Eternal Night.

Chapter 948 The Nagging First Buddha and the Source of Pollution Lost

Although Wu Pifu awakened Qing, he did not make any extra moves, nor did he even break through the polluted environment outside. He simply sat in the vehicle, quietly adjusting his breathing, meditating, and resting.

This time, he almost died. Even though his essence was special and he had accumulated from countless iterations, he could not withstand the backlash from the difference in the level of the source of pollution. Even if his essence did not dissipate temporarily, his physical body and spiritual consciousness would wither away over time. At that time, he would just be a lump of "materials" or "bait".

But thanks to his access to the first Buddha's sermon in the Buddhist treasury, he was given a new lease on life.

In fact, the sermons of the First Buddha in the Buddhist esoteric teachings (describing the source of pollution) do not have any special effects beyond the description, nor do they contain any pre-existing healing methods to save Wu Pifu's life. The core of every Buddhist esoteric teaching is the description of the source of pollution left by the First Buddha. The reason it is divided into so many parts is because the position of the source of pollution is too high and its essential description cannot be preserved and explained clearly all at once. Otherwise, even with the methods and status of the First Buddha who is close to the true position, he would still attract the direct attention of the source of pollution... Wu Pifu believes that even if the First Buddha were directly looked at by the source of pollution, his fate would probably not be good.

Therefore, Wu Pifu was not saved by the First Buddha's backup plan or anything, but he was indeed saved by the First Buddha's sermon in the Buddhist esoteric teachings.

This description of the pollution source contains extremely important information: it provides a detailed description of the location and scale of the pollution source.

Position is position, and magnitude (power) is magnitude. This old saying has a new definition in the explanation of the first Buddha, or rather, it made Wu Pifu understand its definition more clearly.

In a worldview devoid of demons, rank is essentially power, status, and so on. An emperor's rank is supreme, the so-called "Nine-Five Supreme." As long as he does not lose his position, all demons will flee. As long as he does not act recklessly, he is invincible. With a single command from the monarch, mountains and seas will rise up.

However, even if they retain their position, as long as there is a commoner who dares to fight to the death in close combat, they will still be within arm's reach, and the empire will be destroyed. At this point, it really comes down to their personal strength. Of course, in a world with magic, strength is their own power, while in a world without magic, strength is a combination of their personal abilities, charisma, intelligence, and so on.

If a successor to the throne is ignorant of human nature, lacks political acumen, and is slow to react, then he may very well perish when faced with the wrath of a commoner. He will have no loyal followers, no one to step up in times of crisis, and he may lose his position even if he doesn't lose the throne.

Therefore, position is position and magnitude is magnitude. Although the two are closely related, they are not completely equivalent.

At the same time, having a large scale but no status is not enough. To speak from the perspective of a world without magic, a commoner might be a criminal, a refugee, a low-ranking soldier, or even a slave, but by chance, he can gather people, seize the initiative in the world, and have the opportunity to become a dragon. This situation is common in the early and late periods of ancient dynasties that Wu Pifu knows of. These are the so-called "grassroots kings".

These people have the power but not the status, so it is difficult for them to gather the nobles and gentry who control production resources and monopolize knowledge. At the same time, because they themselves do not have the status, they have difficulty accessing the knowledge that requires a certain status. Although they may take advantage of the chaos to achieve something, they are basically the forerunners of true kings and will eventually be wiped out.

As for periods outside of chaos, they are even more terrifying. If the scale exceeds its status, it will inevitably be severely punished by the system, the group, and the organization. For example, this is the case with gangs and bandits in ancient times, or organized crime and illegal organizations in modern times.

As for those with a demonic worldview, those whose power exceeds their rank will almost always die tragically. Their extraordinary power exceeds their control limits, and they will die from self-retribution if they are not careful. Or they will be targeted by fish and butterflies like Wu Pifu and become bait or materials.

This is a truly tragic thing!

All of this knowledge about position and magnitude is described in detail in the early Buddhist teachings.

Although it was just a few words, with the great power of the First Buddha, he could naturally derive the main idea from those few words. Moreover, he did not show the kind of aloofness or godlike majesty, but rather, like a friendly older brother, he explained the contents of these messages in detail with a bit of nagging.

At the end of this sermon, He finally addressed the issue of person and magnitude in relation to the source of pollution, or rather, the relationship between person and magnitude on a true level.

Slightly different from those below the True Person, the True Person possesses power in itself.

The True Person has a special characteristic: it can regard everything below the True Person as "false," whether it is life, non-life, matter, immateriality, or even spacetime, causality, logic, etc. In its eyes, everything can be false, and all these falsehoods will vanish in an instant.

That's right, it's that domineering. Just the rank itself possesses such incredible supernatural powers that seem unbelievable to mortals. According to the detailed explanation of the First Buddha, the core of the sublimated body is self-perfection. This is the starting point of everything. Without the anchor of self-perfection, one cannot even cross the initial torrent of truth and falsehood in the extraordinary. Once the strength of the extraordinary exceeds the limit of its rank, it will either become distorted or lose its way. There will be no exceptions.

