Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 180

“Very well.” You Hantian waved an arm, and everyone around him instantly moved a few hundred meters away against their will. “Now, what did you want to say to me?”

“What’s this all about?” Gu Suihan took out a broken piece from his storage ring. Complex lines were engraved on it. It was very delicate and looked very old, with some really tiny words on it. It was made from wood, but it felt smooth and warm, like a piece of jade.

This thing was, obviously, the piece he got from the secret realm. He could now finally take it out and ask questions about it.

“What is this?” You Hantian shot a small beam of energy out and took the piece from Gu Suihan. He looked at the engravings more closely and couldn’t help but frown.

Gu Suihan had an almost unnoticeable fire in his eyes even as he said quietly, “The markings are…demonic script. In other words, I’m asking if you can read demonic script.”

“No, I can’t. This was left behind in that place, I suppose.” You Hantian threw the piece back to Gu Suihan. “That place used to be a herb garden that the demonic race used to grow spiritual herbs in. It was later abandoned. After we went in, all we found was an imperial vacation palace. The various sects and powers thought that there was some legacy in there, so they went all out and destroyed the palace in one day. This was probably left behind from that incident.”

“Hoho.” Gu Suihan did not respond to You Hantian’s explanation and just smiled faintly as he looked at the older man.

You Hantian couldn’t help but frown. They continued to look straight at each other for some time before You Hantian finally couldn’t stand Gu Suihan’s twinkling eyes that kept making casual glances at the well.

He sighed and hesitated for a few moments before slowly speaking, “The empire asked specifically for this thing and I gave it to them a long time ago. It has something to do with the secret history from ancient times. The empire has been collecting anything that has any connection to that and has spared no expense in doing so. I don’t know the reason for it either. You know very well that I’m only at Nascent Change. I’m nothing among the people in the Upper World.”

“The Upper World…” Gu Suihan’s expression slowly turned grim. This was going to be tough. All arrows were pointing to either the Upper World or the empire. It was clear that he couldn’t delay his trip to the Upper World any further.

He did not suspect if You Hantian was lying to him. What he was asking wasn’t top-secret information, after all. He would get the same answer if he asked around in the Upper World.

“Next question.” Gu Suihan tapped a knuckle against the rock wall of the well, which made a low knocking noise. He kept the broken piece in his storage ring again, and the smile on his face slowly faded. “I want to know if immortals have existed before. Or Buha, or other monsters.”

You Hantian’s calm but tense expression instantly turned to one of utter shock when he heard this question. “You…know about immortals?”

“Is that very surprising?” Gu Suihan asked in return.

“Immortals…are a taboo in all the small worlds. They should not be mentioned and cannot be talked about.” You Hantian panted heavily and tried to calm his agitated heart down. He then said in a low voice, “Immortals are not humans. They…they are a race.”

“Then why is there an Immortal stage for human cultivators?” asked Gu Suihan a little curiously.

When he first arrived in this world, he had asked around for information on these things. On Earth, cultivation was a matter of refining qi, gathering the soul, converting the soul, emptying the mind and so on. There were five stages, which were Hun, Po, Jing, Qi and Shen.

But in this world, there were actually more than ten stages. There was Qi Refining, Qi Activation, Foundation Establishment, Origin Core, Nascent Change, Divine Soul, Heart-Soul, Immortal… Each one was split into smaller sub-stages, Beginner, Mid, Advanced and that sort of thing.

Of course, all of this looked like childish games that only children played among themselves to Gu Suihan.

The more detailed the subcategorization was, the lower the requirements for cultivation were. In the same way, the achievements one could attain in the future were also lesser.

Take this Foundation Establishment and Origin Core for example. Back on Earth, Gu Suihan had already understood the laws of nature by this time. But in this world, there were still so many cultivators who were just focused on cultivating all day and they didn’t even know what the Way was. It was as if they were blind people hoping to get lucky somehow.

You Hantian paused to think for some time. After taking a while to decide how to best answer this question, he said, “That’s because that’s just a stage. It doesn’t mean that you will actually become an immortal. Immortals are immortals. Humans at the Immortal stage are just humans at the Immortal stage. The difference is too great.”

As he spoke, a glimmer of envy and desire appeared in his eyes. Then, as if he suddenly thought of something else, that glimmer dimmed and quickly faded again.

“Very good. Let’s go back to the original question.” Gu Suihan gave him a pleased smile. “Has this world ever had…immortals? Buha? Demons? Devils?”

The four words he uttered at the end were like four bolts of lightning that struck You Hantian’s heart deep inside.

His throat was dry and his voice was a little hoarse as he replied, “There are. Or rather, there were. But now…the immortals have disappeared without a trace. The buddhas have gone into seclusion. The demons and beasts are now equal. The Devil Abyss is a bottomless pit.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Gu Suihan solemnly as he slowly stood up.

“The empire conquered thousands of worlds and have traversed the skies in order to search for immortals. Unfortunately, there has been no news. Those legends are the only things that can prove that they once existed. As for the legend about a race of immortals, it’s because the empire once found an ancient tomb and the corpse of an immortal was buried there. The records left on that tomb tells of an ancient history that has remained buried for years.”

