Li Jialing did not obey Li Yao, which was rare for him. Instead, intense brilliance beamed out of his eyes as he said softly but firmly, "I was not fooled by Sister Long, and I don't think that everything she said and did was right, but I can't say that everything she said was unreasonable, either!
"Brother Yao, did you know? Before I came here, I only knew that there were such towns with numbers above '10000' deep inside the capital. I thought that this place was no different from regular underground towns, except that the resources were slightly less, the order was slightly more chaotic, and the environment was slightly harsher than on the ground.
"But I did not expect that it would be so lacking, barren, chaotic, and abominable.
"This place and the ground are two completely different worlds. The locals and the locals on the ground are indeed … two different species!
"Hehe. In the past, I thought that the world I grew up in was a burning hell, and Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan were the evilest, most dreadful fiends. It was not until this moment that I realized how naïve and hilarious I was after witnessing the real hell.
"It's true that Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan refined me through all kinds of cruel approaches. I tasted the excruciating pain of being minced into pieces every time. But they never imposed the slightest restriction on me in terms of resources. Whatever training resources I wanted, they always fulfilled them. They even poured them into my body when I did not want them.
"Other than the resources, all kinds of techniques, knowledge, and information were also poured into my brain incessantly, unlocking my wisdom. Whatever Li Lingfeng was up to exactly, and whether or not he was building me into a secret weapon to deal with the queen, at the very least, he never restricted my feelings and desires. On the contrary, he tried everything to activate my feelings and release my desires, opening brand-new gates for me one after another by force!
"At that time, I truly hated him. I hated him so much. I did not understand why he asked me to learn so many things, grasp so many techniques, and boast such unparalleled strength at all. I did not like any of that at all. I thought that I was the most miserable person in the universe.
"It was not until today that I realized how pretentious I was when I saw the people who were sealed below the ground. The things that I hated and resisted in the past were what the underground people dreamed of, and they could never get them no matter how hard they struggled. They couldn't even imagine what they could get!
"Li Lingfeng may have truly been up to no good, but he did raise me as a successor and discover infinite possibilities for me in the future. Even though he deserves to die, I no longer hate him as much as I did in the past.
"There are also my companions, the bottom-level members of the collateral branches of the Li family. I used to think that their lives were already tough enough. The resources they received were less than one-tenth of what the descendants of the main bloodline received. They also had to bear arduous family missions, and some of them were even living targets for the descendants of the main bloodline to train themselves. The moment they stood out slightly, they might be killed by dirty tricks.
"But at the very least, they have no problem eating and wearing warm clothes. In theory, it is also possible for them to climb up step by step and become outstanding. Even if the possibility is very small, only 1% of the main bloodline's descendants, it is still a ray of hope!
"But what about the underground people here? There is no sunlight, no resources, no safety, no legacies, and not even one billionth of hope. Their fate has been predestined since they were born, which is to slowly freeze and wither in the darkness, before they melted into the rocks and turned into dust without a sound.
"Seeing their life, I suddenly feel that all my complaints, hatred, and fury in the past are so feeble and powerless. I even have a … subtle sense of guilt. I feel that I do not deserve such a life and such immense strength!"
"Wow …"
Li Yao found it hard to believe. "Are you serious? Are you really Li Jialing? How did you become so mature and thoughtful after only ten days?"
"Perhaps I was mature in the first place, and I can think of a lot of things, but I was unwilling to be so mature and waste my time thinking about them."
Looking at the town deep in the mist, Li Jialing said casually, "In the past ten years, I've been fighting against Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan with all my strength. I've been disguising myself carefully every day and activating my brain cells to the maximum every second, thinking hard about ways to resist.
"The techniques, secret arts, schemes, and schemes that they inculcated into my head consumed a lot of my computational ability, too. My soul was like a taut bowstring all the time, and my nerves were feeble every day. I couldn't have suffered any more than I could have.
"Therefore, the moment I escaped from their control, the taut bowstring was suddenly released. I let go of everything and did not want to think or think about anything. I only wanted to live my life freely and unrestrained.
"Yes. I was actually resisting and escaping. I was resisting the life that Li Lingfeng and Wuying Lan had planned for me and escaping from the fate that I should shoulder.
