Chapter 1067: The end of the law begins

Origin Qi continued to erode.

Now, even the world was about to be destroyed.

Cracks visibly appeared in the firmament of the world, and the decaying Origin Qi truly caused all cultivation systems to collapse from their foundations.

Imagine, when Shamanes can no longer obtain Qi through sacrifices and exchanges to construct their Inner Worlds.

When Demon Qi and human Qi both dissipate, humanity cannot gain power through cultivation and the cohesion of 'the masses'.

Martial Dao has almost disappeared, because Martial Dao Inner Qi has vanished; the change in Origin Qi directly led to a change in the nature of Chaos Qi, which in turn caused the foundation of Martial Dao Inner Qi to no longer be valid.

Martial Dao cultivation methods below the First Grade have completely become waste paper; not a single one can be cultivated.

The grassroots of various Dao Orthodoxys are collapsing, and even Great Powers cannot stop the spread of this phenomenon, because the collapse of Origin Qi began from the start of time, meaning that all things created by the birth of the Universe will be affected.

Currently, it's only cultivation.

Soon, as the erosion of Origin Qi continues, all matter will begin to collapse; at that point, it won't just be a matter of cultivation, but everything will be destroyed.

Of course, at the current rate, it will probably still take about four to five billion years.

This is actually quite a long time; for Mortals, their lives have barely changed.

If one had to point out a change… it would probably be that the high-flying Martial Forest experts have disappeared, and the powerful Immortals seem to have all died.

Intermediate-level cultivators are almost completely unable to function; nearly ninety percent of cultivation systems have been destroyed, as the younger generation simply cannot 'get started'.

And those who have already started cultivating will find that their power, the Qi within their bodies, diminishes with every use, or even without use, eventually depleting, after which they will slowly regress to the state of Mortals.

Some cultivation systems are still struggling to hold on through certain special methods, but they can hardly resist this cataclysm that began with the Universe; it is only a matter of time before their cultivation is completely annihilated.

This is the Age of Dharma Decline.

Spiritual Qi is cut off, and the path of cultivation is thus broken.

But this is only the most superficial and obvious matter; after four to five billion years, all matter will disintegrate and collapse, and Mortals will not be able to survive then either.

Substantiality.

Only power with substantiality can survive such a catastrophe.

And the living beings of the world, those who have not reached the Fourth Grade, can only hope to be protected by Great Powers.

The Fourth Grade can barely protect oneself, and only the Third Grade can protect others as well.

Dao Orthodoxys with a Third Grade Great Power in their family currently have no risk of annihilation, but who can say what the future holds?

What does the world look like now?

Shen Shuibi walked through the world.

She left Shaman God Mountain, mainly to go to Mount Luofu this time to check on its situation.

But around Mount Luofu, she clearly saw that the Immortal Qi and astral winds that once surrounded Mount Luofu were beginning to weaken.

As she reached the outskirts of Mount Luofu, she saw the welcoming cloud sparrows fly up.

Most of these cultivating little monsters were of the Ninth and Eighth Grades; they flew over, transformed into small Daoist children, and bowed one by one, saying, "Daoist Master!"

"Daoist Master! You're back?"

Shen Shuibi looked at these cloud sparrows; much of the Spiritual Qi on their bodies had dissipated, and they could only barely maintain themselves by relying on the power of Mount Luofu.

After all, for them, they could hardly obtain the necessary Spiritual Qi from the outside world anymore.

Dao Orthodoxy cultivation methods emphasize gathering Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and condensing the essence of the five spirits, but now it's simply impossible; the outside world is empty, with nothing to gather.

So, Shen Shuibi flicked her sleeve and scattered dozens of Spirit Pills.

Since it couldn't be replenished from the outside, then rely on Medicinal Pills.

"Take these, and by the way, how is Empress Luofu?" she asked.

The cloud sparrows joyfully accepted the Spirit Pills, put them into their mouths, and the dim cloud patterns on their bodies danced; they flapped their wings with renewed vigor, chirping their thanks, "Thank you, Daoist Master! Empress Luofu is on the mountain; with Empress Luofu's protection, the mountain is temporarily different from the outside. I heard that outside, there are piles of Seventh Grades dying of old age, but inside the mountain, from Fifth Grade to Ninth Grade, everyone temporarily relies on Empress Luofu's power to live."

