Chapter 595 Never
Within the world of white, Dyon remained kneeling as his master began to recount her story.
“There are many things within my memory that I’ve hidden from you. But, there are many things that I chose not to as well. One of those things is quite important to the lore of this universe… The concept you know as heat death.” The 25th White Mother began.
Heat Death was a concept that Dyon had learned of from the mortal world, but it seemed to have a very strong place in the martial world as well.
Essentially, there were two main forms of energy. Energy that is capable of being used, and energy that has lost its use.
Over time, usable form of energy decreases, while unusable forms increase. The end result would be a world with no useful energy whatsoever… A catastrophe of a world.
Imagine no longer being able to make use of energy… Life would no longer exist because there would be nothing to power it. Even if you happened to be alive before this occurred, your death would be imminent, and there would be nothing you could do to stop it.
However, this Heat Death came with it another law of the world. With this ever-increasing useless energy, the cosmos would be constantly moving toward a more and more chaotic and lawless form. In the end, the laws that had formed the universe would cease meaning everything… There would be no life… No order… No beginning… There would only be destruction, death and ends.
“I know that you’re aware of the story of the dark phoenixes, and how they traveled the universes, spreading their death qi. But, I want you to understand that the amount of universe the dark phoenixes destroyed pales in comparison to the number taken by heat death.
“The Cosmos is trillions upon trillions of years old. Life has existed for so long that there is no single record of everything from its beginning that I’m aware of. However, with such a long history, and with endless cycles in play… It must come to a conclusion…
“In the beginning, there was such an abundance of energy that universes sprung up spontaneously. Every day, thousands to even millions of new dimensions would spring into existence, gracing the cosmos with myriads of beautiful and unique species.
“This energy is something I’m sure you’re familiar with by now. It’s the very same energy used to temper your transplanted set of meridians. The very same set given to you by our grand teacher. Gama energy.
“It’s the origin of everything that exists. It’s the amalgamation of every law, will, intent, dao and energy in the world. Anything that has, is or will ever exist originates from this very energy. And because of that energy, a large portion of early existence was a paradise. There was no chaos energy contamination, there was no shortage, so there was a never any excessive need, and the path through life was smooth.
“However, nothing remains perfect forever…” Dyon’s master sighed.
“Eventually, the first to ever die, passed on. And then a second… And then a third…
“It eventually became very obvious that this death was inevitable…
“Suddenly, there was a need. A need that everyone sought…. A need for life… To chase after it, to extend it, to grasp hold of it…
“Life became the first commodity in existence. It suddenly became clear that satisfactory resources wasn’t enough.
“However, even as people fought for and began to split resources more and more unevenly, there was still balance in the universe. Gama energy continued to be abundant and universes continued to be created at an astounding rate.
“But, just like everything else, that changed as well.
“In all this time, Gama energy and the balance of the universe remained happy, because although the perfection of its world had been lost, the very basis of its laws had not been encroached upon…
“Until the first cultivator appeared.”
Dyon remained silently kneeling as his master continued to speak.
“No one knows who this person was. There aren’t any records on if this person was an unprecedented genius who learned to defy the universe, or if they were just a lucky individual who stumbled upon something they shouldn’t have. Although… Lucky may not be the proper way to describe this person’s life…
“The first cultivator broke mortal limits and became an emperor among living beings, ruling for hundreds of years.
“Many thought that their problems had finally been solved… That they could finally cheat death as long as they learned what this first cultivator did…
“However, it was impossible to pry secrets out of someone so powerful, and this first cultivator only shared their secrets with their closest family members, hoping that they would live forever by each other’s sides…
“This led to many futile wars that only ended in death for their opponents. After all, how could mortals hope to match up to a martial expert?
“But, as you might have guessed, this first cultivator eventually noticed that after hundreds of years of health, that their life force was declining… Much like everyone else, they began to age, albeit much slower…
“It was clear that even as a cultivator, escaping death was impossible. However, the hope provided by cultivation was something no one could forget, and that hope began to fuel something else… What if there were higher levels? Levels the first cultivator didn’t reach? Levels that would help you live even longer? Maybe if you reached a high enough level, even death wouldn’t be able to chase you anymore!
“With this new hope, the first cultivator began to spread their insights, realizing that they were too close to the end of their life to care about protecting a kingdom they wouldn’t be able to enjoy the spoils of in death…
“Eventually, with so many minds working on the problem, people began to succeed. The first stage became known as the foundation stage, and the next became the meridian formation stage… And so on and so forth…
“Many variations of cultivation became recognized in the world…
“However, what people didn’t understand was that this was not the will of the universe… The laws didn’t want people to live forever, what they wanted was for everyone to live a short and greedless life – in complete peace.
“Then, when your time came, you would pass on. But, your life wouldn’t end there! Using the seeds of karma, you would be able to reincarnate, and live another short and fulfilling life. Such was the true cycle…
“However, this was completely shattered by cultivators…
“And soon, the repercussions came to bear as the first universe collapsed into non-existence… Taking with it every soul ever tied to its existence… Never to reincarnate again…”