Chapter 526: Heaven, Earth, Human, Divine, Ghost
"Staying too long in the virtual world, sometimes one might forget that they are actually living in a dream, a dream woven by the God Body.
..."
The middle-aged man was still talking interminably, yet he never directly answered Lu Yuesheng's questions.
Instead, the myriad details he let slip inadvertently revealed quite a lot of useful information to her.
"In just over twenty years, virtual reality technology on Earth has reached a level where it's indistinguishable from reality?" Because she had been out of touch with modern technology for too long, she was momentarily unable to process what she heard.
"If such technology truly exists, one could simply project a group of people into virtual offices, and they could complete most of their work without ever leaving their homes. There would be no need for them to crowd into big cities; they could fully return to their hometowns.
Students would no longer need to attend school in person; they could project themselves directly into school spaces from home.
The impact of distance on humanity would rapidly shrink; long-distance relationships could have daily 'in-city' dates.
The urban landscape of the entire country would transform. Large cities would likely fragment into clusters of small and medium-sized cities..."
"If it developed to its extreme, they could even live their entire lives in the virtual world. When all perceptions could be transmitted via optical fibers, the physical body in the material world would no longer be so important."
The "Two-Dimensional" technology obtained from Yamato was sufficient to allow some humans, under certain conditions, to live forever in the virtual world. The Land of White's virtual reality environment was precisely an improvement derived from it.
...
"I seem to have just heard you mention an entity called the God Body... May I ask, what is that?" Lu Yuesheng seized on a key point.
"Do you believe that all things are one?" When the God Body was mentioned, the middle-aged man's expression clearly changed significantly, as if he were a different person. His speech also became rambling and mystical.
"That charlatan's tone again..." Lu Yuesheng was almost traumatized by a certain charlatan, but she still maintained a polite smile on her face.
As a journalist with professional integrity, she was still diligently trying not to let her subjective emotions influence what the interviewee said.
"Everything in this universe is, in essence, unified; they are all a part of the God Body."
"..."
"However, the vast majority of life forms sleep as a corner of the God Body, reincarnating again and again, yet always struggling to awaken."
"So...?" She had a vague, uneasy premonition.
"Every one of us is a part of the God Body. To achieve the ultimate goal of the world returning to unity, we founded the Holy Progenitor Faith. You can also call us Holy Progenitors.
Perhaps in a thousand years, perhaps in ten thousand years, one day, the God Body will be restored through our hands!"
As he spoke, the middle-aged man had fallen into a state of fanaticism. His eyes, as if possessed, made her spine tingle with unease.
But, true to her stubborn, contrarian nature, Lu Yuesheng habitually retorted: "Then what about your system? What is it?"
"The system is the framework for the God Body's reconstruction. It connects our shallow existence until all life in the entire universe awakens from its slumber." The middle-aged man had no intention of concealing anything.
"Of course, even if the unity of all things is the truth of the world, we won't force others to believe. Because people always believe what they want to believe." The middle-aged man seemed to notice the fleeting flicker of panic in Lu Yuesheng's eyes, and feigned neutrality as he spoke.
"Those who bought houses always think prices will rise forever, while those who haven't think they're about to crash every day?" Disregarding the man's obviously feigned expression, she suddenly recalled some things from her time on Earth.
Back then, house prices were a monumental issue in her youthful eyes. Whether to buy, and when to buy, were major decisions concerning the latter half of one's life.
However, after twenty years of transmigrating to another world, she found that many things on Earth had long since faded into insignificance, and only when she occasionally thought of them would she feel a tiny bit of emotion.
...
She forgot how she eventually ended the conversation, and how she finally left Hanluo City, but she could never forget the middle-aged man's eyes.
It wasn't just him; Lu Yuesheng also remembered the people around her, and the strange looks in their eyes when they heard the term God Body.
There was not a shred of gore, nor any disgusting images, yet the atmosphere made her hair stand on end, suffocating her.
What truly sent chills down her spine upon deeper thought was that Bai Mo, who always had everything under control, had no intention whatsoever of stopping this cult-like behavior.
...
"In the beginning of ancient times, who imparted the Dao? I now take Heaven as my teacher and Earth as my guide, establishing the Five Immortal Paths: First, the Celestial Immortal; second, the Earth Immortal; third, the Human Immortal; fourth, the Divine Immortal; fifth, the Ghost Immortal.
A Celestial Immortal elevates their form into the void, unrestrained by physical shape.
An Earth Immortal transforms their body into myriad forms, with the hearts of ten thousand united.
A Human Immortal possesses an indestructible vajra body, capable of regeneration from a drop of blood.
A Divine Immortal, wherever their mind reaches, their form and spirit are imperishable.
A Ghost Immortal undergoes a hundred transformations across a thousand generations, their true spirit undimmed.
..."
Bai Mo, moving through the city, gently wrote words on a stone tablet. Everything had already been arranged; he merely awaited the appointed time.
Wherever his fingertip touched, the superfluous parts of the stone tablet instantly disintegrated into imperceptible, nano-sized dust particles.
The dust scattered with the wind, becoming a part of this world.
He attached his extensive ideas regarding the future direction of each path to the stone tablet in the form of mental fluctuations.
As for the names of the Five Immortals – Heaven, Earth, Human, Divine, and Ghost – they were a commemoration of that pitiful person who had 'stowawayed' from the Tianxuan Continent.
"The seventh stage counts as the starting point for Immortals; completing the transformation will initially be set at the ninth stage..." Bai Mo wrote down these settings with unrestrained imagination. After all, no one had reached his height before, but all cultivation rules and standards for the new tiers undoubtedly required a benchmark.
He was now like the first person to build a highway; there was little to no reference material for how wide each lane should be. He could only set a relatively reasonable number based on his own ideas.
"The Spirit Hub path, if followed, would be set as Celestial Immortals; those who establish Divine Kingdoms but don't rely on Faith Power, instead following the path of collective consciousness, would be set as Earth Immortals; the Martial Path, if followed, would be set as Human Immortals; those who follow the faith-based deification route would be set as Divine Immortals; and those from the Soul Realm, as well as those who soul-transmigrate everywhere on the Ark, would be set as Ghost Immortals upon reaching the seventh stage..."
Bai Mo continuously added his own settings for the subsequent paths, integrating fragments of the power system he had conceived many years ago, when he was still an ordinary person, into this new framework.
PS: Lost everything, time to write.
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