Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

The biggest problem for humanity, like that of the Xuanmen, is the lack of powerful enemies. They are too strong, so strong that they have no rivals, which slows down their development and even leads to internal strife.

A nation without external enemies is destined to perish; prolonged periods of peace inevitably lead to a loss of ambition.

The problem is the same for both the human race and the Xuanmen (mystical sects): they have been living in comfort for too long, and their ambition has been largely worn away, resulting in slow development.

The emergence of the Demon Race undoubtedly solved this problem effectively, putting immense pressure on both the Xuanmen (mystical sects) and the human race.

The powerful cultivators of the Xuanmen sect, who originally harbored various thoughts, immediately suppressed their inappropriate intentions upon sensing the pressure from the demon race and continued to unite firmly under the banner of the Xuanmen sect.

The human race, which originally planned to develop steadily, also felt the pressure. Otherwise, why would Xi Huang have stayed to discuss the future of the human race with Ao Bing?

The Holy Emperors had already planned out how humanity would develop in the future. Although the process was slow, it was prudent. Therefore, they only needed to proceed step by step without consulting others.

However, Ao Bing's sudden creation of the Demon Race put pressure on the Holy Emperors, forcing them to hold talks with Ao Bing about the future of the human race in order to avoid conflict between the two sides.

"I know the development path of the human race. The so-called system of rites, to put it bluntly, is to standardize the system and set rules for the human race."

"Whether the rules are good or bad, having rules is always better than having no rules."

"With these standardized systems, not only can the cost of governing the human race be reduced, but the power of the human race can also be better concentrated."

"In this way, even if the overall strength of the human race does not change, the power they display will be greatly enhanced."

"Therefore, I have never felt that there was anything wrong with the development path of the human race. The problem is that the speed is too slow."

"The current path of humanity is to continuously summarize the experience left by our ancestors, extract their wisdom, and then use it as a blueprint to create systems that are in line with the times."

"That's true, but it takes too long and will cause a huge waste. Humanity has so many people with exceptional wisdom. In my opinion, if they just pass on their wisdom, it will greatly shorten the time required for human development."

Why waste so much time on trial and error, adding unnecessary costs?

Ao Bing shared his opinion: In order to let future generations feel the hardship and difficulty of progress, the Holy Emperor did not directly pass on his supreme wisdom, but instead let them constantly try and make mistakes, and then learn from their mistakes to make progress.

That's a good idea.

The problem is that most people don't learn from history. Just because you can't do something doesn't mean I can't.

Hey, that's how confident I am. No matter the situation, there will always be someone stubborn as me.

Thinking that you are far superior to your ancestors, and that what your ancestors couldn't do, is simply because they were incapable, not because you are.

I'm just awesome compared to our ancestors!
Therefore, while it is useful to let the human race constantly try and make mistakes and learn from history, the cost of trial and error is too high, and it is easy to go to a dead end and fall into an infinite cycle.

Even if we don't reach a dead end and get stuck in an endless cycle, and we do make progress, the gains are negligible compared to the costs we've incurred, and certainly not worth it.

Because much of the effort is unnecessary and a huge waste. If they could stay, they could undoubtedly do much more.

Every trial and error incurs a cost. The more trials and errors, the higher the cost. And these costs can actually be saved.

Because the Holy Emperors all possessed wisdom far beyond that of this era, if they could pass it down, it would undoubtedly save people from many detours and greatly reduce the cost of trial and error.

"That makes sense, but your idea is too radical and risks pushing things too far."

Xi Huang had a different opinion on Ao Bing's statement. He believed that Ao Bing's ideas were too radical and were like pulling up seedlings to help them grow.

His method might indeed greatly enhance the strength of the human race in the short term, but it would be overdrawing the future potential of the human race, so he did not adopt it.

"If the world were at peace, my method would indeed seem like pulling up seedlings to help them grow, but the world is not at peace right now."