"Empress Luofu opened a spiritual pond on the mountain peak; if one can't hold on, they can go and get some, but everyone knows that the mountain now entirely relies on Empress Luofu, so no one dares to take too much."

At this moment, another cloud sparrow spoke up, "Oh, by the way, Daoist Master, the son-in-law is also a Second Grade expert—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she was dragged back by another cloud sparrow, her mouth covered, and they chirped and flew away.

Watching these children, Shen Shuibi shook her head and then walked up the mountain.

Everything she saw along the way was dim; the various consequences of Origin Qi depletion were already beginning to show.

Fortunately, Mount Luofu still had a Third Grade existence, allowing it to barely survive, but if the situation continued to develop, when Origin Qi is completely destroyed in the future, even the world will collapse, right?

If the world collapses, then they can only huddle in the 'Heavens' opened by Empress Luofu; at that time…

They would definitely live; as long as Empress Luofu doesn't die, they will always be able to live.

But pursuing the Dao would be out of the question.

The severance of the Dao path is almost a certainty; although pursuing the Dao has no necessary connection with cultivation, if you can't even climb the path of cultivation, you simply don't have enough technical means and ability to verify your Dao.

The Dao is a theory, but if your technical means can't even conduct experiments, how can you verify the theory?

Without a technical system, all theories will eventually become empty talk.

Cultivation systems and technical systems were themselves born for the purpose of better pursuing the Dao.

Spells are the verification of the Dao, and the Dao in turn promotes the birth of spells.

It's just unknown to what extent this destruction of Origin Qi will go.

Shen Shuibi even wanted to close her eyes and not face those difficult questions and terrifying signs of decline, so as to try her best to escape into a pure and innocent illusory world.

Because she could already see the future; all things in the future faced death, terror, and pain.

Without protection, unable even to find solace in her Dao Heart, and difficult to seek advice from reason.

Because Shen Shuibi was very clear about the current state; she understood a lot, having read many articles written by Great Powers analyzing everything that was happening.

Ordinary cultivators no longer had the time and energy to spend on self-improvement; they were powerless to resist the external terror and the oppressive feeling.

She could only endure the days with a trembling heart, not believing that any tomorrow existed.

——————————

The Reality Universe, like an old stringed instrument.

Its rumbling bass, after resonating for so many years, finally gradually ceased, yet it had already permeated every aspect of this world.

One could see that many Schools, Schools, and various organizations and meeting places exuded a decaying aura.

This decaying aura had already afflicted many cultivators, making them melancholic or insane.

One way to deal with this immense atmosphere of decay was a cynical, mocking attitude; they danced, sang, and drank to drown their sorrows, claiming that worrying about the future was the foolishness of the old.

They talked about the destruction of the Universe with a kind of suicidal fervor, adopting cynical or indifferent postures, as if the decaying Universe could not harm them in any way.

There were also some hopeful people who wished to study the decaying Origin Qi, hoping to gain the ability to integrate themselves into a new Universal order before the Universe's destruction.

Because according to history… this was not the first time such a thing had happened; the Universe was not originally like this, and they only needed to integrate themselves into the Origin Qi after its decay.

However…

Zombie Li Qi watched it all.

But he made no movement, because those things had nothing to do with him.

He was already Second Grade.

Even if Origin Qi was polluted, he would be fine.

In fact, Great Powers above the Third Grade, at their very worst, would only live in their own worlds, losing their consciousness and ability to think; they had reached the other shore, transcending all normality and uniqueness, and the reason they were still acting was only because they still needed to strive to fulfill their flawless, supra-personal missions.

So, for Zombie Li Qi, there was no need for him to act, and in fact, he was unable to act.

Carrying the body of Taiyi, he couldn't move.

And others dared not rashly disturb Taiyi's body; even if Taiyi's main body was not present, this body was not something that beings below the First Grade could touch.

