Eternal Night

Chapter 784 The End of Dharma Era, or the Era of Universal Transcendence?

(PS: I've been combining two updates into one for the past two days. I'm about to return to Chongqing from Inner Mongolia, at which point I'll resume updating two to three times a week.)
No, you really... severed the Milky Way!?

This isn't an adjective, is it? This isn't a metaphor or manifestation of mystery, is it?

You actually took a knife and cleaved the Milky Way in two!?

The Milky Way does exist in this world; you can see it by looking up at the sky. In fact, most Earth-like and planet-like dream worlds have outer space with stars and galaxies, but almost all of this outer space is actually a projection of the Absolute Reality Layer. You can only see it, but you can't actually go there. At most, the Milky Way exists. For example, the Warhammer dream world is like this; beyond the Milky Way is nothingness.

However, if one can see and observe, then one has the concept of the universe, and naturally knows just how vast and terrifying the so-called Milky Way is. The literal meaning of "cutting through the Milky Way"... this concept transcends the limits of so-called mystery.

That's right. Mystery can encompass everything, even the so-called creation of the world. For example, there is a Heroic Spirit whose Noble Phantasm is formed from the concept of creation of the world. Its power is enormous, almost standing at the pinnacle of Noble Phantasms.

But in the end, that's just a concept encompassed by mystery, and it certainly has nothing to do with the actual creation of the world. Its power is also certainly not enough to truly create the world. While cutting through the Milky Way doesn't involve mystery concepts, the scale of that is just too massive. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change.

A powerful being who severed the Milky Way on a cosmic scale has descended upon Earth...

To be honest, everyone here is incredibly fortunate that Wu Pifu didn't shatter the Earth with a stomp of his foot, and that the two restraining forces were powerful enough to disable his weapon. Otherwise, who knows if it would have destroyed the world the instant it appeared.

Everyone sat up straight and serious. While they weren't exactly humble, the slight hostility they had previously harbored was completely gone.

Humans can harbor hostility towards powerful enemies, even ants can harbor hostility towards dragons, but who would harbor such great hostility towards the solar system? Who would harbor such great hostility towards the Milky Way?

That's insane, okay? No, even insane people have specific targets for their hostility. Even an insane person wouldn't harbor hostility towards the Milky Way!

The gap was so enormous, it transcended the conceptual difference in strength, that it erased all their hostility, schemes, ideas, and conspiracies... all thoughts based on "humanity," "strength and weakness," "unity," and so on. Now, they were left with only one thought.

Obey orders!

Everything Wu Pifu said, meant, thought, or commanded, regardless of what it should be called, was something they were willing to do as long as it kept Wu Pifu in human form and goodwill. Their attitude was almost the same as when they faced the two major restraining forces... no, even more devout.

Because the restraining force is a derivative of the scattered heavenly path based on a certain "program" and "rules", its behavior may deviate, but it will not deviate from the original setting of the scattered heavenly path. In short, intelligent life can "deceive it", but unless there is an absolute necessity, it will not cross the rules of the two restraining forces by even half a step. Once it does cross the line, it must be prepared to be dealt with.

In short, as a great and terrifying being who is benevolent towards them and "deliberately" tries to get closer to them in human form, they must also be able to understand human language and reciprocate with absolute goodwill.

"...So, because they directly confronted the root, and because the root has been substantially destroyed, they were not absorbed or corrupted by the root, but rather affected by the root itself, meaning... they became a secret?"

someone asked.

Wu Pifu nodded and said, "Yes, that's my guess. They didn't die, nor were they corrupted by the Root. Instead, they became a secret of condensed self-information. However, their essence is too low. They are neither the Root nor a sublimated body that can maintain itself. They are just mortals. So when their information condenses, they are like insects fixed in amber. Even their thinking is probably stagnant."

Everyone around believed it, had no choice but to believe it. They all looked at Wu Pifu with excited expressions and asked, "So how can we rescue them?"

Wu Pifu had indeed given this question serious thought.

As someone who has truly experienced information condensation, he has thought a lot about this state of information condensation. For example, if he were to suddenly experience information condensation while in a mortal state, how would he distinguish whether he was in a state of information condensation or a state of free thought?
The so-called information condensation is actually very similar to the brain in a vat, except that the former includes all of matter, energy, time, space and so on, all reduced in dimensionality at once, while the latter is just a brain that is extracted and simulated with electronic signals and chemical agents. The two are different by countless levels and orders of magnitude.

In the information condensation dominated by the Root, all your perceptions, feelings, sights, sounds, thoughts, and ideas are arranged, set, and fixed. What you think is not what you truly think. No matter how strong you are at the mortal level, even if you are as strong as Chu Minghao, who is an outsider, as long as you are captured by the Root, life and death are just a thought away, or even neither life nor death, suffering eternal torment between life and death.

