Eternal Night.

Chapter 913 Thunder Department
Wu Pifu was panting heavily, while the three sublimated beings beside him were kneeling on the ground in a very embarrassing manner, vomiting even bile. They looked as if they wished they could vomit out their internal organs as well.

The fish rose to the surface again, and this time, Wu Pifu, burning with his true nature, actually drew his death-defying blade.

This startled the fish, which hesitated to approach for a moment. In the end, the fish circled the ant a few times, blew out a few bubbles, turned around, sank below the surface, and disappeared again.

These few bubbles almost wiped out Wu Pifu and his death-defying blade—literally wiped out.

The feeling was hard to describe, because when the fish floated to the surface, the three sublimated beings were ignorant and had no self. Although Wu Pifu had a self, he was incapable of thinking and had no logic. His self was limited to "knowing".

The reason he was able to draw his Zanpakuto was because he was burning his essence. Perhaps "burning" is not quite the right word; it would be more accurate to describe it as expanding or stimulating, similar to how an ordinary person would forcefully bulge their muscles to show them off.

Wu Pifu's thinking was too simplistic. Although he believed he possessed an essence that could heal infinitely, he thought he had discovered a huge breakthrough, a way to continuously burn his essence to generate the power of qualitative change. This idea was good, but the three sublimated beings told him the fact that it was impossible.

Although the soul and true spirit belong to the essence of life, they are not things that can be used at will. This is different from the physical body, and even completely different from the spirit and consciousness. To put it simply, just look at the extraordinary paths in the dream world. Ninety-nine percent of them are on the physical body and spirit and consciousness side, and the remaining one percent may be on the soul and true spirit side. However, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine percent of the extraordinary paths on the soul and true spirit side are the kind that self-destruct on the spot.

From this, we can see that let alone cultivating the true spirit of the soul, even just perceiving and utilizing the true spirit of the soul is incredibly difficult.

According to the three ascendants, the difficulty level is from low to high. The simplest is to perceive one's own soul essence. This alone eliminates more than 99% of ordinary extraordinary individuals. Basically, unless one has a special extraordinary path, only those with exceptional talent or those who have ascended can achieve this.

Secondly, there are perceptions like spiritual fusion, or methods used by the soul's true spirit in its initial stages. These methods mostly rely on the passive effects of the soul's true spirit, such as information fusion and information coverage. However, even so, this will bring deficiencies or contamination to the essence, and from this step onwards, it is already taboo for extraordinary individuals.

Above that is the True Spirit Activation state that Wu Pifu obtained from the three Ascended Beings. This is not the true spirit of burning the soul in the strict sense. It is closer to straining muscles or the hippocampus being congested with blood. It belongs to the category of "exertion". It will weaken afterward and consume a certain amount of essence. However, this is not burning, but even more so, sacrificing one's own essence.

The three ascendants' knowledge of the various techniques related to the true spirit of the soul ends here. To go further, one must seek out those ascendants on the side of the true spirit of the soul to obtain them, and they may not even have them, especially techniques like self-sacrifice, which are probably the closely guarded secrets of civilizations of the true spirit of the soul.

Therefore, Wu Pifu's plan to rise to the top in one step was doomed to failure from the very beginning, or at least partially. Now, all he can do is flex his muscles to make himself look strong.

But the fish actually fell for it. After being frightened, it spit out a few bubbles at Wu Pifu. Those few bubbles almost killed Wu Pifu and the three sublimated beings.

"...No, perhaps we were already gone, and it was your unparalleled essence that pulled us back, and then we reappeared."

One of the ascended beings spoke with lingering fear, while the other two surprisingly nodded in agreement.

They weren't flattering or joking; they genuinely believed it. Because under the wash of those few bubbles, even their "cognition" brought about by the Wu ant disappeared. Then, as the fish sank to the bottom of the water, the existence of the Wu ant made them manifest again. In this process, they could even clearly perceive their own creation from nothingness.

This terrified them, because in their long history and in their incredibly deep knowledge, there had never been anything that could make an Ascended Being lose even its self. Even the strongest Zero-Point Level 1 Root could not do it, because they possess the characteristic of self-perfection, which is also the essence of Ascended Beings. It is impossible for anything to erase them with such a non-lethal passive method!
impossible! !

The three sublimated beings stared longingly at Wu Pifu.

Wu Pifu was also helpless. He spread his hands and said, "Don't look at me like that. I can't do anything about that fish either. You saw it, right? I even took out my weapon, but that thing seemed to be very far away from me. I kept waving it, but I couldn't even touch it. And those bubbles almost wiped me away. This doesn't make sense. I even think that next time it won't be afraid of my bluffing and will probably swallow me whole."

Indeed, Wu Pifu is currently flexing his muscles and bluffing, and the three sublimated beings are aware of this.

