Chapter 453: First Hearing of Tian Shi Yuan

This mode of communication felt utterly novel to Li Yuan; though it was clearly none of the languages he knew, he understood it perfectly, as if it were his mother tongue.

Hmm, this Mirage Dragon's spiritual awareness is indeed sufficient, but its brain seems not quite sharp.

Such was the evaluation that flashed through Li Yuan's mind.

"No, that's wrong. You, you are a 'human'!"

The Mirage Dragon seemed to have just woken from a hangover, somewhat disoriented and dizzy; sensing the connection between itself and Li Yuan, it stammered, yet also felt indignant.

Its will-voice turned shrill, as if violated: "You, you stole, stole my bloodline, thief,

bandit, robber..."

Good heavens.

The Mirage Dragon's voice was shrill to the extreme; Li Yuan felt his head as large as a bucket and couldn't help but squeeze his hands with force: "Shut up!" "Ah, thief..." The scream cut off abruptly.

Li Yuan steadied his spirit; the Mirage Dragon's will fell silent, as if re-evaluating their relationship, its voice becoming cautious: "You, who are you?"

"You think first about what happened."

Li Yuan remained very calm.

"What happened..."

The Mirage Dragon murmured, its tensed spirit spinning rapidly.

"I, I was pursued by disciples of the Poison Dragon Academy... strayed into a strange place, fell, fell from the sky, such a huge wind, such a terrifying temple..."

"Such a huge fire hammer, fire..."

"Hmm!"

Li Yuan's spirit jolted; he focused his mind and listened intently.

At this moment, the Mirage Dragon's greatest expectation was the Realm Beyond the Heavens; after all, in legend, the main material of this whip was a Mirage Dragon that fell from the sky.

Now it seemed the legend was actually true.

Poison Dragon Academy, strange place, that temple—it was the Eight Directions Temple! "Ah!"

The Mirage Dragon's voice turned shrill, furious: "I, my physical body, my body was refined into a whip!"

"Ah!"

The Mirage Dragon cried out, seemingly unable to accept it at all, its voice growing ever more shrill.

"Shut up!"

Li Yuan couldn't hold back; this sound was truly like demonic music; he couldn't bear it, feeling his vision go dark before his eyes.

"I, I..."

The Mirage Dragon's voice trembled; it never expected that upon opening its eyes, it would be left with only a wraith.

She felt she had suffered an unparalleled humiliation: "This Young Lady's royal bloodline was refined into just such a broken whip, a broken whip..."

"And a little female dragon at that."

Li Yuan endured for a while; mainly, this little female dragon seemed on the verge of collapse, so he figured it was better to let her vent.

The little female dragon collapsed for a long time before finally managing to calm down: "Human, what is your name?"

"Li Yuan, master of the Mirage Dragon Belt."

Li Yuan answered, clarifying his identity, mainly to make this little female dragon face reality.

"... Mas, master!"

The little female dragon nearly lost her mind but held back; mainly, those hands possessed astonishing strength; this was a brute warrior.

"Not bad."

The little female dragon fell silent again; her spirit fluctuated violently; after a while, she calmed down: "I, I am called Mirage Infant, descendant of the Mirage Dragon King's bloodline; I met disaster and fell here. If you can help me, help me reshape my body, then I can take you with me to Tian Shi Yuan!"

Already drawing a pie in the sky...

Li Yuan inwardly scoffed, but it didn't stop him from asking: "The name Tian Shi..."

"Uh, hmm."

The little female dragon then remembered this was a native, who probably didn't know what Tian Shi Yuan was at all.

But how to explain it?

She thought for a moment: "It's just, it's just..."

"The Realm Beyond the Heavens?"

Li Yuan prompted, his mind wandering.

This was the first time he clearly knew the name for the Realm Beyond the Heavens.

"Yes, yes yes, it is the Realm Beyond the Heavens!"

The little female dragon felt it was fitting: "As long as you help me reshape my body, I will not only take you to Tian Shi Yuan but also give you a sum of Yuan Fire."

"Yuan Fire?"

Li Yuan's heart stirred; the Ji Shen Pian mentioned Yuan Fire many times; this seemed to be an essential item for the Ji Shen ritual. "Yuan, Yuan Fire."

The little female dragon felt a bit of a headache; she, she had never dealt with such a native before; how should she explain it? Mainly, her mind was in a mess.

"Where the heart turns, belief gathers; over time, it becomes 'Fire'. One hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years constitute 'One Yuan'; combining the two yields 'Yuan Fire, Seventh-Grade Incense'."

Li Yuan's heart trembled slightly.

The Little Biography of Incense recorded that a devout believer, over one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years, would obtain a single strand of Seventh-Grade Incense, which matched what this little female dragon said.

"One hundred strands make one thread, and to sacrifice to that Poison Dragon God, one time requires one hundred threads of Yuan Fire, that is, ten thousand strands of Seventh-Grade Incense."

Li Yuan sucked in a cold breath; for him, this was simply an astronomical number.

"You, you know Yuan Fire?"

Sensing Li Yuan's reaction, the little female dragon felt joy in her heart: "If you help me, once we return to Tian Shi Yuan, I will give you one... ten threads of Yuan Fire!"

"Descendant of the Mirage Dragon King's bloodline, worth only ten threads of Yuan Fire?"

The little female dragon's heart tightened — she'd run into a toad who, though small, had a big mouth.

"You, you know how precious Origin Fire is… ah—"

Her voice cut off abruptly. Golden light flickered in the room as a blaze of it rose from Li Li Yuanzhong's palm — not just seventh-rank, but eighth-rank incense fire as well.

Though it was only a flash, the little female dragon naturally caught sight of it. She stammered: "Y-you actually have Origin Fire?!"

