Chapter 982: Resurrection, giant chaotic construct

Shen Shuibi and La Qi looked at all this, exchanging glances.

"Mistress, please go heal your wounds; I'll go find Master."

"I'll go with you," Shen Shuibi said.

"We can't go together. Even if you do go, don't go with me. I'm worried we'll encounter another dilemma." La Qi refused. At the same time, he recovered some strength, which allowed him to continue folding, so his injuries healed in less than a minute.

This was La Qi's self-healing ability; he could heal all his injuries in just one minute. Fighting La Qi required continuous engagement, otherwise, you would face an immortal monster.

Of course, just now, La Qi was almost exhausted to death, so there wasn't really no way.

Shen Shuibi nodded; she understood La Qi's meaning.

So, without further ado, the two separated.

Shen Shuibi was going to find Empress Luofu.

And La Qi would go find Zhu Fengdan.

The two acted separately.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Demonic Prince carried the frenzied Zhou Fang, traveling through the Universe.

Originally, with the power of a Third Grade, appearing anywhere would be instantaneous. However, it seemed the destination was somewhat special, so the Demonic Prince had to travel honestly.

The place he was going to could not be reached by ordinary 'advancement'.

On the way, Zhou Fang howled.

The Demonic Prince glanced at Zhou Fang.

The current Li Qi, and he himself when controlled by Retribution of Black Karma, were so similar.

Truly disgraceful.

He carried Zhou Fang onward, and after traversing through the stars for a while, he arrived at the center of the Universe.

The Universe actually has no center, but the stars do, and to ordinary life, the center of the stars is the center of the Universe.

This is… the Ziwei Heavenly Court.

Here, there is an 'Emperor Star'.

The Grand Emperor, the Sovereign of Star Officials, 'Taiyi', is located here.

That's right, although Heavenly Emperor Haotian is said to be the Sovereign of the Heavenly Gods, in reality, the Ziwei Emperor Star is the actual leader of the Ziwei Heavenly Court. This means that the one doing the work is actually Taiyi, not Haotian.

The Demonic Prince came here to visit.

Passing through the Heavenly Gate, ascending the Heavenly Ladder, traversing the Jade Pond, and the Long Wall.

Soon, he arrived at 'Ziwei'.

On the way, he encountered many Heavenly Gods and Star Officials, but these Heavenly Gods and Star Officials chose not to obstruct him, instead allowing the Demonic Prince to enter, turning a blind eye.

This journey was a shuttle through the stars, so the surroundings were empty. The bodies of the Star Officials were so vast that even just passing by them meant distances measured in light-years.

Here, he saw Taiyi, and Taiyi also saw him.

Taiyi's posture was different from Haotian's.

Or rather… it's hard to describe what kind of existence Taiyi is; his body has no form whatsoever.

Overall, Taiyi's body… is almost the collection of all stars.

Yes, all stars, including all the starry sky, and even all the Star Officials.

It sounds very mysterious; in terms of material composition, Taiyi can be said to have no constituent parts, or rather, all his constituent parts belong to others.

For example… the Four Symbols are a constituent part of Taiyi, and the Four Symbols are composed of the twenty-eight lunar mansions, which also have their own compositions.

Four Symbols, Five Officials, Six Mansions, Six Jia, twenty-eight lunar mansions, Thirty-Six Stars of Ziwei Dou Shu, Taibai, Yinghuo, Suixing, Zhenxing, Eight Winds, Purple Palace, Taiwei, Xuanyuan, Xianchi, Four Guardians, Tian'a.

All these Star Officials are 'Taiyi'.

But none of them are Taiyi.

Or rather, the Star Officials are both independent and part of Taiyi.

This doesn't mean that the Four Symbols or other Star Officials don't exist, or are some kind of Puppet; that idea is wrong. It should be said that other Star Officials are his thought organs, but they are also independent of each other.

Perhaps one can vaguely sense the existence of those materials and some other connection.

