"… It does make sense."
Ding Ling Dong thought for a long time. The killing intent around her was mostly gone, and she stared at Lu Qingchen with more appreciation. "After hearing what you said, Lu Qingchen, I feel that I'm getting to know you again."
"We are all getting to know the world and ourselves again every second," Lu Qingchen said casually.
Lu Qingchen said casually, "Isn't that what we call 'Cultivators'?"
"It's a shame that you've killed so many people."
Ding Ling Dong sighed. "With your determination, vision, and capabilities, you could've achieved your purpose in a lot of ways. Why did you choose the darkest and evilest path and kill so many innocent people until you can't turn back now?"
"Thank you for your appreciation, Speaker Ding, but you're wrong."
Lu Qingchen smiled and said, "It is exactly because I stepped on a path that was full of venom, thorns, and black flames, honed my belief in mountains of corpses, and forged my armor, saber, sword, crown, and throne with the blood of countless innocent people that I have the determination, vision, and strength that I have today, an 'observer' and a 'thinker' beyond the mainstream civilization of mankind, instead of just a common soldier of the federation who blindly follows every step of the way.
"I think that any civilization, no matter how noble, great, righteous, and kind it is, needs somebody to make a different voice and make a different choice, right? Even if the result of doing so is to be despised by the public, to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, to be minced into pieces, and to die without a burial, does it really matter? Nobody is willing to make a different voice. Nobody is willing to make a different choice. Nobody is willing to go in the opposite direction from you. So, I'll do it. I'll make a different voice. I'll make a different choice. I'll march in the opposite direction from you without bothering about anything. Perhaps this is the destiny that I have to fulfill as a human being. "
"That's why I said that it's a shame. If you had made a different choice at the beginning, maybe we could've been friends."
The regret on Ding Ling Dong's face and the sharpness in the depths of her eyes became more intense. "Things wouldn't have ended up like this, where I have to catch or kill you."
"It's not a pity at all. There were two paths in front of me at the beginning. The first one was to accept your husband's tutelage, obey his ideology and will, and kneel before his beliefs. Then, I would condense a belief of 'brightness and justice' and become a replica of 'Vulture Li Yao'."
Lu Qingchen pointed at Li Yao, who was scratching his ears and cheeks and could not get a word in, and said, "I thought about it for a long time and decided to take the second path.
"To this day, no matter how many difficulties and hardships I've encountered, how many sins and murders I've committed, no matter how evil and shameless I am in the eyes of the world, and no matter whether death is the only path ahead of me, I've never regretted it.
"After all, what I have been cultivating is neither Li Yao's truth nor Ding Ling Dong's truth, but Lu Qingchen's truth, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Ding Lingdang's fiery red hair that fluttered wildly condensed into numerous unstoppable sharp lights, and it just happened to be like nine Crimson Flame Dragon Kings that had opened their bloody mouths and revealed their mouths full of fangs. "Then, are you prepared to allow yourself to be captured?"
"Of course."
Lu Qingchen replied with a smile. He extended his hands obediently and closed his wrists, as if he were ready to be butchered. "Come on. I promise that I won't resist. After all, there are too many of you. Even if it's a soul competition in the virtual space, you can exhaust me by taking turns. It's meaningless to resist.
"However, I'm also willing to make a bet with you. I bet that you won't be able to smoothly bring me out of the Primordial Ruins. Even if you gather all of your strength, it'll still be very difficult to accomplish. As for the bet, if I lose, I won't play any tricks like 'Soul Explosion', and I'll obediently stand on your judgment platform and submit to your 'judgment of justice'.
Ding Ling Dong gradually raised her eyebrows. "What did you say?"
"That's right. What are you talking about exactly? Confess now!"
Li Yao finally found a place to interject. With his hands on his hips, he supported Ding Ling Dong from behind. "You have nowhere to run now. Don't try to play tricks anymore. Let me tell you something. Otherwise, my wife will really punch you to death with her huge fists!"
Lu Qingchen smiled. Brilliance flashed in his eyes, and the smile on his face was even sharper than before. "Look. More and more testers are coming out."
Lu Qingchen was quite right.
Just as they were engaged in a war of words, almost all of the participants had finished their tests one after another.
Among them, some of the testers' "crystal eggs" emitted bursts of dazzling, magnificent, or fierce light. Translucent fragments exploded in all directions in the form of heavenly maidens scattering flowers, blooming rather gorgeous sound, light, and electricity effects, indicating that they had passed the test of the Primitive Civilization.
However, the 'crystal eggs' of even more people lost their glamorous colors and turned into lifeless greyness. The souls of the testees were immediately covered in tremendous bubbles. Even their every soul ripple was about to turn into bubbles. Eventually, they jumped out of the bubbles. As if they were having a terrible nightmare, they all screamed miserably without caring about their image.
