Heartless Don't be so heartless

【At this point, He Xiangdong looked up at the sky.】

【“And yet, these two pieces of good fortune were such a disaster for humanity…”】

【You understood something even more clearly than He Xiangdong did.】

【The alien races had no way to truly resolve the contamination—not even contamination far weaker and smaller in scale than that of the Heavenly Emperor’s era.】

【They had merely diverted the contamination into the Void Realm, using it as a containment pool!】

【Those beasts of the Realms were so ruthless that they would even sacrifice their own ancestors.】

【After all, they had originally ascended from the Void Realm themselves. Yet now they were using the world where their ancestors had lived as a containment pool for contamination, destroying who knew how many worlds within the Void Realm.】

【After listening to He Xiangdong’s explanation, you gained a fairly solid understanding of the great event known as the “Great Uprising,” which had brought the Heavenly Emperor’s era to an end.】

【You also basically understood the difference between the Realms of the past and the Realms of today.】

【This only strengthened your resolve to find a path that would help humanity return to its former peak.】

【It was obvious that the alien races had waited all those years for an opportunity like the “Great Uprising.” They had finally managed to knock humanity from its divine pedestal, and through the suppression of the entire universe, they had made it nearly impossible for another human to reach the Heavenly Emperor Realm.】

【In doing so, they preserved their current status and interests.】

【They would never stand by and watch their wonderful situation be destroyed.】

【Who would destroy that wonderful situation of theirs?】

【Human farmers sweating under the scorching sun in the fields? No.】

【Human miners laboring in lightless mines? No.】

【Low-level human cultivators struggling to cultivate in backward regions? No.】

【Only an existence like you—someone powerful beyond compare, destined to lead an entire era!】

【You would.】

【“Ah… I really am too powerful…”】

【Therefore, if humanity’s situation did not change, then as a member of humanity, the mountain of oppression imposed on mankind by the alien races would sooner or later become a mountain pressing down on your head.】

【Using traits to alter your identity and transform yourself?】

【That was not a long-term solution.】

【Once your cultivation reached a certain height—say, the Immortal Lord or Immortal King Realm—it would be impossible to avoid notice.】

【When that time came, even the disguise provided by your traits would be exposed under the scrutiny of the alien races’ supreme experts.】

【To cure an illness, you had to treat the root cause!】

【After finishing his account of the Great Uprising, He Xiangdong was filled with emotion as well.】

【“Actually, I’ve always believed that the myriad races aren’t inherently superior or inferior to one another. In theory, even the alien races should be capable of producing a Heavenly Emperor. During the Heavenly Emperor’s era, the myriad races had their conflicts, but everyone was still able to live their own lives.

But what about the universe now?

Everywhere is filled with hostility. Everyone is wary of everyone else.

Within every star system, those major organizations led by alien Immortal Emperors are just as afraid that another race will launch a Great Uprising.

When everyone is thinking only about how to grow stronger and suppress others, rather than pursuing the pure path of immortality, how could another Heavenly Emperor possibly be born?

With their own hands and their twisted hearts, the alien races destroyed the very thing they had dreamed of most. How ironic.

The alien races may have appeared to win the Great Uprising, but in truth, they lost.”】

【You spoke solemnly.】

【“So, when we humans rise again, that will be the day when the myriad races become one!”】

【He Xiangdong smiled.】

【“I hope we’ll be there to see that day.”】

【Year sixty-one, age eighty-seven.】

【You spent the days that followed temporarily residing at the Zhuzi Star Base.】

【A-Dou was also sent to the Academy of Prodigies to continue his studies and establish a foundation for cultivation.】

【The immortal qi at the Zhuzi Star Base was controlled by the Sacred Dragon Society, just like the immortal qi outside.】

【Therefore, the immortal qi required for cultivation here also had to be obtained through a residency permit.】

【This was no problem for the Torchfire Society.】

【They already possessed external identities, such as elders of certain clans or deacons of certain sects.】

【As a result, they had their own residency permits.】

【If their children or relatives wanted to cultivate, they could also obtain residency permits through those external identities.】

【As for outsiders, they would help them acquire legitimate identities as well.】

【For example, you and A-Dou had gone to the Ji family through Ji Wuqing’s recommendation, taken up some nominal positions, and obtained long-term residency permits.】

【Ji Wuqing was incapable of sitting still.】

【Sometimes she came to the base to accept missions; sometimes she simply came to fool around. Most of the time, she was out roaming wherever she pleased.】

【In the previous simulation, you hadn’t known what was wrong with you. You simply couldn’t let go of your feelings for Li Lingyue, and so you refused to accept Ji Wuqing’s feelings for you.】

【This time, however, you had made up your mind.】

【A simulation was a simulation. There was nothing wrong with getting together with Ji Wuqing this time.】

【After all, at the end of the sixth simulation, you had witnessed Ji Wuqing perish together with her enemy in order to avenge you.】

【How could you fail to respond to such blazing affection?】

【It definitely wasn’t because she was the Ji family’s eldest daughter!】

【If necessary, you could marry them both later!】

【One could be your principal wife and the other your legal wife. Wasn’t that still a form of monogamy?】

【Therefore, when Ji Wuqing once again brought resources from the Ji family to visit you at the base,】

【you combed your hair into a grown man’s style and put on a handsome outfit.】

【“Brother Chen, look! This is the fasting divine art, the Sun Essence and Moonlight Scripture, that you mentioned last time. I also brought you several rain-invoking divine arts.”】

【Ji Wuqing proudly displayed the divine-art manuals one by one, placing them in front of you.】

【You tilted your head upward at a forty-five-degree angle, the corners of your lips curling into a faint smile.】

【“Wuqing, A-Dou has already adapted to life here. I’ve made up my mind. I’m going back to the Ji family with you.”】

【Ji Wuqing still hadn’t realized what you meant.】

【“You want to visit the Ji family? Sure, sure! But you’d better change your name, just in case your identity is exposed.”】

【“A name is a minor matter. Right now, we should discuss the wedding date.”】

【“The wedding date? What wedding date?”】

【“Wuqing, stop joking around. This is a major matter in life.”】

【“?”】

【“I know you fell for me the moment you first saw me. And what about me? Wasn’t I the same? You once asked whether I would choose you if you had appeared before her. What I want to say is that love does not care who came first.”】

【The Ten Thousand Souls Banner had already thrown up inside the Gourd-Heaven space.】

【You mocked the mere spirit inwardly. What did an artifact spirit know about love?】

【“Are you insane?”】

【Ji Wuqing’s words snapped you back to reality.】

【You froze for a moment.】

【“You don’t like me?”】

【“Who said I liked you?!】

【You damn pervert!】

【So all that talk about borrowing my Ji family’s divine arts was just an excuse to get close to me! You were trying to hit on me, weren’t you?!】

【Pah!】

【You may be extremely handsome, but your motives are impure! Your thoughts are filthy! You’re a wolf in human clothing! A complete scoundrel! Who would ever like you?!】

【I can’t believe I thought Chen Dong was some great hero. Turns out you’re rotten to the core!】

【You’re not getting the divine arts!”】

【Ji Wuqing angrily snatched the manuals away, then leaped into the air and flew off using a divine art.】

【You stood where you were, utterly dumbfounded in the wind.】

【“No… Hey, hey, if you’re leaving, at least leave the divine art behind! Let me take a look, will you? Wuqing! Wuqing! Don’t be so Wuqing!”】