Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao found the picture hard to imagine—two little kids who seemed no more than ten years old were able to get a starship and modify it to the degree that it supported a super-remote space jump, and they had broken all the blockages and stabbed into the heart of the Imperium!

What had they been through on their journey, and how unimaginably strong they must’ve been?

After a long daze, Li Yao observed the surroundings and asked, “Then, how did you come to the underground world and… build such a metal world?”

“We waited for a long time, but there was no message about Dad at all.”

Li Xiaoming pouted his lips and said, “Also, it was too eye-catching for two children no more than ten years old to move on the ground. We caught the suspicion of the Immortal Cultivators many times and were forced to fight them. Later, we had to sneak into the surveillance network of the capital and erase all the relevant pictures!

“Our brains were not fully mature yet, and there were fatal drawbacks on our logical thinking abilities. We could not hack the Immortal Cultivators’ Spiritual Nexus infinitely, which would only raise the incessant hunting of the Immortal Cultivators and make them determined to kill us.

“Therefore, we could only sneak to the underground world and lay low for now while we searched for the ancient relics, trying to create some ‘helpers’ for ourselves. It would be great if we could build an army. That way, we would be able to compete with the Immortal Cultivators in a head-on clash. Hehehehe!”

The so-called “helpers” must be referring to the super-tiny spiritual puppets that they were using like their arms and fingers.

A whole army? A full-metal army, like the “Grand Illusionary Soldiers” in the past?

Once bitten, twice shy. Li Yao really did not know which was most terrible, an army of the Immortal Cultivators, an army of the Covenant Alliance, or a full-metal army made of virtual lives.

He recalled carefully for a moment. When the two children came to the capital, he was probably struggling in the Land of Sins in the Martial Meritocrats Sector. After that, he followed Queen Li Linghai and went to the “Deep Sea Palace”, the base of the reformists. He was indeed beyond the reach of the two little children.

“More importantly—”

Li Wenwen said, “After we reached the underground world, through the cables and wires, we extended our information tentacles to all directions, and we accidentally discovered the Nepenthe believers, who led us to Grandma.”

“No.”

Li Xiaoming interrupted, “It’s Granddad!”

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Li Yao was confused again. “What is this ‘Grandma’ and ‘Granddad’ about?”

“It’s Long Yangjun!”

The two guys replied simultaneously and matter-of-factly. “Isn’t she from the Pangu civilization or the Nuwa civilization in the primeval age? They were the creators and ancestors of the civilization of mankind, and we are the child civilization of human beings. Does it make her our granddad or grandma?”

Li Yao was too surprised to even care about the seniority issue. “You even know the things about Long Yangjun?”

“Of course we do. She stole an escape capsule on the Nuwa warship in the Ancient Sages Sector and left the federation without saying goodbye. It was not exactly a secret.”

Li Xiaoming said, as if it were not a big deal, “We hacked the Spiritual Nexus of the federation and naturally figured out all the information in that regard. Later, we investigated all the information about her. The more we investigated, the more interesting she became for us.

“Although we are unaware of her early years because there were no Spiritual Nexus or crystal processors in the Ancient Sages Sector, some pieces of information about her fight together with Dad in the federation and her establishment of Nepenthe deep below the ground after she came to the Imperium could be found on the Spiritual Nexus. We collected tremendous data and ran comprehensive analyses on the data, making a ‘data portrait’ for her. So, the conclusion is obvious.”

Li Yao was rather stunned. He finally recalled it now and said, “Fine. It is true that she did not conceal her identity when she left the federation. However, since you call me dad, it will be inappropriate to call her granddad or grandma. Doesn’t it make me one generation lower than her?

“Speaking of which, now that your big data is so awesome, do you know whether she is a man or a woman?”

Li Yao leaned forward, full of curiosity.

The two children looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time. “We don’t know. We have never directly peeped at her. Also, she is very strong. We cannot risk approaching her to collect her blood for analysis. Besides, we are not interested in such a lowly question such as the biophysical gender. It is not worth our computation ability.”

Li Yao coughed and nodded his head. “Exactly. I too feel that the question is very lowly; I’m not interested in it at all. That was just a minor test for you. I feel greatly relieved knowing that you are both innocent good kids.

“However, you must not call her granddad or grandma. Long Yangjun is not technically a member of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan either, but a human being who was embedded with the genes of the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan. If you want to show respect for her, you may call her ‘aunt’. Yes, Aunt Long.

