‘...Small. Your frame of mind is too small.’

Seeing Chu Xiaolian’s face full of confusion and indifference, Li Hanguang said calmly, “Have you ever gone hungry?”

Chu Xiaolian froze slightly and honestly shook his head.

“I haven’t gone hungry.”

After all, he was the third young master of the Chu Family of Hong City.

Though the Chu Family of Hong City was far, far from comparable to the Proud Sword Immortal Sect, it was still absolutely a cultivation family of one region.

The clan controlled several thousand mu of spiritual fields and also had a large number of other industries.

Even in the cultivation world, Chu Xiaolian could be considered a “rich second generation” type of figure!

Even if he became down and out, he was still the landlord’s own son, it was impossible for him to fall to the point of not even being able to afford food.

Li Hanguang sighed and said, “Do you know how many countries there are within Taicang Prefecture?”

Chu Xiaolian thought for a moment and said, “The forces in Taicang Prefecture are roughly divided into one holy land, seven immortal sects, a hundred sects, and a thousand countries.”

Li Hanguang nodded.

“Yes, Taicang Prefecture has several thousand mortal countries!”

“Each country has at least tens of millions of people, at most hundreds of millions or even several hundred million, add them up and there are at least hundreds of billions of common folk.”

Chu Xiaolian was slightly stunned.

“So many?”

Just as a giant dragon rarely cares about ants, cultivators rarely pay attention to ordinary people.

Listening to Li Hanguang’s explanation, Chu Xiaolian didn’t quite understand why Senior Brother would deliberately investigate and study these things.

Li Hanguang sighed and said, “Do you know why there can be a thousand countries within a single prefecture?”

‘Why can there be a thousand countries within a single prefecture?’

Chu Xiaolian looked puzzled.

“Because there isn’t a strong enough country to unify them?”

Li Hanguang said calmly, “If Taicang Holy Land casually sent out a single Saint, they could sweep across a thousand countries and unify Taicang Prefecture.”

In the mortal world, so-called “armies of thousands upon thousands” were worthless before cultivators.

“Why is it that Taicang Holy Land and the seven great immortal sects all choose to sit and watch as thousands of countries stand side by side, letting them wage war and slaughter each other? Each year, the number of common folk who die from warfare alone is probably no less than several billion!”

Chu Xiaolian froze.

He had never thought about these questions.

He seriously cupped his hands toward Li Hanguang.

“Please, Senior Brother, enlighten me.”

Li Hanguang looked at the rice paddy before them.

“Because barren land can’t keep these countless common folk alive. Three years ago, Li once went down the mountain for training and investigated the farming conditions of several nearby countries. In most countries, each household only has one or two mu of land, with total annual grain production only around two or three hundred jin. Even if all that grain belonged to the common folk, it still wouldn’t be enough to eat their fill. Moreover, that grain can’t all be eaten, a portion must be stored to deal with unexpected events, such as floods, drought, locust plagues and other natural disasters. If they only rely on farming grain to fill their stomachs, it’s completely impossible to properly support a household, especially families with many children.”

In Li Hanguang’s eyes, a deep sorrow rose from the bottom of his heart.

He sighed.

“I’ve seen families, because their stored grain wasn’t enough, abandon newborn infants in the ice and snow. I’ve also seen villages with customs where once an elder reaches a certain age, even if their body is still healthy, they’re still sent into a jar grave to wait for death in despair. If they run into a severe disaster year, where there’s widespread crop failure, it becomes even more unbearable to witness. Some people eat earth until their bellies burst, some chew poisonous weeds and drink poison to quench thirst, some even trade children and eat them!”

Chu Xiaolian’s whole body shook.

“T-this… how is that possible! Do they have no humanity?”

Li Hanguang said calmly, “You’ve never suffered that kind of hunger. In extreme hunger, the evil in human nature is amplified a thousand, ten thousand times, it becomes a beast that morality cannot restrain! Now, let’s deduce the earlier guess again. If Taicang Holy Land stepped in and completely unified these several thousand countries, perhaps it could create a brief peace and avoid the tens of billions of warfare casualties each year. But that would only be a flash in the pan.

The common folk aren’t like cultivators, who can soar to heaven and burrow into earth, roam the world on adventures, living exciting lives. When they have nothing to do, all they can do is stay home and have children. In just a few decades like this, the mortal population will explode, the land each person gets will become even less, and there will be more people trapped by hunger. At that time, if they run into another disaster year, the people who starve to death might not just be tens of billions. But hundreds of billions, or even several hundred billions!”

Chu Xiaolian swallowed hard, completely stunned by those massive numbers.

Even if he was slow and didn’t understand people’s livelihoods, the shock of tens or hundreds of billions of lives could still stun him senseless.

“War is the fastest and most direct way to reduce population. It’s also an important way for ordinary people to vent their desires, through war they can plunder other countries’ land and food and redirect hatred. And when men fight at the border year after year, they can also be separated from their wives for a long time, preventing the number of children from increasing sharply.”

“So in truth, the so-called chaos of a thousand countries is fundamentally population control?”

Li Hanguang nodded.

“Junior Brother Chu, you finally understand.”

“So this is the essence of the world?”

Chu Xiaolian couldn’t accept it.

“It’s too cruel, could it be that the chaos of war over tens of thousands of years has always been pushed from behind by holy lands and immortal sects?”

Chu Xiaolian was doubting his entire life.

It was like the day you suddenly discover your own elders are actually terrifying terrorists who bring calamity to the world.

That feeling would never be pleasant!

Li Hanguang shook his head.

“I don’t think these wars are something cultivators are pushing. I believe even more that ‘the grand trend under heaven, after long division must unite, after long unity must divide’ is fate, and the chaos of a thousand countries is the result of natural selection. Perhaps the holy land and immortal sects all have compassionate hearts, they want to solve these problems, but how easy is it to go against heaven?”

Chu Xiaolian nodded thoughtfully.

‘It really is going against heaven! As long as the grain problem isn’t solved, war and division won’t stop, it’ll only loop endlessly. This problem, the Taicang Holy Lord can’t solve, and Hao Ran Sword Saint can’t solve either.’

Li Hanguang nodded.

“War has no right or wrong, only standpoints. As long as the survival problem can’t be solved, war will never stop! And this so-called ‘fate,’ when you get down to it, is the contradiction between land, population and grain.”

Chu Xiaolian seemed to understand something and slapped his thigh hard.

“So as long as we let every common folk use their own land to grow enough food to eat their fill, that’s enough?”

Chu Xiaolian’s eyes lit up.

“I understand! The Rice Ancestor Senior Brother spoke of solved this problem. He cultivated giant rice and completely solved the difficulty of not having enough food to eat?”

Li Hanguang slowly nodded.

“In that ancient history, there are countless common folk, yet not a single person starves to death. Wars also decreased by a great deal, and the common folk live and work in peace and contentment. Things dropped on the road are not picked up, doors are not bolted at night, the old have their end, the strong have their use, the young have their growth, this is called… Great Harmony Under Heaven!”2

Chu Xiaolian was shaken.

“Countless common folk, not one starving to death, it’s simply inconceivable! That place… could it be the Immortal Realm?”

Li Hanguang stared deeply at Chu Xiaolian, picked up an ear of rice.

“That isn’t the Immortal Realm. As long as we youths of our generation join hearts and work together, that will be the future of the human world!”