Chapter 858 Self-Destructive Tendencies (6400)

The illusory worlds surrounded the two Hedao (Harmony of the Dao) experts, like dust rings around a planet. The aftershocks of their Great Daos colliding spilled out from the endless dust, transforming into a dazzling and magnificent stellar ring that revolved around Hongshi and Su Zhou.

The void was silent. Although the spacetime turbulence was described by some transcendents as a continuous thunder, a massive impact that could block all senses, it was actually an illusion. It was a false signal produced when overwhelmingly large world-level information swept past human senses. Only those who reached the level of a terrestrial immortal could transcend this illusion and enjoy the tranquility of the void.

And now, silence began to sprout.

As Su Zhou and Hongshi discussed the Dao, the resulting illusory Great Dao realms began to gradually fill out under the radiance of the two Hedao experts, like a simple sketch being filled with details and painted with colors by an invisible brush.

Initially, they were only gray phantoms. Then, like seeds breaking through the soil, the simplest red, blue, yellow, and green appeared, with Hongshi and Su Zhou's light as their source. The colors in the world overlapped, transforming into black and white. These colors themselves seemed like life, climbing through every corner of the world like expanding cotton and wriggling sponges.

Red was impulsive, blue was calm, yellow was eager to try, and green was cautious and steady. These colors themselves seemed to transform into life. They intertwined with each other, deriving a multitude of colors. They gathered into communities, occupying the corners of the world, and spreading in all directions with the propagation of light, painting one hazy illusory realm after another, making them more lifelike.

Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, were all within a single thought. This divine power of creating a cave heaven world from the void, if it were an ordinary Hedao expert, was not impossible to accomplish, and could not even be considered difficult.

Whether it was the Taiyi Heavenly Phoenix or Xuan Renzi, they all had many such limited small worlds under their command, but those creations that once made them proud were now ashamed to be mentioned by them, because they saw that as the colors spread in the void, after Su Zhou asked his question and the Great Emperor Hongshi fell silent, thousands upon thousands of originally void worlds simultaneously unfolded the process of transforming from nothingness into existence.

This was merely the aftermath—the aftermath of the collision of the wills of two peak Hedao experts.

These worlds were the derivation of their Great Daos, drawing self-sufficiency from the boundless surging energy in the void, feeding on the remnants of many worlds and the boundless spiritual energy, and being endowed with the essence of reality from this seemingly empty space, thus beginning to multiply and grow into a community...

The seeds of what could be called a 'world cluster'!

If the two of them just stayed where they were, allowing the seeds of the world to spread, breed, and grow, then after hundreds of millions of years, this place might have transformed into a vast mid-sized world cluster.

【Why is there a need to save...?】

Great Emperor Hongshi reached out, and a small world rotated on his fingertip. The man stared at this small gray sphere being stained with color on his fingertip, and the bubble phantoms that emerged within gradually became rich and colorful, seeming to stabilize soon, taking root and sprouting after a long time, absorbing material energy, and then transforming into a real world.

Su Zhou's words made him silent, not because the youth could convince him so easily.

But because Hongshi himself recalled his own past.

Yes, what Zhuzhou said was indeed not wrong. Wasn't he that kind of child?

At first, he only wanted to follow his teacher, and then to avenge his teacher. When he conquered the world and ruled humanity, he gradually developed a greater desire.

Revenge was a heavy yet simple, difficult yet light matter. Revenge was the simplest retaliation. Anyone could do it as long as they had a knife and strength... but on the way to revenge, he saw an even greater and heavier sorrow, like a long river of black water rushing across the land, so complex that it was impossible to start.

His own tiny revenge was just an insignificant drop in that torrent, only purifying a drop of water, which would definitely be contaminated again before long. From then on, Hongshi changed his wish. He felt that instead of retaliating against the world, it would be better to dedicate himself to the great cause of eliminating all societies that create tragedy.

This was his choice.

Hongshi silently invoked a trace of power, transforming the half-formed world on his fingertip into a concrete existence, a mature demiplane.

He whispered to himself: 【Why is there no need?】

The man sighed long: 【If no one could save me, why would I have such a wish? Zhuzhou, if I didn't empathize, how could I persist in saving for such a long time?】

【In this multiverse, there are powerless people everywhere. Not everyone has the determination and courage to break through the darkness. They can only pray, only wait, only weep... and I just happen to be able to hear it, and I can just happen to solve the problems I encounter... What if I can't? Just imagining it makes my heart tremble and shiver, and how many people like me are there in the entire multiverse?】

He said: 【Because I also want to be saved.】

【So I'm going to save.】

Hongshi raised his head, looking at Zhuzhou with an unprecedentedly serious gaze.

