Chapter 241: Chapter 8: Yao Are Forged by Man
"The Demon Race..."
Su Zhou deliberately repeated the term. As a young man of the New Era, at least seven or eight different concepts of the Demon Race flashed through his mind in an instant. Each one was almost completely different, and they even included a mix of various folk legends, classical mythology, and even modern Kaidan.
But in the next moment, Su Zhou pushed those ideas aside. He asked directly, "What’s the specific situation with the Demon Race? Are they like the beasts that gained sentience in the legends?"
[Yes, and no. The Demon Race, in essence, are humans who cultivate the Ancient Mimic Dao. The kind you’re talking about are actually classified as ’Spirit Monsters’.]
The stable, almost mechanical middle-aged man’s voice delivered a startling answer. [Humans who imitate become Demons; the spirits of objects become Spirit Monsters; lingering Human Souls become ghosts.]
[Perverse qi between heaven and earth gives rise to the strange, which are monsters. Corrupt Divine Spirits become evil. Deluded human hearts become capital-D Demons. And leaning into Heresy is the Outer Dao.]
This passage came from the records of a Celestial Master of the Daoist Sect that preceded Zhengyi Academy, written before the founding of Zhengguo. There are many specific interpretations, but in the current context, its meaning was simple.
—The existence of a Demon, then, hinged on a human. Animals, plants, and tools that undergo Spirit Awakening are Spirit Monsters. A Human Soul that doesn’t disperse is a ghost.
Hearing this, Su Zhou lowered his brow and thought for a moment. He glanced at Yara, then at his own hand, before saying thoughtfully, "So, you’re saying... Demons... are actually what humans become through cultivation?"
[Correct. Just as humans can cultivate to become ’Immortal Spirits’, ’Spirit Monsters’, and ’Divine Buddhas’, they can also naturally become ’Demon Fiends’.]
The man’s voice held a note of approval. Su Zhou’s quick understanding seemed to have saved him a great deal of explanatory effort. [In an age where Cultivation was possible, the distinctions between species were not as detailed as they are now. The greatest divide and difference came not from appearance or physical body, but from the ability to ’cultivate’.]
[In a very ancient era, a time far beyond our historical records, the world was home to countless powerful beasts born with Extraordinary Power. Even though groups of humans at that time also had primitive Transcendents born with Divine Techniques, it didn’t stop humanity from learning to imitate the power of those mighty beasts. Through a long period of study, primitive humans learned how to simulate the power of these beasts by devouring their Extraordinary Organizations.]
[This is the prototype of the Demon, the ’Mimic Dao’. A beast’s head on a human body, a human’s head on a beast’s body, or even a completely bestial form—these are all characteristics of this path. Of course, as Cultivation techniques gradually developed, humans could also maintain their original form while mastering the power of those Extraordinary beasts. But by the same token, they could also transform into their Demon True Body to unleash their full power. Therefore, Demons were an important component of the civilized world at the time.]
’So humans and demons lived together in ancient times. The legends of Emperor Xuanyuan’s wife from the Qingqiu Clan, Saint Yu King’s wife from the Tushan Clan, and Sovereign Fuxi and Sovereign Nüwa... it seems there was some truth to them after all.’
The man’s words couldn’t help but make Su Zhou recall the Immortal Gods from the ancient legends of various countries, all of whom possessed bestial features. Framed this way, it was easy to understand why those Immortal Gods with animalistic traits were also considered humanity’s Primordial Ancestors. It also explained why there were no taboos against ancient humans marrying into various Demon Races.
’We’re all human, after all. To ancient people, those beastly features were probably no different from the variations in appearance among modern humans—like having big ears or thin lips. It was no big deal.’
He himself, if he reached the Extraordinary High-tier and all the organ structures in his body underwent Transcendent Transformation, wouldn’t really have much in common with a normal human besides his humanoid appearance.
For example, could a normal human eat 20kg of heavy, meaty main courses, plus several times that amount in side dishes and rice? Obviously not!
The path of the Immortal Spirit went so far as to abandon the physical body entirely. If that was the case, what was wrong with having a different physical structure? Some ancient Immortals even had three heads and six arms. That was no different in essence from transforming to have a snake tail or dragon claws.
’No wonder the country hasn’t treated me like an Alien Race and eliminated me, even though I awakened such potent Dragon Blood.’
Thinking this, Su Zhou couldn’t help but make a joke. He asked, "In that case, that Demon Race Dragon King is probably one of the Ancient Immortal Gods who cultivated the Dragon Transformation Dao, right?"
[Not entirely. Among Demons, there are not only humans who mimic Extraordinary beasts, but also Extraordinary beasts who mimic humans. Therefore, we can’t actually be certain where your Dragon Blood—or that Demon Race Dragon King at the bottom of the sea—truly came from.]
The man’s voice remained calm. [But that is not important. After all, ’Demons are an imitation of man.’ The existence of Demons relies on humans.]
