Chapter 162: Opening Heaven and Earth, Something from Nothing!

For a long time, Zhao Si has been very curious about this version of the Wilderness.

Because it has too many new settings, it differs greatly from the conventional Wilderness in many aspects:

For example, the human race, the Witch-Demon War, merit, the Heavenly Dao……

But after Zhao Si received part of Pangu's memories, he realized that the previous new settings were minor; only in the matter of opening heaven and earth was there a truly huge difference!

In the conventional Wilderness, the general story of Pangu opening heaven is: in Chaos, Pangu and the three thousand demon gods were born; then Pangu sought to open heaven and prove the Dao, the three thousand demon gods blocked the way, so Pangu slew them one by one.

Finally, Pangu used an axe to open heaven and earth, separating Chaos; the clear qi rose to become heaven, the turbid qi sank to become earth. After doing all this, Pangu exploded where he stood, spitting out gold coins, transforming into the Three Pure Ones, the Twelve Ancestral Witches, and so on……

But in this version, Pangu's opening of heaven and earth is completely different from the above:

Here in Chaos, there are no three thousand Chaos demon gods; only Pangu exists alone.

Literally, 'only Pangu one person' means that besides Him, nothing exists, not even Chaos itself!

There is nothing to cleave 'Chaos qi', no 'Chaos space', and even less 'Chaos spirit treasures' or 'Chaos spirit roots'.

Everything's starting point is entirely Pangu!

Before Pangu, Chaos was 'nothing'—no spiritual qi, no matter, no life, not even the concept of space.

The so-called Pangu opening heaven and earth essentially means Pangu transformed his own body into heaven and earth, not that he wielded an opening-heaven axe to cleave 'Chaos qi'!

His eyes became the sun and moon, his hair turned into stars, his body became all things of heaven and earth……

Rather than calling Him a person, it's more accurate to say He is a lump of matter; He used this lump of matter to prop up 'space', constituting everything in the Wilderness.

And outside the Wilderness, it remains as it was before Pangu opened heaven and earth: 'nothing'.

"Pangu is 'being', while Chaos is 'non-being'; they complement each other…… and Pangu arising from Chaos is 'something from nothing', namely the origin of all matter……"

This vastly different view of the Wilderness made Zhao Si ponder for a long time before he gradually grasped its meaning:

"So…… Pangu opening heaven and earth equals the Big Bang, and Pangu equals a matter singularity?"

That's actually novel!

Zhao Si couldn't help but grow interested:

"This setting is quite scientific, huh……"

Although talking science in this idealistic, chaotic Wilderness is itself nonsense, this nonsense is surprisingly eye‑opening; after all, having seen too much of the conventional Wilderness, occasionally coming up with something new is also novel.

"As for attaining the Dao……"

Zhao Si closed his eyes and thought again:

Hongjun once said that attaining the Dao means 'becoming Pangu'; materially becoming Pangu is naturally impossible for anyone except the Ancestral Witches, so in practice only the 'True Spirit Dao Attainment Method' is viable!

And the True Spirit Dao Attainment Method essentially consists of using the True Spirit—this 'Pangu consciousness'—to drive the Wilderness heaven and earth, this 'Pangu physical body'.

Whether it's the Three Ancestors' 'Bloodline Dao Attainment' or Hongjun's 'Indirect Dao Attainment', the principle is the same.

In theory, after attaining the Dao, the attainer can perfectly control the Wilderness's heavenly and earthly power just like Pangu; by analogy, this equals the later Six Sages, which is why the Six Sages are so overpowered—the reason lies here.

But in practice, the attainer's power can far exceed just this aspect:

Compared to mastering heavenly and earthly power, a more important ability of the Dao attainer is to be able, like Pangu, to create something from nothing!

Pangu's birth in Chaos is a true 'something from nothing'; He really created matter and used His own matter to fashion the Wilderness heaven and earth.

And since the Dao attainer's consciousness equals Pangu's, the attainer can likewise create an objective existence independent of Chaos!

"So that's why Hongjun said Dao attainers can solve all the problems facing the Wilderness……"

Zhao Si suddenly understood:

That's right—if you can create something from nothing, doesn't that mean you can endlessly spit out gold coins? Wherever resources are lacking, you just whip them up out of thin air; you're literally an endless energy source, a perpetual motion machine!

Such an unreasonable thing can naturally solve all the Wilderness's problems.

"No wonder Jin Bing's era could achieve an eternal Wilderness; with resources already infinitely supplied, as long as Jin Bing holds onto the six sages' thighs and prevents their six nuclear warheads from causing trouble, an eternal Wilderness is naturally achievable!"

And as for why the Six Sages can easily defeat the super‑powered Di Jiang, Zhao Si also realized:

Di Jiang used Hongmeng purple qi to call the Heavenly Dao demanding inheritance, then took a few bites of Mount Buzhou, earning the title 'little Pangu'; basically, one punch could take down Donghuang Taiyi.

But compared to the Six Sages, Di Jiang's 'little Pangu' is pathetic—he's a 'little Pangu', while the Six Sages are 'false Pangus'!

To wipe out those six 'false Pangus' of the Six Sages, Di Jiang would have to devour the entire Wilderness to become a true Pangu, and even then it would be roughly enough……

"However, when this news comes, the blow to Jiao Ming will be even greater!"

