From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

Take eye tumors as an example.

When this plant with animal-like characteristics survives, it still has an "eye," but its sensitivity to the life source decreases with each generation. When the spores it produces attach to animal embryos or plant seeds, it actively integrates itself into their genetic factors, causing slight changes in the appearance of the resulting animals or plants.

Such as:

After the spores are implanted, the cow embryos develop extremely quickly, reaching adulthood in just one year. They are three times larger than ordinary cows and have a very docile temperament.

More importantly, as long as there is enough fodder, this type of dairy cow can produce nearly a ton of milk a day, just like a living milk production factory.

For example:

After rice seeds combine with spores, they can ripen once a month. The number of grains on the rice spike does not increase, but the grains become larger, about the size of peanuts. After peeling off the outer shell, the rice inside is crystal clear.

However, spores have no effect on fully grown plants and animals.

This is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

After all, humanity in this timeline wasn't ready for a "leapfrog evolution"...

In short.

Everything is moving in a positive direction.

"Three years after the Mana Anti-Swarming Project, the tumor spores of the Mana ecosystem began to integrate with normal plants and animals, signifying that a bridge has been built between the natural ecosystem and the Mana ecosystem. The future of humanity is bright; we just need to learn from our ancestors and fight against the ecological challenges..."

At the year-end meeting and the New Year planning meeting, Wu Chenxi replaced Hong Guniang in speaking at the meeting.

This has two meanings.

Firstly, Wu Chenxi is already capable of handling things independently.

Once a commoner in the Lighthouse, and a mere woman at that, she relied on her talent and ability to become an apprentice of Red Maiden. Yet, she remained humble, diligently studying and practicing until she was able to speak in Red Maiden's place at such an important meeting.

For all the people, especially for the original beacon dwellers, this was the most encouraging thing ever!

Secondly, Jiang Liu and the others were about to leave.

Over the past three years, everyone has come to know that Jiang Liu and the others come from a parallel universe, and they also understand that they will eventually return.

But when that day actually came, it made Jiang Liu and his close friends feel a strong sense of reluctance to part with him.

After the meeting.

The people from Longgu Village and the Lighthouse group all came to see them off.

"Father, can't you stay?"

Maido advised.

If it were a matter of life and death, she could accept it; after all, how could people not die when fighting against the ecosystem? But Jiang Liu and the others were going to return to their original time and space, and they might never come back. How could she pretend that they had never been to this world?

Not to mention, she is now practically Jiang Liu's biological daughter.

Hearing Maiduo call him "father," Jiang Liu was able to accept it calmly. He then glanced at Zhang Zhiwei and Lu Jin, who were secretly laughing. For the past three years, every time Maiduo called him that, these two friends would tease him.

There was nothing we could do.

Jiang Liu sighed and said to Mai Duo, "Why don't you come back with us? Consider it a vacation for yourself, what do you say?"

"Can I come along?"

Maido was surprised.

"Otherwise, how would we have come to your world?" Jiang Liu smiled slightly and said to Ao Deng, "Old Deng, you don't mind, do you?"

Ao Deng was about to agree, but when he heard the address "Old Deng", he was momentarily speechless. However, he quickly recovered and laughed, "Boss Jiang, you're being too polite. We're like family. My little darling just wiped out the last mutated Devouring Beast on the continent a while ago, so he's taking a vacation."

"awesome!"

With a "whoosh," Maiduo skipped over to Jiang Liu's side, hugged his arm, and said with a grin, "I haven't seen the old world yet, so let's go take a look and get some inspiration for our future development."

"I just hope you won't be disappointed. The technological level of our era is much lower than that of the old world, and the tension between countries is escalating. War might break out anytime soon." Jiang Liu explained the general situation of the main world of Under One Person.

“It’s alright. Even if it’s chaotic, it’s still much better than the situation here where everything is in ruins and needs to be rebuilt,” Maido said matter-of-factly.

"Then I'll go too."

Bai Yuekui stretched and said, "In parallel universes, the names of the countries may be different, but the historical processes should be similar."

In our old world, the Federation of the Zeon Islands once invaded the Heluo Civilization, committing one inhumane massacre after another.

Perhaps this will happen where you are too.

I'll go with you to help you establish the Life Essence Iteration System... If it really happens, then we'll be able to reclaim the life essence of those beasts."

Before the Human Alliance was established, Dragonbone Village had already been working on the matter of recycling the life essence of living people. They killed the settlement members who dared to harm their own kind and were extremely cruel, and then recycled their life essence.

After the alliance was established, this rule was not abolished; instead, it became one of the most serious criminal laws.

Furthermore, after these individuals are stripped of and their life essence is recovered, their life essence is stored separately from that of the victims for further research.

As for the costs incurred during the research process—

They will spontaneously return to heaven and earth, erasing all memories, emotions, and thoughts, awaiting the "reincarnation" of the Holy Embryo Space.

Murder is not a crime.

Just as it is understandable for people to kill each other to survive in a cruel post-apocalyptic environment when food is scarce, it is perfectly acceptable for people to kill each other simply to satisfy their perverse fetishes. In that case, they can be regarded as animals, and recycling life essence is just making the most of it.

