Change

It was an incredibly desolate scene; Lu Bai couldn't see anything familiar.

It was rare to find some dilapidated buildings, which had been eroded beyond recognition by the passage of time.

Under this state of deduction, Lu Bai's consciousness became increasingly dull, unable to capture specific information, only vaguely seeing what seemed to be the rise and fall of a long river of time.

After an unknown amount of time, perhaps due to the time limit of the Great Evolution Immortal Art, Lu Bai abruptly broke free from his state of deduction.

He sat cross-legged on the Dao Seeking Stone, his whole being unconsciously exuding a sense of profound, ancient, and desolate beauty.

Looking up at the sun overhead, he accurately judged that from the start to the end of his deduction, less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn had actually passed.

Just how far into the future did I see?

Lu Bai was stunned, muttering to himself.

Thankfully, he doesn't experience any negative emotions; otherwise, just going through this would be considered good enough to lead to severe depression.

He took a deep breath, plundered all the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of dozens of miles, and quickly replenished the Mana he had consumed in his deductions.

"Try again."

After calming himself down, Lu Bai conducted another deduction.

Having learned from experience this time, he was no longer as disoriented as before and quickly regained his senses.

And we travel upstream along the river of time, tracing back to the past.

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has disappeared?" Lu Bai witnessed firsthand the depletion of spiritual energy in this cultivation world, so thin that it could not even sustain a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Keep moving forward, without ever knowing the exact time.

Two hundred thousand years later...

Ten thousand years later...

The further he went, the more exaggerated the consumption of Mana became. Only because Lu Bai's Mana was so vast that he could barely support his progress, but he gradually found it difficult to move forward.

Fortunately, he eventually got to see what he wanted to see.

Lu Bai understood immediately, finally realizing what had happened.

Initially, things didn't deviate too much from his predictions.

When he left this world of cultivation, the laws that had clearly taken root in people's hearts became mere empty words.

Indeed, some cultivators believed in Lu Bai's approach and chose to stand firm. Unfortunately, the difference in numbers was too great; a single spark can start a prairie fire, but it cannot burn down the entire ocean.

"Demonic Cultivator" sprang up like mushrooms after rain, swiftly slaughtering the mortals in city after city.

The so-called equality for all has become a joke. Perhaps due to an overcompensation mentality, many cultivators have gone even further in riding on the backs of mortals.

After a three-hundred-year gap, the new generation of mortals had long forgotten Lu Bai, the Celestial Venerable who had once fought for their interests, and were now struggling just to stay alive.

Subsequent developments were completely unexpected by Lu Bai.

Equality yielded no results, but scientific ideas took root and flourished in this world of cultivation.

Some cultivators who were not qualified enough began to pursue the power of science.

Using their supernatural powers, they conducted crazy experiments and caused destruction to the world, even creating things like artificial spiritual roots and gene-based drugs.

Under the control of the major immortal sects, a unique form of immortal cultivation capitalism has emerged.

They destroyed mountains and rivers, and ultimately made the world a mess.

Perhaps it is the world's will that has initiated self-protection, or perhaps it is due to excessive destruction of nature.

In short, starting from a certain day, the spiritual veins around the world gradually dried up, and the cultivators quickly went mad.

Even measures like setting up spirit-gathering arrays cannot stop the loss of spiritual energy. As Mana is used, it diminishes, and without replenishment, even cultivation levels will regress.

Realizing they were powerless to reverse the situation, the cultivators went completely mad. In a series of horrific massacres, they destroyed themselves and their homes, leaving only ruins to tell the story of their former glory.

Lu Bai withdrew from the simulation and sighed softly.

Is change pointless?

That's not entirely true. As long as it's a positive change, there's always something to be acknowledged.

One can even comfort oneself by saying that history always progresses in a spiral.

He was well aware that the word "perfect" was inappropriate when applied to social systems, because there can be no perfect system; rather, the way of things changes with time.

The problem is that when the time frame is stretched to an exaggerated scale of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years, you simply cannot determine whether what you are doing is good or bad.

They say it's just a large-scale social experiment, but seeing the joyful Smiling Face and reverent eyes of these people, it's really hard to treat them as just a string of numbers.

"So what should we do?"

Lu Bai asked himself this question.

"Elder Lu, did you encounter some unsatisfactory things during your trip down the mountain?"

Fairy Yuxia noticed that Lu Bai looked somewhat worried.

As an elder of the Qingwang Sect, having witnessed Lu Bai embark on the path of cultivation, he naturally wouldn't be as fearful of Lu Bai as other high-ranking members of other immortal sects.

Seeing that Lu Bai was behaving strangely, she hesitated for a moment, but decided to ask him anyway.

"I can't say whether I'm satisfied or not, I'm just thinking about some things." Lu Bai put away his expression and returned to his usual kind smile.

"Are you thinking about matters related to the implementation of the law?"

I guess so.

"From what I understand, everything seems to be going quite smoothly, doesn't it?"

Fairy Yuxia tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then took out a Magic Treasure Sword and handed it to Lu Bai, comforting him in a strange way.

"Although I don't know what you're worried about, when you encounter something you can't figure out, why not go down the mountain and kill a few Demonic Cultivator? You might feel better. That's what I always do when I'm feeling down."

Upon hearing this, Lu Bai's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

I really want to complain that her way of relaxing is a bit too much of a drain on Demonic Cultivator.

Finally, she resisted the urge to complain and instead said, "Yes, I am indeed a little frustrated. Thank you for your comforting words. I will give it a try."

Lu Bai reached out and took the Magic Treasure Sword, his figure instantly disappearing from the Dao Seeking Stone.

Incidentally, he wasn't really so bored as to go and kill a few Demonic Cultivator.

Instead, they decided to go check on the surviving fighters first.

To be honest, the pace of this Deathmatch Showdown has been a bit too slow.

Several months have passed, and the second round of Ability Pool has not yet been opened.

In the previous rounds of Deathmatch Showdown, given his decisive actions, the fight would have been over by now.

Of course, as the saying goes, sharpening your axe won't delay your woodcutting.

After reaching the Mahayana stage of cultivation, as long as he is willing to search, a sweep of his Mahayana stage- level divine sense will reveal no one who is willing to fight to the death.

After all, those death fighters wouldn't hide alone in some remote corner; they would all be looking for an opportunity to join a sect, making it quite convenient for Lu Bai to find them.

Searching city after city, Lu Bai found more than fifty fighters in less than half a day.