The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “That’s right, this is beyond the Nine Heavens, but we normally call it the Primordial World!”
By “we”, he was obviously referring to the gods and buddhas. The other name for beyond the Nine Heavens was the Land of Gods and Buddhas.
Staring at the Primordial World, Li Liehuo also entered a daze. As one among the best of the best cultivators, who knew how many grand and magnificent sights he had seen in his life, but none of them could compare to what he was seeing right now.
A spherical world was not particularly unbelievable. What was unbelievable was what he felt inside.
This feeling was called “realistic”!
Everything he had experienced in the past only seemed like a dream, like a tour through an illusion, spending his entire life chasing after shadows.
Bob! As if he had heard the sound of a bubble bursting, he woke up from the dream. He finally arrived in the real world.
Just from that glance, his cultivation had increased evidently. Roaring flames burned in his Origin Soul, gaining a sense of realism, not only completely erasing the remaining influence from the Heretic God of Hundun, but also washing away the tranquility brought on by the spirit turtle’s tears. His mind had never felt so lively and clear before.
He could not help but recall everything he had experienced just then, especially the moment when the heavenly emperor’s will descended.
Before this, he did not even have the courage to think about it, because as soon as he did, his head would grow numb, his chest would grow tight, and he would lose his breath. Even his Origin Soul would curl up. If he remained in that state, even his cultivation would regress.
At this moment, a sudden yet extremely intense sense of humiliation and anger drowned him.
He asked himself, “Just because it’s facing the heavens, flames can’t rise up anymore?”
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes took Li Liehuo’s response and changes into account very clearly, and he became slightly content. This child truly is one of the most outstanding disciples of the Myriad sect. He’s already comprehended that while the sky is distant beyond his reach, it’s still something that truly exists, and since it truly exists, it can also be burned by fire. With this realisation, he’s one step closer to Forging his Soul back into the Void, the realm of True Immortals.
The laws of the heavens surpassed all other laws, but fire was not something that should have stopped burning just because it feared the sky. If Li Liehuo possessed that kind of fear, he would never be able to come into contact with the true path of scorching fire.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes then sighed, as Li Liehuo would never be able to become a True Immortal!
Over the years, the will of the heavenly emperor became even more brutal, such that even the four emperors did not dare to confront him directly.
Under the might of the heavens, even the Lord of Fire Virtue’s flames were in constant decline, so how could the tiny embers of Li Liehuo burn freely and conform with the Dao?
Meanwhile, Chao Tianjiao, who had a similar level of talent and mental disposition to Li Liehuo, had quite a good chance at becoming a True Immortal. However, she would never be able to undergo the eighth heavenly tribulation and Merge the Void with the Dao.
Their paths determined everything, not just the sights they would see along the way, but the final destination too.
The casual, small choices made in the beginning would develop into a realistic and tremendous fate. That was the fortune of cultivators.
However, Li Qingshan was an exception!
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes sighed inside. There probably had never been a cultivator like him who had already become a True Immortal but had yet to set off on a distinct path. Many paths wove around him, changing unpredictably with fate, vague and indistinct.
He was free to choose the path that conflicted the least with the heavenly emperor and then Merge the Void with the Dao, becoming an emperor.
Did the one who chose him do this intentionally, giving him the option for betrayal if he wanted to? Or did he believe he would not accept the enlistment? Even the Elder of Heavenly Tomes struggled to fathom the reason despite his wisdom.
Li Qingshan continued to observe the Primordial World. He never would have thought that after all these difficulties, the final “destination” would be like that.
It was so familiar, yet also so unfamiliar…
He had also once suspected that his so-called “past life” was merely one of the worlds in the trichiliocosm, a small world where spiritual qi was far too thin and even Refining Essence into Qi was impossible. However, as his cultivation increased and his knowledge grew, he found the thought to be more and more absurd.
But at this moment, various doubts filled his mind. If they’re unrelated, why are they so similar? If they are related, why are they so different?
The Primordial World was very similar to the blue planet from his past life, but the layout of the solar system was completely different, if this could be called a solar system at all.
First of all, the Primordial World did not revolve around the sun. Instead, the sun revolved around it, like the ancient yet also intuitive geocentric model from his past life.
Moreover, upon close observation, he discovered that the sun and the moon were completely identical in size. They did not differ even in the slightest. Only the sun was brighter, which was why it seemed larger.
Oh right, the moon clearly did not glow because it reflected the sun’s light either. Instead, it could glow by itself. And even if it wanted to reflect the sunlight, it was impossible, as the blue planet between the sun and the moon was several times larger than it.
It could be perfectly described as hovering at the two ends of the Primordial World, revolving again and again, like they were chasing after one another and hiding away from one another, never to see one another.
It reminded Li Qingshan of a fairytale from his past life. Grandpa Sun and granny Moon were a very loving couple, and they even gave birth to many children stars. However, grandpa Sun was always busy illuminating the world, so it had been a very long time since he cared for granny Moon and their children stars. As a result, granny Moon decided to leave with her children, never to see grandpa Sun again.
However, no matter where granny Moon hid, grandpa Sun would always be able to find her. Granny Moon truly was out of ideas about where to hide. Actually, as long as grandpa Sun admitted his fault, she would stop hiding, but grandpa Sun simply refused to admit it. As such, granny Moon came up with a plan and decided to hide into the dark night, as grandpa Sun would never appear in the dark night.
In his past life, that was only a fairytale, but at this moment, it seemed to be some kind of sign.
The sun and moon before his eyes definitely were not emotionless celestial bodies, especially the gentle moon. It basically radiated with intimacy and familiarity.
As the colourful cloud drew closer, Li Qingshan’s revelation grew clearer and brighter.
Suddenly, he recalled the beginning of the history of the Demon domain, the last thing that the primordial qilin saw before it perished—the Battle of Mending Heaven!
In the grand scene of the Battle of Mending Heaven, empress Nüwa seemed to look back at him. Li Qingshan blinked his eyes, but all he found in front of him was the gentle, flowing moonlight.
Li Qingshan could not help but smile, but it was also slightly sad. He thought, Empress Nüwa!
At this moment, the obscure legend had become reality. The legendary mother of humanity was right before his eyes.
Then he turned to the sun and saw the man who resembled an embodiment of the heavens, wielding the lightning and leading the dragons—Fuxi.
The two main figures of the Battle of Mending Heaven were right before his eyes, or perhaps it was better said that they hung in the sky the entire time, shining with light, such that the living creatures could see them as long as they raised their heads slightly. However, if he never came to beyond the Nine Heavens, he never would have known.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes had been paying attention to Li Qingshan the entire time. He suddenly asked, “Little bro, have you ever been to the heavens?”
Li Qingshan shook his head. “I haven’t.”
