Faced with the girl's clear eyes and her matter-of-fact questioning, Li Yao was almost too embarrassed to show his face. After a long daze, he shook his head slowly and said softly, "No. I'm not a guardian of Nepenthe. I'm … a Cultivator!"
"A Cultivator?"
Blinking for a long time, Bing Bing raised her chin and asked, "What's that?"
Li Yao could've listed more than a hundred definitions of a Cultivator in a minute, but under the girl's eyes that were as clear as water, he suddenly felt that his mouth was so dry that he could not utter a single word. Thinking for a long time, he struggled to say, "Bing Bing, listen to me. Has it ever occurred to you that the world shouldn't be like this, and your life shouldn't be like this?
"This world shouldn't be as dark and brutal as when it was reigned by the Immortal Cultivators, but it shouldn't be as cold and emotionless as Nepenthe, where everybody has lost the ability to laugh and sing!
"The world should, and can, be different. The strong protect the weak, and the weak support the strong. Everybody works together to resist all the problems that arise in the evolution of civilization and stomp on all the obstacles. Everybody does their best to shine and leave our most shining mark in the dark and cold universe!
"In such a world, a girl like you shouldn't be wearing a gray cloak and dwelling in the suffocating underground. If you want to survive, the only way is to raise rock worms. You will never see the real sun in your entire life, much less the brilliance of billions of stars!
"No, it shouldn't be like this!
"You should live happily and carefreely under the blue sky. At the very least, you should live in a settlement with a suitable temperature, clean air, water, and food. You should receive the best education and explore the infinite possibilities of yourself and your future. In the future, you can freely choose to be a doctor, a teacher, a soldier, an engineer, or any other profession that you like. If you like the Flowery Bugs very much, you can become an entomologist and study the Flowery Bugs for the rest of your life! You can sing if you want, dance if you want. You can squander your youth however you want. Also, it's the same for your parents. So, even if they are not brainwashed, they will never cry in secret in the middle of the night! "
Bing Bing listened in bewilderment, with confusion and panic all over her face. She mumbled, "How … How is it possible? How could there be such a world? I'm afraid I'm not dreaming, right? "
"That's right, this is a dream, a dream, a dreamy world that may take a very, very long time to realize!"
Li Yao pointed at himself and said, "The Cultivators, on the other hand, swear that we will bring such a dreamy world to the real universe!"
Bing Bing didn't quite understand. She carefully observed Li Yao's expression and asked timidly, "So, Brother Li Yao is also a good person? Are the Cultivators better than Nepenthe? "
"Absolutely!"
Li Yao said firmly, "A hundred times better!"
"Then why …"
Bing Bing lowered her head and asked, somewhat resentfully, "Brother Li Yao, why haven't any Cultivators come to help us in the past hundreds of years?"
Li Yao was at a loss for words for a moment. His face and ears reddened. In the end, he sighed softly and could only admit honestly, "Yes, Bing Bing, your criticism is very correct. In the past thousand years, cultivators have been too weak. Their performance has been too poor. Even our ideals have been treated as lies and jokes by countless people because they are too distant and beautiful.
"Therefore, it's perfectly normal that so many believers of the Path of Ultimate Benevolence are below the ground of the capital planet!
"As a Cultivator who has come late and done nothing for you, I'm not qualified to criticize all the people who believe in the Path of Ultimate Benevolence at all. I don't even have a reason to refute the organizers of Nepenthe and the spies of the Holy League who have snuck into the underground world. At the very least, they were still doing their work dutifully and resisting the Immortal Cultivators in the long years when there were no Cultivators.
"I — I — I only want to tell you that, in the past, the people who lived in the deepest parts below the ground had no choice but to join Nepenthe, practice the Serenity Arts, and believe in the Path of Ultimate Benevolence, except that you were oppressed by the Immortal Cultivators and died without a sound. You didn't have a choice at all.
"But right now, you have a third choice, a better choice. The Cultivators have returned to the center of the cosmos to make up for their mistakes of fleeing a thousand years ago!
"So, trust me. Whatever happens, don't give up the things that you regard as treasures. Don't give up the memories of catching the Flower Bug and blowing the sound conches. Don't forget how to laugh and cry. One day, you will see the real sun, and you will dance and sing aloud under the blue sky and the white clouds, too! I, and all the Cultivators like me, will fight to the end for the arrival of that day! "
Li Yao was so excited that his speech was somewhat incoherent. Obviously, the girl was scared stiff.
Bing Bing was stunned for a long time. She stared at Li Yao carefully for a long time before she finally took a breath in relief and grinned again. "Brother Li Yao, although your words are weird, you don't seem to be lying to me."
"Of course I won't lie to you!" Li Yao said.
"But why? Why are you fighting for some people you don't even know?"
Bing Bing looked at Li Yao in confusion. "You are very strange. You are as strange as the Nepenthe believers who just came to the underground world. The Nepenthe believers said that we were all lambs of the primeval deities and brothers and sisters who were bred by the deities together. Therefore, we should help each other. Is that why you are willing to help us?"
