking of which, do the powerful ones not take advantage of the weak ones in the Alliance of the Holy Covenant? Didn’t you just say that you were allocated to different tiers of classes, and many people were injured or killed when they awakened their talents? You’re qualified to keep your thinking and emotional abilities, but most of the workers and soldiers are not. Isn’t that exploitation and oppression too?”

“How can that be the same?”

After a brief stun, Tang Ka said, “It’s true that there are different classes in the Covenant Alliance, but they are just jobs in different regards, and none of them is nobler than the others. The soldiers and workers at the bottom level, the special classes like Purgers and the Lurkers, and the leaders like the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are all the gods’ most beloved lambs, most loyal servants, and most valiant warriors. We’re all the same!

“In order to build a more wonderful world with limited resources, it’s true that many people are working in harsh environments in the Covenant Alliance, but the products of their work are all dedicated to the improvement of the natural environment and the restoration of the Pangu civilization. None of their products is used to satisfy the personal desires of our leaders. By the way, none of us really have personal desires!

“In the evil Imperium of True Human Beings, when the miners struggle to make a living in the cold and dark mines, the owners of those mines are wasting resources unconcernedly in the most splendid buildings.

“But in the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, when the miners are busy at work, the special classes, the commanders, and the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are suffering the same way and living the same holy and abstinent life, devoted to the most sacred cause.

“I’ve never seen the life of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters in person, but our mentors live and eat with us. Our food tastes the same, and the mentors do not have any so-called entertainment, certainly not the evil pleasure of playing with the bodies of the weak. It’s definitely not going to happen!

“As for the test to awaken talents, the casualty rate is indeed quite high, but it’s fair for everyone. Our mentors and director went through the same thing years back.

“More importantly, there are no privileges as every test is absolutely open and equal. It doesn’t matter who your parents are. As long as you’re talented, you will be sent to the most suitable post to serve the gods. If you’re not, you will be purged in the holy temple to be a hard and holy cornerstone of our country.

“I was told that things are different in the Imperium. In the Imperium, the offspring of the powerful may be promoted to important posts even though they have no corresponding talents, and the offspring of the weak, even though blessed with unparalleled talents, are very likely to remain undistinguished and even trodden upon. Is that really so, Grandpa Yao?”

“I find it impossible to answer your question.”

Li Yao said, “Maybe, but a reform is going on in the Imperium of True Human Beings. I believe that many things will change…”

“Change?”

Tang Ka asked, “Will it turn into a country without oppression, exploitation, and inequality like the Alliance of the Holy Covenant?”

“I think that’s too challenging.”

Li Yao said, “Hey, my young friend, your requirement is too high!”

“Nothing is going to really change as long as selfishness still remains.”

Tang Ka reached a conclusion. “It seems that the evilness and shortcomings of the Imperium of True Human Beings that my mentors described are all true. I didn’t believe that there was such a horrible country and such an absurd system at all. In comparison, the Covenant Alliance is perfect!”

“Wait, my mind is quite messy at this moment. Let me calm down first.”

Li Yao said, “It sounds that your courses are truly complicated.”

“They’re indeed very hard, particularly those about feelings.”

Tang Ka said, “We can’t be too inert in sensing feelings. If we’re too inert, we wouldn’t be able to comprehend the dangerous implications of a lot of items from the Imperium. You know that most of the time the traps of extraterrestrial devils are not on the surface but hidden between the lines. We must detect them keenly.

“However, we can’t be too keen either. If we’re too keen, we’re likely to be influenced by the extraterrestrial devils and end up as their slaves.

“All in all, only one in a hundred students in the Holy Light Academy can make it to the ultimate test. The rest will have to be engaged in simpler jobs after being modified in the holy temples.

“There are seven… no, six days left. As long as I pass the test, I’ll become a real Purger. So, I don’t want anything to happen to me or my monitor. I only hope that we can successfully become Purgers. Grandpa Yao, please help us!”

Li Yao was silent for a long time. His thoughts were flying and colliding.

“Listen, my young friend, I’ll certainly help you. However, after carefully analyzing what you just said and comparing it to what I know, I’ve noticed quite a few things that are not right.”

Li Yao said cautiously, “First of all, I can tell that the cerebral activities of you and your classmates are too powerful. Really. In my senses, your brains are like colorful torches, which are completely not like the coldness and lackluster of the Covenant Alliance people I met before.

“Maybe you’ll argue that it’s a feature of the Purgers, but I still think that something is wrong. Such Purgers are too dangerous.

“Secondly, I’ve got in touch with some of the Lurkers before. I’m aware of the brain structures and the soul features of the Lurkers. The Lurkers do not suppress their feelings; they simulate their feelings. They don’t have to suppress their feelings because they don’t have feelings at all.

“I think that if I were an Ultimate Benevolence Master, I could’ve trained all the Purgers in exactly the same way as the Lurkers.

“Thirdly, I’m here. My arrival suggests that something will happen, because every time I showed up, accidents, schemes, lies, betrayals, disasters, chaos, and destruction would follow. Do you think it’s going to be an exception this time?”

Tang Ka was dumbfounded. “… What?!”