The Dao Spirit was stunned when it heard An Jing's words.
He...
What was he saying?
How could his words be even more radical than those of beings like them, who considered themselves beyond ordinary reason?
No matter how it listened, what he was saying was abnormal, wasn't it? No, no, no—could a Naturalist really say such things? To transform humanity this way—even to the point of completely turning humanity into another race...
Even they had considered that, to resist the Heavenly Demons, one first had to stop being human. But they had never imagined ceasing to be human so thoroughly!
[Then, without desire, would humans still be human? Would human civilization still be human civilization?]
The Dao Spirit could not help asking. It had never imagined that the final bottom line it had always upheld—the 'essence of humanity'—would be so insignificant in the other's eyes, something that could even be discarded at will. [Without flaws, there can be no progress or sublimation. It is precisely because they are incomplete that living beings pursue perfection.]
[It is precisely because there is suffering that all beings seek liberation. Human desire may indeed be the source of all suffering, but it is also the ultimate force that drives civilization forward and lets individuals surpass themselves!]
[Without yearning for a better life, where would creation come from? Without fear of death, where would the path to immortality come from? Without jealousy and the will to win, where would competition and innovation come from? Those flawless, self-sufficient beings you speak of may perhaps exist, but that is merely existence—a state of eternal stillness.]
[And humanity has tempered everything it possesses today amid this endless fire of desire. It may be an evil fire, but even an evil fire can forge new steel and bring