“When you stare at the abyss,the abyss stares back and sometimes the abyss may smile”

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  Millennia of solitude have a way of breaking anyone’s will.

  How do you kill an immortal when the only immortal in existence is me? This was the question I had pondered over the years, and the conclusion I reached was to drain all the cultivation from my body and wait for nothingness to dissipate my soul. With this realization came a deep sense of relief—a way forward, even if the steps led me to an unfulfilling end. And so, I began to pour all my qi into the nothingness.

  As I dissipated my qi, I noticed that all the qi leaving my body began to clump together in front of me. As I continued to pour more, the qi ball began to shine, and then there came a bang. That bang reverberated throughout my body and even shook my soul. As my dissipation continued, I experienced a sense of relief; my body and soul became aligned with the cosmic truth that “everything has an end.”

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  “Hello.”

  “Who said hello?”

  Did I just hear a greeting, or was I going mad?

  Was I just a fly caught in a spider’s web? Had everything I had endured been merely the whim of some being amused by the torture of a poor soul?

  As I looked toward the source of the voice, I saw shimmering light—the second light I had seen in all my time in darkness. As the light intensified, it appeared that someone was within it. Was that a human?

  “Hello,” I replied.

  As the light faded away, I could see the person clearly. What struck me first was the redness of his robes—they exuded a bloody aura, as if they had been soaked in the blood of billions—and the streaks of white in the robes radiated the power of heavenly tribulation.

  As this being neared me, the first thing I noticed was his face—a visage resembling a wooden mask with eyes that were white and devoid of any other color. He exuded the aura of a hermit, living out his final existence far from the world.

  “Why are you destroying yourself to create a world? Didn’t they teach you the know-how of world creation?”

  What did he mean by world creation? How could I understand him? Who were “they” to whom he referred?

  “What do you mean by world creation, esteemed one? Are you saying that what I am doing is creating a world?”

  “Did you just ascend from your universe? Where is the caretaker of your universe? Did he skip his duty and just dump you in the void?”

  Upon hearing his question, I realized that the caretaker of my universe had abandoned me—dumping me somewhere in nowhere and then running away. But what did he mean by “caretaker of the universe”?

  “Yes, I am newly ascended. I don't know anything about this caretaker of the universe. But who are you, esteemed one?”

  “Oh yes, first introductions. You can call me Tim.”

  “I am Win Chumm. What kind of existence are you, esteemed being Tim?”

  “Can’t you see this human body? I thought you cultivators had that soul-sense ability that lets you peer into the true essence of things. Ah, yes—I am human.”

  Was this being mad—calling himself human while possessing a body that looked as though it had been carved from a giant piece of jade? He resembled a statue more than a living, breathing being. And with his approval, I scanned him with my divine sense. All I received was a voice from the depths of my soul proclaiming that this being was human. Nothing else was detected by my divine sense. It was as if a void in reality were proclaiming that here resided a human.