Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

With confusion beaming out of his face, Li Yao’s left hand trembled unconsciously. A few red stripes surfaced on the back of the hand. He could not help but touch his cheek and ask suspiciously, “What are you talking about?”

The rays released from the silver ball quickly scanned the red stripes on the back of Li Yao’s left hand but did not seem to notice anything. Without bothering with his questions, it simply went on. “Five thousand years ago, the apocalypse arrived. The Blood Stripe Virus, lurking inside the meteoroids, assaulted the three habitable planets of the Flying Star Sector!

“Faced with the fatal threat of the apocalypse, the extreme potential of the civilization in the Flying Star Sector was fully activated. Great progress was made in various fields, including crystal processor and Spiritual Nexus technology. The debate of the ‘homers’ and ‘spacers’ also raised tides of discussions in the whole society!

“The extraterrestrial devil was not a simple crystal processor virus after all. Other than the highly-developed crystal processors and Spiritual Nexus, intense mood swings of human beings were the best energy source for them, too.

“Therefore, in the middle of the turbulent change that had never been seen before in the past five thousand years, the ancient crystal processor virus was reborn. It also managed to reconstruct its assembly languages, algorithms, and database during the fierce information collision between the homers and the spacers!

“When the apocalypse arrived, the ancient crystal processor virus lurked on the starships of the spaces and escaped to the space together with them, because the spacers had more developed technology and more advanced crystal processors, which were more suitable as the carrier of the extraterrestrial devil of such a type. On the other hand, Iron Plateau and the other two habitable planets, after being struck by the apocalypse, must have been scarred by ruins if not completely destroyed. There would be a long period when those places were mired in savageness and ignorance. Not just the Spiritual Nexus, even the point-to-point radio communication would be terribly difficult. For the extraterrestrial devil of such a type, it was definitely the most barren land.

“You know what happened next. In the five thousand years that followed, the extraterrestrial devil that was similar to a crystal processor virus and the Blood Stripe Virus that was similar to a biological virus coexisted in peace. Both parties were in the embryonic phase after just being reborn. Their hunting range was different, too. Naturally, the two parties could live in harmony.

“Iron Plateau belonged to the Blood Stripe Virus, which reproduced and spread through viruses, germs, parasites, and bodily fluids of living creatures.

“The vast sea of stars, on the other hand, belonged to the extraterrestrial devil of this type. They considered the crystal processors as the carriers, the waves among starships as the means of infection, and the feelings of human beings as the food. They gradually perfected their languages, algorithms, and databases, upgrading themselves from a simple crystal processor virus to a certain more complicated, more advanced, and more… indescribable existence.

“There wasn’t any ‘self-awareness’ that was pushing them to do that. Maybe, it was just like the earliest monads developing toward metazoans that were more sophisticated and advanced. It was just the instinct of any life!”

Li Yao listened attentively. As if he were too deeply attracted by the story of the silver ball, he did not notice that the bloody stripes on the back of his hand were growing and becoming denser and more twisted. They were spreading from his wrist to his arm, shoulder, and heart, like fatal vipers that had submerged below his skin!

The brightness emanated by the silver ball caught the scene precisely. It was even deeper and darker than before.

It accelerated the speed of its speech and further grabbed Li Yao’s attention. “Such evolution might’ve needed thousands of years to complete preliminarily. It was possible that human beings would have discovered the anomaly before the evolution was done and killed it with antivirus telepathic thoughts. However, the unexpected arrival of a certain someone accelerated the whole process—star child Xiao Tianbao from the Imperium of True Human Beings!

“Hehe. Ten thousand years were too long after all, with even the changes of two regimes. During the process in which Blackstar the Great usurped the supreme power at the center of the cosmos, countless precious files from the Star Ocean Imperium were lost, including those describing the dangers of space jumps.

“The universal travelers of the Imperium of True Human Beings did not know the first thing about the danger of passing through wormholes. In their absurd courage that could only be found in the ignorant, they even dared to remove their fleshly body, the natural ‘shell’ that can resist the extraterrestrial devils, for convenience and energy conservation. They were bold enough to be teleported with only their naked souls!

“I don’t know what happened to other star children. Maybe the Imperium of True Human Beings had their own new secret techniques that could resist the scourge of the extraterrestrial devils. But the star child under the name of ‘Xiao Tianbao’ happened upon a cosmic storm when he arrived in the Flying Star Sector. His soul was greatly wounded in the accident. Then, he happened to run into an extraterrestrial devil that was wandering in the area.

“Therefore, the extraterrestrial devil snuck into his soul without any courtesy, just like they had snuck into the brains of countless natives of the Flying Star Sector before.

“But this time, the extraterrestrial devil immediately noticed the anomaly of Xiao Tianbao. This guy was not from the Flying Star Sector but from the Imperium of True Human Beings, a mysterious country at the center of the cosmos, which boasted more advanced crystal processors and more developed Spiritual Nexus than the Flying Star Sector did!

“To pursue the best is every creature’s instinct. It was also the case for the extraterrestrial devils. Compared to the barren, desolate land of the Flying Star Sector, the Imperium of True Human Beings was certainly the best paradise with the most enjoyable landscape.

