Inside the pitch black vast cave, a massive dark shadow was moving in a circle.
The shadow was shaped like a long tube, like that of a giant snake. It moved back and forth in a circle, like a snake eating its own tail.
This dark shadow was naturally Zhou Zaizhi.
He was pacing back and forth while organizing his thoughts, a habit he had from Earth when he gets stressed. This majestic flood dragon that struck fear into countless people be they humans or demons, now had a deep frown on his face and sweat slightly even though the temperature inside the cave mansion was quite low.
The reason for this was that he realized the dream he had just now might not have been a dream after all.
Beyond the vivid, surreal sensations he experieced from the dream and the sudden influx of chaotic memories that appeared out of nowhere, the ultimate confirmation was a familiar round object. It hit him like a splash of cold water in the morning that frightened and woke him up from sleep instantly.
Like the one his mother used to do when he was young and about to be late for school.
After some time, Zhou Zaizhi finally gathered his thoughts and sorted through his memories, thinking:
'If my understanding of this situation is correct, then I must have definitely died on Earth and somehow ended up here. Using Clinical observation and Empirical Verification method, the chance of this conjecture being correct is not low.' Zhou Zaizhi stopped in his pace and pondered.
In his time on Earth, he had learned something called the Empirical Verification method which included five steps in total. They are: Observation, the Null hypothesis, data collection, falsifiability, peer review and collection.
The observation stage was the first instance one came into contact with the subject. The null hypothesis was to first think that the subject is wrong, then prove that "the subject is wrong" is incorrect, thereby proving the subject further.
Data collection simply means to collect more information and samples of the subject.
Falsifiability means there must be a way to prove it wrong and if so, one must find it. Peer review and replication was to see whether the subject or situation can be replicated and explained rationally.
'Following this train of thought, the first question should be, is this a dream? The answer is most likely not.' Zhou Zaizhi asked himself.
But then he frowned and started pacing again.
'But if this is reality, then how can I explain those vivid dreams I had just now? According to the null hypothesis, I should first think this is wrong, that this is not reality and was just a dream…' Zhou Zaizhi closed his eyes while slowing down his pace again, immersing himself in his thoughts.
'If this is not reality and was just a dream… How can there be such consistency in a dream? Forget the vivid feelings, just the fact that this world made logical sense with no jumps in logic like a normal dream already proved it enough.'
Zhou Zaizhi opened his eyes which shone with emerald light, clarity set in upon them. He clenched his claws tightly till, scratched his tail in a tiny area till blood leaked from the wound.
Zhou Zaizhi clearly felt the pain, this time even more vivid than those in the dreams. It was just like when he was alive, when he was human.
'In my dreams when I was on Earth, I had never experienced pain before. However, the pain and sensations I felt in the dreams here are almost sixty percent accurate compared to real life… Is this one of the differences between humans and dragons? Because our biology was different, we experience dreams differently?'
Zhou Zaizhi craned his massive neck to sniff at his own armpits. He then looked at his back, tossing and turning as if finding some sort of error.
'There is no stench like that of a human under the armpit… I wonder why, something unique to a scaled beast perhaps? The scales are almost exactly the same, no reverse scale in sight, good. This just means it's one more proof that this world has logic and consistency, less likely to be a dream.'
Feeling confident, Zhou Zaizhi continued his pacing again with much more vigor.
'The data collection stage… Can be skipped. After all, I am the best sample. With my omnipresent sight and hearing, the samples I can collect in a short time is already enough.'
"As for the fourth step, falsifiability… I have no way to prove it yet. Let alone the fifth step, to replicate this scenario." Zhou Zaizhi sighed with helplessness, a fainted smile appeared on his face.
The reason for that was an object he found when he tried to combine all his five senses and explore himself.
Zhou Zaizhi closed his eyes and concentrated. After a while, Zhou Zaizhi fell into a meditative state.
Deep inside his mind, through the Yingtang acupoint located at the glabella, there was a small point of light.
Due to the dark cave mansion environment filled with absolute silence, he had gone into meditation easier than expected.
When Zhou Zaizhi opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on a vast palace made of pure green Jade and dark wood.
He was shocked to find that his senses and aura seemed to have expanded indefinitely, yet still the same, unchanging.
'So this is an upper Dantian, the Niwan Palace… It was believed that the spirit resides in Niwan while the Qi lies in the Jiang and Life Essence rests in Shengyang… Seems like it was true.'
Like an instinct, as if by common knowledge, Zhou Zaizhi could vaguely tell that he held supreme authority over this place, all things bent to his will.
Zhou Zaizhi gave it a thought and a beautiful girl instantly materialized before him. He instantly recognized her as his ex-girlfriend during high school to college, still just as beautiful as he was the day he lost her.
Zhou Zaizhi stared at her for a long while, but upon seeing the lifeless looks in her eyes, he sighed and shook his head. With a wave of his hand, she disappeared from view.
Zhou Zaizhi walked around the Jade palace for a while until he arrived outside.
Although he had already scanned this entire place that seems to expand indefinitely, the scene before him still made him feel stunned for a moment.
It was a scene of a boundless ocean and colorful night sky, like that of a nebula.
But what truly shocked him was that, despite his omnipotent authority, he had failed to detect a foreign object in his own Sea of Consciousness space.
He turned his head upward and found the object he had been looking for.
It was a gigantic, black burning sun, darker than even the night sky.