Knowledge

Xiao Xuan placed one hand behind his back, using only his palm to block the light with his fingers spread wide. Instantly, violent Primal Qi surged, creating ripples. The remaining force was like a howling storm, uprooting nearby trees and blowing them into the air. He was propelled backward, leaving a ten-meter-long footprint on the ground.

After the light disappeared, Xiao Xuan remained standing in place with one hand raised, completely unharmed. A wisp of black smoke rose from his palm, indicating that his opponent had indeed attacked him.

"Is that all?"

There was no contempt, just a calm rhetorical question.

The giant mutant's eyes flashed red continuously, but it did not cause an explosion. This was because Xiao Xuan waved his hands and made grabbing motions until the giant mutant stopped flashing red light, at which point he stopped.

Xiao Xuan clenched his fists, which trembled incessantly, as if a ferocious beast was trapped inside, desperately trying to break free. But as he clenched his fists, a "sizzle" sound was heard, and all the noise disappeared, with only two wisps of black smoke drifting out from his palms.

Upon seeing this, the giant mutant's movements became noticeably stiff, and it took a slight step back, as if it were about to turn and run away. The small part of its body that had been destroyed earlier had now grown back.

"You can't escape. I've said it before: surrender, or die."

Xiao Xuan leaped up, his figure soaring into the air. He gathered his vital energy, raised his right hand high, and the vast Primal Qi stirred up the wind and clouds, causing large swaths of dark clouds to condense into a giant hand that covered the sky. The sky darkened and suddenly pressed down.

"A fierce wind sweeps away the sun, and the dark moon rises!"

Before the giant palm even touched the ground, the space beneath it was already being compressed by the nuclear energy. In the extreme distortion and compression, it presented layers upon layers of spatial ripples, like the infinite power of thousands of mountains stacked one on top of another. The ripples crushed down, and the gale-force winds surged in. The world trembled, and the ground sank three feet.

Under the pressure of the palm strike, the giant alien creature was unable to move at all. Its body sank into the ground as it struggled desperately, with thick bone spikes, as large as bridges, emerging from its body and reaching towards the sky.

The massive, dark cloud-like hand slammed down, its force like an aircraft carrier falling from the sky, easily shattering the bone spikes before landing on the giant alien creature, suppressing it to the ground with unstoppable force.

The two are clearly the same size, like a mouse and an elephant, yet the mouse is now crushing the elephant.

Under the crushing force of the unparalleled palm, the giant alien's body showed signs of collapse. Root Bone shattered, vine after vine broke, like a flattened bun with its filling almost squeezed out. However, its regenerative ability was extremely strong, and it actually repaired itself while being damaged.

Observing this, Xiao Xuan withdrew his palm strike, letting the dark cloud hand dissipate. Then he activated his nuclear energy, converting radiant energy into thermal energy, and a ball of high-temperature flame condensed in his palms, illuminating the dark sky as a sea of fire.

"Ghost-Devouring Purgatory Descent!"

Xiao Xuan's body plummeted, like a meteor carrying jet-black flames, crashing down with the force of a thunderbolt!

The giant alien creature had no time to dodge. It had just crawled out of the deep pit when it was struck by a meteorite. A dazzling white-hot cloud of fire, containing the temperature of molten lava, surged and rose, turning the surrounding land into a fiery hell.

The plant parts of its body were ignited by the flames, becoming accomplices and burning fiercely, while the animal bones could not withstand the high temperature and were scorched and cracked.

Black flames erupted from within the giant alien's body. Its physical regeneration couldn't keep up with the rate of destruction, and its body rapidly shrank. It seemed to sense the danger and struggled violently, but it was utterly futile against this infernal burning.

"Found it!"

The giant mutant suddenly stopped moving, and then Xiao Xuan rushed out of its body, holding a white six-sided crystal in his hand.

Chapter 175 Learning

Just like an adult bullying a three-year-old child, Xiao Xuan easily subdued the giant mutant with the demeanor of a big boss, demonstrating the aura of a true big boss.

Upon seeing this, the believers all knelt down and prostrated themselves in worship, expressing their gratitude to the Primordial Ancestor Great Immortal, as if Xiao Xuan were an envoy sent down by the Primordial Ancestor Great Immortal to save them.

If it were the Xiao Xuan of the past, he would probably have destroyed the altar of the Primordial Ancestor Divine Cult with a single punch to prove that he had nothing to do with it. But now he is indifferent to it, completely disregarding the thoughts of passersby, letting them kneel and worship, and firmly walking his own path.

Murong Qing protested, "I really don't know what they were thinking. Instead of thanking the person who saved them, they thanked some distant, ethereal deity."

Si Ming laughed, "That's how people who believe in cults are; they attribute all kindness to the gods. My friend once met a beggar who believed in the cult. He gave the beggar a meal, and the beggar didn't thank him but thanked the gods for giving him food. My friend asked, puzzled, 'I gave you food, so why thank the gods?' The beggar replied, 'Because it was the gods who, in the Unseen realm, compelled my friend to make this act of charity. Ultimately, it's the gods' grace. My friend is merely the gods' servant, just like when someone invites him to ride in a carriage, he should thank the carriage owner, not the horses pulling the carriage.'"

