Chapter 687 - 77: Internal Scenery, External Scenery

Chapter 687: Chapter 77: Internal Scenery, External Scenery

The human brain has its limits.

Memory, intelligence, and inspiration all have their ceilings.

Even Murphy, with a Dao Transformation Level of 130%, was no exception.

Just like the foolish or the mad.

The very matter of the brain’s structure determines everything.

While one’s innate nature cannot be altered, one can work to improve what is acquired.

The state of longevity has already begun to transform the part of the soul that governs intelligence, inspiration, and comprehension, turning it into an unobservable substance. So why can’t it be changed?

Those who cling to their imperfections, refusing to change...

...even if they achieve longevity, will forever be shackled by it.

But even change has its limits.

To operate carelessly on one’s own consciousness...

...is to court madness and the loss of self.

Or, like most of the Extraordinary bloodline holders on the Kronos plane, they simply don’t know how.

It is a method of extreme technical difficulty.

But while Murphy hadn’t found a way to change the self, he had found another path: a way to enhance the soul’s abilities by connecting through bloodline power.

A consciousness network.

The Way of Heaven takes from what has a surplus to supplement what is lacking.

The Way of Man takes from the lacking to give to those with a surplus.

Since an individual’s intelligence, inspiration, and comprehension have a ceiling...

...why not just pool them all together?

It was like a jigsaw puzzle.

Each person contributes the pieces they possess. Even if there’s overlap, the more people there are, the more complete the puzzle becomes.

For instance, when Murphy previously used the cocoons to create a localized biological computer, supplying his own intelligence, inspiration, and comprehension to Saladin, Saladin realized just how underdeveloped society on the Kronos plane was.

Of course, Murphy’s own soul played the key role in this.

As an outsider, Murphy’s part of the puzzle was unique, with very little overlap.

Or, to put it another way, the puzzle is the circle of one’s perception.

Throughout their lives, people can only perceive things within this circle.

No matter how much time one has or how deeply one thinks, anything outside that circle remains forever unreachable unless the circle itself expands.

Within the circle lies the Thought Steel Seal.

Outside the circle lies the Knowledge Barrier, mental blind spots, cognitive boundaries—things a person could never conceive of in their entire life.

Of course, this circle is not a static, eternal thing.

A person’s knowledge, age, and external environment can all alter it.

It can shrink or expand.

Murphy was now using a technical method to alter this circle.

He was studying the biological Laws of the Kronos world, which belonged to the Bright World.

He would use this bloodline power to expand the circle.

He would incorporate things that were beyond his own ability to conceive.

It was like sets in mathematics.

If Murphy himself was the set (0, 1), adding natives of the Kronos plane like Saladin would expand it to (0, 2).

In the world of Cultivation...

...this concept was known as the "Inner Scenery."

"The Inner Scenery is the sun and moon within the body, the universe within one’s nature."

Another saying goes: "Constantly visualize the three chambers as interconnected, and you will see no distinction between the inner and the outer."

As for the Foundation Establishment Realm: "The Yin Qi within the body is not yet purged. Though an Inner Scenery exists, it is like the moon obscured by clouds, or a lamp behind gauze."

The general meaning is, if one’s Dao Transformation Level is insufficient, how can one truly perceive anything?

Upon reaching the Golden Core Realm, it is "perfectly round and brilliantly radiant, like a full moon in the sky, and the Qi-hues of the five viscera become clearly visible."

This signifies absolute control over one’s own mind, allowing one to perceive its very boundaries.

Then, at the Nascent Soul Realm, "The Inner Scenery and the Outer Scenery are one and the same. The scenery within the body is the scenery of the world, and the scenery of the world is the scenery within the body."

"Before the Yang God appears, ’you’ and ’I’ are distinct; once the Yang God emerges, the inner and outer merge as one."

Putting the Nascent Soul Realm aside for a moment.

What Murphy was doing was expanding his Inner Scenery. He was using the Inner Scenery of others to broaden his own, allowing it to reflect the changes in the world’s Outer Scenery.

The external manifestation of this was his constantly soaring comprehension of the Bright World’s biotechnology.

But this was not enough.

He also needed the Inner Scenery of Saladin’s comrades.

If will could be transmitted through the bloodline, then other information could be as well.

The fragmented memories in Saladin’s mind, supplemented by the bloodline information from the others, gradually filled in the details of where his comrades were buried.

Saladin sensed something.

Curled up inside the cocoon, his emaciated body trembled slightly.

His clouded eyes gazed at the great dragon.

"Are you going to disturb my comrades?"

Murphy asked, "You don’t mind?"

Saladin let out a small laugh. "I do mind, but what does it matter? When we lay down to rest three thousand years ago, we never expected to rise again."

"Besides, you’ve shown me the way—the right way. My comrades would not object."

At once, the Crimson light around Murphy flared brilliantly again.

Guided by the light, the cocoons began to merge.

Then, the light surged into the surrounding cocoons.

They finally converged into a single, enormous cocoon that radiated a Crimson light.

Patterns of light flowed across the cocoon’s surface like blood vessels, like tree roots, like a vast and intricate web.

Through the thin membrane, one could see countless humanoid silhouettes packed within—Elders, children, women, Warriors, and a great dragon.

Then, the massive cocoon lifted off the ground.

It flew off toward the east.

Like a Crimson meteor.

...

Leander stepped out of the passage, and the sight before him left him completely stunned.

He was in a massive hall.

The dome was so vast that it vanished into the darkness above. Only points of light, floating in midair and twinkling like stars, gave a faint outline to the space.

The hall was filled with people.

Leander saw Warriors like himself.

There were old and young, men and women. Some wore armor, others simple cloth. Some were still wrapped in bandages, their faces bearing wounds.

Every single one of them had their eyes closed, their faces serene, as if in a deep slumber.ℯ