567 Clarity I
With the Existence Force greatly reduced, Lin Hui felt that he might be able to try to comprehend it entirely on his own, thanks to the Supreme Omniscience Seal.
In particular, the Blood Seal provided a clear direction for evolution and a way to refine it. After that, his comprehension became much faster.
As for the mission, it can be completely handed over to the three apprentices. They can gather as much intelligence as possible, disperse the Wind Energy, and expand it into their own sphere of influence. The anomaly of the Black Disaster will then be easily resolved.
Lin Hui simply settled down in the Black Domain Void, needing neither food nor supplies. He could mold anything at will, which was the freedom of a realm beyond materialization.
In the eyes of mortals, this is the standard of a creator god.
Time passed little by little.
Five years have passed since Lin Hui discovered that the required Existence Force had once again decreased.
His understanding of the No-Thought, No-Mind Canon has reached a new level. After diligently removing all external interference from the instilled memories, he has truly come into contact with the very foundation of his own existence.
That is, the essence of what I am.
Meanwhile, the three disciples' exploration of this mission area had reached a crucial point.
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Within a dimly lit city shrouded in a hazy gray fog.
Chen Jialing clutched her severed arm tightly, blood splattered all over the ground, and frantically ran forward, gritting her teeth.
As she ran, she kept peeking back to make sure the deadly, terrifying demon wasn't catching up.
With all her teammates dead, she was the only one left alive. But the intelligence had to be gathered and sent back. The entire shelter of tens of thousands of people was counting on the intelligence brought back by this elite team.
Our teammates' sacrifices cannot be in vain!
This damn world!! If we're destined to live in fear from birth, why not just prevent everyone from being born in the first place!?
Despite the excruciating pain, Chen Jialing was drenched in sweat, her tight-fitting black special operations uniform completely soaked through.
Blood and sweat mingled together, leaving mixed footprints on the ground from time to time.
But her feelings at this moment were completely opposite to her outward appearance; she began to feel cold.
Even though I've already had the Dream No. 3 Hormone Injection injected into my body... it can keep me in peak condition for up to half an hour.
Can...
Chen Jialing, her vision blurred, charged forward frantically.
She dared not turn back, for she carried no weapons, no means of resistance. This was not surrender, but rather a declaration that no evil spirit or demon in this world could be fought with weapons.
They are fearless, immortal, and even if they are temporarily eliminated due to powerful weapons with a large range, they will quickly recover and return to their original state.
After losing 99% of the population, people eventually came up with this tragic set of rules: they could only escape, not fight back.
As she drew closer to the shelter, Chen Jialing grew increasingly anxious. She couldn't simply bring the terrifying demon with her as she approached the shelter; she had to find a way to shake it off first to prevent disaster from befalling everyone.
But now time was running out, and once the hormone's effects wore off, she knew she was doomed...
How could I possibly send the intelligence I gathered back to the shelter back then?
A feeling of despair kept welling up in her heart.
call..
Suddenly, a cold gust of air blew past from behind.
A pale, flickering figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the dilapidated supermarket in front of her.
It was a thin figure with a snow-white face, loose black hair, and dressed in white.
It stood quietly in the direction of Chen Jialing's only path, raised its head, and gave her a strange smile.
Sizzle!
Chen Jialing slammed on the brakes, grabbed onto a broken wall to steady herself, and stared at the evil spirit in front of her.
Her eyes were filled with despair; in the very last moment, she was still caught up by the other person.
Bang!
The next moment, she was grabbed by an invisible force and slowly floated into the air.
The immense squeezing force caused her bones to crack and pop.
Laugh!
Just then, above the entire ruined city...
Three pale blue beams of light pierced through the clouds in an instant, crashing down with a deafening roar. They pierced through the collapsed walls of some tall buildings, scattering debris across the ground to create a spacious circular clearing before landing and becoming visible.
Three tall, blurry figures in white robes appeared on the open ground.
One of the figures quickly solidified, while the other two remained blurry.
The solid figure wore a white robe with silver trim, had waist-length black hair, and long legs wrapped in black stockings that were faintly visible through the gaps in the robe.
Her face was arrogant yet cold, beautiful yet innocent. It was none other than Xia Si from Clear Jade Mountain.
The other two, whose faces were blurred and whose figures were indistinct, were Su Yaping and Yun Xiazi.
"This area is the thirtieth place on the verge of collapse. I'll be in charge of scouting it out. We'll meet up at our usual spot in about three months to summarize the findings," Su Yaping said in a low voice.
Of the three, he was the most mature and steady. The other two were too lazy to think too much and entrusted him with the entire operation.
He did not disappoint them. After several years of investigation, they visited dozens of star systems and finally found the source of the Black Disaster here.
"Understood. See you in March then." Xia Si nodded slightly, her hand gently resting on the hilt of her sword.
She has now completely broken free from the influence of the Ashes Power, and her entire body has been transformed into Lin Hui's Wind Energy.
Not only has his mental state improved significantly, but his strength has also increased dramatically.
Although his personality remains the same as before—irritable and volatile—at least he doesn't suddenly go crazy for no reason anymore.
Swish.
The other two vanished instantly, leaving Xia Si standing alone.
