by <unknown>
"However, sacrifices should be worthwhile. Meaningless sacrifices will not damage the Immortal Cultivators at all, much less destroying this wretched world.
"Li Minghui is just one of the most insignificant Immortal Cultivators. Even if you really die together with him, you will not change anything. Very soon, an Immortal Cultivator who is even more greedy, shameless, and cruel will come from above and take over his place.
"Besides, I'm highly suspicious if your operation can kill Li Minghui. Maybe even after the sacrifices of tens of thousands of Nepenthe believers, you will only take down a few of Li Minghui's lackeys and thousands of his battle puppets, which won't help anything at all!"
Chapter 2376: The Father of Two Boys |
Vague brilliance flashed in Xu Zhicheng's eyes as he said coldly, "Our operation is certainly much more than just killing Li Minghui, but there is no need for an outsider to know our deeper purpose."
"But I already do."
Li Yao said, "You intend to activate the 'super brainwave magnifier' and inculcate the Serenity Arts into countless people by force, thereby transforming them into emotionless Nepenthe believers, don't you?"
Xu Zhicheng was slightly stunned. He turned his eyes to Long Yangjun. Every wrinkle on his face was slightly shivering, but he simply repressed his wrath. There was no telling if it was because he feared Long Yangjun's strength or because he was bound by the doctrine of his religion.
"Yes, it was me who told him that."
Long Yangjun opened her hands and said helplessly, "However, Grand Guardian Xu, you must believe me. This man is unimaginably dangerous and strong. Even if I hadn't told him such a scheme, he would've unraveled and stopped it through uncanny approaches. So, it is better to just tell him frankly."
"That's right!"
Since the "Serenity Seraph" was so straightforward, it was naturally impossible for Xu Zhicheng to keep lying. He simply went on, as coldly as a machine. "As long as we occupy the geothermal factory, we will be able to boost the function of the 'super brainwave magnifier' to the maximum, allowing everybody within thousands of kilometers to taste the wonderfulness of the Serenity Arts so that all their pains and fears will be relieved!
"By then, even if we are all killed, even if we fail to execute Li Minghui, it will no longer be important because our ideas will have been spread out. Nobody can stop Nepenthe from propagating and reincarnating in the underground worlds!"
"You can't do that!"
Li Yao raised his voice. "Even if you are willing to abandon everything yourself, you cannot force other people to wipe out their feelings and desires!"
"We are not forcing them. We are helping them to forget all the fears and pains and gain the strength to fight the Immortal Cultivators!"
Xu Zhicheng also raised his voice and declared like a tolling bell, "Look around us, look at our life. For hundreds of years, we have been living like swine and zombies in ceaseless pain and suffering. Everybody regards us as weeds and ants. Nobody cares about us, nobody helps us, nobody fights for us! Right now, we finally have the ability to fight for ourselves. Are we going to just abandon it without teaching it to everybody else?"
"Somebody will fight for you, in a much better way!"
Li Yao did not know how he should convince the scarred and stubborn man. He could only say, "Trust me, I'm willing to fight for you, the Cultivators are willing to fight for you! However, we need to make thorough plans, accumulate our strength, and wait for a better opportunity so that the unavoidable sacrifices will be more worthwhile!"
"The Cultivators… will fight for us?"
Xu Zhicheng was slightly stunned, but he soon recovered his stiffened face that was devoid of any expressions. He said coldly, "It's impossible. Nobody has ever fought for us, and nobody will ever do so in the future. The Cultivators and the Immortal Cultivators are just jackals of the same lair. You are just a bunch of guys who blatantly bully the weak and destroy everything with your desires when you are unrestrained after you pick up the massive strength!
"I remember it now. Weren't the Immortal Cultivators today Cultivators in the beginning? Is there any difference despite the change of names? Even in the Star Ocean Republic that was ruled by the Cultivators, the life of the underground locals was not any better!
