"We don't have much time. We need to take enough blood from 'that me' as quickly as possible, so I need someone to help me get back. In this race against time, Ke Xun and I are faster, so it's more appropriate for the two of us to go back," Mu Yiran said.
"So why did you take your own blood?" Zhu Haowen stared at him and asked, "And why did you ask Lao Qin to check the amount of blood they lost?"
"Now we've reached the most crucial point of all the questions, the ultimate truth we've been seeking," Mu Yiran's expression was indescribably strange. He pointed to the altar beneath their feet and the blood of his companions covering its surface. "The large pool of blood we see before us is likely due to the power of the Ghost Script. It needs a blood 'sacrifice.' Although what it truly desires is our consciousness, I think the reason why the Bone Formation can be passed down from generation to generation might be because of blood as a medium.
"Blood carries genetic material, just like what we often call bloodline inheritance—it has the power of inheritance. I think the Bone Formation utilizes this characteristic, passing down from generation to generation through the inheritance of blood."
"As for why those who enter the painting acquire its skeletal form, and why the skeletal form of one who dies in the painting transfers to the next, I think that if we had sufficient resources to examine the bloodlines of all those who entered the painting in our generation, tracing back to the Qin Dynasty, it's very likely that they all possess the genetic inheritance of that master and his twelve disciples.
"Therefore, what we know about the sacrifices made by that master and his twelve disciples is far more than what's mentioned in the will. These thirteen righteous men even staked their bloodlines for thousands of generations.
"Therefore, the Ghost Script needs both consciousness and blood. It combines with consciousness to activate the energy field, and with blood to mark and define the barrier. This barrier can be understood as a seal, a soul imprint, or a channel, a medium.
"The Ghost Script doesn't need an equal amount of blood to mark and define the altar, but it does need enough blood to kill, to define the barrier while simultaneously obtaining our consciousness and activating the energy field."
"Therefore, the blood loss of the five of them was only between 30% and 50%, which would have been fatal. This 30% to 50% of blood, combined with the ghostly script, was used to delineate the barrier on the top of the altar.
"The purpose of this barrier is, of course, to seal the demons, but it also has another function that even the ancient shamans and demons probably didn't know. Or, even if the shamans and wise men with the ability to observe noticed this function, they would have difficulty understanding the reason due to the limitations of their time."
"But we...we are different. Our era already has the theoretical basis to glimpse a corner of the 'heavenly secrets,' and in fact, we had already come into contact with the truth behind this barrier before. However, we dared not believe it, nor did we want to believe it was true, and in subsequent reasoning and analysis, we denied its authenticity.
"But now, when the 'insects' confirmed the inference that consciousness can exist independently and can go to higher dimensions, when the blood of the sacrifices spread across the altar in the pattern of ghostly script, when Xiaochun's blood became a border on the edge of the altar, the speculations we once dared not believe and did not want to believe seem to be gradually becoming facts.
"If things go as expected, after you, who possess the Nine Cauldrons Bone Form, all sacrifice yourselves, the blood-red ghostly script will perfectly cover the entire top surface of the altar, while the three of us, who possess the Earth Dimension Bone Form, will become four bloody borders on the top surface of the altar, just like Xiaochun's blood.
"So, now imagine again, what will the top surface of the altar at that time look like?" "
Ke Xun's eyes held an indescribable look. He opened his mouth several times before finally uttering two words in a strange, off-key voice:
'Seal.'
'You mean…' Shao Ling felt breathless, 'We…we…this real world, is it really—really just—a painting?'
'In our understanding, a painting is a two-dimensional thing, representing a two-dimensional world, while we, who create two-dimensional paintings, are three-dimensional beings,' Mu Yiran looked up at the monster that was about to burst out of the wind body again, and quickened his pace once more, 'Since the 'insects' have confirmed the existence of higher dimensions, then why can't the world we three-dimensional beings inhabit be a world created by four-dimensional, five-dimensional, or even higher-dimensional beings, a world defined as a 'painting' in their dimension?'" "
...Of course...of course it is..." Shao Ling didn't know what else to say at this moment. It was as if his worldview had collapsed along with his entire thought process. All his emotions were chaotically intertwined, and the result of this intertwining was paleness and confusion.
