The sky gradually lit up. A smear of dark-blue appeared in the endless darkness.
Li Qingshan adjusted his posture and stood up properly again, gazing at the sky—he could vaguely see a few stars light up, giving off a dim glow.
These stars all varied in coloured. Who knew how far away they were. However, Li Qingshan found them to be extremely similar, feeling some kind of strange connection that ignored the distance between them.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes stood up straight as well, raising his hand and pointing at the stars in the sky. “If you’ve never come to the heavens, then you’ve probably never seen these stars either, little bro.”
Li Qingshan said, “Please elaborate.”
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes pointed at them one by one and explained, “These stars are called the Hell star, the Human star, the Hungry Ghost star, the Asura star, ah, and the Heaven star and the Daemonic Beast star, but they’ve been blocked by the Primordial World. Together, they’re commonly known as the ‘six realms of saṃsāra’.”
Li Qingshan could not help but sigh. He had always thought the six realms of saṃsāra were extremely special existences. As it turned out, they were no different from the World of the Nine Provinces.
With this trip to the Nine Heavens, the “sun” and “moon” he originally believed to be nothing special had now become extremely wondrous, while the six realms of saṃsāra he originally believed to be extremely wondrous had instead become ordinary.
However, they brought new questions. Just how could six unrelated worlds be merged into the six realms of saṃsāra? Why did regular worlds not bear that special characteristic? As a result, he voiced these questions to the Elder of Heavenly Tomes.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes replied with a question, “Do you know what the difference between the six realms of saṃsāra and the trichiliocosm are?”
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows slightly, struggling to come up with an answer. There were countless differences between the six realms of saṃsāra and the trichiliocosm.
For example, not only were the six realms of saṃsāra connected to one another, but they were also connected to the trichiliocosm.
In the Human realm, it was possible to see the stars that represented the trichiliocosm, but it was not possible in the trichiliocosm.
And, each of the six realms possessed extremely distinct characteristics. Apart from the Human realm and Daemonic Beast realm, finding any similarities between them and the trichiliocosm was quite a difficult task.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “You must have thought of many differences, but those are all just appearances. When it comes to their very nature, there’s only one difference…”
Chao Tianjiao urged him. “Master, stop making us beat around the bush and tell us already!” It was probably something connected to the ancient times, something that the Elder of Heavenly Tomes had never elaborated on. But now that this trip was approaching its destination, they would probably never get the opportunity to hear it if they did not now.
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled and gave an answer. “That is, they’re big!”
Chao Tianjiao said, “Oi, who doesn’t know that? What kind of a difference is that supposed to be?”
“Now this is something you don’t understand, Tianjiao.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes glanced at Li Qingshan. “This little bro must have understood already.”
Li Qingshan was in thought. The Human realm and the Primordial realm were extremely far apart, yet they had reached it so quickly. He did not sense the Elder of Heavenly Tomes use any strange technique either.
Of course, since even the six realms of saṃsāra could connect with the trichiliocosm, there was nothing strange about the Primordial World possessing this special characteristic either as the origin of all worlds.
Perhaps in other words, the Primordial World was the origin of this special characteristic.
Ever since he became the lord of the Demon domain, he could vaguely sense the existence of other worlds. As long as he wanted to, he could open demon caverns and enter a world that demonfolk had yet to set foot in, triggering a new war.
Now that he thought about it, demon caverns sure were a mystical thing. They could connect two worlds that were billions of kilometres away from one another. If he were to travel between them in outer space, even with the power of the kunpeng, it would probably take a lot of time and effort.
No matter how wondrous techniques and abilities were, they could not be unleashed in air. They relied on the laws.
Demon caverns could be opened so easily because the Demon domain was like the six realms of saṃsāra. It itself possessed a very deep connection with other worlds.
The source of this connection was that all worlds were originally one entity. Even when they had shattered and dispersed in the endless space, the connection between them would not be severed.
Suddenly, he looked towards the Elder of Heavenly Tomes. “You mean the ‘bigger’ a world is, the closer it is to the Primordial World. Once the similarities reach a certain level, it will lead to a change and exhibit the special characteristic of the Primordial World—connected with all the worlds!”
“That’s right!” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes nodded in admiration. “Ruin’s End is no different, which is why there exists the saying that all water flows to Ruin’s End.” He abruptly changed the topic. “Of course, your Demon domain is large enough too, or how else would demonfolk be able to invade other worlds?”
Li Qingshan ignored the Elder of Heavenly Tomes’ mocking remark and further deduced. “If it weren’t for the influence of the true sun and moon, we would have entered the Primordial World the moment we left the Human realm. It would be as easy as entering the Demon domain from the Human realm.”
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes smiled. “No, it should be even easier than that.”
Li Qingshan immediately understood what was going on. “The connection is mutual. The connection between the six realms of saṃsāra and the Primordial World far surpasses their connection with the trichiliocosm. The stars are actually the glow of spiritual qi emitted by a world, while the glow from the six realms of saṃsāra is all absorbed by the Primordial World, which is why it’s only possible to see them from here.”
At this moment, the stars representing the six realms of saṃsāra grew even brighter, such that no other stars could rival them.
A blue star that was extremely easy to miss silently lit up. Li Qingshan immediately guessed that it was Ruin’s End. The Mountain-moving Great Sage was trapped there.
However, he searched around carefully again, but he did not find the Demon domain or Sukhāvatī. Were they blocked by the Primordial World?
The Elder of Heavenly Tomes said, “Stop looking around. The world honoured one split the pure land and the demonic land into two. The spiritual qi mutually destroys one another, so it’s very difficult to distinguish it from the darkness.”
Li Qingshan pursed his lips. “I’m sure you’ll be able to see it clearly before long.”
“Hah, when that day really comes, the bodhisattvas are probably going to stamp their feet!” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes squinted his eyes in an spiteful manner. “Little bro, you sure aren’t afraid of offending people!”
Listening up to there, Li Liehuo immediately decided that he would draw a line between him and Li Qingshan, forever!
Chao Tianjiao also studied Li Qingshan. Truly a man who’s caught my eye. Not only is he opposing the emperors, but he even wants to oppose the bodhisattvas. Truly impressive and awesome enough. Hopefully, you don’t die too miserably.
However, Li Qingshan noticed what he was hinting at and asked, “The world honoured one isn’t worried?”
“Since you know so many matters of the ancient times, you obviously know the world honoured one’s true form, little bro.” The Elder of Heavenly Tomes sighed. “If there’s something he refuses to give away, just who can take it away from him?”
Li Liehuo and Chao Tianjiao exchanged gazes in shock. Was there also a rift between the buddha and the bodhisattvas?
Li Qingshan nodded in satisfaction, feigning familiarity with the buddha, even though he had absolutely no idea what the buddha’s true form was.
Suddenly, he remembered something and asked, “Oh right, there’s still something that I don’t understand. Why are the six realms of saṃsāra so special?”
“Saṃsāra has always been a concept of buddhism.”
“Hehe, he sure does like to bring glory to his own religion!”
“Who doesn’t want the world to be as they wish?”
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