Chapter 153 - 124: The End of Civilization

Chapter 153: Chapter 124: The End of Civilization

"Some of these civilizations were even far more powerful than human civilization is today. The proof lies in the heaven-defying Bloodline Abilities found in certain Beastmen."

"Humans have currently discovered 375 species of Beastmen, which means at least 375 intelligent civilizations have had their Souls cast down."

"And these are only the ones humans have discovered within the scope of their abilities. The true number, including those that still exist or have already perished, is bound to be a terrifyingly large number."

"This World is far more cruel and complex than we realize, and the history of the rise and fall of civilizations is much darker and longer."

"May the flame of our human civilization burn on forever, or at least survive for another hundred thousand years."

When Chen Qi had first read this passage, the shock and terror he felt were simply indescribable.

It was a fear that stemmed from the very instincts of an intelligent Life Form.

Imagine this: one moment, you’re enjoying all the vibrant aspects of life, and the next, you’ve regressed to eating raw meat and drinking blood.

What a terrifying thought. And what’s even more despairing is that an entire civilization, a race of trillions, would suffer the same fate.

An incredibly brilliant and prosperous intelligent civilization, just gone.

This wasn’t just a single civilization disappearing from history. It was every civilization spawned from an entire intelligent species, erased in an instant.

What kind of terrifying existence could commit such a horrific act?

······

As for the reason for the Beastmen’s creation—or rather, what kind of existence erased their Wisdom—the Inner World General Knowledge offered three hypotheses.

Although the compilers stated that these were only hypotheses, the fact that the World Government dared to make them public meant they were almost certainly more than just speculation.

First: Divine-like beings. They could absolutely erase the Wisdom of weaker intelligent civilizations.

Second: Civilizational warfare. For intelligent civilizations evolved to their apex, the nature of war between them would be beyond the comprehension of low-level life forms.

Third: Unknown causes. Perhaps they uncovered secrets they shouldn’t have, came into contact with certain taboos, or even just witnessed some kind of prehistoric weapon.

These three hypotheses, though only mentioned in a few short sentences in the Inner World General Knowledge, were enough to trigger what felt like a cosmic explosion in Chen Qi’s Consciousness.

Chen Qi didn’t know what came over him at that moment, but his resolve hardened. He had to leave the small pond that was the Lanyu Kingdom and venture out into the wider world.

Perhaps, in that moment, he finally understood some of the choices his father had made.

······

Of course, the records on Beastmen in the Inner World General Knowledge didn’t end there.

In fact, the section on the origin of the Beastmen didn’t take up much of the text.

The General Knowledge recorded, in greatest detail, the various Bloodline Abilities of the Beastmen and their class divisions.

When an intelligent civilization develops to a certain stage, its individuals will inevitably come into contact with Extraordinary Power, and may even pass these powers down genetically.

After an intelligent civilization is cast down, it only loses its Wisdom and the hope for further advancement. The powers inherited through its genes, however, do not disappear. This is the origin of the Beastmen’s Bloodline Abilities.

In fact, because Bloodline Abilities have become the Beastmen’s most crucial weapon for survival, their pursuit of this power is all the more frenzied.

Having lost their Wisdom, the Beastmen are unable to consciously improve their bloodline powers.

This leaves them with only one option: to use procreation to constantly try and fuse different bloodline powers, hoping to give birth to even stronger Bloodline Abilities.

This process relies entirely on luck and probability, naturally requiring no involvement from Wisdom.

Over the long course of evolution, the Beastmen’s Bloodline Abilities have formed a very rigid class hierarchy.

Beastmen without Bloodline Abilities are mere slaves, known as the Mud Species.

Above the Mud Species are the Black-Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold Species...

But these are just the successful crossbreeds; their brains are still capable of thought and can produce some Wisdom Sparks.

In fact, because they were once intelligent civilizations, their brains are incredibly developed, producing Wisdom Sparks with exceptional frequency.

Some powerful Beastmen even seem smarter than ordinary humans.

But fate is cruel. The chance to evolve into an intelligent life form only comes once.

Even if hundreds of millions of years pass and the Beastman race still exists, they can never again become intelligent life forms.

The even crueler truth is that, as time goes on, the brains of the Beastmen are also gradually beginning to atrophy.

Degenerating into wild beasts is the ultimate fate of all civilizations whose Souls have been cast down.

During this process, however, they are bound to be at their most frenzied.

The birth of numerous taboo species and terrifying Life Forms can be traced back to the crossbreeding of Beastman bloodlines.

