251: The Three Realms

"It seems you have a particular understanding of that sentence, which is why your reaction was so intense."

Yu Kou quickly changed the subject.

"Since you won't answer of your own accord, I'll just have to boast a bit about myself."

"In my view, I may still be far from being a god, but at the very least, I am no longer considered human."

Hearing this, Zhou Yan felt a bit conflicted, unsure whether he should make a joke or join in the sentimentality.

But the other's next words immediately made him realize something was wrong.

"Actually, I died a long time ago."

"What you are observing now is the me from several thousand years ago."

"It's just that the difference in our life levels is too vast, and coupled with certain reasons, you can still see me, and I can still converse with you."

Zhou Yan felt that the shocks he had received since entering the cave already exceeded the sum of the past year.

He finally understood what he looked like in the eyes of others when he used his cheats.

"They sent an old man like me because my current state is more suitable for explaining to you what Mahayana truly is."

"You have already completed the first part of the Saint trial."

"It is indeed inconceivable."

"Under so many layers of shackles, achieving Nascent Soul in a single year... If Kun Gou hadn't personally certified you, we might have mistaken you for one of the Five Ghosts or some other existence, which would have been unpleasant."

"Enough small talk, I only have one question for you."

"Are you willing to continue forward until you take up the position of Saint?"

"If you are unwilling, we will deal with your relevant memories and make slight adjustments to let you return to normalcy, continuing as a True Disciple with the status of a peerless Prodigy."

"But if you choose to continue, your future might be very miserable. At the very least, the me you see now is considered to have had a peaceful end."

No way, right?

What's going on?

I completed the trial just fine, so why is it either memory erasure or a miserable end? Am I some kind of very, very bad person? Is it necessary to mess with me like this?

After thinking it over, Zhou Yan ultimately decided to continue being the Saint.

He had already put in so much effort; if he didn't continue, his memories would suffer. Who knew what they would find when they looked through his memories.

Although Zhou Yan wasn't sure if beings of their level could see through everything at a glance, if possible, he would rather deceive himself until the dust settled.

So, to avoid suddenly "missing something," Zhou Yan followed his heart and spoke.

"I was born to be the Saint."

"Before I was born, a fortune teller pointed at my mother's belly and said this child would definitely become a Saint in the future."

"So it's my duty, Old Ancestor."

Looking at Zhou Yan's expectant expression, Yu Kou's expression remained gentle.

But in the next moment, the scene before his eyes changed abruptly.

It was no longer a pitch-black cave, but a bizarre corridor.

Similar to the cave, this also seemed like a naturally formed passage.

However, the patterns on the surrounding masonry looked strange no matter how he viewed them; at a glance, they seemed purely natural, but could they really grow like this naturally?

"Perhaps it's a bit too fast, lacking build-up. Will you find it hard to adapt?"

Yu Kou did not look back and walked straight into the depths. Zhou Yan followed with small steps.

"A little... Actually, I still haven't fully come to my senses about what exactly happened."

"I just feel like I'm in a fog; the information overload is too much."

Yu Kou still didn't look back.

"That's normal."

"What you are seeing and hearing now is observed based on your current life level. In reality, everything here consists of images and cognitions produced after being downgraded within your senses."

"If it weren't for Xiao Sha acting as a medium, what you see might be even harder to understand."

"Let's set these aside for now and return to your willingness to continue the trial."

"Compared to the Liyan Holy Land, our Saint trials and those of the Butian Pavilion are more of a formality."

"You used one hundred and ten years to attain the Nascent Soul stage."

"This period was a test of your original heart, as well as an inspection of whether your Three Natures are stable and how your abilities are."

"Liyan Holy Land values ability more, Butian Pavilion values the stability of the Three Natures more, and we value the original heart more."

"This is related to the paths and Legacies of our three houses."

"Therefore, how long you took for the trial is not important."

"As long as your performance is acceptable, those juniors will naturally send you resources and pass on Cultivation Techniques to ensure you reach Nascent Soul without worry."

"And if you reach our standards, we will also turn a blind eye."

"Consequently, the fact that your cultivation Breakthrough was so fast makes you, in our eyes, unqualified instead."

