Chapter 484: The Heavenly Tribulation of Journey to the West! A Universe Doomed to Never Restart!
"It is said that the cycles of Heaven and Earth number one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years for one yuan. A yuan is divided into twelve hui, each hui spanning ten thousand eight hundred years. Heaven opens at zi, Earth takes form at chou, and life arises at yin."
Li Ang recited the opening passage of Journey to the West to those present. In the cosmology of Journey to the West, the so-called "universe" is defined as space being yu and time being zhou.
Every complete cycle of Heaven and Earth is called a yuan.
In this worldview, one yuan of twelve hui amounts to a full restart and rebirth of the universe, spanning one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years—roughly one hundred and thirty thousand.
Heaven opens at zi; by chou, the earth solidifies; at yin, life flourishes. At the transition from xu to hai, all returns again to primordial chaos and darkness.
That time marks the age of the Dharma's decline, when all matter and life cease to exist. Yet once hai passes into zi, the universe begins a new cycle again.
The "kalpa" that the Buddha spoke of to Sun Wukong is precisely this hundred-and-thirty-thousand-year cosmic cycle. And the Jade Emperor had endured one thousand seven hundred and fifty such heavenly tribulations.
Thus, he was more than qualified to shoulder the role of sovereign of Heaven.
As for the Jade Emperor's actual lifespan, it absolutely cannot be crudely calculated as 1750 times 130,000. By such arithmetic, his age would be merely 220 million years.
A trifling 220 million years may mean little on the scale of cosmic history. But if measured against other universes' cycle lengths—say, an average lifespan of 17 billion years per universe—then the Jade Emperor's "220 million" translates to a staggering thirty trillion years in value!
This was a being utterly beyond the laws of the cosmos—an ancient monster of unfathomable age.
In fact, it was precisely because the Journey to the West universe possessed this restart mechanism that its highest divinities refused to start over alongside mortals on the "new track."
Instead, each found their own means of avoiding disaster, preserving their power, and leaping into the next cycle to continue ruling the world.
The Daoist Three Pure Ones, the Buddha of the West, and the Jade Emperor of Heaven were all the same.
After hearing Li Ang's explanation of this cosmic cycle, the human staff present immediately grasped the meaning their governor wished to convey.
They had all read Journey to the West, but most only skimmed its storyline, ignoring the guiding principle hidden in its opening chapter.
Li Ang's reinterpretation of the cosmic cycle jolted them awake. The so-called "three-day universe cycle" seemed to share uncanny similarities with the Journey to the West cosmology!
While the humans fell into thoughtful silence, many representatives of alien civilizations looked baffled. To them, one was a mythological tale, the other a universe explained in physical terms. How could these possibly connect?
But Li Ang did not pause to offer remedial lectures to these alien delegates. They would simply have to catch up afterward on their own.
He pressed on: "This one-hundred-and-thirty-thousand-year cycle is the fixed heavenly tribulation. And to endure such a tribulation, there is a basic prerequisite: survival."
"Thus, lifespan becomes the sole hard currency of the Journey to the West universe."
To help them better understand the importance of lifespan in that cosmos, Li Ang even had AI Europa prepare a chart of the gods' related industries.
It detailed the various divine "supply chains" of longevity.
"The Queen Mother of the West's Peach Orchard lies in the Jade Pool of Kunlun, drawing from the essence of Heaven and Earth, seizing the spiritual energy vital to mortal cultivation."
"Similar to the orchard is Zhen Yuan Daxian's Wuzhuang Temple, where the ginseng fruit also feeds upon spiritual qi, its water drawn from the celestial dew of the Jade Pool."
"Then there is the Grand Supreme Elder Lord's Nine-Turn Elixirs. Their ingredients are countless—supreme treasures of the world, rare minerals, spirit beasts, even mortals themselves. His plundering of resources is unmatched in the Three Realms."
"For example, the Kingdom of Women is one link in the Elder Lord's supply chain of raw materials, where the energy of infants is refined into alchemical potency."
"As for Barefoot Immortal and the Old Man of the South Pole, their jade-lotus elixirs, fire-dates, and immortal pears are all produced in innate sacred lands like Yingzhou and Penglai—lands monopolized by immortals, forever barred to mortals."
