“I-I won’t!”
Li Yao tried to shake off the ash on him, but since they were right above the creator, the ash was dancing like snowflakes and could not be removed at all. “I won’t do it whatever you say. There has to be a better choice and a more perfect solution!”
“Is there really such a thing as a perfect solution? I’ve been searching for it in my whole life, but I found nothing.”
Wuying Qi 3.0 sighed with pity in his eyes. “Even if you want to destroy the Gold Crystal Pyramid, how exactly are you going to do it? Arsonist and Blackhole’s Heart have been too seriously damaged to launch another destructive attack. Long Yangjun’s Heavenly Crystal is on the verge of collapse too.
“This Gold Crystal Pyramid was one of the final trump cards of the Houyi Clan. The Pangu Clan’s possible assault and sabotage were taken into consideration when it was designed, so it’s extra solid. Just now, our Colossi had a long and fierce battle, but was the Gold Crystal Pyramid affected at all?
“So, if a fierce battle of three Colossi failed to destroy it, how are you planning to demolish it without a Colossus? The best you can do is to sabotage some components or tamper with the data, but such damage can be easily repaired.
“If you are too concerned to shoulder your responsibility, the Gold Crystal Pyramid will likely fall into someone else’s hand—probably Lei Chenghu’s.
“This is the capital where millions of Immortal Cultivators are gathered anyway, and it’s impossible for a few Cultivators to occupy this place for long. Eventually, you need Lei Chenghu to clean up the mess, and most Immortal Cultivators will pledge loyalty to him.
“Think about it. As ‘the last Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium’, would Lei Chenghu destroy the Gold Crystal Pyramid, or would he want to be the new master of the Gold Crystal Pyramid?
“Things would be the same even if it isn’t Lei Chenghu but Li Linghai, Jin Yuyan, or any other Immortal Cultivators. None of them can resist such a temptation, especially after witnessing how it destroyed the ace fleets of the four families easily. All the Immortal Cultivators will fight bloody battles to gain control over the Gold Crystal Pyramid, craving to be its master!
“Tell me, Li Yao, do you want Lei Chenghu, or Li Linghai, or any other Immortal Cultivators whom you do not know at all, to be the Gold Crystal Pyramid’s master? Do you wish to transfer the power of destruction to anyone else?
“Very well, your eyes are telling me your answer. If you do not want the Gold Crystal Pyramid to be controlled by an Immortal Cultivator, the only thing you can do is to seize the opportunity while the capital planet is still in chaos to absorb my heritage with the Book of Revelation and inject your gene information and soul mark to the Gold Crystal Pyramid so that you will be its new master!
“Only by doing so will you intimidate all the ambitious Immortal Cultivators, prevent the Gold Crystal Pyramid from being controlled by malicious guys, and ensure everlasting peace in the Empyreal Terminus Sector.”
Li Yao stepped back quickly with a pale face, shivering.
“It’s fine. Just show your doubt and hesitation. It’s really fine. I’m not mocking you or retaliating against you. I’m just talking to a new-generation dragon slayer as a senior dragon slayer about the past and about how we turn into dragons in the end ourselves.”
Wuying Qi 3.0 floated forth and grabbed Li Yao’s shoulder sympathetically. “Slaying the dragon is not the end of an adventure but the beginning of a long journey. However, you never really know it until scales, claws, and tusks are growing in you.
“Did you know that I was a confident dragon slayer just like you a thousand years ago? I once slew infinite dragons and demons, who were all inhumane and unforgivable like Wuying Qi 2.0.
“I killed infinite corrupt officials and generals of the Star Ocean Republic, who did all kinds of bad things though they looked like Cultivators. Trust me, they weren’t any better than Wuying Qi 2.0 when they tried to preserve their lives and their properties toward the end of the Star Ocean Republic.
