Knowledge from Idle Chatter

The intermediate microscopic particles can easily pass through the human body, buildings, and even the world, making them difficult to observe and unable to affect other substances under normal circumstances.

Therefore, given its bird-like and fish-like appearance, it was named the Micro-Birds.

It's actually quite casual, but naming civilizations has always been like this.

It's important to know that many worlds don't even have names; they're all just numbers.

Yan Cong continued explaining the Micro-Birds to the rest of the team.

Li Qi was also listening attentively.

However, as he listened, Bu Renyou Youxiong Gong suddenly asked, "Why are so many of these habits just speculations? Don't we understand them yet?"

Yan Cong, a technical expert, shook his head. "Of course. To be honest, communication with Micro-Birds has been very difficult and abstract so far. It is difficult for both sides to understand each other. They can only communicate through complex mathematical language. After all, mathematics is universal, but even mathematics is difficult to convey real messages."

"Why?" Even Li Qi was curious now.

Yan Cong continued to explain, "Because they are completely different. The Second Rank World must have its own special features. The thinking of the Micro-Birds is completely different from ours, and we cannot communicate with them."

"Initially, we thought it was because of the language difference. Actually, we joined forces with the spiritual path and found a third-grade spiritual expert. We hoped to establish a mental connection with the Micro-Birds through the other party's attainments in pure thinking, bypassing the differences between the two sides in the material world, directly breaking through the senses and the five aggregates, and conducting a thorough spiritual dialogue."

"It's not difficult, to be honest, it's quite simple. But after establishing a mental dialogue, we realized that even in purely intellectual communication, we couldn't understand each other."

"Can't even understand intellectual communication?" Li Qi asked in surprise.

Everyone else also looked surprised.

The people around him were all of the fifth rank, and everyone understood what that meant.

For example, the word "apple" has three different pronunciations in Chinese, Japanese, and English.

Even if they don't speak the same language, if they have a telepathic connection, they can reach a consensus on language, because although they speak different languages, their thinking is the same, and the things they refer to are the same. Ultimately, they can all embody the concept in the 'apple'.

Because we speak different languages, but think the same way.

However, if their ways of thinking are completely different, then they really can't communicate at all.

This difference in degree means that even if you and the other person are of one mind, all you can feel is pure distraction. You can't truly understand each other at all. It's not just a difference in species, but a difference in the underlying structure of thought.

"Completely different ways of thinking...it's really hard to imagine." After thinking for a moment, Youxiong Gong finally decided to give up.

It's hard to imagine what completely different ways of thinking would be.

"It's hard to imagine, but it's not entirely different. At least the mathematical language is the same. As long as you are good at arithmetic, you can have relatively simple communication through arithmetic," Yan Cong said.

"However, apart from that, I can't understand it. Let's talk about it when we get there." He shook his head.

Li Qi nodded.

He had already begun to look forward to it.

What would it be like to be a race with a completely different way of thinking?

Li Qi has never forgotten his original aspiration. From the very beginning of his cultivation, he wanted to see more Dao Lineage. Even though he has now seen the great Dao of the world, the many Dao Lineage outside the realm are still very interesting.

Now, in a Second Rank World, an ally of the Shaman Path, and such a strange existence at that...

That's really something to look forward to.

"By the way, are all Second Rank World this strange? I'm still young, and you all are older than me. Have you ever been to a higher-grade world?" Li Qi asked the others around him.

Zongren Shao Chi said, "High-grade worlds all have their own unique characteristics... Pshaw, that's nonsense. Without their own unique characteristics, they can't become high-grade worlds at all. But if we're talking about having more contact with high-grade worlds, shouldn't you Shaman be the ones who have the most contact with them? Why would you ask us?"

Li Qi smiled wryly and spread his hands, "That's why I said it's because I'm too young..."

Yes, generally speaking, the people responsible for communicating between these worlds are the Shaman, but... Li Qi is an exception.

He's too young; he hasn't experienced those things before...

