"Wait, this is the most crucial part. You can't just brush it off like you're telling a fairy tale!"
Meng Chao keenly grasped the main point. "You worked together with the monster … spirit beasts to kill powerful humans?"
"That's right."
Ancient Spirit nodded and said matter-of-factly, "Is there a problem?"
"Of course there's a problem. There's a huge problem with every word you said."
Meng Chao resisted the urge to jump up again. "How can humans work together with spirit beasts?"
"Why not? We have no grudge against spirit beasts. Since we're called spirit beasts, we've naturally awakened to a certain degree of intelligence. We know what's good for us and can communicate with them. We can calculate the gains and losses together, right?"
Ancient Spirit analyzed the situation for Meng Chao seriously. "Look, normal people and the powerful fighters at the middle and lower levels have never had any fundamental conflict with spirit beasts. After all, we don't have a lot of people. As long as we control our insatiable greed and only eat some fruits and peaches every day, or at most, catch some fish from peach blossom streams and hunt some low-grade spirit beasts in the forest, we won't harm the vast forest, and we won't harm the powerful high-grade spirit beasts.
"So, why is there a need for us to become enemies with them?"
"But spirit beasts eat people," Meng Chao said with a dark expression.
"Spirit beasts don't like to eat people!"
Ancient Spirit snorted and retorted. "Humans aren't big to begin with, and the amount of meat they produce is too little. They also need a long time to grow, so they're not good food.
"Besides, humans have intelligence. They know how to create all sorts of terrifying weapons and use a lot of cunning and sinister tactics. If spirit beasts insist on eating people, they have to rack their brains and pay a devastating price. They might even die in the hands of humans. The amount of energy they use and the amount of energy they gain from eating humans is not proportional at all!
"If some spirit beast insists on eating humans as its main food, its entire race will definitely starve to death.
"As long as they have a choice, no matter how powerful a spirit beast is, they won't want to become enemies with humans. What's the point in becoming enemies?"
"Is that so?"
Meng Chao frowned. "But in Dragon City …"
"I know that the spirit beasts and humans around Dragon City are fighting fiercely. That's because you insist on developing a civilization. You want to destroy the nests of the spirit beasts and turn the peaceful forests and plains into industrial areas, residential areas, and research bases. You also want to capture a large number of spirit beasts to use as raw materials for industrialization. You also want to split open mountains and dig up all the crystal mines. You want to destroy the spirit beasts' homes, so there's no way they won't fight you to the death."
"And the reason why you're doing this isn't for the good of the normal citizens of Dragon City. It's just for the ambitious people in your place. I think they're called the Nine Great Cultivation Families or something, and they're all peerless fighters who stand high above the masses.
"The Nine Great Clans should have the same meaning as the Supreme Commander of Peach Blossom Town, Pioneer No.1, right?
"The cultivation of these peerless experts requires a large number of crystal stones.
"The enterprises they created wanted to expand and multiply endlessly, but they also needed an endless supply of land and all kinds of raw materials.
"To obtain crystals, land, and all sorts of resources, the peerless fighters ordered the normal citizens to fight against the spirit beasts.
"The normal citizens fought against the spirit beasts and paid a devastating price. Most of the spoils of war they obtained ended up in the pockets of the Nine Great Cultivation Families through various methods.
"The peerless fighters became stronger, and the nine great enterprises became bigger. But the normal citizens only received wounds all over their bodies and hatred from the spirit beasts that was carved into their bones.
"All of this is the same as Peach Blossom Town in the past. Isn't that the case?"
"…"
Meng Chao stared at Ancient Spirit's seemingly innocent and clear eyes and said, "Your grandfather sure told you a lot of things!"
"Of course. Ever since the first outsider floated to Peach Blossom Town through Peach Blossom Creek, we've been very concerned about the Dragon City he mentioned," Ancient Spirit said.
"As more outsiders came, we learned that Dragon City still maintained the lifestyle from the early days of Peach Blossom Town and Earth. This is terrifying, but it's also worth us celebrating and being wary of it. Thank goodness the people of Peach Blossom Town came to their senses in time and made changes. Otherwise, our world would have been forever filled with war, slavery, and deceit. How terrifying would that be?
"Mister Meng Chao, don't look at me like that. Using my grandfather's words, this is the same as crawling into a warehouse filled with stinky salted fish. After squatting there for three days and three nights, you can no longer smell the stench on your body.
"In truth, if you think about it carefully, you'll know that there's a lot of room for cooperation between normal humans and spirit beasts. We can definitely form a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship instead of killing each other and injuring both sides."
"Is that so?"
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. "The forms of humans and spirit beasts are very different. What sort of symbiotic relationship can we form?"
