Li Yao opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say.
It was not that he could not argue, but he realized that he was not on the same channel as the old tortoise at all. What they were pursuing was not the same at all.
With pride beaming out of his face, Gui Suishou said, "Forgetting history equals destruction. On the other hand, establishing or even creating history equals eternal life! The ancestors of my clan understood the logic thousands of years ago. From that moment on, we were no longer obsessed with the survival of the civilization of demons right now. Instead, we shifted our attention to the tinder of the civilization of demons.
"In our eyes, both Elder Nether Spring's efforts to create a 'third life form' and Jin Tuyi's tricks were hilarious and meaningless. Only by preserving the tinder of the civilization of demons for billions of years in a certain way would the civilization of demons be truly immortal. It could even be passed on in new ways and reborn in some new civilizations!
"Therefore, the ancestors of my clan were no longer obsessed with the struggle against the civilization of human beings. Instead, we devoted all our attention to prolonging our lifespan. We abandoned everything and even spent 90% of our lives in hibernation. Finally, our lifespan was extended to a thousand years.
"We did not pursue our own longevity. We only wanted to study the rise and decline and essence of our civilization from a longer time span.
"In our long lives, we collected all the historical pieces about the civilization of demons, sorted them out carefully, and connected them to build a systematic edifice of history, legends, and myths.
"We also recorded everything that was happening in detail. We recorded the decline and destruction of the great civilization that had reigned over the universe for thirty thousand years.
"We would preserve the history, as well as the most important epics, classics, Cultivation arts, dictionaries, artworks, and all the essence of the civilization of demons as' tinders' or 'tombstones'. Then, we would launch the objects to every corner of the universe and let them drift in the boundless universe until they were discovered by new civilizations or quasi-civilizations billions of years later. The essence of the civilization of demons would be developed again!
"This was the destiny of my clan and the way we tried to win the 'civilization war'!"
Li Yao listened in a daze, unable to regain his senses for a long time.
The structure of this old man's brain was too strange. He couldn't understand it at all.
Zhou Yifu, the historian of the Federation next to Li Yao, however, breathed quickly and excitedly. "So to speak, Master Gui, you are sort of a historian of the demon civilization, too?"
Zhou Yifu was more than 180 years old this year. He was usually addressed as' Master Zhou '. But in front of Gui Suishou, who was more than 800 years old, he was still a babbling child!
Gui Suishou smiled casually. "It is safe to say that, in the demon civilization, the historians who hold my opinion are known as the 'Tombstone School'. We believe that any civilization is unavoidably marching toward death from the moment it is born. Therefore, the most important thing is not how to live but how to build a splendid, splendid, and delicate tombstone that condenses the essence of the civilization!
"As long as the tombstone exists, the civilization will live forever. If the tombstone is destroyed, the civilization will truly be doomed and never be reincarnated!
"From that point of view, the historians responsible for building tombstones are the most important profession in a civilization. The historians of two hostile civilizations are building the most intense collisions with each other when they build the diametrically opposite views of history. Such a smokeless war is a hundred times more soul-stirring than the bloody battles of the warriors of the two races on the battlefield!"
Zhou Yifu nodded quickly, as if he had met a bosom friend. He said respectfully, "Then, you have come to the Yuanying Meeting to record the historic moment, haven't you, Master Gui?"
"That's only part of it," Gui Suishou said with a smile.
Gui Suishou said with a smile, "On the other hand, I'm hoping to persuade everybody in the three Sectors, especially the experts of the human civilization, to build their own 'tinder' and 'tombstone' as soon as possible with the opportunity of the Meeting of the Nascent Soul Stage.
"Huh?"
Li Yao and Zhou Yifu looked at each other in bewilderment. Li Yao was somewhat dazed, but Zhou Yifu was deep in thought.
"I am a firm pessimist. I was, and I am," Gui Suishou said casually.
"In the past, I didn't believe that the demon civilization could defeat the civilization of human beings. Right now, I certainly don't believe that the three Sectors are enough to defeat the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant at the center of the cosmos!
"I know that you will not give up. You will make a last struggle no matter what, just like Elder Nether Spring's struggle."
"But while you are struggling, why don't you sort through and summarize your own civilization, condense the essence of what you have, seal it properly, and shoot it to the depths of the cosmos as tinder and tombstones?