The terrifying torment of the eighteen levels of hell that Wu Pifu knows about in the 21st century, such as the Yellow Springs, the Underworld, and the Netherworld, can be experienced for countless years in the blink of an eye.

As for the information condensation state without a root cause, it is basically like what Wu Pifu said, like an insect frozen in amber, a complete stagnation where even thought does not exist. It is neither alive nor dead, and it will not be released until the end of this world.

"Fortunately, it is an information condensation state without a root cause. Although this state is still very troublesome, it is far less hopeless than a true dimensional reduction. After all, you still remember the Clock Tower and the Holy Church. This is completely different from information being completely self-enclosed. I have discussed with some scientists how to solve similar situations of this information condensation state, and finally came up with the most likely solution, which is to do the opposite."

Wu Pifu said with a hint of smugness.

This fully demonstrates that he is also capable of scheming and plotting... no, he is resourceful and cunning, having considered all sorts of possibilities in advance.

The corners of the mouths of many extraordinary individuals twitched slightly.

This sounds incredibly unreliable. Why is it so mysterious, something so fundamental, that the word "scientist" is even involved?

They dared not think about it further. They simply continued to listen.

Wu Pifu coughed and said, "That means using more observer anchor points to confirm their existence!"

The other superhumans around him all looked at Wu Pifu with an expression that said, "Keep bragging, we're just listening."

Wu Pifu didn't get the feedback he expected. He assumed the others hadn't understood, so he put on a serious expression and said, "Scientists told me that this state of information condensation and self-isolation is actually very similar to the wave function collapse process at the quantum level, that is, a secret that no one can observe. However, unlike the wave function collapse of the quantum state, which is a result that only appears when an observer observes it, that is, a normal information transformation, the root self-isolation and information condensation can be considered as a transformation of negative information, just like positive particles, negative particles, positrons, and negative electrons. Since positive information can cause the wave function to collapse because of the observer, could negative information also be caused by the observer to change from self-isolation to isolation..."

Wu Pifu spoke fluently, his expression conveying the exhilarating feeling of an amateur scientist standing at the Nobel Prize ceremony, explaining the future of science to a group of tech gurus.

Seeing his expression, the shrewd superhumans around him immediately understood. They all looked at Wu Pifu with serious expressions, a hint of hope and piety, and a hint of excitement, at a 45-degree angle, and then they all clapped and cheered.

Wu Pifu watched all of this with satisfaction.

That's great! All his hard work in memorizing all those convoluted terms and jargon from the scientists has finally come in handy!
The three little animals instinctively covered their eyes with their wings, limbs, and forepaws, and even the various branches of the golden tree bonsai drooped down.

At this moment, the old leader of the Silent Organization asked in a low voice, "So... how exactly should we do it?"

Wu Pifu stood up, put his hands on his hips, and said, "Let more people know about their existence and learn as much complete information about them as possible, including all the information about the Magicians' Association, the buildings, terrain, and people in this hidden area, the forbidden areas hidden by the Holy Church, the life stories of the Pope and bishops of the Holy Church, and so on. Oh, and even their supernatural abilities should be revealed. The more people know, the more anchor points there will be, and the more likely they are to break out of their self-enclosed information condensation!"

The superhumans remained silent for a few seconds before Einzbern said in a low voice, "...Many people know them, whether it's the Clock Tower as the headquarters of magicians, or the Holy Capital of the Holy Church, the Pope...Many people know them, isn't that enough to serve as an anchor point?"

"Of course not, there are only a few people."

Wu Pifu scoffed, "This is the self-enclosed information brought by the Root. Even if the Root is already dead, how can you tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of superhumans anchor yourselves? Now go and tell their information to the whole world, and let the world's six or seven billion people use it as their anchor point."

"what!?"

"what!?"

For a moment, all the superhumans exclaimed "Ah!", looking completely incredulous.

The main seats were naturally occupied by the upper echelons and leaders of various superhuman factions. The three members of the Silent Organization who had previously followed Wu Pifu, including Albert Beta, Wu Pifu's current Master, were in the audience. At this moment, Albert Beta couldn't help but complain, "Hey, do you even have any common sense? We keep secrets and prevent ordinary people from knowing about magic, superhumans, miracles, and so on. Why do you think that is? It's not just because the spread of secrets will weaken superhuman abilities, but also because if ordinary people know about secrets and have no resistance to them, they will encounter disaster, even death! Your suggestion is simply..."

"No! No, no, no!!"

The old leader of the Silent Organization suddenly burst into wild joy, shouting, "Yes, do it this way! Why, no, why didn't we think of this from the beginning!?"

