But the moment Li Zhiyi's hand left Bai'e's shoulder, Bai'e's vision changed again. There were three Ancient God Beasts.
"Wha... what's... happening... I..."
"You're seeing things, senior." Li Zhiyi smiled.
"Mm... mm."
Bai'e nodded.
"Right. I saw it wrong. Sometimes I do."
Li Zhiyi wore a faint smile as he looked at the woman behind them. Slowly, the smile faded.
"Senior, let's go."
With his hands clasped behind his back, he began to float upward, taking Bai'e to tour this shattered land.
"After enduring ten thousand years of torment, senior is still too unfamiliar with the art of punishment.
The degree of a person's suffering doesn't come from the lowest point they can reach. It comes from the distance their emotions fall."
Bai'e looked puzzled.
"What... do you mean?"
Li Zhiyi smiled faintly.
"If you struck a man who had spent years being hacked by blades, would one more cut make him suffer?"
Li Zhiyi shook his head.
"He wouldn't suffer. He'd be used to it.
But if this man had always been pampered, with not a trace of pain in his life, then all you'd need to do is prick him with a needle. He'd plunge into an abyss of agony."
Bai'e fell into thought. Li Zhiyi's words had moved him.
"It's the same with these Ancient God Beasts. They're facing death and fear now. If senior kills them at this point, they won't suffer much."
Li Zhiyi stretched out his hand, as if caressing this Vast Land.
"What should we do? We should give them a hope that doesn't exist, make them excited, make them hopeful.
When that hope reaches its peak, they'll reach the very limit of their emotions.
They'll look down on us. They'll grow arrogant, even start expecting a better tomorrow.
And then, at that