[As I said, in ancient times, the differences between Races were not so great. As long as one could practice Cultivation and accept a human identity, they could join the collective... Intelligent Extraordinary beasts who chose to mimic humans and become Demons were also considered a part of the ’Human Race’ back then. They learned human language, human culture, and human customs, and they chose to mimic the human body. By that point, they were already human. This is the ’Virtue of Civilization,’ a victory for human civilization.]
"Is that so... Then what about those who didn’t accept it?" Hearing this, Su Zhou’s interest was piqued. "Right, and why did that Dragon King die at the bottom of the sea?"
He remembered his initial question.
[Beasts that do not accept ’human thought’ are Spirit Monsters.]
The man’s calm tone now carried a sort of deadpan, icy humor. [In other words, the source of what we commonly call ’Extraordinary Materials’. They taste quite good, don’t they?]
[As for why that Dragon King lies dormant at the bottom of the sea... it’s very likely because its True Body was so massive that its sensitivity to Spiritual Qi concentration far exceeded that of other Extraordinary individuals. Thus, before Spiritual Qi vanished completely, it ’starved to death’ at the bottom of the sea due to a lack of energy to move.]
This answer made Su Zhou click his tongue twice. It made sense. A body so enormous and contrary to common sense would definitely require a high-concentration Spiritual Qi environment to survive, just as a whale can only live in water. "If that’s the case, what do we do about these ruins?"
[We’ll shelve it for now.] The middle-aged man’s reply came without any delay, responding the instant Su Zhou finished speaking. [The great tide of the Spiritual Energy Revival is about to strike again. Many ruins within Zhengguo are about to open. We can leave the development of ruins like this, which are located in foreign territories, for a later date.]
[However, the news that a Flood Dragon has emerged is indeed very important. It means the Demon Beasts in the sea are about to have a leader... Hmm, no, that’s not right. We still have you, Professor Su.]
At this point, a hint of a smile entered the man’s voice for the first time. [This is actually why the Central Committee values you so highly—as long as you can advance faster than the Flood Dragons in the sea, the Demon Beasts of the ocean will not have a single ’King’ they all revere. If your strength far surpasses those Flood Dragons, perhaps they will even submit to you as their lord?]
[This is also why the ’Dragon Transformation Dao’ and the ’various Dragon Kings’ have always existed, even in later eras when more Cultivation Techniques for the Immortal God Dao became available.]
’No wonder they’re treating me so well. This makes more sense.’ Su Zhou nodded slightly. He also took the opportunity to mention the incident when he was swimming at the beach and was revered by numerous sea serpents and fish.
But Su Zhou never expected that this minor detail, which he saw as nothing special and mentioned only in passing, would elicit such serious and urgent questioning from the other party.
[Wait a moment, Professor Su. Are you certain that all those Sea Serpents and fish had undergone Spirit Awakening?]
"Yes." Su Zhou didn’t immediately understand why the man was being so serious. He recalled the scene and nodded. "All of them had undergone Spirit Awakening—and there was even one black Sea Serpent that had an exceptional amount of Spiritual Energy."
[...Just along the coast, and in such numbers... The revival of all spirits must be reaching its final stage.]
The man on the other end of the communication murmured to himself, [It seems the second wave of the Spiritual Qi Burst is about to arrive... In that case, Professor Su.]
[The Committee has a mission we would like to entrust to you.]
...
"So that’s the truth of the Demon Race."
When Su Zhou hung up the phone, he first closed his eyes in contemplation for a moment, then opened them and said, "That certainly cleared up a lot of my questions. No wonder countries around the world aren’t really ostracizing or suppressing people who awaken strange bloodlines and abilities."
"Yara, what are your thoughts?"
In response to Su Zhou’s question, Yara wasn’t as listless as usual. Instead, it pondered for a moment before answering seriously, "It’s a bit strange, and some things are clearer now. This world of yours, as the core of the Great Seal, certainly has its peculiarities."
It didn’t say what was peculiar, nor what was strange or what it now understood, but Su Zhou didn’t press the matter.
In fact, Su Zhou could guess for himself what was strange.
—Even in the ancient, high-Spiritual-Qi era, a Dragon King several thousand meters long was not an existence to be ignored. Yet, according to the middle-aged man’s voice, Dragon Kings didn’t seem to be all that rare; there were at least several of them. Not only that, but besides the Demon Kings on the human side, there were also other powerful Beast Kings among the Spirit Monsters who could contend with them.
’The Earth may be vast, but can it really accommodate such colossal creatures? And what about the Immortal Gods of the various civilizations? If every slightly powerful Immortal God possessed the same level of power as a Dragon King, could this tiny Earth truly hold them all? Their battles would probably make destroying the planet’s surface a trivial matter.’
But with insufficient information right now, there was no need to let his imagination run wild. Once the academy started, he could rely on his professorial authority to search for answers in the Zhengguo Government’s official database.
BEEP BEEP BEEP.
Just then, Shao Qiming sent a message. Su Zhou looked down at his phone and saw that he had sent a sticker.
Taking a closer look, his expression immediately darkened—that sticker was an image of him being revered by the school of fish earlier.
[FishSnakeFishSnakeHumanSnakeFishSnakeFish].jpg. Below it was a line of small text.
[Submit to me, for I am the Dominator of all salted fish!]