The surrounding superhumans all turned ashen-faced and remained silent. Albert Beta stared blankly at the old man, unable to hold back his question: "Leader, this is dragging the whole world down with us! The unrestricted spread of mystery will inevitably lead to a magical distortion of reality, resulting in all sorts of bizarre and distorted magical rituals. Isn't this precisely the core principle of our Silent Organization's anti-magic stance?" The old man laughed heartily: "Our Silent Organization is an anti-magic organization. This has been the core principle of the organization from the very beginning. So why oppose magic?"

Albert Beta replied without hesitation, "Because in order to get closer to the Root, magicians have been abusing magic extensively, even using humans as test subjects. Furthermore, numerous high-level magical ritual disasters, including the Holy Grail War, have erupted. Sooner or later, they will drag the entire human civilization down with them..."

Before he could finish speaking, the old man said, "That's why our Silent Organization was founded. All of you, including yourself, joined the Silent Organization because you had relatives or your hometowns were ravaged by magicians. Ironically, in order to fight against the magicians, we had to become magicians ourselves and also began to protect the mystery of magic. But we never thought of this path. None of the past leaders thought of it. Why don't we reveal all the mysteries of the underworld to all mankind?"

"The more a mystery is diluted, the less powerful and harmful it becomes. A high concentration of mystery is a deadly poison to ordinary people without magic circuits, but when diluted billions of times, the so-called mystery is not even as scary as a ghost story! We should have done this a long time ago!"

At this moment, Albert Beta said in a cold voice, "It's impossible..."

The old man and the other three members of the Silent Organization looked at him. Albert Beta said, "Do you really think the Silent Organization, or any other anti-magic organization, hasn't done similar things before? No, they have, and more than once... Do you think the First World War, the Second World War, and the destruction and massacres in certain regions came about? I wouldn't say it was all to cover up the leaks of mysticism, but more than 70% of them were for this purpose. The two most dangerous ones were World War I and World War II. To maintain the definition of mysticism, world wars are just child's play..."

All the extraordinary beings looked at Wu Pifu, who just smiled nonchalantly.

Albert Beta bowed respectfully and said, "Great being, is this what you desired?"

Wu Pifu remained nonchalant, saying, "Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. Anyway, I'm just here on a business trip to this world. Because of the two major suppressive forces, I can't bring most of my power here, including my perception of humanity and emotions. So I don't know who among you is human and who isn't. At least I can't perceive it right now. And whether you spread it or not is up to you. My only goal is to win the Holy Grail War. Oh, and by the way, to fulfill Adam's last wish... Speaking of which, he didn't really die, right? But it can be considered a last wish. Whether you want to spread it or not is up to you."

Many extraordinary individuals breathed a sigh of relief, but Wu Pifu then said quietly, "However, you should also be careful. This kind of self-enclosed information condensation is contagious. It will probably start to spread depending on how close you are to these people who have already self-enclosed themselves. By the way, be glad, I'll repeat it again, this is self-enclosure without a root cause, so it probably won't endanger the world. After all the relevant people are condensed, it will probably remain in a condensed state and won't threaten unrelated ordinary people, unless someone comes to explore or something, in which case there is a small chance that they will also fall into condensation, but there's nothing that can be done about it, so just consider yourself unlucky."

"Of course, I hate and despise all non-humans, including humanoids in human skin, who are also non-humans. I can tell everyone this seriously."

The eyes of the many superhumans quickly regained their clarity, and Albert Beta immediately said, "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. After all, it's to save lives, and life is definitely above all else. I agree to spread the information about the people, locations, and their extraordinary mysteries that we've condensed to the present day to the whole world!"

"And I, on behalf of the Druidic Church, feel the same way!"

"And so do I, representing the Church of Witchcraft!"

"On behalf of..."

Soon, one by one, the superhumans present expressed their opinions. After all, aside from the possibility of sudden disappearance, Wu Pifu's attitude when he spoke of inhumanity was not simply one of dislike and hatred...

A moment later, the members of the Silent Organization emerged from the stone hall. Behind them, the entrance to the stone hall, a door resembling an ancient Mayan flat-topped pyramid, quickly disappeared. This was also a top-level magical artifact, with an extremely high level of mystery, capable of allowing anyone from anywhere in the world to enter through its entrance and appear in the same hall.

Albert Beta couldn't help but ask, "Mentor, why did they agree so easily? Is it just because they're afraid of dying? This really doesn't seem like their style."

The old man shook his head slightly and said, "No, it's not just about being afraid of death. This is also a reshuffling of the deck... If the spread of mystery is an irreversible trend, then those who stand in the way of this trend will die without any value. Whether they die from the condensation of information or are crushed like ants by Lord Wu Pifu, their deaths will be meaningless and worthless. Rather than that, it's better to gain enough benefits for themselves and their families in this trend of spreading extraordinary mystery."