The paintings of three-dimensional beings are two-dimensional, and the paintings of higher-dimensional beings are three-dimensional. What's impossible about that...?
"But why is the form of the seals left by higher-dimensional beings on their paintings the same as that of us three-dimensional beings?" Zhu Haowen was still cautious.
"You've got the order wrong," Mu Yiran said. "Higher-dimensional beings created us. It wasn't us who first possessed this form of seals, but the higher-dimensional beings. It's our seal form that's the same as theirs. Just like in the otherworldly works we create, no matter how subversive its worldview is, it will always bear the cultural imprint of our world. And this also explains why the ghost script has such powerful and incredible strength. Because they come from a higher-dimensional world, and our world's great shamans glimpsed a corner of their power and used it. And it is just this corner of power that is enough to turn our world upside down." "
If that's the case…then…then what are we still struggling for?" Wu You stared at the altar below the phone screen, trembling all over, tears streaming down her face.
"Even if we are just a symbol in a painting by higher-dimensional beings," Ke Xun's voice came calmly, "for ourselves, this painting is our real world, the world where we live, grow old, get sick, and die. There's no difference.
"The reason we are sad and desperate is because we cannot accept that there are higher-level beings in the universe, and that we are merely ants in this food chain.
"But so what? No human being has the time to observe the entire life of every ant. The vast majority of ants will still live and die normally in their own world, completely unaware."
"Nothing is unacceptable. Whether there are higher-level creatures or not, we still have to find a way to survive. Even if we can't survive now, we still have to find a way to end this. The only difference is knowing or not knowing."
"So…" Zhu Haowen swallowed hard, "You want to go back to the Harmony to get your own blood, is it related to this seal?"
"Yes," Mu Yiran looked up at the few companions who were still alive, a barely perceptible pity in his eyes, "I once wondered why my other self and Ke Xun went to the Harmony to get my blood. After seeing this altar with blood as the seal, and after asking Lao Qin about everyone's blood loss, I understood what that other 'self' was thinking.
"Every time we entered a painting before, after finding the seal, we needed to touch it to open the passage from the painting to the real world."
"This time, however, the seal on the altar requires the blood of all thirteen of us to complete, and the amount of blood needed is exactly the amount that would be fatal. So, if all thirteen of us die, we can indeed complete the seal, but no one will be alive to trigger it by touching it.
Therefore, to trigger it, one person must survive; and to survive, that person must have enough blood loss, but not enough to be fatal."
"Given that the seal likely requires the blood of just the thirteen of us, it cannot be replaced with someone else's blood. The only way to stay alive and have enough blood is to use the blood of two different people, each contributing half, without causing fatalities.
"The reason I was chosen is because I happened to lose a lot of blood in the painting 'Harmony and Union' due to the venom of the Nian beast. After the time tunnel and the light-character pipe are connected, we need to race against time to make round trips and collect enough blood. The venom of the Nian beast seems to contain anticoagulant components, making it relatively easier to obtain my blood at that time."
"Moreover, everyone's constitution is different. My constitution is relatively better, so even a large amount of blood loss won't endanger my life. But for you, I'm not sure how much blood loss you can withstand. So, you can take as much blood as possible from me to avoid making a wasted trip. If there isn't enough blood then, all our efforts will be in vain.
Take half the blood from the 'me' of that time and half from the current me to complete this seal, and then I will trigger it."
Although Mu Yiran didn't say it explicitly, everyone understood his unspoken meaning.
To complete this seal meant that everyone had to die, and could only die. This was the inevitable, the only ending.