Li Yao shook his head. "I don't believe in 'lambs of the primeval deities'. As for why I'm helping you …"
He suddenly noticed a vague silver brightness from the girl's open cloak, which turned out to be a cone-shaped object that looked like a conch tied to her waist. Thinking of something, he asked, "Is that a 'sound conch'? Can you play a song for me? "
"This is the sound conch that Big Bing Bing gave me. She said that she no longer needed it."
Bing Bing's face dimmed. Although she did not understand what Li Yao meant, she still untied the sound conch from her waist.
Although it was named "sound conch", it was actually a porous ore that contained a lot of impurities.
Bing Bing stuck her lips to the larger end of the sound conch softly, and her fingers danced on the holes. A cold and deep voice immediately came from the depths of the porous ore.
Although he was tens of thousands of meters below the ground, the voice still reminded Li Yao of the boundless sea of stars. It was indescribably distant and vast.
In the next three minutes, Li Yao listened quietly without saying a word.
When the song was over, Bing Bing wiped her lips in embarrassment and said, "I'm not good at playing it. It would've been much better if Big Bing Bing had played it!"
"Not at all. You played it very well. It's been a long, long time since I've heard such a nice song."
Li Yao took a long breath in relief and put on a smile. "Then, just consider that I'm fighting for you because of such a nice song!"
"Huh?" Bing Bing bulged her eyes.
"Maybe you don't understand it right now, but all you need to do is remember it. Human beings cannot live without the sun, and we must never forget how to sing."
Looking at the girl's eyes, Li Yao said, "I hope that I can hear people singing on every planet in the sea of stars when I visit them. Maybe that's why I'm fighting!
"As for your parents, rest assured. They'll be fine. Nothing will happen to them until I fall. Trust me!"
Li Yao's solemn face stabbed into Bing Bing's chest like a sharp sword. The girl jumped to her feet like a frightened deer.
"Thank — thank you, Brother Li Yao. You are a good man, as good as the Serenity Seraph!"
Bing Bing bowed deeply at Li Yao and turned around, half in panic and half in confusion.
Li Yao's heart was still pounding for a long time. Watching the girl disappear at the end of the pillar, he suddenly thought of something and raised his voice. "Wait!"
Bing Bing turned around abruptly and looked at Li Yao in fear.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!"
Li Yao's eyes were more and more scorching. He waved his hands at the girl. "Come here. I've suddenly thought of something weird. Bing Bing, you said just now that your friends have all memorized the Serenity Arts, and you are the only one who can't grasp it. So, you are actually the most … undevout Nepenthe believer of your peers, aren't you?"
Blushing, Bing Bing said in embarrassment, "Probably … Probably?"
"Then, does everybody know about it? I mean, other townspeople other than your parents and the Nepenthe believers from above?" Li Yao asked.
"Yes."
Bing Bing said, "After the telepathy, their face and status will be unusual. It is easy to tell who is devout and who is not. Everybody knows that I'm … special."
"That's rather odd."
Li Yao said, "If there are so many devout Nepenthe believers, why is it you, the most undevout kid, who delivers food to me? Does the Serenity Seraph not know about it?"
"Of course she does!"
Bing Bing said, "The Serenity Seraph also knows that I can't grasp the Serenity Arts at all, but she is very nice and likes me a lot. She often chats with me and encourages me to leave everything to fate. If I can't grasp the Serenity Arts, I shouldn't force myself. It is most important to be myself. Right, just like Brother Li Yao, she also advised me not to give up the fun of catching the Flower Bugs and playing the sonic conches."
"What?"
Li Yao was greatly surprised. "She … She knows all about it? So, it was her idea to send you to deliver food to me, too? "
"Yes!"
Bing Bing nodded hard. "It was the Serenity Seraph who asked me to deliver food to the honorable guest. She also said that you might ask me weird questions and talk nonsense, but she asked me not to be scared. She said that although you might jump up and down like a burning gorilla when you were excited, you were actually a good person. So, all I needed to do was to answer your questions dutifully."
"I —"
Lost for words, Li Yao waved his hands randomly. "Got it. Thank you for your care in the past days. Bing Bing, go back and take a rest!"
"Okay!"
Bing Bing turned around and left for the second time. When she was about to reach the bottom of the pillar, she suddenly turned back and said with a smile, "Brother Li Yao, the Serenity Seraph was truly right. You are truly a good person!"
Looking at the girl who had put on the cape again and was disappearing into the mist, Li Yao pondered Long Yangjun's intention and suddenly smiled.
"Long Yangjun, what are you up to exactly?"
Li Yao mumbled to himself, "At first, he raised a seemingly unsolvable conundrum and trapped me in desperation in the competition of beliefs. Then, he arranged such a seemingly cold but in fact mischievous, impious believer of Nepenthe to ignite my fighting will and my fighting will.
"Are you giving me a conundrum, or are you interrogating … yourself? Do you want me to submit to your Great Dao, or do you want me to completely destroy your Great Dao?
"Do you also believe that the Path of Ultimate Benevolence might not work out, and you actually have a vague expectation about the path of the Cultivators?
"You are mired in confusion, hesitation, and contradiction. You cannot find an answer, and you are too embarrassed to ask me for help directly. So, you are hoping that I can find an answer for you in such a way? What an awkward guy!
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