You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

Chapter 144 Identity

The Dragon King of the South Sea felt that he was in an unprecedented and extremely strange state.

He was "drifting".

It's like swimming in the sea, like flying in the air, like a fallen leaf or a wisp of smoke, drifting weightlessly and helplessly.

He looked down at himself; the massive, solid dragon body was gone.

He turned into a cloud, or a ball of water, or some indescribable thing, without a fixed shape, without scales, without claws, and not even hands or feet.

He floated along like that, slowly heading in one direction.

That was the depths of the sea, a dark abyss that even sunlight could not penetrate.

But how can there be fog in the deep sea?

The fog seemed to come from nowhere, growing thicker and thicker, a white mist stretching to the horizon.

The Dragon King of the South Sea drifted into the fog, gradually losing his sense of direction and becoming unable to distinguish east from west, north from south, or up from down.

Here, all directions lose their meaning, as if the world had not yet been created and chaos had not yet been divided.

How did I get here? Wasn't I—

The thought surfaced, then sank back down.

He stopped thinking about it much because he felt that his brain was no longer functioning properly, and every thought was sluggish and laborious.

In the thick fog, he saw a person.

A dragon girl.

The dragon girl appeared quite demure, with a gentle air about her. She stood quietly in the mist, as if waiting for someone.

The Dragon King of the South Sea recognized it as his "good corpse".

Back then, he personally severed a wisp of kindness.

She also remembers that her favorite thing to do was to rescue fishermen who had fallen into the water at the beach.

When the wind and waves are strong, she is always the first to rush out and drag those in imminent danger ashore. Some people are so grateful for her kindness that they built a small temple for her by the sea. Although the incense is not very strong, it has never been interrupted.

Unfortunately, although she was disobedient, she was too weak.

He merely sent a few squads of sea guards to threaten the fishermen who were offering incense to her, and she obediently surrendered without daring to resist.

What is she doing here?

The Dragon King of the South Sea was still puzzled when he turned his gaze and saw another being.

That was his "evil corpse".

The "evil corpse" is an elusive and elusive entity, sometimes resembling a ferocious dragon, and sometimes transforming into various forms it has seen in the human world, each one carrying undisguised greed and ruthlessness.

This was the first thing he cut out using the "Severing the Three Corpses" method; it was the embodiment of his "evil thoughts" and the first part of himself he peeled away.

"You are all here—you are all doing well." The Dragon King of the South Sea looked at the good corpse and the evil corpse, and a thought suddenly came to mind.

Take advantage of this moment to refine them and merge the three corpses into one!

Once this thought arose, he immediately activated his cultivation technique. The good corpse and the evil corpse seemed to be drawn by some irresistible force, both turning into streams of light and uncontrollably surging into his body.

He felt as if a long-dried-up riverbed had finally welcomed back the long-awaited flow of water, or as if a broken mirror had been pieced back together.

Our long-held goal has finally been achieved!

He almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.

He wouldn't have smiled before.

Under the absolute control of reason, there is only one way to laugh: when it is beneficial to the exchange of interests.

But now, he was so happy, so happy that it was overflowing, and laughter was the only outlet it could find.

The good corpse has returned to its rightful place, and the evil corpse has returned to its body; he has achieved perfection.

He can finally attempt to break through to the Golden Core stage.

Once he becomes a Golden Core cultivator, the entire South China Sea will be his for the taking!

He was engrossed in the prospect of becoming a Golden Core cultivator when suddenly, he lost all sense of unease.

After the good corpse and the evil corpse returned, their memories began to collide violently with his own memories.

Those memories, those emotions, those things he had long forgotten or deliberately abandoned, suddenly returned, like giant waves crashing against him, one after another, making him dizzy.

It was something "I" did.

That was also something "I" did.

But why are their behavioral patterns, cognitive styles, and even their most basic value judgments so different from his?

They are "me", yet they are not "me".

They are part of him, yet each carries its own independent perspective, gradually eroding his originally solid cognitive framework.

Time loses its meaning in the fog.

It's unclear how much time passed—perhaps a moment, perhaps a century—but the Dragon King of the South Sea finally finished digesting everything.

When the good corpse and the evil corpse returned to him, and he finally became a complete "me", he thought for a long time and came to a conclusion.

The method of enlightenment called "Slaying the Three Corpses" is wrong.

It's not because the practice itself is flawed, but because "good and evil" are never fixed and there is never a universally applicable standard.

Different stances lead to different interpretations of good and evil; different circumstances lead to different interpretations of good and evil.

My enemy is their hero.

Moreover, there are countless things in the world that are neither truly good nor evil. It's simply a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, selecting the less bad outcome from two bad results.

It's a choice, it's helplessness.

Not to mention, there are people in the world who have no sense of good or evil in their hearts.

What are good and evil? They are a mixture of innate endowments and acquired education, forming part of "morality".

"Morality" is the self-restraint one imposes on oneself.

"Good and evil" are too subtle and vary too much from person to person. How can we so brutally cut them off with one stroke?

If we remove "good and evil," is "rationality for the sake of profit" still ourselves? It's just a unique way of thinking.

This way of thinking may bring benefits in many situations, but it can also lead to one's destruction.

Because it's too monotonous.

Unable to change.

Yes, the great principles are changing, everything is changing, and a single, unchanging way of thinking cannot keep up with such changes.

So, where did I get this cultivation technique from?

The Dragon King thought for a while. Then he thought again. He thought for a very long time, but his mind remained blank, as if it had been erased by something.

Finally, some extremely distant and blurry images surfaced from the deepest recesses of my memory.

The Jiaolong clan—has not appeared in the sea for a very, very long time. It seems that thousands of years ago, the entire clan vanished without a trace.

He himself had no parents and was not hatched from a dragon egg.

He remembered that the day he opened his eyes, he already looked like a dragon, already had intelligence, and could breathe, swim, and think.

So, where did he come from?

He raised his "gaze" and looked around. An endless fog enveloped him, hazy and indistinct, as if it were before the creation of the world.

He suddenly understood.

He came from here.

But he—is not a dragon.

He was someone else's dream.

Now, the dream is over.

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