Hongshi had never met Zhuzhou before, but now, he perceived that there was an unusual beauty and danger in Su Zhou, like a flame that would burn people, but both children and adults would gaze at a vigorously burning fire for a long time. This was precisely the reason why Zhuzhou's Dao gave him a sense of danger.

Objectively speaking, whether it was his Great Dao or appearance, Su Zhou possessed an extremely rare beauty, but rather than saying that beauty originated from his physical appearance, it was more like a unique, extremely dangerous attraction.

It was like standing by the railing of a high-rise building, on the edge of a cliff, having an uncontrollable urge to lean forward and prostrate oneself. When Hongshi was a child, he followed his teacher and witnessed various natural disasters, whether it was a volcanic eruption, a tornado, a collapsing snow mountain, or a desert sandstorm.

The ultimate destructive power was displayed openly, which would instead inspire emotion and shock, enough to crush everything. Because the destruction was too vast, it was magnificent. Therefore, when tiny humans gazed at erupting volcanoes and the lightning crisscrossing in the clouds, they could sense that similar charm.

Moths to a flame.

Yes, it was moths to a flame, knowing they would die, yet still swarming up. Hongshi thought, how many people in this world overestimate themselves and think they are worthy of innovation, worthy of the gorgeous and bewitching beauty of the Zhuzhou Dao?

Zhuzhou's radiance was too dazzling and beautiful, so that everyone would ignore the terrifying destructive power, which was enough to shatter all peaceful worlds and smash all order into a mess.

"Truly great."

On the other side, Zhuzhou was also speaking: "But Hongshi, have you ever thought that your power is finite?"

"The multiverse void is so vast and boundless. We are not infinite. How much can you save by relying on yourself alone?"

"Liberating worlds one by one, pulling people out of the mire one by one, sending them into your sanctuary… Your world is indeed peaceful and healthy. At most, its development is a bit slow, and it cannot be said that there will be no strong people in the future… But this is too slow. According to my calculations, it will take at least 300 million years for your world to produce a Hedao expert. This is simply unbelievable for a prosperous and flourishing universe."

Hongshi listened carefully to Zhuzhou's rebuttal of his thoughts. Just as Zhuzhou had always agreed with him, Hongshi had also always agreed with Zhuzhou.

What the other party said was indeed correct. Under his system of restricting spiritual energy and the Great Dao, and gradually opening up spiritual energy and Dao rhymes to the cultivators under his command only after passing the assessment, it was extremely difficult for Hedao experts like himself to appear.

At the same time, this meant that the other party must also be an emperor, at least a king or marquis. His authority would be weakened, and his laws would not be able to completely restrain the other party. If the other party wanted to do evil, even if he could stop it, innocent people would be injured.

Three hundred million years… Well, at least there was a possibility, so this wouldn't be considered a big mistake.

Hongshi thought at this moment, while Zhuzhou on the other side was still narrating: "My Great Dao does not require so much power. I only need to pay my inheritance and guide them. Then those who want to continue can continue… They may lose, but it doesn't matter. I can give them more blessings a few more times, as long as they don't keep losing. In this way, many times, we don't need to spend a lot of power to redeem them ourselves. They can change their own world!"

As he said this, in Hongshi's gaze, Zhuzhou seemed to be glowing—this light was so bright and pure that countless people would definitely yearn for such a fiery and pure light, so they would fanatically plunge into it.

Somewhat idealistic. Hongshi thought. Even if there was innovation, it might not be possible to save everyone, and a large number of people might die first, and those people originally didn't need to die. As long as they were merged into his Hongshi Immortal Dynasty universe group, and those erroneous social systems and cultural roots were erased, everyone could be redeemed. Then, those who should be sentenced would be sentenced, and those who should live would live, and they could get a beautiful ending.

And Zhuzhou's blessing would also kill people if it succeeded, and even more people would die if it failed, just like himself in the past, for the sake of avenging his teacher, he drew his sword and rose up, and the common people suffered as a result.

That was something that could be avoided. It was a mistake he had to make when he was weak—now that he had become so powerful that the universe could only obey his orders, why should he make mistakes?

Hongshi opened his mouth. He wanted to refute, but he once again heard Su Zhou's words.

"But even so, Hongshi, your Dao is also correct—I don't deny it either. My Dao can only be walked by those who have great ambitions and are willing to work hard and strive upwards. In the multiverse, there are quite a few people who want to live in peace and are unwilling to sacrifice their strength for too grand a narrative, and it can even be said that they are the vast majority."

"Indeed, this multiverse is quite dangerous, but there are no wandering Eternal Gods of Evil here, and there are no monster prototypes that destroy everything. Overall, it is not too difficult to live your own little life. Life does not need such lofty intentions and desires, and not everyone needs to have great ambitions and care about the universe and its people—they just want to live their own little life."

"They, these people, do need saving, they need your Dao. Hongshi, you are much kinder than me. Heaven helps those who help themselves. I just uphold this principle, and you will pull them out of the water regardless of who they are, whether they struggle or not."

