The same logic applies, yet there are differences.
Fang Ming still held a half-agreement with Fú Mèng's statement: "Life lies in contentment; there's no need to compare with terrifying powerhouses. One only needs to look down to realize they are already supreme beings in the hearts of ordinary traversers."
Although Fang Ming was a seeker of the Dao, he wasn't stubborn to the point of pursuing the impossible. If the risk felt too great, he would likely choose to lie flat in the shallow sea.
However, the crucial point was that Fú Mèng believed one could lie flat upon reaching the Red Dust Immortal realm.
Fang Ming, on the other hand, believed one should at least achieve a "small goal" of cultivating a "hundred-layered box" before even considering such a matter.
Then, returning to the shallow sea, he would carve out a world within the Void Sea.
Inside this world would be billions, even countless, myriad heavens and myriad realms, worlds of fan-fiction protagonists, fan-fiction protagonists themselves, and all derivative worlds and characters.
This would, by a stretch, meet Fang Ming's retirement requirements.
It would, by a stretch, meet his requirements for lying flat.
Of course, if he could cultivate more boxes, even achieve infinite energy, that would be even better.
Fang Ming's protagonist destiny was fourteen-star. If he didn't reach infinite energy, he would always feel as though something he should have had was lost because he actively gave it up.
It was best to avoid such feelings of regret if possible.
As for whether doing so would anger the original "Sacred Ruins" Three Heavenly Emperors or the original "Snow Eagle Lord" universe?
In the Void Sea, with so many fan-fiction protagonists, figures like the Three Heavenly Emperors of "Sacred Ruins" or Meng Qi at the Dao Fruit realm would not exist if they truly minded parallel versions of themselves.
According to Fú Mèng, the powerhouses in the original worlds were adept at distinguishing themselves from their fan-fiction counterparts.
Even in worlds like "Great Overlord" and "Dark Auction House," or "Thousand Year Transformation," the Flame Emperor Xiao Yan, Martial Ancestor, and Shepherd Lord did not interfere with the evolution of those worlds.
Furthermore, the actions of the Supreme Primordial World projecting avatars of Da Luo during the mythical era had already incited widespread anger, leading countless protagonists in the Void Sea to strongly oppose such behavior of随时降临化身 (constantly descending avatars).
Both the Myriad Worlds楼主 (Lord) and the faction of Myriad Worlds powerhouses resisting the Myriad Worlds Tower were extremely resistant to treating fan-fiction characters as their own, as avatars, and then taking retaliatory measures. They even established various rules to oppose such peculiar behavior.
Therefore, as long as one did not participate in the deep-sea warfare for the origin of the Great Dao, no one would bother with those who returned to the shallow sea to lie flat, having abandoned their own future.
The Void Sea's deep-sea region was terrifying, but as long as one learned to let go, be content, seal off their world, and adjust the internal time flow,
any cultivator, be it fourteen-star, thirteen-star, or even lower star level, could achieve their own great satisfaction and great freedom.
However, many seekers of the Dao were unwilling to be content; their desires were never satisfied, and they were forever pursuing what they called the strongest in the Void Sea, aiming to control it...
"Small goal: a hundred-layered box. Medium goal: tens of trillions of layered boxes. Great goal: achieve infinite energy."
"As for whether to become a loophole, that's a discussion for later..."
After making up his mind, Fang Ming
decided to remain in this Primordial World.
His bottom line for contentment was at least a hundred-layered box.
And to achieve the small, medium, and even great goals,
could he do so without risk?
Fú Mèng could be knocked out of the narrative layer at any moment, and he himself could die at any moment, but what of it?
Fú Mèng, a system, had traveled from the world of the Myriad Worlds Tower headquarters to this Primordial World.
Fang Ming inquired, and if calculated in Chaos Epochs, her time in the Void Sea had spanned ten million Chaos Epochs.
A Chaos Epoch itself took tens of billions of years to conclude. How long would ten million Chaos Epochs be?
For such a long time, no problems had arisen, so what was Fang Ming afraid of?
Fú Mèng's perception of time was different from his own!
In Fú Mèng's eyes, ten million Chaos Epochs might only be equivalent to two or three years experienced by an ordinary person in a century.
In Fang Ming's eyes, ten million Chaos Epochs? He was only over two hundred thousand years old.
In the Primordial World, based on the original timeline, the Witch-Demon Era had not even passed yet!
Why was he worrying unnecessarily?
If he were so unlucky as to encounter problems during this period, Fang Ming would accept it!
He was merely a fourteen-star protagonist, not someone who should consider himself that important, believing that time would coincidentally conspire within such a short span of two hundred billion years for Fú Mèng to be knocked out of the narrative layer.
Fang Ming was the protagonist of a single fictional world, not an eighteen-star destiny protagonist of the Void Sea!
He did not have the influence to affect the Myriad Worlds Lord!
Therefore, with low risk and high reward, why hesitate?
"Fú Mèng, you can bring down the Ancient Saints now."
Fang Ming said.
"...You still chose this path."
Fú Mèng looked at Fang Ming with complex eyes.
"Alright! I hope that when you truly cultivate to a hundred-layered box, you will know contentment and voluntarily withdraw from this Primordial World, staying away from danger."
"The ultimate truth is infinite. Throughout countless worlds and countless protagonists, none have seen through this, and thus they are forever tormented."
"Fourteen-star, fifteen-star, sixteen-star, seventeen-star..."
"The Great Dao that seekers pursue has no end. Human power is finite, but the Great Dao is infinite..."
"Even the Myriad Worlds Lord, after defeating six Great Dao True Saints, might he become the next to be overthrown? Will the Myriad Worlds Tower become history in the fourth era? No one knows."
"One hundred percent control over the origin of the Great Dao is the supreme realm pursued by all the strongest beings in the Void Sea, but what exactly is the origin of the Great Dao? Can it truly be refined to one hundred percent?"
"We can choose contentment by being able to transcend the limitations of time..."
"Truth is infinite, do not be attached, do not pursue too deeply. Host, Ming, this is my counsel..."
The girl's figure vanished.
Only a scepter remained, with a sapphire on it.
"Energy converter, a seventeen-star treasure!"
Fang Ming picked up the scepter and immediately understood it was an energy converter.
It was the mass-produced tool used by the Myriad Worlds Lord to attack the Supreme Primordial World in the past.
With this, he could seize the power of the Ancient Saints!
As long as he defeated them, he could turn their power to his own use!
As for how to defeat them?
[Host, I am a pseudo-narrative layer being, currently a pseudo-eleventh-tier true spirit lifeform.]
[A pseudo-eleventh-tier true spirit lifeform of the Heavenly Realm.]
[I can launch a 'lowering of intelligence' strike, a 'lowering of intelligence halo' strike against those outside the narrative layer, but this must also adhere to a certain logic.]
[The lowering of intelligence halo is not invincible; it must be achieved under seemingly reasonable circumstances to lower intelligence. It is impossible to directly make an Ancient Saint descend and surrender immediately, losing all ability to resist.]
[That is something only true narrative layer beings can achieve, not someone like me who was severely injured by Gu Xian'er, an employee of the Myriad Worlds Tower, and became a pseudo-narrative layer being...]
[This is beyond my capabilities...]
[I can only guarantee that I will not allow an Ancient Saint whose power surpasses the host's ability to solve to descend.]