Chapter 378: Chapter 361: Doubt
Wang Meng looked at Ma Tian’Er, and her gaze told him that she would follow him wherever he went.
"How about this: give me three days to think it over. This is a very important matter for us, so we need to consider it carefully before making a decision."
"Heh, very well." The Great Elder nodded. "Let’s talk about your Five Elements Body. It’s actually quite a shame."
The other two Elders nodded in agreement. Ma Tian’Er couldn’t help but protest, "His talent is the best in our Holy Hall, and he’ll be outstanding even at a Cultivation Academy. How could it possibly be a shame!"
"Heh, the little girl is getting worked up. The Five Elements Body is perfect for the Demon Race—the Saintess herself possesses one. For us humans, however, it’s a bit unfortunate. Before reaching the Fifty Layers, if utilized well, it can indeed yield twice the results with half the effort, and your strength will certainly surpass that of the average person. But Minor Perfection is the watershed moment."
The Second Elder said. Wang Meng knew this from personal experience. He could learn practically any type of Magic, and its power was astonishing when he used it.
"The most outstanding among us Human Cultivators will receive a gift from the Celestial Dao upon reaching Minor Perfection!"
"The Demon Race has its advantages, but we humans have our own gifts. Take a simple example: at your Starlight Cultivation Academy, there are three such Talented individuals: Hua Jianyu, Ling Fei, and Ji Rushan."
"The Star Alliance recruits those who obtain this power, making them a part of the Alliance. They grant them considerable power and benefits, then enlist them to pull the Star Alliance’s war chariot."
Wang Meng licked his lips. "It sounds like these members of the Demon Race are devilishly clever, even more so than us."
"The elites of the Demon Race are practically spirits of heaven and earth. In a thousand years of war, we have been learning their powers, and they have been studying us. As for that Holy War to exterminate the Demons... it’s still uncertain whether it was all a conspiracy," the Great Elder said.
The Second Elder nodded. "There are those among the Demon Race who excel at prognostication, and our Celestial Secret Sect is the best among humans at this art. That is why the Demon Race is willing to violate the Star Alliance rules they themselves established, just to find a way to annihilate us."
"Within the Extreme Dao Alliance, we are responsible for recruiting exceptional human disciples in order to minimize our losses."
The Third Elder added.
’So after all this talk, it’s just two massive Cultivation alliances trying to poach each other’s members.’ In essence, that’s what it was. But Wang Meng already believed half of what the three had said, especially after what he had seen in the Slaughter Space. The fighting between the Saint and Demon factions was too savage. In such a cruel struggle, humanity would certainly not be the one to profit.
Putting that aside, from a personal standpoint, Wang Meng had finally met people who knew a great deal. Perhaps they could answer some of his questions.
"Seniors, if that’s the case, since all Five Elements are strong within me, doesn’t that mean I’ll have more opportunities when I reach Minor Perfection?"
The Great Elder sighed. "As I’ve said, humanity’s strength lies in the use of tools; this has been true since our very origins. The Five Elements Body is good by the standards of the Demon Race, but by human standards, it is tragic. However, nothing is set in stone. The Five Elements Body is considered a type of Sacred Body, so you can try your luck."
The Second Elder glanced at Ma Tian’Er. "Young lady, your constitution isn’t bad either. Although you haven’t reached the point of manifesting a Holy Statue, you still have a chance. You can give it a try."
It seemed that in the eyes of the three Elders, Ma Tian’Er’s chances were even greater than Wang Meng’s. Wang Meng possessed the strongest constitution of the Demon Race, yet he was human. How to put it... he was talented, but his talent was a double-edged sword.
"Any other questions?"
The three Elders of the Celestial Secret Sect had an uncommon amount of patience; they seemed to genuinely enjoy talking with the two of them.
The Celestial Secret Sect might not have been the most powerful of the human Cultivation Sects, but in terms of Qimen Magic, they were absolutely peerless.
A power as great as the Star Alliance had tried to destroy them, yet they had managed to slip away undetected.
"Seniors, I’d like to ask, do the Middle Thousand World and the Great Thousand World exist?"
Wang Meng asked. If there was one question that had been constantly haunting his mind, this was it. He knew that many things were different, not just between his own Small Thousand Realm and the Great Yuan Realm.
The three couldn’t help but laugh. "Silly boy, you think these things are divided into small, medium, and large?"
The Great Elder was kind enough to elaborate. "The heavens and the earth are boundless. The Small Thousand Realm is but one part of it, and the Great Yuan Realm is just one type of place within it. As for the Middle Thousand World and Great Thousand World you mentioned, we’ve never heard of them. Perhaps they are the names of specific spaces."
"Thank you, Seniors. Have you ever heard the name Moo Shan?"
The three mulled it over for a moment. "We have not. Generally, if someone reaches Great Perfection and leaves their own Small Thousand Realm, we would know of them. We have no record of that name. Or perhaps he goes by another?"
"Thank you, Seniors. Tian’Er and I will consider your offer seriously."
Wang Meng and Ma Tian’Er bowed and took their leave. The doubt in Wang Meng’s heart grew even heavier. Right after he had inherited the Godhood was when Moo Shan’s memories were at their clearest. He remembered it distinctly: the Small Thousand World, Middle Thousand World, and Great Thousand World all existed. Wangtian himself was from the Great Thousand World.
’But why is it that even at this level, no one has heard of them?’
’Could the talk I heard in Tongming City about searching for a heaven-defier not have been about the Demon God Sect?’
Wang Meng’s head was spinning. The most terrifying part was that the timeline didn’t add up. If Moo Shan really went from a Small Thousand World all the way to a Great Thousand World, how much time would that have taken? He had met plenty of masters at the Great Perfection realm who had lived for hundreds of years without ascending. The problem was, the Thunder Ancestor Master still remembered Moo Shan.
Wang Meng was tying himself in knots. He felt like he was going crazy. He wasn’t one to usually get hung up on things, but when he did, he really went all in.
The young disciple outside the door seemed a little surprised. "You two, come with me."
He led them to a residence. "Don’t wander around. If you need anything, just ring the bell by the door."
Wang Meng sat in a chair and continued to think. Ma Tian’Er waited quietly by his side. In truth, she was also shocked. She felt that these matters were far beyond them, far beyond even the Holy Hall. The competition within the Four Directions Small Thousand World was already so intense, to say nothing of matters involving a behemoth like the Star Alliance.
Wang Meng wrestled with his thoughts. ’Could it be? Moo Shan, all of it... was it all just my imagination?’
Wang Meng cleared his head. ’First, the fragments of memory about Moo Shan and Wangtian are the clearest. What Moo Shan left behind before his death can’t be fake. Therefore, the Great Thousand World must exist, and that terrifying battle must have been real.’
’Second, Moo Shan was somewhat famous in the Four Directions Small Thousand World, but not widely known among the many Small Thousand Realms. And the timeline doesn’t match. Logically, Moo Shan should be a figure from about a thousand years ago, yet the Ancestral Master still remembers him.’
’Both things are true... then... the problem must be with time!’
’The Small Thousand World, the Middle Thousand World, and even the Great Thousand World... is the Law of Time the same across all of them?!’
’I’ve seen so many wondrous Small Thousand Realms, but their differences were all physical. Why couldn’t a transcendent law like this also be different?’
Time and space!
In other words, it’s possible that after ascending, one goes to a Middle Thousand World. It’s also possible that a Middle Thousand World is simply a more miraculous place than the Great Yuan Realm, and Moo Shan managed to get there through some fateful encounter.
