Chapter 1020, Within Divine Consciousness

Translator: Silavin

 

According to legend, Saints Heavenly Manor was the place where Ancestor Hongjun preached the Dao.

 

And the Heaven Stairway was the method of trial established by Ancestor Hongjun. In those days, three people ascended the Heaven Stairway.

 

Those three became Ancestor Hongjun’s three great Disciples. They were the Founders of what are now Heavenly Martial Domain, Sword Feather Gate, and Lunar Palace!

 

Afterwards, it seemed no one had ever climbed all one hundred and eight steps of the Heaven Stairway again.

 

In fact, not a single person had ascended to the one hundred and first step.

 

Perhaps there were some, hidden away by Saints Heavenly Manor. So, no one knew what kind of scene lay beyond the hundredth step of the Heaven Stairway, much less what would happen upon reaching that final step.

 

At this moment, the Heaven Stairway was dim and lightless. However, what appeared before Qin Yichen was a completely different scene…

 

Before his eyes, everything was white and hazy, as if mist obscured his vision.

 

“Where is this?” Qin Yichen was puzzled. He seemed able to move freely. The terrifying pressure from the Heaven Stairway had vanished without a trace. He felt his entire being was light and floating, as if a gust of wind could blow him away.

 

“This is within your own divine consciousness…” A voice emerged from somewhere unknown, suddenly resonating throughout the entire space.

 

“Who? Who’s there?” Qin Yichen was startled. He had completely failed to detect anyone’s presence. Looking around in all directions, he still discovered no trace.

 

Before his eyes remained nothing but white haze.

 

“Hehe…” With a chuckle, suddenly the white mist before him began to churn. Under his gaze, it slowly condensed and took form.

 

Incredibly, it condensed into the shape of an elderly man.

 

For some unknown reason, though this was clearly the first time seeing this old man, Qin Yichen felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had encountered him somewhere before.

 

Yet, he could not recall where exactly.

 

This elderly man appeared very amiable, his face bearing a loving smile that gave Qin Yichen a feeling of bathing in sunshine, making him involuntarily want to trust this old man.

 

“You said this is within my divine consciousness?” Qin Yichen suddenly recalled the old man’s words and asked with puzzlement.

 

Divine consciousness?

 

This term was somewhat broad.

 

To describe it broadly, the divine consciousness would refer to a person’s nervous system.

 

Because whether a person saw something with their eyes or sensed something with Spiritual Energy, it was their divine consciousness at work.

 

And at this moment, this old man had appeared within his divine consciousness.

 

“Correct.” The old man nodded.

 

“You are…” Qin Yichen asked with puzzlement. He wanted to know what exactly this old man was and why he appeared here within his divine consciousness.

 

“Little one, who I am is not important. What’s important is that you are the first person to ascend these one hundred and eight steps…” When the old man spoke, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Qin Yichen was quite peculiar.

 

“I’m the first person to ascend the one hundred and eight steps?” Qin Yichen’s face filled with confusion.

 

In his previous life, he had entered Saints Heavenly Manor and naturally perused many ancient records within Saints Heavenly Manor. Of course, he clearly knew about the matter of Ancestor Hongjun’s three great Disciples.

 

Among the countless elites of the Human Race, only those three climbed the Heaven Stairway, becoming Ancestor Hongjun’s Disciples and receiving the Ancestor’s true teachings.

 

If they had not ascended this final step of the Heaven Stairway, how could they have received Ancestor Hongjun’s personal teachings!?

 

“Hehe.” The old man smiled again but did not explain further. Instead, he asked, “Little one, what do you think of our Human Race?”

 

“The Human Race…” Qin Yichen did not understand why he asked this, but still answered. “The Human Race is too weak, always suffering at the hands of the Foreign Races…”

 

“Little one, you cannot judge things by appearances alone.” The old man interrupted him and said, “The Myriad Races of the continent have existed since the Primordial Era, and some Races were born in the Mythological Era. Yet our Human Race only appeared on the continent in the Prehistoric Era…”

 

Through the old man’s slow reminder, Qin Yichen’s body suddenly trembled.

 

Only now did he realize that the Human Race was actually two eras behind those Races standing at the continent’s pinnacle!

 

That was at least two million years!

 

So it was not that the Human Race was weak. Rather, the Human Race’s starting point was too late.

 

“Even so, little one, do you still think our Race is too weak?” The old man’s gaze turned toward him, waiting for his answer.

 

“Not weak!” Qin Yichen immediately responded.

 

In this moment, he realized that the Human Race’s ability to establish itself was already an incredibly extraordinary thing.

 

In this world, countless Races exist. Even many Races from the Mythological Era had submitted to those stronger Races. But the Human Race stood independent, distinguished from all others, submitting to no Race!

 

This, in itself, was already a miracle.

 

Though the Human Race’s circumstances were not favourable, they could still rest and multiply.

 

And credit for all this belonged to one person: Ancestor Hongjun!

 

No one could even imagine how Ancestor Hongjun had led the Human Race out of dire straits when the Human Race was enslaved.

 

One must know that on the continent, many Races, especially those who looked like beasts, regarded the Human Race as food. They would absolutely never tolerate the Human Race to establish itself as a Race!

 

Even now, they still eyed the Human Race covetously!

 

From this, one could see just how dire the situation had been in those days.

 

Therefore, to the Human Race, Ancestor Hongjun was… no different to a God!

 

The God of the Human Race.

 

Hearing him answer this way, the old man seemed slightly gratified and continued. “Little one, you still don’t understand. Some matters, you’ll only be able to comprehend them in the future.”

 

“I still don’t understand?” Qin Yichen was somewhat skeptical. He had experienced so much in his previous life. How could there be things even he had not heard of?

 

[Could the Human Race actually house some kind of secret!?]

 

“This is precisely what I’m about to tell you!” The old man’s expression grew slightly solemn before continuing. “Since the Human Race’s birth, we have stood with legs on the ground and heads reaching toward Heaven, taking our current ‘Human’ Form. That’s why we’re called… the Human Race!”

 

“Yet the Myriad Races of the continent all possess beast forms. Even the Divine Beast Races require endless eons of evolution before they can completely transform into Human Form!” Then the old man’s tone shifted, carrying a few traces of pride. “The Human Form represents the pinnacle of biological evolution. And from the moment of our birth, the Human Race has possessed this pinnacle form!”

 

“This is the fundamental reason why the Myriad Races cannot tolerate our Human Race!” As the old man’s voice finally fell, Qin Yichen’s body also suddenly trembled.

 

This was something he had never heard of, something he had never seriously considered.

 

In his previous life, he had left the Human Race and encountered Foreign Races.

 

Those Foreign Races, when weak, were basically all in no different from beasts. Only after cultivating to a certain realm could they transform into Human Form and walk on two legs.

 

He had never understood why Foreign Races were like this.

 

It was only once the old man had mention this, he finally knew, the Human Form was actually the pinnacle of the evolution of all things!