Upon hearing the words "beggar" and "giving alms," Heart Moon Fox assumed it was a veiled insult and retorted coquettishly, "Such people deserve to starve to death. Your friend who is willing to give alms to such people deserves to be ungrateful. We Demon Race never believe in gods. Unless a god's fist is big enough, we are willing to worship Him as our leader. If a god's fist is too weak, then we must obediently become his subordinates."

Murong Qing, "Starving to death is still too much. Wise people are ultimately a minority. The people have a tendency to blindly follow others, and it is the responsibility of the state to guide them onto the right path. The state has failed to take care of all its people, which has allowed cults to take advantage of the situation. This is the state's fault."

At this moment, Xiao Xuan walked over with the white crystal in his hand.

Si Ming was astonished to discover that this white crystal still retained its vitality, unlike the crystals of those small alien creatures, which would quickly lose their life force and become lifeless after being removed.

His previous assumption that the six-sided crystal was equivalent to the human soul appears to be incorrect.

"It seems that my senior uncle already knew the truth about the Primordial Ancestor Divine Cult, and his trip was specifically for this crystal."

Xiao Xuan ignored the accusatory tone in those words and admitted, "I did secretly guide Shi Kelang to complete this sacrificial ceremony. However, the Primordial Ancestor Divine Cult has nothing to do with me. It's just that activating the Primordial Core happened to require a surge of fanatical faith, so I chose this cult organization, treating it as a waste. The so-called Primordial Ancestor Great Immortal is actually a fallen ancient powerhouse whose remaining will is scattered throughout the world. He simply wants to use Divine Dao methods to revive his original body."

Si Ming stared at the white crystal and said, "This thing is called the Primordial Core? It can summon the huge monster from before? What exactly were those monsters?"

Xiao Xuan patiently explained, "You've all studied biology, so you should know that there are five major categories of organisms: animals, plants, fungi, protists, and prokaryotes. The first three don't need explanation. The last one, prokaryotes, are single-celled organisms without a nucleus surrounded by a nuclear membrane. Their cells contain no membrane-bound organelles, making them the simplest group of living organisms. They reproduce by binary fission and were the only life form in the world for over 2 billion years."

Si Ming pondered, "Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms, which are obviously unrelated to the monsters we just saw. Therefore, they can only be protists. In particular, protists have characteristics of both animal and plant cells. For example, the 'Euphorbia' is like both a plant and an animal, which coincides with the characteristics of those monsters. But I remember that most protists should also be single-celled organisms."

Xiao Xuan said, "You yourself said 'the vast majority,' not all. This world is full of wonders, and there are always exceptions. Even the most basic understanding may not be absolutely correct. Are there really only five categories of life? We can only say that there are a total of five categories of life that we have observed so far. In the unknown realms, there may exist life outside the system, such as metallic life forms, pure spiritual life forms... I will name these large-sized primitive life forms 'Primordial Species.'"

Si Ming took out a small green crystal and said, "So, this thing is the true form of the Primordial Species, and those plants and animal bones are just like weapons and armor?"

"It's both right and wrong. You shouldn't use common sense from within your existing knowledge system to explain the unknown outside that system, otherwise, you'll inevitably make mistakes. If I had to find a similar term, I could only say that it's a variant of a molecular chaperone."

"Molecular chaperones..."

Si Ming recalled that Zu Jiangchun had mentioned having the crystal's composition analyzed by a research institute, which revealed it to be a protein polymer. Connecting the two clues now, he suddenly realized, "So that's it! It's self-assembly evolution!"

Xiao Xuan smiled and nodded, "That's right, it's self-assembly evolution; this is the survival method of the Primordial Species."

The people around were completely confused. Murong Qing could barely understand some of it, He Qichang and Liu Qingqing were completely lost in the din of listening to gibberish. As for Heart Moon Fox, she hadn't listened at all from the beginning, her face expressionless and devoid of any charm.

Si Ming explained, "How biological macromolecules assemble into functional cellular structures and tissues has always been a fundamental question in cell biology research. It is generally believed that there are three ways: template assembly, enzyme-effect assembly, and self-assembly. Among them, self-assembly is the most amazing way, which means that biological macromolecules assemble themselves into higher-order structures by their own power. It is also known as self-evolution, in which molecular chaperones play a mediating role."

"I understand. To use a chemical formula as an analogy, molecular chaperones are equivalent to catalysts and reaction conditions."

Murong Qing suddenly realized something, while Liu Qingqing took her place, seemingly understanding but not quite. He Qichang was still listening to the cryptic explanation, and Heart Moon Fox began counting the hairs on her tail.

The level of knowledge among the participants was clearly demonstrated at this moment.