Chapter 679: Subjectivity

“Why is that?”

Ling Xiao had never considered this question.

But she also had no train of thought and couldn't continue thinking along those lines, so she pressed on, “So… Senior, what is your conclusion?”

She didn't care what the answer was; she only wanted to know Li Qi's thoughts, to deduce his essence by combining his thoughts and actions.

Li Qi replied, “You said that people distrust and oppress each other. Is this perhaps rooted in a fundamental inability for people to understand each other?”

“Hmm?” Ling Xiao was surprised.

Wait, thinking about it carefully, it seemed to be true.

People are naturally distrustful of each other. You don't know if the other person is benevolent or malicious, or what their intentions are towards you, so naturally, you become guarded.

The reason for this distrust is that everyone is unable to perceive each other's thoughts and cannot understand others' intentions.

“This is indeed… a very simple idea, but easily overlooked. But it's useless, right? After all, you can't read minds, and even if you could, you couldn't be sure if what you read was true or false. This deduction seems to be meaningless,” Ling Xiao said after some thought.

Li Qi, however, said, “No, how could it be meaningless? In fact, this is the basis of all deductions.”

“On one hand, there is inhumane coldness and iron-hearted egoism; on the other hand, there is indescribable poverty. All of this is caused by this distrust.”

“A few days ago, we observed the residences next to the city's mining district together. Did you see them?” Li Qi asked.

“I was always watching you, Senior. To draw your essence, it's very difficult… so my eyes were only on you,” Ling Xiao said.

The implication was that she hadn't paid attention to the situation there.

“Those are the residences of the Unranked. I counted them, a total of fourteen thousand buildings, housing at least twenty-eight thousand families, approximately one point two million people,” Li Qi clearly stated the data.

This greatly surprised Ling Xiao.

She thought of her own skill, painting.

If Ling Xiao was focused on Li Qi, wanting to capture his essence, then Li Qi was focused on everyone in this world, wanting to capture the essence of this world.

Just this point alone made Ling Xiao happy.

She understood this Senior better, which brought her closer to grasping his essence.

Li Qi continued, “So many people are crammed into an area less than eighty zhang square. This level of crowding means that rooms often house many families together—several couples, all their children, sometimes five or six or even ten, and sometimes including grandparents—all living in just one room. And right next to them are vast expanses of empty land.”

“Is there no space? Or no materials to build houses? No, neither is true. There's plenty of space, and building materials are readily available. Even the Longevity Laborers, as they're called, could easily provide a good life for these Mortals. The reason it's like this is simply because they are afraid.”

“The Longevity Laborers are afraid that Mortals will seize their already unstable positions, and you are afraid that the Laborers will rise up, and the Heaven-Penetrating Realm cultivators are afraid that you will rise up.”

“But is worrying about others competing truly a reason? Does this world… truly lack resources?” Li Qi asked.

This made Ling Xiao ponder for a while. After careful consideration, she chose to shake her head.

Yes, she herself knew that making these people live well actually didn't require many resources; resources were never lacking.

She didn't know how many resources this world had, but it certainly wasn't a small amount.

Li Qi knew even better: this was a First Grade world. A group of Ninth Grade, or even Unranked, consumed less than what the natural world breathed in.

“You see, the cause of all this is the fear you have of each other, and this fear is not caused by issues of living space and resources,” Li Qi said. “So, where does this fear itself come from? Does it come from an inability to understand each other? Have you thought about the essence of this mutual suspicion?”

This left Ling Xiao utterly bewildered.

Mutual suspicion… and an essence?

It's natural for others to potentially harm oneself; one must be on guard against others. Isn't that self-evident?

“Perhaps that's a bit obscure. Let me rephrase,” Li Qi smiled. “Do you think ‘you’ are defined by yourself, or by others?”

“Of course, by myself!” Ling Xiao immediately replied.

Are you kidding? Of course, she defined herself. How could she let others define her?

“Really?” Li Qi immediately retorted, “Don't be so certain.”

Then, he continued, “Is it because others observe you and interact with you that the current ‘you’ exists, or is it that… no matter how the world changes, you always remain you?”

This question elevated the depth of the conversation.

Indeed, can a person grow without being influenced by others?

Obviously not.

Then, in that case, aren't people no longer subjects?

From the very beginning, we ourselves exist with others. Simply put, I am a part of the world, and the world is a part of me. And this world inherently contains other people. I have been with others from the very beginning. ‘Everyone’ is innately social.

No one is a solitary individual; the essence of all people is a collective, an undifferentiated, abstract, anonymous, vague group of people.

This possibility suddenly made Ling Xiao break out in a cold sweat.

If that were the case, wouldn't it mean… she didn't possess a true self? Because she was constantly influenced by others, and ultimately, countless influences became who she was at this moment.

She had never possessed true free will; she was constantly influenced. The self was a social product, co-constructed by others.

Li Qi spoke as if teaching, yet also as if talking to himself, “So, you say, isn't this resistance actually a struggle? You fear them, not because you fear they will seize your living space, because you all know that, but because you are fighting for subjectivity.”

“Each of you, as a part of this vague collective, wants to expand your influence as much as possible, to let the ‘self’ overcome ‘others,’ and ultimately occupy the ‘self’ of ‘others,’ becoming the absolute dominant force within this collective. Only then can the true self be presented; otherwise, what is presented is the self of others.”

“You see, is this struggle for subjectivity among individuals within a group the root cause of all this?” Li Qi asked.

