Chapter 398 - 340: Chu Bamboo: Wait, You Mean I Can Really Conquer the World?

"Not really." Chu Bamboo’s voice was completely steady. He was very calm. "It’s only on the level of the Mortal World! That’s all it took to conquer them... Actually, I find it quite strange. Why weren’t there any Transcendents... assassinating my soldiers from the shadows..."

After all, the Security Corps only has a little over a thousand men...

"...You don’t know?" Huo Qiming was stunned for a moment. He sized up Chu Bamboo, his voice tinged with confusion.

"?" Chu Bamboo looked at Huo Qiming strangely. "What am I supposed to know?"

"Let the Extraordinary deal with the Extraordinary, and mortals with mortals!" Huo Qiming said, enunciating each word.

"...I know that, but the problem is..." Chu Bamboo’s expression was strange. He’d heard this phrase many times, but no matter how often he heard it... he always felt an indescribable sense of dissonance...

’No matter how you put it, the Extraordinary is real... How could the two possibly be separated so cleanly?’

"I understand what you mean..." Huo Qiming gave Chu Bamboo a deep look. "But, it’s not a problem for a Transcendent to kill another Transcendent. Killing a few ordinary people, say three or five, is also not a problem! If it’s done out of a sense of justice... even killing a few more doesn’t matter!"

After a short pause, Huo Qiming’s gaze turned solemn, and he continued, word by word, "But if it’s killing for the sake of killing, once the number reaches a certain point... the level of contamination will rise rapidly. It’s not a simple one-to-one increase. Rather, it increases exponentially... This is the law established by the Great Goddess Nuwa..."

"...Are you sure?" After a moment of thought, Chu Bamboo held up Little Mushroom Head and rubbed her vigorously. "Nuwa No. 17! Answer."

"...Initiating deep thought!" After pondering for a moment, Little Mushroom Head replied, "Please increase your strength before asking again!"

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Was I just insulted again?’

"?" Watching Little Mushroom Head actually speak, Huo Qiming fell into a brief silence.

Huo Qiming carefully watched Chu Bamboo’s strange expression, afraid that Chu Bamboo had received a denial from Nuwa. He quickly added, "Perhaps? Or maybe it’s for other reasons? Maybe the law wasn’t created by the Great Goddess Nuwa, and she is merely its enforcer? I can only say that this is what the rumors I’ve heard claim..."

Hu Kaikang suddenly interjected, "The information I’ve heard is... the law was established by God!"

Huo Qiming was silent for a moment. He and Hu Kaikang stared at each other for a long while before he decided not to argue the point. He turned back to Chu Bamboo. "I can only say... this matter is definitely related to the Great Goddess Nuwa. At the very least, our current dynasty is extremely wary of this... Rumor has it that we directly received an Oracle from the Great Goddess Nuwa. However..."

’The founding Grand Ancestor should have known about this, right?’ Huo Qiming couldn’t quite understand. After all, the Grand Ancestor was the one who received that Oracle—and then established a sacrosanct edict that his descendants were forbidden from ever changing...

"...I see," Chu Bamboo said thoughtfully.

Seeing Chu Bamboo nod, Huo Qiming finally let out a sigh of relief. He narrowed his eyes, seemingly lost in memory, and ended with a heavy sigh...

It wasn’t just Huo Qiming; Hu Kaikang also let out a sigh in perfect sync. The two of them froze, then instinctively glanced at each other.

Giving them a thoughtful look, Chu Bamboo could hear something in their sighs... an extremely similar, faint sense of reverence and fear...

Thoughts swirled in Chu Bamboo’s mind, and he finally realized what it was—their awe for the Great Goddess Nuwa, or God, who had established the order of this world... and also the bitterness of being Transcendents, yet being so tightly controlled by that series of laws...

After collecting his thoughts, Huo Qiming continued, "This is also the fundamental reason why the Captain’s Office must control Extraordinary crimes. In essence, those who rely on their strength to kill wantonly are the ones who will lose control in the future! And the more people they kill, the stronger they become!"

"You might be curious as to why Transcendents can be managed so well."

"..."

Chu Bamboo said nothing, his gaze fixed calmly on Huo Qiming.

Huo Qiming bit his lower lip. "But... I should say, only because we *can* manage them well are we a normal dynasty! If we couldn’t, and information about the Extraordinary leaked... and Transcendents went on a wanton killing spree... then after they lose control, due to the contamination, their strength would grow greater and greater! If the number of such beings becomes too high... that signifies the end of a dynasty..."

"When a dynasty is in its last years, monsters run rampant... What do you think those ’monsters’ are?"

