Chapter 268 - The Sealed Path and the Six Realms

Chapter 268: Chapter 268 - The Sealed Path and the Six Realms

By the time Su Bai finally reached the end of his account, the courtyard had become unusually quiet.

Lu Canghai had stopped stroking his beard a long time ago.

He sat across from Su Bai with one hand resting on the arm of his chair, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief and resignation.

For several breaths after Su Bai finished speaking, the old man said nothing.

He had expected Fallen-Star Sanctuary to contain dangers. He had expected ancient inheritances, forgotten formations, and perhaps remnants of forces that had disappeared from the cultivation world long ago.

He had not expected his disciple to casually encounter the remnants of Immortals, speak with them, interfere with matters they had left behind, and somehow return carrying their inheritances.

Lu Canghai eventually leaned back.

"Disciple."

Su Bai looked at him.

"You can even convince Immortals to do things your way."

Su Bai coughed lightly.

"Master, that is a rather misleading way to describe what happened."

Lu Canghai looked at him.

The amusement on his face gradually disappeared as he thought through everything Su Bai had told him.

His attention eventually returned to the sealed sources beneath Fallen-Star Sanctuary.

The strange masses of flesh that even Immortals had been unwilling or unable to destroy completely.

The corruption spreading from those things.

And above all, the fact that the path to Immortality had already been sealed for an age.

Lu Canghai’s eyes slowly narrowed.

"I think I understand why Yue Cangyu was so cautious."

Su Bai set down his cup.

Lu Canghai looked toward him.

"Those things you found beneath the Sanctuary... could they be connected to the sealing of the Immortal Path?"

Su Bai did not answer immediately.

The same possibility had occurred to him.

It was difficult not to make the connection.

Immortals had personally participated in sealing those creatures. Their remnants had remained behind long after their deaths, and the entire Sanctuary had eventually been isolated from the outside world.

"I considered it too," Su Bai said. "But none of the Immortals confirmed it."

Lu Canghai’s brows furrowed.

"They refused to tell you?"

"They avoided several subjects entirely."

Su Bai remembered those conversations clearly.

There had been things the Immortal remnants were willing to explain and other things they had deliberately left untouched.

The true reason behind the sealed Immortal Path had never been given to him.

Lu Canghai fell into thought.

"If those creatures were responsible..."

He stopped before finishing.

Su Bai understood why.

Even if their guess was correct, another question immediately followed.

"The sources are gone now," Su Bai said.

Lu Canghai nodded slowly.

"And yet the Immortal Path remains sealed."

Neither spoke for a while.

That was the part neither of them could explain.

If the sealed flesh masses had been the cause, destroying them should have changed something.

Lu Canghai exhaled heavily.

"For centuries, the old monsters nearing the end of their lifespans have searched for the reason."

His expression became unusually serious.

"Some spent everything they had. Some exhausted entire sect treasuries. Others disappeared looking for places that supposedly contained traces of the old Immortal Path."

Su Bai listened quietly.

"Yet none of them ever found a definite answer."

Lu Canghai glanced toward him.

"If what you discovered is truly connected, even indirectly, then this is not something we can allow to spread carelessly."

Su Bai nodded.

He had already reached the same conclusion.

Information like this could make ancient experts who had only years left to live abandon every remaining restraint.

For now, speculation was safer than certainty.

The two of them let the matter rest.

There was no point building an answer from questions neither could yet resolve.

Another subject had been sitting in Su Bai’s mind ever since his conversation with Yue Cangyu.

"Master, there is something else I wanted to ask."

Lu Canghai glanced at him.

"The Six Realms?"

Su Bai blinked.

Lu Canghai gave him a knowing look.

"If Yue Cangyu already told you about the Six Realms, then I assume he also mentioned the Great Fissure."

Su Bai nodded.

"He told me their names and some of what happened during the Great Fissure, but not much about the realms themselves."

Lu Canghai’s expression slowly changed.

The relaxed atmosphere around the courtyard faded.

He looked beyond the edge of Clear Cloud Peak for several moments.

When he spoke again, his voice had lost most of its earlier humor.

"The Great Fissure happened decades ago, but there are days I still remember more clearly than events from last year."

Su Bai remained silent.

He knew enough not to interrupt.

Many Radiant Sky Sect cultivators had died during that incident.

Lu Canghai had been there.

