Chapter 559 - 31: The Spirit Beast City You Don’t Know

"Voluntarily."

At the table, the Daoist Saint laced his fingers together with a chuckle. He spoke amiably to Ann Duo, "We have the Feather Race completely under our control. The Scale Race and the Kun Race won’t be much of a problem either, as we have our own powerful Mimic Dao Cultivators who can lead them."

"As for humans, we ourselves are classified as part of the Luo Race, so I imagine they won’t resist our control too strongly."

That just left the Mao Race. And as it happened, the Mao Race was one that had never been in direct conflict with humanity.

Even if it were just for show—a gesture to demonstrate that humans weren’t absolute enemies who refused to cooperate and to avoid provoking an all-out rebellion from every Divine and Spirit Beast in the Beast God Realm—the Water Qilin Ann Duo would be perfectly safe. Humans would not harm her.

But in return for such a privilege, the Mao Race—and the Qilin—must not resist.

"Therefore, we hope that the Mao Race, and by extension the Qilin Race, will voluntarily send a portion of your people—preferably the young, cubs who haven’t been too deeply influenced by their environment—to live in our city. It would also be best if you gradually abandoned your ’Five-class System’ and complied with our policies. You know, for the losing side, these terms are already quite generous."

Various images and diagrams appeared in the holographic projection, showing things like the structural details of the massive city and its detailed internal regulations... One by one, relevant specialists explained the implications and deeper meanings to Ann Duo.

Ann Duo even saw a Spirit Pool designed specifically for the Water Qilin Race—a pool built upon a massive, three-layered Spirit Gathering Array and filled with Spiritual Spring Water. The efficacy of such a Spirit Pool was close to that of a man-made Pocket World Blessed Land, and cultivating within it would be of immense benefit to the Water Qilin Race.

The Water Qilin could see over thirty similar facilities... and that was just in the area she’d glanced over. Heaven knew how long it would take humans to build this massive city. The Spirit Beasts who lived there, even if only for the sake of these blessed cultivation grounds, would probably never want to return to their own barren clan territories.

But that wasn’t the most important thing... Ann Duo stared at the first rule for this massive, as-yet-unnamed city that existed only in plans.

Rule One: All Spirit Beasts are equal in status.

"Forcibly equating powerful Divine Beasts with weak Spirit Beasts..."

Seeing this rule, even a creature as gentle as a Qilin, knowing full well she had no power to change it, still wanted to argue instinctively. She hesitated before saying, "This isn’t right... It completely contradicts our ethics and customs. It’s just too strange..."

"No, it’s practically impossible! Divine Beasts are naturally stronger than Spirit Beasts. How can beasts be equal to one another? I don’t believe for a second that even among you humans, someone with good Cultivation Talent is equal to someone with poor talent!"

"You’re absolutely right, Lady Ann Duo."

Facing the agitated, frowning Water Qilin, the Daoist Saint took a step to the side as Su Zhou, who had long been ready, stepped forward to meet her.

The moment he appeared, an incredibly dense, bloody Evil Qi and a terrifying Spiritual Pressure from some unknown Dragon Race washed over her. For a Qilin’s sensitive Spiritual Sense, it was enough to make Ann Duo feel suffocated for an instant, and she knew.

This was the fearsome man who had slain four Beast Kings of the Beast God Realm!

Of course, Su Zhou paid no mind to Ann Duo’s fearful and wary expression. He was merely the peace negotiator assigned to come out and ’have a chat’ with the Qilin to persuade her to change her mind if the talks went sour.

—At least, that was what the Daoist Saint had told him when assigning the task, and Su Zhou had believed him.

So, Su Zhou said to the Qilin, "We are building this city precisely to solve the problem you’ve raised."

"You want to use us as test subjects? A large-scale social experiment? To find out if ’equality’ is feasible for you?"

