Immortal Father
Chapter 558 - 558 196 Monster_2

558: Chapter 196 Monster_2 558: Chapter 196 Monster_2 This statement is undoubtedly true.

The Human Race owes a great debt to Nuwa, and Nuwa has not gained anything from them;

She has been protecting the Human Race from the ancient past until now because they are her creations, her children, as it were.

If this were a world joined by the Hongjun through the Heavenly Dao, Nuwa could have gained immense merit from creating humanity and become a Saint of the Heavenly Dao.

Then, it could be said she had received great benefits from the Human Race.

But this is a world without the conjoined Heavenly Dao of Hongjun, where the Heavenly Dao is still in a state of semi-dormancy.

Indeed, the relationship between Nuwa and the Human Race more closely resembles that of a selflessly devoted mother and a child who keeps disappointing her.

Yes, disappointment.

The Holy Mother Nuwa would speak in such a way probably because she is extremely disappointed in the Human Race.

Although this metaphor isn’t quite appropriate, it…

indeed carries a hint of a grievance.

Stone chips fell steadily from the bluestone in Nuwa’s hands.

Li Ping’an thought about it and felt that if he said the wrong thing next, Nuwa would lose interest in speaking with him.

He had to integrate all the information he knew related to Nuwa and find a topic that would interest her.

A topic of interest to Nuwa, a topic that could interest Nuwa…

In a flash of insight, Li Ping’an knelt down and exclaimed loudly:

“I beg Your Grace to save me!”

“Hmm?”

Nuwa indeed seemed intrigued and looked at Li Ping’an carefully, asking:

“Save you?

Why?

You have the Xuanyuan command, the Xuanyuan sword sheath, and the Dragon Qi of a Human Emperor within you; you should be a Minister valued by Xuanyuan.

“However, why is your cultivation so weak…

It is even weaker than when the second generation of the Human Race was just born.”

Li Ping’an closed his lips tightly.

Even though the statement was true, it was also a huge blow to his pride!

He was even weaker than the infants of the ancient Human Race!

“Your Grace, you must have seen the power of the Heavenly Dao within me.”

Li Ping’an sighed:

“I dare not deceive Your Grace.

By chance, I was taught the way of Artifact Refining by my teacher Yun Zhongzi, and through another coincidence, I gained enlightenment that resonated with the Heavenly Dao, allowing a strand of its power to enter me.

“Now, the Human Emperor wishes me to leverage this to help the Chan Teaching.

As long as you return to the world and gain permission from the Taiqing Sect Leader, we can establish the Heavenly Court for humanity!”

“By chance?”

Nuwa’s eyes glittered with more interest as she blew a gentle breath at Li Ping’an.

Li Ping’an couldn’t help taking two steps back and landed on a cushion that appeared out of nowhere.

Following that, he felt as though his Primordial Spirit had been laid bare and sat without daring to move, trying to appear well-behaved.

Nuwa chuckled softly: “Is it not good to be the Heavenly Emperor?”

Li Ping’an was about to bow his head in a gesture of respect.

“Don’t lower your head when looking at me,” Nuwa spoke gently, “every time someone wants to lie in front of me, they lower their head.”

Li Ping’an felt thoughts whirring in his mind, as if he could hear his father’s classic sayings.

‘Ping’an, sometimes, honesty is the ultimate secret weapon.’

“Your Grace.”

Li Ping’an sighed, his eyes filling with a sense of defeat:

“I should indeed tell you the truth.

“Who wouldn’t love to be the Heavenly Emperor?

Standing above all under heaven and above all beings.

But this world is not simple; being the Heavenly Emperor doesn’t mean having no enemies.

“When I think of the Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Court, what comes to mind is not power or the life-and-death authority, but…

the inability to survive.

“The Ancient Heavenly Emperor’s family was destroyed; Emperor Jun and East Emperor Taiyi were among the strongest in the world at that time.

“And now?

Even if I submit to the Heavenly Dao and become a servant to it, it would only grant me the power of a Heavenly Immortal or a Golden Immortal for a short-lived sense of euphoria before I’m corroded by the Heavenly Dao.

“To become the Heavenly Emperor is to face numerous difficulties.

Ninety-nine resonators of the Human Race and Heavenly Dao have perished, aside from the reign of Fuxi Shi.

“Not to mention, after becoming the Heavenly Emperor, you are either a puppet of the Human Emperor, or a chess piece of the Taoist Sect, the Western Sect, merely a target erected by the Heavenly Dao, subject to scrutiny from all sides, coveted by the Great Powers.

“If I were given the chance, I would rid myself of the Heavenly Dao and return to the monastery where my father resides, to be a leisurely Qi Cultivator.

I could converse with my junior sister about love, discuss the Tao and clouds with my master, play chess for fun with my fellow disciples — isn’t that a life well-lived in three thousand years of cultivation?