"To gain benefits?" the three asked, puzzled. "But if mystery is known to six or seven billion people worldwide, even the most powerful magic will become mere trickery, and even magic may fall from its level. What benefits could they possibly gain?"

The old man said with a complicated expression, "That is to hide the supernatural beings that 'do not exist' in the plan to spread the supernatural, and present them as unique supernatural beings of themselves or their families. In this way, the supernatural world will be downgraded, and only they will have a very small number of supernatural beings that can still be used. Although the power will also be greatly reduced, everyone will become weaker, so wouldn't they become stronger in a roundabout way?"

All three of them suddenly realized what was going on.

The old man immediately said, "Not only are they doing this, but we... in order to fight against the remaining, weakened magicians in the future, we must also find a way to preserve our unique secret magic as much as possible. This matter must be carried out in secret. In short, the three of you must keep this secret."

The three men looked serious and nodded.

Only then did the old man look up at the starry sky. After a long while, he said, "A new era of extraordinary things has begun... This one is probably the last Holy Grail War. If we can't overcome the future of the Heaven's Grail, there will be no more Holy Grail Wars. If we do overcome it, the mysterious limit-level diffusion will allow any magician who can unleash a light spell to be called a Grand Master."

"The new era... no, the end times have arrived."

so……

"A new era... no, an era belonging to mortals has arrived."

Inside the white palace, the president of Akka stood respectfully before the magic envoy, listening to the envoy deliver incredible orders.

Indeed, in this dream world, although ordinary people all over the world have no idea about the extraordinary world, and have been constantly told by the state, public opinion, society, and science that there is no extraordinary in this world, in reality a very small number of elite mortals, high-ranking officials, and leaders of various powerful countries know about the extraordinary world, and they are all proud to be relatives or even servants of extraordinary people.

They were actually aware of the mysterious principle of non-dissemination, and that its secrecy was so tight that even disciples or teachers could be killed. They were, in fact, the white gloves or black gloves of various supernatural forces, and had done a lot of things to cover up the supernatural world for them.

However, the special envoy's order was to, within 24 hours, use national-level power to begin publicizing matters including the Clock Tower, the Holy Church, various extraordinary forces, magic, holy arts, witchcraft, miracles, heroic spirits, gods, and so on, especially the strongest beings in the extraordinary world, even their past, their extraordinary powers, and their detailed information.

The magic envoy quickly gave the orders and produced his magic seal certificate as an envoy before hurrying away.

The president and his most trusted aides were completely stunned, remaining silent in the presidential hall long after the magic envoy had left.

After an unknown amount of time, the president suddenly uttered the above words.

But one of his aides suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "No, Your Excellency, perhaps this is not the end of the Dharma era, nor the era of mortals, but the arrival of an era of universal transcendence!"

"Perhaps the mysterious spread will greatly reduce its power, but it also means that the extraordinary secrets that they have held in the past will become known to the whole world!"

The president paused, a thoughtful look on his face, then shook his head and said, "No, even so, we all know that when the mystery spreads to billions of people around the world, it's no different from a real magic trick."

"...That depends on the person."

The aide said confidently, “The truth of the world is right here, but how many people can understand it? We are just struggling to find the way in, but once we have the initial method, would our aptitude be weaker than…? Right? So, I don’t think this is some kind of degenerate age or an age for mortals, this is…”

"The era of universal superhuman beings has arrived!"

This scene unfolded in countries around the world, and as television, radio, newspapers, and new media platforms such as the internet and websites spread the secrets of the extraordinary world to the entire population with the credibility of the state, the whole world was in an uproar.

At the same time, some inexplicable changes began to gradually appear.

Within twenty-four hours of the mysterious spread, at least five billion people worldwide became aware of the existence of the extraordinary world. Millions upon millions of tourists flocked to the Holy City. At the same time, the hidden parts of the Holy City that had disappeared began to reappear, and high-ranking members of the Holy Church, including the Pope, reappeared.

It was as if they were in a dream, but what followed was that they could clearly feel their superhuman power falling at a crazy speed. Soon, these powerful beings who were comparable to Grand-level beings became weak superhumans they didn't even recognize. At the same time, they learned about the mysterious diffusion plan from the remaining Holy Church superhumans and that they were trapped in a state of information condensation.

The other extraordinary individuals were filled with grief and despair, but the Pope's expression changed drastically.

"Oh no, the mystery has spread..."

"Star of Wandering, the Child of White is about to be born and begin to absorb the essence of this world!!"

(End of this chapter)