After breakfast.
"Mom, big brother, I have something to take care of at the Spirit Pagoda today."
"Do you need your brother to take you?"
"No, no."
Eastsea City, Spirit Pagoda Branch.
Na'er made her way to the top floor with practiced ease.
Leng Yaozhu had gone to headquarters for a meeting that day and wasn't in Eastsea City.
Gu Yue had asked to meet her.
Na'er entered a room containing metal pods.
These were the access devices for the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform.
Na'er lay straight down inside one of the unoccupied metal pods.
The lid slowly closed.
A slight sensation of weightlessness came over her, followed by a brief spell of dizziness.
The scenery around her shifted.
When Na'er opened her eyes again, she saw a dense primeval forest.
Towering trees blotted out the sky and sun, and the air carried the earthy tang peculiar to soil and vegetation. A few low beastly roars drifted faintly from the distance.
Although she knew this was a virtual space constructed from vast amounts of data and soul power, the realistic touch, smells, and energy surging around her made it difficult to tell illusion from reality.
This was the Spirit Pagoda's masterpiece, the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Someone stood in a clearing a short distance ahead.
Dressed in a simple white tracksuit, Gu Yue had tilted her head back and was studying the sunlight spilling through the gaps between the leaves overhead.
Without Lu Guan present, neither of them needed to conceal anything.
Na'er believed that since Gu Yue dared to arrange their meeting here, she needn't worry about the Spirit Pagoda's surveillance recordings either.
"What did you ask me here for?" Na'er's tone was thoroughly impatient.
Gu Yue turned around.
Rather than respond to Na'er's barbed words, she raised a hand and pointed at the surrounding forest.
"What do you think of this place?"
Na'er frowned and glanced around in the direction Gu Yue indicated, answering perfunctorily, "It's nice. Beautiful scenery, warm sunshine."
Gu Yue nodded, walked over to a thick tree, and reached out to stroke its rough bark.
"Yes, it's a very nice place."
Gu Yue turned to look at Na'er.
"Although it's virtual, living creatures can survive here. They can even reproduce and evolve here. As long as the Spirit Pagoda's energy core keeps running, this is a complete world."
Na'er froze. She took two steps forward and stared hard at Gu Yue. "What are you trying to say?"
"If we created a world like this..."
Na'er found the idea utterly absurd and couldn't help scoffing.
"Huh? Have you gone mad? You went to all that trouble to infiltrate human society just to build a virtual cage like this? You want soul beasts to huddle in some secluded corner, hiding in this fake world and clinging to their last breaths?"
The more Na'er spoke, the more something felt wrong. Gu Yue had never been that sort of person.
Gu Yue quietly listened to Na'er's mockery without the slightest change in her expression.
Only after Na'er finished did Gu Yue take her hand off the bark.
"You've misunderstood one thing."
Gu Yue strode toward Na'er, one step at a time.
"That world would indeed be a place for living beings to inhabit."
"Only, it would be for humans!"
Na'er's beautiful silver pupils contracted.
For humans?
Watching Na'er's reaction, Gu Yue continued in an even tone.
"Ever since Spirit Hall came into being over twenty thousand years ago, soul masters began developing in structured, organized groups. From that day onward, the pace of change in the world erupted like a geyser!"
"Soul tools, mechas, battle armor, the Spirit Pagoda, artificial soul spirits..."
"This world is developing too quickly. Compared to the time before humans existed, it's far more than ten million times faster."
Gu Yue looked straight at Na'er.
"For us soul beasts, reproduction and evolution require the accumulation of long ages. A hundred thousand years is merely a threshold for us. But for humans, ten thousand years is enough to drive us into a dead end."
"We have to admit that humans enjoy an extraordinary natural advantage in creativity."
Na'er narrowed her eyes and listened as Gu Yue continued.
Gu Yue turned to gaze at the vast virtual forest.
"I won't wipe out humanity."
"I'll let humans live."
Gu Yue spread her arms as though to embrace the entire virtual space.
"I'll create a flawless virtual world."
"I'll make humans live in that virtual world for all eternity!"
Gu Yue abruptly turned around, her voice rising slightly with excitement.
"I'll keep them captive in a paradise constructed from data!"
"Then I'll return the real Douluo Continent, all the mountains, rivers, and oceans of this planet, to the soul beasts!"
Gu Yue's words shook Na'er. She stood rooted to the spot, staring blankly at the madwoman before her.
"That's impossible." Na'er swallowed, her voice a little dry. "How could humans willingly accept being kept in captivity?"
"Really?" Gu Yue dropped her expansive pose and regained her composure.
"What's so bad about a virtual world? There will always be people who seek that kind of happiness."
Gu Yue walked up to Na'er, leaving less than half a meter between them.
"I didn't call you here today to argue."
"This plan is too vast for me to accomplish alone. I need your power."
Gu Yue held out her hand.
"Someday, when everything is ready, you must merge with me."
"We were one to begin with. As long as we merge and restore the Silver Dragon King's full power, this plan will definitely succeed."
Na'er looked at Gu Yue's outstretched hand without moving.
She was an incarnation of the Silver Dragon King, and she, too, longed to change the soul beasts' circumstances.
However, she hoped even more that both sides could coexist peacefully as equals, without such a disparity in status.
"Gu Yue, soul beasts have spent ten thousand years confined to a cramped corner, yet they're still ready for revenge at any moment. What makes you think humans will accept this peacefully?"
Gu Yue chuckled. "Of course humans won't. Whatever we do, there will always be cracks. All I need to do is keep those cracks under my control."
"I trust the resonance of our origin power. Lu Guan will definitely be useful to us. I'll make him the king of humanity in the new world, and all we'll need to do is control him."
Gu Yue had already thought this step through. As the organizer of humanity's revenge, Lu Guan would also be the man she planted on the human side.
"I'll control Lu Guan through every avenue, whether emotions or personal interests."
"Can you really do that?" Na'er sounded doubtful.
"I can." Gu Yue was supremely confident. "I've already tested it on you."
Na'er: ?
Gu Yue smiled disdainfully. To achieve her goal, she had even made a special study of Dream of the Red Chamber, a novel hailed as a literary masterpiece that focused on romance!
A book about romance could actually be hailed as a literary masterpiece! That showed just how profound its contents were!
She had learned the heroine's way of speaking and tested it on Na'er the day before, utterly crushing her!
Thus, when it came to emotions, Gu Yue believed she would surely win Lu Guan over!
As for an exchange of benefits, she believed Lu Guan had no reason to refuse.
Na'er looked at Gu Yue, unable to understand where her confidence came from. She didn't like this approach, but such an outcome would still be better than "humanity's extinction."
"If you really manage it, we can talk then..."
"Hmph-"
Before you continue