"Before I tell you anything," Lu Canghai said, "understand that I never traveled through all Six Realms."

Su Bai nodded.

"What I know came from what crossed through the Great Fissure, what little we saw beyond some of the passages, and what we learned while fighting alongside those who understood more than us."

Lu Canghai looked directly at him.

"So don’t treat my words as some complete record of the Six Realms."

"I understand."

Only then did Lu Canghai continue.

"The Human Realm is the one we inhabit. The others are the Deva Realm, Asura Realm, Animal Realm, Preta Realm, and Naraka Realm."

Su Bai had already heard those names from Yue Cangyu.

Lu Canghai began with the realm that had left the least unpleasant impression on him.

"The Deva Realm was... difficult to describe."

A strange look crossed his face.

"We learned most of what we knew from the Devas who crossed through the Great Fissure and spoke with us."

Su Bai’s interest sharpened.

"The inhabitants are called Devas. At least, that was what they called themselves when speaking with us."

Lu Canghai thought back for a moment.

"They looked close enough to humans that you would recognize them as people immediately, but the resemblance became less convincing once you stood near one."

"Why?"

"Their bodies were naturally saturated with spiritual power."

Lu Canghai shook his head.

"Even some of the younger Devas we encountered possessed foundations that would make human geniuses bitter. According to them, their realm was extraordinarily abundant. Spiritual energy was rich, natural treasures were common, and many resources we would fight over here were nothing particularly remarkable to them."

Su Bai’s expression became strange.

Being born into an environment like that already placed them far ahead of most human cultivators before cultivation talent even entered the equation.

That sounded unfair even by the standards of the cultivation world.

Lu Canghai seemed to understand what he was thinking.

"Their lives were comfortable as well. Most of the Devas we encountered had never known the sort of constant struggle humans consider normal. Their lifespans were long, their territories were stable, and large-scale conflict within their realm seemed uncommon compared with the others."

He paused before giving a dry laugh.

"Of course, comfort created its own problems."

Su Bai looked at him.

"Some of them were so accustomed to abundance that they had become remarkably indulgent. Others carried themselves as though being born a Deva already proved they were superior to every creature from the lower realms."

"So they were arrogant?"

"Very."

Lu Canghai stroked his beard.

"One Deva spoke to a Void-Shattering cultivator as though he were praising an unusually clever child."

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

"That cultivator tolerated it?"

"We needed the Deva’s help."

"That explains it."

Lu Canghai almost smiled.

"There were also Devas who had spent so long living comfortably that everything seemed to bore them. They could be temperamental, vain, easily offended, or obsessed with pleasures that seemed completely pointless to us."

His expression became more serious.

"But do not mistake any of that for weakness."

The amusement disappeared from his voice.

"Their starting point was simply too high. Even a Deva who had spent half his life doing nothing useful could possess a body and foundation that ordinary human cultivators would spend decades trying to achieve."

Su Bai slowly nodded.

That made much more sense than imagining an entire realm filled with perfectly disciplined celestial beings.

Their abundance had simply produced a different kind of civilization.

Lu Canghai’s expression darkened when he moved to the next realm.

"The Asura Realm was almost the opposite."

Su Bai leaned forward slightly.

"The inhabitants there are called Asuras. They were humanoid as well, although some possessed features that no one would mistake for human."

Lu Canghai’s eyes grew distant.

"What I remember most was not how they looked. It was how naturally they treated violence."

Lu Canghai sighed.

"Imagine generations being born into a place where conflict never truly ends. Territories change hands constantly. Strong clans consume weaker ones. Cities are rebuilt only to be destroyed again, and even during periods that they considered peaceful, someone was preparing for the next war."

Su Bai frowned.

A civilization raised under those conditions would inevitably develop differently.

"The Asuras we fought had frightening instincts," Lu Canghai continued. "They adapted quickly once combat began. Some techniques only worked properly against them once before they started changing their responses."

Lu Canghai’s expression became unpleasant.

"They respected strength above almost everything else. Arguments, laws, customs, even ownership meant very little to many of them if the person claiming those things could not defend them."

Su Bai could already imagine how negotiations had gone.

Apparently, Lu Canghai remembered them too.

"When the Great Fissure connected their side to the Human Realm, many Asuras saw our world and reached the same conclusion."

Lu Canghai glanced toward him.

"They wanted it."

Su Bai was silent for a moment.

