Chapter 754: The Tree of Wisdom
“Wait a minute, this is the most crucial part. You can’t be vague like you’re telling a fairy tale!”
Meng Chao keenly grasped the main point. “You cooperated with the monsters… the spirit beasts and annihilated the powerhouses who belonged to the human race?”
“That’s right.”
Gu Ling nodded heavily and said matter-of-factly, “Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem. Every word here poses a big problem.”
Meng Chao once again resisted the urge to jump up. “How can humans cooperate with spirit beasts?”
“Why not? We have no enmity with the spirit beasts in the first place. Since they’re already called spirit beasts, they’ve naturally awakened a certain level of wisdom. If we know what’s good for us, we can communicate and calculate the pros and cons together, right?”
Gu Ling seriously a.n.a.lyzed the situation for Meng Chao, “You see, ordinary people, as well as mid- and low-level experts, don’t have any fundamental conflicts with spirit beasts, to begin with. After all, we don’t have a large population. As long as we control our insatiable nature and only eat some fruits and peaches every day, we can fish from Peach Blossom Creek and hunt some low-level spirit beasts in the jungle. We won’t harm this vast and boundless jungle at all or harm the incomparably powerful high-level spirit beasts.
“So, why do we have to be enemies with them?”
“But, spirit beasts eat people,” Meng Chao said with a gloomy expression.
“Spirit beasts don’t like to eat people!”
Gu ling snorted and retorted, “Human beings are not big, after all, and the amount of meat they produce is too little. Their growth cycle is very long, so they are not good sources of food at all.
“Moreover, humans also possess intelligence and the know-how to create all kinds of terrifying weapons. They use a lot of insidious and cunning tactics. If spirit beasts insist on eating humans, they will have to rack their brains and pay a terrible price. They might even die in the hands of humans—the amount of energy consumed and harvested in order to eat humans is not proportional at all!
“If a certain kind of spirit beast insists on using humans as its main food, its population will definitely starve to death.
“As long as there is a choice, no matter how powerful a spiritual beast is, it won’t willingly be enemies with humans. What’s the benefit of being enemies?”
“Is that so?”
Meng Chao frowned and said, “However, in Dragon City—”
“I know that the spirit beasts and humans around Dragon City are fighting fiercely because you want to develop some civilization. You want to destroy the spirit beasts’ nests, turn the peaceful forests and gra.s.slands into some industrial area, residential area, scientific research base, capture a large number of spiritual beasts as raw materials for industrialization, split open the mountains, and dig out the crystal veins. You are going to destroy the homes of the spirit beasts, so how can they not fight you?”
Gu ling pouted and said, “And the reason why you are doing this is not for the good of Dragon City’s regular citizens. It’s just for the ambitious people there, the supreme experts of the nine mega corporations.
“The nine mega corporations should be the same thing as Peach Blossom Town’s supreme commander, the No. 1 pioneer, right?
“The training of the unparalleled experts requires a lot of crystals.
“The enterprises they create need endless land and raw materials in order to expand and multiply.
“In order to get crystals, land, and resources, the unparalleled experts drive the ordinary citizens to fight the spirit beasts.
“The ordinary citizens fight the spirit beasts and pay a terrible price in exchange for most of the spoils of war, which fall into the pockets of the nine n.o.ble families in various ways.
“The peerless experts become stronger and stronger, while the nine corporations became bigger and bigger. But what the ordinary citizens got were wounds all over their bodies and the deep-rooted hatred of the spirit beasts.
“Everything there is the same as Peach Blossom Town. Isn’t that so?”
Meng Chao stared at Gu Ling’s big, clear eyes, which seemed innocent, and said, “Your grandfather told you so many things!”
“Of course. Ever since the first outsider drifted along Peach Blossom Creek to Peach Blossom Town, we have been very concerned about this Dragon City that he has mentioned.”
Gu Ling said, “As more and more outsiders arrived, we learned that Dragon City still maintained the lifestyle of early days of Peach Blossom Town and the Earth era. That’s really too scary, and it is worth celebrating and being vigilant. Fortunately, the people of Peach Blossom Town woke up in time and made changes. Otherwise, our world would always be filled with wars, slavery, and deception. How terrifying would that be!”
“Mr. Meng Chao, don’t look at me like that. In my grandfather’s words, this is like entering a warehouse full of stinky salted fish. You’ve been squatting there for three days and three nights, and you can’t smell the stench on your body anymore.
“In fact, if you think about it carefully, you’ll know that there’s a lot of room for cooperation between ordinary humans and spirit beasts. We can completely form a symbiotic relationship that benefits each other, instead of killing each other and hurting each other.”
“Is that so?”
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes and said, “With such a big difference in form between humans and spirit beasts, what kind of ‘symbiotic relationship’ can we achieve?”
