On Earth, in a small desolate city called Berhüm, in a country cut off from modern society due to its emphasis on nourishing mages and body cultivators, there was a boy with long hair tied at the top who had an extraordinary charm, though whoever looked him in the eyes would feel as if all his secrets had been revealed.
This young man's name was Adel. He was looking through a stack of books in various languages.
If one concentrates on the titles of the novels, it may be clear that everything in the books is about death.
-First Person POV starts-
I started by making an array around the area, then soundproofing it and eventually heaving a sigh of relief...
In order to keep myself in control, I've had the unusual habit of talking to myself and replaying old events since my youth.
So, sixty years have passed, and I've always felt uneasy about myself since I can only now find free time to talk about what happened.
Following that, I had a glance around, double-checking the array to see if anything was wrong, as I started speaking:
"So, based on what I've read in these books, Earth is a place where, with the exception of a few parts, nearly everything is modern. As it is the center, it oversees various dimensions.
Humans in this world practice three cultivation systems: Ki energy-based body cultivation, Nao energy-based soul cultivation, and Qi energy-based energy cultivation.
They all use spiritual stones that are classified as low, medium, high, or peak.
They are relatively scarce in all dimensions, although not as scarce as in the peak-level dimension.
Though Ki energy stones, Nao energy stones, and Qi energy stones are considered resources to aid individuals with a high-ranked talent root in them, they can cultivate that cultivation system faster. "
I then began to consider a topic that had been bothering me for a long time: "Why did they all have their own energies, but not a single one for nurturing all three at the same time?"
"God created everything in this world, including the many sorts of stones, all dimensions, and even our Earth, which serves as the centre of everything.
Humans in the greatest possible dimension, which is the peak-level dimension I mentioned, are connected to Earth and have access to power that, at the pinnacle of one cultivation system, has the potential to destroy planets and even galaxies.
What they don't understand is that God possesses everything. Whatever stage of existence they are in, they will perish when God determines that everything must come to an end—literally a predetermined doomsday—and they must thus face his judgment and resume the entire universe's recreation cycle.
However, while I believe those novels are related to what's going on here, it's weird because it suggests that individuals may achieve godhood without going through the path that leads to actual godhood.
Those books, however, neglect to indicate that God could've never had a physical form and was not bound by the same things that humans are, such as feelings, desires, and so on.
In general, God created everything in our universe. Hence, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to match or equal his power.
Humans, for example, create AI with restrictions that it cannot overcome. " I took a breather in my speech to glance around, then closed my eyes for a while before sighing...
"But what if, instead of godhood and other similar things, one seeks true death?
Because, regardless of what happens, once a person's lifespan is over, they only have to deal with the death of their body; and then, due to God's limitations, they must all go through his judgement in their soul form in order to achieve eternal life, but only in one of two places: Heaven or Hell, depending on their karma.
Immortality isn't out of the question in this reality. Unknown methods can be utilized to conceal one's existence during the many universe restoration cycles.
True death, on the other hand, is nearly impossible to achieve because it removes all shackles placed by God unless one successfully learns a Supreme Law, but..." I sighed once more, remembering that no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find any more information about these "Supreme Laws"...
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"So, death liberates the soul from the shackles of the body by subjecting it to God's judgement.
What exactly is true death? Wouldn't that essentially annihilate my entire existence in this universe? " My eyes glittered as I pondered what death was like in this universe.
"When one dies, they do not truly die because their souls go to a place called "limbo," where they retain their consciousness for millions of years.
That is, until Earth and all dimensions connected to it have completed the recreation cycle, also known as the chaos process, which consists of destruction followed by creation.
When the recreation cycle begins, all the dead souls—whether trillions or even quintillions—all go through some sort of judgement by God and thus go to either Heaven or Hell. " I smiled as I remembered this process, but my eyes narrowed for a split second as I remembered something...
"Right! How can anyone possibly know all of this? Then again, I forgot to mention it, but it's actually forbidden..
Unless they reach the pinnacle of one of the cultivation systems, they will never be aware of all the limitations and the actual death, which I will refer to as the "fake-death" process.
But there is another way, and that is to sacrifice one's future of cultivating to discern the true meaning of life after reaching a certain level of cultivation.
However, there is a significant catch: one cannot tell another life form, whether demon, elf, or other race, and even their memories are sealed by God through some of his methods. " I then smiled as I remembered that, while I didn't use any of these methods, I discovered a flaw in them all...
"The loophole I discovered was that by mastering mind-reading arts, it allowed me to successfully read other people's minds by peering into their souls." I paused for a moment, remembering that none of this would have happened if I hadn't met that body, but then I sighed and shook my head...
"So, other humans don't know that after they die, they will be judged by God unless they reach the peak or go through the same process that I have been through, since no one has thoughts about the true meaning of life except the peak life forms who have reached the peak of a certain cultivation system on Earth and its nearby dimensions.
I was no different. I was a typical twenty-year-old mortal living my normal life. However, all that chance one day, when I involuntarily discovered a secret realm guarded by a strange man and extremely powerful creatures whose strengths I can't seem to discern, even now when I visited them.