Zhao Si was a bit worried:

Jiao Ming, in order to save the sacrificed myriad spirits, underwent three lifetimes of reincarnation solely to topple the Three Ancestors and thwart their Dao attainment plan with Hongjun.

In the end, he discovered that although he had indeed saved the sacrificed, the Wilderness thus lacked any Dao attainers, falling into a resource crisis; if mishandled, it would instead sacrifice even more people……

"Don't let your Dao heart collapse, okay……"

……

【After a long while, you finally break free from the fragmentary memories left by Pangu, but you not only fail to become enlightened about everything—instead you fall into confusion.】

【It turns out, the biggest obstacle to the Wilderness's eternal prosperity is none other than oneself……】

【You suddenly feel like laughing: you've tried every means to stop the Three Ancestors and Hongjun from sacrificing innocents, yet it turns out sacrifice is actually necessary!】

【If you don't want the Wilderness to fall into endless cycles of meaningless life and death, then you must sacrifice enough lives, use their true spirits to refine heaven and earth, give birth to a Dao attainer, and thus end the fate……】

【In that case, those three precious objects of the Three Ancestors are actually saving the Wilderness's myriad beings; the fiercer the Three‑Clans War, the quicker the rescue, and these objects transform themselves—willing to bear infamy—to become true saints who save the myriad beings of the Wilderness!】

【Likewise, I transformed myself—from self‑proclaimed world‑saving great sage—into a narrow‑minded fool who only disrupts the true saints' grand plan to save the world……】

【Your unwavering conviction begins to gradually crumble, a pure Dao heart wavering and shattering!】

【So what meaning do my three lives and three worlds have?】

【Is there no meaning?】

【Your qi flow is visibly sluggish, and the divine light in your eyes suddenly dims……】

【"I always think I'm right."】

You gave a bitter laugh, from thinking back then that the Three Ancestors were the ultimate boss, to thinking that Rahu was the ultimate boss, to thinking that Hongjun was the ultimate boss.

Finally, I thought that as long as I didn't let them sacrifice, I could achieve a perfect ending!

However, not sacrificing would only lead to a more tragic ending……

"Fellow Daoist, actually the situation isn't that bad……"

Seeing your Dao heart wavering, Hongjun tried to comfort you: "Like this, you listen to me; we'll find two suckers, offend them badly, and let them slaughter living beings in revenge!"

Then we'll bring down heavenly justice, kill those two suckers, and maintain peace in the Honghuang……

By then, enough living beings will have been sacrificed; I'll then condense the Heavenly Dao, and we'll all become sages together—you take the seat of honor, and the Dao Ancestor will yield it to you, no problem!

Hongjun said righteously: "Anyway, it's not us who killed them, so there's no psychological burden; at that time we can both avenge the living beings and solve the resource crisis—a win‑win."

Win‑win! Everyone will have a bright future!

Hearing this perfect win‑win solution, you remained silent……

Will Hongjun's proposal work?

For him it's completely feasible, but for me…… absolutely not!

You took a deep breath, gradually regained your previous mindset, and regarding Hongjun's suggestion, you pretended not to have heard it.

At this point, with no solution in sight, the confused you could only once again pin your hopes on that mysterious "other self"……

Ding! Facing this desperate situation, choose (?)—please fill in freely!

Got it! You kicked the football to me again!

Seeing Jiao Ming ultimately choose to seek help off‑field, Zhao Si also pursed their lips, still thinking this person had a solution.

"But you dumped the problem on me, and I really have no way either……"

Zhao Si also felt helpless; after playing this game for so long, it was still the first time they'd encountered a question that truly left them at a loss.

No solution, because this is essentially an either‑or dilemma:

If we protect the myriad beings from sacrifice, it will result in no one attaining the Dao to serve as an endless energy source, and the Honghuang will eat the date‑medicine pill!

But if we want someone who has attained the Dao to serve as an endless energy source, then we must sacrifice enough myriad beings.

Now, only two beings in the Honghuang can attain the Dao: either let Zu Feng be the precious offering, or let Hongjun be the precious offering—either way, there must be a precious offering……

"Wait!"

Zhao Si suddenly froze, then fell into deep thought:

"This method of attaining the Dao seems to have a problem……"

Pangu's body transformed into the Honghuang heavens and earth, while his consciousness became the various innate divinities; the Three Ancestors' method of attaining the Dao was to enlighten the myriad beings, giving them a weakened version of Pangu's true spirit, then slaughter the myriad beings and refine these extra feeble Pangu true spirits to temper Pangu's form……

Suppose, I'm saying suppose…… is it possible that we actually don't need to enlightened those extra Pangu true spirits at all?

Since Pangu's physical body still exists, it shows that his original true spirit was never obliterated—his complete true spirit has always resided in the Honghuang!

However, these true spirits have manifested as the myriad innate divinities.

Therefore, in theory, if we simply gather all of Pangu's true‑spirit fragments and pinch them together, wouldn't this constructed entity—even if it isn't the original Pangu—be able to fully command its own body?

Could it also create something from nothing?

If that's possible, then in fact we wouldn't need to sacrifice myriad beings at all—we'd only need to sacrifice a tiny fraction of the innate divinities……

Cough!

To them, this isn't a sacrifice—it's an honor!

Above, they can return to the Father God's embrace; below, they can contribute to the myriad beings of the world.

Anyway, everyone being a precious offering, we can recycle waste, make everyone shine and warm, and it's still another kind of "win‑win"……

……

(End of chapter)