The decades Chen Yu spent "serving his sentence" in the House of Destiny forced him to grow up a bit.

He was no longer as paranoid and extreme as he was in his youth.

He also gradually learned to think.

For instance, at this moment, he sat at the desk in his bedroom, staring at the bowl of food in front of him, focusing intently on researching why humans thousands of years ago had invented the delicacy of tofu pudding doused in soy sauce.

"Could the chef have been a genius?"

After a long time.

He couldn't figure it out.

He looked up and called out to the door, "Someone come here."

"Your Highness!" The wooden door pushed open, and the D+ grade top-tier Transcendent walked in, respectfully saluting, "Your orders?"

"Who made this tofu pudding?" Chen Yu picked up the bowl.

"Our head chef."

"Drag him out and chop him."

"Understood!" The top-tier Transcendent acknowledged the order and turned to leave.

"Do you understand anything? Can't you tell I'm just expressing my emotions?" Chen Yu flared up in anger. "If I told you to die, would you die too?"

"Gah!"

The Transcendent decisively drew his sword and placed it against his own throat, shouting, "To fulfill Your Highness's will!"

"...That's enough." Holding the bowl, Chen Yu's anger vanished as quickly as it appeared. He stood up and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. Then, he said, "I called you here to ask about the civil service exam results. Have they all been released?"

"They have," the Transcendent replied without hesitation. "The total number of participants was one million four hundred and thirty thousand, with one hundred and ninety-three thousand six hundred and eighty-eight full scores."

"Very good," Chen Yu nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly smashed the bowl with a thunderous crash, "As for the remaining million or so people, are they all idiots? Can't they even do basic addition?!" (Not being extreme)

"Idiots might be saying too much," the Transcendent replied meticulously. "But they are illiterate. They can't write their own names." Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Chen Yu: "..."

"Princess Consort, do you need me to hold the exams again? I guarantee every paper will have a name."

After a moment of silence, Chen Yu sighed and waved his hand, "No need. Nearly two hundred thousand people should be enough."

"Yes!" The top-tier Transcendent stood at attention.

"When can we expect these two hundred thousand 'top scholars' to arrive?"

"They are being transported urgently. By this afternoon at the latest, these twelve thousand surplus top scholars will have arrived for your inspection."

Chen Yu: "...Didn't you just say nineteen thousand in the previous sentence?"

"Yes," the Transcendent nodded, respectfully saying, "But this sentence has only twelve thousand left."

Chen Yu: "Did you eat them?"

Transcendent: "No. This morning, we received news that during transport, one of the routes was attacked by a rebel group of Transcendents from the Divine Spirit Tribe, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths."

Chen Yu: "..."

"But Your Highness, you needn't worry. We will have our revenge," the Transcendent's eyes were icy. "I have already dispatched a twenty-strong Transcendent squad to strike back."

"That's very good of you," Chen Yu uttered with pursed lips.

"But the latest news," the Transcendent checked his communication device. "The squad I sent out has also been entirely wiped out."

Chen Yu: "..."

"Your Highness, do you need me to dispatch another?"

"If we dispatch anymore, we'll both end up as bare-pole commanders."

"Yes!" The Transcendent solemnly saluted.

"Now get out of my sight," Chen Yu said wearily, waving his hand. "If you keep looming before me, I might not be able to resist killing you myself."

"Yes!"

Turning around, the Transcendent marched off with deliberate steps.

And took care to close the door behind him for Chen Yu.

Chen Yu flopped down in the chair and gazed up at the ceiling, his thoughts swirling with complexity.

Even up to now.

He had begun to understand what the "Princess Consort" meant by destiny.

If everything was preordained,

Would people still wish to start over...

The surge in human civilization's evil entities led to the fury of the Holy Spirit Clan, causing their race's impending extinction.

He alone saved civilization, yet a mere couple hundred (and possibly less than a hundred now) Transcendents of the human race couldn't possibly stop the fragments of the remaining forces from mutually assured destruction, along with the covetous surrounding tribes.

Chen Yu alone couldn't protect all of humanity.

However, the development of civilization needed the support of a large population.

To follow the 'normal developmental route' of 'other races', slowly growing from a low population, would take at least ten thousand years. His mere eight hundred years of life were laughable...

This was a vicious cycle.

Only the "Soul Orb" could break the cycle!

Only the "Soul Orb" could defy convention, allowing the human race to first have a large number of Transcendents, and then expand the population.

And then enter a virtuous circle.

To provide Chen Yu the foundation needed to advance to an A-grade supreme level.

And to firmly establish the foothold of humanity.

But what was the price?

Naturally, it was the mess made by the Transcendent class revolving around the "Soul Orb" thousands of years later.

And the unending hell in the far future mentioned by the Princess Consort...

"So..."

Chen Yu turned his head and looked at the small mountain of Soul Orbs piled up in the room, his gaze complicated, "It's not that I chose the Soul Orb."

"It's that we never really had a choice."

Upon having this thought.

He faintly felt that the mountain of Soul Orbs in front of him suddenly didn't smell so "foul" anymore.

...

Time.

It's like the love of lovers.

Once they start to marry, it flashes by in an instant.

Soon it was 2 P.M.

All one hundred and twenty thousand of humanity's elite, the overall exam toppers, had assembled at the outermost part of the Ancestral Mountain Range.

Led by the newly advanced C-grade Transcendent Grand Elder and Second Elder, they were divided into four groups.

Each group consisted of thirty thousand people.

Lined up and waiting for Chen Yu's inspection.

So, when Chen Yu stepped out of the stone fortress and saw the dense, seemingly endless lines of thirty thousand people below,

He felt his mind tremble.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com