Returning to a human form for the first time in centuries made the Human Ancestor incredibly excited.
The amount of power contained within a single droplet of blood, however, was very limited, especially since it had come from a common Dark Astral. It soon dissipated.
The Human Ancestor didn’t have time to do anything before it disappeared on its own.
Even so, the Human Ancestor had made quite a few important discoveries. He had realized that Dark Astrals were the race that was most suited to convert physical objects into their consciousness equivalents, and that they also possessed an innate affinity for consciousness energy. Their unique bodies and flowing hearts gave them an innate advantage in this respect.
After confirming all this, the Human Ancestor decided that he needed to help the Dark Astrals convert themselves to a consciousness lifeform so that he could obtain as much fresh blood as quickly as possible.
He immediately set out to search for a way to help the Dark Astrals cultivate while facilitating this consciousness conversion process.
For a period of time, the Human Ancestor actually became the Dark Astrals’ ancestor.
And the first Dark Astral, Skystar, who offered him that initial droplet of blood, became the first Dark Astral cultivator.
With the Human Ancestor’s aid and Skystar’s guidance, the Dark Astrals rapidly began to develop their consciousnesses while forsaking their physical bodies.
Their physical bodies were originally quite weak and frail, but their consciousnesses were inordinately powerful, and their innate ability to convert physical objects into consciousness entities made them the perfect race to fulfill the Human Ancestor’s needs. Those days were also the Dark Astrals’ happiest days. By relying on the Human Ancestor’s help, they were even able to establish their own kingdom.
As the Dark Astrals continued to improve the conversion process, they inched ever closer to becoming pure consciousness entities. The opportunities available to the Human Ancestor also began to increase as a result.
One day, he finally collected enough blood to try and descend once again.
This time, he was able to last for three whole days.
He was actually physically walking in the human realm.
However, his experience was not all that pleasant.
The humans’ lives were simply too pitiful.
Every human had to fight and struggle desperately to survive.
And the Human Ancestor himself was actually the worst off.
In order to last for a longer period of time, the Human Ancestor had chosen to descend as an old, weak man. Even though this body was incredibly weak, it took much less energy to sustain. As such, he should have theoretically been able to last for a longer time.
However, the Human Ancestor soon discovered that his assumptions were wrong.
Because his status amongst human society was the lowest.
The only way he was even able to survive for three days was by begging.
He had become a beggar!
In actuality, most humans back then didn’t live to see the age of thirty because of how horrendous their living conditions were. Society simply had no room for beggars.
Technically, the Human Ancestor didn’t even survive to the third day.
He died on the second.
His first descent had ended in a tragic death before he was even able to do anything of real significance.
This was a great test for the Human Ancestor.
It was terrible, yet it was also very real.
This test, however, had at least demonstrated that the Human Ancestor’s thought process was on the correct path. This method had successfully deceived the Lord of the Dreamrealm.
His second descent lasted for even longer.
Instead of maximizing his longevity, he instead assumed the form of a stronger human so that he wouldn’t simply starve to death.
Even so, he didn’t know anyone and was basically cut off from society.
He discovered that, apart from being a beggar, no other identity really suited him.
From that day onwards, he wandered the human race’s territory under the guise of a monk seeking enlightenment.
Being a monk was not an easy matter either.
Because the Human Ancestor himself did not really have a path of cultivation.
The current human race was descended from the bloodline of a crippled Immortal, and none of them could actually cultivate immortal energy.
The Human Ancestor didn’t know how he could revive this cultivation process.
At the beginning, all he could do was provide the human race with some minor help here and there.
He could not tell the humans of their past. That would be too risky. If he uttered a sensitive name, then the Lord of the Dreamrealm could easily use the Dreamrealm to sift through his memories and might even discover his betrayal of the gods.
As such, he could only quietly provide assistance to the humans from the shadows.
At this time, the human race’s control over Origin Energy was still quite preliminary. The Qi Drawing Realm was the peak that they could reach.
But with the Human Ancestor’s aid, their ceiling gradually expanded upwards. This development process was slow and arduous, but the Human Ancestor himself also began to mature with time.
But even as the Human Ancestor continued to provide guidance to the humans, the Lord of the Dreamrealm seemed to gradually catch on to his actions.
The human race, however, was far from where the Human Ancestor wanted them to be. This made him extremely anxious.
One day, a high-status Dark Astral offered up quite a significant amount of fresh blood. This, combined with what the Human Ancestor had stockpiled was more than enough to grant him extraordinary power for this next descent.
Even though this “extraordinary power” would be considered weak now, for that time, it was quite impressive.
At the same time, another coincidence took place.
When the Human Ancestor descended this time, a Demonic Beast, the Fire Ape, just so happened to be terrorizing a nearby village. Just as the inhabitants of the village were about to be slaughtered, the Human Ancestor suddenly appeared and killed the ape.
One of the villagers that had been chased had broken both his legs.
For that time period, this was basically a death sentence.
The Human Ancestor, moved by compassion and emotion for his descendents, did his best to attach the now-deceased Fire Ape’s leg to him and took care of him for a few days.
Three days later, he departed.
Even though he had physically left the village, he continued to watch over the villager that he had saved through the small tunnel that the Lord of the Dreamrealm had bored through the Barrier.
