illusionary dream

Enlightenment in Water Form

Ji found himself reduced to a puddle of water. He recalled an ancient teaching he’d read in a "book": "Water benefits all things without contention; thus, it is close to the Dao." Back then, he’d wondered how humans could presume to imagine water from their own perspective—water was just water, after all. How could "Dao" reside in water? Now that he was water, he understood. It was a feeling of detachment: no connection to others, and no others connected to him.

Even here, a realm of earthly paradise.

Ji had no idea how he’d arrived. He thought he’d followed Nameless and Ozan—yes, his memories and consciousness from Earth remained intact. He knew what he was doing, where he meant to go. He remembered Ozan and Nameless walking ahead, and then a wave of dizziness and nausea hitting him, an urge to vomit that wouldn’t subside. He tried to call out to them, but he had no strength—he couldn’t even stop moving forward. Then it felt like someone had clamped his throat, everything went black, and suddenly he was here. This "near-death" sensation could never resonate with anyone on Earth; no one who’d been "sucked" into a spaceship had ever returned to tell the tale.

Ji didn’t dwell on it. After all, he’d "seen" "gold everywhere" here—light dazzled his "eyes" until they ached, though it was just a "sensation"; he had no eyes. He "touched" himself, feeling like he was plunging a hand into water back on Earth. He could "lie" freely on ground paved with diamonds, letting towering, massive figures "step" over him without a hint of pain. These beings were as tall as a five-story building on Earth.

He "shouted": "Ozan! Ozan! Where are you?"

Of course, no one heard. Physically, the distance was too great, not to mention whether he could even emit what Uttarakuru called "sound."

He’d long heard tales of this place, written in those forbidden "books": people 15 meters tall, lifespans of a thousand years, boundless prosperity, wealth beyond measure, gold scattered everywhere. Now that he was here, he saw the truth. It wasn’t just "gold everywhere"—there was no "ground" at all, only gold. But then a thought struck him: This can’t be right. If gold is so abundant here, it can’t possibly be a medium of exchange. So here, gold must be the cheapest thing of all! His "gaze" stretched to the horizon, where even the "mountains" glowed golden. Night here was as bright as day, for their gold emitted light on its own. Perhaps this "gold" was an advanced version of Earth’s gold, an element unknown to his home planet.

Ji had always loved to think, and this "shock" only spurred him on.

He wanted to ask Ozan if she remembered what had happened recently. So he focused his will, making himself "flow." He felt safe—no one would notice him. Once, he accidentally "flowed" under a bent "canopy," awkwardly encountering a pair of beings in intimate union. Curiosity tugged at him, but an unspoken sense of morality made him turn away, not wanting to intrude.

He "flowed" across the entire exposed diamond surface of Uttarakuru, feeling the texture—smooth and hard, just like gold and gems on Earth. This was the "wealth" Earthlings craved, all the more so in the "endtimes." There had been a time on Earth when gold reserves plummeted mysteriously, with no explanation.

Anxiety makes people careless. On Uttarakuru’s perfectly flat surface, he "miscalculated," sliding down an incline, feeling "out of control," rushing toward an unknown destination. He plunged into darkness, then felt himself "rising"—he realized he’d fallen into a "container," being lifted. When light returned to his world, he saw something huge and white: a row of large teeth, half his size. Just as the Uttarakuru being was about to "drink" him, he mustered a clever surge, breaking free but crashing hard to the ground.

This was no trivial matter. Uttarakuru’s inhabitants lived exactly a thousand years, unshaken by setbacks, their desires all but instantly fulfilled. To put it crudely, they were like the crown princes of ancient Earth—no want, no suffering, nothing of the frustration that plagued Earthlings.

The being who’d nearly "drunk" Ji was a "giant infant," a young Uttarakuru boy. He’d just returned from playing, parched, and when he couldn’t drink, he let out a loud wail. Uttarakuru’s main inhabitants were supposed to be emotionless, free of **. This unprecedented "oddity" threw everyone into chaos.

But it did attract attention. Soon enough, Ozan and Nameless found Ji—though he was startled and annoyed to see them appearing as "husband and wife."

They placed Ji in a crystal bowl, activating "Earth mode" to speak with him. "Ji, why did you take so long to appear?"

"Why are you two so close?"

"I had no choice—I fell into Nameless’s trap," the woman said.

"Oh?"

"Don’t put it that way. I asked for your consent beforehand," the man replied.

"That’s true, but I only realized what was happening when you put my soul seed into your wife’s body. Now it’s too late to back out."

"I could send you back to Earth. But angry high-civilization beings are waiting there. Do you want to face harsher punishment, or focus on finding a solution first, setting aside the rest?"

"See, Ji? I didn’t choose this. I had no option."

After some argument, Ji finally understood: Ozan and Nameless had arrived in Uttarakuru first. Nameless, who had his own body, didn’t need to borrow one. His wife had had a rare quarrel with him, so he’d replaced "her" soul with Ozan’s.

The body they’d found for Ji belonged to a *** on the cusp of 1000—an elder who’d chosen to end his life early. At long last, Ji shed his water form, gaining a physical body. At least now, with this "worthless husk," he could do something.