This can be considered the last bit of respect for these kinds of beasts with human bodies.

"I think you're reluctant to part with Brother Jiang, aren't you?"

For the past three years, Bai Yuekui has been dragging Jiang Liu along every night to do research, and Hong Guniang could sense it all, so she couldn't help but tease him.

Chapter 1294 This matter requires personal practice

Bai Yuekui didn't take Hong Guniang's teasing to heart, and simply asked Jiang Liu, "Do you agree?"

"Since you've spoken, how could I dare refuse? You've taken care of me these past few days, so I'm obligated to help you." Jiang Liu agreed readily.

So, Bai Yuekui readily walked to Hong Guniang's side and sent a message: "Don't worry, over there, I won't compete with you for the right to use Jiang Liu's spiritual root."

"So I should thank you?"

Red Girl raised an eyebrow.

No need for that. It's only right for the older sister to give way to the younger sister.

Bai Yuekui smiled faintly.

[An octogenarian!]

Red Girl looked at him with disdain.

Young people these days tend to prefer older women.

Bai Yuekui argued his case forcefully.

In the end, the two smiled at each other, having grown accustomed to each other's presence; sometimes, Jiang Liu was the outsider.

From that day on, the three of them were in sync, their fates already intertwined. One of them was the leader of Dragon Bone Village, and the other was the head of the Lighthouse. They often communicated, and both of them were cultivators. How could the worldly concept of monogamy bind them?

Moreover, the two women shared a surprisingly similar viewpoint, believing that Jiang Liu's marriage was not polygamous, since they were from completely different worlds!

This is in a physical sense.

According to their respective worldviews, their union with Jiang Liu would still be a monogamous relationship.

No problem!

Jiang Liu, who was connected to the two women's hearts, was slightly speechless when he learned of this idea—it turned out that he had become the Bull Demon King!

This is because the Bull Demon King has a wife, the Rakshasa Girl, and a concubine, the Jade-Faced Fox.

Let's just talk about the plot.

To the Bull Demon King, these two women were referred to as one wife and one concubine, but in reality, they were both "wives".

What solution?

This needs to take into account the historical context of the time when "Journey to the West" was written: the Ming Dynasty.

He had three wives and four concubines.

This is merely a euphemism for having many wives and concubines; in essence, it means one husband with one wife and multiple concubines.

However, wealthy businessmen have a special case when it comes to marriage.

It is called "big at both ends".

To put it simply, it means that a businessman who has already married a wife in his hometown, but when he goes to do business in another place, in order to develop and gain a foothold, he marries another wife in another place. Moreover, this wife is often a young lady or a beautiful widow who has a lot of assets in her family but lacks a man to support her.

Therefore, this legal wife, in principle, was not a concubine, and her status was actually equivalent to that of the legal wife in her hometown.

Due to the inconvenience of transportation in ancient times, as long as things didn't escalate, both the government and the people adhered to the principle of "it's better to avoid trouble."

Furthermore, due to the strict concepts of "family," "ancestral land," and "ancestor worship" in ancient times, these merchants who married another woman in another place would basically transfer the property of the local powerful families back to their hometown. In fact, the wives in other places would send gold and silver to their husbands' homes on time every year.

On the surface, she appears to be filial to her husband's parents back in his hometown, but in reality, she pretends to be oblivious and tells her husband, "I know you have a legal wife back in your hometown, but I don't care. I even send her money regularly, which is a great honor for you."

Therefore, many businessmen also take great care of their wives and will protect them throughout their lives. However, taking care of them does not mean that they are sincere from the beginning.

In essence, this is more like a deal that satisfies both parties.

Understanding these points helps explain why, in Journey to the West, the Bull Demon King, after the Jade-Faced Fox was chased and beaten by Sun Wukong, should have fought Sun Wukong to the end, but stopped fighting after hearing the Dragon King of Ten Thousand Saints come to invite him halfway through the battle; and why, after Princess Iron Fan was bullied by Sun Wukong, he decided to fight Sun Wukong to the death.

Did the Bull Demon King have feelings for Princess Jade Face?

some.

But not many.

Now, Jiang Liu finds himself confirming the saying "The Bull Demon King is originally a transformed monkey," but he is also different from the Bull Demon King—

Although Hong Guniang and Bai Yuekui would tease each other in private, they were actually as close as sisters, with no rivalry or infighting between them.

of course.

In terms of cultivation, the Bull Demon King is actually the transformation of the Monkey King. He represents the aspect of the Monkey King Sun Wukong that desires multiple wives and concubines and friends all over the world. Only by breaking free from this worldly desire can one attain the Great Dao.

However, breaking free from worldly desires does not mean that one must abstain from sex.

Reality and theory must be integrated into practice.

This three-dimensional universe is not the scenery within the Golden Elixir of Body and Mind, or the Sacred Embryo of Qi. All the thoughts existing within the three realms of the human body need to break free from this attachment and return to the original self, Jiang Liu's primordial spirit. Jiang Liu, as an independent individual existing in the real world, needs to follow the principles of nature.