Seeing Chu Bamboo lost in thought, Huo Qiming gave a scornful laugh. "Because at that time, Transcendents have no restrictions whatsoever! Through wanton slaughter, they quickly become crazed and insane... which leads to a massive decline in population... creating a vicious cycle! This continues until another great and ambitious leader appears to reunite the realm... and bring stability to the world once more!"

Hearing this, Hu Kaikang also fell silent for a moment and nodded with a bitter expression.

Chu Bamboo paced back and forth, thinking. ’If this really is a Technique established by Nuwa... perhaps it’s a sword hanging over the heads of these feudal dynasties, forcing them not to leak information to the common people...’

’After all, you can’t expect a feudal dynasty to have much self-restraint... Only when a sword is truly at their throats might they find the motivation to strive!’

Suddenly, Chu Bamboo froze. He had just realized something terrifying. He looked at the two of them, his eyes burning, and said cautiously, "So you’re saying... on the pure level of conquering the world, Transcendents are actually of no great use?"

Then, Chu Bamboo noticed Huo Qiming’s expression had become extremely strange, a mix of wanting to laugh and cry. "Have you really not realized... if Transcendents could intervene in politics and conquer the world... would the world still be ruled by the Great Chu Dynasty?"

The Great Chu Dynasty—the first dynasty in the Dream World since the beginning of recorded history!

Chu Bamboo’s mind reeled. ’That’s it... I finally understand!’

’Yes, if Transcendents could truly act without restraint, then a ruler would only need to win over a large group of them and promise them high positions... Then no matter how miserably the common people were suffering, no matter how many rebellions they started, it would be impossible to overthrow the dynasty above them!’

’Since dynastic changes can still happen normally in the Dream World... that can only mean that, no matter how illogical it seems, the rule that the Extraordinary cannot interfere with the Mortal World is set in stone!’

’Or rather... a Transcendent can try to interfere... but they must also bear the consequences!’

’This... is the so-called law established by... Nuwa, or perhaps, God!’

"...Huh? So, I really can conquer the world?!" Chu Bamboo was stunned. ’If I take the Transcendent factor out of the equation, aren’t I invincible?’

Honestly, the only reason he’d raised the banner of rebellion... was to stir the murky waters of the realm and gather intelligence...

As for actually founding a new nation... Chu Bamboo hadn’t even brought up that slogan.

He had always been thinking about expanding the influence of his faction, increasing his own strength, waiting until he was unrivaled in the world... and then...

"Snap out of it!" Hu Kaikang finally couldn’t hold it in any longer. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and retorted, "Have you forgotten... you’re a Transcendent!"

Chu Bamboo: "...?"

"That’s just how it is!" Huo Qiming spread his hands. "If you were a mortal, and you managed to create a situation like this with the Great Goddess Nuwa’s support... it’s true, you’d have a very high chance of conquering the world!"

Because, right under the Great Goddess Nuwa’s nose, there is absolutely no Transcendent... who would dare to risk universal condemnation and defy the Great Goddess Nuwa... or rather, the law suspected to have been established by the Great Goddess Nuwa, by publicly assassinating someone under her protection.

But...

Huo Qiming paused. He recalled how just a day ago, he was a loyal subject of Daqian, and now he was explaining the basics to a rebel... and a rebel who he didn’t have high hopes for, one who seemed destined to die a violent death very soon by any calculation... He felt like this world was just too surreal.

Huo Qiming sighed. "...You’re a Transcendent!"

"Since you’re a Transcendent, then you naturally have to play by the rules for Transcendents! You must accept assassinations from enemy Transcendents! You must accept the destruction of your own Extraordinary Influence by various enemy Extraordinary Influences..." Hu Kaikang picked up the thread of conversation, speaking calmly. "Therefore, for a Transcendent to conquer the world as an Emperor, they must subdue both the Mortal World and the Extraordinary world at the same time!"

"If you’re the founding Grand Ancestor... you should understand this!" Hu Kaikang looked at Chu Bamboo, unable to comprehend.

In the world of the Extraordinary, it was common knowledge among nearly all High-tier Transcendents—the founding Grand Ancestor of Daqian had used his unrivaled Extraordinary strength, along with strategic and tactical methods that were almost an art form, to suppress both the Extraordinary and Mortal worlds simultaneously! Only then did he forge the glorious Daqian, far surpassing the previous dynasty!

At this moment, Eunuch Huang was also staring at Chu Bamboo with an inscrutable expression.

"...Is it possible," Chu Bamboo said after a brief silence, raising an eyebrow, his tone carrying a strange hint, "that the founding Grand Ancestor... is also my descendant?"

"From the very beginning, I’ve been talking about... unworthy descendants!" Chu Bamboo didn’t feel the least bit guilty, because he had never once admitted it—this whole ’founding Grand Ancestor’ thing was basically something they had all just imagined...

Inside the drone carrier, the expressions of the remaining few people froze.

The scene fell into a dead silence.