The more complete the integrity of each, the stronger the structural organization. Those ordinary Star Officials are like atoms within a nebula; relative to the volume of the nebula, the spacing between each atom is like the distance between stars, merely loosely wrapped together.

Each nebula is like a giant, weak radiation pool, emitting radiation light that transmits in waves, penetrating everything, from one atom to another.

This is actually easy to understand.

Heavenly Gods like Star Officials are super-giant life forms composed of countless worlds and planets. The cosmic network is their thought organ, and all sentient beings are their thought units.

Countless planets, worlds, all the living beings within them, including the primitive natural environment, and so on—these thoughts combined form a Star Official. Many of the Di Qi (Earthly Qi) and natural Incarnations among them also have personalities.

But none of these lives, none of these Di Qi (Earthly Qi) who are natural Incarnations, feel that they are Star Officials, nor do Star Officials feel that they are themselves.

Thus, Taiyi, as the Sovereign of all Star Officials, is naturally the same.

It's like a planet with many people on it. Each person is separate, with their own will and thoughts, but this doesn't prevent the planet from having a collective planetary consciousness.

It's like each of your brain cells and nervous Systems can actually act independently. These nerve cells have the ability to think independently, but each brain cell is not you.

Taiyi hangs above all Star Officials; he is their ultimate. They are fragments of Taiyi, but they are also theirs.

However, each fragment retains the memory of the original individual spirit. Taiyi permeates the entire Universe's time and space. Each aspect of every fragment reflects other fragments, and in some sense, Taiyi doesn't exist, or rather… he exists everywhere.

This is Taiyi, the second First Grade in the Universe, a 'whole' that is hard to describe, almost impossible to delineate.

And here, is the solution for 'fragments'.

The Demonic Prince arrived at this place, threw Li Qi below, and said to Taiyi: "So… as we agreed, I've brought Li Qi."

Taiyi did not speak, because he did not need to speak.

In a sense, the Demonic Prince is also a part of Taiyi. When the Demonic Prince spoke, he had already received Taiyi's answer.

That's right, if one had to say… every existence in the Universe is a part of Taiyi, including other First Grade, just as other First Grade also have demonic thoughts.

But none of them are Taiyi, and Taiyi is not them.

Tiny organisms, each individual, form the intelligence of planetary-level Star Officials.

The intelligence of planetary-level Star Officials forms the intelligence of stellar-level Star Officials.

Then, stellar-level Star Officials gather together to form the intelligence of galactic-level Star Officials.

With the participation of numerous individuals, the galactic-level intelligence became richer, Awakening, gaining a higher level of insight. It saw the history of the entire galaxy, and the myriad forms of life.

The entire galactic intelligence saw its life filled with continuous conflict, endless sorrow, and the danger of premature death, because the internal wars between galaxies were so intense, but this was not its own war.

Moreover, the galactic-level intelligent Star Official is also part of the cluster-level intelligent Star Official.

They are together, yet separate, possessing completely independent minds, yet inextricably linked.

Layer upon layer, all the intelligences in the Universe eventually stack up to form Taiyi.

Those unfamiliar with the hidden truths would probably think that the Ziwei Star is Taiyi's true body, but in reality, there is no such concept as Taiyi's true body.

Even the current Li Qi… is also a part of Taiyi.

Taiyi swallowed Li Qi into the Ziwei Star.

The Demonic Prince witnessed all this, then waited quietly.

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'Li Qi' at this moment felt an especially immense Chaos.

Is he 'Li Qi'? Perhaps not.

Because 'Li Qi' is just a code name; anyone can be called Li Qi.

So, is he that unique point of Karma?

It seems not.

Then, regarding 'self', is his cognition 'Li Qi'?

It seems not. He has many thoughts, and these thoughts conflict with each other, and they are not necessarily his own.

No, these thoughts were never his.

There is no concept of 'I', because there are too many 'I's within him.