“The difference in form between rhinoceroses and hornbills is also very big. It doesn’t prevent the rude and violent hornbills from standing on the rhinoceroses’ bodies and pecking at the parasites on their skin. The hornbills will have their fill, and the rhinoceroses will be spared from scabies. Won’t everyone be happy?”
Gu Ling said, “Also, no matter how hungry and brutal the crocodiles are, they won’t refuse to open their b.l.o.o.d.y mouths and let the toothpick birds carefully clean the food residue between their teeth. That’s because even super spirit beast crocodiles that are dozens of meters long won’t be able to clean their teeth and keep their mouths in good condition.
“Mr. Meng Chao, don’t you think that if we want to treat the rhinoceroses’ skin diseases and maintain the crocodiles’ oral hygiene and health, we humans would be a hundred times better than the rhinoceroses and toothpick birds?”
Meng Chao was stunned.
He had never thought of things from that angle.
“We humans have ten fingers, after all. We are a hundred times more flexible than the hornbills and toothpick birds. Moreover, we also have a smart brain. We can invent all kinds of medical devices and small props for ma.s.sage. We can help spirit beasts get rid of troublesome diseases and serve them comfortably.”
Gu Ling counted his fingers and counted the benefits of cooperation between humans and spirit beasts, “We can also help the spirit beasts build their nests. Previously, no matter how strong the spirit beasts were, the nests they built would all be leaky and crude. However, if we rely on the collapsed buildings from human civilization, together with the encirclement of flowers, vines, and moss, we can build the most comfortable nest.
“Don’t underestimate the importance of the nest. The safety, comfort, and stability of the nest are closely related to the reproduction of the spirit beasts. The number of fetuses and the survival rate of the fetuses that build their nests in the wilderness and the jungle are not high. With the help of humans, they can give birth and feed three to five times more children!
“Besides, we can also serve etherealized plants.
“We collect the feces of the spirit beasts, and after we sort them, we bury them in the roots of some etherealized plants, which will make the etherealized plants grow stronger and produce more plump and delicious fruits.
“These fruits are not only food for humans, but also delicious food for the spirit beasts.
“In the past, spirit beasts had to fight to the death to survive.
“But with the help of humans, the production of the fruits of the etherealized plants greatly increased, and the number of plant-eating spirit beasts skyrocketed. The meat-eating spirit beasts did not have to work hard, and they could eat and drink to their heart’s content. They could lie in their warm, soft nest and enjoy the treatment and ma.s.sage given by humans with special tools. These are good days that they could never dream of!
“Of course, humans don’t serve the spirit beasts unilaterally. The spirit beasts have also made a lot of contributions to our civilization. As you saw on the way here, many spirit beasts have been living with us in Peach Blossom Town, contributing to our common life!
“After forming an alliance with the spirit beasts, our gathering, fishing, and hunting in the jungle have become more secure.
“As long as the hunting quant.i.ty is not too excessive and is limited to some simple-minded low-level spirit beasts to satisfy the survival needs of the townspeople and not to develop some ‘civilization’, not only will the high-level spirit beasts not interfere, but they will even protect us in the dark. They will even hunt the low-level spirit beasts together with us and share the spoils of war!”
The little girl shook her head and looked extremely proud.
“I see. It sounds really… harmonious and natural!”
Meng Chao controlled the twitching of his temple and the corner of his mouth as he asked in-depth, “Alright, I admit that there is indeed a lot of room for cooperation between humans and spirit beasts, but I still don’t understand how the initial agreement was reached. At that time, spirit beasts should not have been able to understand the human language, and it was difficult for them to understand the way humans thought. There was also no trust between them at all. Moreover, many modes of cooperation between the two parties had yet to be figured out.
“You can’t just run up to the wolves, tigers, and leopards surrounded by spirit flames and take the initiative to ask for a ma.s.sage, can you?”
Gu Ling burst into laughter.
“You’re too funny, Mr. Meng Chao. I knew it. You’re different from those lunatics. You can completely understand and accept the Peach Blossom civilization.”
The little girl said, “In the beginning, humans and spirit beasts didn’t speak the same language and couldn’t think with the same logic. We were about to fall into endless hatred and slaughter.
“Fortunately, the Tree of Wisdom’s appearance saved us.”
When Meng Chao heard this, he could not help but ask, “What exactly is the Tree of Wisdom?”
“The Tree of Wisdom is a big tree. It has a unique ability to connect our brains and the spirit beast’s brains together. It allows us to feel the same as the spirit beast and communicate with each other’s thoughts in an incredible way to reach a perfect agreement.”
Gu Ling said, “Through the Tree of Wisdom, our souls seem to be able to enter the bodies of the spirit beasts. We can feel the soaring falcons in the strong wind, the cheetahs waiting in the depths of the jungle, and the pythons walking among the vines. We know their needs and worries.
“The spirit beasts can also learn human language and logic, understand our society and civilization, and find common interests.”