Chapter 108 - Devouring Illusion
Yaan found himself back on the Qi Plane, though this was still within the world of the True-False Illusion.
To be honest, at this point, he was feeling uncertain about whether or not this could still be considered an illusion…
Before meeting the Spirit Plane Lord, Yaan felt determined to observe the actions he had taken in the past, such that he could learn from his mistakes. Now, he no longer felt so interested in doing this.
He still paid some attention to the goings on around him, but more importantly, Yaan focussed on the illusion itself. Whether it was the Spirit Plane Lord’s shocking revelations, or the fact that his plan was rapidly approaching its climax, Yaan no longer had the mind to focus on his past self.
The only matter within this illusion world that caused him to pay close attention, was his encounter with the entrance to the inheritance. He once again observed that ethereal green chain, but unlike before, Yaan now knew exactly what this bizarre thing represented.
‘A karmic link…a connection to my fate…’
Yaan entered the inheritance. He took note of the ‘devil spirit’ which appeared in the 1st trial. He now knew that this was a supposedly a recording of sorts.
Oddly, the recording was far more terrifying compared to the actual devil spirit in the 4th Trial Realm that he was familiar with. Since the devil spirit was the core inheritance spirit, it was likely that in the 4th Trial Realm, it was restraining itself for the sake of the challengers.
The massacre of the 1st trial repeated itself.
Yaan also witnessed his struggle in the 2nd trial once again.
The pain, the betrayal, everything that had occurred within the 3rd trial replayed itself before his eyes.
Through it all, he remained calm and collected. Compared to what he was prepared to do in the 4th trial, just reliving these memories was nothing in comparison.
As he gradually ascended back up through the levels of the 4th trial, Yaan stopped paying attention to his surroundings, instead relaxing himself and calming his heart. He had been doing this ever since leaving the border of the Spirit Plane, but now, he really just ignored everything around him entirely.
‘The Spirit Plane Lord said that going through with this is pure insanity for someone at my level, yet she also seemed confident that I would succeed…’ Yaan thought to himself.
Right now, Yaan felt a strange sense of serenity.
Finally, he opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings once again. His younger self had returned to the 9th level pagoda, and was about to enter the True-False Illusion World once again.
Meanwhile, outside of the illusion…
“What is he doing? Is he attempting to re-enter the illusion?!” The young girl exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock as she was informed of Yaan’s actions.
“…” The old trial spirit remained silent. He stared intently into the illusion, but no matter how hard he searched, he could no longer find a single trace of Yaan’s presence - that is, the Yaan who entered the illusion had all but disappeared. All that remained in the eyes of the onlookers, appeared to be his younger, illusory self…
Only, his younger self had grown too strong. This ‘illusory’ version of Yaan had re-lived through Yaan’s entire life, up until the very moment that Yaan himself entered the illusion. In theory, the stronger the illusory replication of oneself became, the more difficult it would be to devour. Because of this, the old spirit did not understand Yaan’s actions…unless, he was trying to devour the strongest version of his illusory self…?
In the end, everyone watching this strange turn of events unfold became silent, opting to sit back and watch.
They were all curious about Yaan’s plan.
Back in the illusion, the younger Yaan had now entered the range of the True-False Illusion Formation.
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The younger Yaan’s state was truly pitiful, he was on the verge of death, yet crazily struggling forwards. He had pushed himself beyond what his body could handle.
The moment the True-False Illusion Formation was activated, everything went black. Whatever the younger Yaan had been expecting to find within the formation illusion, it was not this…
Right now, after he entered the True-False Illusion, the younger Yaan found himself standing face to face with himself.
“Devour me.” Yaan spoke plainly.
The Yaan to speak was the older Yaan, the Yaan who had already been through the full cycle of the illusion. The Yaan to stare at him in shock and confusion, was his ‘illusory self’.
Only now, the ‘illusory’ Yaan looked far more solid compared to the ‘real’ Yaan…
“What?” The younger Yaan couldn’t help but ask. He stared at this version of himself, a version which clearly seemed to be illusory, so illusory that he looked like he was about to fade out of existence.
The younger Yaan felt completely bewildered.
What sort of trial was this? An illusion of himself showed up and demanded to be devoured? Was this a test, some sort of trick, was it-
“Once you devour me, you will gain my memories, and at that point, you will naturally understand everything. This isn’t a trick, it’s an opportunity. If you don’t do this, we will die.”
“Wait, we…? What are you talking about, what-”
“Look, we don’t have long, and you’ll understand everything after you devour me anyway. You want strength, right? Devouring me is the best way to step onto the psyche path.”
As the older Yaan tried to persuade his younger self to devour him, he was feeling somewhat impatient. He tried not to show it, but it was taking every ounce of willpower in his body just to maintain his existence within this illusion!