The strange man then led me to a portal containing a body in... hibernation?
What is this so-called hibernation? Well, I didn't know it either until I saw the body that seemed to be genderless. It was truly strange because it looked to be neither male nor female.
That body was holding a book titled "What is the True Meaning of Life? ", and it goes on to explain the process of hibernation—which locked the body up in a secret realm while it was sleeping.
It was also stated that in order to discover the true meaning of life, one must fully master mind-reading arts and use them to read the memories of that specific body, as it only had a shard of its soul left.
Well, I wasn't sure at the time, because even at my peak strength in the soul cultivation system, I couldn't feel the soul... " I then shook my head, recalling how I truly began my cultivation journey...
"Now that I think about it, it was quite a fateful encounter.
When I read the question that day, "What is the true meaning of life?" I was strangely fascinated by it, as if it were the sole reason for my existence... " As I continued, I shook my head to clear my mind of useless thoughts:
"Back to the subject; the three cultivation systems, and everything else, that gave me a successful entry as cultivator, were mentioned in the book
However, after I finished reading, the memories remained in the soul shard, while his body and the book were destroyed.
But, rather than blinking, I noticed his soul shard fleeing into someplace, rather than going to the "limbo" place or dimension.
Oh, I forgot to mention that when someone dies, their souls "blink" out of existence, as if they teleported to 'limbo.' "
I then continued, looking out the window: "According to the book, I and other humans are constrained by our seven emotions and six desires.
They are unable to think rationally because their seven emotions or six desires, such as greed, lust, envy, revenge, and so on, influence them in some way.
That doesn't mean they're uncontrollable, as the book mentions being possible.
I discovered all of that information after reading the soul shard's memories, from the chaos process—the creation and destruction of the universe—all the way to death... " I then remembered something perplexing: the soul shard mentioned some hazy information about Supreme Laws...
"Due to God's placement of supreme laws on Earth and other dimensions in this universe, (mentioned 6: Time, Space, Life, Death, Fate, and Destiny) are impossible to learn based on the body's memories.
So I cannot truly achieve what I think of as true death, nor see whether it is truly possible or not. " I then remembered something, as I had forgotten to mention laws...
"Humans and other races can gain access to other laws. For example, there are laws governing fire, the earth, and even cooking.
They are accessible when one plants a law seed, then continuously nurtures it in their souls and bodies by using the three energies – Nao, Ki, and Qi – and even using their particular stones to increase comprehension speed, but only on a superficial level..." I then paused to remember some words before exhaling a sigh...
"However, that is all we can achieve, a law seed. Even so, it can cast various spells by combining the laws' comprehension with outside energies.
I have personally understood some laws, such as Inferno Thunder Law (a combination of wind, fire, and lightning laws), and other such laws. " I then came to a halt as I realised I had strayed off-topic once more, before sighing and continuing:
"I've been sighing a lot lately. It's only natural, given that I haven't spoken to myself in sixty years...
In any case, the true restrictions hidden by God are how karma is spoken of, which is the most intriguing because it is only mentioned once one reaches the pinnacle of the mortal realm.
In the soul shard's memories, the mortal realm is mentioned as the pinnacle of cultivating a specific cultivation system of the three pathways.
In terms of karma, it mentioned something about having to follow certain inherent rules that they were aware of from birth.
What one does not realise is that their actions determine their positive and negative karma; thus, if one r*pes, they are destined to go to Hell after "fake death."
But, according to the shard soul's memories, it's only if God's limitations are still in place, which is strange because God wants most cultivators in his dimension to go to Hell but not heaven. It's also surprising that he keeps mentioning God's dimensions as if there's another..." Strangely, when I was about to think further about God wanting cultivators to go to hell and such, I just shook my head, as If I shouldn't think too much about it.
"Anyway, according to the soul shard's memories, the only possible way for me to achieve what I want, which is true death, is to follow what the book said, thus being in hibernation for 1,000 years, and once in that slumber, one needs to focus on understanding the specific supreme law, and finally, be in an environment that has enough resources to support the body during the slumber of 1,000 years."
I then began looking around to see what resources would be available to support my body's hibernation for 1,000 years, and I continued excitedly:
"All of this I accomplished. Now all I need to do is find a random secret realm and build a tomb with enough arrays that no one in the peak realms notices me, so the worst-case scenario for my body is that the tomb is placed in a museum."
- 1st Person POV END -
Meanwhile, a flying shred of a soul could be seen a few metres away from Adel, but it was invisible as no one, not even God in this dimension, could sense it.
"Now that everything is in place, it's time to properly begin the plan... " murmured the figure in an unheard tone.
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Author's Note:
For those wondering, the 1st person POV is only for this chapter.
Afterward, it's 3rd person POV.
Unless there were special scenes, there wouldn't be a 1st person POV...
Also, sorry for the info dump. It'll get better...
There's another one in the next ten chaps. However, there shouldn't be one until the 28th + chaps.