Chapter 1600
Chapter 1600 - 1596: Peace Road
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"So it turns out, the Lady of the Forest is actually the Earth Goddess......"
Some things only become clear when one has reached a certain height.
When Lu Ping’an and his world began to resonate, establishing a connection with nature, the first "truth" he came to understand was actually the essence of an "old acquaintance" not long ago.
The Earth Goddess is not the concept of the geological strata, but rather derives from the life which originated the "Cradle of Life", "Abode of Life" and further, the concept of "Land of Life".
She is that land, where countless life forms reproduce, evolve and die, and ultimately meet their end..... This doesn’t mean an ending, as new ethnic groups and new lives will replace the former.
Single-cell organisms, reptiles, insects, birds, primates, humans...Does the Earth love these groups? No, she just silently observes, waiting for their evolution and end.
"What arrogance of rule, what heartless rule..."
Lu Ping’an faintly felt, the world’s anger at him, the world’s recognition of him.
A contradiction? This does not conflict, because the world of Earth is not a personified being, but a fusion of rules and rationale, which is the most likely form of existence an unconscious world could present.
Some rules think she is beneficial to the whole world, hence they acknowledge her, granting her a destiny of substantial growth.
Some rules despise her, thinking she would precipitate disasters, speeding up evolution to fulfill the world, therefore...
"You expect me to kill Lin Nu?! You think too highly of me?"
Faintly feeling the world’s will, some parts of the World Consciousness like Lin Nu, while others want her dead, and even pave the path of destiny for it.
Even, they granted Lu Ping’an a higher perspective.
They, revealed the possibilities of fate to Lu Ping’an.
A forest land, teeming with countless reproducing life forms.
A continent, with the rise and fall of kingdoms.
Is that just it? Merely for the cycle of numerous lives and civilizations, to achieve itself, there shouldn’t be such great hostility in the world.
Even if she becomes the Earth Goddess, what impact would it have on the world?
The next moment, Lu Ping’an understood.
The Earth transformed into the face of a laughing young girl, the camera extending infinitely into outer space, eventually embodying a planetary face.
The Earth Goddess is not the endpoint, perhaps the Earth Goddess is just a transitional achievement.
If she accomplishes this, what happens? Isn’t it obvious what the Mercury 42 World Consciousness did after it gained self-awareness?
For mortals, a world with clear consciousness and intelligence is destined to be a hopeless disaster.... no, an eternal disaster.
But as the whole of the world, it indeed evolves, she can subjectively cause the world to keep evolving... part of the world recognizes her path, yet part of it considers her as a deadly poison that must be eliminated.
"Obey her." This voice is somber.
"Kill her." This voice is angry.
Two different fates were displayed before Lu Ping’an, letting him make a choice.
How to choose?
"...I refuse."
Lu Ping’an refused both "requests".
The reason? He doesn’t want to die so meaninglessly.
Top Extraordinaries can already hear the will of the world; when Lu Ping’an makes his choice, probably even Lin Nu herself will know, but as for the current Lu...
"I don’t need to be dead-set against her."
It’s not that Lu Ping’an acknowledges her path, in fact, he is extremely disgusted by it.
But for an adversary of this level, shouldn’t there be higher beings to deal with her?
Her path, amounts to seizing control of the entire world... All the Proper Gods will not allow such a situation to occur.
The Proper Gods restrain each other, none of them easy birds... cough, none of them that easy to deal with, and the Eastern Country’s official powers that can suppress them are not vegetarians either.
She wants to grow until who knows when she could surpass the Great Earth Mother Goddess, needing to eliminate how many competitors, not to mention the planetary gods.
But Lu Ping’an stroked his chin, feeling truly worthy and cheekily thinking Chris really comes from the same family; seeming to go in opposite directions, but in the end, it turns out they converge on the same destination.
And when Lu Ping’an made the choice, directly refusing those two fates... the third fate came looking.
"... Choosing none is also a possibility, a fate?"
Lu Ping’an vaguely understood that in most normal worlds, numerous rules operate together... every top entity is a member of the shareholders, but no one can make the final decision, achieving a delicate balance.
And the once Silent Mountain Range World was already like a big corporation with a board of shareholders that allowed the Divine Kings to completely interfere with the existence of the world.
Now, when Lu Ping’an opened his own "Courtyard," trying to integrate himself into this land, he also got an "entry ticket."
"... My path has been clear from the beginning."
Lu Ping’an’s Life Bank, is the circulation of life, the process whereby the weak through societal actions become strong.
There are no eternally weak, life has no limits, his concept, from the beginning, was antonymous with Lin Nu and Chris... perhaps, this is also why fate sought him out.
"Nobody is destined from the start to be the main character of life, nobody is predestined to be someone else’s stepping stone. If fate cannot offer evolutionary growth, then I will offer it..."
Lu Ping’an is not a Sage; he can even be extremely cold at times.
Yet, the moment when life—all owned by people—becomes a "currency," everyone gains a chance to gamble with little and gradually grow stronger.
He just offers the opportunity, just the possibility, yet he’s already destined to become the arch-enemy of the "I alone am destined" path.
"... May all life in the world not encounter dead ends, may bullied weak ones have the chance to pick up weapons and resist, may..."
Lu Ping’an expresses his thoughts, states his rare kindness... yet he himself doesn’t see it as kindness.
Because the strong will always be strong, the possibility of resisting fate is too slim, perhaps it’s only prolonging the agony.
However, Lu Ping’an doesn’t feel...
"Is struggling on one’s deathbed ugly? No, lying down waiting for death is the ugliest... The struggle of life at a dead-end is the right of every life, when the weak are about to lose everything, isn’t the only thing they can wager also just life?"
Lu Ping’an’s principle is everyone’s principle, he won’t refuse any life transaction.
Lu Ping’an’s principle, however, is also the principle of the weak, because the strong do not need it to be strong, but he gives hope to the weak in desperate situations.
At this moment, his gaze transcended space and time, seeing in a hospital bed, that frail teenager... the next moment, it turned into a heart-achingly regretful, sobbing middle-aged man.
Whether as a teenager or a middle-aged man they both wore hospital gowns, even suffering from the same disease, and suddenly, they also turned around.
Seemingly seeing Lu Ping’an, seemingly stretching out their hands to him...
"Save me..."
"I don’t want to die..."
"I still have so many things I haven’t done..."
"I have so many regrets, I regret not doing more for my family..."
Lu Ping’an also turned back, seemingly, in the profound depths, someone is also watching him.
"So it is, only I can save myself."
The one smiling back at him, is still "Lu Ping’an."
"May I... heh, that’s too petty."
"Thus, may there be no dead ends to life, may journeys have no end."
"May mortals strive ceaselessly, paths never end."
"May everyone be as dragons, Peace Road."
— End of Chapter 1600 —