Chapter 53: Lonely World (Part One)
Chapter 53: Lonely World (Part One)
“Ah! Pain, pain! Gentle, gentle!”
Tang Jinbiao lay on the bed, his face twitching uncontrollably as he groaned in agony.
“Hmph! Young Master, now you know pain? What were you doing to Young Lady Yilin on that stage today? Taking off her clothes in front of so many people—how is she supposed to show her face ever again? It’s a wonder she didn’t kill you outright! And you dare whine about pain now?”
Little Lv held a white bottle, scooping out some ointment as she continuously applied it to Tang Jinbiao’s wounds. The memory of that day deepened her hatred; gritting her teeth, she unconsciously pressed harder.
“Ah!”
Tang Jinbiao cried out again in pain.
During the spar that day, Huang Biaozi had used the Way of Deception, letting Tang Jinbiao glimpse a fragment of the reality perceived by Three-Step Great Powers. That uncanny sensation still left him dizzy. He cherished those feelings profoundly; had Huang Biaozi not reached his time limit mid-cast, Tang Jinbiao might have unwittingly brought about the “World of Destruction”.
“Ah, who knew the Goddess’s figure would be this stunning up close!”
Recalling the events, Tang Jinbiao drooled at the corner of his mouth; the experience still felt like a dream.
“Hmph!”
Seeing that expression, Little Lv’s face flushed dark; she fiercely spread the ointment over his face.
“Pain! Pain!”
Tang Jinbiao gasped again.
…
The three-day Tang Family trials finally concluded. Though the process was turbulent, the outcome was acceptable: Tang Jinbiao was among those chosen.
Three emerged qualified to enter Divine Wind Academy for testing: Tang Yilin, Tang Jinbiao, and Little Tang Song.
Tang Yilin was undisputed—only eighteen years old, already at Late Foundation Building Stage, with Magical Power more potent than most peers. She embodied genius.
Little Tang Song, despite merely being eighth layer Qi Condensation, possessed remarkable combat power. Even ordinary ninth layer Qi Condensation opponents couldn’t defeat him; he swept the Qi Condensation Stage, earning his slot with the most wins.
As for Tang Jinbiao… heh, that was the only suitable description!
When announced as a nominee, Tang Jinbiao was stunned. Not for qualifying—but for the baffling method the Tang Family used to select “geniuses.” Logically, shouldn’t true talent be youth with high Cultivation Level? Why hold such trials? He questioned this, yet no one explained. He harbored theories silently.
…
Days passed. Tang Jinbiao bore the consequence: since his actions tarnished Tang Yilin’s reputation, his father didn’t openly heal him. Only secretly gifting him a few Elixir bottles with a curt reminder to cultivate seriously. Thus, Tang Jinbiao endured a month-long bed rest.
…
A month later, Tang Jinbiao could finally move. During his confinement, he’d eased his boredom by reading miscellaneous books—gaining a vague grasp of the Divine Wind Continent.
Lying still daily proved torturous. Luckily, books and Huang Biaozi’s presence helped. Especially when Huang Biaozi sporadically shared tales of his own journeys across three thousand worlds—accounts that enthralled Tang Jinbiao.
Two months remained before the Divine Wind Academy Instructor’s arrival. Restless this night, Tang Jinbiao returned to the Back Hill. Sitting atop the Giant Boulder, he gazed at the Triple Moons overhead, lost in thought.
The Triple Moons were particularly round tonight. Normally forming a triangle, their fullness seemed to draw them nearer—an immense, luminous trigon.
“Sigh!”
Suddenly, Tang Jinbiao sighed softly, troubled.
“Hey, Huang Biaozi,” he called, still staring at the moons, homesickness piercing him unexpectedly. He hadn’t thought he would miss home, yet seeing the full moons brought Earth to mind. “You’ve traveled three thousand worlds… did you ever reach Earth? Or… any other place extraordinary?”
“Hmm, Earth? Never heard of it. And what kind of difference did you mean, boy? This old man has visited the Three Thousand Realms, each one unique. Take one realm, called the Centaur Realm—there, people have horse bodies from the waist down but human torsos instead of the entire body being centaurs. Their residents are straightforward and worth befriending, though too honest to deceive one’s shame prevents me from deceiving them.. Then there’s the Mayfly Realm… sigh, after visiting there, I truly grasped how long and tedious life could be…” Huang Biaozi continued speaking to himself.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I was asking if you’ve ever encountered a world whose structure radically differed from the major realms—like, where beings didn’t dwell on continents, but lived on planets or something similar!”
Tang Jinbiao had gained a basic understanding of the “Great Realms” Huang Biaozi described over the past days.
Actually, the so-called “Three Thousand Realms” didn’t literally number three thousand; it signified an immense multitude. Each realm bore a name, like the Tidal Realm, inhabited by highly intelligent aquatic beings where other life lacked comparable intelligence, seemingly constrained by an invisible force. Just as in the Mortal Realm Tang Jinbiao currently resided in, humans possessed the highest intellect. While some Demon Beasts had sparks of sentience, these were rare, typically limited to higher-tier beasts.
