"What do you mean?" Asteria asked in confusion.
"I deliberately broadened my standards of judgment." The old man's confession was shocking. "I deliberately adopted a 'clumsy' method of cleansing."
"The purpose was to spur intelligent life in the universe to grow to the point where it could bear the responsibility of Concept Judges."
The holographic projection revealed the full scope of this astonishing plan: every seemingly crude conceptual cleansing had actually been a carefully designed test.
"Every 'restart' of a cosmic cycle was actually an examination," the old man continued. "It tested whether newly born civilizations could understand the complexity of concepts and possessed the wisdom to shoulder the duty of maintaining cosmic order."
"Those civilizations that were cleansed..." Lin Ye's voice was filled with shock.
"Most did indeed need to be cleansed because of Concept Pollution," the old man confirmed. "But a small number of civilizations... were sacrificed to create enough pressure to drive the evolution of the remaining civilizations."
"Those were necessary sacrifices. Without sufficient threats, intelligent life would never grow to the point where it could shoulder this responsibility."
Leo felt anger and understanding intertwine within him. "You used the lives of other civilizations as the price to cultivate successors?"
"I used my own suffering as the price," the old man corrected. "Do you think destroying civilizations was easy for me? Every cleansing was torment for me as well."
"But it was the only way. The universe needed Concept Judges, yet this duty could not be borne by one existence forever. Power had to be passed on, and responsibility had to be shared."
Asteria understood the logic behind the entire plan. "So the emergence of the Zodiac Guardians..."
"Was precisely the outcome I had hoped for." The old man nodded. "The civilization represented by your cosmic cycle