All Things Are Contracts

Chapter 266: What It Means To Be Human

At this moment, Zhanyue felt like a frog at the bottom of a well. Previously, he only knew that the current Myriad Spirits Realm was incomplete, just a corner of the true Myriad Spirits Realm. He never imagined that humanity had such a glorious past. Occupying one-fifth of the galaxies in the entire universe was an incredible concept. He couldn’t even imagine the level of power and technology people of that era had achieved.

The traceless First Era, the glorious peak of the Second Era, the resurgent but prematurely collapsed Third Era, and the barely surviving Fourth Era. Zhanyue regretted that he lived in the Fourth Era, unable to witness how powerful humanity truly was.

“Senior, are you from the Second Era?” Zhanyue made his guess.

The woman didn’t deny it, but smiled and said, “You still have one last chance to ask a question.”

Zhanyue pondered for a moment, then asked, “The ‘human race’ you speak of isn’t the same concept as our current human race, is it? What exactly is it? And what are these so-called god races?”

“Ah, you’re not being honest. This counts as two questions, doesn’t it? But… these are indeed two closely related questions. Being able to ask such questions shows you have some insight,” the woman praised. She brushed her beautiful hair and changed to a more comfortable posture, taking a sip of fruit juice. Zhanyue didn’t understand how an artifact spirit could drink fruit juice, but currently, his mind wasn’t focused on such things.

“Humans are the lords of all creatures, but what’s important is not the meaning of ‘lord’ but the definition of ‘all creatures’. The meaning of ‘all creatures’ varies in different contexts. When humanity was at its most glorious, the scope of all living beings was very broad. Whether dragon races, elf races, or demon races, those who were humanoid or could transform into human form, who identified with and understood human culture, could all be considered part of the human race. They collectively constituted that most glorious human civilization.”

“The human civilization of the Second Era began with mutual recognition among all races and collapsed due to estrangement and division among them. Simply put, there was a huge disagreement about what constituted a ‘human’. There were theories based on bloodline, reproduction, talent, culture, and values. In the end, the definition of human became increasingly narrow, to the point where today, the meaning of human is limited to your kind of hairless ape-like species. It’s quite laughable, really. Take your so-called Bird Clan, for example. Apart from having wings, what difference is there between them and humans? They can even interbreed with humans. They can sleep together and have children, yet there’s such deep estrangement. Each side thinks they’re superior to the other,” the woman said with some disdain.

Zhanyue and the woman before him didn’t know what was happening outside the Heavenly Book world, but the division between the Bird Clan and humans had already begun in the Third Era.

“Forget about humans and the Bird Clan, even within the human race, they continue to divide based on skin color, region, tastes, preferences, and so on, ultimately dividing into small groups with conflicting interests, thereby losing competitiveness among the myriad races of the universe. This is probably the strongest strategy of the god races. After all, conflicts arising from different religious beliefs are the most intense and irreconcilable,” the woman continued.

“As for the god races you asked about, they have been the most powerful beings in the universe since its inception. They have the ability to traverse galaxies with both physical and soul bodies, and can easily destroy planets and severely damage galaxies. Their numbers are not small, though not vast either. More importantly, they feed on the faith of all living beings. So they don’t oppose the existence of living beings, and even hope for them to multiply. But the premise is that these living beings must provide them with faith.”

“The more religions a civilization has, the more they like it. They often deliberately create suffering, then deliberately solve the problems of those in deep misery, to deceive people into believing in them. They don’t care if the source of faith is pure or real. It’s full of hypocrisy and lies. At the beginning of the Second Era, humans also had various sects and provided them with a lot of faith. But in the end, what was precious was that humanity obtained something called ‘free will’. It’s the ability to view the universe from a higher dimension. It helped humans see the truth, grasp reality, and rapidly ascend. But people with ‘free will’ find it extremely difficult to contribute faith power, thus becoming thorns in the sides of the gods.”

“The humans of the Second Era defined the god races as false gods because the faith they obtained wasn’t pure. People with ‘free will’ aren’t without faith, it’s just very difficult to generate. But once generated, it’s extremely firm and unwavering. The beings who enjoy this kind of faith power were called ‘true gods’ by humans.”

“The universe has laws of time, space, elements, and so on, but the most important is the law of consciousness. That’s the ultimate domain that even gods can’t interfere with, involving an ultimate mystery: whether the universe has its own will. In any case, the universe favors beings with free will, so the power level of ‘true gods’ born from free will is far stronger than that of false gods.”

After hearing the mysterious woman’s speech, Zhanyue fell into deep thought. He understood well the concept of true gods and false gods. The so-called ‘true gods’ could be described differently – those who came from the mortal world, truly loved by humans, not out of utilitarianism or deception, but genuinely respected from the heart. If they were just ordinary people, it would be fine, but if these people had the ability to control faith power, they could possess true divine power. At this moment, Zhanyue suddenly thought of someone – his sister, the Illumination Goddess. She seemed to fit these conditions perfectly. She was loved genuinely by people, so statues of her were everywhere, and she also seemed able to control faith power. Viewed this way, she indeed was a so-called ‘true god’. While excited, Zhanyue instantly became worried.

“No, if sister is a ‘true god’, those ‘false gods’ probably won’t let her be. True gods are only higher than false gods in terms of power level, it doesn’t mean their actual strength can definitely win. Sister’s realm isn’t high compared to human powerhouses, not even as high as the Void Nine Emperors. What if a false god discovers her?” Zhanyue broke out in a cold sweat. What he didn’t know was that the god races had not only discovered her but had already arranged for a deity to send an avatar to deal with her. It was fortunate that the universe was so vast and the laws of space-time strongly restricted even gods, so it couldn’t arrive immediately.

“This won’t do. I’m too weak now. I don’t even have the ability to share some of her dangers, let alone face the god races,” Zhanyue was finally anxious.

“Are you in a hurry?” The woman seemed to see the meaning in Zhanyue’s eyes. “How about our deal? Let her take me out, and I can help you kill the thunder bird.”

“Alright,” Zhanyue thought for a moment and agreed. This woman was too mysterious. Although he didn’t know how much of what she said was true, it was better to maintain a good relationship with her for now. His current strength probably wouldn’t even catch her eye.

Since Zhanyue agreed, Baizhi also nodded. She had heard the earlier conversation too. While shocked, she didn’t think too much about it, only wondering if there were popular pill refining methods in the Second Era, and if so, what the most powerful alchemists would be like.

“Little girl, you seem to have questions you want to ask me too?” The woman keenly sensed Baizhi’s thoughts.

“But… but the three questions have already been asked,” Baizhi said somewhat shyly.

“Seeing how cute you are, big sister will give you one free question.”