"I don't understand…" Gu Qingqing murmured, "I don't understand why we have to trigger this seal. Is it to leave this dimension? To go to a higher dimension?"
"Low-dimensional beings cannot survive in higher-dimensional worlds, and not every spacetime tunnel allows people to come out alive." "Zhu Haowen answered her, and at the same time, he was reminding Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran was responsible for triggering the seal. If the seal could really open the passage from the three-dimensional world to the higher-dimensional world, he would be sucked into the higher-dimensional world, and as a three-dimensional being, he would be reduced to ashes the moment he entered the higher-dimensional world.
Mu Yiran had already thought this through clearly.
"I will trigger it after the demons have completely broken out of the ground," Mu Yiran smiled calmly, "The light passage is also the passage through which the demons broke out of the ground. Its entrance is under this altar, and the seal is on the altar. When the seal opens the passage to the higher-dimensional world, the demons will also rush out from the entrance below..."
"Demons are also beings that live in the three-dimensional world," Ke Xun continued, "They will seamlessly rush directly into the higher-dimensional passage, and then be reduced to ashes the moment they enter the higher-dimensional world."
The others looked at Mu Yiran with shock and realization.
He had succeeded.
He had found a way to completely end this matter; he had truly found one. "
But how long can the high-dimensional channel remain open?" Shao Ling asked. "If it's only for a moment, like when we emerged from the painting, the demons and ghosts might not all be eliminated."
"I think the demons and ghosts' emergence might also be just a moment," Mu Yiran said. "Although we call the channel beneath the light characters a pipe, this place at the pipe's opening is called the 'Kunlun Pivot.'
"What is a pivot? The ancients' writings have already explained it. A pivot means a rotating axis or an overturning. How fast can an overturning happen? It's just a flip of the palm and the back of the hand.
"So I think the emergence of the demons and ghosts is just a flipping moment. It's just that this overturning is different from the flipping of our palm and the back of the hand. The overturning of a superimposed space might be as simple as observing the collapse of an electron."
"Therefore, if this altar, which is both a seal and a stamp, fails to complete the covering of the ghostly script even after we've passed the final critical point, the demon world collapsing and overturning as a whole will only happen in an instant—that instant will be enough."
"Each of our sacrifices will have a small critical point, which can temporarily prevent the demons from overturning. But the entire sealing process has a final, large critical point. If all thirteen people cannot complete their sacrifices before this critical point arrives, the demon world will instantly overturn." Zhu Haowen nodded slightly, then looked at him. "And you will die last among us, at the forefront of all the demons, in the instant… as you rush towards the higher-dimensional world, vanishing into nothingness."
"If we're lucky," Mu Yiran smiled again, "perhaps I can still retain a lingering consciousness. After all, consciousness can transcend dimensions."
"So…" Shao Ling's voice was low and hoarse, "So, in the end, we will still end all of this with death, is that it?"
"No, not necessarily," Mu Yiran surprisingly said. "After all, every painting we create is a life-or-death situation. Perhaps we still have a glimmer of hope."
"Tell me, we've already come this far, how can we still have a glimmer of hope?" Shao Ling smiled bitterly. "We have to die to trigger the seal. You will also die, because you will be sucked into a higher dimension. Every step is a necessary action. Tell me, we've already come this far, where can we find a glimmer of hope?"
Mu Yiran's eyes flickered slightly: "Perhaps it's a one in a billion chance. Do you know… God's Space?"
Zhu Haowen's pupils dilated: "You mean—"
He was only halfway through his sentence when Wu You shouted: "—They've overlapped! The two passages have overlapped!"
"—Everyone, try to hold out until the very last moment! Ke Xun, go!" Mu Yiran strode towards the center of the phone circle, where there seemed to be an invisible entrance that instantly swallowed Mu Yiran's figure, making him disappear from everyone's sight.
"Guys," Ke Xun said, turning back to greet them with a bright smile just like the first time they met, before stepping into the time tunnel, "See you in another dimension."