There were no truly foolish individuals among the Divine Beasts; in terms of intelligence, they were more than qualified. Ann Duo instantly understood what Su Zhou was implying, and her voice couldn’t help but rise. "Humans, are you saying you want to use the lives of the countless Divine and Spirit Beasts of our Beast God Realm to run your dress rehearsal?"

"Not only that, you want the young of every Spirit and Divine Beast from the Beast God Realm to live in this city, and they must cooperate with your experiment... If that happens, no race in the Beast God Realm will have any secrets from you! The Secret Techniques and Divine Techniques of every race will be completely exposed to you... Moreover, once they’ve fully accepted your education, they won’t be Spirit or Divine Beasts anymore. They’ll just be ’human,’ won’t they?"

’Though it seems gentle on the surface, this is actually no different from the indoctrination of the Immortal Gods of old. It’s an even more insidious method—death by a thousand cuts with a soft knife!’

"That’s correct. Enriching our data reserves is indeed our goal."

Coming from the Supervision of All Saints, where the pursuit of knowledge and data was never considered wrong, Su Zhou answered calmly, "Of course, it’s not just about that. We also hope the Divine and Spirit Beasts living in this city will abandon their original Five-class System and become—"

"That has nothing to do with the morality and equality you claim to be promoting."

"Correct, Lady. I’m pleased you understand that."

Su Zhou just smiled at the Water Qilin’s taunt, completely unbothered. "We just have a lot to discuss today. For example, the establishment of brand-new regulations for the future of the Beast God Realm. The reshaping of the Beast God Realm’s moral framework. And, for another example, how to save the remaining 7,119,000,000 lives in the Beast God Realm from the hell that is the ’Five-class System’."

"But it’s definitely not about morality, equality, or right and wrong."

"Unfortunately, Lady, those things are meaningless to us. Or rather, they’re meaningless to all life in both our worlds."

With absolute dominance, he overpowered the Water Qilin’s will. With his back to the high-level Cultivators from nations all over the world who represented the ’human’ side, Su Zhou pushed a proposal from the table toward Ann Duo.

He watched with a smile as she struggled to pick up the proposal, then said calmly, "We haven’t named the city yet. You can call it Peace City, Academy City, Mad Spirit Beast City, or even BESTSTARS... You could even call it Qilin City. We don’t care. It’s entirely up to you."

"However, King of the Mao Race, Qilin Ann Duo, it *must* be built. In your name as the last clan leader of the former Five Races of the Beast God Realm, you must cooperate with us. You must represent the ’Beast God Realm of the past’ and help establish it."

Ann Duo was silent for a long time.

And the human side waited patiently for just as long.

Finally, Ann Duo, the Qilin lady in human form with two blue horns, let out a long sigh. She reached out and, with her Spiritual Power, left her mark upon the proposal.

"So be it," she said with a tired, bitter smile. "I’ve failed the Primordial Ancestor’s painstaking efforts to remain independent, but... it’s been too long. Perhaps the Beast God Realm really does need a change."

And the instant Ann Duo ’signed’ it...

A sudden tremor ran through Su Zhou’s Soul Space.

A tiny grain of wheat suddenly bloomed with endless light as infinite Desire Power from a distant shore began to pour into it, as if through a newly opened crack.

It was only a prelude, only a beginning.

But the seed of change had been planted. The fate of a world had been shifted from its original course.

—The Order of the Beast God Realm had been subverted!

And thus, the True Soul was forged!

The red Snake Spirit watched this scene unfold with delight from within the Soul Space. Sensing Su Zhou’s shock and pleasant surprise, it couldn’t help but chuckle.

"To subvert the Order of a civilization, of a world... Though it was only the most basic of changes, and you borrowed the power of an entire human civilization to do it, this is still the most unprecedented offering, the most amusing event, since I partially broke free."

The Snake Spirit laughed happily, coiling its tail into the shape of a ring. It hadn’t been this pleased even when it had seen the other sealed Great Beings.

Then, Yara, the chaotic Snake Spirit, slowly closed its eyes.

"Just how far can you go, Su Zhou...?"

"Perhaps... you really can do it..."