But Jiushan Sect disciples don't have this treasure.

Studying the heart demon more closely would be greatly beneficial for Jiushan Sect disciples in the context of the "First 50-Year Plan."

On the other hand, something else was far more important—

Who exactly was he?

Crossing over to the modern world was naturally a blessing, but for someone like Zheng Fa, there was always a knot in his heart.

What is the relationship between the Zheng Fa of this world and the modern Zheng Fa?

He saw a hint of the answer to his problem in the heart demon.

"So, rather than being a heart demon, you might actually be... other possible versions of myself?"

The heart demon Zheng Fa looked puzzled, clearly unaware of what Zheng Fa was talking about.

Zheng Fa's thoughts wandered far.

Tang Mudao had previously shared his views on the nature of spiritual energy, including an explanation—parallel worlds.

Now, this heart demon might be a collection of versions of himself from parallel worlds?

Parallel worlds...

"So, do you remember anything? Cultivation techniques? Ancient secrets?"

Zheng Fa continued to inquire.

"No." The heart demon Zheng Fa shook his head and said, "What I know is actually only the cultivation techniques and divine skills you know."

"..."

I understand now.

It's not that the versions of myself in parallel worlds are stupid.

It's that I'm stupid.

Doesn't seem particularly comforting...

Zheng Fa's expression turned contemplative.

Although this heart demon was somewhat useless, it granted him numerous other speculations.

He could clearly see at that time that the divine souls coming from those stars were diverse, ranging from old to young, male to female.

But now this heart demon was identical to himself.

If this heart demon hadn't deceived him earlier.

Then in this process, one could say... some other possibilities of Zheng Fa have vanished?

Or perhaps, some "destinies" of Zheng Fa have disappeared?

After cultivating for so long, the biggest initial question for Zheng Fa was why spiritual energy would decline?

This question has now transformed into a deeper inquiry:

What is the nature of spiritual energy?

By now, Zheng Fa has formed his own basic answer to this question:

Physical rules.

For instance, Dao fruit is fundamentally a combination of a set of physical rules.

A cultivator practicing the cultivation technique of a Dao fruit cultivator is, in fact, reorganizing their life form according to these rules.

Zheng Fa is unsure about the cultivation techniques of the Supreme Dao.

But he understands fairly well the techniques of the Tianhe Sect, Heavenly Venerate, and the Great Freedom Demon Ancestor.

Essentially, this is a kind of life evolution with a goal, and the end of this evolution is the Dao fruit.

The problem is, however, that Dao fruit cultivators stand at the end of this path, using all beings as nourishment for their self-evolution.

To put it simply, a Dao fruit cultivator is akin to a gene progenitor, whose descendants inherit part of his genes and create new shapes by reorganizing these genes.

These beneficial shapes are absorbed by this progenitor to perfect his genome.

According to Zheng Fa, the Demon Sect's spells are closest to this essence.

However, both the Divine Dao and Immortal Dao also subtly point to this essence.

If combined with his observation that this heart demon comes from the stars, or if, as he conjectures, it comes from parallel worlds.

A thought popped into his mind:

Aren't those parallel worlds like the Jiushan Realm, essentially a Daoist field of some Dao fruit cultivator?

Only the physical rules within the Daoist field are special, determined by the Dao fruit of that cultivator—like Jiushan Realm used to be.

These stars might even be more special than the Jiushan Realm:

The Jiushan Realm doesn't have another version of oneself...

While these stars do.

Even the modern world does.

If the modern world could be considered the Daoist field of Tianhe Venerable, then does this distinction imply:

That the Heavenly Venerate is weaker than the master of these stars, and also weaker than Tianhe Venerable.

As for who is weaker between the master of these stars and Tianhe Venerable.

He naturally has no way to discern.

In fact, back in the day, when Tianhe Venerable held a sword toward the sky, his target might have been these stars in the heavens as well.

At least the distinction between Dao fruit cultivators in strength, and the ancient immortals... might be stronger than he imagined?

...

All sorts of speculations made Zheng Fa's mind even more chaotic.

Currently, he could only confirm two things:

First: Although he doesn't know what the ancient immortals mentioned by the Five Sects are, the stars in the sky, their power exceeds typical Dao fruit, they are obviously beings of another level and should not be taken lightly, though they are distant from Zheng Fa.

Second: There exist infinite versions of himself among the stars, which makes Zheng Fa more intrigued.

The heart demon Zheng Fa looked at him, unable to comprehend what he was contemplating.

"Would you perhaps split some divine soul power for me to study?"

Zheng Fa suddenly asked.

The heart demon Zheng Fa looked bewildered at Zheng Fa, a grievance visible on his face that Zheng Fa wasn't acting like a human.

Zheng Fa just laughed.

"No!"

"..."

Soon, the heart demon Zheng Fa realized that the earlier sentence was not a question!

"Really exactly the same..."

Holding the pitifully torn divine soul of the heart demon Zheng Fa, Zheng Fa murmured.

Although his study of divine souls wasn't as deep as Blood River Ancestor's, he recognized his own divine soul.

The divine soul fluctuations of this heart demon were indeed identical to his own.

"...Too strange."

"What's so strange?"

Clearly, the heart demon Zheng Fa had now resigned himself to fate, unexpectedly asking the question.

No point in fighting, no way to escape, besides, now that I'm already here...

"Have you... heard of wave function collapse?"

"?"

This question was unnecessary!

But since the heart demon possesses Zheng Fa's memories, he instantly understood: "You mean, I... uh, collapsed?"

"When you initially arrived, you actually had countless divine soul forms, but upon nearing my Nascent Soul, you became identical to me."

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