Li Ang's metaphor could not be clearer: the gods of the Journey to the West universe extended their lifespans by extracting resources, sustaining themselves until the tribulation descended.
And the god-level civilizations of the Three-Body universe pursued the exact same logic—Infinityly seizing matter to maintain their development, for cosmic reboot was inevitable.
Eden's abundance might be rich and wondrous, but everyone knew time would eventually corrode it all. Strike first, or be destroyed.
In other words, the Dark Forest Law was the first and ultimate truth since the birth of the Three-Body universe—a truth that never ceased.
At this, those present finally understood: this was the root cause of the end of the Edenic Age in the Three-Body universe.
The steady collapse from eleven dimensions down to zero was a foregone conclusion. Each reboot of the cosmos thus became a brutal battle royale.
Civilizations born in Eden learned not harmony but slaughter—killing neighbors, seizing resources.
All the while, they transformed themselves through dimensional downgrading, while using dimensional weapons to annihilate rivals. This savage struggle spanned eleven full cycles!
During this time, it was entirely possible that "second-round players," even "third-round players," carrying memories and technology from previous cycles, seized early advantage.
In fact, in the original Three-Body story, the Resetting Civilizations were clearly among these elites.
"So in this sense, each micro-universe is like a sacred land in Journey to the West. Each god-tier civilization seizes one to ride out the tribulation."
"But the sheer number of these micro-universes meant too much was siphoned from the macro-universe. The restart mechanism broke down, and the cosmos fell into eternal death."
As his thoughts deepened, Alt Cunningham gradually grasped the horror of the Three-Body universe. If its "clear condition" was indeed creating micro-universes, then in principle this should have been an extremely rare and difficult technology, known to very few.
Yet in reality, the Three-Body universe contained so many micro-universes that the great cosmos could no longer reboot. That could mean only one thing—
That the Three-Body universe contained multiple "old players" who had survived past cosmic cycles!
Civilizations whose every prior incarnation had mastered the Dark Forest Law, veterans who had crawled from Eden to the age of the Dharma's end, apex battle-royale champions with power rivaling the Resetters.
Yet they had never shown themselves…!
And the enemies you cannot see are the most terrifying of all.
The Universal Megacorp was now preparing to enter such a universe—one filled with unseen god-level civilizations, patient enough, decisive enough, to act when needed.
No wonder Governor Li Ang was treating this with the utmost caution. If constant stargate activations let these civilizations spill out, it would be an extinction-level catastrophe for the Megacorp.
Who knows—perhaps within the Three-Body universe there really did lurk a "Jade Emperor Civilization" that had survived a thousand tribulations.
"Indeed. Thus, the root cause of the Three-Body universe's failure to reboot was not those two kilograms of matter in Cheng Xin's hands. On the contrary, humanity was one of the rare civilizations willing to return matter."
As for Cheng Xin herself, Li Ang never regarded her as some brainless saint who cared only for others. In that cold, dark universe, she was one of the few traces of warmth.
It was not she who ended the Edenic Age, not she who drove the cosmos to dimensional collapse and falling lightspeed, not she who prevented the universe from rebooting.
Thus, to condemn such a good person was meaningless.
The true culprits behind all collapse were the silent "immortals."
Compared to them, neither humanity, nor the Trisolarans, nor even the Singer civilization with its rampant two-dimensional strikes, were nearly so repulsive as those ancients hoarding micro-universe resources.
Hearing this, the executives of the Universal Megacorp in the council chamber fell into silence. The complexity of this universe surpassed any they had ever seen before.
Even the multitude of factions in the Star Wars universe could not compare to the immense volume of information contained within the Three-Body universe.
They were in for quite the ordeal this time!
Mini-universes, doomsday tribulations, evading reincarnation…
After a long silence, V finally spoke, his tone heavy with thought: "I suddenly feel that the zeroer Civilization's supermembrane broadcast wasn't so much a righteous declaration."
"It felt more like a cry of despair, a final, futile struggle."
For civilizations without mastery over mini-universe technology, the zeroer's broadcast was a warning. But for those who had mastered mini-universes and prepared to weather the cosmic tribulation in safety, it was nothing more than meaningless noise.
After all, if the zeroer Civilization truly had the means to reclaim mini-universe matter from other advanced civilizations, they would have had no need to go to such lengths with a supermembrane broadcast.
They could simply have threatened their targets into returning it.
