Qin Yu's eyes twitched slightly. When an experience is thoroughly understood without any omissions, all the hidden interpretations, all the unseen branches, and all the secret origins behind that experience will simultaneously emerge.
Why did he choose this path and abandon that one? Which thought led to his decision, and which he ultimately relinquished? What would have happened if he had used a different supernatural power? What would have become of his path if he had understood the principles of the Dharma earlier?
Those branches of fate that never materialized or manifested were all deduced and revealed layer by layer by the Endless Abyss of Knowing, based on the established past. It is dismantling, depicting, and defining a complete and flawless Qin Yu.
And this terrifying awareness continues to deepen, name.
The name "Qin Yu" never manifested in the void, yet the Endless Abyss of Knowing had already thoroughly understood the origin of this name. It knew the causal experiences carried by this name, the Fate Soul and self bound to this name, what Qin Yu was, what was not Qin Yu, and all the connections between the name and existence, the true self, and the foundation of the Dao.
Qin Yu's gaze suddenly hardened. When the fifth root Sea of Touch, the name still had boundaries. The Touch Emanation Beast could still invade along the boundaries and use the Dao of Derivation to restrain itself. But by the sixth root, even "how the name anchors the self and how it distinguishes one from another" had become a principle that could be perceived and dismantled.
With deeper awareness, the foundation of the Tao, will, attachment, letting go, all kinds of supernatural powers, and every level of enlightenment gained from the trials of the five senses, all external cultivation, past experiences, gains and insights, attachments and abandonments are all thoroughly understood and revealed layer by layer.
Ultimately, this awareness that penetrates all laws transcends all appearances and slowly descends upon Qin Yu's most fundamental and core Dao root: I am who I am. Qin Yu's mind trembled slightly. This unchanging self-nature, which had never been touched, shaken, or devoured, was now thoroughly known.
Knowing why he held fast to this true self, knowing how this true self supported him through countless difficulties, knowing how it maintained his unique self, neither merging nor disappearing, knowing how, at the fifth root, he released the shackles of proof of the true self, allowing "I" to return to stillness in every moment, and to be reborn and evolve in every moment.
Even the Ultimate clarity that "I no longer need to prove my existence with my true self" fell entirely into this awareness, and a genuine sense of apprehension finally surfaced in Qin Yu's eyes.
The danger of the eye lies in clinging to what is seen; the danger of the ear lies in clinging to what is heard; the path of the nose is trapped by the repeated confirmation of one's own existence; the tribulation of the tongue is the difficulty in escaping the shackles of Dao Devouring and Annihilation; the danger of the body stems from the eternal pull of the boundaries between heaven and earth.
The danger revealed by the sixth root has transcended all the constraints of the previous five roots, reaching the very source of existence, and has been completely known, fully resolved, and completely defined.
If an existence, from its physical form to its Fate Soul's origin, from its past experiences to its future path, from its obsessions and choices to its enlightenment, is completely and utterly known without any secrets—is this existence a vibrant, ever-evolving, and ever-renewing entity, or a predetermined "knowledge" that has already been completely fixed and sealed away?
Qin Yu stopped thinking and ceased pondering, because at that very moment, the Endless Abyss of Knowing had already provided the answer for him.
"Yes." The Clear Knowing Layer settled on the first perfect answer of the law. Omniscience seals away all the unknown; existence that is completely known is defined as a closed loop, its evolutionary path severed, with no possibility of new life.
At the same time, "No."
The Chaotic Knowing Layer gives rise to a second, completely opposite conclusion. Without knowledge or discernment, without definition or meaning, without complete awareness, there is no true form; the so-called "complete knowledge" has never been established.
The voice of the Clinging Knowing Layer then resounded, resolute and stubborn. "Only by upholding the one true knowledge can one avoid falling into the Return to Emanation." The Doubting Knowing Layer immediately surged, relentlessly questioning layer upon layer:
"How can one be so certain that this knowledge is true? How can one prove that the proof itself is without error?" The Empty Knowing Layer finally settles into Annihilation, Myriad Phenomena Return to Stillness: "All knowledge is empty, truth and falsehood are the same, and all choices are illusory."
The five answers, contradictory and conflicting, were each complete, valid, and in accordance with the laws of their respective levels. Qin Yu's expression gradually darkened.
