"Yiran said the character 'light' possesses mental power," Ke Xun had barely finished speaking when Mu Yiran understood his meaning and fell into deep thought. Ke Xun glanced at him and lowered his voice, "That is to say, every character, depending on the amount of emotion and intention people invest in it, also possesses mental power, to varying degrees.
Comrades, you haven't forgotten, have you—whether it's the 'Map of Mountains and Seas' on the Nine Tripods or the 'Map of Mountains and Seas' on the Ghost Altar, they are all composed of ghost script!
The characters used for shamanistic prayers naturally possess even stronger mental power, which is why that ancestor said, 'Obtain the Nine Tripods Map, obtain its shamanistic power.' This shamanistic power is the mental power attached to the ghost script, which is the power of human intention!"
"Yes! That's right, that's exactly it!" Several people agreed in unison.
Ke Xun waved his hand, indicating that he hadn't finished speaking: "Yi Ran once said that the power of will is an extremely powerful force, and strong will can even fight against gods and demons. An example is the situation I encountered in the painting 'Faith.' The thing is...
"So, I think the power of will might play a very important role in helping us solve this problem. Didn't our ancestors also mention in their last letter, 'What the body cannot reach, the mind can't'? This phrase likely refers to the power of the mind—isn't the mind the power of will? Our ancestors also said that the power of the mind should not be underestimated, and they ultimately planned to 'break through the barrier with their will,' which should also be because they realized the role of the power of will."
"I think your statement is too idealistic," said the pragmatist Li Xiaochun. "I desperately want to become rich every day. I feel that my willpower is already very strong, but I have never become rich. I am still a wandering laborer."
Ke Xun: "..." "
And ever since I encountered this mess with Ru Hua, I've desperately wanted to survive and escape this mess every day, even more so than I wanted to get rich," Li Xiaochun continued. "But look at me now, I'm still forced to come here, and I could die at any moment. So what's the use of willpower?"
"If it's useless, how do you explain the witchcraft power of the 'Shan Hai Tu'?" Zhu Haowen looked at him. "How do you explain the 'light' attack? How do you explain the idol curse?"
"And if you think the idea of willpower is too mystical," Mu Yiran interjected, "then we can give it a more scientific explanation: the ghost script is a kind of energy field."
"The essence of matter is energy. Microscopic particles vibrate when they move, and this vibration generates energy. These ghostly scripts, perhaps, are composed in a way similar to the powerful infrasound waves generated by the resonance of the Nine Tripods. Different compositions, or rather, different writing styles and shapes, can produce vibrations of different frequencies, and these different frequencies of vibration can correspondingly affect different substances.
Therefore, to say that the 'Shan Hai Tu' possesses witchcraft power or the power of intention is actually to say that it possesses a powerful energy field. When this energy field is cast onto the Nine Tripods, it can resonate with suitable infrasound frequencies and spread them outwards."
"After this energy field pattern is implanted into the bone structure, it combines with the human's own energy field. Although it doesn't have the powerful force and striking effect of the Nine Cauldrons, it can still be used to seal this altar, affecting the energy field generated by the altar and temporarily stopping the demons from using the altar to perform idol curses and crashing towards the ground."
Li Xiaochun was speechless, rubbing his forehead. "Okay, I admit, willpower is useful, but that's something only great shamans can use freely. I think it's unlikely for ordinary people like us."
"Willpower is very useful," Zhu Haowen stopped looking at him and turned to everyone. "That ancestor from the Qin Dynasty mentioned, 'With a wisp of spiritual consciousness, one can seal demons from entering the mortal realm for a hundred years.' I think the 'spiritual consciousness' here also refers to willpower.
"Of course, he was a metaphysician. He had the ability to seal demons for a hundred years with his willpower. Perhaps we can too. We possess bone structures, and bone structures are the inheritance of willpower. Although we are just ordinary people, we are empowered with this powerful willpower and can also be used to seal demons for another hundred years."
"But the premise is most likely… that we need to die."
"But we don't want to die…" Wei Dong said, "If we're all dead, what's the point of using telekinesis…"
"Why can't we?" Ke Xun and Zhu Haowen said in unison.
"Huh?" Wei Dong and the others looked at the two of them blankly.
