Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

"You—"

Li Yao was so angry that he almost burst into a fight with the mental devil. Gritting his nonexistent teeth, he held back his anger and said, "Let's fight when we're home, alright? We're in someone else's head right now."

"Who's fighting with you?"

The mental devil sneered and said, "Although my suggestion is partly based on selfish reasons, it's also partly based on truth. Just look at his brain."

The mental devil snapped its fingers, and a spark floated out to the center of Fang Gang 123's brain before it exploded and illuminated the entirety of the brain.

Li Yao was immediately shocked.

If the brains of normal human beings could be compared to delicate, splendid palaces, Fang Gang 123's brain would be a dilapidated building that had just been bombarded.

Not only had his sulcus been evened out, making his cerebral cortex as smooth as a mirror, but the nerves that connected different units of his brain were also broken and entangled and had clear marks of corrosion and burns..

Between the cerebral cortex, the limbic system, and the core, high walls had been established with thorny, abnormal neural synapses that were releasing electric arcs to suppress normal bioelectricity.

Because of the injuries, many parts in Fang Gang 123's brain had shrunk significantly, and some other parts had expanded abnormally, occupying the living space of the normal brain cells.

No wonder he showed absolutely no response however Li Yao stimulated him.

It was because his brain had been brutalized!

"Do you see? All the sunspots were born and raised in the Covenant Alliance. Only in such a way could they carry the genes and soul marks that Wuying Qi gave the sunspots at the beginning."

The mental devil said coldly, "It means that their brains have been reshaped by the leadership of the Covenant Alliance since they were little, until they're utterly deformed.

"Just like what Zhuge Jinglun said, the connection between their cerebral cortex and their limbic system is cut off, the areas that are responsible for memories and feelings have severely shrunk, but the area responsible for instincts has abnormally expanded.

"This is a warrior of the Fire group. If my guess is correct, the Ultimate Benevolence Masters must've implanted tremendous knowledge into the area of natural instincts in his body, creating some sort of… program.

"When he is involved in a battle, the program will be activated like natural instincts, turning him into an efficient and heartless slaughter machine.

"However, in peacetime, he's not even as wise as a three-year-old. He's a complete retard.

"How are you going to awaken such a retard's nonexistent self-awareness? Whatever you instill into his head, it will mean nothing for him at all!

"So, only my way can work. Imprinting the most vivid and stimulating information in his brain will likely raise his feelings and desires. Even dark feelings and desires are better than no feelings and desires, don't you think so?"

"… Of course not!"

Li Yao's soul constricted like a clenched fist. He roared, "Look at his brain! It's essentially a burnt, desolate land where the soil has been contaminated with acids and magma.

"Your approach is to transplant some random trees from other places to this corrupt wasteland. Even though it will look green, it will be nothing but a lie!

"It's not going to work! You can't really wake him up by doing that. You will only turn him from the Ultimate Benevolence Masters' slave to your slave and the slave of desires.

"Do you not feel that what we really should be doing is to improve the quality of the soil by clearing all the acids and magma, sow tiny seeds, and slowly grow plants that belong to this soil so that his whole brain will be rejuvenated?"

Tilting its head, the mental devil thought for a while.

"Not exactly."

It mocked, "How long is it going to take? What's the price? What can you get from it?"

Li Yao stared at the mental devil in silence for a long time. Ignoring it, he flew to Fang Gang 123's shivering soul.

"Don't be scared. We're friends. I'm your kind. I'm here to save you."

Li Yao murmured and unleashed gentle light from his soul that enshrouded Fang Gang 123's damaged nerves and withered brain cells.

Narrowing its eyes, the mental devil observed for a long time and finally realized what Li Yao was doing. It frowned again.

"You're crazy."

The mental devil sighed. "You're helping this guy repair his brain at the cost of your precious soul power?

