บท 302: Knowledge
The Sage Plane was unlike the other three planes for multiple reasons.
Although the Spirit Plane was now an entirely spiritual world that could only accommodate spiritual entities, making it impossible to enter with any sort of physical form, it had once been a physical world, just like the Qi Plane and the Blood Plane.
However, the Sage Plane had never been this type of physical world; it was, and always had been, a realm of pure consciousness. Only things as ethereal as thought itself could enter the Sage Plane…but 'entering the Sage Plane' was a laughable idea to begin with.
Only the Primordial Sage could enter the Sage Plane. Others couldn't even find traces of its existence, but even if they did, the Primordial Sage would never let them in. She was also the first and only being to ever be born into this world, because this world was her own, and she did not allow other living beings to gain life within her home.
Bringing the Fragment of Mind into her home was a first for the Sage, and now, not long after the Fragment of Life was devoured by Yaan, Yaan's Dao Clone, the Dao Clone of Mind, who went by the name and title 'Knowledge', had taken his place.
Knowledge Immortal had also lived its life under a delusion due to the scheming of the Primordial Sage, and this resonated with Yaan in a way. Perhaps, part of Yaan had been moved by the Fragment of Mind's – Knowledge Immortal's – life, and that was why this Dao Clone of his decided to adopt the same name. By having his Dao Clone of Mind continue with Knowledge Immortal's path and name, in a way, part of Knowledge Immortal had been kept alive.
Knowledge couldn't help but think about this now and then as he sat within the Dao Formation, meditating silently whilst he continued to observe the Dao Formation.
Knowledge knew that he didn't need to do anything special to reach the Immortal Step, because this formation was already countless times more special than any immortal in this world. It was a formation that the Primordial Sage had simply named 'Dao'…just how overbearing was that, that she deemed her formation worthy of such a name, putting it on par with the concept of dao itself?
But it rightly deserved this title.
The Dao Formation sat within the central region of the Sage Plane, an unnamed region where the Primordial Sage had developed her home world to the utmost extent. There were countless intricate formations within this region, but in terms of formations that could help a cultivator to comprehend dao on a conscious level, the Dao Formation was undoubtedly the best. This was true not only on the Sage Plane, but across the four planes.
Given that Knowledge had the memories of the late Knowledge Immortal, combined with Yaan's life experiences and this formation, he knew that reaching the Nirvana Realm was only a matter of time.
And so, the elderly Dao Clone sat silently within the centre of the pillar of all-coloured light. This pillar of light seemed to manifest a visual representation of the 3,000 earthly daos, as if these daos were endlessly flowing from the bottom of the world, up into the Heavens. A formation like this was only possible because the Primordial Sage had comprehended all 3,000 earthly daos to the divine stage, meaning that like the Spirit Plane Lord, she had comprehended all of the daos under the Heavenly Dao!
Well, compared to the realisation that Knowledge had come to, that the Sage Plane wasn't simply the fourth world plane, but was actually the Primordial Sage's Sea of Consciousness, this really wasn't too surprising. The Primordial Sage was an enigma, even to the other divinities. She had so many secrets and her knowledge regarding the 2nd Origin Era was so immense that she struck fear into the hearts of almost all who knew her.
Knowledge also felt strange about the fact that the Sage had suddenly changed her mind about not allowing others into her home after nearly three million years.
Just why was he different?
Was it because of Yaan's connection to the Primordial Devil…or was it because of Yaan himself?
Even though Knowledge remained within the Dao Formation for 32 years, he also thought about these various things. Especially after attaining a Myriad Sage Grade Sea of Consciousness, Knowledge's thoughts started developing further and further.
He was thinking about many things, such as the nature of this world, the Origin, the Heavenly Dao, cultivation, the Sage Plane, the Primordial Sage, the Primordial Devil…
And yet, despite Knowledge spending his time constantly delving into an endless stream of developing thoughts and ideas, not once did he even consider the main body's aim in creating the three Dao Clones. He was striving for the Immortal Step by comprehending dao via the Dao Formation whilst using his growing intellect to reflect upon the many mysteries that he had encountered in his life, and the main body's life…but for some reason, he never so much as questioned the main body's motives.
He never questioned what would happen to himself, to the other two Dao Clones, and to the main body, once the three Dao Clones reached the Immortal Step.