He had originally thought that this makeshift remedy would not be very effective, and that the villager would die soon after.
However, contrary to all expectations, something shocking occurred.
The villager survived, and he even inherited some of the Fire Ape’s unique characteristics. This fortunate turn also allowed him to spontaneously create the Origin Skill, Flame Blade, propelling him to the peak of human society.
In fact, this human also discovered a new cultivation realm, successfully blazing the path to the Blood Boiling Realm.
This was an extremely significant development to the Human Ancestor.
It had shown him that the human race needed to take their own path. Simply relying on his guidance wouldn’t be enough.
Even though he was the Human Ancestor, he had long since ceased to be human.
He no longer had a human body; in fact, the only human aspect about him was his consciousness. He could no longer cultivate, which meant that he had very little to offer to other humans in terms of practical guidance.
In some sense, his guidance had even harmed the human race, limiting their development.
The Human Ancestor thus decided to take a step back.
From then on, every time he descended, he would choose a single target and give that target an opportunity.
This opportunity would grant that target special abilities.
The Human Ancestor had no idea what his actions would accomplish. All he knew was that this was the extent of what he could do — sow a few promising seedlings. The rest would be all up to them.
The human race needed to fight for and create their own future. All he could do was help them along the way.
At the same time, the Human Ancestor also began to intentionally lead the Dark Astrals towards the process of consciousness conversion.
The rise of the Arcana Kingdom gave the human race even more opportunities.
Their innovation, perception, and ability to observe things on a microscopic scale filled the Human Ancestor with expectation. The only slightly regrettable thing about them was that they were not humans.
But even if they weren’t humans, they would still be very useful.
He secretly inspired them to create the consciousness converter instrument, allowing them to obtain more power from the Astrals and also increase how often he could descend. At the same time, he influenced them to create the bloodline extraction instrument to help the human race grow stronger. The proud Arcanists had no idea that the inventions that they relied on so heavily were actually largely inspired by the Human Ancestor.
In this fashion, the Human Ancestor continued his ceaseless labor to benefit the human race. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of years had passed. The Arcanists, humans, and Astrals had all been indelibly affected by his actions.
Over this period of time, the Human Ancestor had personally witnessed the human race grow stronger, turning from food to slaves, from slaves to landowners, and then finally claiming their own territory and making a name for themselves.
Many of the individuals responsible for the major advancements of the human race were people whom he had selected and gifted opportunities to. They became commanders and generals of the human armies, accomplishing astounding feats during their lifetimes. Of course, there were also some people who squandered the blessing that the Human Ancestor bestowed upon them. Li Daohong was one such example.
The Human Ancestor saw all kinds of people rise and fall throughout this lengthy process, and he had long since grown numb to the personal affairs of a single human.
He had long since accepted that he could only sow seeds. What these seeds grew up to become, he had no say in.
As such, he could only patiently wait.
One time, he descended to Northface City.
He heard a youth recounting the great achievements that the human race had accomplished.
With joy in his heart, the Human Ancestor bestowed his treasured Arcanist Eye to that youth.
In his eyes, this was just another seed that he had sown.
He didn’t expect anything to come of it, and neither would he waste his time fantasizing about it.
It wasn’t until many years later that he realized that the seedling he had planted was growing at an exceptionally quick rate……
“So that’s how it is…… It’s no wonder the gods weren’t able to find you even after all this time,” Su Chen said with a sigh.
The Human Ancestor had actually ceased to physically exist a long time ago. He had always been hiding within the Lord of the Dreamrealm’s body, and the Lord of the Dreamrealm was also truly not a traitor to the gods. However, he had never realized that he had always been subtly influenced by the Human Ancestor. This was why the Lord of the Dreamrealm had made all those mistakes, passing along mistaken information to the gods.
“But he is definitely aware of my existence now. He let you come in here to talk to me so that he could discover my whereabouts. He knows that, as long as you are here, I will appear as well.” The Human Ancestor then paused and sighed before suddenly yelling out, “Dream, you’ve been listening this whole time, haven’t you? Aren’t you going to show yourself?”
Following these words, the Lord of the Dreamrealm’s giant face appeared in the sky, radiating a boundless, majestic aura.
The Lord of the Dreamrealm gazed at the Human Ancestor and calmly said, “I never would have imagined that you were actually that Immortal from all those years ago. Perhaps this is fate. Fate has tied the two of us together like an intertwined strand of rope. I promised to give you a path to survival, but at the same time, I also allowed the human race’s flame of vengeance to burn on. Now that Su Chen has successfully reopened the path of cultivating immortal energy, you have won.”
“You are correct. Now that we have reached this point, there is no longer any need for me to hide. Today’s battle will be the final battle between the humans and the gods. No matter what happens here, I can die without regrets.
“Die without regrets?” Su Chen was stunned by the Human Ancestor’s last words.
The Human Ancestor slowly turned around. “Yes, die without regrets. What comes next is my battle with Dream. Do not interfere, Su Chen. We have been bound together for tens of thousands of years, and our hatred for each other knows no bounds. Today, it will all come to an end. No matter who wins, this divine body will only contain one will from this day onwards.”
