Chapter 552: Cycle
"I'm only doing this for your own good," the Star Beacon said, facing the questioning crowd, lecturing them like a mother chastising her children.
No one had ever taught it about the dignity of the strong; it only knew it should use every means possible to win back the lost hearts of the people.
"Don't speak in such a disgusting tone."
"The Origin Seed is a dead end that leads to emotionless beings. It must stop here. I cannot stand by and watch you continue, endangering this world."
"You don't understand! Obstructing one's path, we'll never rest until death!"
"Never resting until death!"
"Never resting until death!"
...
Led by the few at the forefront, the army of the Bloodline Houses erupted in wave after wave of roars, furiously articulating their discontent.
The sand and stones beneath their feet danced erratically in the gale, ordinary pebbles gaining bullet-like power under the storm's enhancement. If ordinary people were present, their bodies would likely be riddled with holes within seconds.
However, the lowest power level present on the field belonged to Dragon-tier warriors, who were immune to ordinary bullets. When the shattered stones struck them, aside from the clanging and thudding sounds of impact, not even a few white marks were left behind.
The trees in the distance, however, were ravaged. Not only were they left trembling uncontrollably, but the debris whipped up by the strong winds forcibly snapped countless branches.
...
These Bloodline Wielders, who had been superior for thousands of years, upon learning the truth, could not tolerate outsiders imposing restrictions on their pursuit of greater power and longer lives, even if it was done in the name of protection.
Perhaps some had once guessed the truth, but owing to the absolute disparity in power, even if they harbored grievances in their hearts, they would never have dared to erupt openly like this.
Because they knew that the Progenitor was the very heaven of the Manghuang Realm, suppressing and slaying any rebel was a mere thought, and struggling was utterly meaningless.
It wasn't until someone privately informed them of the fact that the Star Beacon actually couldn't actively harm any of them that they, for the first time, conceived a plan to "defy heaven."
...
Divine-level Bloodline warriors, as long as they weren't directly thrown into the fiends' lair, would not be in mortal danger no matter where else they were banished.
This time, the fiends emptied their nest, confronting the Bloodline Houses' army in Hanluo City. This conveniently eliminated the Star Beacon's only trump card; otherwise, they still wouldn't have dared to openly rebel.
Countless examples of isolated forces fighting alone, overwhelmed by fiends and buried alive, had been seen throughout hundreds of thousands of years of war.
...
"To live, grow old, fall ill, and die happily, becoming a part of the Golden Age cycle—why are you still not satisfied?" the Star Beacon asked, perplexed, as it watched the frenziedly excited army of the Bloodline Houses, who yearned to contend with the heavens.
"We are not just crop after crop of leeks for you to harvest! We are flesh-and-blood people!"
"Sowing in spring and reaping in autumn, cycles repeating—that's for crops!"
During the years of contact with the Ark, the natives of the Manghuang Realm had learned many things from Earth.
"Leeks? Have I taken anything from you?" Its confusion deepened.
The Star Beacon also knew that Earth's civilization, from which the Ark originated, had such a plant as leeks and the extended concept, but it couldn't understand how it, who never required any contributions from the Bloodline Houses, had become the sickle that harvests leeks.
"Freedom! Future! Hope!"
"..." The AI comrade was unable to comprehend these terms with human thinking.
To it, every individual must have a purpose and role for their existence. Taking itself as an example, its sole value was to complete the task left by its creator: to maintain the Golden Age forever.
As for others, they should dutifully play their roles in the cycle of birth and death.
Freedom was equivalent to a completed mission, losing one's value of existence, and thus, self-destruction in the next moment.
As for the future, an endless Golden Age was the best future, the known optimal solution; there should simply be no other answer.
"A future without a future is not the future we desire!" A rather convoluted slogan echoed from the military formation, and the sonic waves whipped up several more tornadoes.
"The wind today is somewhat boisterous." Facing the high-spirited rebels, the Star Beacon extended a transparent giant palm, as vast as a mountain, from the sky, gently smoothing the restless air.
The shadow of the palm enveloped most of the soldiers, who collectively looked up at the hand that seemed to tilt the sky. Their freshly ignited indignation vanished in an instant.
A calamity on par with a hurricane, both man-made and natural, was thus casually soothed away.
...
"Sovereign of the Land of White, please fulfill your promise." Duan De Huai, barely able to lift his head under the Star Beacon's oppressive might, clasped his fists and pleaded towards the half-sky filled with white light.
"A one-tenth chance—are you certain?" A voice from an unknown source asked from the sky.
"We have lived to the point where only hope remains." Several aged Divine-level warriors stepped forward.
"As you wish."
"Great Dao Heavenly Path, open!" An invisible ripple emanated, and thirteen beams of light, like meteors, descended from the sky, enveloping thirteen Divine-level figures.
Trapped at Divine-level perfection for hundreds of years, watching their lifespans dwindle day by day, that despair endlessly gnawed at their souls.
Breaking through became the sole obsession remaining for many of these ancient figures.
Most of their lives had been spent in cultivation; aside from the fiend-hunting wars that occurred once every twenty years, almost all their remaining time was dedicated to cultivation.
Being unable to advance further was little different from death itself.
Therefore, even if it meant paying the price of their lives, they had to gamble on that less than one-tenth chance of success.
...
"Impossible! You, an emotionless Daoist, how could you possibly create a method to resolve Daoization?!" The Star Beacon hadn't expected that what it considered an absolute dead end could have a path to life carved out by someone already sprinting wildly down it.
"Cultivation is inherently an act of defying the heavens. My path merely delays death," Bai Mo said lightly.
...
"Clack, clack,..."
The four characters "defying the heavens" spoken by Bai Mo seemed to trigger some unseen mechanism, causing dozens of great demonic overlords to suddenly leap out from the chaotic army.
They formed a head with ten, a left hand with ten, a right hand with ten, a left foot with ten, a right foot with ten, and a torso with ten, melting their bodies together to construct a colossal giant phantom reaching to the heavens and standing on the earth.
"Yuan Wu Chu?!" The instant the giant phantom appeared, the Star Beacon recognized it; it was a phantom bearing Yuan Wu Chu's power imprint.
Due to Yuan Wu Chu's design, the Star Beacon harbored no feelings whatsoever for its creator, in fact, it could even be described as extremely hostile.
PS: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone.
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