Chapter 3010: I Think, Therefore You Are

I think, therefore I am; I do not think, therefore I am not; I think, therefore you are.

Idealism had many realms of its own.

As everyone likely knew, Professor Fu was an academic who valued logic.

But what the world didn't know was that this was already the result of Professor Fu holding back.

If he truly leaned into idealism and let loose, the resulting catastrophe would be far worse than simply releasing a tiger back into the mountains.

Take this very moment, for example. Aside from the violent explosion of stars in his palm, the wound on his chest was rapidly healing.

Not only did the gaping hole vanish in the blink of an eye, but he even deliberately retained its transparency.

Indeed, that previous attack had not simply incinerated a few jin of flesh from his chest.

The power had been so violent that even with the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison's foundational strength constantly transfusing life into him, it still inflicted damage akin to injuring his fundamental self.

Because of this, patching it back up required a bit more effort than usual.

As a result, Fu Qian didn't blindly attempt to restore it to its original state. Instead, he opted for an easier route, using a more primitive Mechanical form to piece together the missing circle.

Furthermore, he made sure to keep every component transparent, perfectly simulating a true "Lucent Sword Heart." As for how he managed to extract that damage from his chest when there wasn't even a source to trace?

The answer was simple. It was exactly as stated before: "I think, therefore you are."

Having chosen to sink into his inner demon, the being standing here now was no longer just a False God, but a theoretical First Stage of the Dao of Zen.

It didn't matter if the damage had a source. If he said it did, then it did.

Where was it, you ask?

He would tell you he had a wound on his chest, and whatever caused it was a single, holistic entity—regardless of its internal structure.

In Fu Qian's eyes, Zen Dao was the art of redefining the world.

It wasn't some ethereal, illusory concept. On the contrary, all abstract and formless things became more concrete and sharply defined to his senses.

Ultimately, without bothering with the details, Fu Qian treated the damage in his chest as a single entity and simply plucked it out.

By creating physical distance between it and his chest, he weakened its destructive effect there, allowing the repair to finish.

Of course, this wasn't a perfect solution.

While the damage to his chest had diminished, the burden simply shifted; it was already injuring his palm. To truly eradicate the affliction, he needed to obliterate it on a conceptual level—Boom!

With a light squeeze of his hand, the supernova and all its bursting radiance vanished in an instant.

Naturally, the physical gesture wasn't the key.

In that split second, he had merely channeled the authority of the King of the Abandoned Prison to detonate the Calamity Eyes upon it.

Through the lens of his inner demon, the Power of Calamity could no longer be adequately described as merely striking wherever he willed.

Armed with the ability to redefine the world, he could bestow Calamity with flawless, effortless precision.

Even though he hadn't spent a single second searching for the true source of the damage, it didn't hinder him from visiting destruction upon it in the slightest.

"What an impressive method... and just as I said, you truly have no idea how sinister your form of existence is."

This overwhelming display of dominance was so absurd that even the Blasphemy Monarch couldn't maintain composure, letting out a heartfelt sigh.

"You flatter me, but it seems you're quietly shifting the narrative."

However, Professor Fu was hardly the type to lose his head over a little praise, and he immediately corrected the entity.

"You did say those words, but that was a long time ago. Is it possible that through study and research, I've gained a bit of self-knowledge?"

Fu Qian was naturally bringing up the old events at Silver Mist Manor. Back then, the Blasphemy Monarch had marveled at seeing something unbelievable, yet refused to elaborate when asked.

Fortunately, his recent research had been rather fruitful. Whether it was the Divine Skin, crystallization, or inner demons, Professor Fu had come to understand a thing or two about their twisted nature, allowing him to decisively correct the entity's imprecise statement.

What the Blasphemy Monarch had actually just said was, "You have no idea what you're doing."

Furthermore, he had wanted to point this out last time—given how utterly insufferable and universally loathed his excellency was, where did he get the nerve to critique anyone else?

Sizzle—

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to voice these thoughts. Accompanied by the sound effect Fu Qian casually supplied in his head, a "storm" suddenly erupted across the Storm King's body.

Rings of various shapes intertwined at a deceptively slow pace, yet they resonated with one another to produce an incredibly violent spectacle. It almost looked like tendrils of plasma rocketing outward in a spiral trajectory.

And the central axis of this eruption was pointed squarely in his direction.

...

This made perfect sense.

It had been a delicate balance, one so fragile it could have shattered at the slightest touch.

Fu Qian had no complaints about this development. He might not have launched an attack himself, but the very act of "curing the poison" was a blatant provocation to a viper waiting for its prey to collapse.

A beastly instinct. He had used that phrase to describe the Storm King's state earlier, and it still fit perfectly now.

Although this stress response was perhaps a bit too intense.

The axis of energy locked onto the exact same spot as the initial strike, yet the second attack was conspicuously delayed.

This was not a good sign. After all, it was common knowledge that attacks requiring a charge-up time were usually ultimate moves—just like his own Sphere of Madness earlier.

From Fu Qian's perspective, the enemy was evidently doing something similar, and the moment it unleashed that energy would be quite terrifying.

The reason he considered this reaction excessive was that, unlike the Dragon King who had tucked its head away under the delusion of being unseen, the Storm King's target was fully alert and watching.

Consequently, the risk of charging an ultimate move right to someone's face was astronomically high. For an animal, this was a clear sign of fighting to the death.

In that case...

Since the atmosphere had already reached this boiling point, Fu Qian naturally wasn't going to hold back.

Unlike last time, however, he didn't gather another Sphere of Madness in his hand.

He simply took a long, deep breath, much like a dragon inhaling—and in fact, there really was a dragon. In the very next moment, a ferocious, snarling head emerged from his previously pierced chest.

As its massive jaws opened, a blinding torrent of electric currents erupted outward, surging along the axis and engulfing the Storm King in a reverse flood of energy.

Three Faces.

Realizing that this entity was likely the very victim he had exploited to obtain this skill in the first place, Fu Qian deliberately opted to use it here.

It was a rare treat to run into the original victim—the perfect occasion to show off the fleece he had sheared from them.

Besides, how did that line go again? "The breath is so pure, it can be called the purest symbol of power."

Even though the Storm King's appearance was aggressively abstract, Fu Qian still recalled the phrase he had received alongside the "Three Faces" skill.

And once he viewed the situation through that lens, what the enemy was doing suddenly gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

Charging up, locking onto a target, a spiral eruption along a central axis... Was it possible that the enemy's ultimate move was just a charging "Storm King's Breath"?

Using their own methods against them. In a head-on clash of beams, the braver one always emerged victorious.

Using the enemy's ultimate move to smash them until their Dao heart collapsed—now that was true inner demon style.

To make matters even more dramatic, the element he had rolled this time was the lightning aspect of Three Faces.