"How could this be?" Xia Ziyi murmured, an indescribable pain in his voice.
The immense gulf between expectation and reality struck him, reducing every hope in his heart to ashes. He felt utterly defeated, as though his entire worldview had crumbled.
"The magic power I cultivated through so much hardship... my divine abilities and Dao Fruit-how could they be so utterly vulnerable?"
"Heh heh heh heh..."
Hearing Xia Ziyi's murmurs, the human-headed serpent coiled around the central pillar suddenly laughed.
"Ziyi, oh, Ziyi. Even now, you have yet to grasp the essence of power."
"Our puppet Dao has long since proved through swordsmanship programs that so-called skills and Dao Fruits are merely ways for humans to glorify themselves as intelligent beings. Before the natural creation of heaven and earth, they are equally insignificant."
"As long as someone can comprehend the Creation Dao and understand its principles, they can extend that understanding to other things and gain mastery over them."
"The essence of swordsmanship developed over millions of years might be fully mastered by artificial intelligence in a mere few thousand years, or a few hundred. Is there any so-called arduous cultivation involved in that?"
It seemed to pose a question, yet also to ask and answer itself.
"I suppose there must be."
"But it lies not in an individual's bitter practice through winter and summer, nor in moments of insight and sudden enlightenment. It lies in countless predecessors forging paths in ragged clothes, bringing forth the new from the old, each generation surpassing the last."
"Only when the mighty power of divine abilities belongs not to oneself, but to the multitude, can all enjoy a share of its benefits. Those who come after always stand upon their predecessors' shoulders, standing higher and seeing farther!"
"Though you, too, have spent decades