Chapter 185
Hebe's gaze fell on the stone slab, but he secretly chose a young man, the nephew of Ant Hill.
"Uncle... Ant-hill Immortal!" The young man knelt on the ground, clasping his hands together. "I have a question I would like to ask you."
The "Ant-hill Immortal," who was giving a lecture, slowly stopped and turned to look at his nephew. "Do you have any questions?"
"I would like to ask, how can one become an 'immortal'!"
The two immortals, who were discussing the future behind the Maya Illusionary Power Curtain, did not stop their conversation.
The real Ant-hill Immortal didn't even turn his head; he simply stretched out his hand and waved it behind him.
Another layer of Maya Illusionary Power appeared.
Under the influence of the illusion, the ordinary students remained oblivious. Ant Hill's nephew, too, was immersed in the illusion within the illusion, listening to his uncle's private lesson.
Of course, Hebe remains unaffected.
She heard the ant mound say to his nephew, "Child, the fact that you have this question shows that you have developed a heart for ascetic practice, which is good. Now I will tell you the difference between Pure Land, the Dharma, and immortals."
"The so-called Pure Land does not exist in the mortal world, but in our dreams, the real world that lies on the surface of the present world."
"After you drink Soma wine and enter a deep meditation, you will see a vast forest. As you pass through the forest, you will see a pure white, magnificent snow-capped mountain... This snow-capped mountain is the Pure Land of Shangri-La -La."
"The so-called Dharma is the law of Pure Land Shangri-La. Ascetics never sleep because we accumulate the power of ascetic practice in this way and dedicate it to Pure Land Shangri-La."
"The so-called immortals are ascetics who have achieved great accomplishments. Only those who truly enter the Snow Mountain Pure Land, Shangri-La, and pay homage to the supreme Brahma will be granted the title of 'immortal'."
The Ant-hill Immortal said kindly, "After that, you can cultivate on your own and will no longer have to pay taxes."
"By accumulating the power of ascetic practice, you can cast curses, create blessings, create Brahma Artifact... or revise the Dharma."
259 A tribute to legendary programmer Hebe
Long lifespan.
Receive blessings.
To cast a curse.
These are the impressions that young people have of "immortals".
He had imagined the immortals to be as powerful as possible.
But he did not expect that the immortals' abilities still far exceeded his imagination.
The young man knelt on the ground in awe. "Ant-hill Immortal! I thank you for your enlightenment, but I still do not understand."
"You have already pointed out the differences between immortals, Pure Land, and the Dharma to me, but I still have doubts."
"Shouldn't the infinitely powerful Brahma Artifact be bestowed by Brahma himself? How could it be created by the immortals? Shouldn't the Dharma that exists in all things be something we strive to uphold and protect? How could it be defined by the immortals themselves?"
The young man knelt down on the ground in fear and trepidation.
Hebe, using Kama's body, read the text on the clay tablet while swaying his head, eavesdropping on the conversation between the two immortals, and quietly waiting for the Ant-hill Immortal's reply.
She wasn't a young woman who knew nothing about this, but she still had many doubts.
For example, she was deeply impressed by the "Snow Mountain Pure Land - Shangri-La" that the Ant-hill Immortal just mentioned.
During her many dreams, she repeatedly saw that bright, clean, and cold snow-capped mountain in the wilderness, in the woodlands and the World-Encircling River.
She even became a border lord of the snow-capped mountains at one point.
In the wasteland, different plots of land follow different rules. The rules of the woodland are completely different from those of the World-Encircling River, but in the areas where the two intersect, the rules are ambiguous.
Hebe frowned slightly.
If they were to replace dreaming with asceticism, visit the wilderness with the help of drugs and alcohol, and regard the laws of that snow mountain as the "Dharma," then all of this would make sense.
"Child, you are wrong."
