Chapter 660: The One Being Sung

Chapter 660: Chapter 16: The One Being Sung

—Go to the Moon.

At first, it sounded like an impossible mission.

The Divine Wood World’s technological level was roughly equivalent to Earth’s around the year 1900—that delicate point when industry had taken off, but the electronic age had yet to begin.

The Tianzheng Alliance now had Flying Airships capable of subsonic flight. However, those were top-of-the-line models exclusive to the Demon Suppression Bureau, and their creation wasn’t purely a matter of mechanical engineering. They were propelled by high-level Spiritual Arrays—which was, of course, its own form of technology, since the Divine Wood World’s technology was fundamentally built on True Qi.

But even with True Qi, the Divine Wood World was still a long way from landing on the Moon—an endeavor requiring an incredibly high level of technology. They hadn’t even launched a single satellite.

For this very reason, Zhou Buyi didn’t understand what Shao Qiming had said at all. He rubbed his chin in confusion and asked, “I’m sorry, but ‘go to the Moon’… What do you mean by that?”

Shao Qiming, however, showed the patient nature of a natural teacher. “I mean it literally,” he explained. “The only way to solve the ‘bug’ of you and the Immortal Banyan Tree being incompatible on the same planet is to send your main body to another one.”

“Theoretically, sending you to Mars would be best. Its development potential is far greater than the Moon’s. But even back home, we only achieved that technology a little over twenty years ago. I don’t think you’re capable of it yet.”

This time, Zhou Buyi seemed to understand. He stood at the edge of the Divine Wood’s crown, gazing down at the land and the city below. He spoke slowly, “So, you’re saying… if I want to live, if I don’t want to be devoured by the Immortal Banyan Tree, I have to leave my homeland?”

Just then, Su Zhou, who was communing with the Immortal Banyan Tree, detected a hint of anger in Zhou Buyi’s voice. He clearly remembered how helpless and indignant Zhou Buyi had been when facing those who had fled their homeland. Although Qiming didn’t mean it that way, to Zhou Buyi’s ears, the act of going to the Moon was tantamount to fleeing the Divine Land for some Exotic Realm just to escape the Demon Dynasty.

Regardless of whether he could actually go, for Zhou Buyi, the very idea felt like running away.

So Su Zhou walked up and clapped him on the shoulder. “Broaden your horizons, you hundred-something-year-old geezer. Don’t be so sentimental. Look at it from another angle—you’d be forging a new path for your world.”

Then, Su Zhou shot a look at Shao Qiming, signaling that he would take over. Shao Qiming just shrugged and stepped aside.

“Listen, my friend, let’s put aside the nature of this for a second. You want to lead the Tianzheng Alliance toward further development, right? But that’s bound to hit a bottleneck.”

An ordinary contrarian simply argues for the sake of arguing. But as an epic-level contrarian, Su Zhou’s specialty was identifying what a person cared about most, and then, with single-minded focus, using sarcasm and repeated questions to needle them on that very point until they were beside themselves with rage. Of course, when applied to persuasion, this talent was also a masterstroke.

“Civilizations have inertia,” Su Zhou continued. “Once they reach a certain stage of development, they won’t advance quickly without some kind of stimulus. Instead, they stagnate.”

This wasn’t just Su Zhou spouting nonsense, either—it was a fact. Earth’s Immortal God Civilization was a classic example. Their technological Burst phases occurred during their war with the Divine Beast Cluster and later during internal factional struggles. But once the various powers stabilized, their rate of progress dropped dramatically. Their extremely long lifespans led to zero generational turnover, which meant they lacked new blood.

The Divine Wood World was the same. In a society where the masses have enough to eat, the vast majority of people don’t think about overthrowing the government. Naturally, there’s no large-scale turmoil, just a stable state of getting by. Technology follows suit, leading to severe involution—intense internal competition without real innovation.

Zhou Buyi himself was well aware of this, which was why he wanted to propel his civilization forward by manufacturing a threat.

So, Su Zhou offered a better suggestion. “First of all, if your main body goes to the Moon, that doesn’t mean your avatars have to go. Besides, don’t you think that the stimulus ‘Space Demons’ from the Moon would provide the Tianzheng Alliance would be far greater than some Demon appearing on Earth?”

This point struck a chord with Zhou Buyi almost instantly. His brow, tightly furrowed, suddenly relaxed. The man stroked his chin and said with dawning realization, “Of course!”

In fact, until now, he had been struggling with how to fabricate an origin for the future Demons. After all, the Tianzheng Alliance had already explored most of Earth. It would be easy enough to deceive the common people, but it was almost impossible to fool the Alliance’s leadership.

But Space Demons from the Moon… that was perfect! After all, who knew what space was really like? Even Zhou Buyi only knew what astronomers had told him: that the Moon was a silent, desolate, and uninhabited satellite with no atmosphere and an extremely harsh environment.

Seizing the opportunity, Su Zhou struck while the iron was hot. “Think about it! If the Demons come from the Moon, then to eradicate their attacks, the Tianzheng Alliance will have to develop spacefaring technology, right? What seems like a crisis is actually a beacon, guiding your civilization toward the distant Starry Sky! It’s another way to advance society.”