"Leaving aside the fact that the Chaos Gods are lurking in the shadows, they can't affect ordinary cultivators. Just the existence of the Demon Race alone is a huge threat to ordinary cultivators."

"Among the human race, the most vulnerable to being possessed by demons are these ordinary cultivators. Among them, there are countless people who are ambitious but lack the ability."

"And they are most easily seduced by the demons, falling into the demonic path without even realizing it. They may even actively cooperate with the demons in order to gain greater power."

"For the human race, their existence is the biggest destabilizing factor. But getting rid of them is not an easy task."

"Because with the current level of civilization of the human race, there are no effective means to resist the invasion of the demon race. We can only rely on ourselves and it is difficult to rely on external forces."

"The reason for this is that the overall civilization of the human race is not advanced enough, and the average level of culture is not high."

"Even if we don't say that everyone can become like a dragon, we can at least ensure that everyone can be educated, enlightened, and have the light of wisdom. Then, when faced with the possession of demons, we will not be powerless to resist."

Ao Bing bluntly stated that the reason why the demon race could pose a threat to the human race was simply because most of the human race had not yet awakened their intelligence and were still in a dreamlike state.

If everyone could be enlightened, if everyone could be educated, and if everyone could understand reason and righteousness, then even if the threat of the demon race could not be completely eliminated, the cost for the demon race to possess humans would be increased.

Furthermore, there will be no situation where someone is possessed by a demon and their family and friends are completely unaware.

Being possessed by a demon is not the most terrifying thing; what is truly terrifying is that outsiders are completely unaware of the possession. For humans who live in communities, this is the greatest threat. Once it occurs, it means the loss of a city or a nation, not just the misfortune of one or two individuals.

This would be a tremendous loss, potentially even shaking the very foundations of humanity. This is precisely what the Holy Emperors are worried about. Based on this, Ao Bing proposed a solution: to enlighten the world and free people from ignorance.

In this way, not only will it be more difficult for demons to possess humans, but it will also be more difficult to remain undetected after possession. This will undoubtedly greatly reduce the threat posed by demons to humans.

As for being completely harmless, that's impossible, unless the demon race is wiped out. But the demon race cannot be wiped out; if it were, someone would have done it long ago.

"We think so too. In fact, in our vision, after the human race's system is perfected, the next step in development will be to promote education, spread various principles, and enlighten the world."

"We just didn't expect that the sudden appearance of the demons would disrupt our plans and force us to start promoting education ahead of schedule."

"Thinking about it that way, I understand why you said that under a threat, your actions weren't counterproductive." "Under the threat of the demons, not progress means death. So, no matter what wisdom we pass down, in order to survive, people will try their best to study it thoroughly in order to find a way to deal with the demons."

“Those who can do this will naturally grow rapidly and improve greatly in all aspects. In this way, the saying ‘forcing seedlings to grow’ is naturally unfounded.”

"Those who cannot do this have long since died at the hands of the demons. If people are gone, what is the point of trying to help seedlings grow by pulling them up?"

Xi Huang somewhat understood Ao Bing's meaning: while the demon race was still threatening, he should pass on all the advanced wisdom at once. As for how much the world could learn, that would depend on their own abilities.

The more you learn, the more composed you will be when the demons attack.

Conversely, the less one learns, or the less one learns, the more difficult it will be when the demons attack, and the more likely one is to be destroyed.

Human potential is limitless, especially when facing life-or-death crises, where astonishing potential can be unleashed.

Therefore, in times of peace and prosperity, even if advanced wisdom is passed down, it is not certain that many people will learn it, and even if they do, it is not certain that it will change anything.

But in chaotic times, in order to survive, there will definitely be people who strive to learn and study these advanced wisdoms at all costs in order to change this chaotic world.

"It is indeed a path, but it is far too cruel. Survival of the fittest."

Xi Huang sighed, realizing he understood Ao Bing's meaning: it was still about quality over quantity; only the most outstanding individuals could survive in the new era.

"No!"

"Humans are different from other races. Humans are born weak, so in order to survive better when faced with the oppression of other races, they have passed down many good customs."

