Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 397 Ghosts in Civilization (Part 2)

The leopards' civilization took a turn here!

Or perhaps, this is the more suitable form of civilization for them.

After all, leopards are not humans. Even though they have gradually evolved a sufficiently intelligent brain, their claws, which are mostly stuck together, and their inability to stand upright, limit their mobility and make it less convenient for them to use tools.

Another thousand years have passed. The leopards control all the beasts through medicines made from plants, and then drive them to serve and work for them.

They developed a distinct city-state system, which means that a considerable number of leopards have broken free from primitive hunting and become leopards on top of leopards. Even in cities without any hunting grounds, they can enjoy delicious food with ease.

With the emergence of city-states, currency, government, and other systems began to appear, and rich flesh and blood began to grow on the skeleton of civilization.

In contrast, Qiu Chuji has not appeared in front of the leopards for a long time.

Many leopards, especially the high-ranking priests, no longer believe in the existence of this 'god' who has accompanied the leopard pack since ancient times.

In name, priests are the closest beings to God, but precisely because of this, they are the first to question whether 'God' is real.

After all, none of the leopards alive today have ever truly seen 'God,' so how can we prove that 'God' is real?
But those leopards in power did not deny 'God'; on the contrary, they praised him and worshipped him even more thoroughly, formulated doctrines for him, and created laws to eliminate the unbelievers in the name of 'God'.

The leopards roaming the mountains and forests and the wilderness herd all kinds of animals, which is equivalent to controlling a force that can destroy cities. The leopards, who have abandoned production and are only content with pleasure, enslave their fellow leopards in the name of 'god' in order to consolidate their rule.

Qiu Chuji had been paying attention all along. Although he did not have any extraordinary abilities, his body was strong enough to stand on a high mountaintop and look out over distant cities, and to stand in the wind and listen to distant sounds.

As civilization gradually prospered, and as the leopard pack, chosen by him, truly flourished, his sense of loneliness not only did not diminish but became even stronger.

Qiu Chuji asked himself why, and soon he had the answer.

The reason is simple: when all things are ignorant and all animals are in chaos, although he is the only intelligent life, he can make many animals need him and depend on him.

He can integrate with them and become an alternative community.

And now, even though those leopards worship him and believe in him.

But he knew very well that if he were to truly reveal himself to these leopards again, it would be these very leopards who believed in him who would most want to kill him, destroy him, or imprison him.

Standing atop the high mountain, Qiu Chuji gazed at the increasingly prosperous Leopard City in the distance, already foreseeing its impending destruction.

······
Not long after, twenty years later, a pack of savage and ferocious leopards, leading tens of thousands of wild beasts, breached the city walls, tore apart the magnificent city, shattered the civilization the leopards were so proud of, and revealed their savage and murderous nature.

Those leopards who tried to fool their fellow countrymen in the name of 'God' have messed up!
They use 'gods', but there are no miracles to prove everything. They repeat lies a thousand times and they believe them themselves, but the leopards outside who have real power will wake up sooner or later.

No one would willingly allow their descendants to be enslaved and manipulated forever.

A clash between power and lies, the latter crumbles at the slightest touch.

The priests of those 'gods' finally made sincere supplications and prayers to their 'gods,' longing for their 'gods' salvation.

But Qiu Chuji couldn't hear their pleas at all!

The 'god' they yearn for has long been far removed from Qiu Chuji!
Then, the leopard civilization, which had flourished for many years, began to split into different tribes.

Some inherited the ancient bone artifact civilization and continued to study bone artifacts.

These leopards began to have longer and more slender bodies, and the knuckles on their front two paws became increasingly separated with each generation of selection, which made it easier for them to create more delicate bone tools.

Many more leopards have inherited the ability to control other animals with drugs. Their bodies are getting smaller and smaller, so they can hide among the fur of large predators. They often have large heads and slender, weak bodies. They have an extremely keen sense of smell and can distinguish the scents emitted by different plants and animals to judge their effects and abilities.

A small number of leopards chose to pursue their primal, savage instincts. They were released back into the wild and returned to their wild forms, strong and with sharp claws, but they had lost their future. Perhaps thousands of years later, they would no longer be considered one of their own by other leopards.

······
Five hundred years later, the two leopard clans that had gone their separate ways could no longer find any resemblance to each other.

From their appearance, they are two completely unrelated races.

They meet in the wilderness, fight each other, and vie for hunting grounds and the right to enjoy the world.

As for the 'god' they have worshipped since ancient times, it has long been forgotten in the memories of civilization's past.

