After leaving the world of all NPCs

The exterior scene was completely silent. The once vast galaxy was extinguished like a candle, the surging energy solidified into a cold glacier, and the giant web woven by logic and fate disappeared without a trace, leaving only the "darkness" that swallowed everything.

The open system state of the third-level genetic lock, the sense of harmony between man and nature, the absolute control over the time scale... all disappeared.

He couldn't tell whether he had sunk for a moment or had been imprisoned in this cage of sensory nothingness for tens of millions of years.

The self is already closed.

If there is no "him", where does "I" come from?

"one."

A number, the only spark shining in the absolute darkness, suddenly lit up in Ye Zuochen's heart.

If you can't perceive the outside world, then use yourself as a measure!

If you can't anchor time, then use your willpower!

"two."

"three."

"Four……"

The monotonous and firm counting becomes the only coordinate and the only scale in this boundless darkness!

It is no longer about measuring the passage of the outside world, but about proving “I think, therefore I am.”

Every count is a tenacious knock of consciousness against the barrier of nothingness.

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine."

"A billion."

"Ninety-nine nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine!"

When the word "trillion" is about to burst into my mind.

hum!

An unimaginably heavy pressure suddenly acted on every corner of Ye Zuochen's consciousness, as if all the matter in the entire universe was crashing down!

Every grain of flesh and blood, every strand of energy, every elementary particle...

The very foundations of his existence transformed into cold, heavy shackles, emitting a roar of backlash from "objective reality" itself.

Endless threads of cause and effect stretched out from the void, tightly wrapping around his every leap of thought, trying to pull this arrogant will that attempted to transcend matter back into the heavy cage of his flesh, which was born and raised by nature and owed the universe infinite cause and effect.

Ye Zuochen's eyes froze in the void, without the slightest wavering, while the sound of counting still resonated deep in his soul.

"mega……"

How can a few mere causes and effects make me turn back?

Then continue counting.

From the omen, keep counting until you reach the number of nayutas.

Click!

Every count is a more decisive self-observation!

Every observation tears a deep crack in the abyss of absolute nothingness!

Deep in the cracks, the inner demons surged out like the bursting of the Styx.

They were in various shapes, tearing at Ye Zuochen's spiritual light.

The ancient Titan, wearing stardust armor and holding a broken mountain as a stick, made the void tremble with every step he took.

The Hydra demon hissed and roared, and the poisonous mist turned into the faces of billions of resentful souls.

The sun god rides a bronze chariot, its golden flaming spokes cutting through the darkness.

An ice-cold liquid metal Terminator with countless gun barrels protruding from its body.

A digital ghost composed of countless screens and lines plays Ye Zuochen's past failures and regrets.

The interstellar fleet's main brain, which covered the sky and the sun, had thought waves that were like billions of steel needles piercing into the soul.

The inner demon who looks like a teenager, with an innocent smile but holding a bloody dagger.

The huge black shadow representing cowardice kept whispering about giving up.

The giant glass statue symbolizes arrogance, but is full of cracks inside.

The steampunk steel behemoth spews black smoke.

A magic array with flashing runes strangled the space.

The super soldier's genes collapsed and turned into a twisted mass of flesh...

These are all "false selves".

It is the distorted manifestation of the thousands of aspects and contradictions in Ye Zuochen's heart!

In this absolute realm where even "nothingness" becomes the background, only "he" and these "inner demons" truly exist.

Only by eliminating the false and retaining the true, and destroying all "false selves", can we see the only "true self"!

How to do?

If it were geniuses like Heita and Ruan Mei, they would surely come up with some amazing methods.

However, for a fool like Ye Zuochen, there is only one way to attain enlightenment—

Break it with force!

What scientific laws?

What mysterious law?

In this nothingness where even the reference system collapses, everything is empty!

Only "I" exists!

"kill!"

Ye Zuochen's thoughts exploded in the void.

A punch was thrown, and wherever the fist passed, the rune array collapsed.

With an angry roar, the sound waves turned into tangible golden ripples, shattering the liquid metal terminator into powder.

The tip of his finger was as sharp as a sword, pointing towards the Sun God's eyebrows. The phantom driving the bronze chariot exploded along with the golden flame chariot!

He transformed into a pure fighting machine, charging through countless waves of delusion, his fist bones shattering and then reassembling, his spiritual light dimming and then igniting.

Every kill is a tempering of oneself.

I don’t know how long it took, maybe a moment, maybe eternity.

The last roaring ancient Titan was torn into two halves by Ye Zuochen's hands when he stabbed it in the chest, turning it into nothingness and dust. The noisy battlefield of the inner demon finally fell completely silent.

dark……

nothingness……

A silence deeper than before descended.

All references to past experiences, everything known, along with the countless remnants of the false self that had just been destroyed, had disappeared completely.

