The Martial Unity

Chapter 3682: Phenomena of Information

The evosapien neuron settled in his brain perfectly as Rui tested it to ensure that it matched the predictive model in all cases. When he verified that it acted identically to the old neuron, he immediately moved away and let it do its thing.

The neuron relaxed in its new positions, seemingly getting along with the other neurons and glial cells in the surroundings as it got to work as if it had been part of the workforce its entire life.

It was a perfect, seamless integration with no problem.

And yet, Rui frowned.

”That... feels off.”

Every single time Rui inserted an evosapien stem cell into a new organ or system, there was always a unique problem with that system or organ that arose that he had never dealt with before.

Whether it was a protein incompatibility, or a cell receptor incongruency, or a differing pH levels, or differing nutrient needs, there was something or the other that was incompatible that was new and unique to each organ and system.

Now, when he inserted the first evosapien neuron into his brain, were there any problems? Despite the fact that the brain should have been the most dangerous and problem-ridden organ to replace neurons in?

It was almost too good to be true.

He paused for several moments, trying to scry the future with Eye of Prophecy.

And yet, to his shock... the technique failed.

At least, it wasn’t able to show him the outcome of the distant future.

It could only show him whether individual cell replacements were functional or not.

The Essence of Life also failed to spot any problematic elements in the replacement process. It was as though... he was being given a wide open berth to get on with the process.

He frowned.

All indicators and parameters to measure, even his enlightenments told him that nothing was wrong, and yet...

A profoundly deep and primitive instinct within him sensed just the faintest undercurrents of danger.

It was mild.

Perhaps he would eventually run into a simple infection in the future, hardly a grave problem considering the sheer number of problems he had solved in the past fourteen and a half years.

”I can do this.”

He had his experience with the neurons of the nervous system. Although the brain was astronomically more complicated and complex, it was still very much within his power to complete.

He pushed himself as he forged on with the process.

At all times, his Large Soul Model, the model that had helped him achieve Enlightenment of Self, was running.

It allowed him to maintain his Enlightenment of Self through almost brute force while he was constantly changing and evolving. Most Martial Sages were extremely cautious about undergoing radical changes. Even if the Panamic Alliance managed to reverse engineer true world biotechnology or decrypted the Divine Doctor’s knowledge and skill or reverse engineered the Tekvorian cybernetics, they would not accept such radical changes to who they were.

Rui had no such compunctions; his Enlightenment of Self was not just subconscious, but also conscious, and he could use the latter to anchor him through radical changes to his body and brain.

He eerily ran into no resistance over the next few months as he continued replacing neuron after neuron.

It was somehow the smoothest and easiest part of the process.

Almost as if some entity was purposely holding back on any incompatibilities.

He grew more and more comfortable and accustomed to the neuron replacement process while examining changes to his own conscious experience of the world.

It didn’t change, from what he could tell.

But perhaps he wouldn’t be able to tell. Still, given that his mind continued functioning exactly, it was powerful evidence that his conscious experience hadn’t changed.

If it truly hadn’t changed, then it gave him hints as to what the very essence of consciousness was.

”The underlying biochemistry has changed, but because the information has remained constant, my consciousness and conscious experience haven’t happened to have changed at all.”

That was an important clue that had a profound implication on the very nature of consciousness. Material changes did not change consciousness. Changes in information changed consciousness.

”Consciousness is purely an information phenomenon then, not material.”

This was not only a shocking revelation by itself with many more stunning implications about the nature of reality, but one added up with other phenomena he had known about in the past.

”This explains why consciousness survives the destruction, recreation, and evolution of the brain in the Body Evolution process...” Rui realized with a stunned expression. ”Since consciousness is not a material phenomenon, at least not directly, it does not necessarily have to be destroyed when the material base is destroyed. If there exists something that can protect and harbor the information, then it could continue to exist.”

Rui knew exactly what that thing was.

”The Martial Path.”

He recalled how the Martial Path had protected his consciousness even as his brain was being annihilated and recreated. And given that consciousness was an information phenomenon, it also stood to reason that the Martial Path was an information phenomenon as well!

Rui expression slackened as he paused the neuron replacement process, metaphorically staggering under the weight of the revelations he had just happened upon.

It wasn’t as sublime or connected to Adaptive Evolution for it to bring him further down his Martial Path or to a higher Realm as an enlightenment, but it was an extremely important epiphany on the nature of the Martial Path, consciousness, and perhaps the metaphysics of the universe itself!

”Consciousness and the Martial Path are both information phenomena!” he gasped. ”That explains why I cannot ever detect the Martial Path except for inside my own mind. But where is the Martial Path?”

He knew the Martial Path could not only exist within his mind, because the Martial Path had contained and protected his mind when his brain was being destroyed. How could it be contained within the mind and also contain the mind? That didn’t make sense. Thus, there was only one conclusion to be drawn.

”The Martial Path does not exist in the material world. Nor does it exist in the mind. It exists in some... information landscape or...”

His eyes widened. ”...an information dimension.”

This, when connected to his other insights about the Martial Path, allowed it to sublime into a profoundly deep understanding of the nature paths.

”Paths are... phenomena of information surrounding potential!”