She glanced around, her senses instantly locking onto a strange woman in the distance who was being held captive in mid-air.
It was Chen Jialing.
Laugh!
In the next instant, Xia Si teleported, without drawing his sword, and appeared directly behind the white-clad demon, grabbing with one hand.
Grab the other person's head and press it down.
Boom!!
The demon's body exploded like a balloon, and a deep crater more than ten meters in diameter suddenly appeared in the ground beneath it.
The scattered black matter suddenly appeared out of thin air, attempting to revive the evil spirit once more, but it was all decomposed by the scattered blue light Wind Energy that also appeared.
"Little friend, tell me, where is this place? Have you ever seen a mysterious man in black wearing a little yellow duck mask?"
Chen Jialing, who had fallen to the ground with a thud, struggled to sit up, her body aching all over. She had thought she was about to die, but at the last moment, this person suddenly appeared and saved her with a single move.
And now...
A little yellow duck mask?
"I've... I've met you..." she blurted out involuntarily.
"Where?!" Xia Si's eyes lit up. Over the years, the three of them had gradually figured out that the mutations in this area of Black Disaster were initially caused by this little yellow duck mask.
As numerous clues to the case all pointed to this little yellow duck man, they directly focused their pursuit on tracking him.
This person plays various roles in different places, sometimes as a savior, sometimes as a human leader, sometimes as a simple survivor, and sometimes as a rescuer, etc. But no matter what his identity is, any event he participates in will result in obvious turmoil or destruction.
"That person, who led us to build the current shelter a year ago, we call him Mr. Yellow," Chen Jialing replied, while still keeping her eyes glued to the surrounding lights.
Normally, killing an evil spirit requires a high-powered weapon with a very large area of effect, after which the spirit will instantly revive, and everything will return to normal. This process should take no more than ten seconds. But now...
"Take me there!" Xia Si said, brooking no refusal. She didn't care what the other person was thinking and simply gave the order.
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In the void.
At this moment, Lin Hui was surrounded by a burst of blue light, and countless Wind Energy swirled around him like a storm vortex, with him as the eye of the storm.
Countless Wind Energy transform everything around them into part of themselves, breaking it down into points of light that merge into the cyclone.
At this point, Lin Hui had stripped away all his memories, leaving only the most basic self-awareness.
His mind was constantly being cleared, and countless memories and pieces of information were being peeled away layer by layer.
All information is first categorized, and then temporarily discarded.
In the end, only...
Awareness.
At this moment, all Lin Hui could feel was a certain amount of perception.
He forgot words, forgot symbols; his pure heart was like a lake, with only feelings and perceptions constantly emerging, rising from the water like bubbles.
These are the body's most basic sensory signals, and the only things left after he stripped everything else away.
Simply perceive, without trying to understand or categorize what these sensations are; just purely feel them.
Sleep."
He didn't know; in fact, later on, Lin Hui even lost that sense of knowing. He simply perceived these feelings.
The five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch—plus the spirit and soul combined with Wind Energy, transmit all the tactile sensations back.
This is all his enlightenment.
At this moment, he was immersed in this state... until... he became familiar with it, settled in it, and could come and go as he pleased.
Only then did I gradually emerge from this state, and my thinking and cognition fully returned.
Slowly opened his eyes.
Finally, it's clear, it's confirmed: my core is actually awareness. From this perspective, the essence of awareness is the sensory organ; that is to say, the sensory organ determines the form, state, and nature of my being.
He carefully examined his current sensory organs. In order to advance his cultivation level, he had added a whole bunch of sensory organs, each used to perceive things in different dimensions.
He spent many years trying to adapt to it.
Each additional organ, each additional dimension of perception, distorts and alters his worldview.
And now...
Since awareness is the most fundamental aspect of the self, then the constituent units of awareness should be the transmitting parts of the sensory organs. And this part...
Lin Hui activated the Supreme Omniscience Seal once again.
Countless accumulated feelings surged forth like a tsunami, transforming into countless colorful bubbles that exploded and shattered around Lin Hui, turning into colorful specks of light.
Meanwhile, the colored light spots gradually magnified rapidly under the effect of the Omniscient Seal, then exploded, shattered, and turned into countless twisted, translucent gels.
"What is this?" The thought flashed through Lin Hui's mind.
The answer appeared automatically the next moment.
It is touch.
Everything in the outside world stimulates the senses and generates information. This information is distorted by the senses in a special way, transformed into another form, and becomes perception, which enters one's mind and soul.
This is touch.
"So what I always thought was real wasn't the real truth, but merely the reality my senses perceived," Lin Hui realized.
Countless tactile sensations, distorted by my senses, constitute everything I know. But my senses can only perceive a portion of all things; what about the rest? The parts I cannot perceive? Are those the true essence of all things?
His mind became increasingly clear.
As he continued to gain insights, the Existence Force of the No-Thought, No-Mind Canon also dropped rapidly, and had now fallen to 700 million.
If that's the case, and since I am, in essence, a distorted construct built from my senses, why not bypass my senses and experience the true nature of all things?
A thought flashed through his mind.
How can we bypass our senses and experience everything?
At this point, the instantaneous enlightenment effect of the Omniscient Seal was suspended.