“What was even more amazing was that Xiao Tianbao, the star child, was originally planning to establish a space gate for the communication of the Imperium and the Flying Star Sector. The extraterrestrial devils did not need to manipulate him at all. All they needed to do was guide his thinking and give him a hand when necessary!

“The Grand Illusionary Soldier Plan and the super crystal processor ‘star brain’ were mostly come up with by the extraterrestrial devils. Otherwise, how could Xiao Tianbao have grasped such advanced technology in crystal processors and remote control when he was only supposed to be a member of the special forces of the Imperium?”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. It was quite true. The star child was merely a scout that the Imperium of True Human Beings sent out. How could a common soldier have the knowledge of so much cutting-edge technology?

At first, he had thought that every soldier of the Imperium was as tough as that. He had even been deeply awed by the enemy once. However, after meeting the authentic natives of the Imperium including Su Changfa, he had begun to realize that those people also had only two nostrils and one mouth. There was nothing too special about them except that their average level might be slightly higher!

It was not until today when the silver ball revealed the answer that Li Yao finally understood everything. So, everything had actually been done by the extraterrestrial devils who specialized in crystal processor technology. It made much more sense now!

“The whole plan went smoothly at the beginning. Before long, the Flying Star Sector would be conquered by the Imperium, and the extraterrestrial devils would find their way into a greater hunting ground. However—”

The silver ball finally released what appeared to be a human emotion. Pausing for a moment, it calmed itself down. “You know what happened next. The hundred-year plan was disrupted. The star child was swallowed. Even the ‘star brain’, in which the extraterrestrial devil was lurking, was devoured by Professor Mo Xuan. As a result, the extraterrestrial devil entered Professor Mo Xuan’s body just like that!

“It was the worst living environment like the extraterrestrial devil had never seen before. It had abundant experience in infiltrating human brains and crystal processors, but Professor Mo Xuan’s life form was neither a regular human being nor a common crystal processor, but something in between. His liquid metal shell was almost flawless!

“Besides, after swallowing the star brain, Professor Mo Xuan’s computational ability soared. He was a determined, unwavering man. Should he discover the existence of the extraterrestrial devil, he would certainly have compiled a set of pertinent antivirus telepathic thoughts to wipe it out completely!

“Therefore, the extraterrestrial devil could only hold back and lurk in the deepest part of Professor Mo Xuan’s soul. Like all the viruses that were mired in a harsh environment, and like what you are doing right now, it hibernated and prowled around!”

Li Yao bulged his eyes. The bloody stripes had already passed his left shoulder and climbed to his cheek along his neck. Some of them had even crawled into his left eye, making creepy crimson beam out of the eyeball.

But he seemed to have sensed none of it. Waving his hands in agitation, he demanded, “What are you talking about exactly?”

Ripples of excitement spread out on the surface of the silver ball. “The extraterrestrial devil waited for decades. In the meantime, it slowly released the information of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus that it had accumulated for thousands of years into Professor Mo Xuan’s memory database without him knowing it. In the end, Professor Mo Xuan indeed grew interested in the ‘Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus’ and ‘virtual life’. Eventually, the ‘Virtual Spirits Sector Project’ was born.

“To be honest, the collapse of the Virtual Spirits Sector was an accident. Even the extraterrestrial devils were incapable of creating such a huge crash.

“But once the accident had already happened, and since the souls of Professor Mo Xuan, Su Changfa, and Lu Qingchen were already battered, the extraterrestrial devil certainly wouldn’t let go of such a rare opportunity.

“No. It was not swallowing but merely pushing forward the mutual melding.

“Besides, given the circumstances, without first aid, Professor Mo Xuan, Su Changfa, and the extraterrestrial devil itself might’ve been trapped in the collapsing Virtual Spirits Sector and completely obliterated!

“Once everybody’s soul was broken and unable to be recovered, with the help of the extraterrestrial devil, the fragments of everybody’s soul were jumbled into a new existence!”

Li Yao was dumbfounded. “The fragments of everybody’s soul were jumbled?”

“Don’t be so surprised. If limbs and organs can be transplanted, why can’t the soul?” the silver ball said. “I have never lied to you. I am indeed Mo Xuan, except that my soul was so heavily wounded that I was forced to transplant… certain things that originally belonged to the star child and Su Changfa into it.

“There are many ridiculous theories about what the soul actually was in ancient times, but in my opinion, it refers to your memories, belief, character, emotions, thinking patterns, and everything else in your mind.

“At that time, Professor Mo Xuan was the least wounded one, and the extraterrestrial devil had been living inside my body for decades. Naturally, my soul took charge.

“Su Changfa’s soul was dying, and the star child was already as dead as anyone could ever possibly be. So, the fragments of their souls were perfect to be recycled.

“In the end, this is the me right now, Mo Xuan 2.0 that has finished a generation update. I still kept the memories and beliefs of Professor Mo Xuan, but I also boasted Su Changfa’s thinking pattern, the star child’s personality, and the fully activated strength of the extraterrestrial devil!”