Unlike what the onlookers outside of the illusion world guessed, he had no intention of going through the illusion once again; such a thing was impossible anyway. By the end of the illusion, if he did not successfully complete the trial and ‘escape’ from this illusory world, he would certainly die. That was the danger of this trial.
Right now, he was using his mind to forcefully prevent the illusion world from collapsing and devouring him whole, because if that happened, he would really die! It was only thanks to the experience that he had built up throughout this trial that he was able to develop his mind to this extent. Of course, it was also because of his many years spent analysing the illusion world that he had the chance to succeed here.
But it wouldn’t last for much longer.
Flicker!
The older Yaan’s form flickered, causing his expression to pale.
“Quickly, devour me already! Or are you too scared to take this risk?!”
He was trying not to say too much to his younger self, because he knew how he was…cautious and doubtful. Right now, his younger self was definitely wondering if this was a trap, but he likely felt the urgency of the situation at the same time.
Finally, when the older Yaan saw the light of hesitation within his younger self’s eyes transform into a burning resolution, he showed a smile and relaxed slightly.
The younger Yaan stepped forwards and reached towards him. The moment his hand touched the older Yaan’s face, the older Yaan’s form finally broke down and disintegrated into fragments of light.
In the instant before his body collapsed, a golden vortex formed within the older Yaan’s eyes. In that instant, he felt as if he had understood something, but this feeling only lasted during the brief moment that he felt his own impending demise.
The Yaan who died was the Yaan to originally enter this illusion, whilst the surviving Yaan was the illusion that formed when he walked away from his fate.
But right now, the sole remaining Yaan was filled with shock.
Those fragments of light were composed entirely of the older Yaan’s mind. His mind broke down perfectly into fragments of sentience, knowledge and wisdom. All of these fragments stormed into the remaining Yaan’s mind like a forceful torrent of light.
Yaan was unable to resist. Memories of two lives collided, fused, split, rearranged, and finally settled. At the same time, the strength of mind which he had built up during the course of the illusion fused with his original strength of mind, forming a boundary, a wall, around these new memories.
As the memory fragments converged into various spheres of white light, there was one final facet of Yaan’s mind that began to take form; his wisdom.
This wisdom was the innate understanding that Yaan possessed towards all things in this world. It was his rational understanding which had now developed to the point of mental intuition, and it formed the fabric of his mind.
The countless white fragments were fragments of Yaan’s knowledge - his individual memories. These fragments gathered together, forming a seemingly endless sea of white. This sea was a single entity, yet at the same time, it was composed of the countless individual memories that Yaan had accumulated throughout his life.
The memories were held within his mind by the sturdy walls, the walls that formed his strength of mind. This was his sentience.
Knowledge, wisdom and sentience, these were the three key components of intelligence, and of the consciousness itself. They were also the three necessary components that needed to be materialised and connected in this way, in order to step onto the psyche path.
What was the first step of the psyche path? The first step was to form the Sea of Consciousness!
Right now, following the devouring of his own mind, Yaan’s Sea of Consciousness started to gain form. Not only was it forming, but its foundation was solid; he had clearly gone above and beyond the requirement to form the Sea of Consciousness!
As the Sea of Consciousness formed, a grey gas gathered within, materialising thanks to the connection between the white sea, the black background and the solid walls.
Time passed by, and gradually, the formation of Yaan’s Sea of Consciousness came to an end. His memories from the illusion and his original life had fully integrated…
His illusory self had devoured his original self.
Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that his illusory mind had devoured his original consciousness. Regardless, the feeling of dying was all too real.
This shocking experience caused his mind to reach a very powerful level, whilst his foundation in psyche cultivation was now extremely stable.
CRACK!
The True-False Illusion cracked, then immediately shattered into countless fragments. With this, Yaan’s illusory consciousness was freed from the illusory world, but that was not all. Thanks to the strange energy holding together the illusory world, his illusory mind rapidly absorbed this energy, becoming ‘real’ as it fused into his previously unconscious body!
Yaan slowly opened his eyes.
A part of him had been hoping that perhaps, after leaving the illusion, he would recover the memories from before that last day he had spent with his family back then…but he was disappointed.
At least he was alive. At least his plan was successful. At least he was still him…he still felt like himself, he remembered his life, his path, his struggle. To Yaan, the fact that he had been devoured by his illusion, causing the two minds to fuse together, resulting in the creation of something better, did not make him any less ‘him’.
His reason for allowing his own illusion to devour him was simple. Yaan saw no difference in the final result, if his original self devoured his illusion, or if he allowed his illusion to devour him. Others would not see things this way, they would not see the experience of their own death as something so insignificant. As for why Yaan felt this way, he could not quite explain it, but he knew in his heart that doing this was the right choice.
He chose to be devoured by his illusion, as he felt that this was the only viable method of completing the trial, which could be considered ‘beyond perfection’.
He was alive. He succeeded.
In all, Yaan spent nine long years in the True-False Illusion World.