Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Under the scorching fire, every teenager’s face looked particularly excited and ruthless, and their portable crystal processors were all shrieking, indicating that everybody except Chu Zhiyun and Tang Ka had drastic biophysical changes. The crystal processor of Liao Meng, in particular, was even glittering in red; a sign that he was on the verge of loss of control.

It was not until three minutes later that the kids finally calmed down.

“Did I lose control?”

Looking at his shivering hands, Liao Meng mumbled in disbelief, “I lost control?”

The other kids dare not look at each other in the eyes, as if they were feeling guilty.

They also seemed to be tacitly keeping what happened just now a secret to themselves.

They had planned to set this place as a rendezvous point, but nobody was willing to stay next to the burnt building and carrousel. In the end, they walked on and set a plaza nearby as the rendezvous point.

. 

Then, everybody fled from each other to confront themselves on a deep level at quiet corners.

“Monitor, do you not feel that everybody acted weirdly just now?”

Returning to the supermarket that they visited yesterday and locking the door, Tang Ka spoke to Chu Zhiyun eagerly.

Actually, he was desperate to share the uncanny things that happened to him since last night, including his sticky underwear, “Grandpa Yao” who appeared out of nowhere, and his feeling that could almost be called shame when he was faced with the toys and paintings left by the kids in the kindergarten.

The kindergarten in reality had been consumed by fire, but another kindergarten that was more splendid rose in his head and rooted in his every brain cell, making it impossible for him to get rid of it.

He remembered something he read a long time ago.

“I could’ve tolerated the darkness, if I had never seen light.”

Tang Ka felt some feelings that he could not quite describe were seething in his heart, like cracking ice and sprouting seeds, making it impossible for him to tolerate what was before his eyes, including the kindergarten just now and this dazzling supermarket.

He couldn’t stop himself from peeping at the delicious-looking foods, and an evil voice kept whispering to him, “It’s fine. You can take that. It’s fine. Everything in this supermarket belongs to you. Hahahaha…”

“Wait.”

Tang Ka said in his heart, “Grandpa Yao, it wasn’t you who were talking, was it?”

“Of course it was. It’s unnecessary for you to hold yourself back at all!”

Li Yao said, “If you want to eat them, just eat them. Scientists have pointed out that carbohydrates can help you stay delighted and focused. Really!”

Tang Ka: “…”

“I don’t care if they’re weird. I don’t plan to become a Purger anyway. In fact, the weirder they are, the better, because nobody would pay attention to us in such a case,” said Chu Zhiyun unconcernedly.

Much more spontaneous than Tang Ka, she had already picked up a bottle of candies and was enjoying them. She said, “All I have to do is to dig out my talents and prove the Ultimate Benevolence Masters wrong. Open your mouth!”

She put a piece of candy in Tang Ka’s mouth forcefully.

“Ah, no!”

Tang Ka blushed with a racing heart again. He stammered, “We… We can’t do this!”

“What a useless man. If a tiny candy is enough to defeat you—” Chu Zhiyun snorted. “Wouldn’t your loyalty to the gods be too weak? Don’t spit it out. Chew it and swallow it. If you spit it out, I’ll put ten more candies in your mouth!”

“I…”

Tang Ka’s face was even redder. He completely forgot Li Yao’s training at night and somehow recalled the picture of his bold monitor being tied up and whipped hard in her red dress again.

“Wait, just to be clear—”

Li Yao asked, “Is your wish to save the damsel in distress when your monitor is tied up or simply to watch her being tied up and whipped?”

“What are you talking about?”

Embarrassed, Tang Ka hesitated for a long time and said, “Monitor, why are you so dogged in pointing out the Ultimate Benevolence Masters’ mistake?”

“Because—” Chu Zhiyun walked to the female clothes area on her tiptoes. “That’s why I exist! That’s gods’ mission for me!

“Think about it. The Ultimate Benevolence Masters are humans, and humans err. So, something has to point out the Ultimate Benevolence Masters’ mistakes so that the mistakes won’t escalate and even collapse the Covenant Alliance, right? But have you heard of anyone ever pointing out the Ultimate Benevolence Masters’ mistakes? No, none whatsoever. Why can’t I be the first?”

