The Martial Unity

Had Rui foreseen this particular outcome unfolding ahead of time, he wouldn’t have done it in the first place.

Yet he didn’t.

His expression grew grave even as wonder and awe sparkled in his eyes as he beheld a live breakthrough to the Sage Realm. The man’s presence grew extraordinarily heavy as his mental activity ceased to register in Rui’s Martial Mind.

Time slowed down to a crawl in his eyes as his deep curiosity for all matters related to Martial Art overtook his sense of self-preservation.

Rui studied the breakthrough carefully in multiple activities.

He studied the man’s body with his senses, but he also studied him through his systems of thought.

The VOID algorithm didn’t read any difference.

Neither did the Tree of Life.

Yet, that alone told him much.

The antithetical adaptively evolved environment for the species his Martial Body was hadn’t changed.

From that, Rui could deduce that the breakthrough to the Sage Realm neither impeded his evaluation of lifeforms on the Tree of Life nor did it fundamentally alter the Body on a genetic or phenotypical level.

Of course, that was something that he had suspected from the very get-go, given the… philosophical nature of the breakthrough to the Sage Realm appeared to be. Still, it was good to get confirmation of what happened and didn’t happen during the breakthrough to the Sage Realm.

The fact that the VOID algorithm didn’t detect any changes revealed some interesting insights into how far the breakthrough to the Sage Realm changed the mind of a person.

It told him that Martial Sages most likely didn’t shed the muscle memory or patterns that were essentially a manifestation of who they were. He didn’t know if the concept of the subconscious mind even existed separately from the conscious mind for Martial Sages, but it certainly meant that Martial Sages retained and even employed everything that the subconscious minds used to do.

What he was most interested in was the SOUL System.

Yet, unlike the other two systems of thought, the SOUL System was not particularly useful here as Rui couldn’t sense their mind through his Martial Mind.

This was not new, as he had long discovered that he couldn’t sense the minds of Sages when he broke through to the Master Realm.

RUMBLE…

The newly ascended Martial Sage opened his eyes.

Rui felt a tremendous amount of pressure pushing down on him as the powerful gaze of the Martial Sage threatened to crush him where he stood.

Yet, much to Rui’s surprise, aside from the surplus of power that threatened to erupt from the root of his being, the man seemed the same as he was shortly before the breaking through. His subconscious body language and demeanor seemed almost entirely unaltered.

Yet, Rui could feel profound self-enlightenment lingering deep in the depths of his eyes upon which the rest of his existence as a being.

A deep sense of self-understanding was entrenched in the root of his gaze.

One thing about Martial Sages that confused him was that they never acted any different from other Martial Artists. In other words, Rui was unable to detect any commonality in their behavioral traits that could point to the so-called Martial Soul.

Yet, now that he had a proper before and after of the Convergence, he could feel that the man truly had remained exactly the same yet was completely different.

He wasn’t able to make sense of his own intuitions.

“You didn’t even try to run away.” The Sage’s voice was calm.

Rui shrugged. “There was no point in running away.”

The Martial Sage smiled at Rui. “I suppose that’s true.”

The two stared at each other for a moment.

“You have my gratitude.” The Sage’s voice was sincere. “I must admit, I had almost lost all hope of reaching the Sage Realm. But thanks to you, I have finally achieved enlightenment of self.”

Rui shook his head. “I didn’t break you through. Please don’t go around insisting that I did. Not even my status as Martial Master will be able to keep me safe from that kind of storm.”

“You may not have broken me through, but you’re the one who created circumstances that allowed me to break through to the Sage Realm,” Sage Stephen remarked. “As for your fear… I’m afraid it won’t matter what I tell people because you’ll be too dead for the consequences to matter. Your prestige will skyrocket.”

The Martial Sage plainly confirmed that he intended to kill Rui.

Yet, that wasn’t what struck Rui the most.

“Prestige…?” Rui’s eyes narrowed. “You still care about that crap?”

The Martial Sage Smiled. “I do… and I don’t.”

Rui frowned. “What?”

“Martial Sages are not devoid of desires,” he continued. “Our emotions. Our desires. Our thought. They are part of us. They are part of who we are. They are a culmination of our lives and our relationship with the infinite universe. I now understand where they come. I now understand exactly who I am in the grand equation of reality. I understand my role in the flow of causality. And I shall fulfill my role. Which is why prestige…”

His eyes softened. “It matters not. Yet, it means the world to me.”

Rui stared at him with a dubious expression.

He didn’t understand.

Yet, he wasn’t surprised.

His grandmother had long told him that the Sage Realm was an ephemeral qualia. An experience beyond what words could convey.

How would one convey to a blind man what the experience of the color red was?

It was impossible.

Sage Stephen found it similarly impossible to tell Rui his state of mind either.

“I just threatened your life, and you’re still more interested in the details of the Sage Realm,” the Martial Sage chuckled. “I suppose that’s just who you are. I would truly love to spare you. However, I’m honor-bound to my home nation to eliminate you. Forgive me for repaying your deeds with death. I shall make it as painless as possible.”