In Chen Qi’s understanding, if one were to trace the Bloodline Ability of the Dog of Death back to its origin, it must also have come from the Beastmen.

One could say that the decline of intelligent civilizations has made the evolution of life more diverse.

······

’Ah, what a shame!’

’If that Spell could have stolen the Dog of Death’s Bloodline Ability, I was planning to snatch it and install it on the Red Falcon King.’

After three injections, the Red Falcon King had completely adapted to the skills loaded by the chip and had started down the true path of growing stronger through killing.

But unless it could get ridiculously lucky like the Dog of Death and have an Awakening of its Bloodline Ability, it would remain an ordinary bird even when strengthened to its absolute limit.

Having already invested so much, Chen Qi naturally had to plan ahead for the little guy.

’Too bad the path of loading a bloodline is a dead end for now. But hey, the little guy has only just started getting stronger. There’s plenty of time, no need to rush.’

Actually, while the main function of the Spell on the Dog of Death’s Spiral Horn was to draw out Spiritual Energy from a bloodline, it also had the effect of refining that bloodline.

It was clear the "player" behind the scenes coveted bloodlines as well.

Chen Qi planned to alter that Spell and completely reverse its function.

Chen Qi had plenty of Spiritual Energy now. He couldn’t use it all in his daily routine, so he might as well use it to temper the Red Falcon King’s body.

······

The Spiritual Energy Chen Qi had borrowed from the Source Ore was the most common type for Transcendents: Attributeless Spiritual Energy.

His current Spirituality frequency could only control this type of Spiritual Energy.

Attributeless Spiritual Energy, in truth, should really be called Spiritual Energy with no special abilities.

That is, it cannot manipulate elements like wind, fire, lightning, or thunder on its own to form various Superpowers.

But that doesn’t mean humans can’t use it to achieve similar effects.

The key to this lies in Curses—or rather, the 15 ancient characters that possess special powers.

The combination and application of Curses is, in itself, a vast field of study.

Chen Qi, however, had not even reached the entry level.

Fortunately, he was good at imitation. At worst, he’d fail a few dozen times, but he was confident he could get it eventually.

······

"Xiaohong, come back!"

At Chen Qi’s call, the Red Falcon King, which had been showing off majestically in the sky, flew back with its head hung low.

It thought it was about to get another injection!

"Don’t worry, this time it’s safe and painless!"

Chen Qi stroked the Red Falcon King’s little head. It felt much sturdier now.

Chen Qi’s target, of course, was the small tuft of feathers on the Red Falcon King’s head—a feature strikingly similar to that of the Dog of Death.

The Red Falcon King nodded its head repeatedly in a daze, already accustomed to resigning itself to its fate.

"Store. Condense. Refine."

A regular tetrahedral jewel materialized at Chen Qi’s fingertip. Then, using his mind as the tip of a brush, he channeled his Spirituality and began to write with it as if it were ink.

’Chen Qi didn’t know how others wrote Curses, but this was a method he had figured out on his own, and it felt quite natural.’

At his mind’s command, countless lines and ripples appeared on the tetrahedron.

Soon, an ancient character appeared on each of the jewel’s three faces.

In the next instant, the three ancient characters swam toward the fourth face and began to collide and combine.

Chen Qi was already very familiar with this process, having used the same technique to write the 148 Character Roots.

In the blink of an eye, the three ancient characters underwent 36 Shape Changes, finally interlocking perfectly to form an incredibly stable structure.

The moment this structure formed, the tetrahedral jewel collapsed into the newly born Character Root, becoming completely absorbed by it.

After Chen Qi applied his self-made encryption method, all that remained on his fingertip was a constantly writhing and shifting Spell.

This Spell looked very similar to the one from the Spiral Horn, but its function was completely different.

With a tap of his finger, the Spell merged into the Red Falcon King’s feather tuft.

Or more accurately, it merged into the Red Falcon King’s Life Magnet Field.

"CHIRP! CHIRP! CHIRP!"

The Red Falcon King shook its head in discomfort. Its feather tuft, now emitting a silvery-white glow, stood up even straighter, looking like a crown at first glance.

Chen Qi checked it over. ’No problems. It’ll just have to get used to it.’

And just as Chen Qi was busy upgrading the Red Falcon King, a massive stealth passenger jet flew into the airspace above the Lanyu Kingdom under the cover of darkness.

As a small nation, the Lanyu Kingdom’s air defense system was little more than a decoration and failed to detect the intrusion.

Inside the cabin, over 1,000 death-row inmates anxiously awaited their fate.