There's even something they don't know: Wu Pifu's biggest trump card, "I Am a Commoner," is a skill he dares to use to cut off the root of the problem. But it's useless against this fish. The reason is simple: when he possesses a complete self and logical thinking ability, and can use "I Am a Commoner," he can't find this fish at all. He can't even pull it across the net. But when he can see this fish, he has already become "you," no longer possessing a complete self and logical thinking ability, so he can't use "I Am a Commoner" anymore.

Currently, this fish seems to be unsolvable; Wu Pifu doesn't even know what it is.

The three ascended beings remained silent for a long while. Then, one of them said, "My lord, fellow Daoists, my cave dwelling is nearby. Why don't you stay here temporarily?" The two ascended beings looked at Wu Pifu at the same time. Wu Pifu dared not return to Gaia or the Land of Redemption at this moment. The impact of this fish was unimaginable. If it accidentally wiped out the entire human civilization of Gaia, then everything would be over.

Wu Pifu was also somewhat hesitant at this point. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "Alright, let's go to your cave to rest for a while."

All three ascended forms were incredibly agile. Now that they had obtained the extraordinary path of the Zanpakuto, there was no need to linger. After leaving the world ruins, the ascended form that had made the suggestion led the way, and in just a few hours they arrived at a seemingly desolate and lifeless world ruin.

This sublimated entity actually had some tricks up its sleeve. Wu Pifu saw it make a hand seal and open a spatial rift in the open space of this world's ruins. Then the portal opened, and it led everyone into it. Inside, there was a hidden world, which was actually an inner world opened up by the Dao of Space.

This cave is not large, it is oval in shape, and its diameter is estimated to be about three or four kilometers long. There are plants and water sources, as well as a palace in the very center of this land, but there is no human habitation. Inside the palace, there are some wooden puppets, which seem to be used by this sublimated being as servants.

"My civilization is called Panshan Civilization. It is a civilization that is nearly two hundred years old. There is nothing special about it. Its unique supernatural ability is just a very ordinary feng shui array technique. If you learn it to a higher level, you can simulate most ordinary supernatural abilities, but that is all."

Panshan Civilization Ascension led everyone to their seats, where puppets served fine wine and food. After a few bites, everyone turned their attention to Wu Pifu.

Wu Pifu also looked at the three of them. The Bookish Civilization Sublimation Body spoke first: "Sir, this can't go on. That fish is beyond our imagination... Why don't you tell us about the origin of this fish? We'll discuss it and find out the reason for its existence."

Wu Pifu had already begun to consider whether or not to release the three external brains. After hearing this, he thought for a moment and said, "There's nothing wrong with saying it. I came to this Shattered Domain to find the extraordinary path of the Zanpakuto. This is the last piece of the puzzle before my perfect sublimation. Once it's all in place, I can start preparing for the sublimation."

All three sublimated beings nodded, having naturally guessed as much.

Wu Pifu continued, "Then, while exploring this broken domain, I inadvertently found clues to Buddhist secrets."

"What!?"

The three ascended beings exclaimed in surprise at the same time, then realized that their reaction was too exaggerated, and each coughed twice. The ascended being of the Book Civilization immediately said, "Sir, are you talking about the Buddhist secrets? The one from the ancient Buddhist civilization?"

Wu Pifu said with dissatisfaction, "Otherwise what? The only thing in the entire dream world that can be called a Buddhist secret treasure is this one laid down by Buddhism."

All three ascended beings gasped in shock. The ascended being from the Panshan Civilization immediately said, "Does Your Excellency mean that this fish is the Buddhist secret treasure? I see. No wonder the Buddhist secret treasure has been passed down through the world, but no one has ever found it. Even if someone did find it, they would not make a sound. So... the Buddhist secret treasure was a trap? A terrifying killing move left behind by the ancient Buddhist civilization? A super weapon? Or something else?"

The Bookish Civilization, having been elevated to a higher level, immediately retorted: "No! There truly is a Buddhist secret! Our civilization's miraculous building, the Great Library, contains books containing information about Buddhist secrets. Although it doesn't reveal any clues about the Buddhist secrets, they were indeed left behind by many great Buddhist masters. Among them are magical treasures, extraordinary items, or some kind of miracle left by these masters, as well as fragments of Buddhist teachings that reveal the greatest secrets of the dream world. This is true!"

Wu Pifu also said, "This fish is not a Buddhist secret, but rather it swallowed the Buddhist secret into its belly. Therefore, when I was searching for the Buddhist secret, I became entangled with this fish..."

Before the third person could even reveal the advanced form of their civilization, a thunderous sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears.

The four beings, one person and four sublimated bodies, were all stunned. They subconsciously looked outside the hall, but the weather was fine and sunny, with no signs of thunder or rain.

Suddenly, the three ascended beings seemed to realize something, their expressions changed drastically, and they all uttered the same word in unison.

"The Heavenly Court, the Thunder Department..."

"A Celestial Master has perished in the Shattered Realm!?"

(End of this chapter)