Choosing omniscience leads to being trapped in its cage; choosing ignorance leads to drowning in chaos Emptiness; clinging to one form of knowledge leads to being bound by attachment to its realm; doubting all dharmas leads to being trapped in endless delusion; letting go of everything and embracing emptiness—this very thought of "emptying" is itself a form of knowledge, a form of constraint.
With no way out, no way to break the deadlock, Qin Yu frowned deeply, then suddenly understood. The sixth, most hidden and unsolvable bondage was now truly revealed. It needed no temptation, no seduction, no forced restraint.
It only requires prompting people to ask themselves – which knowledge is true? As long as the obsession with distinguishing truth from falsehood and choosing right from wrong remains in one's mind, one will forever be trapped in the abyss of Knowledge Abyss, unable to transcend it.
Truth is knowledge, falsehood is knowledge, correctness is knowledge, error is knowledge. Even the indifference of having no thoughts and making no choices is still a kind of knowledge that can be defined and perceived; this is called Clinging to Knowing.
Just as Qin Yu was about to grasp the true meaning of Clinging to Knowing, an even more dangerous change suddenly occurred. All the true meanings of enlightenment and all the gains from the trials of the first five roots were completely deconstructed and reinterpreted by Knowledge Abyss.
The concept of "seeing without seeing" is interpreted in the Clear Knowing Layer as follows: the one who sees must see through all forms and colors and encompass all phenomena with clarity. Only by knowing everything seen and fully understanding its principles can one avoid being misled by a single sight or bound by appearances.
In another Knowing Realm, the same truth is interpreted in completely opposite ways: all things seen are illusory, true seeing requires obliterating all forms and colors, clearing away all that is seen, and even the act of "seeing" itself must be completely emptied.
The third level of the Knowing Realm is that seeing and not seeing coexist without contradiction and are established simultaneously. The fourth level of the Knowing Realm is that both seeing and not seeing are entirely illusory and neither is established.
There is also a fifth level of the Knowing Realm, which directly denigrates this ancient truth as a temporary obsession: the so-called "seeing without seeing" is merely a temporary state of mind Eye Faculty Trial, without eternal principles or ultimate truth.
Qin Yu's eyes suddenly darkened, and the Daoist teachings he heard were "heard but not heard," as he simultaneously faced a myriad of attempts to dismantle them.
It can be interpreted as listening to all sounds and experiencing all kinds of noises, and then not clinging to a single sound or falling into any sense of hearing; it can be interpreted as there is no listener and no sound, cutting off the shackles of hearing and seeing from the root; it can be interpreted as sound and breath returning to stillness while the nature of hearing endures, silent but not extinguished; it can also be interpreted as "hearing" itself being a false definition imposed on the ear by the mind.
The true essence of the root of the nose is also difficult to escape deconstruction; having qi does not rely on qi to prove myself, and not having qi does not borrow from the absence of qi to conceal myself.
One level of the Knowing Realm sees it as the Ultimate liberation from self-affirmation; another Knowing Realm denounces it as a deeper, more hidden form of self-attachment and self-affirmation; another Knowing Realm says that Tao and Qi are of the same origin and have never been separate; yet another Knowing Realm directly denies the connection between "I" and "Qi," rendering the entire enlightenment process utterly futile.
The true meaning of the tongue's fierce battle and the Evolution-Devouring Beast's Dao Devouring the Dao's Annihilation is also dissected layer by layer. The original nature of the mind, which is to devour, empty, and not be devoured, gives rise to countless contradictory laws and different interpretations of the Dao in different Knowing Realm.
The most dangerous thing is the ultimate truth of the body root obtained in the deadly battle with the Sea of Touch just now: "The boundary Unborn", "touch and it will generate", "the one who touches and the one who is touched need not be separated". These Ultimate truths that have just been discovered and have not yet been consolidated are now being infinitely dissected and interpreted in all sorts of ways in the Endless Abyss of Knowing, giving rise to countless contradictory and perfect answers.
According to the concept of the Knowing Realm, Unborn boundaries are established, one can truly touch the origin. According to the concept of the Knowing Realm, if there are no boundaries in the world, there is no contact to speak of. According to the concept of the Knowing Realm, contact and boundaries share the same origin, coexist, and are born simultaneously.
