I Think, Therefore I Am

At the end of the 21st island of the Illusion Sea, a Black Scale Elder watched Gulanxiu with a smile and remarked, "Not bad! You broke through the Seventh Island so easily. Let's see where your limit lies!"

As the guardian of the Illusion Sea, the elder had seen countless geniuses. But very few had ever passed the Seventh Island at the Cosmic Level. After all, the illusions on the Seventh Island could ensnare even many Realm Lords.

Under ordinary circumstances, the elder would have been amazed to encounter another genius. Unfortunately, this time was different. Not long ago, he had personally witnessed a Cosmic Level genius pass through the Illusion Sea's Eighteenth Island.

Compared to such an unparalleled prodigy, Gulanxiu's performance seemed merely decent to him.

Without hesitation, Gulanxiu stepped onto the Eighth Island.

In an instant, Gulanxiu felt as though he had returned to that dreadful night.

It was the tenth year since he had arrived in this world. A band of Star Pirates had discovered this primitive planet.

Faced with such an overwhelming gap in power, the planet's strongest fighters could do nothing to change its fate, no matter how fiercely they fought back.

Gulanxiu could only watch helplessly as the Star Pirates cut down his parents in this life. He was powerless to stop them!

"Boss! There's a kid here. He looks about ten years old, but he's already reached the Planetary Level!" A slightly chubby Star Pirate spoke to another, a tall man in armor.

"Take him in! Implant a chip and train him properly. If he can break through to the Star Level, we'll make a tidy profit!" the boss said coolly.

"Yes, boss!" The Star Pirate who had spoken nodded, reaching out to grab Gulanxiu.

A tear slid down Gulanxiu's cheek. A Great Axe appeared in his hand, and he swung it at the Star Pirate before him.

As Gulanxiu struck, his body instantly grew into that of a young man, and his cultivation rose to Cosmic Level 9. With a single swing, he chopped both Star Pirates before him to pieces!

Standing on the Eighth Island, Gulanxiu gazed at the snow-white sand and muttered, "You scum, just you wait! Your time will come soon enough!"

With that, he flew toward the Ninth Island.

Once he reached the Ninth Island, Gulanxiu found himself back in his childhood in this life. But this time, things were different.

The planet had never been attacked by Star Pirates. Under his parents' loving care, Gulanxiu grew up safely, gradually becoming the strongest person on the planet and leading it into the universe.

After countless years, Gulanxiu eventually became one of the Human Race's mightiest beings. Together with Lord Luo, he defeated the Realm Beasts, passed through Reincarnation, and established a Holy Land of his own.

But then Gulanxiu suddenly opened his eyes and said, "What a beautiful dream! My parents were alive, and I reached the pinnacle of life. But a dream is only a dream. No matter how beautiful, it must eventually end. I can't make up for what I've lost—not for now—but my future is still in my own hands!"

As he spoke, the illusion vanished, revealing the Ninth Island in its true form!

Without the slightest hesitation, Gulanxiu flew toward the Tenth Island.

At the far end of the Illusion Sea, the Black Scale Elder's expression had grown serious. Even with that dazzling prodigy as a benchmark, Gulanxiu still had a long way to go to match her!

Yet apart from the unparalleled genius who had come not long ago, Gulanxiu had gone farther than anyone else at the Cosmic Level in hundreds of eras.

Every era, the Virtual Universe Company and the Axe Fighting Arena each held a Strongman Battle and a Genius Battle.

Each era, they recruited four thousand geniuses. Add those like Gulanxiu who joined through internal selections, along with the geniuses from the other three major powers, and nearly ten thousand Cosmic Level geniuses would attempt the Illusion Sea each era.

Yet even so, no genius had reached this point for hundreds of eras.

Yunmiao's feat from not long ago was one thing. After all, she was an unparalleled genius who had drawn the attention of the Human Race's upper echelons. One could accept even the most astonishing feats from someone like her.

But Gulanxiu was different. His performance in Chaos City—passing the fifth level of the Sky Bridge in thirty years—was certainly impressive, but it was nothing extraordinary. Someone with that kind of talent appeared every few eras, yet very few of them ever became Kings.

But now that Gulanxiu had reached the Illusion Sea's Tenth Island, the Scale Armor Man was certain that as long as Gulanxiu survived, he would most likely become a King one day.

On the Tenth Island, the terrifying pressure had reached the level of an Immortal God, bearing down directly on Gulanxiu's consciousness.

Yet Gulanxiu had once again fallen into an illusion. This time, his consciousness returned to the final night of his previous life on Blue Star.

A boy with dyed blond hair was riding a Ghost Fire with a red-haired girl on the back, speeding straight toward Gulanxiu.

By instinct, Gulanxiu stepped to the side, and the Ghost Fire roared past him.

Still shaken, Gulanxiu shouted, "Why are you driving so fast? Are you in a hurry to die?"

But as soon as the words left his mouth, the boy on the Ghost Fire suddenly drifted and crashed into a dump truck coming from the opposite direction.

The scene was instantly a bloody mess.

Gulanxiu stood nearby with his mouth slightly open. He hadn't expected the two young lives to be extinguished right before his eyes.

After hesitating, Gulanxiu called the police. But afterward, he didn't dare linger and left the scene of the accident.

In the days that followed, Gulanxiu returned to his usual routine. He went to work every day and occasionally visited his parents when he had time.

With his parents' help, he married a fairly pretty woman and had children.

In the end, he lived a quiet, fulfilling life.

But as he lay on his deathbed, the couple on the Ghost Fire flashed through Gulanxiu's mind once more. His eyes, already clouded with age, suddenly cleared.

Under the astonished gazes of his children, he murmured, "Without you two, this should have been my life, shouldn't it? Quiet and real, ordinary yet happy. It really is something to long for! But a falsehood is still a falsehood. It's time to end this!"

The illusion before him gradually shattered, revealing the Tenth Island in its true form. But Gulanxiu didn't hurry toward the next island. Instead, he stood where he was and began to think.

"My past life was fake! My present life is fake too! Only I am real! Even knowing it's an illusion, I can't help but show genuine feelings. Yet when I close my eyes, everything in the illusion disappears," Gulanxiu murmured.

"Or perhaps, when I'm gone, does this world still exist? If I'm gone, what meaning does this world have for me?" As he spoke, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"I think, therefore I am. I am, therefore I think! If I don't exist, what does this world have to do with me? Whether it's my past life or my present one, I must be the foundation!" As Gulanxiu finished speaking, his figure on the Illusion Sea's Tenth Island seemed to grow even more ethereal and elusive.

Gulanxiu didn't know that his state of mind bore many similarities to the third level of Earth's cultivation of the mind: Infinite Heart.

But the third level of Earth's cultivation of the mind meant having a heart vast enough to embrace everything. Because Gulanxiu had been reborn into the world of a novel, he had always harbored doubts about whether the world was real. This time, with the help of the Illusion Sea, he had comprehended the absolute idealist state: the universe is my mind, and my mind is the universe.

Perhaps this state of mind was an unorthodox path, a way of deceiving oneself. But who could say it wasn't a path that led straight to the heavens?