Beyond Hatred

To be fair, the City of Light depicted by the Wisdom Tree did have its appealing aspects from certain angles.

Especially to those living at the very bottom of Dragon City, lacking the potential and resources for cultivation, unable to see the slightest hope, or suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome after years upon years of war, their minds on the brink of collapse.

On one side was ugly, painful reality.

On the other was beautiful, radiant illusion.

If someone chose the latter, Meng Chao would not find it strange, nor did he have the right to condemn others for their weakness.

The problem was that, looking across all of Dragon City—no, perhaps the entire Otherworld—no one understood better than Meng Chao just how fragile and fleeting this beautiful, radiant illusion truly was.

If Dragon City truly took the path the Wisdom Tree described, they would have no power whatsoever to withstand the flames of the imminent Another World War.

Dragon City might well be destroyed even earlier than in his previous life, and in a far more humiliating fashion.

No matter how exquisite or dazzlingly colorful a soap bubble under the sunlight might be, it was still only a soap bubble. It could never serve as the sturdiest fortress of human civilization.

The moment he realized this, the fires of destruction from the apocalypse instantly burned the Peach Blossom Paradise the Wisdom Tree had planted deep within Meng Chao's mind clean away, once again exposing the crumbling walls and broken ruins beneath the sea of flowers and green tide.

A fairy tale that was too beautiful was as hard to swallow as an inferior beverage loaded with excessive coloring and artificial flavoring. Instead, it jolted Meng Chao's mind into greater clarity, instantly piercing the countless loopholes hidden within the "facts"