He never thought about these things, until 32 years passed by, and he finally stepped into the Nirvana Realm.
Like the other two Dao Clones, Knowledge gained over 200,000 drops of Mortal Life Essence from his perfectly absorbed Heavenly Blessing, which mysteriously manifested at the exact same moment as the other two. Of course, right now, the three Dao Clones were oblivious to this strange fact; only Yaan's core being, which was observing and experiencing all three lives simultaneously, knew about this strange fate which had seemingly occurred for no explainable reason…
Well, naturally, the Primordial Sage also knew about this matter. She was almost omniscient, especially when it came to the matters of all beings below the Divine Step, so there was no way that she wouldn't be watching the three Dao Clones right now, even though she was only openly watching the Dao Clone of Mind.
If there was one difference between Knowledge's ascension to the Nirvana Realm compared to the other two Dao Clones, it was the formation of his Heavenly Blessing.
On the Sage Plane, there was no gravity, because originally, this entire world had been an empty realm, devoid of anything aside from thought itself. Over time, the Primordial Sage built countless formations within the Sage Plane, but the laws of this realm remained; there was no gravity, so there were no clear directions like 'up' and 'down'.
As such, the golden cloud simply surrounded Knowledge on all sides, raining inwards towards his body of thought which floated within the centre. It was quite the sight to behold, but it was something that only Knowledge was able to experience, and only the Primordial Sage witnessed.
Slowly, Knowledge opened his eyes. His heart trembled as he came to the same realisation as the other two Dao Clones. However, his intelligence was far beyond the other two, causing him to fall into deep contemplation for quite some time.
Eventually, Knowledge stepped out of the Dao Formation. After thinking it through carefully, he decided to consult the Primordial Sage on this matter, since he simply couldn't understand it at all…
"Sage, tell me…why would a person scheme against their own clone? Why would a person deceive their own clone, when that clone was born from their own Dao Soul and heart?"
Knowledge was seemingly speaking to nobody as he stepped out from the Dao Formation for the first time, but after he finished asking his question, the Primordial Sage appeared before him. It wasn't really that she was 'hiding', but rather, her 'body' in this place was only a thought, it was an appearance that held no meaning for her.
In a way, the Primordial Sage's true body was actually the Sage Plane itself. No matter where Knowledge went in this realm, she would naturally bear witness to all that he did and said.
"You believe that your main body is scheming against you?" She asked plainly.
"Sage, why are you asking pointless questions when you can read my mind?" Knowledge replied.
Yaan had long since realised that the Primordial Sage possessed the ability to read the thoughts of other living beings, but it was only after Knowledge stepped into the Nirvana Realm that he started to sense the true extent of her power. If his guess was correct, then it was possible that the Primordial Sage could actually read the thoughts of every living being below the Divine Step…
That is, with the exception of Yaan's main body, which no longer possessed a true mind, but an illusory mind. Since Yaan knew that the Sage would be able to read the thoughts of his Dao Clones, he hid this fact from the Dao Clones, otherwise the Sage would realise that Yaan had already seen through this.
The young girl stared at the elderly Dao Clone with her emotionless yet piercing emerald eyes for some time, before she finally gave a less than satisfactory answer.
"If there is some sort of conflict between your bodies, that is for you to deal with. I am merely here to observe and assist your path."
"Meaning that you will side with the main body." Knowledge sighed and shook his head with a bitter smile.
No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense…
The three Dao Clones were the manifestation of the three sides of Yaan's heart, were they not? Since this was the case, why would Yaan want to deceive them or conspire against them - wasn't this simply scheming against himself?
'No, there is one explanation for this, but I truly don't understand how this can be…the only reason for the main body to deceive myself, and in all likelihood the other two Dao Clones, is because when he created us, he believed that eventually, we would turn against him…he believes that at some point, it is possible that we will become existences independent from him…'
This was the conclusion that Knowledge had reached, and it was the conclusion that the other two Dao Clones reached some time later. However, they didn't understand how this could be the case, since as of right now, they still felt that Yaan and themselves were one and the same person.
That said, the three Dao Clones had the distinct feeling that upon reaching the Immortal Step in three years time, the confusing truth would be revealed.
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