"The Dharma is the law governing the world itself, and each of us is a result of the operation of the Dharma," said the Ant-hill Immortal under the Maya Illusionary Power. "We immortals are only able to define the Dharma because it is permitted by the Dharma! Think carefully about this answer, and I hope that in the near future, you too can become a member of the ascetic!"
Under Maya Illusionary Power, the Ant-hill Immortal reached out and pushed the young man back into the sound of reading aloud.
Still hidden beneath the veil of illusion Bhrigu Immortal laughed heartily, "Ant mound! That's not the correct answer!"
"Master, you are wrong. What I said is exactly correct, but I only said part of it." Ant smiled and replied, "We immortals do indeed cultivate diligently in the operation of the Dharma, but Brahma has no form. Only through our arduous cultivation can we generate the illusory power called Maya."
The Ant-hill Immortal proudly raised his arms.
"When we practice asceticism towards Brahma, the Maya Illusionary Power arises from the Pure Land. All the Maya Illusionary Power generated by those ascetics who have not yet become immortals returns to the Pure Land. Only we immortals can retain the Maya Illusionary Power gained through asceticism!"
The Bhrigu Immortal, replied with a smile.
"You're right, my disciple. With the Maya Illusionary Power, we can create magical artifacts (Astras), we can cast curses and request blessings, and we can even add to and revise the Dharma Maya Illusionary Power!"
"But neither Brahma nor we have the ability to delete parts of the Dharma, which is why the Vedic Age must come."
Hebe's expression grew increasingly strange as she listened.
The master and disciple were spouting a bunch of novel terms like "the Dharma" and "Pure Land," which would be incomprehensible to some students even in later generations.
But what if we change the nouns?
The so-called Snow Mountain Pure Land are nothing more than servers.
Isn't this so-called ascetic practice just empty mental mining?
Isn't the so-called "Dharma" just server user rules?
What is Maya Illusionary Power...? Isn't it just computing power allocated to users from the server?
The ascetics are the miserable intern programmers who have to spend a lot of brainpower maintaining the server's operation, but the computing power they get from mining is very little.
The immortals are seasoned programmers who have been tested over time; they can obtain a lot of computing power allocated by the server by expending some of their brainpower.
The immortals would use this computing power to create virtual items (Brahma Artifact), grant additional permissions (request the server to grant blessings), open boxes to attack other users (initiate curses), and add new code to the server (revise the Dharma).
So, it turns out that you Bharata have a traditional talent for computers passed down from your ancestors!
Hebe suppressed a laugh.
After opening her mind, she felt a flood of ideas popping into her head.
Many problems that were previously incomprehensible have now been readily solved.
Why does the myth of Bharata seem like a mountain of shit, whether in past lives or this life?
Because various immortals are constantly adding code (writing the Dharma) inside, the code written by the staff cannot be deleted at will; they can only be modified or patched to fix it.
Over the years, it naturally becomes a mountain of garbage code!
Why do immortals go to great lengths to promote the invasion of external enemies, even at the cost of destroying their own native culture?
Because they expend computing power on the server, believing they have calculated the best result for themselves.
After the Aryans invasion and destruction of the original civilization, "Shiva," who was responsible for deleting the database and unplugging the power, was also added to this server.
In this way, the immortals found a backup plan for the server.
Although Hebe does not yet know which one corresponds to the ruling entity of "Shiva", it is not important.
In modern terms, the Bharata Lostbelt currently in the beta testing phase.
The public test will only begin when the Aryans invade and the Vedic Age is formally established.
Hebe has plenty of time to observe the course of history, or rather, she can do something at the risk of being locked by Eris.
Inside the Fangcun Mountain, Hebe slowly opened her eyes.
She looked at the little Kama who was still playing with the Nine-Colored Deer in the mountains.
Hebe had no idea that the little Kama before her was the poor god of love who was later ordered to bring Shiva and Parvati together, but ended up being burned to ashes.
But that didn't stop Hebe from giving her a little bit of care.
—The building is about to collapse, the city is about to be destroyed, and no egg remains unbroken when the nest is overturned!
