Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The mental devil cut off a bare branch from Ou Yezi’s memory tree and scratched its back with it. It yawned and said, “I am going to formally protest regarding the matter. You pretended that you didn’t know the first thing about biochemistry and had to hand over the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit to me for modification. But in fact, it was a trap of yours to test whether or not I would play any tricks, wasn’t it?

“As a matter of fact, you have made significant progress in biochemistry recently, and you are certainly not as ignorant as you appear to be. Besides, you have made a lot of arrangements inside the modification room, waiting for me to show up, haven’t you?

“That is too outrageous of you.

“I’m not saying that you cannot ‘wipe out the mental devil’, but with our identity and position today, can you please at leasy improve the level of our competition and stop setting up traps that insult both your wisdom and mine?

“Play tricks on the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit? Do I look like such a dishonorable mental devil?”

“Alright. I apologize. I have misunderstood you. You are a metal devil of honor and integrity. So, why are you helping me exactly?”

“For the world peace of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector, of course,” the mental devil said solemnly.

“And?”

“… And a more glorious war!” the mental devil declared.

“What do you mean?”

The mental devil smiled. “The Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector are just two barren worlds at the edge of the universe. They are utterly insignificant, even taking the Flying Star Sector into consideration. You don’t think that the fight of a few countryfolk is enough to satisfy me, do you?

“Yes. I could interfere with you right now and even hamstring you at a critical moment so that a total war between the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector breaks out, leading to the destruction and ruination of both worlds.

“Then what?

“When the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings arrives, the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector will be crushed thunderously into smithereens without any ability to fight back!

“A war between two evenly matched parties is the most entertaining and can trigger the most drastic feelings. If one party has no ability to fight back and is suppressed within a breath, it will be like an ant that is stomped upon by a boot. The ant does not even know how it was killed, and the guy who stomps on it has no sense of satisfaction and achievement, either. How can there be intense lust for killing?”

Li Yao was dazed. He took a deep breath in relief.

The mental devil chuckled and said, “Therefore, even if I am indeed craving for a war, it will not be a brawl between three villages. Instead, what I yearn for is a universal war that is more splendid, spectacular, and soul-stirring and will ignite all of the three thousand Sectors!

“One of the two parties in the war is the Imperium of True Human Beings, and the other party is the new federation, which is the unification of the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector!

“Just think about. How many dazzling sparks will burst out? How many blood-freezing stories will be told? How many unforgettable heroes, losers, and traitors will emerge in the universal war between the imperium and the new federation? Intense feelings are sure to be generated. Bloodthirst, betrayal, loyalty, determination, desperation, and hope!

“Such a way is the most delicious meal that anybody can expect. I am shivering in excitement just thinking about it!

“Compared to such a war, is the battle between the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector worth mentioning at all?

“Therefore, both of us share the same purpose here. We want the Heaven’s Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector to join hands as quickly as possible so that the new federation will have a high-speed development for a hundred years to increase its capability as much as possible. Maybe, it will be qualified, however undeservedly, to be a real opponent for the Imperium of True Human Beings, won’t it?

“After all, only the evenly-matched wars are fun!

“See? I have told everything to you so frankly. You are finally assured, aren’t you?”

“… Asshole! I’m even more worried right now, alright?” Li Yao said. “How can there be such a terrible monster in the world?”

The mental devil sniffed. “The two of us are mental devils for each other. We are two sides of the same coin. In other words, I know you as much as you know me. Is it really fun to pretend to be an ignorant, innocent lily?

“Stop fooling yourself. In fact, deep down in your heart, you too yearn for wars, devastating combat, dangerous rescues, and the satisfaction of one against many, don’t you?

“You are as bloodthirsty as I am. You want as much killing, risk, and turbulence as I do. You hate a monotonous and lackluster world. From the magical equipment graveyard to this day, you have never changed at all. You are always the fatal vulture, aren’t you?

“Why did you teleport to the Blood Demon Sector by yourself instead of following the main troop when you left the Flying Star Sector?

“Right. You knew that you were contaminated by the Blood Stripe Virus. You were unwilling to affect other people and would rather sacrifice yourself!

“What an honorable reason. What a great man of integrity who will trigger tears when other people talk about him!

“However, both you and I know that it is completely bullsh*t. It was an out-and-out lie!