"The forms of rhinoceroses and hornbills are also very different, but it doesn't stop the wild and violent rhinoceroses from standing on them and pecking at the parasites in their scabies. The hornbills will be full, and the rhinoceroses will be free of scabies. Isn't this a happy ending?"
Ancient Spirit said. "Also, no matter how hungry and brutal a crocodile is, it won't refuse to open its mouth and let a toothpick bird clean the food scraps between its teeth. Even a super spirit beast crocodile that is dozens of meters long can't clean its teeth on its own and ensure that its oral cavity is smooth.
"Mister Meng Chao, don't you think that if we want to treat rhinoceroses' skin diseases and help crocodiles maintain oral hygiene and health, we humans are one hundred times better than the hornbills and toothpick birds?"
Meng Chao was stunned.
He had never thought about the problem from this angle.
"No matter what, our fingers are much more nimble than the hornbills and toothpick birds. We also have smart brains, so we can invent all sorts of medical equipment and tools for massaging. We can help spirit beasts get rid of their troublesome diseases and treat them so comfortably that they can whimper."
Guling counted with her fingers the benefits of the cooperation between humans and spirit beasts. "We can also help spirit beasts build their nests. Originally, no matter how powerful a spirit beast is, its nests are always leaky and crude. However, if we rely on the collapsed buildings of humans and add flowers, vines, and moss to the surroundings, we can build the most comfortable nests.
"Don't underestimate the importance of nests. The safety, comfort, and stability of nests are closely related to the spirit beasts' reproduction. Spirit beasts that build nests in the wild and forests have a low number of fetuses each time they give birth, and the survival rate of the fetuses is also low. With humans' help, they can give birth to and feed three to five times the number of children they have!
"Also, we can also take care of etherealized plants.
"We gather the feces of spirit beasts, and after we modify them, we bury them in the roots of etherealized plants. Then, the etherealized plants will grow stronger and bear more plump and delicious fruits.
"These fruits aren't just food for humans. They're also delicious food for spirit beasts.
"In the past, spirit beasts had to fight to the death to survive.
"But with humans' help, the production of etherealized plants' fruits has increased by leaps and bounds, and the number of herbivorous spirit beasts has increased by leaps and bounds. Carnivorous spirit beasts don't have to work hard anymore. They can eat their fill and lie in their warm and soft nests while enjoying the treatment and massages from humans using special tools. This is a good life that they can't even dream of!
"Of course, humans don't just provide one-sided services to spirit beasts. Spirit beasts have also contributed a lot to our civilization. You saw it when we were walking just now. Quite a number of spirit beasts are living with us in Peach Blossom Town. They're contributing to our lives!
"And after we form an alliance with the spirit beasts, our harvesting and hunting in the forest will become much safer.
"As long as we don't go overboard with our hunting and limit our hunting to low-grade spirit beasts that are simple-minded and only hunt to satisfy the survival needs of the townspeople instead of developing our civilization, the high-grade spirit beasts won't interfere. They'll even protect us in the dark. In fact, they'll hunt low-grade spirit beasts with us and split the spoils of war together!"
The girl swayed her head and looked very proud.
"I see. It really does sound … harmonious, natural, and joyful!"
Meng Chao controlled his temples and the twitching of his lips as he asked in depth. "Alright, I admit that there's a lot of room for cooperation between humans and spirit beasts, but I still don't understand. How did you manage to form the agreement in the first place? At that time, spirit beasts shouldn't be able to understand the human language, so it was difficult for them to understand how humans thought. They also didn't trust each other. Besides, they hadn't figured out many of the ways to work together.
"You can't just run to the jackals and tigers surrounded by spirit flames and take the initiative to ask to give them massages, right?"
Ancient Spirit snickered.
"You're too funny, Mister Meng Chao. I knew that you're different from those lunatics. You can completely understand and accept Peach Blossom Civilization," the girl said.
"In the beginning, humans and spirit beasts did indeed not speak the same language, so we couldn't think with the same logic. We were about to sink into an endless cycle of hatred and killing, unable to extricate ourselves.
"Fortunately, the wisdom tree appeared and saved us."
When Meng Chao heard this, he could not help but ask, "Just what is the wisdom tree?"
"The wisdom tree is a big tree. It has a unique ability that allows us to connect our brains to the brains of spirit beasts so that we can empathize with the spirit beasts and use an unbelievable method to communicate with each other's thoughts and form a perfect agreement," Ancient Spirit said.
"Through the wisdom tree, our souls seem to be able to enter the spirit beasts' bodies. We can sense the eagles flying in the wind, the cheetahs waiting in the depths of the forest, and the pythons moving through the vines. We can understand their needs and troubles.
"Spirit beasts can also learn the human language and logical thinking. They can understand our society and civilization and find common interests."
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