But the problem was that the present universe could no longer sustain this war of physical laws. As civilizations advanced, the battlefield of the cosmos itself could not withstand prolonged conflict.
Wars of ancient civilizations brought only slaughter and rivers of blood.
But wars between godlike civilizations brought the collapse of heavens and the unraveling of dimensions.
Every civilization that controlled a mini-universe knew that some sacrifice had to be made, that a portion of matter had to be returned to complete the restart. Yet without exception, all pinned their hopes on someone else.
None were willing to sacrifice their own interests—so the universe died.
"Then what can we possibly do in the Three-Body universe? These godlike civilizations will never return the matter. The universe is destined to perish."
"And if we choose to take them in, wouldn't that invite even more trouble? These are civilizations that have endured cycles of universal reincarnation. In wisdom and technology, they may well be our equals."
Jack Wells. expressed deep doubts. He had no desire to risk his forces in the Three-Body universe for nothing. To him, this was an utterly fruitless venture.
Human moral values would seem like nothing more than childish fairy tales to those dark and reborn beings.
"That's why I poured Infinity resources into building the Aether Phase Engine."
Li Ang smiled faintly, at last steering the conversation toward the greatest research project in the Megacorp's history.
The ultimate device that shattered the fourth wall—the Aether Phase Engine!
As Li Ang's voice fell, AI Europa immediately projected the completion status of the Aether Phase Engine project.
This ultimate megastructure—hollowing out nearly one-fifth of a universe's matter, blowing up another universe just to establish the model, and testing it in yet another universe—was finally ready for deployment.
To build this colossal construct, Li Ang had ordered the suspension of multiple colony projects and new megastructures.
Fortunately, they had finished it just before entering the Three-Body universe.
Otherwise, Li Ang would never have so lightly ordered their advance to integrate such a dangerous cosmos.
Without sufficient fallback power, stepping into such peril would have been suicide.
The greater the empire, the more cautious its rulers had to be—because the cost of turning back was unbearably heavy.
"Once inside the Three-Body universe, we'll first seize certain civilizations and species, then unite with others, and finally strive to open a formal dialogue with the godlike civilizations."
"Either they voluntarily return the matter and accept the Megacorp's rule, or the Aether Phase Engine will drain them to the last drop."
Li Ang had long since established his strategy for integrating the Three-Body universe. The universe's ending would inevitably be a restart, and reclaiming lost matter was unavoidable.
But he wasn't unwilling to give those godlike civilizations a chance.
So long as those ancient beings, who clung to the Dark Forest Doctrine as sacred, were willing to cooperate, then all could look forward to a brighter tomorrow. But if they refused, then they would all be erased.
Of course, Li Ang had no illusions or expectations about persuading godlike civilizations. On the contrary, he considered such attempts a source of hidden danger and trouble.
He would much rather they ignored his warning entirely—so the Aether Phase Engine could drain them all clean.
"Now, I will personally lead this team of Megacorp staff into the Three-Body universe. The Emperor will temporarily act as proxy in handling the Megacorp's basic affairs."
Li Ang produced a list. For this journey into the Three-Body universe, they would bring at most a single War Moon megastructure, fitted with some production bases and fleets.
Personnel, too, would be kept to a minimum.
He had already discussed this plan with several senior executives in advance, so there was no opposition. Besides, he had left behind covert agents to watch over the Emperor and the rest of the board.
"Once we reach the Three-Body universe, I'll contact you via the Xeelee Nightfighter. However, this device can't achieve true faster-than-light instantaneity."
"There'll be a delay of about thirteen hours, meaning once you've sent a report, it'll take at least twenty-six hours for the latest reply to return."
"So unless it's a truly urgent matter, handle it yourselves as best you can."
Li Ang laid out his contingency measures with meticulous care. The last thing he wanted was for problems to arise at home while he was preoccupied with the Three-Body universe.
"Yes, sir!" the executives responded in unison.
This time, the Megacorp's integration of the Three-Body universe required the fewest devices—but those devices carried the highest value.
A War Moon platform, condensed with the Megacorp's most advanced warships, research teams, and weaponry. And the Aether Phase Engine, said to drain everything.
No matter success or failure, this campaign would be recorded in the annals of the Megacorp's history, just like the very first Great Expedition, when they set out for Pandora!
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