Qian Renxue rebutted, "You are right. The reason Advanced Soul Masters hold such lofty status is not merely because they possess immense power, but also because lower-level Soul Masters yearn for and revere the power they possess.
Just as Advanced Soul Masters seek to break through Rank 99 and become gods, eternal life is what all of us humans long to possess."
Bai Xiao's expression grew solemn. He had not expected Qian Renxue to say such things.
"What do you think of Eternity and decay?"
Qian Renxue found it strange that Bai Xiao would ask such a boring question. "Eternity is something that even time cannot wear away, something that can exist forever. Decay is when life is worn away by time."
Bai Xiao shook his head and smiled. "No. Your understanding of Eternity and decay only lingers on the surface. Let me give you a few examples! Do you think Soul Beasts live long? Let us first define the lifespan of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast as Eternity."
Bai Xiao glanced at Qian Renxue and saw her frown. He paid it no mind and continued,
"Suppose that long ago, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast took human form. While traveling across the continent, she encountered a frail and ordinary scholar.
He was not even a Soul Master, yet when the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's life hung by a thread, he saved her. The scholar himself lost his life.
That scholar appeared at the moment when she was most deeply moved.
The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast survived and eventually became a Soul Beast with two hundred thousand years of cultivation.
Yet the scholar's shadow remained forever fixed at that moment in her memories, constantly beautified there until it approached perfection.
The scholar lived eternally in her heart.
This was a story of 'Eternity.'"
Qian Renxue seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but Bai Xiao ignored it and continued.
"Likewise, there is a story about decay. Long ago, a Title Douluo inherited a Godhood, killed his enemies, and brought his beloved to the Divine Realm."
Hearing this, Qian Renxue smiled in satisfaction. Bai Xiao continued.
"On the Douluo Continent below, legends of his ascension to godhood spread. Yet for the next ten thousand years, no one else was able to become a god. Though he had already come to feel the Divine Realm's monotony and boredom, he still refused to relinquish his Godhood.
Ten thousand years later, only one person became a god. The people of the Douluo Continent did not know that this person was his son-in-law. Another ten thousand years passed in the same way, and still no one became a god.
Over those ten thousand years, who knew how many extraordinarily gifted Soul Masters reached Rank 99, only to be unable to become gods because there was no Godhood available. In the end, time ground them into grains of sand, and they vanished into the River of Time.
Because he wanted to leave his Godhood to his son, countless young men and women who had grown up under the glow of his legend strove to become gods, only to die in frustration when they stood just one rank away from that realm because of him.
Because his heart had already decayed. He possessed an eternal lifespan, yet did not dare give it up.
He let countless striving, impassioned youths die in his stead, forgetting that he, too, had once been one of them—that he had once been that youth...
This was a story of 'decay.'"
After hearing this, Qian Renxue fell silent. Bai Xiao quietly watched her.
Qian Renxue suddenly asked Bai Xiao, "What is true Eternity?"
Bai Xiao laughed heartily. "Forever young!"
Qian Renxue jolted, and when she looked at Bai Xiao again, her eyes were filled with profound meaning.
Oblivious, Bai Xiao continued, "A youth emerged from the Great Wilderness, slaying every enemy beneath the heavens..."
Bai Xiao gave Perfect World to Qian Renxue, while Bai the Great Charlatan continued his cultural invasion of another world.
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