“…That’s true.”

Ding Lingdang thought for a long time. The killing intent around her dissipated a lot. She gazed at Lu Qingchen in admiration. “After hearing your words, Lu Qingchen, I seem to be getting to know you again.”

“Every second, we are getting to know the world and ourselves again.

Lu Qingchen replied casually, “Isn’t that the so-called ‘cultivation’?”

“It’s a pity that you killed so many people.

Ding Lingdang sighed. “With your determination, vision, and capability, there are many ways that you could’ve achieved your purpose. Why did you choose the path of darkness and evil and kill so many innocent people that you can’t turn back now?”

“Thank you for your appreciation, Speaker Ding, but you are wrong.”

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, “It was because I embarked on a path full of venomous thorns and black flames, honing my belief in the path of Dao in mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and forging my armor, saber, crown, and throne with the blood of countless innocent people that I have the determination, vision, and capability that I have today. I am a ‘bystander’ and a ‘thinker’ beyond the mainstream civilization of mankind, not just an ordinary soldier of the federation.

“I believe that, no matter how noble, great, righteous, and kind a civilization is, it is necessary for someone to make a different sound and make a different choice, right? Even if the outcome of such a decision is to be despised by thousands of people, to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, to be cut into pieces, to have one’s soul destroyed, and to die a graveless death, does it matter? No one is willing to make a second sound. No one is willing to make a different choice. No one is willing to go against your wishes. Then, it will be my turn. I will make the second sound. I will make a different choice. I will go in the opposite direction of you. I will go forward. I will go forward without caring about the consequences. Perhaps, this is the destiny that I was born as a human being and have to fulfill.

“That’s why I said it was a pity. If you had made a different choice, maybe we could have been friends.

The regret on Ding Lingdang’s face and the sharpness in her eyes both turned intense. “It wouldn’t have ended like this. I would’ve had to capture you or kill you.”

“There is no pity. In the beginning, there were two paths in front of me. The first was to accept your husband’s teaching wholeheartedly, to listen to his beliefs and will, to kneel before his great Dao, to condense a so-called ‘righteous and righteous’ belief, and to become a copy of ‘Vulture Li Yao’.”

Lu Qingchen pointed at Li Yao, who was scratching his head in embarrassment and said, “I thought for a long time and decided to take the second option.

“To this day, no matter how many difficult times I’ve been through, no matter how many crimes I’ve committed, no matter how evil and shameless I am in the eyes of the world, and no matter whether or not my future is a dead end, I have never regretted it.

“After all, what I’m cultivating is neither Li Yao’s truth nor Ding Lingdang’s truth, but Lu Qingchen’s truth, isn’t it?”

“Understood.”

Ding Lingdang’s fiery red hair, which was dancing crazily in the wind, suddenly turned sharp, as if nine dragons of fire had opened their bloody mouths and bared their fangs. “Then, are you ready to be captured?”

“Of course.”

Lu Qingchen replied with a smile. He stretched out his hands obediently and put his wrists together, as if he were ready to be butchered. “Come on. I promise that I won’t resist. After all, you have the advantage in numbers. Even if we are engaged in a soul battle in the virtual space, I will be worn down by the wheel of the game. Resistance is meaningless.

“However, I’m willing to make a bet with you. I’m willing to bet that you won’t be able to bring me out of the primeval ruins smoothly. Even if all of you gather your strength, it will still be difficult for you to do so. As for the bet, if I lose, I won’t play any tricks such as ‘soul explosion’. I will stand on your trial platform obediently and obey your ‘justice trial’. How about it?”

Ding Lingdang’s eyebrows gradually rose up. “What did you say?”

“Yes, what are you talking about? Just tell us the truth!”

Li Yao finally found a place to interrupt. With his hands on his hips, he stood behind Ding Lingdang and said, “You’ve got nowhere to run to. Don’t try to play any tricks. Let me tell you, otherwise, my wife will really punch you to death!”

Lu Qingchen smiled, with brilliance beaming out of his eyes. The curve of his lips was even steeper. “Look, more and more testers are coming out.”

Lu Qingchen was right.

While they were bickering, almost all the testers had finished their tests.

Of course, some of the ‘crystal eggs’ of the testers were emitting dazzling, glamorous, and sharp colors. Translucent pieces exploded in various directions in the form of fireworks, displaying a rather glamorous sound and electricity effect, indicating that they had passed the test of the Primeval Civilization.

But more people’s ‘crystal eggs’ lost their glamorous colors and turned into lifeless greyness. The souls of the testers were covered in foam all of a sudden. Even their soul ripples were about to turn into foam. In the end, they all jumped out of the foam, as if they had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. They screamed desperately without caring about their appearance.