The deeper Knowing Realm directly overturned the foundation, stating that all temporal sequences and definitions such as "synchronization, sequence, existence" are illusory doctrines imposed on the body by the mind. Qin Yu's expression became completely solemn and iron-like.
The enlightenment gained through the first five roots, through a lifetime of trials and tribulations, is being completely swallowed up by the sixth root into the realm of "knowledge," where it is being arbitrarily deconstructed, reinterpreted, and forcibly defined.
If he insists on clinging to what he has learned in the past and sticking to the old ways, he will actively fall into the shackles of the Clinging Knowing Layer. If he wavers and doubts all his past enlightenment, he will immediately fall into the endless illusions of the Doubting Knowing Layer.
If he were to speak calmly, saying that all interpretations are meaningless, this transcendent statement would instantly become a new kind of "knowledge," once again trapping him. Qin Yu stood silently at the center of the Knowledge Abyss for a long time.
The most fatal crisis has clearly emerged: when all enlightenment and all truths are merely one of the myriad forms of "knowledge"—how can he, without clinging to any interpretation or falling into any particular form of knowledge, still guard his original heart, solidify his self, and transcend the bonds of delusion?
Qin Yu did not rush to answer, nor did he force a breakthrough. He restrained his analytical mind and let go of his thoughts of choice, instead delving deeper into the Knowledge Abyss. He no longer sought to determine what was true or false, right or wrong, but simply quietly observed the primordial evolution of the Endless Abyss of Knowing.
Finally, the complete structure of the Intent Root Emanation Domain, hidden for countless ages, became clear and transparent at the bottom of his heart. The origin of this place is the endless abyss of Endless Abyss of Knowing. The outermost layer is the Knowing Surface.
All undivided, undefined, and unformed primordial awareness surges, arises, and cycles through this place. Omniscience, ignorance, attachment, doubt, emptiness, and countless other states of knowledge that have never been revealed or tested are all contained within this place.
Beneath the Knowing Surface lie layers upon layers of endless Knowing Layer —one layer, ten layers, ten thousand layers, hundreds of millions of layers, until infinity, without end. The five core states of knowledge seen before are but a drop in the ocean, a tiny fraction of the myriad layers.
Within each Knowing Layer, countless independent Knowing Realm are nurtured. Qin Yu's mind sank into one of them, and his pupils suddenly contracted violently. Each Knowing Realm was a complete and independent universe.
It possesses its own inherent order of change, cycle of birth and death, complete legal principles, and unique meaning, and even the potential to evolve into its own distinct school. Countless beings are born, seek, choose, Annihilation here, endlessly reincarnating and perpetuating life.
But this vast universe, countless living beings, and endless cycles of reincarnation are, to the higher level of Knowledge Abyss, merely a single thought of awareness, a single evolution, a predetermined "knowledge."
Each Knowing Layer contains countless Knowing Realm, and each Knowing Realm carries a universe. Layer upon layer, recursively and nested, the number of universes has long lost its quantifiable meaning, yet the Endless Abyss of Knowing remains unfathomable and without end.
Qin Yu's mind continued to sink, penetrating the surface of all things. Clarity faded, chaos dissipated, and all states of mind—attachment, doubt, emptiness—passed by him without lingering in his heart. Countless Knowing Layer were traversed, and myriad Knowing Realm in the universe were born and died in the distance, evolving freely.
In the end, all established laws, stable rules, and formed principles began to decay and collapse. At the edge of the field of vision, a vast and desolate ruin slowly appeared, revealing the Myriad Laws Return to the Ruins. Within the ruins, countless broken and fragmented remains floated silently, all traces of the fall of ancient geniuses and practitioners of the Dao.
Broken Dao bones, faded fragments of Fate Soul, incomplete Evolution Name, and fragments of ancient Daoist principles still remaining after the shattering. Many of these remains have long since obscured the appearance and Dao Path of their former masters, leaving only a trace of Annihilation that has been completely nailed down by a certain "knowledge," with no possibility of further evolution.
Qin Yu slowly surveyed the entire ruined realm, his mind heavy. These were all pioneers who had ventured into the Intentless Root and challenged the Knowledge Abyss in the past.