“I once led an army back to the Martial Meritocrats Sector, my hometown, and attacked the neighboring Sand Primitive Sector, partly for revenge and partly to eliminate the evil Chiyou Cult. When the Chiyou Cult was destroyed, its believers and priests summoned a monster named Chiyou. I hunted it for half a year in space before I executed all of its 72 incarnations!
“I even eradicated the remains of the Mad Armageddon so that the great devil ten thousand years ago could not cause trouble to our world anymore.
“Every time, every time I killed those villains and stopped them from destroying the world, I thought it was the end of the game and I was the final victor. After the final battle against the Mad Armageddon, my ecstasy was beyond description. I embraced an eternal victory. No insane villains can ever harm my world or my civilization anymore.
“However… Hehe… In the end…
“That’s why I said that you’re not the first. It’s not humiliating, really. Embrace your destiny with courage, face the scales and claws that are growing under your skin, and wait for the next dragon slayer to kill you and pass on your destiny. This is not humiliating.”
Wuying Qi 3.0 was silent for a long time as he stared at his younger self who was falling into the magma in the crater.
Li Yao, on the other hand, looked at his hands and arms.
The butterflies of ash drifted to his hands and his arms and melted into them. In a trance, he really felt that he had grown a vague, barely-visible layer of gray scales.
“Now, young dragon slayer, are you ready to listen to the lifelong story of this vicious dragon?” Wuying Qi 3.0 finally opened his mouth and asked casually.
He did not force Li Yao to listen, as if he would really bring everything, including the secrets of the Gold Crystal Pyramid, to the other world if Li Yao didn’t want to listen to it.
But of course, it remained unknown whether or not he had left a copy of the ways to control the Gold Crystal Pyramid elsewhere.
“Just… speak,” said Li Yao, struggling.
He felt that not just his skin, but his heart was also growing small and thick scales.
Wuying Qi 3.0 smiled and did not question Li Yao’s self-doubt, as if he were really just recalling his past before his death.
“Where should I start? You know the absurdities I did in the Martial Meritocrats Sector, do you?”
Wuying Qi 3.0 said, “You must know that although the propaganda is exaggerated, it’s not entirely false. The ordinary people of the Martial Meritocrats Sector were truly ignorant, shameless, and merciless.”
“That was because your methodology was fundamentally wrong!”
Li Yao couldn’t help but argue, “You had been spoiling the ordinary people like they were ignorant kids since the beginning, and you never taught them anything. Getting to the bottom of it, you do not believe that ordinary people can contribute to civilization at all!
“After hundreds of years of spoiling, the ordinary people of the Martial Meritocrats Sector naturally became mischievous and uncontrollable. Isn’t it only natural that they ruined the civilization?
“In the Star Glory Federation, our path, which has been modified countless times and will be modified countless times more, is different. We won’t repeat your mistake!”
“Fantastic!”
Wuying Qi 3.0 smiled. “Isn’t it all the more reason why you should claim the Gold Crystal Pyramid, disseminate the new methodology of the Cultivators to the whole universe, and awaken more people? Chances are that you can be the savior of the universe!”
Li Yao was rendered speechless. He decided to stop fighting with this guy since this guy was about to die.
“Let’s start from the moment I was tossed into the crater.”
Wuying Qi 3.0 did not mock Li Yao any further but continued his story.
The frozen palace of memories began to move again as he narrated. The young man in midair fell into the magma. Surrounded by a thin spiritual shield, he floated and floundered desperately in the magma. The spiritual shield soon melted, and the magma burned his body mercilessly.
“There’s something that I’ve never told anyone.”
Recalling his struggle in the magma, Wuying Qi 3.0 seemed to be still in pain. “It’s true that I found a secret base in the volcano and escaped the Martial Meritocrats Sector with a shuttle inside. However, I did not discover the Mad Armageddon’s heritage by luck later. It was destined.
“As a matter of fact, the secret base hidden in the volcano in the Martial Meritocrats Sector was part of the Blood God’s plan ten thousand years ago when he rebelled.”