Of course, some of the testers were in high spirits when they woke up. They were brimming with the aura of destruction, and their eyes were brimming with ambitions that seemed to be real. They must’ve thought that they had received the ‘gold key’ from the female captain of the Primeval Clan and could command the sea of stars with the legacy of the primeval era. Nobody dared to disobey them!

Very soon, almost all the testers woke up.

Li Yao had no time to bother about Lu Qingchen.

He noticed that the ordinary experts from the federation, the imperium, and the Sanctuary Alliance, who were mostly in the Nascent Soul Stage, had mostly fallen in the first half of the test, which was the ‘spore evolution’ and the ‘divination of the earth civilization’. Few of them had advanced to the ‘no other choice’ three times.

As for the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, many of them had reached the final step, only to fall into the traps of the female captain of the Primeval Clan.

It was understandable. Although the test taker had thought that the trap was extremely simple and could be broken by the mental devil as a trick of ‘gold, axe, silver, axe, iron, and axe’, the test taker had no idea what was going on. For every test taker, after going through the protracted and boundless deduction of a civilization and the three ‘no other options’ of mental interrogation, from their soul to their will, they had been over-exhausted, and their nerves were so taut that they might break at any moment. At this moment, a golden key fell from the sky, and it was very difficult for the test taker to not act on instinct and hold it tight.

The Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium of True Human Beings, such as the empress of the imperium, Li Linghai, and ‘God of War’ Lei Chenghu, all chose to accept the legacy without any hesitation and withdrew from the test with a ‘failure’ of grey foam. If Li Yao had not passed the test first, they would’ve been wiped out immediately.

What surprised Li Yao was that Boss Bai, the Pirate Potentate, and Long Yangjun, the guy whose identity, position, purpose, and gender were all ambiguous, had successfully passed the test. The two guys, who were both good and evil, did not take the key.

The real reason was that, according to Boss Bai, it was a professional habit. As a space pirate, it was the greatest shame for him to take something from somebody else’s hands obediently. Naturally, he would look for an opportunity to steal something that he liked!

“Food should be snatched to eat.”

That was what Boss Bai said.

As far as Long Yangjun was concerned, she did not consider herself to be a member of the civilization of mankind. There was a strong sense of alienation between her and the Pangu civilization, too. Maybe, as she said herself, she was a ‘descended human being’ who did not have the motivation to rescue the Pangu civilization or the civilization of mankind. On the contrary, she could see the test of the Primeval Civilization from a higher point of view more clearly than the ordinary testers who could not see it clearly.

Other than that, the boxing champion, Xiao Ming, and Wen Wen, the three new life forms that were similar to the super artificial intelligence, were not fooled by the traps and passed the test smoothly.

As ‘information lifeforms’, the way they scanned and perceived the entire world was completely different from that of human beings who were made of flesh and blood. Besides, the core database of the Fist King came from a magical civilization, and Xiao Ming and Wen Wen were enlightened by Li Yao, who had come from Earth. They had a natural defense ability against the information from beyond the Pangu Universe and from Earth.

But Li Jialing’s choice surprised and regretful Li Yao.

The young emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings, known as the golden lion, had passed all the choices and tests perfectly and met the female captain and her golden key.

It was a pity that he could not persist until the end of the test. Instead, he extended his hand to the illusionary phantom.

Maybe because of the series of miraculous successes, his ambition had grown, too. He firmly believed that he was the destined one in the entire universe and that he was the dominator who saved the civilization of mankind when the time was right. It wouldn’t be strange if he ran into a weird encounter.

Seeing the confused and frustrated expression on Li Jialing’s face as he stared at his mother, Li Yao almost burst into laughter.

That was good.

The female captain was right. Such a ‘unique’ lesson should leave a deep impression on every tester and help them polish their belief.

Li Jialing’s journey had been quite smooth, from the unknown experimental subjects in the Red Spider Lilies to the successors of Black Star Emperor Wu Yingqi and Vulture Li Yao and the emperor of the Imperium of True Human Beings. It was inevitable that he was young and reckless.

Once bitten, twice shy. This test should be a turning point and a new starting point for his career as an emperor, right?

Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!

While Li Yao was laughing to himself, he noticed that countless experts were looking at him in confusion and fury.

Led by Li Jialing, the experts who had received the gold keys but found nothing stared at Li Yao weirdly.

“Brother Yao, what is going on?”

Li Jialing frowned. “Tell me, what about the primeval heritage?”

“No. Why are you all staring at me like that?”

Li Yao felt wronged. “As if you are certain that I know the truth.”

“Because, the moment we quit the test, a voice in the darkness told us—”

Li Jialing replied, “You know everything. If you want the primeval heritage, you only need to ask!”