Within the Pavilion of Silent Observation, Lin Ye's consciousness seemed to sink into a bottomless abyss.
From the perspective of the Cosmic Mental Image, all external disturbances became the sound of tides on a distant shore, while only the endless Intentionality Streams stood clear as veins. Yet in this inward observation, he reached something deeper beneath those veins—
It was not the flowing "intentionality," but the "womb" that gave birth to all intentionality.
A nearly silent, boundless background field of consciousness.
He called it the Thought Sea.
The Thought Sea had neither sound nor form, yet it carried the "primordial tendencies" of all possibilities within the Multiverse. It was not a creator, but "primordial existence itself that could be shaped." The rise of every civilization, the will of every individual, every collective choice—all were like stones cast into the Thought Sea, stirring ripples that intertwined and resonated, solidifying certain "tendencies" into the laws of reality.
In previous eras, the Thought Sea had remained calm. Even one as powerful as the Lord of Order could only forcibly stir up towering muddy waves with his will, distorting rather than resonating. Now, the network connected all beings, free will flourished, and countless faint yet sincere "ripples of thought" continued to spread—
The Thought Sea had begun an active, bottom-up "surge."
Lin Ye "saw":
The Radiance Domain's focus on the Inner-Seeking Foundation projected a brilliant vortex of light spinning inward within the Thought Sea; the Vortex of Proliferation sought balance amid restraint, stirring surging rhythmic ripples that gradually grew orderly; while the civilizations within those Deep Pools of Meaning formed patches of tranquil, deathly Consciousness Shoals through their thoughts.
Every state of civilization possessed its own unique Mental-Image Topology within the Thought Sea.
More importantly, these mental images seeped into and influenced one another