In the absolute "void", the dust of the inner demon began to reorganize spontaneously. They grew in reverse and pieced together into an incredible, unspeakable and indescribable giant tree.

The trunk is as transparent as crystal, the branches stretch out into the boundless nothingness, and every leaf shines with a strange light. Reflected in the light is every distorted or sacred face of the ego that Ye Zuochen has cut off with his own hands.

This tree of light emanates indescribable perfection, harmony, sublimity, purity, harmony, wisdom, and brilliance...

It seems to be the final answer of the universe.

It seemed like a perfect rejection of billions.

This is the most ideal and perfect ultimate form of "me"!

Its branches hang down gently, and each leaf is like a perfect mirror, casting pure and flawless light onto the core of Ye Zuochen.

boom--!

All the leaves suddenly turned, focusing billions of rays of light embodying the "perfect ideal" on Ye Zuochen.

The light penetrated the shell of his will and reached the core!

A complete "I" emerged.

Ye Zuochen finally saw his "true self".

"So I am... like this."

An unprecedented enlightenment, like a baby seeing its own reflection in water for the first time, rose in the deepest part of Ye Zuochen's spiritual mind with surprise and confirmation.

An invisible yet extremely solid "mirror" was cast at this moment!

This is "own"!

This is the foundation of the eternal spiritual light!

Ye Zuochen suddenly raised his head, ignoring the perfect brilliance that was enough to make any saint fall, and gathered all his strength into one palm, and slammed it towards the last reflected me!

"This...isn't me!"

He growled, "This 'I'? Perfect? ​​Absolute? Ideal? It's nothing but an illusion created by the mind, a poison that lures people into depravity! Because the real 'I' is far from this!"

Before he finished speaking, Ye Zuochen's fist seemed to be condensed with all the boundless fighting spirit to destroy the accumulated delusions of the self. With the determination to shatter ideals and embrace the truth, he punched the tree of light that symbolized the "perfect self"!

"This! Isn't me!"

The giant tree of light shattered with a sound, and billions of leaves shining with perfect faces turned into fireflies all over the sky, and were completely annihilated into nothingness in the next moment.

No longer pursue perfection, just seek existence itself!

Zheng——!

The light of my true self pierced through the final barrier of nothingness like a sharp sword, but a strange scene happened.

After this beam of light was shot out, it did not dissipate. Instead, it seemed to hit an invisible prism and was refracted instantly.

A beam of light split into two, two beams split into four, and four beams split into eight.

Eight brilliant rays of light were reflected back and fiercely bombarded the core that had just burst out with the brilliance of the true self!

Eight grand and majestic figures condensed into shape in the reflected light, trapping Ye Zuochen's true self in the center.

One of them wore a seven-star crown on his head and a black Taoist robe with gold patterns, which was embroidered with the stars in the sky and the River Map and Luoshu.

His face was blurred by the clear air, and only a pair of eyes that contained the power of birth and death of heaven and earth were able to penetrate the void.

The left hand holds a rotating chaotic Tai Chi diagram, and the right hand presses lightly, as if controlling the longitude and latitude of heaven and earth.

The second one is a handsome young man wearing armor woven with roses and ivy and holding a scepter with wheat ears.

Her golden hair flows like sunlight, her blue eyes contain the vitality of all things, the shadows of flowers under her feet keep blooming and withering, and her whole body is filled with the breath of life and the cycle of decay.

The three of them were as big as mountains, with bare upper bodies, their muscles knotted and covered with ancient scars.

The rough, huge wooden stick in his hand, the front end of which was soaked in the never-drying dragon blood, exuded a murderous aura that made dragons and snakes tremble.

The four of them were covered in hideous black armor with ghost masks, and purple thunder was jumping between the gaps between the armor plates.

There are sharp horns on both sides of the helmet and a Japanese sword hangs around the waist.

His face was as cold as a knife, his eyes were sharp as if they could split the chaos, and the aura of storm and destruction surrounded him.

Fifth, he sits cross-legged on the wisdom lotus, holding a vajra, a lotus, a sword, and a conch in each of his four arms.

His face is a mixture of compassion and anger, and the vertical eye between his eyebrows can see through all illusions.

Behind his head was a huge halo burning with the flames of wisdom, and the sound of Buddhist chanting was circling in the void.

Six, six huge, broken wings burning with black flames spread out behind him, covering the sky and the sun.

Dressed in tattered holy cloth, his exposed skin was covered with burn marks and sacred rune brands.

Holding the broken flaming holy sword, his handsome face was filled with eternal arrogance and despair deep in his bones, and light and darkness were madly annihilated around him.

The seventh one was wearing a blood-stained and tattered military uniform and holding a huge sword with countless gaps in it.

Riding a dark horse, standing alone on a future of shattered ideals.

His face was obscured by sand and blood, and only his eyes, burning with the eternal flame of war, revealed a hint of melancholy and determination.