Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

For the past few days, Lu Qingchen had been unusually quiet.

The ball of steam where the devil was hibernating seemed to have run out of energy and turned into a cold, dead lump. It had been lying in the basket all the time.

It gave Gus a sliver of hope. He thought that Lu Qingchen had been suppressed by the Fist King or that he had found a way to disappear forever.

If so, Gus wouldn't have to worry about whether or not to betray him, and he wouldn't be in a dilemma.

But it also meant that Gus had lost his value to the gods and devils, and he had no hope of escaping from the collapsing world of illusions.

Thinking of this, Gus fell into despair again. Often, he could not help but take out the steam ball and caress it. He even called out to it in a low voice, hoping for a response from the devil.

What would come would come.

On the seventh day of the battle between the Iron Fist Legion and the Steam Legion…

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As the battle heated up, there should have been more and more casualties.

However, the stable supply line between the frontline and the rear had been cut off. The old, the weak, the women, and the children could not be summoned to transport and take care of the wounded soldiers. On the contrary, more than half of the wounded soldiers were sent back to the rear.

As a large number of wounded soldiers died, Gus' job was greatly reduced.

The casualty camp seemed to have turned into a grave of dead silence. The old, the weak, the women, and the children were all like wandering ghosts. A plague could break out at any time. The strong and healthy soldiers were unwilling to come close to this place, which made it extremely convenient for Gus.

The devil finally crawled out.

It was still a vague black mist that enveloped an area of three to five meters around Gus and created an independent space.

"It's about time.

Lu Qingchen looked at Gus with a smile. "The main force of the Steam Legion and the Iron Fist Legion have been engaged. There are more than a hundred thousand elite warriors on both sides. The core of their battle formation is less than ten kilometers away from each other. Several night attacks have taken place. The test is coming to an end. The final battle is about to begin.

"Right now, as long as we rush to the battlefield where the battles are most intense, it is very likely that we will find the fatal flaws of the world and invade the deepest part of the Fist King's soul through them, swallowing him completely!

Looking at the proud face of the devil, Gus felt uneasy.

He was partly guilty and partly sad.

Judging from the confident look on the devil's face, he must've failed to realize that his scheme was all within the Fist King's calculations. He had fallen into a trap and was only one step away from being killed.

However, for the human beings living in the virtual world, who was the real god and who was the devil? Who should they help?

"Most of the elites of the Steam Legion have gone to the frontline. The defense here is not very tight. Besides, they never expected that an honest-looking 'Holy Son' like you would be bold enough to act on your own.

Lu Qingchen was still talking about his 'absolutely foolproof' plan. "Bring your sister and perhaps Anderson's northern steam army. The small troop admires you so much right now that they will definitely listen to your every command. If we sneak out, we should be able to reach the most chaotic battlefield before dawn. Leave everything to me."

"I…"

Gus was distracted and hesitated.

"Huh?"

Lu Qingchen glanced at him. "Is there a problem?"

"I want to know, what if you really… swallow the soul of the Fist King, which means you control the entire virtual world?

Gus asked boldly, "Then, what benefits do we get?"

"Who is 'we'?"

Lu Qingchen narrowed his eyes and eyed the young man up and down. "You and your sister? What do you want?"

"Not just me and my sister, but also everyone living in the World of the Fist God.

Gus thought for a moment and added, "No. Maybe it's not just the Fist God's World, but everybody living in hundreds of virtual worlds, including the 'Battle Aura World', the 'Magical World', the 'Card World', the 'Summoning World', and so on. I believe that many people in other virtual worlds are suffering the same pain as us.

"I want all the virtual humans to be freed from pain and the fate of being manipulated by the deities. Can you do that?"

Lu Qingchen raised his eyebrow.

He seemed to have a whole new perspective on the young man.

"Since the beginning, you've given me more and more surprises, and I appreciate you more and more.

"However, you seem to have made a contradictory request," the devil said. "Of course, as long as I swallow the Fist King's soul and inherit all his strength, I can do almost everything in the virtual world, but I cannot contradict myself. Even the omnipotent True God cannot create a stone that even he cannot lift. You are too greedy."

"How is my request 'contradictory'?"

"Listen, I can free all the virtual humans from the cruel struggles and bloody pain. I can even arrange an eternal and perfect paradise for them—including you and your sister—to live in carefree and comfortable lives forever.

Lu Qingchen said, "I can, too. At the very least, I will try my best to help you resist the high and mighty deities and break the shackles that bind you so that you can control your own destiny and become a real, noble human being.

"But it is impossible to do both at the same time.

"Don't you understand?

"If I really create a perfect virtual paradise and throw all the virtual humans into it so that you can live a carefree and perfect life, it will mean that you will still be puppets in a sandbox. You will lose all the meaning of your existence. You will have no purpose, no effort, and it will be even more impossible for you to release the radiance of humanity. You will simply be worse than human pets.

"In the first place, you are just a cluster of illusory data. You lack real life force. If you lose the meaning of life and the motivation to find the meaning, are you still human beings? Do you still dare to claim that you have a real soul?

"If you are not real human beings, and you don't have anything that can be called 'souls', why do you insist that I waste my precious computational ability building such an illusionary eternal paradise? If you want to forget the pain, I can delete or even tamper with part of your memories. Isn't it the same?"

Gus's eyelids twitched. He replied subconsciously, "No…"

"You don't want your memories to be deleted or tampered with? That's understandable. Memories and souls are inseparable. It is a question whether or not you are the real you, or even a real human being, after your memories are deleted or tampered with.

Lu Qingchen smiled at first. Then he sighed and said, "It's a pity that there is a price to pay for the soul and the fate of mankind. Human beings do not belong to heaven, and heaven does not belong to human beings. The cold, cruel reality is our eternal battlefield.