Enlightenment

At dusk, the setting sun was like wine, intoxicating the rosy clouds at the horizon and staining them with a trace of profound crimson.

The distant mountain ranges and nearby forests were hazy beneath the golden light of the setting sun, as though they had become a landscape painting against a golden backdrop.

Now and then, black specks passed through the golden picture, their unceasing, clear cries echoing through the tranquil twilight.

Within a courtyard on Sunlit Cloud Peak, lush willow branches danced in the wind, shredding the evening light and scattering it across the ground.

Lin Chen lay leisurely on a wooden chair beneath the willow tree, gently blowing away the wisps of white vapor rising from his teacup before slowly taking a sip of the Spiritual Tea, which carried a faint, delicate fragrance.

After settling the Laboratory's issues, Lin Chen directly put aside the research in his hands and spent two days relaxing.

Unlike those ascetics who cultivated tirelessly day in and day out, Lin Chen had always believed in working when it was time to work and enjoying himself when it was time to enjoy himself—the way of culture and martial arts, one taut and one slack.

Lin Chen had never approved of that sort of inefficient effort.

In his view, many people bustled about all day and worked bitterly, yet achieved little and failed to attain good results. At the root of it all, they simply had not found the direction meant for their own lives.

Coupled with the fact that they saw their peers living well and felt unwilling to accept it, while their own strength could not match their desires, they grew anxious and sorrowful every day, then continued striving, perpetuating this vicious cycle.

But Lin Chen was different.

To him, after experiencing Life and Death Reincarnation, boundless darkness, and being reborn into a second life, the authority others coveted, strength, and even most things in this world were all insignificant.

The only things he cared about were the process by which spiritual energy formed the world, how cultivators used spiritual energy to evolve the essential nature of their lives, and the knowledge of how spiritual energy gave rise to all things.

Simply Put, what he truly cared about were the endless mysteries Hidden in spiritual energy.

And because he had a goal, a direction, and something to pursue, he did not care about anything else. Thus, he felt neither anxiety nor confusion; every movement he made naturally followed a method, steady and orderly.

Lin Chen stretched, loosened his muscles and bones, then took out a notebook.

This was a summary of what he had gained from his research into spiritual energy over this period.

"The previous research has already proven that spiritual energy possesses energy levels. Combined with my earlier research, I can summarize the following three laws concerning spiritual energy."

Lin Chen spread open his notes, where the following was written in bold strokes:

[Spiritual Energy Law]

1. [All things are composed of spiritual energy]

2. [Spiritual energy can transform into all things]

3. [Spiritual energy possesses Activity Level, energy levels, and self-information]

Compared to the previous complexity, the laws Lin Chen had summarized now were far simpler and clearer.

After all, he had always believed that laws should be like the Grand Unification Formula in mathematical conjectures—simple and clear, yet capable of explaining the mysteries of the universe.

And these three simple sentences were precisely the results of his scientific research into This Side World!

"If all of this is considered together, then I should have a basic conjecture regarding the birth of This Side World."

Lin Chen stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"The earliest spiritual energy Created the foundation of the world. As time passed, its energy levels declined level by level, changing from active to inert, until all things were ultimately born..."

As Lin Chen pondered, his eyes gradually brightened. He gently opened his palm, and the true qi within his body continuously shifted forms in its center.

First came the time when Heaven and Earth first opened, chaos like a chicken's egg. Then black and white were born together, forming the dual forces of yin and yang; they dispersed into the Five Elements, after which the sun, moon, and glittering stars appeared, followed in succession by the earth and oceans. The four seasons revolved, day and night alternated, and all things came into being...

At last, a vast and resplendent world formed in Lin Chen's palm!

"So that's how it is." Lin Chen looked at This Scene, his eyes clear and bright, and said somewhat dazedly, "Changes in spiritual energy's energy levels and its own transformations ultimately form a world. This... is the Dao of This Side World..."

In Lin Chen's view, the so-called Great Dao, whether in his previous life or This Life, was not those abstruse laws or mystical realms, but the rules of the universe—the mysteries behind the evolution of worlds!

"And cultivators, through the properties of spiritual energy, continually gain control over high-energy spiritual energy and thereby transcend... Observing nature, understanding nature, mastering nature—even in different universes, different worlds, or even different civilizations, will they all ultimately take this same path..."

A trace of emotion suddenly arose in Lin Chen's heart.

For he recalled the Human Civilization of his previous life. Over the passage of thousands upon thousands of years, from the savages who began by Eating Raw Meat and Drinking Blood to a modern civilization that gazed out toward the sea of stars—what had they relied upon? Wasn't It Just the countless sages and saints who investigated Heaven and mankind, sought truth, observed nature, understood nature, and mastered nature, that had ultimately brought about all of this?

And looking back upon This Life, had the Ancient Cultivators not likewise explored the mysteries of spiritual energy with great perseverance and determination, using their own bodies as experiments, before finally establishing the vast cultivation system?

Thus, whether it was his previous life or This Life, whether particles or spiritual energy, the path every civilization ultimately embarked upon was the same: observe it, understand it, and finally master it!

Thus, though the three thousand Daos might change in countless ways, they would ultimately converge by different paths!

Lin Chen's heart surged, and he could not help but Stand Up.

For he discovered that on this dark road of seeking truth, he had never been alone. Whether in his previous life or This Life, Countless Voices of fellow travelers had always walked alongside him!

Lin Chen extended a hand and grabbed at the void. At This Moment, it was as though he had seized the frozen time of a Dim Yellow afternoon, and as though he had grasped the long ages from antiquity to the present. He seemed to see countless figures standing before him, while Even More Countless Voices rang Beside the Ear:

"The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless was the beginning of Heaven and Earth; the named was the mother of all things. Therefore, ever free of desire, one may observe its mystery; ever filled with desire, one may observe its manifestations. These two arise from the same source yet differ in name; together they are called the profound. Profound upon profound—the gateway to all mysteries..."

"In the Beginning of Ancient Times, Who Passed Down the Dao? Before above and below took form, how could it be examined?"

"As one sun and moon circle through the four worlds, illuminating all with their light. So too are there a thousand worlds; within those thousand worlds are a thousand suns and moons, a thousand Mount Sumeru kings, and four thousand realms..."

"Observe the Dao of Heaven, grasp the workings of Heaven—then all is fulfilled."

"In the beginning was the Dao, and the Dao was with God, and the Dao was God."

"1 + 1 = 2!"

Countless voices—some loud, some soft, some aged, some youthful—rose together, each using a different language to speak of their understanding of the world's essence.

And now, amid these countless voices, one belonging to Lin Chen would soon be added, for he would use his own Scientific Thinking to interpret this world of spiritual energy!

Only after an unknown amount of time did Lin Chen come back to his senses. The fiery sunset at the horizon had already faded, replaced by a trace of night as bright blue and profound as the sea.

"Immortal halls of Langyuan, study the myriad arts, seek the Dao without end."

Standing atop the eaves and gazing over the boundless mountain wilderness beneath the night, Lin Chen murmured softly, his eyes growing ever more resolute in the evening breeze.

In his previous life, he had been mediocre and unaccomplished, drifting with the crowd and vanishing among the masses. Yet in this life, he could embark upon the immortal path and had hope of attaining longevity—how could he hesitate and hold himself back?

Lin Chen swore that one day, he would behold every sight in this world, explore every unknown mystery, and ultimately pursue the Dao that belonged to him!

For that, even if he had to endure ten thousand hardships and fall into the Nine Netherworlds, he would not falter!