The Land of Eternal Night lived up to its name. For most of the time of the year, the sky was covered in frozen clouds, as if the place was soaked in an endless night.
However, when the clouds dispersed and the mist dispersed, the place would boast the most splendid sunlight in the entire Ancient Sages Sector that looked like rainbows.
On the last day before Li Yao left the Ancient Sages Sector, he saw such splendid sunlight.
The rainbow-like waterfall sprinkled all over the land. Countless colorful bubbles were popping up from the ground and spreading between the sky and the earth.
With such a magnificent, soul-stirring rainbow as the background, Li Yao saw that Master Bitter Cicada was sitting cross-legged at the head of a starship, holding a mini crystal processor in his hands and reading the classics wholeheartedly. He was so tranquil and solemn that ten thousand lotuses seemed to be blossoming around the monk.
Li Yao had been rather uneasy and upset at the beginning, which was why he had come out for a walk. But the view made him think of something. He could not help but fly to the back of the starship that was docked on the land and approach Master Bitter Cicada quietly.
With his Cultivation, Li Yao's eyesight was much better than that of ordinary people. Before he reached the monk's back, he had already seen clearly the classics that the master was studying. They were —
'A Hundred Short Stories of the Young Man and the Monk', 'Chicken Soup for the Soul Collection', 'Parchment: Ancient Wisdom from the Forest Ocean Sector', 'Women Are Born Graceful' …
Li Yao coughed. "Cough, cough. Cough, cough, cough, cough."
"Now that Fellow Cultivator Li is here, why are you standing still?" Master Bitter Cicada asked. "I can tell that your footsteps are heavy and disordered. Is there something on your mind?"
"It's nothing."
Li Yao said, "I'm mainly here to thank you for your protection that day. Had it not been for the help of the fellow Cultivators, I might've been mentally deranged and doomed forever!
"Also, there is something bothering me. I was hoping to discuss it with you, Master, but … since you are so busy studying classics, I think I'll pass.
"These classics from the Xing Yao Federation are indeed quite mysterious. Many of the principles have enlightened me and enlightened me greatly!"
Master Bitter Cicada complimented and said, "If you don't mind my clumsy tongue, Fellow Cultivator Li, why don't you share your troubles with me? I can try to explain them with the theories and teachings in the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul'. Rest assured. It will be my training and will not be charged."
"… Alright."
Li Yao stepped forward and sat cross-legged on Master Bitter Cicada's opposite side. Looking at the colorful, immeasurable sky, he pondered for a moment and said, "Master, has it ever occurred to you that everything before your eyes is illusionary and that there are worlds beyond worlds and universes beyond universes? If there is really a universe beyond the universe, and our universe is just a projection of a higher universe or even just a groundless game, how can we determine whether we are 'real' or 'illusionary'? What is the meaning of everything that we do? "
Master Bitter Cicada smiled and said, "Eat. Sleep."
Li Yao frowned. "Master, I am sincerely asking for your enlightenment. You are not brushing me off with such an ancient story, are you?"
'Eat. Sleep' was a short story. A young man asked a Zen master what 'troubles' were, and the Zen master replied with a smile, "Eat. Sleep." The young man then asked what 'training' was, and the Zen master still replied with a smile, "Eat. Sleep." The young man was rather confused, but the Zen master explained, "Troubles are sleeping when it's time to eat and thinking about eating when it's time to sleep. Training is to focus on eating when it's time to eat and sleeping when it's time to sleep. Nothing more."
It was a rather old story about the soul that was notorious on the streets of the Xing Yao Federation. With Li Yao's great memory, he naturally knew it very well.
Master Bitter Cicada, however, coughed and cleared his throat. "Although the story is old, the logic is new. What is' real 'and what is' illusionary '? They are the most inexplicable and unnecessary things in the world.
"In the Xing Yao Federation, there are even stories about 'brain in a vat'. With the development of training techniques and virtual magical equipment, it is already possible to build a vivid Grand Illusionary Land that is almost 100% real. Even if someone only has a brain left, and they are placed in a vat that is filled with nutrition liquids, with thousands of crystal wires connected to their brain, they will still be able to mislead them into thinking that they are living in the real world with all their limbs intact.
"Then, how can such a person distinguish whether they are living in the real 'real world' or a 'brain in a vat' that is living in an artificial illusion?
"On the other hand, how can we distinguish whether the so-called 'three thousand Sectors' are the ultimate reality and whether there is no existence of a higher level above our world that has created and designed everything, and our entire world is an enormous' brain in a vat '?"
Li Yao nodded quickly. "Yes. That's exactly the problem. How can we distinguish and prove it?"