“I… I don’t know, but I feel…”

Summoning his courage, Tang Ka said, “I think you’re possessed by extraterritorial devils. That’s why you’re thinking so weirdly.”

“The extraterritorial devils are cunning and capricious. Any of us can be possessed by the extraterritorial devils.”

Chu Zhiyun’s cold face moved, almost as if she were smiling. “If we’re possessed, our mentors will expel the extraterritorial devils for us, and if our mentors are possessed, our director will help them. But think about it. If the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are possessed by the extraterritorial devils without them knowing it, who can help them expel the devils?”

“Hiss—”

Tang Ka almost couldn’t believe that his monitor could be so disobedient. His blood was almost frozen. He said after a long stun, “Blasphemy! That’s the gravest blasphemy!”

“I thought that blasphemy is when you suspect the gods.”

Chu Zhiyun said coldly, “I don’t think the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are gods, are they?”

“Even though they’re not, they’re very close.”

Tang Ka stressed again, “The Ultimate Benevolence Masters are made of the last drop of the gods’ blood in our world. They’re the First Apostles. How can they be corrupted by extraterritorial devils?”

“Even the gods can be corrupted. Wasn’t the tragedy in the primeval war because the Nuwa Clan was corrupted by extraterritorial devils, and all the surviving gods had to hibernate as a result?”

Chu Zhiyun asked back, “The Ultimate Benevolence Masters have only 1% of the power of the gods at most. Why would they be immune?”

“No, no, no. It’s not like that!”

Tang Ka shook his head quickly. “The ending of the primeval war was within the gods’ expectation. They did it on purpose as a test for mankind.”

“Exactly. But how do you know what the gods’ test for me is? Chances are that it’s to point out the Ultimate Benevolence Masters’ mistakes.”

Chu Zhiyun took a deep breath and opened her arms. “Have you never been puzzled about our world for one second? Look, everything we know was told to us by someone else. Our training, our missions, and our ideals are all told to us by someone else, and this ‘someone’ is also instructed about what he should do by another someone who is on a higher level.

“Just like that, on the top of the ‘someones’ are exactly the Ultimate Benevolence Masters. It’s said that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters watch over us and guide our way every second. However, getting to the bottom of it, we’ve seen nothing but the illusions of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters!

“My piety to the gods is incomparable, but does believing the gods equal to believing the First Apostles? And does believing the Ultimate Benevolence Masters equal to believing the illusions that call themselves Ultimate Benevolence Masters?

“Tang Ka, look at me in the eyes and think. Hypothetically… I mean, hypothetically, what would you do if the extraterritorial devils had stolen the bodies of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters a long time ago and had been commanding us in the image of the Ultimate Benevolence Masters?”

Tang Ka felt cold deep to the bones.

“That’s a ridiculous and dangerous thought!”

Tang Ka was almost begging Chu Zhiyun. “Please stop thinking, monitor. It’s not a problem that we should consider.”

“Not a problem that we should consider?”

Chu Zhiyun sneered, “Who should consider it then?”

Tang Ka blurted out, “The Ultimate Benevolence Masters.”

The young man realized the absurdity immediately, and Chu Zhiyun said coldly, “You want the Ultimate Benevolence Masters to consider whether or not they’re possessed by extraterritorial devils? Isn’t it like asking someone to leave the ground by pulling their own hair?”

“But…”

Tang Ka finally spoke the truth. “I’m worried about you. I fear that you will be captured and purged in the holy temple when other people learn of your thoughts, and you won’t know yourself or me after that.”

“If the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are the most loyal servants of the gods, they wouldn’t do that,” declared Chu Zhiyun confidently.

“What if they’re not?”

Tang Ka was flabbergasted by his own question, wondering why he had turned so bold too.

“Then, it’s all the more reason why I should step up and point it out for them! It’s my destiny and my duty!” said Chu Zhiyun matter-of-factly.

“Monitor, what do you want exactly? Why do I feel that you want something much more than to be a Lurker?” Tang Ka mumbled.

“Truth. I want all the truth about the gods.”

Chu Zhiyun tried several times and finally put on the most perfect smile.