At that moment, Jiang Yifei, the head of the Jiang family, who had been watching Fang Zheng's actions from the side, carefully chose his words before cupping his hands and asking:
"Senior Fang Zheng, this junior dares to ask: why do you need to confirm whether they can understand your words? Could you tell us the reason? Perhaps we might be able to help."
"After all, Senior Fang Zheng, it seems you cannot communicate through Divine Sense and can only speak normally, correct?"
Fang Zheng glanced at Jiang Yifei's sincere expression and replied, "That's right. Although I can create them out of thin air with a Monster Spawner, if they are not fundamentally different from the Flood Dragons of this Cultivation World..."
Jiang Yifei frowned slightly as he listened to Fang Zheng.
He had only just been summoned over and had not yet had time to gather much information.
After all, although he was the current head of the Jiang family, his bloodline had awakened, and he looked exactly like the Great Emperor Hengyu, his strength was still too weak. He had only reached the Saint King realm and had not been told by the spirit of the Hengyu Furnace about the great secret concerning the resurrection of his ancestor!
As he listened to Fang Zheng, he silently pondered, Created out of thin air? And this Cultivation World—"this"? Could this being named Fang Zheng not have come from the starry void beyond the domain, but from another world entirely, perhaps even the Immortal Realm?
Fang Zheng continued, "The Flood Dragons of this world should be intelligent lifeforms, right? Generally speaking, if they can cultivate, they should also be able to take human form."
Jiang Wen nodded. "That's right. Human form is naturally close to the Dao. Among the countless races of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, anyone who embarks on the path of cultivation will usually take human form to make comprehending the Dao easier."
Fang Zheng struggled with his thoughts. "If those I create are also intelligent lifeforms like the Flood Dragons of this world, then what does that make me, the one who brought them into existence?"
"Am I their creator? Or am I their parent?"
"Can I really make them appear?"
"What kind of attitude should I have toward them?"
Looking at the Flood Dragons on the table, which kept hissing and roaring in fury mixed with fear and despair, Fang Zheng's emotions were extraordinarily complicated.
He looked at the three silent people before him and asked, "In your Cultivation World, Flood Dragons should be creatures whose entire bodies are treasures, right?"
"Whether their flesh and blood are stewed, or their tendons are pulled and hides peeled to make weapons and equipment, they should all be useful, right?"
"A Flood Dragon more than a thousand kilometers long—if it could be refined into a Magic Tool with cultivation refining methods, it should be incredibly powerful, right?"
Jiang Yifei glanced at the Flood Dragons on the table, a peculiar thought stirring within him, before answering, "Indeed. Among the demon race, transforming into a dragon has been a heaven-reaching path passed down since ancient times. Any demon race with a certain amount of dragon blood can continue advancing along the path of dragon transformation."
"Legend has it that the Demon Emperor Xue Yueqing, who once shook the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, was originally an ordinary snow rabbit. Yet through constant cultivation, he advanced along the path of dragon transformation until his bloodline was purified and he ultimately became a silver True Dragon."
"And Flood Dragons born with bloodlines of extraordinary purity are treasures from head to toe no matter where they are."
"The flesh and blood of Flood Dragons can be used to refine pills, while their bones, skin, and membranes are all the finest materials for artifact refinement. Among them, the most precious are dragon pearls. Whether for alchemy, artifact refinement, or setting up formations, they are supreme materials."
"However, the purer the bloodline, the stronger their aptitude, and often the greater their strength. Their status among the demon race is also higher."
Jiang Yifei spoke slowly, reducing the blood and fire of countless ages to calm words.
"But Flood Dragons are merely one of the more powerful kinds among the demon race."
"Since ancient times, conflicts between humans and demons have never ceased. Humans strip demons of their tendons and hides to refine artifacts and pills, while demons regard humans as blood food. In the Big Dipper, and even throughout the cultivation world of the entire universe, such things are utterly commonplace."
"Is that so..." Although Fang Zheng had been mentally prepared for that answer, a wave of nausea still rose in his heart.
Back when he came home from school and finished his homework, he would read novels and watch anime. He often saw conflicts between different races in all sorts of stories.
Vampires eating people, monsters eating people, Artificial Intelligence killing people, or humans killing vampires and monsters, resisting Artificial Intelligence, and so on.
When reading novels or watching anime, Fang Zheng had felt nothing about such things. He had only thought the fights were not intense enough and that they should beat each other's brains out.
But now, Fang Zheng had truly crossed over.
He had crossed into this cruel world.
Just one day earlier, while speaking with Taiyin on the Immortal Ascension Road, Taiyin had roughly told him of his experiences: how he had gradually risen from weakness and ultimately attained the Dao and become an emperor.
Fang Zheng learned that in the so-called Primordial Era, countless humans throughout the starry sky had been reduced to livestock raised by powerful foreign races. They had been stripped of tendons and hides for food, while their blood essence and souls had been extracted as materials for artifact refinement.
Even then, Fang Zheng had felt deeply uncomfortable listening to the history Taiyin described.
Fang Zheng felt that although their races differed, they could all take human form and all possessed intelligence.
Couldn't everyone sit down and live well together?
Why could the demon race, the so-called ancient races, and the human race all kill beings that were likewise intelligent without any psychological burden, strip them of tendons and hides, refine them into magic treasures and pills, and stew their flesh into delicacies?
Fang Zheng looked at the Flood Dragons on the table, then turned to Jiang Wen and said, "Grandpa Jiang Wen, could I trouble you? Please use your Divine Sense transmission to try conveying my next words to them."
Jiang Wen nodded.
Fang Zheng took a deep breath in his heart and said, "I have just tested it. As long as creatures in this Cultivation World can lay eggs, I can probably turn their eggs into my Spawn Eggs."
"In that case, no matter how difficult it is for them to hatch and grow normally, I can probably create as many of them as I want."
"If those created with Spawn Eggs or Monster Spawners are merely mindless beasts, then I can treat them as tools or toys without any pressure."
"I can create them at will for amusement, kill them, and use them in beast fights."
"But if those created also possess intelligence like normal living beings, then I do not really want to make them appear."
"If they die after appearing, I will feel guilty."
"If they appear and live unhappy lives, I will also feel guilty."
"If they possess intelligence yet kill people, I will feel as though I killed people myself, and that will make me deeply uncomfortable too."
"I do not really want to take responsibility, but I feel that if I bring an intelligent life into this world, then I must at least show them the most basic respect, take responsibility, and let them live a little better, a little happier, rather than casually letting them be stripped of tendons and hides or stewed into meat to be eaten..."
Watching the Flood Dragons on the table gradually stop moving, Fang Zheng continued, "Looking at them now, they seem like they do not have much intelligence. But I am worried that perhaps they simply cannot understand my language."
"Perhaps they have only just been created. Although they are intelligent lifeforms, no one has taught them yet, so they cannot speak, like newborn babies."
"If I cannot truly determine what state they are in, I simply cannot put my mind at ease."
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