"Remember the painting 'Schrödinger's Cat'?" Ke Xun's eyes flickered as he looked at the old members who had experienced that painting together. "The human body and consciousness are two different things. The body dies, but the consciousness doesn't necessarily die!" "Only now have I realized that the first painting that Xiao Mu and I entered, 'Free Evaluation of Evidence,' didn't imply anything about needing to judge good and evil. Rather, from the moment we entered the first painting, it already told us that what we perceived as the righteous side actually wanted to kill us; what we perceived as the evil side actually wanted us to live. "But which of these two forces is truly good, which is truly evil, which is truly right, and which is truly wrong? For us who entered the painting, this is probably the most perplexing and difficult question to define... This is probably the true essence of 'Free Evaluation of Evidence.'" " Then I really don't understand," Wu You said, her eyes red. "Since the side of justice wants us to die, why not give us a peaceful death? Why create such a horrific scene in the painting to kill us? Even now, the thought of He Tang's death sends chills down my spine." "The form of entering the painting should be derived from idol cursing," Mu Yiran said. "Painting is also a kind of 'idol.' In ancient times, painting was the primary means of recording and dissemination. As for the character 'light' we mentioned earlier, it was originally a pictograph, a pictorial symbol, so it's not unreasonable to consider it as a painting. "The illusion of entering the painting appears at the weak point where yin and yang meet, which may be a game between the forces of demons and humans using idol cursing. "And the word 'curse' in cursing inherently carries the meaning of harm and ferocity. I think the nature of this technique itself cannot be determined by the forces of the two sides." "Furthermore, within the painting, the forces of both sides are evenly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand. They are constantly restraining and influencing each other, entangled in a state of endless conflict. In this situation where no single force can dominate, the nature of the illusion within the painting is probably not something that either force can determine alone." "Then… then what do we do?" Li Xiaochun asked helplessly. "Do we really have no choice but to sacrifice ourselves and give up our souls? Is there really no way to survive?" Everyone remained silent. Despite understanding the entire ins and outs, despite knowing the principles of dealing with demons and ghosts, there was still no way, no way to avoid sacrificing their lives. Mental power might be useful, mental power might be strong enough to fight against gods and demons, but everyone knew that for humans, physical death is true death. Consciousness might still live, but a living consciousness is formless and intangible, merely floating, unable to do anything. What is the meaning of such 'living'? Dusk, like death, silently descended upon the people who had entered the painting. "…There really is no other way…" Wei Dong shivered in the rising cold wind, his voice filled with despair. "…There is no other way." Shao Ling's gaze melted into the gloomy twilight, carrying a desolate feeling like the mountains. "I…I don't want to die…" Luo Yu sobbed, his body swaying precariously.
"Ah!" Wei Dong and the others suddenly understood.
"So this is the truth behind the sacrifices made by generations of pioneers?" Fang Fei's eyes gleamed. "They knew that only consciousness could seal demons, so they resolutely decided to abandon their physical bodies. The skeletal form attached to the body wasn't to control it, but to await the consciousness that would break free."
"Yes...yes," Shao Ling murmured, pondering. "We ordinary people may not be able to control our consciousness after death, but that master predecessor could, and the psychic power of the 'Mountain and Sea Map' skeletal form could. So they needed us to offer our consciousness, or rather, to sacrifice our souls. Afterwards, our consciousness, detached from our bodies, would combine with the psychic power of the skeletal form to become a seal, blocking the energy field of the ghost altar and keeping the demons sealed underground for another hundred years."
"So," Mu Yiran began, his gaze fixed on Ke Xun's face, his eyes filled with the sorrow that had only appeared in the painting "The Journey," "So the clue that the painting 'The Journey' hints at for us is that 'we all unite to take this step, even if it may be a step backward, but this step backward is for a longer journey forward. Even if this step backward may lead to an abyss, what we gain in return is eternal light.'"
Ke Xun looked at him; Mu Yiran remembered these words spoken by Ke Xun from another timeline better than anyone else.
"So in fact, back in 'The Journey,' the power behind the painting had already told us this," Zhu Haowen's gaze remained fixed on the cold ground beneath his feet, "Only by sacrificing ourselves, only by dying, can we bring peace to this world, and preserve eternal light for the human species.
"But the world doesn't need us to save it; it only needs us to seal this small altar with our own lives."
"We're actually just like a remote control—no, we're not even that. We're at most the batteries. The 'Shan Hai Tu' (a mythical Chinese painting) is the remote control. Install us batteries, press a button on the remote, and it can stop nuclear weapons from destroying the Earth. We're just a tool. What truly saves the Earth is the hand that powers us up and presses the button on the remote."
Luo Yi's eyes reddened, and large tears fell onto the ground at his feet.
"Actually, we guessed correctly," Qin Ci sighed softly. "There were indeed two forces at work behind the scenes in the entire incident. One was the demons and ghosts from underground, and the other was a kind of inherited power of thought, synthesized from the witchcraft of the 'Shan Hai Tu,' the prayer power of the great shaman, and the mental power of the metaphysical master.
"But we completely misjudged one thing. That is, what wanted us to die in the painting wasn't the power of the demons and ghosts, but the mental power belonging to the human side."
"The demons and ghosts would rather we all live, while the inherited spiritual power of humanity would rather we all die, because only when we all die can the Nine Cauldrons and the thirteen bone structures of the Earthly Dimension merge with our detached consciousness to seal the demons and ghosts and begin a new century of suppression."
Ke Xun raised his lowered eyelids and looked at everyone: "Time is running out. Let's bury these ancestral notes back where they were, and add the clues we've compiled to complete all our deductions."
The group silently returned to their tents, added the clues again, and returned to the rock where the notes were buried before nightfall. They
placed the notes back in their original spots, one by one, and topped them with their belongings.
Just as Gu Qingqing was about to put in the paper-written clues, Ke Xun suddenly stopped her.
She looked up at Ke Xun, seeing a light reflected in his dark pupils, and said to her, "Qingqing, add a few more words at the end of the paper."
"Okay, what should I write?" Gu Qingqing took out a pen and turned to the last page.
"Just write," Ke Xun's gaze was deeper than the night, "The justice of heaven is clear, evil cannot prevail over good, and for the sake of all living beings, how fortunate I am!"