In a sense, Li Qi had a wealth of experience, after all, not everyone can deal with officials of the second or third rank.

But in reality, his experience was still too meager compared to his Shaman.

Shaman, who was of the same rank, had seen far more foreign landscapes than Li Qi; that was experience accumulated over time.

Moreover, it's difficult to make up for it, because that happened before the Human-Shaman War.

After the Human-Shaman War is over... many civilizations will probably never be seen again, and a new pattern and a new look will develop.

However, at this moment, Yan Cong spoke.

As the second Shaman, he said, "Actually, the high-grade worlds won't change much. They still have a strong ability to maintain themselves, so it's better to go and see them later. I have come into contact with some high-grade worlds, and all I can say is... they are all quite strange."

"How is it Divergent Method?" Li Qi asked curiously.

Yan Cong recalled, "Yes, they are all civilizations that can stand on their own in the universe, so they must have some skills. I have a deep impression of the Myriad Worlds. The reason for this name is that this race is somewhat similar to the Star Official, but Great One."

"The Myriad Worlds is of the third grade. There is only one kind of life on it, which is a symbiotic species. Each individual is a complete ecosystem. Moreover, they do not have 'mind'. That is to say, they are all unconscious entities like Savage Beast, but they have still developed High Civilization with very powerful technology and cultivation methods."

"How can civilization and technology develop without a mind? How did they do it?" The other team members, including Li Qi, also became curious.

"Divinity is not a necessity for development. For them, self-awareness is a constraint. They have extraordinary instincts and can communicate with all species entirely by relying on instinct. They develop technology by relying on instinct and find optimal solutions to problems by relying on instinct. If you talk to them, they can reply to you, and they can even lie and judge your level of danger. But they actually have no consciousness at all, just like an automatic responder."

Li Qi found it somewhat unbelievable and asked, "If they have no consciousness... where does their initiative come from? What motivates them to pursue the Dao?"

This is a very important question: how can we move forward if we lack the subjective will required for each path?

"It's very simple. Their instinct to live comes entirely from the ultimate goal of 'survival.' If they need higher cultivation or stronger technology, their instinct will drive them to try. You should know that they just lack consciousness and self-awareness, not higher intelligence. In fact, the creatures of the Myriad Worlds are terrifyingly intelligent. They can easily understand most technologies and have mastered intricate and complex methods."

Li Qi listened and nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed, now that he's at the fifth rank, he can understand this kind of existence.

To illustrate, it's like the human body.

The human immune system is exquisite and complex, capable of dealing with all viruses in the universe, but it does not require an extra 'self-awareness' to operate this system; everything operates on instinct.

These immune systems are incredibly efficient, employing top-tier survival and species continuation strategies in every action. They are intelligent, flexible, and even advanced, surpassing anything created by human self-awareness in complexity, yet they can operate effortlessly using only instinct.

Some might wonder how someone without self-awareness can communicate with other beings, or even learn through dialogue. But don't forget, when a person is sleepwalking, they can still talk and even walk. Where is self-awareness then?

He's sleeping.

Therefore, self-awareness is not necessary.

By eliminating self-awareness, there will be no greed, selfishness, or other self-serving desires, nor will there be emotions like joy or happiness to interfere. One simply relies on instinct to drive the body and uses extremely high intelligence to understand the universe, much like a super anthill.

Ants are very organized and intelligent. They can even herd aphids and build complex nests that conform to aerodynamic and mathematical structures.

Ants have no self-awareness; they don't know what they are doing. It's all just instinct under natural selection.

"How could such a civilization have developed to the third rank?" Li Qi shook his head. The world is truly vast and full of wonders.

"It's truly incredible, but they did it. There's another one that I think is amazing, the Extreme Speed World. That's a name personally given by Ranked Shaman, a Second Rank World," Yan Cong said with a smile.

"Extreme speed? Are they really that fast?" Youxiong Gong expressed his confusion about the name.