Of course, some of the test-takers were in high spirits when they woke up. They were brimming with the determination to destroy the world, and their eyes were brimming with ambitions that seemed to be substantial. Those people must have received the 'golden key' from the hands of the female captain of the Primeval Clan and thought that they really owned the primeval relics and could command the universe. Nobody dared to disobey them!
Very soon, almost all the testers woke up.
Li Yao had no time to bother with Lu Qingchen for a moment.
He noticed that the regular experts from the Federation, the Imperium, and the Holy League, namely the Yuanying, who were the largest in number, mostly collapsed in the first half of the test, namely the 'spore evolution' and the 'deduction of the Earth civilization'. Few of them made it to the third round of 'no choice'.
Many experts in the Divinity Transformation Stage, on the other hand, had reached the final round of the golden key, only to fall into the trap of the female captain of the Primeval Civilization.
It was understandable. Although it was explained later and felt that the trap could not have been more simple, and the mental devil might have even considered it a trick to crack it, those who were involved in the game could not see what was going on. For every tester, they had just gone through a long and vast civilization deduction and three mental interrogations where they had no choice. Both their soul and their willpower were already exhausted, and their nerves were so intense that they could break at any moment. At this moment, a golden key fell from the sky. It was barely possible for the testers not to follow their natural instincts and grab it tightly.
It was especially so for the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium of True Human Beings, such as Queen Li Linghai and "God of War" Lei Chenghu, who all chose to accept the legacy without any hesitation and quit the test with the gray bubble. If Li Yao hadn't passed the test first, they probably would've all been erased.
What surprised Li Yao was that Boss Bai, the Pirate Potentate, and Long Yangjun, whose identity, stance, purpose, and even gender were ambiguous, passed the test successfully. The two guys, who were both righteous and evil, did not go for the key.
The reason, according to Boss Bai, was his "professional habit". As a space pirate, it was the greatest humiliation for them to accept something from somebody else's hands obediently. When they were interested in something, they would naturally look for an opportunity to steal it!
"It's always better to steal the food."
Said Boss Bai.
For Long Yangjun, she did not 100% consider herself a member of the civilization of mankind, and there was a strong sense of alienation between her and the Pangu civilization. Perhaps, as she said herself, she was a "stranded person" who was not in a hurry to save the Pangu civilization or the civilization of mankind. Instead, as a bystander, she observed the test of the Primeval Civilization from a higher perspective and saw much more clearly than the regular testers who were "closely involved".
Other than that, A Boxing Champion, Xiaoming, and Wenwen, the three brand-new life forms that were similar to super artificial intelligences, were not fooled by the traps and passed the test successfully.
As "information lives", they scanned and perceived the whole world in a way that was entirely different from human beings of flesh and blood. Besides, A Boxing Champion's core database was from the wizardly civilization, and Xiaoming and Wenwen had been enlightened by Li Yao, a visitor from Earth. They were naturally defenseless against the information from Earth beyond the Pangu universe.
Li Jialing's choice, on the other hand, surprised Li Yao and felt that it was a pity.
The young emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings, known as the Golden Lion, passed all the previous choices and tests perfectly and met the female captain and her golden key.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to persist to the end in this trial. Instead, he extended his hand towards that illusory and ethereal figure.
Perhaps because of the series of miraculous successes, his ambitions began to expand, and he firmly believed that he was the destined ruler of the entire universe and the dominator who was destined to save the civilization of mankind. It would not be strange for him to run into any more uncanny adventures.
Looking at Li Jialing's confusion and regret as he stared at his mother in bewilderment, Li Yao almost burst into laughter.
That was not bad.
The female captain of the Primeval Clan was quite right. Such a "unique" lesson should've left a deep impression on every tester and helped them polish their belief.
Li Jialing's journey, from an unknown branch and an experiment subject who was tortured in Manjusaka to the double heir of Blackstar the Great and Vulture Li Yao, to the emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings, had been too miraculous and smooth. It was inevitable that he was young and arrogant.
Every lesson learned. The test should be a turning point and a new beginning for his career as an emperor, right?
Shua! Shua! Shua!
While Li Yao was secretly chuckling, he saw that countless experts were looking at him in confusion and fury.
Led by Li Jialing, the experts who had received the golden key but gained nothing were all staring at Li Yao weirdly.
"Brother Yao, what's going on exactly?"
Li Jialing frowned hard. "Explain. Where are the primeval heritages?"
"Wait a minute. Why are you all staring at me like that?"
Li Yao felt rather wronged. "You seem to be very certain that I know the truth."
"Because the moment we quit the test, a voice in the unseen world told us that —"
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