"All in all, Nepenthe does not need the help of the Cultivators. We will fight for ourselves and all the people who have had enough sufferings just like us. We will completely change the world and destroy the source of all the evils and injustice—feelings and desires!
"Stop wasting your time. It's useless. If you want, you can kill me directly. I can tell that you are far stronger than me, and killing me is no different from crumbling a bug for you. Hehe, in the eyes of the experts like you, the underground locals like us are just a swarm of insignificant bugs, aren't we?
"But let me tell you, even if you kill me, thousands of people who are exactly like me will show up, and the final victory will definitely be ours!"
Xu Zhicheng stepped forward and stood straight right before Li Yao. He even raised his head and revealed his bouncing carotid artery.
Li Yao did not intend to make the situation so intense but planned to take care of the issue slowly.
It never occurred to him that Xu Zhicheng was such a tough and stubborn man that he left no room for negotiation at all.
With everything coming to this point, Li Yao had no choice except to find the sharpest weapon in his messy head.
"I will not hurt you, Grand Guardian Xu. Like I said before, I will only fight for all of you and kill those who have pushed you to such a situation."
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao immediately calmed himself down. "However, if you truly intend to spread the Serenity Arts to all the underground worlds through the 'super brainwave magnifier', you should at least confirm the effectiveness of the Serenity Arts first, shouldn't you?
"As the Grand Guardian of Nepenthe, you must've fully grasped Nepenthe, right? Please tell me, have you really found 'eternal tranquility'? Have you really forgotten all your pains?"
"Of course."
Xu Zhicheng replied without any hesitation, "Under the enlightenment of the Serenity Seraph, I have forgotten all the pains and completely returned to eternal peace. Nothing dark and foul can corrupt my soul."
"Then what about the dustless toys and frames in the chamber next door?"
Staring at Xu Zhicheng in the eyes, Li Yao seemed to be piercing through the seemingly peaceful man's eyes into his soul. "The room outside is so dirty, with dust everywhere. For a man who is occupied in the affairs of your religion, you certainly do not have much time to clean the room. But why is the room inside so clean, as if you've been cleaning it many times a day?
"If my guess is correct, that is the bedroom of your sons. The items inside were used by your sons in the past, weren't they?
"Tell me, why have you been doing that? Why did you wipe the 'meaningless' and 'useless' things?"
Xu Zhicheng's pupils constricted violently.
There was one second when indescribable grief and fury almost flooded out of the deepest corners of his pupils like raging torrents.
But in the next second, the torrents were frozen by his astounding willpower.
"You-You dare snoop around my house?"
Clenching his fists, he questioned in a hoarse voice.
"Yes. I have indeed snooped at your house very rudely."
Observing the look on Xu Zhicheng's face carefully, Li Yao remarked, "So, you are very angry, and you want to beat me up right now, don't you?"
"… No."
The wrinkles on Xu Zhicheng's face were cramping. He struggled to shake his head and said, "I-I've forgotten what anger is. If I am going to fight, I will only fight for the things that are really worthy, not for such trivia just to vent my fury."
"This is certainly no trivia. If I ever encountered a shameless scoundrel who snooped at my family's bedroom without my permission, I would certainly beat them hard!"
&nbs
p; Li Yao said, "Look at me in the eyes and answer my question. Why do you wipe your sons' last belongings many times a day? If you have truly abandoned your feelings and desires, those objects will be absolute garbage that should be thrown into a dumpster, right?
"Or maybe, is it because even though you have fully grasped the Serenity Arts, even though you can give up almost all of your feelings, you cannot cut out your love for your sons?
"Is it because even if you recite the Serenity Arts again and again, it cannot stop you from missing your sons? You can only wipe the items again and again to remember the most beautiful, happy days in the past. No matter how dark and painful life is, there must've been happy moments when the family was together, right?
"Tell me, is the Serenity Arts really effective? Can it really make you forget your pains? I don't think so. I think you have been faking it the whole time. You are just deceiving and paralyzing yourself!