These immortals propel the giant wheel of time forward, completely disregarding the origins of the blood and bones flowing beneath it.
The scenery around Kama continued to change, and then the huge white deer gently approached and bowed its head to him.
Among the nine-colored flowers blooming among the huge antler-shaped branches, one of them gently fell down.
The bluish-purple petals fell between Kama's eyebrows, turning into a faint mark.
Kama blinked, feeling a surge of emotion welling up within her, a feeling akin to soaring through the clouds. This emotion compelled her to reach out and place her hand on the Nine-Colored Deer's forehead.
Call--
A fierce wind blew from afar, and the enormous, wondrous white deer also transformed into clouds and mist, gently pushing Kama out, pushing him out of these countless cloud-covered mountains!
Layer upon layer of clouds gathered from both sides, obscuring the warm sun in the deep forest, withered vines and ancient trees, clear springs and flowing water, Azure Cliff White Deer...
But where exactly is this place?
As if sensing Kama's intentions, another stone tablet emerged from the thick clouds.
She had never seen the words before, yet she could read them with remarkable clarity and dexterity.
The meaning of the text is: Spiritual Terrace, Square Inch Mountain, Slanting Moon, Three Stars Cave!
When Kama opened his eyes, he found himself still lying in bed, with the sky around him just beginning to lighten.
Hebe returned Kama's spirit body to her own body.
Although the night school session had ended, the conversation between the two immortals did not end.
While it would be good for Hebe to stay there and listen in on some of the conversation, after understanding the nature of the immortals and the plans they were pushing forward, whether she listened or not didn't really matter.
"Here comes the stick."
Under the Bodhi Tree, Hebe stretched out his palm towards the distance.
Call--
A confluence of events.
A wondrous white deer with nine-colored flowers growing between its antlers came obediently to Hebe's eyes and instantly transformed into a verdant wooden staff.
From beginning to end, the wind, fog, and white deer that led Kama's spirit to this place and safely returned it home were all merely transformations of the White Deer Staff, a wondrous object created by Hebe.
Since its creation, Hebe has been continuously modifying and improving this wooden staff in the mortal world.
While there have been improvements in other areas, such as the addition of healing and illusion effects, the most crucial function—the ability to lift people to flight—remains as slow as a snail's pace, making it rather useless.
However, once they entered the Lostbelt, the functions that Hebe added in later generations instantly unleashed their boundless power.
Simply...
"It's practically like a magic weapon," Hebe murmured.
The magical artifacts described by Hebe are naturally different from the "Brahma Artifact" of the immortals.
The Brahma Artifact is also known as Astra, literally meaning star.
—Hebe deduced that it might be related to the September Archon, Celestial Flint, since the Regent's title included "King of Forging Stars," but she had no evidence.
Brahma Artifact are actually a kind of incantation, which allows one to imbue their weapons or armor with certain properties through chanting.
Doesn't that sound a lot like entering cheat codes?
According to Hebe's understanding, there are generally three types of Brahma Artifact.
The first type is the most common, which is said to be able to destroy Brahma Artifact, but in reality, it only has greater destructive power.
"Yes, this is equivalent to the programmer giving the user a supreme dragon-slaying sword with a value of 999."
The second type is a Brahma Skull Treasure with truly immense power, capable of destroying the Three Realms once used.
"Ah, well... it's probably some kind of code that forces uninstallation or bans users."
The third type is the legendary armor that can resist other magical treasures, known as the Brahma Egg Magic Treasure.
"Sure enough, every cause has its effect. If programmers were to be given the ultimate dragon-slaying sword every day, they would at least use administrator privileges to create a diamond armor for themselves."
Because it is a spell (code), as long as the immortals teach it to other students, they will also be able to use the same Brahma Artifact.
Hebe understood everything.
This Bharata Lostbelt, the so-called battle of the immortals, is nothing more than programmers competing in computing power.