The Sailboat Collector jolted at the words.

For that question had echoed in his mind for a full ten years since he obtained the "Theseus Ship Spirit Ritual"!

He too had been searching for the answer on this path, alone, for ten years.

Essentially, it was a variant of the ultimate question in the "Theseus Ship Spirit Ritual"—the Red Beard Paradox.

Although he and the group of people inside were on different transcendental paths, at this moment, as they pursued the same question, they were fellow travelers!

If Mordent Gray hadn’t known he was currently an infiltrator, he would have wanted to run in and sit down with that group to discuss the problem earnestly.

The Homicidal Doctor, Robert Liston, who was assigning dissection materials to a group of Grand Wizards, thought for a moment and responded to the Mosquito Mage, "Your Bloodthirsty Cult should be most aware of the answer to this question. The ’Blood of Transformation’ is the blood of transformation and change, symbolizing the only constant in this world, which is ’change’! The great Father of Healing once wrote in his works that even the bodies of ordinary humans are actually always replacing themselves. The fundamental material, proteins, within the organism will reference the information carried in the genetic material to constantly renew our bodies. For example, human stomach cells are renewed every seven days, skin cells around every twenty-eight days, red blood cells every one hundred twenty days, and liver cells every one hundred eighty days. In about a year, 98% of a human body’s cells will be renewed once. The renewal of bone cells takes seven years. Therefore, the cells throughout a normal human body are completely replaced approximately every seven years. The same question could also be asked in a different way: ’Are you still you after seven years?’"

The water prison fell silent. But, including the Sailboat Collector eavesdropping outside, all the Black Wizards were convinced that they would still be themselves after seven years. Though the materials composing their bodies were no longer the same, the form, the structure, had been completely retained. The key role was played by the genetic material in the body or, rather, the life information it carried—the "genetic code."

At that moment, the Leech Lady continued, "The Grand Priest made it very clear in his theories on genetics. Mortals may not be immortal, but the genetic codes carried in their bloodlines can be, which could be considered a form of ’collective immortality.’ The individual will eventually perish, but the species or family can persist through the long stretches of time. For example, the Y chromosome remains unchanged in the male population of the same family lineage and can be inherited for thousands of years. In the absence of mutation, the Y chromosome is passed from father to son, grandson, with the carried genetic information always remaining consistent. This is externally manifested as the heritage of noble lineages and family succession. This is why His Excellency wrote in his book: ’YY forever, a legacy ever flowing; if you love her, present her with an ancestral chromosome’..."

Mordent Gray, upon hearing this, suddenly connected the dots and became incredibly excited. Yes, exactly this! Although everything is changing, life can achieve eternity in an alternate fashion. For the ’Ship of Theseus,’ what changes is the timber, what remains is the information—the unique mode of assembly among an infinite array of material structures. This is Theseus’s life information and genetic code! I’ve got it! I’m about to ascend to godhood!

Every Ship Spirit’s Rank was equivalent to a fifth-order [False God] from the Mythological Era, initially possessing the Great Power to contend with time. Just like the Dragonhead Ship, which was a Legendary Warship hundreds of years ago, its Ship Spirit remains lively to this day; as long as it has not been physically erased, it will continue to thrive. This is the most basic level of Immortality achievable while retaining self-identity, far surpassing those Cursed Spirits who possess Immortality but are completely devoid of self.

However, not many years have passed since humanity embraced forbidden knowledge again, and to this day, not many people can clearly state what it is that grants Immortality. Many Black Wizards, even members of the College of Cardinals and high-ranking officials of the Council of the Divine Presence, are exploring this answer. For individuals like the Sailboat Collector who have reached the Legendary tier of High Sequence, ordinary knowledge is no longer the factor limiting their growth. Cognition is. And the answer to the "Ship of Theseus Paradox" is the key to his ascension to a fifth-order Legendary Ship Spirit, to gain Immortality! Or rather, the birth of every fifth-order [False God] requires extracting such an eternal and indestructible concept from their own path and then Anchoring it firmly.

The Sailboat Collector was so engrossed in listening that he unknowingly walked onto the island, drawing ever closer to the water prison. He completely failed to notice that a layer of slightly hazy "National Border Lock" had quietly sealed off the entire Number One Island and the surrounding sea areas.

Suddenly, he heard an inexplicable silence fall within the water prison. Then, a clear voice rose beside his ear, uttering words that penetrated his soul like divine sounds:

"The basis for determining whether something is itself is not the material making up that thing.

"What matters are the internal structures of that thing—the relations between material elements, as well as the spatiotemporal continuity of the thing.

"To strip and summarize the essence of the ’Ship of Theseus,’ that would be:

"The specific relations between parts with spatiotemporal continuity.

"Even after countless repairs and replacements of timber, the Ship of Theseus that keeps sailing the seas is still itself."