As he said this, Hongshi heard the radiant Zhuzhou smile and extend his hand to himself once again: "So why don't we join hands? Seek common ground while reserving differences, isn't it? I will catalyze and bless those ambitious people who originally wanted to climb upwards and don't need to waste your effort to save, and you will protect those powerless ordinary people. It's a win-win!"

【Cooperation】

For a time, Hongshi also closed his eyes, pondering the possibility of all this.

No.

He denied it.

This Zhuzhou was really optimistic, too idealistic—it sounded pretty good. If the two cooperated, it seemed that they could indeed cover almost all the people in the multiverse who needed to be saved and wanted to save themselves.

But why? Why should he sit by and watch Zhuzhou lure those who obviously didn't have the ability but still sought death like moths to a flame? And why should Zhuzhou sit by and watch him accept those who, in his view, still had hope of self-salvation and were potentially capable?

Intelligent life was never a separate individual, but always a whole. An innovator needed an entire world as fuel for sublimation. They had to make the whole world better, constantly killing and destroying, like cutting off rotten flesh from a rotting body, so that it could become healthy again.

And his salvation was unwilling to give up even the fuel, and would spend great effort, ten times a hundred times more effort than regrowing a piece of flesh, to make the rotten flesh normal and place it under his protection.

These two seemed complementary, but in fact, they had an eternal and unceasing contradiction from the very root.

Those who could hear the sound of tears were precisely those who would not be lenient to the other party because they had compassion.

Hongshi opened his eyes, his gaze becoming heavy: 【Impossible.】

He said: 【There is only one supreme throne. Without that throne, how could the world's kings be willing to agree with other people's Great Daos? Zhuzhou, you must understand that if we don't decide the winner, this kind of Dao discussion will never end. During this time when you and I are confronting each other, countless people are suffering. I can't bear this.】

【Zhuzhou, you are too dazzling. Your existence will create an illusion for those ordinary people, making them think that they can really change the world, and then they will plunge into it recklessly, burned by your light, and ground into mud by reality.】

【These words are harsh.】

He cruelly spoke the truth in all multiverses with extraordinary power and extraordinary experts: 【The only people who can truly change the world are the strong, or the seeds of the strong.】

【Only us.】

Sighing as he said these words, Great Emperor Hongshi raised the right hand that was holding up the tower high.

Immediately, this boundless high tower that reached up to the Ninth Heaven and down to the Nine Netherworlds began to shake. In Zhuzhou's suddenly changing expression and exclamation of 'Why are you starting a fight without saying a word?!', the multiverse void, almost infinite power began to frantically converge towards this high tower that was almost self-contained in the universe, making it more and more vast, more and more solemn and majestic.

A net.

A spider was here.

It was waiting to close the net and prey on the surrounding grass flies, mosquitoes, and other insects.

A person stared at the net. He knew that spiders would prey on other insects. This was their nature. Existence would harm other life. Spiders were strong.

So he chose to tear down the net, kill the spider, transform the small spiders that had not yet had time to eat other insects into honey bees that only ate pollen, and stuff these honey bees into his large beehive. The beehive was surrounded by blooming flowers, peaceful and happy.

But bees were always bees, and bees would only have a queen, a core.

There was only one king.

And another person also knew this. He knew that spiders ate insects, and also knew that the reason why spiders ate insects was because other insects were weak. In fact, all insects could not eat insects. So he gave the insects that were being preyed on sharper thorns and fangs, and told them how to grow thorns and fangs.

Soon, all the insects had thorns and fangs. They fought each other, just like before, but if everyone was dangerous, fighting was meaningless. That would force them to change the ecosystem. Under the new balance, the original spider changed its form and became a goat that ate grass, and the other insects all became rabbits, deer, and cattle. Although everyone would compete with each other, they would not eat each other.

Everyone was a king, and everyone feared each other. Although a war that could destroy everything might break out, before the war began, everyone only ate grass.

One side wanted to turn everyone into harmless, cooperative bees that maintained a large society; the other side just wanted to turn the dog-eat-dog universe into a competitive race in the same ecological niche.

One side wanted to save everyone, and the other side just blessed them.