"For example, among humans, it is only natural for the strong to protect the weak. Therefore, the principle of survival of the fittest does not work among humans."

"No matter what group it is, as long as a strong person emerges, they will subconsciously protect the weak around them. Even if they are not particularly good, they will at least ensure that the weak can survive."

"And that's enough."

"The strong make history, and the weak just need to follow in their footsteps. It may not be great, but at least they can survive."

"Hearing Xi Huang say he's cruel," Ao Bing retorted. "In a world where Taoist magic manifests, in most cases a small group protects the majority."

Therefore, not everyone needs to be outstanding. As long as a small group of people grow up first, with their protection, the majority of the rest can survive, and then there will be an opportunity for more strong people to emerge.

"Furthermore, is my method, which is cruel and forces humanity to constantly try and fail, not cruel? There is no essential difference between these two methods. One is simply faster and more effective, while the other is slower and more effective."

Ao Bing continued, "His method is cruel, but the methods of the Holy Emperors are not cruel?"
According to the Holy Emperor's method, no sacrifice was spared. It was just that the process took too long, so the sacrifices were spread out to make them seem less significant.

But if you really add up all the sacrifices, it might not be less than the sacrifices made by Ao Bing's method.

The reason why Ao Bing's method seems more cruel is simply because his method is more radical, bringing out the damage that would normally take millions or tens of millions of years in a short period of time.

This naturally makes the sacrifice seem quite large and looks rather horrifying.

"It's not a question of how much to sacrifice, but rather that we need to give them a period of adjustment."

"If you grow too fast, not only will old problems accumulate, but new problems will also be created. When old and new problems come together, the trouble will only be greater."

Seeing that Ao Bing's tone was somewhat agitated, Xi Huang explained. Elders like them are different from young people like Ao Bing. They hope that all problems can be solved in their generation, so as not to leave trouble for future generations.

Therefore, they think things through more when they do things, which inevitably makes them seem somewhat hesitant and indecisive to outsiders.

But young people like Ao Bing are different. He firmly believes in the wisdom of future generations, so he solves the problems he can solve. As for those he can't solve, he leaves them to future generations.

As a result, his style of doing things appears to outsiders to be extremely decisive and not at all hesitant.

But in the eyes of an old man like Xi Huang, this was radical, extremely radical.

"We must trust the wisdom of future generations; each generation has its own problems to solve."

"The challenge for our ancestors was how to survive in the primordial wilderness. The challenge for your generation is how to lead humanity to prosperity."

"The challenge we face now is how to ensure that humanity retains its position as the protagonist of the world in the upcoming changes."

"To achieve this, some radical methods will inevitably be necessary. The resulting problems are what future generations will need to solve."

"While inheriting the legacy of our predecessors, future generations must also shoulder corresponding responsibilities. We should not always think that future generations are incapable, so we must solve all the problems in our generation."

“This won’t work. If we keep thinking like this, how can future generations grow up? We’ll only ruin them.”

"We must be willing to let go, to give them more responsibilities, and not leave them with problems that they will face. How can future generations grow up and reach the same level as you?"

Does Ao Bing's method have any hidden dangers? Certainly, but he doesn't care; the potential dangers are a matter for the future. And who can say for sure what the future holds?

First, make yourself stronger now, so that even if problems arise in the future, you can solve them and won't be helpless.

"So, according to you, what should the human race do?"

Xi Huang said helplessly. He had not been persuaded by Ao Bing. How could someone like him be swayed by the words of outsiders? What truly changed his mind was reality.

Such is the reality; if he doesn't make changes, humanity will inevitably face an attack from the demons. Therefore, for the sake of humanity, he has no choice but to change.

"I just looked at the situation of the human race. They want to establish the Zhou Dynasty, replace the Shang Dynasty, and continue to divide the world into fiefdoms, right?"

After glancing at the situation in the Southern Realm, Ao Bing spoke. (End of Chapter)