"There is no way to distinguish it, and there is no need to prove it," Master Bitter Cicada said.
Master Bitter Cicada said, "Of course, you are free to suspect that the three thousand Sectors and the infinite three-dimensional universe that we are in are all existences of a higher level. Well, let's say, a 'brain in a vat' that a certain 'four-dimensional life' created in a laboratory is just a tiny projection of the four-dimensional world and an experiment subject of the 'four-dimensional life'.
"However, even if the four-dimensional life does exist and is a legendary deity, is the four-dimensional world that 'it' lives in the so-called 'real'? Is it possible that the four-dimensional world that we cannot understand is a projection of a certain five-dimensional world, too? Is it a painting that a certain painter in the five-dimensional world painted on a whim?
"And the Fifth Dimensional Painter in this Fifth Dimensional World is the ultimate truth? Could it be that, in the final analysis, the entire Fifth Dimension was a long poem recited by a frustrated poet in the Sixth Dimension? Is the six-dimensional world a translucent dew on a certain petal in the seven-dimensional world? Is the seven-dimensional world a sweet dream that a bizarre creature in the eight-dimensional world has when it is taking a nap? "
Li Yao was dumbfounded. "Is — is it possible?"
"If you believe that the 'brain in a vat' is possible, then the four-dimensional laboratory, the five-dimensional picture, the six-dimensional poem, the seven-dimensional dew, and the sweet dream of the eight-dimensional monster are all possible," Master Bitter Cicada said.
"Even if the odds of them are slim, in the eternal time and space, and in the infinite dimensions, even the tiniest odds are bound to happen.
"That is exactly why the Stupa Sect says that 'one grain of sand, one world, and one tree, one bodhi'. In terms of the concepts that transcend time, space, and dimensions, one grain of dust is the same as three thousand Sectors. None of them is more 'real' than the other, and none of them is more 'illusionary' than the other.
"There is no such thing as real or fake in the world. What can distinguish the real from the fake is your heart and your perspective on the world. If you have the mentality of 'eat when you eat and sleep when you sleep', every world will be real. If you are thinking about sleeping when you are eating, and you are dwelling on the so-called 'truth' when you are in the three-dimensional universe, what can you do even if you reach a higher level one day? After you reach the four-dimensional world, you will wonder if everything in front of you is a picture of the five-dimensional world. After you reach the five-dimensional world, you will worry about the existence of the six-dimensional poet. If you break the layers one after another, you will never be satisfied. How can you find the ultimate truth? "
Li Yao was dazed for a long time. Scratching his nose, he smiled bitterly. "When I was little, I was perplexed by the world. There were ten thousand questions in my head. I thought that I could find the answers as long as I trained myself hard and became the best Cultivator in the world.
"But as I got stronger and stronger, and my level got higher and higher, I found the answers to the ten thousand questions in the past, but a hundred thousand and a million new questions popped up. I was more and more perplexed!"
"Of course. It's like a tiny bubble."
Master Bitter Cicada opened his hands. A shivering, glittering bubble popped up at the center of his palm. As he poured in his spiritual energy, the bubble grew larger and larger. "Fellow Cultivator Li, look. The bigger the bubble is, the more 'answers' it is filled with. However, the 'surface area' that it is in contact with the outside world is also larger and larger. Therefore, more 'unknowns' and 'perplexities' will be sensed. Every time the bubble grows larger, a perplexity will be uncovered, and ten new perplexities will be revealed. How can the bubble be so big that it can swallow an entire planet and the entire universe? Therefore, the 'unknowns', 'perplexities', and 'perplexities' are endless! "
Master Bitter Cicada's hands shivered. The bubble flew to the sky unhurriedly and emitted glamorous colors under the illumination of the sunlight.
Narrowing his eyes, the monk observed attentively and mumbled, "Even so, even though the more you cultivate, the more perplexities you will encounter and the more perplexities you will encounter, you should still keep training yourself because … Look, how beautiful the bubble is!"
Together with Master Bitter Cicada, Li Yao watched the bubble fly higher and higher into the colorful clouds in silence. Thinking carefully for a long time, he said, "Master, I feel that what you said is very profound, mysterious, and reasonable. But on second thought, I feel that … you didn't say anything at all."
"Of course," Master Bitter Cicada said.
"You amused me with such an unanswered question as' brain in a vat '. Instead of cursing and kicking you off the starship, I was willing to give you a perfunctory reply. That was already a great kindness. What else do you want?"
Li Yao was not angry at all. He asked again, "Then, master, in your opinion, where will the bubble fly to exactly?"
"How would I know?"
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