Every 'I' feels independent, and every 'I' seems to try to seize 'Dominion', as if Dominion is very important.

What is Dominion?

Is it 'self-consciousness'? But self-consciousness, while not exactly a lie, is certainly very unreliable.

However, what if there is no self-consciousness?

If a being has no self-consciousness but can still act, he is a philosophical zombie, so what use is the self?

Perhaps, the self itself has no meaning.

There's no need to pursue the self.

Does Taiyi have a self?

At this moment, the enormous chaotic construct named 'Li Qi' vaguely groped and tried to recall what had happened.

Many, countless personalities and self-cognitions, created a peculiar chaotic impact on this enormous chaotic construct named 'Li Qi'.

Can a person imagine what they see with a thousand eyes?

If not, can an independent 'self-consciousness' imagine the state of sharing the same thought organ with countless other self-consciousnesses simultaneously?

This was precisely the case now. In the mind of the chaotic construct named 'Li Qi's', in his impacted head, it was strangely reflected: an echo, a mad dream, crude, twisted, almost indescribable.

Madness.

According to the definition of a creature with only one consciousness, this state is called 'madness'.

This is even more thorough than dissociative identity disorder, which still has a main cognition, but this mixed construct now has no main body.

What is the main body? Is it necessary to have a main body?

However, in front of another mixed construct named 'Taiyi', Li Qi seemed like a mere trifle.

To Taiyi, what is dissociative identity disorder? These are inherently his own constituent parts.

Within him, there inherently contained endless, diverse groups.

In Taiyi's eyes, self-consciousness itself is utterly without beginning or end.

To Taiyi, he understands all life, yet has no pity, nor does he offer salvation.

He merely experiences the fragmentation of his constituent parts, their love, their senses, their self-hostility, their resistance, everything about them.

Taiyi, this eternal spiritual entity, also experienced everything they experienced.

Complete understanding, insight into everything, but merely quietly experiencing it. All of this is dissected and evaluated one by one, after all, these are actually parts of Taiyi.

All life is a component of him, and everything happens within him.

Containing all things, and endlessly observing the infinite, diverse groups contained within himself.

These groups are themselves individuals.

Individual lives form group lives, and group lives can form larger group lives, but they are independent of each other, eventually forming Taiyi, and Taiyi is also independent of them.

What an incredibly subtle state.

The enormous mixed construct named 'Taiyi' swallowed the enormous mixed construct named 'Li Qi' into the Ziwei Star.

Time passed bit by bit.

'Taiyi' and 'Li Qi' seemed to be communicating, yet also seemed to be doing nothing.

It should be said… they were doing nothing.

But, does communication require active speaking?

The beings within Taiyi never communicated with Taiyi, but they were also communicating with Taiyi at every moment.

So, no communication is needed, isn't it?

The two mixed constructs merged again at this moment.

Time passed quickly.

Zhou Fang died, and all the fragments died with him, and amidst all the deaths, new life descended.

Finally…

'Li Qi' Awoke.

"Thank you," the Li Qi before him said to Taiyi.

He is Li Qi.

Or rather… from the multicellular embryo named 'Li Qi', a higher-level Li Qi was born and Awoke.

How to describe it?

An embryo, with many, many cells inside.

Then, all the cells, all the fragments, of this embryo originally acted according to their own will.

Every cell had its own thoughts.

Then, through the concerted effort of these cells, a 'baby' was born.

This baby gained its own mind.

The cells remained subservient, while the 'baby' itself gained 'mind' and 'personality'.

Can you say that the cells are not independent? In fact, each cell is a single-celled organism; they can also act on their own.

Every 'fragment' is like this.

But when combined, they form a 'baby'.

And the being named 'Li Qi' at this moment is this baby. All the previous experiences, everything, were just a part of this baby.

"No need, you Awoke yourself," Taiyi replied. "Welcome to our ranks. Although you are not a Star Official, we are almost identical in life form."