【Those who want to live, even if the flood comes, I won't let him die before me.】

Raising the high tower, Hongshi said softly: 【Those who want to die, I will personally send him into reincarnation without others taking action.】

Then, he suddenly shouted loudly, with anger: 【Zhuzhou, how could you not know? Life wants to kill and oppress each other. Oppressing others is the nature of life. This inferior essence is precisely the desire of all beings!】

【Zhuzhou! Your blessings let those people take revenge and change, but it's just letting them kill and oppress each other faster. They only stop when they are all afraid, and they have to change, and they have to create a new, better 'balance'—how can this innovation built with blood and this peace built with suffering be called salvation?!】

【Your light is the greatest evil in this multiverse!!】

Before he finished speaking, the Hongshi Zhen Dao Tower, which was swallowing the infinite spiritual energy in the surrounding multiverse void and even absorbing the power of many Hedao experts in the tower, shone with divine light in the painful voices of Taiyi Heavenly Phoenix and Xuan Renzi, piercing through endless spacetime turbulence—for a time, everyone could see that the endless high tower actually imprisoned more than two Hedao experts. Before Heavenly Phoenix and Xuan Renzi, there were other Hedaos who had been suppressed by Hongshi!

Without the slightest hesitation or hesitation, the avatar of Hongshi's Great Dao, the infinite divine power called 'The Way of Salvation', pulled out incalculable streams of light in the void, like a rainbow piercing the sun, pressing horizontally towards Zhuzhou, who showed a painful expression!

"Seriously, is there anyone who is more impatient than me?!"

Hongshi could hear Zhuzhou's complaint, but he didn't care. He only saw the huge Zhen Dao Tower suddenly arriving—how towering and majestic was this high tower? In the void, it was enough to use its own ability and size as a guide to a world cluster. It had already fallen towards the other party like an entire universe!

Boom!

The bottom of the high tower roared and exploded, and the endless power of wishes and spiritual energy flowed down, and one small world after another was born and then destroyed. Even ordinary civilizations that had just walked out of the void could see with their observation instruments that the structural arrangement of the worlds around the entire void was distorted by this blow!

Facing Hongshi's serious full-strength attack, the Great Daos of ordinary Hedaos would be suppressed and sealed in an instant under such tremors, and all extraordinary powers would fail as a result, without any resistance!

"Do you have self-destructive tendencies?! Who uses such a big move as soon as they come up?!"

Hongshi could see Zhuzhou scolding while drawing his divine blade at the fastest speed. The divine blade flowed with warmth and was crystal clear, and the meaning of Tianyan (Heavenly Evolution) innovation moved with it. It was also a Hedao-level magic weapon armed.

He struggled to wave the blade and slash towards himself.

Self-destruction… Yes, that was it.

Seeing the other party also start fighting, Hongshi smiled. Sure enough, sometimes only others could see himself clearly, and only strong enough enemies could see himself clearly. He would never be able to figure out exactly where his mistakes were.

Self-destruction, that was too right. That was what he was seeking with all his heart, that self-destructive instinct. That was why he was doing everything he could to do things that no one had ever wanted to do, and why he was driving himself to one dangerous place after another against the desires of life.

The instinct of creatures was not for life to be saved, but for life to comfort itself.

When faced with danger, instinct would make people shrink in the quilt and tremble. They were smart, so they wouldn't do stupid things. If the sky fell, there would be tall people to hold it up. There were so many difficulties and disasters in the multiverse, and there were countless strong people. He, a Hedao, was not needed to save them.

If something really happened, there would also be those vast and great beings who were hidden in the deepest parts of the multiverse, and he still had no clue about them to this day, but they did exist. They would take action!

【I was originally an ordinary person, but I have persevered until now. What is the meaning of what I have done? As long as those beings who are infinitely more powerful than me have good intentions, everything I have done is nothingness. And if they have malicious intentions, everything I have done is meaningless, just like they only need a thought to move all the world's arrangements in the entire multiverse—everything we ‘strong people’ do is actually meaningless.】

The high tower and the divine blade intersected, making a roar that shook the universe. The Great Dao impacts generated by their mutual collision swept through the myriad worlds without the slightest attenuation, just like the hearts of Hongshi and Zhuzhou, eternal and unceasing. The strong people in many worlds noticed this blow, and they all tried to resist, and brilliant lights lit up in their respective worlds.

However, they were all extinguished. Except for some worlds protected by Hedao experts that barely maintained themselves for a while and survived the aftermath, all other worlds were forcibly silenced.

And in this silent tranquility, Hongshi continued his attack: 【I don't think my salvation is right at all, and I can't feel happy and satisfied like you when I fulfill my Great Dao, or even feel carefree. I just can't bear to hear the sound of those tears falling, even if it's meaningless, I don't want to leave any regrets for myself, so I have to save.】

He said: 【So, I have to do it.】

【This is probably my self-destructive tendency.】

"Nonsense!"

Even while being attacked by the other party, Su Zhou still opened his eyes wide: "Where did you throw your courage and responsibility? You said that only we strong people can change the world—although I don't agree with it very much, aren't you saying it very well?"

"Because we can change, so we go to change—what does this have to do with self-destructive tendencies?"

He rebuked with anger, and then waved his blade, cutting open the Zhen Dao Tower: "Knowing that everything may be meaningless, but still persevering… This is clearly—"

"A hero!"

Seeking monthly tickets~