"It's true that we're both experts of brain recovery. Our brains exploded a couple of times every day when we trained and fought crazily in the past, but we barely asked for the help of Meditation Healers or brain surgeons. We simply connected the veins and cerebral nerves on our own. Our understanding of the brain is much better than most Meditation Healers and brain surgeons. We're the top experts.

"However, you must bear in mind that this is not our brains, but the brain of someone hundreds of kilometers away from us. It's ten times more difficult to fix than it is to fix our own!"

"Cut the crap."

Focusing his attention, Li Yao split thousands of tentacles from his soul and helped Fang Gang 123 connect the broken veins and nerves and remove the redundancies that blocked the sulcus. He said to the mental devil without looking back, "You know that you can't convince me."

"But I can stop you!"

The mental devil gnashed its teeth. "Our souls are entangled and of the same origin. While you're busy exhausting yourself, I'm being affected too! Idiot, I've already sensed that my power is fleeing! Stop now!"

"Stop me?"

Li Yao finally looked back at the mental devil. "Why don't you try it?"

The mental devil shuddered and was too scared to say anything. After a long time, it simply snorted and sat down at the edge of Fang Gang 123's brain where it sulked.

"What's the point?"

Observing Li Yao coldly for a long time, it finally said, "This is just a bottom-level soldier of the Covenant Alliance and a common 'bee'. Even if you can fix his brain and awaken his self-awareness, so what? Can it change the Covenant Alliance or save the federation and the Imperium? What's the point?"

"Maybe it can't."

Still in deep concentration, Li Yao had helped Fang Gang 123 connect 3,425 nerves that were of paramount importance, which was about one-tenth of the whole task. He paused for a moment and said, "But it's meaningful for him and myself."

"… I still think that you're adding to your trouble."

The mental devil said again, "Don't forget the details of the Sunspot Plan. Those sunspots are supposed to be the best tools. As long as you admit that you're their god, they will tell you everything they know and even die for you voluntarily. If you gather enough sunspots, they won't hesitate even if you ask them to attack the Ultimate Benevolence Masters.

"But you're trying to awaken their humanity and self-awareness, turning them into real humans? What exactly do you want?

"Every human has weaknesses. They're prone to fear, worries, and anger. There will be too many unexpected factors, and they won't be devoted to you. Aren't you making obstacles for yourself?"

"Listen up."

This time, Li Yao did not look back, but he sounded more solemn than ever. "My Sunspot Plan is different from Wuying Qi 3.0's Sunspot Plan.

"In his Sunspot Plan, all the sunspots were tools for him to fulfill his personal purposes and realize his ambitions. He did not care how many of the sunspots would die in the end.

"But my Sunspot Plan is different. I cannot regard a living human as a tool like Wuying Qi 3.0 did, even if it's for a seemingly sacred and glorious purpose!

"I regard those sunspots as my own kind, my friends, and my comrades who fight by my side. If they're fighting for something, I must make sure that they know it's what they want!"

After a brief silence, the mental devil said gloomily, "You're simply asking for trouble and increasing the difficulty of this mission."

"Maybe, but you know that there are no shortcuts, and the methods which seem simple may lead to unexpected repercussions."

Li Yao said, "Do you really think that Wuying Qi 3.0 sincerely tried to help us when he entrusted the Sunspot Plan to us?

"Idiot. The Sunspot Plan is his bait and the first step to allure us to become vicious dragons. If we carry out the Sunspot Plan according to his idea, regarding all the sunspots as pure tools and ignoring the dignity and free will of mankind, will we be any different from him? How can we claim that we're righteous and he's not?

"If sunspots can be regarded as tools for a lofty and urgent purpose, can all the people of the Covenant Alliance be regarded as tools for a purpose that is even more lofty and urgent? What about the people of the Imperium and the federation? Do you get it? The boundaries are right behind us. If we take one step back, we will totally collapse and have to walk down on Wuying Qi 3.0's path.

"I will not let his scheme work out. My path is the path of thorns and fire, but I will see to the end of it!"