"The entire Human Realm?"

"If they could have taken it."

Lu Canghai gave a humorless laugh.

"Compared with the environment they came from, our world looked almost luxurious. We have fertile land, functioning cities, sect territories that can remain intact for centuries, and resources that are not constantly being burned or seized in another war."

Su Bai finally understood.

To humans, their world hardly seemed peaceful.

Sects fought. Demonic factions raided territories. Clans destroyed one another over inheritances and resources.

Yet to a race raised in a realm where warfare had become part of ordinary life, even the Human Realm could resemble a paradise.

"The Asuras attempted to push through in force," Lu Canghai continued. "They did not care whether humans accepted them. To many of them, if we could not defend our own lands, then we had no right to keep them."

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

"Straightforward."

Lu Canghai rubbed his forehead.

"There are times when straightforward enemies are refreshing. That was not one of them."

Su Bai almost smiled, but something still bothered him.

"If they were that powerful, how did the Human Realm stop them?"

Lu Canghai looked at him.

"We didn’t."

Su Bai’s expression changed.

"The Devas did."

That answer caught him off guard.

Lu Canghai nodded slowly.

"Do not misunderstand. They did not suddenly fall in love with humanity."

That sounded more believable already.

"Many Devas looked down on humans as well," Lu Canghai continued. "To them, our lives were short, our resources were poor, and our cultivation foundations were crude compared with what they considered normal."

He gave a dry laugh.

"But they looked down on the Asuras far more."

Su Bai raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"To many Devas, the Asuras were violent, unrefined, and incapable of restraint. They considered them barbarians who solved everything by destroying whatever stood in front of them."

Lu Canghai’s gaze became thoughtful.

"Some Devas spoke about preserving the balance between the Six Realms. Others believed allowing the Asuras to conquer another realm would only make them more dangerous later."

His mouth curved slightly.

"And some of them simply seemed offended by the idea that the Asuras might successfully take something they wanted."

Su Bai stared at him.

"So part of the reason they helped us was pride?"

"For some of them, I suspect pride was doing a considerable amount of work."

Su Bai almost laughed.

That somehow made the Devas much easier to understand.

They had not defended the Human Realm because every Deva was benevolent.

Some genuinely wanted to maintain order.

Some recognized that unchecked Asura expansion would eventually become everyone’s problem.

Others simply despised the Asuras enough to oppose anything they tried to accomplish.

Whatever their motives, the result had been the same.

"They fought," Lu Canghai said.

His voice became quieter.

"And without them, the Great Fissure incident would have been far worse."

He fell silent for a moment, remembering battles from decades earlier.

"The Devas were among the few outsiders we encountered who could actually be reasoned with. Some fought beside human cultivators directly, although several made sure everyone around them understood just how generous they believed themselves to be."

Su Bai’s mouth twitched.

That sounded exactly like the sort of ally who saved your life and then reminded you about it for the next hundred years.

Still, compared with an invading army of Asuras, he supposed humanity had been fortunate.

One realm had been shaped by abundance so great that even arrogance and indulgence could flourish without weakening its people.

The other had been shaped by endless warfare until strength itself became the closest thing it had to law.

And when the Great Fissure connected them to the Human Realm, humanity had found itself trapped between both.

Yet Yue Cangyu had spoken of Six Realms.

Su Bai looked at his master.

"That still leaves three."

Lu Canghai’s expression changed.

The difference was immediate.

Whatever memories had accompanied his descriptions of the Devas and Asuras, what surfaced now was distinctly worse.

He leaned back and stared across the courtyard for several moments.

"The Asuras were dangerous," he said eventually. "But at least we understood what they wanted."

Su Bai’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"They wanted territory. They wanted resources. They wanted stronger opponents and a better place to live."

Lu Canghai’s fingers slowly tightened against the arm of his chair.

"The remaining three were much harder to deal with."

The last trace of lightness disappeared from the conversation.

Su Bai did not interrupt.

Lu Canghai’s gaze seemed to move somewhere far beyond Clear Cloud Peak.

"The Animal Realm was already troublesome enough."

He paused.

"But the Preta Realm and Naraka Realm..."

For the first time since Su Bai had begun asking about the Great Fissure, genuine unease appeared in his master’s eyes.

Lu Canghai slowly exhaled.

"Those were the places that made many of us wish the Great Fissure had never opened at all."