Within the sea of knowledge of the Book of Nothingness.
Ye Ling was nearing numbness.
An endless stream of knowledge poured into Ye Ling's mind, making him almost unable to distinguish whether he was human or nothingness.
Ye Ling's own memories and experiences were but a drop in the ocean compared to the knowledge contained within the Book of Nothingness.
However, the Book of Nothingness seemed to possess a certain sentience. Within that ocean of knowledge, a special power subtly guarded Ye Ling's consciousness, preventing him from losing himself while absorbing the knowledge it contained.
"When will this knowledge ever end?"
Ye Ling looked at the ever-increasing knowledge in his mind, a headache forming just at the thought.
He was like a database now, with the Book of Nothingness constantly downloading knowledge into his brain. But even with infinite knowledge, his soul's processing power could not keep up with the vast amount of information.
To put it metaphorically, Ye Ling possessed all the knowledge of nothingness, but if he wanted to know information about a civilization in a certain universe within a certain chaos, he would need to perform a search within his own mind for a period of time to extract that civilization's information.
And if he wanted more detailed information, even information about a single species or individual within that civilization, it would require even longer retrieval times!
The current Ye Ling was equivalent to a humanized Heavenly Dao, privy to the endless knowledge of nothingness.
Yet, Ye Ling was ultimately an individual, and his soul was insufficient to bear the entirety of nothingness. Such a colossal amount of information was more like a severe burden to him.
"Sensing the master's displeasure, do you wish to delete the superfluous knowledge in your mind?"
At this moment, a neutral voice devoid of any emotion appeared in Ye Ling's mind, startling him.
"Who are you?" Ye Ling asked, enduring the immense pain caused by the vast information.
"I am the consciousness of the Book of Nothingness, the Spirit of Nothingness, and also the foremost innate immortal spirit in nothingness," the Spirit of Nothingness replied calmly.
"The foremost innate immortal spirit?"
Ye Ling was taken aback, but he had no spare energy to ponder at the moment. He immediately instructed the Spirit of Nothingness, "Can you delete the superfluous knowledge that the Book of Nothingness has injected into my mind?"
"No problem."
The Spirit of Nothingness replied calmly, after which Ye Ling felt a peculiar power surge into his soul, forcefully deleting all the knowledge that the Book of Nothingness had forcibly instilled into his mind. Ye Ling instantly felt incredibly relaxed, and his thoughts became much more agile.
"Phew... finally, some relief. I thought I was about to crash."
Ye Ling let out a long sigh and then refocused his attention on the Spirit of Nothingness. He looked at the boundless sea of knowledge around him and asked, "Spirit of Nothingness, do you have a physical form?"
The Spirit of Nothingness replied, "No, but master can create one for me based on your imagination."
"Alright... I'll try."
Ye Ling attempted to construct an image for the Spirit of Nothingness, and then a small, snow-white cat appeared before him.
"Are you the Spirit of Nothingness?" Ye Ling asked, curiously examining the small cat that had appeared before him.
The Spirit of Nothingness nodded, "Yes, I am the virtual image materialized by the master's imagination. Master can also consider me as the Spirit of Nothingness."
Ye Ling did not dwell too much on the matter of the Spirit of Nothingness's image. He had countless questions he wanted the Spirit of Nothingness to answer at this moment, so he immediately asked, "You said you are the consciousness of the Book of Nothingness, how are you also the foremost innate immortal spirit of nothingness?"
The Spirit of Nothingness: "All innate immortal spirits in nothingness are created by the Book of Nothingness. As the consciousness of the Book of Nothingness, strictly speaking, I can also be considered the foremost innate immortal spirit."
"All innate immortal spirits are created by the Book of Nothingness?" Ye Ling seemed to have heard some earth-shattering information, and a tempestuous wave surged in his heart!
The Spirit of Nothingness: "That's right... The previous master of the Book of Nothingness once drew one hundred and sixty-one spirit beasts in the Book of Nothingness and endowed them with various settings. Ultimately, the Book of Nothingness evolved them into one hundred and sixty-one innate immortal spirits."
"This..."
Ye Ling's mouth hung open, and for a moment, he didn't know how to describe his feelings.
He had thought that innate immortal spirits naturally evolved in nothingness, but he never expected they were born from someone doodling in the Book of Nothingness.
After Ye Ling managed to digest this information, he asked again, "Since innate immortal spirits are evolved from the Book of Nothingness, do the rankings of the major ordered worlds in nothingness, and the ranking matches in the Hidden Ruins... have any relation to the Book of Nothingness?"
The Spirit of Nothingness nodded, "Yes, the rankings of the major ordered worlds and the ranking matches are settings written by the previous master of the Book of Nothingness in the Book of Nothingness. Then, through a long period of evolution, nothingness eventually became what it is today."
"It's actually like this..." Hearing the Spirit of Nothingness's words, Ye Ling was close to stopping his thoughts.
So, all the patterns appearing in nothingness were derived from this Book of Nothingness?
Then, was the world he inhabited illusory or real?
Countless thoughts flashed through Ye Ling's mind, but Ye Ling was not one to dwell on such matters. He quickly cast those thoughts aside and asked the Spirit of Nothingness, "Since the current pattern of nothingness was written by the previous master of the Book of Nothingness, can I change the pattern of nothingness through the Book of Nothingness?"
The Spirit of Nothingness: "Of course, you can. However, the Book of Nothingness has lost much of its power due to the wear and tear of long ages. If master wishes to change the pattern of nothingness, it will require a long period of waiting for nothingness to slowly evolve."
Ye Ling: "If I want to cancel the rankings of the major ordered worlds, how long will it take?"
The Spirit of Nothingness: "At least ten quadrillion absolute years."
"I roughly understand... your ability to change nothingness is basically nonexistent," Ye Ling nodded, gaining a rough understanding of the Book of Nothingness's power.
The Spirit of Nothingness then said, "However, master can replenish the power of the Book of Nothingness to accelerate the process of changing nothingness. The more power is replenished to the Book of Nothingness, the faster the change will be... If the Book of Nothingness recovers to its peak, it can complete the transformation of nothingness in an instant."
Ye Ling: "Then how should I replenish the power of the Book of Nothingness?"
The Spirit of Nothingness: "The Book of Nothingness requires the master's stories."
"Stories?" Ye Ling frowned.
The Spirit of Nothingness: "That's right... The Book of Nothingness is a supreme treasure that evolves nothingness. It can be said that the power of nothingness originates from the Book of Nothingness. Therefore, no energy in nothingness can replenish the power of the Book of Nothingness."
"But, all the stories master has experienced can transform into the energy of the Book of Nothingness. The more exciting and legendary the stories master experiences, the stronger the power the Book of Nothingness obtains!"
Ye Ling exclaimed, "This Book of Nothingness of yours actually has such a setting?"