High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

After the ancient voice finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the seabed.

Li Qingcang and Zhou Wangyue stood there, their faces ashen.

With their level of understanding, they could clearly sense the oppressive aura emanating from the spaceship, like ants looking up at a mountain. They didn't need the mountain to do anything; its mere existence was enough to crush everything.

Li Qingcang glanced at Zhou Wangyue, who was also looking at him.

Their eyes met, and they both understood each other's meaning.

Li Qingcang has lived for over sixty years and stood at the pinnacle of human power for twenty years. He understands one thing better than anyone: when the gap becomes too large, dignity cannot be maintained by simply putting on a brave face.

The civilization hidden in this spaceship is capable of crossing the stars to reach Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, planting the seeds of spiritual awakening within Earth's creatures, and causing the entire planet to be transformed within fifty years. Such a level of existence cannot be described by the word "powerful".

"Song Chen," Li Qingcang said in a low voice.

"This force... we can't withstand it. Maybe they're right. Without them, humanity would still be boiling water in all sorts of fancy ways."

Zhou Wangyue also spoke up: "Kneel down, it's not shameful."

He spoke briefly, but his meaning was clear: the other party was a being of the creator level of humanity, so kneeling down was not a loss.

Song Chen did not answer immediately. He carefully looked at the silver spaceship. The star core inside his body was still slowly rotating, forming a subtle resonance with the psionic field emitted by the spaceship.

He could feel how immense that power was; if his star core was a candle, then the spaceship was a sun.

But precisely because he could sense it, he knew something else better than Li Qingcang and Zhou Wangyue: the other party had no intention of killing.

From beginning to end, the sense of oppression was simply the pressure inherent in the existence of the place itself, not an aggressive or intimidating force.

When the voice said "kneel down," there was no anger or threat in its tone, not even expectation; it was more like doing something according to the rules.

Song Chen raised his hand, stopping Li Qingcang and Zhou Wangyue.

"Don't kneel yet."

Both of them looked at him at the same time.

Song Chen didn't look at them, but straightened her collar and stood up straight.

"Visitors from the great Cangxing civilization, the Great Xia abolished the kneeling ceremony more than a hundred years ago."

"A bow is the greatest courtesy I can offer."

After he finished speaking, he bent down and bowed deeply.

A standard 90-degree deep bow, with the back straight, hands placed at the sides, and posture upright.

Li Qingcang paused for a moment, then remembered something: humanity has come this far not because of weakness.

He also bowed.

Zhou Wangyue also bowed, but said nothing.

The three of them remained bowing in front of the spaceship, and after three seconds, they all straightened up at the same time.

Inside the vacuum sphere, all was quiet. On the outer wall of the spaceship, a cold white light flowed slowly, without any response, any new pressure, or any signal indicating acceptance or rejection.

Song Chen waited five seconds, then spoke: "I have a question."

"Speak," the voice responded, its tone unchanged, still that calm and ancient melody, but at least it responded.

Song Chen looked at the spaceship: "You said before that you waited on Earth for hundreds of millions of years."

"You released meteorites, ushering Earth into the psionic age and awakening humanity. Why did you do that?"

The spaceship seemed to ponder for a moment, and then the voice said, "There are countless civilizations in the universe, and countless forms of civilization development."

"Some civilizations choose to devour, devouring civilizations weaker than themselves, devouring everything they can, gnawing the entire galaxy down to its skeleton. They are devouring civilizations."

"Some civilizations choose to plunder—plunder resources, plunder lives, plunder knowledge, and then destroy everything without leaving a trace. They are plundering civilizations."

"These are the normal states of the universe."

"But there is a civilization that is smarter than devouring and more enduring than plundering."

"It's called the civilization of investment."

When Song Chen heard those two words, his first reaction wasn't shock, but rather a sense of sudden enlightenment. All the details that hadn't made sense before suddenly made sense.

Meteorite fall, psionic particles, source spirit crystals, alien beast evolution, human awakening...

If all of these have the same underlying purpose, and that purpose is investment.

"The Cangxing civilization has been searching for promising civilizations in the universe for many years," the voice continued.

"Inject resources, provide conditions, and wait for them to grow. You are not the first, nor will you be the last."

Li Qingcang's pupils contracted slightly. He had lived forty years longer than Song Chen and had spent half his life struggling in politics and on the battlefield. His understanding of the word "investment" was deeper than anyone else's.

He knew all too well that investments were never free.

Just as he opened his mouth, the sound of the spaceship rang out again.

"Come in, and I will tell you everything."

A door on the outer wall of the spaceship opened silently.

Inside the door was a soft white light, obscuring the specific structure and revealing nothing inside.

Song Chen didn't take a step immediately. He stood still, his mind racing, then pieced together all the clues into a conclusion and asked, "Does the investment count as a success once a Star Core Realm cultivator emerges?"

The spaceship's door was open, and a white light shone quietly.

"Yes," the voice replied.

"According to the universally accepted standard, a civilization is considered a Level 1 civilization as long as it can give birth to seventh-order star core-level life forms."

"From an investment perspective, this investment has been a success."

Li Qingcang suddenly spoke up: "You just mentioned investment?"

"Yes."

Does an investment need a return?

"Of course we need it."

"How should humanity repay the Cangxing civilization?"

As the words fell, a cold white light swirled twice on the spaceship's silver exterior, and then the voice rang out again:

"In terms you can understand, humanity currently owes the Cangxing civilization a sum of money."

"A lot of money."

"You will be paying off this money for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years to come."

The three were shocked. Tens of thousands of years? Hundreds of thousands of years?

Human civilization has only evolved from primitive agriculture to the present day in a few thousand years, a time span that has exceeded his imagination.

More importantly, he knew better than anyone what it meant that it had been so long: it meant working to pay off his debts.

They will repay it generation after generation, and they will never be able to repay it all.

"Is this a form of slavery in the universe?" Song Chen asked.

"Of course not, and you will definitely pay it back." The spaceship's voice remained calm.

Song Chen stared at the open door: "Are you really that sure? You just said yourself that there are civilizations that devour and plunder civilizations in the universe. Aren't you afraid that humanity will learn from them, take advantage of us, and then deny everything?"

The voice suddenly laughed, like the kind of laughter an old man makes when watching a child wield a wooden sword—no malice, but containing an insurmountable gap in time and experience.

"Humanity, the universe is dangerous."

"Once you truly witness the methods by which civilizations are devoured and plundered, you will understand how good we are."

"You'll pay me back obediently."

After he said that, the white light inside the spaceship's door became even brighter, as if inviting or urging him on.

"Come in. I will answer all the questions: Who is the Cangxing civilization? What is the meteorite? Where does the spiritual energy within you come from? How does the order of the universe work?"