The Martial Unity

Chapter 2743: Different

Rui simply stared at the Martial Transcendent with an aghast expression as the Martial Transcendent nonchalantly described how his prophetic revelation, which had formed a mega-religion and impacted the development of human civilization, was a pure fiction that he had fabricated to create a self-fulfilling prophecy on a civilizational scale.

The sheer gravity of what he had informed Rui about was shocking despite how light his tone was. Rui realized that he held a bomb in his hand, a bomb that, if detonated, could wreak havoc across all of human civilization.

”Thatʼs unlikely,” the Martial Transcendent replied to his thoughts. ”The religion and the faith are too deep. Even if both of us came in hand in hand and told them the truth, none of them would accept it.”

Rui regained a measure of his composure as he fell into thought. He was right. The fanaticism was too much. Not a single one of them would accept this as the truth. Even if the Transcendent Prophet literally announced to the entire world what he had told Rui, they would riot and denounce him or rationalize it in some other way.

”That will never happen, as nobody will ever find out,” the Astral Sovereign remarked. ”I would encourage you to keep it a secret. The religion is useful even if it is fake. It is useful because it is fake.”

Rui narrowed his eyes. ”Useful? You made countless people dependent on a fictional figure! They refuse to take pragmatic steps for their own self-preservation because they believe that Lord Virodhabhasa would come to save them all!”

The Martial Transcendent smiled gently. ”Havenʼt you?”

Rui froze where he stood.

”After all, what have you been doing traveling across human civilization if not saving our entire civilization?”

Transcendent Raizel closed his eyes. ”In my eyes, the self-fulfilling prophecy would have turned out extremely optimistically. You are truly Lord Virodhabhasa. Do not shrug this name off as a fictional name. If enough people believe in something, then it is functionally the truth. And the truth is that you are the Antithesis. As for your qualms with your identity being overwritten by the fictional one that I created, do not fret…”

He opened his eyes, directing a wise gaze towards Rui. ”The Antithesis is simply He Who Is Antithetical to all. Is that not what your ultimate objective is?”

Ruiʼs eyes widened with shock as the Martial Transcendentʼs logic was simple yet irrefutable.

”Earlier, you told me that you would fulfill ʼProject Waterʼ no matter what,” he smiled knowingly. ”Doesnʼt that mean you will undoubtedly become the Antithesis no matter what?”

These were elementary chains of logic.

One that even a child could put together.

And yet, Rui hadnʼt even considered them. His bias and irrational hatred towards the Virodhabhasa Faith had prevented him from connecting these simple dots together.

He fell into silence as he was left reeling by not just these revelations but also the shocking revelations that had preceded these. He was struggling to even think, finding himself left dumbfounded and frozen in his thought process.

Transcendent Raizel simply smiled, getting up, walking over to him, and placing a hand on his shoulder.

”You do not need to have all the answers immediately.”

Rui gazed into his Transcendent eyes silently before heaving a sigh. ”I suppose. I… still have more questions, however. I may have achieved my original goal, but the revelations that you have given me leave me with too many questions.”

The Martial Transcendent smiled with a hint of amusement. ”Very well, have a seat. I shall try my best to answer as many as I can. However, there are many things I have not yet told you and many things I canʼt tell you until you gain Enlightenment of Self and gain Sagehood.”

Rui nodded with understanding. ”The reason that Transcendents adopt such a passive approach. The reason that Transcendents donʼt move. Is it because of the Transcendent Fear that you told me about?”

The Martial Transcendent simply shook his head.

”You are not ready for the answer. There are multiple powerful reasons that my fellow Transcendents and I have not moved. It is not that we have suddenly become lazy.”

Rui expected as much. To this day, not even the Beggar Sage of all people was aware of why Transcendents didnʼt move.

If they were this loose-lipped, the secret would have gotten out a long time ago.

”Then… you say that the prophetic revelations of Lord Virodhabhasa are fiction, in that case…” Rui narrowed his eyes. ”Why did you make the Antithesis an otherworldly being? Did you actually think it was realistically plausible that your civilizational self-fulfilling prophecy would end up bringing a person from another world? Is it just a coincidence that I have memories of another world implanted in me?”

”…Do you know what is the easiest way to get people to worship a person?” the Martial Transcendent asked with a wise tone. ”The easiest way to get people to worship someone is to convince them that this person is… ʼdifferent.ʼ”

Rui understood what he was hinting at.

”You see, this applies beyond just worshiping. If you want to get people to treat a person differently, you simply need to convince people that this person is different. Think about the history of humanity. What have people done to other people that they psychologically distinguish as ʼdifferentʼ?”

Ruiʼs expression darkened. ”Slavery and genocide.”

The Martial Transcendent nodded. ”Even for something as small as a different language or different ethnic attire. Even such small difference are enough to cause people to think of other people as ʼdifferentʼ and not the same as them. I harnessed this psychological tendency of human beings in the legend of the Antithesis.”

”…I see, so by convincing them that the Antithesis was an otherworldly being, you could successfully ʼotherizeʼ the Antithesis and make it easier for them to think of Lord Virodhabhasa as different and thus easier to worship him as God.”

”Precisely,” Transcendent Raizel nodded. ”I truly did not expect that the true Antithesis would actually be from another world. What a fascinating revelation.”