"Love and pain are the two sides of the same coin in the same place. The more you love, the more hurt you will be. Since you can never erase your love for your sons, you can never eliminate the pain of losing them, not in the slightest, no matter how many times you chant the Serenity Arts!"
Xu Zhicheng was apparently breathing faster.
His tranquil eyes were broken by rushing rocks, and chaotic ripples were surfacing and ripping Li Yao apart like ten thousand sharp blades.
His veins and muscles were bulging beyond control. On the previously brown skin, bloody spots were gradually bursting out. Even his joints were cracking loudly, as if two enormous forces were fighting inside his body.
"Stop."
The iron mask on his head fell apart, revealing the most hideous face, as he howled like a lone wolf in the wilderness. "I told you to stop!"
"Okay, I'll stop. Just let me give you a hand."
Li Yao pretended to be walking to the inner room. "Your sons' last belongings are your last hindrance. Let me burn your hindrance up in a fire, and you will have nothing that hamstrings you from reaching the highest level of the Serenity Arts!"
"How dare you!"
Before his brain realized what was going on, Xu Zhicheng already lunged forward like a ferocious beast. He grabbed Li Yao's collar with his left hand as he raised his right fist high as if it were a hammer. He looked so daunting that flames of fury seemed to be running out of his pores, and even if he were not faced with Li Yao but a reincarnation of a god, he would still smash it into pieces with his fist!
However, the moment he raised his fist high, he realized what was going on. His aggressive face a moment ago, along with his broken mask, completely collapsed at the same time.
Xu Zhicheng—the Grand Guardian of Nepenthe, the model worker of the Black Iron Group, and the father of two boys—stepped back; his eyes bloodshot. Blood mixed with dirty tears ran down on his face. He looked at Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and his sons' room in confusion as he howled meaningless syllables.
Chapter 2377: Everybody Dies Twice! |
"Help me, Serenity Seraph!"
Xu Zhicheng stepped all the way back to the wall before he finally struggled to stop. He looked at Long Yangjun with his unfocused eyes again while he moaned like someone about to be drowned. "I've been invaded by devils… Day and night, no matter how I practiced the Serenity Arts, I cannot completely get rid of the devils!
"I don't deserve to be the Grand Guardian of Nepenthe. I can't deal with the devils… So many devils. Those damn devils have been haunting me all the time, giving me such a headache that I always want to go mad!
"If… If we can win this war, I will certainly be able to completely eliminate the devils in my head, right? Serenity Seraph, please tell me, please save me!"
He raised his arms that looked like dry branches and extended them at Long Yangjun.
Long Yangjun had been standing nearby and watching Li Yao and Xu Zhicheng's conversation in silence. It was not until this moment that vague confusion and bitterness appeared on her face. She stepped back and said with a helpless smile, "Grand Guardian Xu, you should know that even I haven't completely erased my feelings, right? I cannot execute my own feelings and desires, and I cannot even save myself. How can I save each and every one of you?"
Looking at Long Yangjun in a daze, Xu Zhicheng was gradually burning. The fire was condensed into a desperate and furious mask on his face along with his shivering wrinkles. His branch-like hands were aimed at Li Yao again before he waved them crazily and roared, "What-What-What are you up to exactly? What Cultivator are you? You are an incarnation of the extraterrestrial devils! You are intentionally raising the devils in my head! What do you want? Why are you messing with my head in such a way? Why are you so shameless and vicious?"
"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry!"
Watching Xu Zhicheng melting down into a lunatic from the calm and indifferent man in the beginning, Li Yao felt that an indestructible wall in his own heart was smashed too. He bowed deeply at Xu Zhicheng sincerely with the urge of crying himself and said, "I'm sorry. I know that my methods are really shameless and vicious, and I couldn't handle such a situation as well if I were the father of two children.