Zombie Li Qi's ability to maintain his stability by relying on the Three Realms and the Sun-Moon Orbit was already very impressive; he could do no more.

Demonic Prince Zombie was also nowhere to be found, because zombies all possessed complete consciousness; apart from lacking a mind, everything else about them was normal.

But… it just felt a bit awkward.

Zombie Li Qi was something with high intelligence but no self-awareness.

They could think, understand, and speak, but they could not 'feel'.

They felt no pain, saw nothing, and heard nothing.

What was this somewhat like? Like a game player.

When playing a survival game, if the character gets injured, the player can clearly see a 'severe pain' icon on their character, see blood, and see their character become limping.

But… does the player feel pain?

The player can understand that the character is in pain, but the player cannot experience this pain.

Similarly, the player can observe various things happening within the game, but has no idea what the character sees.

The player can clearly see their character's strength, agility, Physique, and other attributes, but cannot feel the character's 'strength', 'speed', or 'health'.

For the player, strength is just an attribute, not the sensation of their own muscles or the ease of their movements.

As long as the strength is sufficient, their subjective feelings are completely meaningless.

And 'eating and drinking' in the game was the same.

Bad taste? Good taste?

These are actually completely unimportant, because you can't taste them at all; if food doesn't give you various buffs, you will most likely completely ignore food, since you can't feel it.

Accommodation and medical treatment were also like this.

Medical treatment doesn't need to care about pain or the comfort of the therapy, because the player only sees the health bar; as for the pain of radiation or chemotherapy, it's just a buff in the status bar, completely irrelevant.

Accommodation, whether a thatched hut or a palace, does it make a difference in the player's eyes? Even the scenery is the same.

No matter what the scenery, the player sees pretty much the same thing; he cannot experience the wind of the snowy mountains, feel the heat of the desert, or taste the saltiness of the sea water.

For him, everything is just a status on the status bar; he has no feeling whatsoever.

The core of self-awareness lies in 'realizing this is me'.

But for Zombie Li Qi, his current high intelligence cannot attach 'me' to himself.

From beginning to end, he was merely an 'AI' acting by looking at the status bar, without any 'my feelings' in his heart.

No, he didn't even have a 'heart', so naturally, there couldn't be any 'my feelings'.

If the location were in the 'Desire Realm' or the Domain of 'pure spirit', one would find that Zombie Li Qi simply couldn't enter.

He had no mental power, and no mind.

So… what exactly is the mind?

Unknown.

No one can understand how 'mind' and 'consciousness' truly originate.

Some believe that the mind itself is a manifestation of 'matter', and that so-called thought is essentially rooted in material movement, but the existence of philosophical zombies like Li Qi has separated intelligence and thought.

Life can possess intelligence, the ability to think, and perception of the outside world, just like a paramecium.

A paramecium can react to the outside world; in a sense, it also possesses a certain degree of thinking ability and 'intelligence', so… does a paramecium have a 'self'?

Possessing intelligence and the ability to think are not necessary conditions for 'self' and 'mind'.

Zombie Li Qi had intelligence and could think, but he had no mind.

So… where is Li Qi's 'mind'?

Where did the stolen 'heart' go?

Zombie Li Qi didn't care; of course, he didn't have the 'didn't care' feeling, but his outward appearance showed that he didn't want to find his heart.

So, the situation remained deadlocked.

Where could one's mind be stored?

The mind is formless and immaterial, difficult to observe, and can only be perceived by 'other minds', but even other minds always feel the existence of that high wall.

The high wall hinders people from understanding each other; one can only ever feel one's own feelings, and it is difficult to experience the feelings of others.

It seems that what we can feel is always only our own mind.

Even if one perceives the feelings of others through mechanisms like 'sympathy' and 'empathy', that is merely a self-deceptive illusion.

For example, if you saw Zombie Li Qi's head cut off, would you feel that Zombie Li Qi was in pain?

Perhaps there would be phantom pain, but in reality, Zombie Li Qi felt nothing.

So, how can one feel Li Qi's heart?

What can contain subjectivity?