"In such a way, even if the final resistance fails and the Xing Yao Federation and the three Sectors are completely destroyed, there will be something that proves that we once existed."
Li Yao clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth. "We will definitely, definitely, definitely not lose!"
Gui Suishou smiled and said peacefully, "My young friend Li Yao, did you know that the more you use the word 'definitely' when you talk, the less confident you are in the matter? You can only hypnotize yourself with the word."
Li Yao was lost for words and scratched his head hard.
Zhou Yifu pondered for a moment and said, "I also believe that the Federation will win the war. But we can never be too careful. Even if the odds of our victory are 99%, it doesn't seem wrong to make preparations for the 1% failure. I wonder, what is your specific plan, Master Gui? What are your 'tinder of civilization' and 'tombstone of civilization' like exactly?"
"Tinder of civilization and tombstone are just a theory. They should not even be large relics that can be found easily."
Gui Suishou proposed his plan quickly. "Large relics are too easy to be discovered by our enemies. Also, in the river of time, they are too easy to be destroyed by the tides.
"The 'tinder of civilization' in my imagination should be something extremely tiny, like a chip or … a ring. Yes. Something similar to a Cosmos Ring.
"However, while Cosmos Rings are used to store a lot of materials and real entities, the new ring will be used to store tremendous mental power and information.
"We can compress the history of our civilization, the essence of our culture, the most powerful technology, Cultivation arts, and so on into such a ring.
"In order to facilitate the new civilization's analysis and study of the ring, we can also store a certain 'guide' or 'teacher' inside the ring.
"The existence of this' Guide 'can come in two ways."
"Firstly, we can gather a lot of thoughts and produce a highly-developed 'artificial intelligence' with the help of enormous computational ability.
"Secondly, we can preserve the souls of some volunteers and put them into a long hibernation state. They will sleep for billions of years inside the ring until they are discovered by the new civilization.
"My young friend Li Yao, don't look at me like that. I didn't say that I was going to extract the souls of living people. Aren't there a lot of spectral Cultivators in the Federation? They do not have real entities in the first place. They are the amalgamations of spiritual waves that contain tremendous information. If we can develop a secret technique that can mark the frequency of their waves, they will be able to hibernate longer inside the ring than the living people. They will have a chance to be woken up even after billions of years have passed. "
Li Yao was completely shocked by Gui Suishou's crazy idea.
A Demon Emperor was indeed a Demon Emperor. No matter how one looked at it, the plan he came up with was filled with evil!
Gui Suishou smiled. "If we can produce ten thousand such rings, seal the souls of ten thousand spectral Cultivators inside, and shoot them to all directions of the universe, so what if we are destroyed by the Imperium of True Human Beings or the Alliance of the Holy Covenant right now?
"Imagine this picture. After billions of years, when the old civilization is obliterated in the starry sky, a new civilization is just budding and still in the dark age of ignorance.
"At that time, a common young man in the new civilization may be a young man whose family is ruined, who is ridiculed, and who is trampled on.
"One day, he accidentally finds a mysterious ring, from which a marvelous, omniscient … Let's call the 'guide' 'old grandpa'.
"With the help of the old grandpa, the poor young man of the new civilization inherits the enormous heritage of our civilization and grasps the marvelous techniques and secret arts. He surpasses all the obstacles and soars into the sky. Eventually, he establishes his own dynasty and era!
"Such a dynasty and era will naturally bear the traces of our civilization. Who can say for sure that it is not a civilization of human beings or demons in a brand-new form?"
As a spectral Cultivator, Wei Qingqing's crystal cameras had subtle waves. She mumbled, "The universe is too vast a place. Even if there are ten thousand 'tinder rings', the odds of them being discovered by a new civilization are too low, aren't they?"
"You don't understand, little girl," Gui Suishou said calmly.
Gui Suishou said calmly. "Even the slimmest odds will expand to the extent that they are very likely to be realized after billions of years! To put it more simply, as long as there is enough time, any miracle can happen. It is only a matter of time.
"By then, our civilization will be reborn in such a way and recreate the glory of billions of years ago. The Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant, which we fear like tigers right now, will be long gone!
"This is my approach to resist the Imperium of True Human Beings and the Alliance of the Holy Covenant. It will be a protracted war that will last for a billion years or even ten billion years!
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