Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Tell me the truth. What did you do with your monitor while I was away?”

Li Yao asked, “Tell me everything without leaving out any detail!”

“I… I don’t know!”

Tang Ka said, “When we returned, Liao Meng was grappling with this boy named Shao Jie. We’re told that Liao Meng heard Shao Jie whistling a tune of the devils, but Shao Jie denied it, so Liao Meng burst into rage and decided to teach him a lesson!”

“Wait, nobody is asking you why the two boys are fighting!”

Li Yao said, “You didn’t hear my question. I asked you what you did you do with your monitor in the dark corner. Did you do anything else other than the mouth-to-mouth activities?”

“Shao Jie was responsible for identifying the jade chips that contain audios and videos. He might’ve whistled unintentionally when he heard too many of the melodies, but it’s still unusual because we’ve received professional training and shouldn’t have been tempted by such music.”

Tang Ka paused for a moment and said again, “But Liao Meng’s reaction is even more unnatural. He could’ve reported his classmate’s misbehavior to our mentors or just scolded him.. Why did he simply beat the guy up? Liao Meng looks ferocious, but he is never so rash.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Don’t change the subject. Like I said, I’m not asking about the boys!”

Li Yao grew anxious. “I’m asking you and your monitor Chu Zhiyun. What did you do with the girl whom you dream to tie up?”

Tang Ka couldn’t resist anymore. “We didn’t do anything. We simply watched the TV series from the Imperium and learned how to be an emotional and enthusiastic citizen of the Imperium. Why do you insist on asking that?”

“Don’t misunderstand me, kid. As one of the most powerful experts of our universe, I’m not interested in your little private life at all.”

Li Yao coughed and said solemnly, “I’m only trying to remind you that this ultimate test is not so simple and that your every action is likely to be monitored. So, don’t do anything outrageous in any case. But on the other hand, I’m also wondering how to awaken your humanity and turn you into a regular young man!”

“A regular young man, like those in the Imperium?”

Tang Ka snorted and said, “My mentors told us about the lives of the young people in the Imperium before. They plot against each other and live in deception and betrayals every day. Even their closest comrade may turn into the most brutal enemy. At the end of the day, their personal efforts are nothing compared with the influence of their families, and the weak can never change their fate. Grandpa Yao, don’t lie to me. Is it true? Do you want to turn me into such a ‘regular young man’?”

“Of course not!”

Li Yao sensed that the young man’s tongue was sharper and sharper as the ice in his head cracked. He had to think for a moment before he gave a reply.

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said solemnly, “Trust me. I’m not lying to you. There’s a third path in this universe apart from the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance, and there are young men who are nothing like you know!”

“Really?”

The ripples in Tang Ka’s head glittered. “What kind of life do those young people live?”

“In… that place, the young people do not have to blindly worship the groundless gods as you do in the Covenant Alliance or consider everybody else an enemy like those in the Imperium!”

Li Yao declared resolutely, “Those young people can live a more peaceful, happier, and brighter life!

“They’re free to sleep through their classes. They can devote all their time and energy to partying and gaming. They do not worship gods, but they worship the stars that are deified through business approaches and fake commercials. When they burst into rage, they can throw a tantrum at their parents or their teachers. While wasting their lives without the slightest sense of responsibility, they consider themselves the coolest people in the universe. How does it sound? Isn’t it great?”

“Huh…”

Tang Ka said, “You want to turn me into one of those people? Are you sure you’re not an extraterrestrial devil?”

“Well, I thought a young man like you would be interested in those things, but if you’re not, you can also choose to be a good student and contribute to the glorious future of mankind later!”

Li Yao said, “Or maybe you can try to combine the three different paths, making it neither so ‘corrupt’ nor so ‘pious and positive’ as you are right now. All in all, just trust me!”

While the two of them talked silently in Tang Ka’s head, the two bruised young men were separated by their classmates.

Liao Meng was like an angry bull. It took six kids to drag him away, but he was still stomping on the ground, leaving messy footprints there.

“Liao Meng, what are you doing?”

Standing on a collapsed building, Chu Zhiyun looked down at him and said coldly, “It’s the second time that your portable crystal processor has sent out a warning. One more time, and you will be exiled immediately. Nobody will speak for you!”

Her threat was quite effective.

Looking at his portable crystal processor that was glittering in redness, Liao Meng seemed overwhelmed with disbelief, as if he didn’t understand why he lost control of his feelings.

“Second time? It’s already the second time today?”

Having no time to wipe his nosebleed, he gritted his teeth and mumbled.

Actually, not just Liao Meng and Shao Jie, who was corrupted and whistled a tune from the Imperium without him realizing it, but all of the students were teetering on the verge of loss of control.

They had been acting independently so far, or in groups of two like Chu Zhiyun and Tang Ka, at most. When twenty students were dispersed in the town, it was like grains of salt being melted in an ocean.

Perhaps they were not purging the town; this filthy, greedy, and evil town was actually tempting and transforming them.

“What do we do?”

Shao Jie, who secretly whistled a tune, could not hide the panic on his face at all. He kept asking Chu Zhiyun, “What do we do?”

Everybody knew that he was not talking about the whistling but the fight with Liao Meng.

There were few internal conflicts within the Covenant Alliance.

According to the Path of Ultimate Benevolence or the Three Fundamental Laws, it was stated that human beings should ensure their own safety and must not hurt each other as long as such protection did not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Although Liao Meng had the power to punish his classmate, the huge fight still bordered on the precipices of a violation.

This could be nothing, but it could be grave too. Even Chu Zhiyun did not know how she should deal with it.

However, it was impossible to cover the two young men’s broken suits and the blood on their clothes. Even if they could cover that, their mentors would still ask about the drastic changes of their biophysical parameters.

Thankfully, an alarm echoed in all directions, saving the two young men’s lives.

Everyone’s mini crystal processors shrieked, giving them a new order on an unexpected, urgent mission!

They were supposed to return to the camp in half an hour, report their actions today, and be examined and blessed by their mentors.

However, two students from another class fled. They seemed to have been corrupted by extraterrestrial devils that were hiding in the myriad of items from the Imperium, and they hurt their monitor and ran to the depths of the city when they were supposed to regather.

It was undoubtedly a violation of the Third Law. It was unpardonable, and they were to be delivered to the holy temple where the sources of their sins would be dug out.

The purge troop stationed next to the city already deployed soldiers to search for the two escaping students. However, the city was too big and complicated, and the number of soldiers was limited. So, the students, including Chu Zhiyun and Tang Ka, had to join the hunt too.

At the end of the brief on the urgent mission, the director of the Holy Light Academy solemnly promised that whoever caught the two defectors would receive bonus points, and whoever secretly reported to their mentor on suspicious classmates would also receive bonus points if those classmates were found guilty later.

Such a promise made the hearts of all the Children of Holy Light race.

However, they immediately came back to themselves and tried to look indifferent and heartless by controlling their heartbeats, their breaths, and their micro-expressions, not giving away their real feelings.

“Let’s go and catch those two defectors!”

Chu Zhiyun waved her hand and leaped from the wall. Including Tang Ka, Liao Meng, and Shao Jie, everybody ran in the direction where the two students fled, hoping to capture the two traitors or even blasphemers to cover their uneasiness and demonstrate their piety.