"But… But I really don't have a choice right now. This is the only way to save you and your children!"
"What… What nonsense are you talking about?"
Panting hard, Xu Zhicheng was like an old wolf who had been pushed into desperation. With brutality beaming out of his eyes, he said, "My sons are dead! Both of them! Nobody can save them! Not Nepenthe, not the Cultivators, and not even the gods! How are you going to save them? Tell me!"
"Grand Guardian Xu, please listen to me. Whoever dies is gone for good. Of course, there is no way for me to bring the people whose souls have dispersed back to life. However—"
Opening his arms, Li Yao said sincerely, "I've heard a theory before. Everybody dies twice. The first time is when their physical body and their soul perish, and the second time is when everybody forgets them!
"Yes, your sons are already dead, but now, they still 'exist' in your memories, in your feelings, in your ineffaceable love and your haunting pains, in the toys and certificates that you clean carefully every day!
"Did they have classmates? Did they have friends? Did they have childhood crushes? I believed that they must've had them, right? Then, they are also existing in the memories of their classmates, friends, and loves, in the affection and agony of so many people!
"They are already dead, but exactly because of the memories of so many people, and the emotional fluctuations that you cannot erase no matter how you practice the Serenity Arts, that they can 'exist' in such a form. This is their last connection with this universe and the only thing that they have left for you!
"If you are erasing everything just because you cannot deal with the pain, you will also be erasing your love for your son, the most beautiful things in the past, the only brightness in the infinite darkness, and their last existence!
"By the time you completely forget them and burn up the toys and certificates that carry very special meanings because they are hindering you, by the time when all their friends and loves can't remember their voice, their looks, and even their names, they will be completely gone from this universe, sinking into oblivion!
"Do you want your son to end like this, in an 'oblivion' that is even more terrible than 'death'?"
As if struck by lightning, Xu Zhicheng was so astounded that he almost forgot how to breathe.
"I can totally imagine your pain. Really. Although I do not have any children yet, my computational ability is enough for me to simulate the… avalanche of emotions. I can feel what you are feeling, and I'm feeling it right now!"
While he was talking, Li Yao's eyes became red. "However, I also believe that 'father' is a great name. A father can do anything and hold back any pain for his children.
"So, for your sons, for yourself, and for your late wife who gave birth to them—do not forget them, do not let them sink into oblivion, and live on stubbornly while
carrying their existence!"
"Carrying…"
Xu Zhicheng touched his shoulders with his shivering hands while he mumbled, "Their 'existence'?"
"Not just their existence, but everybody's existence made the happiest moments of the locals!"
Li Yao raised his voice, which burst out next to Xu Zhicheng's ears like a clap of thunder. "Do you know? In the darkest and hardest towns below the ground, I heard the most wonderful songs from children, who told me their happy stories vividly. Even when I passed the murky, stinky huts outside just now, I heard people laughing too!
"No matter how dark life is, there is always vague brightness, isn't there? Isn't the brightness made of songs, laughters, and loves for each other while we are gritting our teeth to endure the pains and sufferings? Isn't it why we are human beings and not animals, weeds, and rocks?
"But what you are going to do will destroy the last brightness in the dark!
"If you truly erase the emotions and desires of everyone here including your own, there will be no more songs, laughters, and babbling, wobbling children in the living areas. There will be no more boys and girls whispering their affections for each other in the forsaken tunnels. There will not be a father who creates toys for his children in great enthusiasm despite the arduous work, just to watch the innocent smile on his children's faces! There will be nothing! Everything will be gone!
"If the Immortal Cultivators' exploitations and oppressions are taking away your life, what you are doing right now is depriving everybody of their 'existence'! By the time your so-called 'eternal tranquility' does arrive, each of you, no matter if you are living or dead, will no longer have any personality, a name, a past, or any significance as a human being! Is that what you want? Tell me! Because you have lost your family, you want everybody to lose theirs in such a way? Is that your purpose?"