Now, they each have their own new 'gods,' which were fabricated and imagined by the rulers of different tribes for the convenience of governance.

It better meets their needs and aesthetics, and also has more characteristics and traits that are closer to those of leopards.

Qiu Chuji secretly observed those new 'god statues' for a long time, and regrettably, these statues, which had enjoyed the power of faith, did not transform into original, newly born deities.

This world is really 'simple'.

All myths and deities serve the civilization itself, not act as great beings superior to it. This inevitably makes Qiu Chuji wonder: do he... or they, those legendary immortals, deities, and Buddhas, truly exist?

Or is it merely a human fantasy?

This self-examination and doubt, along with the passage of time, brewed deeper and deeper in Qiu Chuji's heart.

······
Originating from the saber-toothed leopard, the Bone Weapon Clan and the Spirit Master Clan split off and engaged in a conflict that lasted for one or two thousand years in order to vie for dominance over the world.

There were times of peace, but more often than not, there was fighting.

It seems that even they have become accustomed to fighting each other.

Just like the angels and demons in some Western fantasy novels, they are born to be at odds with each other and are destined to kill each other.

Then, the world underwent dramatic changes.

Suddenly one day, the earth trembled violently, and the sky seemed to crack open. A torrential rain that lasted for more than a month formed a massive flood that destroyed everything. The flood destroyed everything, but this was not the end, but only the beginning.

The earth was convulsing, the horizon was twisting, and scarlet magma was flowing along the cracks, burning the fissures into a spiderweb-like network of veins.

The towering mountains in the distance suddenly appeared half a meter shorter.

The sheer cliff slid down like a child knocking over a stack of building blocks, with rubble and ancient trees crashing into the valley floor.

A purple crack suddenly appeared in the sky, and a thunderstorm chased after lightning, splitting the chaos. The silver serpent turned into green smoke the instant it touched the scorched earth.

A muffled roar, like that of an ancient behemoth, came from the clouds, as if a true deity was raging from beyond the heavens...

Qiu Chuji could only awkwardly dodge the collapse of everything. He no longer possessed truly extraordinary energy, only his incredibly strong physical body.

In such a disaster, he could only save himself.

Perhaps... this could also be the end of an era.

In such a devastating scene, if he loses his will and determination to survive, he can willingly walk towards the core of destruction and perish completely here amidst the drastic changes in the world.

As long as his physical body is torn apart, even a primordial spirit with the characteristics of a Great Luo, without the support of a physical body and without the replenishment of extraordinary energy, will still gradually merge into this world, becoming a kind of vague consciousness... or becoming the source of extraordinary power in this world.

Qiu Chuji had no intention of dying. Although he felt extremely lonely, he still wanted to live.

Nothing else!

Just to see what a Great Luo Golden Immortal is, and what... the realm of a sage is!
Qiu Chuji suddenly thought of 'cultivation', a seemingly empty and meaningless but eternally effective reason for existence.

As long as spiritual practice never comes to an end, beings walking this path will never lose their way.

This may be the compassion of the Taoist Ancestor.

The devastating disaster lasted for three years!
Three years later, when the sun shone brightly in the sky once more, the tide began to recede slowly, the trembling earth returned to calm, and the lava stopped spewing out. Everything suddenly became quiet, just as if everything had happened suddenly.

Qiu Chuji stood on a small island in the middle of a lake. Who would have known that the island beneath his feet was actually a huge mountain peak thousands of meters high three years ago?

Both the Bone Weapon Clan and the Spirit Control Clan perished in this catastrophe that struck from the heavens.

Even if some saber-toothed leopards survive, it will be difficult for them to continue their civilization.

Now, the only one who remembers the leopard civilization and knows how brilliant they were at their peak is Qiu Chuji.

He was once their 'god,' but now he is the only ghost who remembers them.

This is immortality!
This is the price of immortality!

Even if all the creatures that remember you have been destroyed, and the civilizations that recorded you have been wiped out, you... will still exist!

It is impossible to recount this true past with any other civilization, using its language and script.

Qiu Chuji was no longer active; he sat idly on the island in the middle of the lake.

He recalled the leopards' civilization, the first few leopards that were tamed, and then sorted through his memories.

Even the memories from much earlier times—about that martial arts world, about the master, the mistress, the fellow disciples, and the students—are beginning to fade.

He hadn't forgotten; it's just that... too much time had passed, and he had chewed on it too many times. It had lost its flavor, and now he needed to chew on something flavorful again so that his will could withstand the relentless impact of time.

(End of this chapter)