He paused and went on, “Buha told of an endless world. Unfortunately, as the immortals disappeared, Buha also disappeared without a trace. But compared to the former, Buha left behind countless temples in the thousands of worlds and they’re all still standing. As for whether those monks managed to attain nirvana after dying, I have no idea.”

“The demonic race was a great foe of the humans. The smallest of them could be elves that live in the forest, and the greatest could be an influential figure from an era long past. The bloodline they’re born with starts to develop after they gain sentience. Their blood contains information that helps them to learn easily without difficulty, and they improve at rapid speeds. They were everywhere and they have left footprints everywhere. Demonic beasts are what we call them before they gain sentience.”

“The Devil Abyss…is the thing behind you. According to legend, there was a great master in ancient times who sacrificed his life to become a thick layer of seals that suppressed the Devil Abyss at one go, making sure that the countless devils couldn’t get out. Unfortunately, as time passed, all sorts of attacks came. The seals were shattered and he was no longer able to reincarnate.”

“There was nothing else anybody could do now. Like the saying goes, this was a situation where there’s no path to heaven and there’s no door to hell. The immortals and buddha were nowhere to be found, but the demons and devils could do anything they wanted. The empire has been conquering all the rulers of thousands of worlds all these years and they have been continuously trying to hold down the Devil Abyss after the initial seals broke in an attempt to make sure those devils stay down there. But it has not been very effective.”

“The Devil Abyss…an abyss…hell…reincarnation…” Gu Suihan fell into deep thought and slowly chewed on this last bit.

All of a sudden, his eyes flew open, and he muttered to himself in shock, “Could it be…that legend is actually true?”

“What legend?” asked You Hantian curiously.

Gu Suihan glanced at You Hantian. Instead of hiding his thoughts, he shared his speculation, “A powerful character from ancient times held down the Devil Abyss. In that case, this Devil Abyss must be where the devils live. They were unable to destroy them completely, or rather, they were unable to annihilate the devil race, so they had no choice but to deal with them this way and put several layers of seals over it. This thing was known as the 18 hells in ancient times. Beneath hell is the Devil Abyss. The seals are called…the six paths of reincarnation!”

“Six paths…of reincarnation…” You Hantian started to think about these words that seemed somewhat familiar. The shock in his eyes became more and more apparent while he looked more and more strangely at Gu Suihan.

“Reincarnation, immortals, demons, devils. Gosh, the more I try to sort things out, the messier they become,” mumbled Gu Suihan as he subconsciously tugged at his hair.

“The corpse of an immortal…” he murmured as he took note of this. He then looked up and said, “I’ve asked all the questions I wanted to ask. I don’t know how much of what you’ve told me is true, but at least it’s given me some ideas. Now, let’s talk about the matter at hand.”

In that instant, the wind stopped blowing, and the entire place fell silent.

“What do you want?” said You Hantian in a deep voice, his eagle eyes staring straight at the gentle and elegant looking young man in front of him.

“What do I want?” Gu Suihan chuckled. “You wouldn’t let me off. Neither would it…” said Gu Suihan as he pointed at the whirlwind of clouds in the sky above that was slowly getting agitated. He could sense very clearly that the complex laws of nature around him was getting thicker and thicker. The pressure from the laws pressing in on him made him subconsciously use his qi to fight it.

“Huhhh…” The Evil Ghost began to regain consciousness. It shook its head and kept looking at its surroundings with a dazed look in its eyes.

When it finally saw Gu Suihan’s face, complete with a slight smile, it immediately flew into a rage. Its expression grew twisted and its tiny eyes suddenly grew wider, as though they were about to pop right out of their sockets. It gnashed its fangs and cursed, “You little son of a bitch! How dare you scheme against me and use me as bait! HA! You can’t escape your fate now, can you? You brought this upon yourself!”

“Fighting with the heavens is fun. Fighting with people is fun too.” Gu Suihan smiled faintly at the Evil Ghost’s outburst.

He looked around at the cultivators from the various sects that had quietly come closer again. He leaned his saber against his shoulder, then let out a slightly crazed shout. The laws of nature turned as black as ink, while fiendish qi was like a dragon as it started wailing miserably. He brandished his saber even as everyone looked on in shock, hatred, fury and horror.

“How dare you…!” You Hantian’s mature but handsome face instantly turned to one that resembled a vicious ghost as he shrieked.

The seal in his body shattered on the spot. The whole place shook, qi flew everywhere, the laws gathered, formation runes spun in the opposite direction. A giant hand measuring 300 meters suddenly appeared.

A finger tapped the sky, shattering spirits and destroying demons. The void exploded, and spacetime shook violently. A very thin, black but extremely deep slit suddenly appeared in the space, swallowing everything around it silently and giving off a creaking noise that could make one’s hair stand on end.

“It’s too late!!” said Gu Suihan with a hearty laugh. He put his saber back in its sheath. A dao seal gathered and came hurtling down.