An Epiphany

Ma Shilong felt that Big Black Pig was his true body. Something was definitely wrong here.

Even if an ordinary person really had the chance to be reincarnated as a pig, their mind would still be human, and their values would still be human, right?

A typical example was Zhu Bajie. He was the first person to be reincarnated as a pig, yet he still could not forget Chang'e, loved boasting about his former glory, and often kept the title of Marshal Tian Peng on his lips.

Ma Shilong's mind must have been forcibly altered by Zhou Nan during his reincarnation as a pig. This involved one of Emperor's Hammer's abilities: enlightenment.

Enlightenment came from the "Dunhuang Bianwen Collection: Lecture Text on the Vimalakirti Sutra": "Upon hearing Vimalakirti's name, it entered the heart like dew; speaking with him was like being enlightened."

Historical records stated that there had once been an emperor of the Kingdom of Zhou, gifted with unmatched eloquence. His supernatural powers encompassed all dharanis, he possessed the power to subdue demons, excelled in wisdom, had a lucid mind, and understood the inclinations of all living beings. One day, he encountered the great layman Vimalakirti and gained an insight, sighing that the revelation he had received was like enlightenment.

That emperor later combined the state of mind and realizations he had experienced while conversing with Vimalakirti, along with the process of his wavering spirit becoming resolute, and created a divine art attached to Emperor's Hammer. This divine art was called: enlightenment.

Of course, Ma Shilong himself had created all this background and lore by combining real-world allusions with the setting of his fictional kingdom.

Then Zhou Nan used the "enlightenment" Ma Shilong himself had designed to make him accept that he was a pig.

There was no more miserable fate for an author who abandoned his work.

Qin Luming wanted to sympathize with him, but he wanted even more to send an emoji: Smirk.jpg.

Actually, it was not so bad. At least Ma Shilong had not lost his male characteristics... Well, on second thought, that was not a good thing either. If Ma Shilong's mind had not been interfered with, he would probably have preferred to lose those male characteristics right now.

"If you want to laugh, just laugh. I know holding back laughter is painful." Ma Shilong looked at Qin Luming with calm composure.

"I won't laugh. I can hold it in." Qin Luming shook his head. His self-control was fairly strong, because he had once heard a saying: people who could not hold back their laughter often could not hold back that other thing either.

"I remember when we met that day, you said you were writing web novels too, right?" Ma Shilong looked at Qin Luming and noticed that his lips were pressed tightly together. Not the slightest trace of a smile had escaped.

"I only signed a contract yesterday." Qin Luming spoke somewhat sheepishly, though he also felt a little satisfied. After all, only a few percent of writers managed to get contracts.

"When I first started writing, I was your age too. Looking at you, I feel as though I'm seeing my former self." Ma Shilong rubbed his slightly balding crown. "Back then, I was full of passion. Three updates a day were routine. When I really went all out, I could do five, six, seven, even ten updates."

"Now you can't even finish a continuation that concerns your life... Is this the aftereffect of habitually abandoning your novels?" Qin Luming could not imagine how someone who had once been so hardworking and driven had become such a useless writer who repeatedly abandoned his books.

"I'm old." Ma Shilong spoke with some emotion, but his eyes immediately lit up again. "Fortunately, I met Zhou Nan and got a second spring."

Qin Luming knew that Ma Shilong's second spring after meeting Zhou Nan was not romance. It was because he had become a pig.

He wanted to comment on it somehow... but Ma Shilong already believed himself to be a pig. What could Qin Luming say? He could only explain it as: You are not a pig, so how would you know a pig's joy?

"Brother Ma, you mentioned Zhou Nan's palace just now... She brought an entire palace with her when she crossed over?" Qin Luming changed the subject, no longer trying to understand Ma Shilong's psychological journey before and after becoming a pig.

"No." Ma Shilong turned and pointed at the dam. "She has actually already taken the dam away. The entire reservoir, the river channel, and the mountains on both banks have all been covered by a powerful formation. What you see now is only an illusion. Even if you entered the area covered by the formation, you would not notice the true scene. Her palace is right here."

Qin Luming looked over at once. The night sky was dark and heavy, while the rolling mountains and deep valleys framed the faint silhouette of the dam looming over them. A palace beyond mortal sight was hidden there. Perhaps it was close at hand, perhaps one could even stand within it, yet still be unable to sense its existence.

How marvelous... Longing inevitably appeared in Qin Luming's eyes. Who would not be curious about such an incredible method?

"By the way, why did she take the dam?" Qin Luming had never been able to understand Zhou Nan's actions. A Zinc Factory, a bridge, and now a dam.

"She believed that the distribution of work and living areas in our world's factories, as well as their overall design concepts, were worth studying. She also found the all-metal double-deck bridge quite interesting. As for the dam, she felt that its energy conversion devices, energy control systems, and transmission systems were unimaginably ingenious. Without the enhancement of a divine arts master's formation, it could continuously convert the power of water elements into other forms of power. She even planned to find the largest energy-conversion dam in this world and take it back to the Kingdom of Zhou," Ma Shilong explained.

"The world's largest energy-conversion dam... Th-this, she means she wants to take away the world's largest hydroelectric power station, right?" Qin Luming had truly underestimated the vision and ambition of an otherworldly ruler. It was not as though he had never considered that Zhou Nan's arrival might cause damage to the modern world. He had simply always thought that the "Power of Order" accompanying her divine arts would repair the effects.

But if she took away the world's largest hydroelectric power station, that was definitely not something the Power of Order could repair. It would cause apocalyptic disasters, war, and panic.

"That's what she meant." Ma Shilong nodded. "But don't worry. After I persuaded her, she temporarily gave up on the idea. After all, she still doesn't know when she will be able to return to the Kingdom of Zhou. There would be no use in taking the world's largest hydroelectric power station now."

Qin Luming breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, Ma Shilong's image in his eyes became glorious again. He had turned into a pig, gained the chance to get close to Zhou Nan, and saved the world because of it.

"Let's go. Come with me. We'll think of a plausible explanation and get Yang Xiaoyan's group out." Ma Shilong sounded somewhat helpless. "We need to deal with this quickly before Zhou Nan returns. Otherwise, when she comes back and sees people searching everywhere, who knows what she might do?"

"Why not just let them go directly? And why did you turn them into pigs in the first place?" Qin Luming asked in confusion.

"They ate fruit from the tree I fertilized. Eating that kind of fruit causes a transformation effect that lasts twenty-four hours. They thought obeying me in everything was their only chance to turn back into humans." Ma Shilong burst into laughter.

Qin Luming glanced at Ma Shilong, thought for a moment, and said, "Then once they turn back into humans, let them return directly."

"After they turn back, I'll make them forget everything that happened while they were pigs. Their bodies will also be extremely weak, so someone will need to find them in time, or they might be harmed by other wild beasts in the mountains." Ma Shilong gave a derisive snort. "You really are cautious. Are you afraid I'll harm you? I'm now the Black Rider General under Zhou Nan, and my abilities are comparable to Zhu Bajie's. If I wanted to deal with you, do you think that entrenching shovel of yours would be useful? Come on. Don't you want to see Zhou Nan's palace?"

With that, Ma Shilong headed toward the dam without waiting to see whether Qin Luming agreed.

Qin Luming hesitated. Ma Shilong clearly did not know that Qin Luming was no ordinary person either, but under such circumstances, Ma Shilong had still not attacked him. Qin Luming naturally relaxed his guard a little and followed after him. Saving people was only incidental; he truly wanted to see Zhou Nan's palace.