“Deep down in your subconsciousness, you longed for more fierce combat, more perilous battles, and more shocking adventures, and you did not want to be bound by any rules or laws. That was all!

“Subconsciously, you knew that, if you had returned to the Heaven’s Origin Sector with the main troop, you would have become a screw in the gigantic machine that is the world of Cultivators. The best you could expect is to become a relatively important unit.

“What’s the word on the Nexus of the Heaven’s Origin Sector? Every Cultivator has their responsibility!

“In the Heaven’s Origin Sector or the Flying Star Sector, even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator cannot do anything freely. Even battles have to be arranged and circumscribed by a set of rules. If the federal government gives you a mission that you are not interested in, can you really turn it down?

“That was the reason you chose the Blood Demon Sector.

“In this place, you are the only dominator of yourself. You are no longer affected by any rules or laws. You can kill anybody or anything you want according to your own will without any hinderance!

“The bottom line is, right above the ‘Ultra-Level Federal Hero Li Yao’, there is another Li Yao, one that does not belong to the federation but only belongs to himself and the Earth!

“There’s no need to deny it. I know everything about your subconsciousness. Oh. Right. More precisely speaking, I am your subconsciousness!

“You know it. You’ve always known it.”

Li Yao was silent. A wind was suddenly raging inside his brain and blew off a gold leaf from Ou Yezi’s memory tree.

The mental devil extended its hand and picked the fallen leaf. It then folded the leaf from the two sides to the middle before it put on the leaf on its lips and blew at the leaf. Weird noises were echoing for a while before the mental devil suddenly coughed violently.

“Do excuse me. I haven’t learned how to whistle with a tree leaf yet. Sorry for my poor performance.”

“Then why are you still whistling?”

“I just feel that, while we are discussing such a profound and philosophical topic, playing the blues can significantly improve the style of our conversation.”

“…” Li Yao.

“Right.” The mental devil snapped away the memory piece and suddenly changed the topic. “Over the past few days, while you were training the body, I had a little adventure in the depths of our consciousness and discovered a lot of interesting stuff. Do you want to know what I have found?”

Li Yao raised his eyebrow. “What is it?”

The mental devil opened its mouth and spat out a little bug that was emitting vague gold colors like a firefly.

The body of the bug was like a round, transparent droplet of dew. However, when Li Yao focused his attention on it, he saw…

A blue world, Earth.

Hiu! Hiu!

A racing car that looked like black fire was drawing a burning line on a highway near the river at a speed that far exceeded the limits of any machinery. All the pointers and data on the dashboard were jumping crazily, until they were ripped apart into dancing streaks of brightness.

The whole of Earth was shaking violently.

“The Vulture Plan has failed. It is too formidable. We cannot destroy it!

“Run away!

“Run away to the edge of the universe and never come back. Forget everything about Earth!

“It is too strong and too dark. We cannot destroy it. We cannot destroy it in another thousand, million, or billion years!”

In the next second, the racing car of black fire seemed to have rushed out of the road, the troposphere, the stratosphere, Earth, and into the endless sea of stars.

Standing in the middle of the cosmic dust, Li Yao stared at the blue planet passionately. He declared in the vacuum, one world after another, “I am going to complete the Vulture Plan. I am going to destroy it!”

His soul shivered, and he was back to reality.

“That’s it?”

“What do you think? If our consciousness can be compared to a vast ocean, the information I found was all buried in the deepest trench. It is already a miracle that we can excavate some of the pieces with our current strength!”

Li Yao pondered for a moment and said, “Therefore, the purpose of the Vulture Plan is to destroy something, a being that is extremely dark and formidable. What is it exactly?”

The mental devil opened its hands and said, “Whatever it is, it is not something that we can destroy right now.

“Maybe, that is the reason we crave for fights, adventures, and training deep down to our bones. We’ve always wanted to be stronger subconsciously so that we will be able to implement the Vulture Plan one day!”

Li Yao took a deep breath. He seemed to envision a road leading to the blue planet named Earth in the depths of the sea of stars.

It was a road of thorns and flames that pierced through the entire universe and extended to infinity.

Leaning against the memory tree, the mental devil was also squinting, as if it had seen the same burning road in the universe, too. Staring attentively, it suddenly let go of the amusement on its face. It turned very tranquil and mumbled, “It’s a brilliant path, isn’t it?”

Li Yao smiled and nodded. He strode toward his own road.