No matter how fast it is, it doesn't need to be named like this, does it? Can it possibly be faster than things like the Liesu, the Golden Platform, or the Immortal Path?

Yan Cong shook his head and explained, "It's not that the speed is fast, but the speed of life. If they don't achieve immortality, their lifespan is only three millionths of a second. From birth, reproduction, to death, it's only three millionths of a second."

"Even if they attain immortality, they can only live for eight days. After eight days, they will die from the collapse of their Dao heart caused by excessive lifespan, just like those seventh-rank cultivators who have lived for tens of millions of years."

"What are they made of? Ordinary matter couldn't possibly be like this, could it?" Li Qi immediately realized this.

"Yes, they were born in a collapsed quasar. The matter on it is different from ordinary matter, with an extremely rapid half-life. Their bodies are made of this matter and will decay rapidly. For them, it means dying of old age."

"That is why their development speed is extremely fast, extremely fast. They can advance to the seventh rank in three millionths of a second, and at the same time, they will die from the collapse of their Dao heart within eight days."

"Within eight days, they must advance to the sixth rank. After reaching the sixth rank, their mental strength will be able to endure for sixty days."

"Up to the fifth rank, they can live for about a hundred years. To truly achieve the immortality we know, they need to reach the third rank. Only after reaching the third rank can they live for a long time without being affected by their own rapid mental state."

"However, this is only from our perspective. In their eyes, beings like us are all in slow motion. Their minds far surpass ours, and their reaction speed is extremely fast, giving them a great advantage in battle. They are very good at constructing complex and precise spells, but they are limited by the constraints of the material realm, making it difficult for them to break through the limits of the Heavenly Way Limit. However, it can be said that their actions are almost completely close to the Heavenly Way Limit, making them very difficult to deal with at the same level of the fifth rank."

"But combat strength is secondary. The most important thing is the speed of development. This is a very young civilization, only a few hundred million years old, but they are already Second Rank World. It's really... lightning fast." Yan Cong shook his head and sighed.

Their perceived time far exceeds that of ordinary life. For ordinary mortals among them, three millionths of a second is a lifetime. Ordinary seventh-rank cultivators can only live for eight days before dying from the collapse of their Dao heart due to the excessive time.

Li Qi pondered, then gave a wry smile. It must be very painful for this race.

Their sense of time moves quickly, but the world doesn't move that fast.

The world cannot keep up with their speed, including their own bodies. Once they leave the world they live in, external matter has a speed limit, and they must overcome the sense of delay brought about by the Heavenly Way Limit.

In other words, for this race, everything in the outside world is subject to a huge delay. Even if they just want to control their own bodies, they will feel a noticeable sluggishness unless they maintain the state of Heavenly Way Limit at all times, but obviously this is not realistic.

They had to endure the extreme difference between their thoughts and reality, and the torment of extreme loneliness. You know... even just waiting for a spaceship in a foreign land could take more than ten years.

For this civilization, a wait of more than a decade would be excruciating, which must have limited their range of movement, right? After all, it's common for travel to other regions to take thousands of years.

They are almost unable to leave their own world. Only after reaching the third or fourth rank, when they are no longer affected by time, is it possible for them to leave their hometown and venture beyond the borders.

There are gains and losses.

"They've reached the second rank in just a few hundred million years... That's terrifying. Could it be that reaching the first rank will happen to them very quickly?" Shao Chi exclaimed.

"I don't know about that, but I think that advancing to the first rank probably can't be achieved by simply accumulating time," Li Qi guessed.

At this point, Li Qi glanced at the time and clapped his hands. "Alright, break time is over, let's go."

When Li Qi, as the team leader, spoke, the others immediately stopped chatting, took their positions, and set off again.

After a two-month journey, they can now 'see' the Super Ruins.

A massive gravitational source capable of rotating all matter within tens of millions of light-years.

It is also the nest of the Micro-Birds, and this magical civilization lives on the horizon of Guixu.

"We've arrived. Prepare for the Sacrificial Ritual." Li Qi rose from the flying boat.

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