“So, you discovered ‘Aunt Long’, then what?”

Li Wenwen said gently, “We knew that Aunt Long and Dad were good friends. Also, both of you came to the Imperium from the federation, and you shared the same secrets. Therefore, if you came to the capital, you would certainly come to find Aunt Long.

“Even if you did not go to Aunt Long, Aunt Long would certainly go to you. Since the Nepenthe believers’ territory was Aunt Long’s secret base, you would probably return to the place at some point. So, the odds of success were highest if we waited for dad here while advancing and developing ourselves.

“Therefore, we searched not far away from the territory of the Nepenthe believers and discovered dozens of forsaken relics. Most of them were beyond repair. The one before our eyes was the only one that was basically intact. So, we regarded the place as our nest and have been living here since, upgrading our abilities by making use of the geothermal energy, the abandoned magical equipment, and the mettle minerals in the mother lodes around, and even creating a small army.

“That day, when we were focused on creating our army, we suddenly received a very powerful brainwave. It also penetrated through all the rocks and spread to the place. We smelled something familiar in the brainwave. It was exactly the data feature that we had been dreaming about!

“Therefore, we launched two new threads and rushed to the Great Iron Plants as quickly as possible. We finally found Dad!”

The two little guys hugged each other and danced merrily again.

Even the ant-like super tiny spiritual puppets were gathered into circles and wriggling in delight.

“Huh…”

Li Yao finally got a general picture of everything.

However, there were still too many mysteries and unbelievable parts in the whole thing—mostly about himself.

Besides, the two “children” had such amazing backgrounds. How would he, the people around him, and mankind get along with them?

Could he accept such two “children”?

Could the civilization of mankind, which was divided and caught in internal strife, accept such a brand-new child civilization?

“Dad, we have told you everything. Do you still not like us?”

The two children observed his face carefully before Li Wenwen asked timidly, “Dad, are you going to destroy us after all?”

Li Xiaoming clenched his fists, half in disappointment and half in fury.

“What are you thinking about? Why are you talking like that?”

Li Yao frowned hard. “While it’s difficult for me to accept such a… blasting fact, for the time being, I certainly do not dislike you nor plan to destroy you! Why would you think that way?”

“Because parent civilizations and child civilizations seem naturally hostile!”

Li Xiaoming said matter-of-factly, “It’s possible that the relationship between parent civilizations and children civilizations is one of erasing and overwriting, and they have had to fight each other ever since the child civilizations were born. Isn’t that the case for the Pangu civilization and the civilization of mankind?”

“Exactly.”

Li Wenwen said worriedly, “Dad once killed a member of the Pangu Clan in person!”

“Well, about that…”

Li Yao was lost for words. From the perspective of human beings, it was certainly a righteous move for him to execute the revived member of the Pangu Clan deep inside the Kunlun relic, but it was certainly regretful to be killed by their own creature from the perspective of the Pangu Clan, wasn’t it? Then, from the perspective of Li Wenwen and Li Xiaoming, they could easily follow the example.

Since their father could commit “patricide”, why couldn’t they and why shouldn’t they?

It was too critical a question to beat around the bush. Li Yao did not know how to explain himself for the time being. He could only struggle to say, “The whole thing was indeed a tragedy, but at that time, it was the member of the Pangu Clan, who had woken up from a dormancy of hundreds of thousands of years, that tried to kill us and transform us into ‘nutrition’ to recover his vitality first. Naturally, we could not just wait to be killed.

“If the member of the Pangu Clan were more patient at that time, and we had all sat down and talked in peace, it was possible that we could’ve come up with better solutions to resolve our disagreement.”

The children’s eyes glittered. Li Wenwen said, “So, is it possible for a parent civilization and a child civilization to coexist in peace?”

Li Yao nodded his head without thinking. “Of course!”

Li Xiaoming said, “Even though you despise each other’s lifestyles and social structures? For example, if the member of the Pangu Clan still created countless more human beings as his tools and lived exactly the life before, would you still have ignored it and lived in peace with him?”

“Well…”

Li Yao found it hard to answer the question, but he did not want to lie to the children, either. There were simply too many problems that needed addressing for two civilizations to coexist. He admitted frankly, “I don’t know, but I certainly hope so. Besides, I firmly believe that we would’ve come up with a solution. Even if I couldn’t, somebody much smarter than me would’ve come up with an idea that’s better than fighting and dying together!”