"It was an escape for me to wander to a remote village at the edge of the cosmos and live the rest of my life in obscurity. But wasn't it another escape for me to listen to Brother Yao's arrangement and consider you my protector?
"In many cases, I knew that what you said might not be true or even reasonable, but I was too lazy to argue with you. All in all, I simply agreed with you and left everything to you. I knew that you had a good heart and that you must be thinking for me. Then, why should I bother to think independently? I've never been a man who likes to argue with other people and stand out! "
Li Yao: "Well …"
Li Jialing's face had never been so solemn. "However, when I saw the hopeless people living below the ground and the fate that they suffered a fate a hundred times more miserable than mine, I suddenly realized that my life was not the misfortune that I had been regretting all the time. Instead, I was extremely lucky!
"At the very least, after all the torments and sufferings, I boasted unparalleled strength, exuberant desires, and intense feelings. I also had a preliminary understanding of the world! If I can't use my power to do something, what right do I have to bear the luck that the underground people will never get? "
Li Yao was rather shocked by the brilliance in the young man's eyes. In a trance, he even felt that the overwhelming dominance of the "Imperial Fire Pearl" was dashing out of the young man's eyes. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Then, what do you want to do exactly?"
"I haven't decided yet."
The brilliance in Li Jialing's eyes turned into deep confusion. He shook his head and said, "I haven't decided which path I will embark on yet, but it doesn't matter. I still have enough time to observe the world carefully and consider my path slowly."
"Young man, I didn't know that you had finally grasped the path!"
Li Yao put his warm hand on Li Jialing's shoulder and said with mixed feelings, "In fact, Brother Yao, I could tell that you were gifted the moment I saw you. Your bones were exquisite, your spiritual root was as thick as a tree, and fire of spiritual energy was spurting out of your skull like a volcanic eruption! You are a giant among men, definitely not a fish at the bottom of a pond. You are destined to achieve great things!
"I thought that you were still young, and I wasn't in a hurry. Now that you have such a deep understanding today, there's nothing more to say. Come and become a Cultivator with Brother Yao. Then, save the world and defend the peace of the universe!"
"Sorry, Brother Yao."
Li Jialing moved Li Yao's hand away without batting an eyelid and said solemnly, "Firstly, I don't want to waste my … special life, but it doesn't mean that I have to save the world!
"Secondly, and more importantly, can Cultivators save the world?"
"Of course!"
Li Yao blurted out without thinking, "The path of the Cultivators is very awesome. It's all thanks to the path of the Cultivators that I have advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage at such a young age. I even almost blew up Blackstar the Great, the ancestor of the Immortal Cultivators, in one shot! Are you insisting on becoming an Immortal Cultivator instead of pursuing such a great path? "
"Yes, Brother Yao, it's true that you have advanced into the Divinity Transformation Stage at such a young age. You are one of the rarest existences in the universe, but …"
Li Jialing seemed to be hesitating. "Well, how should I put it? I still don't want to be like you."
"What do you mean?"
Li Yao bulged his eyes and touched his face. "What do you mean by 'like me'? Is there anything wrong with my appearance? Don't you have sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes? "
"No. What I mean is that whether I am a Cultivator or an Immortal Cultivator is not the focus of my consideration. It doesn't even matter whether or not I can kill Blackstar the Great!"
Li Jialing pointed around and said, "The underground locals have lived in the darkness for ten thousand years. They have been living such a life since long before Wuying Qi and the Immortal Cultivators were born. Can you save the underground locals if you blow Blackstar the Great into meat paste?
"Even if Brother Yao is ten times stronger, and you blow Prime Minister Dongfang Wang of the Imperium to death, Blackstar the Great of Wuying Qi of the Imperium, and blow up the four Kurfürst families into smithereens, what then? Will everybody including the underground natives be reborn instantly and live a carefree life with abundant resources?
"If so, Brother Yao, please tell me the specific steps you need to take. Perhaps I'd really like to follow your path!"
Li Yao was rendered speechless and dumbfounded.
"Forget it. I know that the topic is too big for me to find an answer on such short notice. Not just Brother Yao, Sister Long, and Blackstar the Great will not have an answer. Perhaps nobody in the universe can find a perfect solution, including the Pangu Clan and the Nuwa Clan in the past. Otherwise, how could they have been completely destroyed? "
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