He seemed to be asking Ling Xiao, and also asking himself.

In the scenario Li Qi hypothesized, others are both necessary and must be suppressed.

Others are Hell, not because others harbor malice, but because the very existence of others infringes upon one's own subjectivity. Therefore, to maintain their own subjectivity, they need to reassert it and suppress the subjectivity of others.

Others are omnipresent. Even if others don't physically encounter you in person, even when you are alone, you are engaged in a struggle for subjectivity with others.

Thus, oppressing others and suppressing others becomes a norm. This is not to compete for living space and resources, but to ensure one's constant independence within this abstract, chaotic society.

Ling Xiao was awestruck by Li Qi's discourse.

She even forgot that she was there to observe Li Qi's essence, captivated by his attempt to analyze the essence of society.

But Li Qi didn't wait for her reaction. After asking these questions, he lowered his head again, lost in thought.

Clearly, Li Qi himself had no answers to these questions.

He needed more clues, he needed to observe more of the actual conditions in Immortal Heaven, and gather more specific information to continue his deductions.

After a long while, Ling Xiao finally looked up.

Li Qi before her remained the same.

Silent, aloof, ignoring everything around him, yet meticulously observing everything, with a pretense of profoundness.

Before, Ling Xiao also thought this person was feigning profundity.

But now, after hearing his words, she realized that this person was truly contemplating something about the root of society that she couldn't fully comprehend.

Thus, Li Qi's essence seemed to deepen.

She quickly took out paper and pen and swiftly sketched a rough drawing.

It was a crude sketch; even the facial features didn't quite resemble Li Qi.

But the contemplative aura had a three-tenths true essence.

Ling Xiao glanced at her sketch and decisively tore up the paper.

Not enough, far from enough.

This three-tenths true essence was simply insufficient to describe the man before her. She needed deeper observation, a more meticulous understanding of his actions and thoughts.

Thinking this, she even began to look forward to her next outing with Li Qi.

Li Qi had merely spoken casually and didn't expect her to actually provide an answer. Anyway, for him, keeping Ling Xiao around was just to avoid some trouble.

Yes, if he sent Ling Xiao away, the local Sixth Grade cultivators would probably be very uneasy. In their uneasiness, people would do irrational things. While Li Qi's safety wouldn't be a concern, he feared that the social structure he wanted to observe would be destroyed as a result.

Was this surveillance actually also a competition for subjectivity? After all, if Li Qi took the lead, they would likely lose their authority in this city.

Yes, in the situation Li Qi constructed, authority, prestige—these are the primary forms of subjectivity. When your words and will are carried out by others, this subjectivity is fully displayed. The subjectivity of others is erased, their individuality suppressed. Everyone is forced to implement the subjectivity of the authority figure, to carry out his will.

When you need others to define you, you no longer possess subjectivity.

You need the evaluation of others to define yourself; otherwise, you don't know what you are like.

This is very simple and common. For example, a typical self-perception: “I am a man, and my job is an engineer.”

Then, for this ‘I,’ ‘man’ and ‘engineer’ are his own definitions of himself, his descriptions of himself, the labels he puts on himself.

But aren't these labels formed through our interactions with others, from their feedback?

If a person lived alone, without contact with any external things, could he still form such a self-perception?

So, doesn't this prove that all self-evaluations are actually derived from how others observe ‘me,’ judge ‘me,’ and describe ‘me’?

Therefore, there is no true ‘self,’ only a ‘self-subjectivity’ that is constantly influencing and battling with others.

Others will engage in a struggle for subjectivity with ‘me.’ Others will objectify ‘me,’ labeling ‘me.’

For ‘me,’ this is unacceptable. I am the subject. Why should I be objectified by others?

However, when facing authority, ‘I’ might concede in this struggle for subjectivity.

‘I’ feel that his label for me… is quite accurate?

I really seem to be a man, I really seem to be an Alchemist. They all say I am an Alchemist, so it's not bad for me to be an Alchemist, right? Then I lie comfortably within the labels others have woven for ‘me,’ and feel very comfortable doing what a man should do, what an Alchemist should do. I can be a man and an Alchemist with peace of mind.

This is the outcome after losing the struggle for subjectivity, namely: ‘the self defined by others,’ and ‘finding one's place by following the evaluations and definitions of others.’

And the outcome after winning the struggle is naturally the ability to define others, to occupy a dominant position within the group, to be able to say: “These people are actually just lazy,” or “certain groups have such-and-such characteristics.”

The characteristic of victory is that the qualities he speaks of will be accepted by others, even becoming the self-perception of a certain group. The loser naturally accepts these perceptions.

Some people may not have won, but they can still make such evaluations because it allows them to pretend they won the subjectivity war, giving them the pleasure of directing affairs, but no one listens to them.

This authority to define others is the victory of the individual within the group.

And to maintain such authority, one needs power, fame, wealth, and so on.

The meaning of these things is to conveniently and easily define others.

Thus, the vague ‘collective’ within the group differentiates at this moment, and the individuals within the group complete their definition at this moment.

Therefore, maintaining the existence of the lower strata is to maintain the existence of one's own subjectivity, that is, to maintain one's absolute position.

Li Qi observed the miners' labor, contemplating these thoughts.

Another few days passed, and he stood up.

Then, he said to Ling Xiao, “Alright, we've seen the lower levels. It's time to see your area. I'd like to host a banquet. Would you mind sending out the invitations?”