Planet Pulverizer: A Mortal's Ascent

Chapter 68: Individuals

To an extent, neurons could be considered a type of cell. However, the structure of neurons was somewhat different from other body cells.

When Li Pin focused deeply on sensing the transmission of countless electronic signals between the neurons in his brain, an enormous network resembling the universe appeared in his perception.

No! The scene in his mind was precisely of that vast, boundless universe!

The brilliance, splendor, and complexity produced by the transmissions of the signals left Li Pin, who was observing the structure of his brain for the first time, in indescribable awe.

It was similar to how a person might react the very first time they looked up at the starry sky and imagined the universe.

There were hundreds of billions of neurons in the human brain, and the observable universe contained hundreds of billions of galaxies. To some extent, the two belonged to the same numerical scale.

Whether it was the human brain or the universe, the substances that truly exerted proactive influence only made up a small fraction of them. For instance, eighty percent of the human brain was water. While the water played a crucial supportive role, it did not serve as the source of signals.

Along the same vein, eighty percent of the universe was dark matter, an invisible substance that provided gravitational pull and energy to bind cosmic matter together.

The structures of both were strikingly similar, forming intricate networks. In the human brain, neurons served as the connecting points, while in the universe, stars were linked together through filamentous structures.

Comparing their filamentous structures, the connecting points of both were remarkably small. The exchange of energy and information between these connecting points only accounted for one-fifth of the total system's energy and mass.

There were many more similarities like these.

Furthermore, Li Pin had meditated on the Astral Gods before. Despite his unsuccessful attempts, he gleaned insights into the greatness of these Astral beings through extensive readings. They existed in a high dimension, their radiance filling the entire galaxy.

It's hard for people not to speculate whether these Astral beings were part of the universe's structure and, due to certain special reasons, became observable to humans.

Just as when a human brain issued a command and electrical signals traveled through neurons, which can be observed to "light up" with special instruments, the observation of the great Astral God was akin to an electronic signal passing through these connecting points, making their presence known to human perception.

These speculations might seem fantastical, yet they profoundly shook Li Pin's soul, leaving him unable to regain his composure for a long time.

Especially... if his speculation was true. After all... there were hundreds of billions of neurons in the human brain....

Could it be that there were also hundreds of billions of majestic beings like the Astral God?

Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!

Li Pin involuntarily gasped for air.

He felt indescribable exhaustion dawn on him, yet driven by the pursuit of the imminent truth, he persisted to observe and compare.

"Stars, great sun, black hole, galaxies.... Individual, extraordinary beings, legends, Astral Gods...."

The two concepts continuously intertwined and collided in Li Pin's mind, and he vaguely seemed to have grasped something.

"Humans correspond to stars. Astral Cultivators correspond to the great sun. Those at the legendary level among Astral Cultivators... entities that may not have appeared yet... correspond to black holes. Moving further up from this would be the Astral Gods, splendid and brilliant like galaxies."

After galaxies and Astral Gods, what comes next is the universe. What does the universe correspond to!?

The brain?!

Or perhaps... an entity that could rival the universe, greater than even the Astral Gods!?

Thinking about this, Li Pin felt indescribably stifled. This stifling sensation came from the feeling of insignificance birthed when the puny humans were compared to the vast universe. It was the overwhelming pressure grand entities and majestic life forms exerted on the small and insignificant.

These inexplicable oppressions surged through Li Pin's mind, overwhelming him with a power that words could not describe, shaking his will to its core, as if seeking to utterly crush his thoughts.

Until... he was swallowed by the universe.

Buzz-buzz!

Li Pin's mental will trembled violently. He felt trapped in a nightmare where, despite remaining awake, his consciousness seemed to have been hurled into the depths of the universe, plunging into the darkest void. There, he descended endlessly, plummeting toward eternal nothingness and an abyss devoid of any trace of the world.

Ring-ring!

At this moment, his phone rang. In this otherwise silent environment, the noise was like a rumble from the heavens, instantly shattering the nightmare-like descent and engulfing force, jolting Li Pin's mind and consciousness.

"I..."

Li Pin's mental spirit abruptly condensed into a single line and ignited fiercely.

"I am..."

An unprecedented sense of "existence" surged through every acupoint in his limbs and bones, dispelling the nightmare-like grip and swiftly reconnecting him with his body.

"Li Pin!"

As the unspoken solidity of his spiritual concept of "existence," unyielding as iron, slashed through the starry sky like a blade and seemingly called out his name to the entire cosmos... everything vanished into thin air.

The stars shattered.

The suns dimmed.

Black holes dissolved into nothingness.

Galaxies were torn asunder into two.

His mind boldly surged beyond the confines of the universe, breaking through the nightmare and fully returning his body.

Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!

The instant his consciousness returned to his body, Li Pin felt like a drowning person and instinctively took deep breaths as he gasped for air.

It was as if his body had ceased functioning moments ago. However, it was unlike the states of sleep, unconsciousness, or fainting, where the body retained the instinct to breathe. Instead, his body had resembled a lifeless corpse, incapable of drawing breath.

By now, Li Pin's phone had already stopped ringing.

Li Pin gasped for a while, feeling his blood slowly restoring warmth to every corner of his body. Finally, he began to feel alive again.

"I have touched upon a forbidden realm!" he said with unwavering confidence.

He had done so by harnessing his innate "Clairvoyance" talent to analogize the brain with the universe. This was clearly a realm currently beyond his grasp. Comparing the two, it seemed akin to the relationship between life on a planet and the universe itself.

Yet, his formidable gift allowed him to forcefully perceive this insight.

Despite having almost lost his life in the process, this expansive and boundless realm, even if he had only touched the very tip of it, or even less than that, still pointed him toward a direction yet to be fully explored.

The stars, great sun, black holes, galaxies; individuals, extraordinary beings, legends, and Astral Gods.

Perhaps this correlation wasn't entirely accurate, and that "stars" corresponded to Astral Gods, but there existed different conceptual dimensions among these Astral Gods.

For example, there were the Celestial Astral God, the Great Sun Astral God, the Black Hole Astral God, the Galaxy Astral God, and so on.

Li Pin calmed his mind and focused all his attention on the "mental spirit" attribute. After a brief moment of contemplation, he deduced a reasonable value.

[Mental Spirit: 14.41]

It increased directly by 3.14 points!

The positive feedback from these numbers clearly confirmed his direction for progressing with meditating on the Astral God.