She was stunned!

What the heart asks for, belief gathers without difficulty — but the method to channel Origin Fire is rarely circulated even in Tian Shi Yuan. And here, in this place, someone could actually channel Origin Fire!

A chill crept into her heart. She thought of that ancient temple that had struck her down from the clouds — could it have an owner? "Origin Fire or not, let's set that aside for now."

Painted cakes — Daoist Li Li Yuanzhong never ate them. After stowing the Origin Fire, he began asking about the Heaven Beyond Heaven, or rather, Tian Shi Yuan.

"Tian Shi Yuan — the place where the stars gather. You, do you know what the stars are?"

The little female dragon didn't know how to explain.

But contrary to her expectations, this little native actually nodded: "I know."

"You know?"

"I know."

"Fine then."

The little female dragon was half-believing, half-doubting — she'd just take it that he knew.

"The place where the stars gather — and then what?"

Li Li Yuanzhong was very curious about the Heaven Beyond Heaven, and the name Tian Shi Yuan reminded him of his past life.

The ancients of his past life had named the constellations. Tian Shi Yuan — as the name suggests — was like a celestial marketplace…

He figured the place might not be the same, but the meaning was probably similar. After all, through all their exchanges, what he heard was his mother tongue. His mother tongue was not the official speech of the Dayun dynasty.

"Th-then… the place is very big, there are lots of people, and there are, there are lots of, sects, academies."

This kind of explanation.

Li Li Yuanzhong felt as though he were listening to a little girl who'd run away from home, stammering out her own address — she herself probably didn't even know "how big Tian Shi Yuan is."

"Very big, very big."

"Who does Tian Shi Yuan belong to?"

"Tian Shi Yuan doesn't belong to anyone… um, the Five Great Grotto-Heavens, I guess."

"Grotto-Heavens?"

Li Li Yuanzhong gave a slight start — the word felt terribly familiar to him.

In the Daoist scriptures, grotto-heavens referred to the dwelling places of immortals. The moment he heard it, his heart stirred.

But he still restrained himself and asked: "What is a grotto-heaven?"

"A grotto-heaven is the stars."

The little female dragon was starting to panic. The more this little native asked, the more it felt like being questioned by an elder.

"The stars, grotto-heavens… just another name for the constellations."

Li Li Yuanzhong's thoughts drifted, and a strong interest in the Heaven Beyond Heaven welled up in him. This grotto-heaven — it sounded like something a cultivator would name.

"What are the Five Great Grotto-Heavens?"

Li Li Yuanzhong asked.

"Boatman Sea, Martial Immortal Gate, Demonic Qianshan Qilin Court, Mystic Toad Academy, Venom Dragon Academy."

The little female dragon was distracted. She was

somewhat desperate, and somewhat at a loss. Without a physical body, she simply couldn't communicate with Laozu Sect.

"Venom Dragon, Mystic Toad, Ink Qianshan Qilin, Boatman…"

Li Li Yuanzhong digested what he'd learned. It matched the outer gods recorded in that Ji Shen Pian left behind by Cang Huang Longzi.

"O-outer gods?"

Hearing Li Li Yuanzhong's question, the little female dragon fell silent for the first time. She even glanced cautiously around before answering: "Gods must not be named. I, I don't know too much either… I only know that gods can dwell in You Jing, and their lifespans stretch on and on."

"You Jing?"

The little female dragon wished she could slap herself — the more she answered, the more there was, and she simply couldn't finish.

"You Jing is everywhere, and connects to everything."

Sighing inwardly, the little female dragon no longer cared whether he could understand: "Legend has it that within You Jing there is endless creation, and endless danger. You Jing covers the stars — only by passing through You Jing can one traverse the stars and travel between the grotto-heavens."

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This little royal-blood female dragon was very cooperative — clearly well-versed in the principle that when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Whatever was asked, she answered.

Li Li Yuanzhong focused, committing her words to memory one by one — true or false aside.

But alas, what this little female dragon knew was truly not much, or perhaps she was holding things back. Before long, she'd been squeezed dry.

Her understanding of the Five Great Grotto-Heavens and Tian Shi Yuan wasn't deep, and as for You Jing, all she knew was those couple of sentences.

Ask more, and it was just "I don't know."

"Then you…"

"Stop asking. I don't know, I don't know."

The little female dragon was getting frantic. This little native asked too many questions. Her mind was a mess — she just wanted some peace and quiet.

"If you don't know, then forget it."

Li Li Yuanzhong had originally wanted to ask about the other outer gods in the Ji Shen Pian — mainly those sharing names with the Jiu Da Fa Lords of the Xieshen Sect.

But seeing she didn't want to answer, he naturally didn't press her, and casually tossed her into the Weapon Registry.

"Phew!"

Li Li Yuanzhong was no longer sleepy. He rose and went out, pacing the courtyard, digesting what he'd just learned, his heart stirring wave after wave.

"A blessed grotto-heaven, the dwelling of immortals."

He lifted his head to gaze at the sky, where four great moons shone with radiant splendor, and Li Yuan wished he could fly up there to take a look.

"Judging by the distances between celestial bodies in my past life, even if Tian Shi Yuan is just beyond the heavens, I'd never reach it flying until I died of old age, let alone with gravity to deal with…"

He looked at the sky, then at the ground, and Daoist Li's heart was a tangle of feelings.

That night, he tossed and turned, only drifting off in a daze when the sky had already brightened, and even had the rare experience of dreaming.

In the dream, he stepped upon a beam of divine light, and before the gaze of countless onlookers, Daoist Yu Hua ascended in broad daylight, taking his sister-in-law's family, Little Mouse, the little tiger cub… and then, the dream ended.

"Hah!"