Wouldn’t that be contentment?”

Nuwa tilted her head slightly and asked softly: “Then, what about your responsibilities towards the Human Race?”

“That…”

“The Human Race sheltered you; in return, you should give back to the Human Race.”

Li Ping’an chuckled guiltily, “Giving back can be done on different levels.

My father excels in business; he provides the Eastern Alliance with high-quality yet affordable magical artifacts.

That too is a contribution.

I am good at artifact refining, so I can also follow in the footsteps of my predecessor Xu Sheng, and craft more magical artifacts for the Human Race.”

Nüwa laughed softly, “You really do have grand ambitions.”

“Alas,” Li Ping’an sighed, “I dare not deceive Your Holiness, but being sent by the Human Emperor to the frontlines, I witnessed the battlefield carnage and have no desire to return a second time.”

“Why do you not wish to go back?”

“I’m somewhat repulsed.”

Li Ping’an’s eyes glazed over, lost in the memories of the battlefield:

“The atmosphere there is incredibly oppressive, with beings fighting each other, burning their very lives to protect their beliefs.

The demon soldiers, controlled by soul-devouring spells, fought like madmen, only to be swiftly killed…”

“The number of celestial soldiers beside me kept dwindling, and I didn’t know if I could make it out alive.”

“Of course, every celestial soldier is worthy of respect, and I respect them.

But I thought, there must be a better way to end this seemingly endless war.”

Nüwa queried, “A better way?”

“Yes.”

Li Ping’an explained:

“Wars where the forces are evenly matched incur the heaviest casualties.

The Human Race and the Hundred Clans have been at this since ancient times, with either the east wind prevailing over the west wind or vice versa, except that now the Human Race has the greater advantage.

“Logically, war is the ultimate direction of conflict.

“To end the war, there are only two methods.

“One way is for both sides to exhaust themselves to the point where further fighting would lead to mutual destruction, then the survivors stop the war and prepare for the next one.

“Or one side completely overwhelms the other.

For instance, the Human Race completely exterminates the current Hundred Clans, then deems all spirits to cultivate into elves, bringing tranquility to the world, the Human Race lays down their arms, readying themselves for human vs.

human conflict.”

Nüwa chuckled lightly, “Human against human…

your insights are quite impressive, resonating with the Heavenly Dao, there indeed is something exceptional about you.”

“Your Holiness,” Li Ping’an took the opportunity to ask, “has the Human Race disappointed you?”

“Yes.”

Nüwa looked down at the green stone she was carving and heaved a slight sigh:

“Seeing your refined manner of speaking, you must be aware of the affairs of the Southern Continent.”

Li Ping’an silently thought to himself, as expected.

He bowed and said, “Your Holiness, what you may not know is that my resonance with the Heavenly Dao came precisely when dealing with the tragedy in the southeast of the Western Continent.”

“Is that so?”

Nüwa’s expression visibly took on a shade of melancholy.

“It seems I have created a group of monsters.”

She murmured softly, her carving knife slowing in its pace.

“My children are a group of monsters.”

“I protected them with a great array because I felt that as long as I continue to ponder and comprehend, becoming the cultivator closest to the Great Daoist Sage, I could shield them from having to fight and kill, and spare them from an almost extinction-level catastrophe as in ancient times.”

“Yet they are waging war against each other.”

“Within the Skycutter Great Array, without threats from the Hundred Clans, they should be leading peaceful lives…

And indeed, initially, they did.

They ran across the earth, frolicking, striving to reproduce, to overcome floods and landslides.”

“But gradually, ah, in the time it took me to sleep, everything changed.”

“The smiles slowly disappeared from their faces, and the weapons they used for hunting pierced through the chests of others.”

“Such incidents kept occurring more and more frequently.

Some began to stand above others, some started to herd others like livestock, some self-proclaimed as chosen by the heavens, dictating orders to others.”

“Until one day, they called their own kind ‘sacrificial offerings,’ hung on red-hot copper pillars, brutally killed.

They buried the living with the dead, claiming it was for sacrifices.

They hung people up, cutting and chopping them as one would do to cattle.”

“Yes, these were only some of the people.”

“But when they killed an infant, placed it before my idol, and prostrated themselves to ask for my blessing…

There were several times I wanted to obliterate all living beings in the Southern Continent.”

Li Ping’an was shaken to the core.

In a daze, he seemed to see a colossal figure appear behind the bamboo house, with the face of a woman and the body of a snake, wielding a longsword, bound by strands of colorful light.

Nüwa raised her head to look at Li Ping’an, a few tears shimmering in her eyes:

“My children are a group of monsters.

“I dare not stay there any longer, for I fear that I might not be able to restrain myself from letting the Southern Continent be swallowed by a flood.

“Now, do you still wish for me to return?”