Huang Biaozi hadn’t truly visited all Three Thousand Realms, only exploring the majority. Once he formed his conclusions, he lost interest in further travel. As for why he existed in his current form, his memories were fuzzy; it seemed to involve testing a personal theory about the Fifth Step, leading to his present spectral state.
Naturally, Tang Jinbiao neither knew nor cared to guess what that “theory” was. Taking the words of someone like Huang Biaozi as credible was foolish to begin with; trying to decipher his thoughts would be clear insanity.
“Hmm? Planets? Ah, I see! You mean the World of Destruction! What of it? Have you heard something, kid?”
Huang Biaozi blinked in slight surprise, seemingly initially puzzled by “planets,” then recollection dawned instantly. He frowned, clearly taken aback that Tang Jinbiao knew of such secrets.
Thump-thump-thump!
Huang Biaozi’s words sent Tang Jinbiao’s heart rate inexplicably surging.
“The World of Destruction? What do you mean?”
Tang Jinbiao asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Hah! So you actually don’t know? No harm in telling you though. Hardly anyone visited that world anyway. Daresay it was a place greater even than the Divine Realm! But for some reason, it was utterly destroyed… or perhaps it was abandoned. There was nothing there but cold and endless darkness… cough… If I hadn’t stumbled upon it, I’d never have believed he truly reached the Fifth Step. I wouldn’t believe that the Divine Realm, the goal of countless Cultivators, was merely… that. Seeing it made me realize how wrong I’d been. Devastatingly wrong. Supposedly seeking immortality, Cultivators defying the heavens—it’s all… a fraud. Hah! A fraud… a fraud!”
Huang Biaozi seemed lost in a bitter memory, his expression dimming with profound isolation.
“Er, Huang Biaozi, forget the fraud stuff. Just tell me what you actually saw in that destroyed world!”
Tang Jinbiao felt rather exasperated when Huang Biaozi rambled this way. Those cryptic pronouncements held meaning for Huang Biaozi perhaps, but Tang Jinbiao found them irrelevant and incomprehensible. Why bother with them?
“Fine, fine. Telling you won’t hurt. Besides, I’ll be gone for a while soon. Might as well chat more with you, kid, so you don’t miss this old man later!”
Huang Biaozi pushed away his melancholy, reverting to his irreverent persona.
‘As if anyone would miss you! Hurry up! I’m waiting to hear about the damned ruined world!’
Tang Jinbiao silently cursed inside.
“Haha! Don’t get impatient, kid. Relax, I’ve got my own interests! Alright, no more jokes. That World of Destruction… haunts my memory. Boundless. Vaster even than the Divine Realm—utterly immeasurable to my perception. I dared not venture deep, staying near the teleportation point, probing its depths purely with my formidable Divine Sense. Know this—in my prime, my Divine Sense was mighty! To put it plainly: take this land beneath your feet. It’s called the Divine Wind Continent, spanning millions of miles. To you, its scale is unthinkable. Yet, this old man could scan it thoroughly hundreds or thousands… times in the blink of an eye! Don’t doubt it! When you someday advance to God-King status, then you’ll know I speak true!”
Huang Biaozi laughed initially, but his expression gradually sobered.
“Whether that world is one among the commonly known Three Thousand Great Realms, even I cannot discern. But its immensity was… intimidating! Arriving there, I didn’t press onward rashly. It was unlike any other great realm. I visited one named the Ice Realm before—white pervaded everywhere, frost encasing sky and earth. Intense cold, yes, but it assaulted externally; resistance was possible. Yet, upon reaching the World of Destruction… inexplicably… a chill seeped into my core. Do you grasp that? A God-King… feeling cold? Ridiculous to hear! But when I studied the surroundings, the ambient temperature wasn’t especially low. Not even as frigid as Frost Crystals conjured by a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Still… the cold invaded me nonetheless. Originating internally. Seeping relentlessly from one’s very soul. Implacable. It was a desolate chill. An isolating chill. The numbing frost born of annihilation. Or perhaps… the freezing abandonment of discard.”
Huang Biaozi paused, a bitter chuckle escaping him. He continued, “And frankly… after believing I had achieved the fourth stage of the Way of Deception, becoming one of the Divine Realms’ apex existences, I wandered obsessively. Sought out countless methods, desperate to break through to the Fifth Step as a practitioner. I’d long convinced myself the Fifth Step was nothing but myth! I searched until… I was lost. Lost for untold years—how many, this old man can’t recall. But then… Someone emerged suddenly within the Divine Realm. His very presence seemed tangible proof… that your entire conception of reality was but a figment within his dream. Hah! Indeed… Our existence… was merely a dreamscape for him. Hahaha……”