Once one becomes a sublimated being, one has a core anchor of self-perfection, which is the starting point, signifying the initial "truth"—the truth about oneself.

Only by becoming an Ascended Being can one preserve oneself in the infinite cycle of the Root, and at the same time become resistant to all falsehoods. For example, the Brain in a Vat cannot deceive an Ascended Being. Furthermore, in the explanation of the First Buddha, the self-perfection of an Ascended Being actually has two branching evolutionary paths.

The first path is what Wu Pifu had previously guessed: following the path of sublimation, one climbs upwards, perfecting oneself to the extreme. First rank, second rank, third rank extreme realm, fourth rank transcendent realm, fifth rank ultimate realm, a total of five ranks. Until the final fifth rank, one becomes one's own universe, possessing all the basic characteristics of all universes, using the size of the universe to anchor one's own perfection.

The second point is the root cause, which is the same as Wu Pifu guessed. The root cause is actually a trap, and this trap is not something that a certain being or a powerful being deliberately set up, but rather something that intelligent life cannot trace back to the limit of the root cause... that is, the source of pollution!

The root cause is that the sublimated body, in order to avoid pollution, also embarks on a path that imitates pollution. Its self-enclosed loop is to hide, and its infinite cycle is actually the characteristic of pollution eroding all things. With itself as the anchor core, it reduces all things to nothingness. When it reaches the extreme, all things are false, and only I am true. Although it is a path completely opposite to the fifth stage of sublimation, in the end they both lead to the same destination. When both reach the extreme, they have the great supernatural power, great power, and great authority to change the world and all things with a single thought.

However, the path taken by the root cause is an imitation of the source of pollution. Its essence cannot bear the erosion and dimensional reduction of all things on its own. In the end, it is highly likely to self-destruct and eventually become a zero-point level root cause, similar to the root cause of death.

However, both ultimately reach the same level: the realization that all things and all living beings are illusory, and that only I am real in the universe. Their power lies in the ability to change everything within their range of influence with a single thought, and at their peak, they can even change an infinite dream world with a single thought!

According to the rather tedious explanation of the First Buddha, this strength can already be called the ultimate by countless visitors from foreign civilizations and universes. It is a realm and Dao fruit that all living beings dream of, which can be obtained forever and proven forever.

Unfortunately, it depends on who it is. When facing a true person, this so-called ultimate is still not enough, because the ultimate lacks a key characteristic. When faced with this characteristic, the ultimate is only slightly stronger than other non-true persons.

That is eternal time!

The ultimate can change everything with a single thought, but it cannot alter the eternal time that acts upon itself, nor can it recreate everything that has vanished based on time with a single thought.

"...Any life form, when faced with eternal time, will perish. Even the ultimate being can only bear a single second of eternity, but will still perish in the end. Only the True Being can bear eternal time, because the True Being can transform the burden brought by this infinite eternity into an illusion, which will give the True Being a magnitude that matches its being..."

"...However, the True Rank is not absolutely invincible. Essentially, it still falls within the realm of comprehensible limits. Of course, to counter the True Rank, you must first reach the Ultimate Level. This is the minimum level required to fight the True Rank, just as fighting the Root requires at least Sublimation. Secondly, the damage caused by the True Rank can be called True Damage. This damage is unavoidable; you can only bear it. However, this depends on two situations. The first is when the True Rank actively inflicts damage; in this case, there's no way to counter it. If you're not at the Ultimate Level, my suggestion is to find a scenic spot—you know what I mean..."

"But if the harm is truly unintentional, such as when you observe something real or attract its attention and are thus accidentally injured, indirectly injured, suffer collateral damage, or passively injured, there is still hope. That is, to do the opposite... treat the harm as fake..."

This is the first Buddha's sermon. Wu Pifu's biggest feeling is... this fat guy is so damn talkative!

"Here, I must mention the biggest drawback of the True Rank, which is why I believe there is another level above the True Rank, a truly transcendent level that surpasses all limits... Yes, I haven't said it yet, the True Rank is actually the limit, the limit of all numbers, all power, all volume, and all ranks. The reason is simple: the True Rank can ignore the accumulation and decay of eternal time. As long as it is treated as false, one can pass through infinite eternity. Then its accumulation will be unimaginable and immeasurable, and that is what is called the limit!"

"...Ah, I've digressed again. So let me continue with the biggest drawback of the True Person: although the True Person can pass through infinite time, the longer it passes through, the more it will fall into an indescribable self-destruction, because the True Person... can no longer distinguish between what is real and what is false!!"

"This is what I believe to be the source of pollution... a true being that cannot distinguish between what is real and what is false, it..."

"It has lost itself and become disillusioned!"

(End of this chapter)