"Because we can hardly see your growth; this kind of force-fed promotion is meaningless in our view."

"If we wanted to, it wouldn't be difficult to create a Mahayana through this force-feeding method."

"But your situation is very special."

"After you broke through to Nascent Soul, that achievement of having all Three Natures complete and returning to your original heart shattered our original impression of you."

At this point, Yu Kou finally stopped and turned his head to look at a pure white rock wall to the side.

Zhou Yan looked over as well.

Where their gazes met, pictures began to emerge on the rock wall.

"The rumors you've heard from the outside world are probably all things like 'the Heaven Realm has disappeared.'"

"We have looked into you."

"In your brief experiences, you should have come into contact with quite a bit of information regarding the Heaven Realm and clearly understand that Immortals and gods do indeed exist in this world."

"For example, the Kun Gou you've seen, as well as that unknown entity that once descended upon you."

As the words fell, the pictures on the stone wall completed their final evolution.

In Zhou Yan's eyes, the image presented an effect similar to a 3D projection.

The shape was very bizarre.

In the center of the image was a floating continent, like a Xiangqi piece, except instead of a character, it was carved with mountains and rivers.

Overall, it was roughly similar to the map of 'one ancestral land, four domains, and the outer circle' that Zhou Yan had previously known.

The difference was that the one before him was more complete.

Above the continent was a 'donut' of similar size but slightly smaller overall, floating above it, with the empty area in the middle corresponding exactly to the ancestral land of the Human Race.

And around them were densely packed small spheres of varying sizes, connected by pipes leading to this 'chess piece' and 'donut'.

"This one below is the world we are in."

"It used to be called the Human Realm or the mortal world; nowadays, we mostly call it the 'Xuantian Spirit Realm,' though we still use the name Human Realm externally."

"As for why the name changed, I cannot tell you now. This is one of the pieces of knowledge you must seek out for yourself after becoming the Saint."

"And that fat ring above it is precisely the Monster Realm, though the image doesn't show it completely objectively."

"Although the Monster Realm overall presents this shape, it is fluid and often covers or directly connects to the Xuantian Spirit Realm."

Yu Kou reached out and pointed at the image.

Then the image flipped; the original projections of the two worlds disappeared, turning into a giant sphere.

"And beneath the Human Realm, there is actually the Underworld."

"But the Underworld exists within an anti-world, so it wasn't shown in the previous image."

"Only by entering the opposite world can you see the Underworld."

"How is it?"

"Do you have any thoughts upon seeing this sphere?"

Zhou Yan felt like a student suddenly called upon by a teacher, his mind going blank.

What thoughts could I have?

Isn't this just a ball?

"The Underworld... looks different from our place?"

He gave an ambiguous answer.

"You could say you're right on one point."

Yu Kou continued to adjust the image, placing the two worlds side by side for comparison.

The Underworld was clearly much larger than the world they were in.

In comparison, the Underworld was a complete sphere containing its own universe.

Meanwhile, the Xuantian Spirit Realm, the Monster Realm, and the surrounding Small Worlds had a distinct art style: a chess piece topped with a donut, surrounded by many small spheres, more in line with the wondrous geographical state of a cultivation world's worldview.

"Our world is not complete, or rather, all of this was carved by human hands. That is why there is such a huge difference between us and the Underworld."

"Precisely because of this, we old fogies, and the old fogies of the old fogies, are all investigating these events, trying to dig out the truth of the world."

With a wave of Yu Kou's hand, the image on the stone wall shrank abruptly.

The original two worlds became as small as eggs, while the entire stone wall was occupied by an even larger sphere.

"The Heaven Realm has actually always been there; it never disappeared."

"And it is very close to us, extremely close."

"It's just that it is difficult for us to perceive and comprehend, just as it is difficult for you to understand my state."

"Even though you are actually very close to me—so close that if I told you, you would even feel a sense of terror—you are still unable to realize this."

"So every Immortal Reincarnation and every Immortal Legacy is a precious resource in our eyes."

Zhou Yan was deeply drawn in by the image before him, momentarily speechless.