Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The demon’s words confused the young man again.

Before he met gods and devils, the young man had never doubted his own existence. He had never even considered whether or not he was a human being.

And when he had just met the devil and heard the devil reveal the truth of this world, learning that he might be some sort of imaginary existence, the youth’s desire for ‘truth’ overwhelmed everything.

At that time, Gus seemed to be wreathed in a cluster of invisible, fierce flames that were roasting and pushing him forward. He was willing to pay any price as long as he could become a real human being!

But right now, after the repeated temptations of gods and devils, the young man felt that he was wavering again.

What were human beings exactly?

Was it really a natural thing to become a human being?

What were the benefits of being a real human being?

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Gus blurted out the confusion in his heart.

“There are not many benefits.”

The devil shrugged. “In the Pangu Universe, there is a saying that one would rather be a peaceful dog than a chaotic one. Most of the time, there is nothing but pain when one becomes a real human being. It is far less painful than being a carefree pet dog or a protagonist who can summon wind and rain in the virtual world. Therefore, if you are not willing to ascend to the Pangu Universe and would rather daydream in the virtual paradise for the rest of your life, I understand and support you.

“But—”

Gus licked his lips. “Virtual paradise is false. The Pangu Universe is real.”

“Virtual happiness and real pain. Which side should we choose? Oh, what a tricky choice.”

The devil smiled, as if he had dealt a fatal blow to the young man casually. “Speaking of which, the Pangu Universe might not be as real as you think.

“What—what?”

Gus was dumbfounded. He felt that the world view that he had built up over the past ten days and a half months was collapsing like a tower on a beach again. He blacked out and stammered, “What—what do you mean? Didn’t you say—”

“Yes. I did say that the Pangu Universe is more real than the World of the Fist God, but it does not mean that the Pangu Universe is 100% real. Or rather, the truth and the false are all compared. There is neither absolute falseness nor absolute truth.

Lu Qingchen smiled. “Maybe, the Pangu Universe is a sand table for games and a virtual world. Who knows?”

“Well—”

Gus’s brain was a mess. He could not understand at all. “How did you know?”

“I don’t know. It was just a random guess, but the odds are very high.”

Lu Qingchen said, “Do you remember my spiritual tutor, Li Yao, whom I talked to you about last time? He once trained himself in the virtual world left by the Fuxis. As a result, in a certain virtual world, the virtual world developed a rather impressive computational system named ‘computer’. Many ‘computer games’ were invented in the ‘computer’, which were almost identical to the World of the Fist God.

“This incident greatly moved Li Yao.

“If the virtual humans in the virtual world can create a lower-level virtual world, who can guarantee that our world is the origin and the original first world?

“It is like a nesting doll. If you find hundreds of nesting dolls inside your stomach, how do you know that you don’t have the same number of nesting dolls outside?

“Below the low-dimension universe, there are even lower-dimension universes. Above the high-dimension universe, there are naturally higher-dimension universes, too. The multiverse is endless. We are just specks of dust floating in it. We are not even worth mentioning. Ha!”

The devil laughed at himself.

Gus was getting more and more confused.

He raised his head and looked at the sky, which was still dark and devoid of any stars.

But because of the fierce battle between the Iron Fist Legion and the Steam Legion, the collapse of the world had been accelerated. More and more lightning scars were slashing the night sky.

It looked both like a giant, glittering spider net that could split the sky and the earth, and a chessboard where the vast universe was the battlefield.

But there was no telling who was qualified to be the chess pieces and players on such a vast board.

“Therefore, stop complaining. At the very least, you already know that your world is virtual, and you also know why the world was created.

Lu Qingchen extended two fingers and lightly flicked Gus’ forehead. “A world created in order to cultivate the strongest of martial arts… doesn’t sound that bad.”

“As for us, the natives of the Pangu Universe, we don’t know why the Pangu Universe was created. Chances are that it is a hundred times weirder and more hilarious than ‘training in martial arts’.

“Maybe, the Pangu Universe was just a bad joke that the intelligent creatures made when they were drunk in a higher dimension.

“Maybe, we are just insignificant paragraphs in a bad story, and the sole purpose of our creation is to amuse the existences in a higher dimension with the struggles and tortures in the impermanence of the lower dimension?

“Nothing is certain. Nothing is certain.”

The devil was clearly not drinking.

But he narrowed his eyes, as if he were drunk. Lying on the ground, he stared at the gap in the night sky with the pillow in his hands.

“Why—why are you telling me this?”

Gus was dazed for a long time, but he still failed to figure it out. “Shouldn’t you tell me that the Pangu Universe is real and infinitely beautiful?

“Right now, I know that the Pangu Universe is not as beautiful as it used to be, and it might not be as real. I—I have no reason to help you at all!

Gus was distressed.

If only Lu Qingchen was full of lies.

Because Gus had learned the truth from the Fist King.

If the devil was lying to him on purpose, he would make up his mind to help the Fist King kill the devil.

But right now, the eyes of the devil were shining so sincerely that the young man did not dare to look at them directly.

“Listen, I’m not a low-level devil. Only low-level devils who cannot survive three chapters in a story are full of lies.

The devil looked at the young man with a smile. “A high-level devil such as myself can only speak the truth. Only the truth is the most powerful. Only the truth can stir the hearts of people.

“Besides, you are different.

“If you want to tempt people to fall and become my lackeys with lies, I have thousands of options, including your sister.

“But as for you, I hope that you can decide your own fate and stand on my side sincerely and fight side by side with me. What I need is a comrade named ‘Gus’, not a servant named ‘Gus’. Do you understand?”