Chapter 645: Eternal Belief

Chapter 645: Chapter 9: Eternal Belief

“…To me, all of this happened just a few years ago.”

After Zhou Buyi withdrew his hand, Su Zhou looked up and studied him for a moment before speaking slowly. “That day, before the withering Divine Wood, the Three Saints and the Hundred Schools Grandmasters swore an oath upon the Nanjing Celestial Gate. They vowed never to use its power, but to use human strength to usher in a new and true age of Taiping. And I remember, you were among them.”

“Indeed.” Zhou Buyi nodded slowly, his eyes filled with nostalgia. “Back then, everyone was still alive… And even now, I haven’t changed my mind.”

He extended a hand, and an invisible wave of Inner Qi swept out. Accompanied by a continuous series of CLACKS, panels on the windows and walls encircling the office flipped over, revealing mirrors on their reverse sides. Soon, ripples of Spiritual Light flickered, and the mirrors began to reflect illusory images from all over the world.

The images displayed massive cities and towering architecture. Among them were a vast industrial city in the northeastern region and a floating metropolis in the South Sea moving along a Spirit Vein. Su Zhou’s gaze swept across the scenes, and he spotted colossal sky fortresses and flying strongholds under construction along the coast of the New Continent.

The place where the Divine Wood once stood had now become a massive megalopolis. The Third New Southern Celestial Capital was the economic and political center of the Tianzheng Alliance’s eastern region. Its soaring skyscrapers, while no match for the Divine Wood, were already magnificent enough.

“I accomplished it all,” the man said, proudly displaying his achievements to Su Zhou. “I united the Hundred Schools Alliance when it was on the brink of collapse after the older generation of leaders died. I gave our people time to rest and rebuild, initiating the Alliance’s first baby boom. I led the new generation in laying the foundation for the Tianzheng Alliance. I expanded Tianzheng’s territory to five times the size of the old Anx Dynasty. Through our efforts, the remnants of the once-collapsing Anx Dynasty have become the people of the world’s most powerful nation and civilization.”

“This is a monumental achievement that no one, not even the original Three Saints, could have ever imagined. Step by step, I have led them to this point. I have failed no one.”

At that moment, Shao Qiming watched the two men. Despite the tense standoff between their auras, they were still managing to talk normally.

He could faintly see in Zhou Buyi a demeanor similar to the one Su Zhou had shown earlier.

If Su Zhou, earlier, had been like a man wanting to show off to his friend how peaceful the world he once helped had become…

…then Zhou Buyi, now, was like a man wanting to show off to his former comrade-in-arms how prosperous he had made the world they once fought for together.

‘A hundred long years have passed, and everyone they knew is gone. Even if you achieve unparalleled greatness, there’s no one left to tell. Now an old friend has finally returned. So, even though Zhou Buyi has cultivated a power he swore he wouldn’t touch, and even knowing that Su Zhou despises evil and will probably fly into a rage over this, he still couldn’t resist bringing him here at the first opportunity…’

‘A couple of overgrown kids who love to show off…’

He muttered inwardly, his thoughts troubled. ‘They’re definitely going to fight. Should I get out now and find a safe distance? But a recording of a Commander Tier battle is so valuable, and Zhou Buyi just so happens to be of the Wood Cultivation System…’

“It is indeed impressive.”

After looking at all the images in the mirrors, Su Zhou applauded with genuine admiration. “I certainly couldn’t have done this. For instance, if the Hundred Schools Alliance was about to fracture, my first instinct would have been to go on a killing spree until nobody dared to leave. But I’m not actually ruthless enough to kill innocents, so I’d probably just kill a few people before giving up and washing my hands of the whole affair.”

“…Don’t be so modest. If you wanted to, you certainly could. It’s just that if you don’t want to do something, you won’t.”

Zhou Buyi lowered his eyes, his tone returning to a calm state. “But I’m different. Even if I don’t want to, I will do it if it’s necessary.”

“So, the Divine Wood Power was necessary?”

Even as he asked, Su Zhou himself knew that the Divine Wood Power was not some evil force. On the contrary, it was a Righteous Dao—a Celestial Dao so pure it could not be more so, one that nourished the world and gave birth to all living things.

The Demon Emperor’s method—sacrificing all living beings to empower a single individual—was a path only a tyrant could conceive of. It couldn’t be considered a proper application of the Divine Wood Power at all.

Power, as long as it is used skillfully, is never inherently a bad thing. Su Zhou had never intended to condemn Zhou Buyi for his Cultivation of the Divine Wood Power.

However, for a firsthand witness to a disaster where the Divine Wood Power was used to devour people and nearly caused a world-ending calamity to then start using that same power again… that carried a very different meaning than it would for someone without such an experience.

Especially since, just a moment ago, when Su Zhou used the Fire of Sin to try and stir the evil within Zhou Buyi, he had sensed a considerable amount of sin clinging to the man.

Good deeds and evil deeds cannot cancel each other out. The Fire of Sin wouldn’t refuse to burn someone just because they had done good in the past.

By the same token, Desire Power would not refuse to protect someone just because they had committed evil.

So, Su Zhou cut straight to the most important question. “Zhou Buyi, besides you, is there anyone else in this world at the ‘Celestial Spirit Martial God’ realm?”

“…Only me.”

The man frowned slightly before speaking frankly. “Besides me, no one else has discovered the truth behind the changes to the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. They still think the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi hasn’t recovered sufficiently and that I’m just an exception… but the truth is, the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi has long been dense enough for people to cultivate to the Celestial Spirit Realm. However, the Divine Wood Power has saturated the world. The entire planet’s ecosystem has been subtly converted to one subordinate to the Divine Wood… only those of the Wood Attribute, and its derivatives, can advance.”