Chapter 194 - 143: Destiny
Lu Changfeng gestured to the surrounding flowers and vines. "Your true form is a bit large. What are you going to do with it?"
"That’s easy." Hua Chengyu’s body floated up, and he spread his limbs.
The surrounding vines seemed to answer some summons, swiftly surging toward Hua Chengyu’s body.
They plunged right into Hua Chengyu’s body. It was hard to imagine how such a small frame could absorb the massive true form of a Demon Race member.
A dozen or so breaths later, the vines in the underground space were Traceless, having all been absorbed into Hua Chengyu’s body.
Hua Chengyu floated down from the air and landed at Lu Changfeng’s side. "All done!"
Watching from the entrance, Hua Yuelou’s jaw dropped. He hurried over, his face alight with excitement. "Greetings, Hua Ancestor! I am Hua Yuelou, a junior of the Hua Family!"
Hua Chengyu nodded. "Not bad. You must have reached the Rebirth Realm of the Human Race. That makes you barely comparable to a weak member of the Demon Race."
"Thank you for the compliment, Ancestor!" Hua Yuelou replied.
Everyone in the Hua Family had the bloodline of the Floral Fiend, so it was appropriate for him to call Hua Chengyu "Ancestor."
"Father-in-law, why don’t you head back to the manor and keep Yiran and the others company? I still have a few questions for Hua Chengyu," Lu Changfeng said.
Hua Yuelou nodded at his words and promptly took his leave.
"Let’s find another place to talk. I have a lot of questions that I need you to answer," Lu Changfeng said.
Hua Chengyu spread his hands. "You’re the boss now. I’ll do as you say."
「A moment later.」
In a small courtyard of the Hua Mansion.
Lu Changfeng and Hua Chengyu sat facing each other.
"My first question is about the history of the Profound Realm. After the Ancient Era, why did the Demon Fiends go into hiding, and why did the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy decline so rapidly? As a member of the Ancient Demon Race, I assume you must know the historical reasons," Lu Changfeng began slowly.
Hearing this, Hua Chengyu nodded slightly. "The Grass and Wood Demon Race have very long lifespans. We do indeed know a bit more than you of the Human Race."
"Hmm, are you aware of the Chaos Celestial Number?"
Lu Changfeng shook his head decisively.
"Ahem. To put it simply, ever since the world was born from the primordial Chaos, it has had its own Lifespan, its own cycle of life and death. We call this the Celestial Number."
"The moment the world was born, it was at its absolute peak. The Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy was at its densest, giving birth to the three thousand strongest Chaos Demon Gods. Since then, the world has been in a state of perpetual decline from prosperity. This is a single cycle of the Chaos Celestial Number approaching its end."
"Once the world reaches its most fragile state, the Day Count will Reset and time will begin anew. Only then will things completely reverse, turning from decline back to prosperity. This is Chaos Reincarnation, the Chaos Celestial Number—the world’s own cycle of life and death."
Hua Chengyu’s words were concise, and Lu Changfeng understood immediately. The changes in Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy were a natural process of the world weakening, much like a person’s cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. It wasn’t caused by some crisis.
Knowing that the world could one day return to prosperity from its decline, many of Lu Changfeng’s worries faded away.
"So, when will the Day Count Reset and begin anew?" Lu Changfeng asked.
Hua Chengyu shrugged. "I am inside the Profound Realm right now. How could I possibly know what stage the ’Celestial Number’ has reached?"
"You’d have to go to the Great World—that is, the Outer Realm. Only there can we perceive the Celestial Number more directly."
Lu Changfeng’s brow furrowed. He had a vague inkling of the relationship between the Profound Realm and the Outer Realm, but he still asked, "Why is it impossible to perceive the Celestial Number from within the Profound Realm? And why is the world outside it called the Great World?"
Hearing this, Hua Chengyu now truly understood that the Human Race within the Profound Realm had completely lost its inherited knowledge about the concept of the world.
Or perhaps, certain interested parties did not want the Human Race in the Profound Realm to learn about the outside world, and so they had completely sealed off all information.
Hua Chengyu began his story from the very beginning.
Lu Changfeng listened intently, finally beginning to understand why the Human Race held supremacy in the Profound Realm, and why the Demon Fiends were in hiding.
The origin of the Profound Realm.
It all had to begin with the Ancient Era.
To the Human Race of today, the Ancient Era was still a supreme age, filled with abundant Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy, where Divine Beasts and Spiritual Medicines were commonplace.
But for the powerful experts who actually lived during the Ancient Era, the supreme age had already passed in their eyes.
For them, the only times truly fit for living belonged to the even more distant past, to prior Ancient Eras.
The Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy of their own Ancient Era was already insufficient for their needs.
Back then, the top experts of the Human Race had cultivation starting at the Spirit Condensation realm, and there were plenty of Earth Immortal Kings and Celestial Immortal Human Emperors among them.
As the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy declined further, a certain Human Emperor sensed the danger of his cultivation regressing. With his supreme power, he severed a piece of the Great World of the Ancient Times to form a small world.
He sealed this small world off from the Celestial Number of the Great World, thereby preventing the rapid decay of Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy. He then hid himself within the small world, intending to safely wait out the impending Day Count Reset.
This Human Emperor’s actions were emulated by numerous other beings.
Thus, three great Human Kings of the Human Race joined forces, using their supreme power to sever a realm from the Great World.
They sealed its connection to the Great World and named it the Profound Realm.
"Mmm, we of the Demon Race are powerful, to be sure, but we have little Talent for Martial Arts."
"Martial Arts are truly wondrous. A powerful Immortal Martial practitioner can actually sever a piece of the world!"
"Well, I learned in advance which region the three Human Kings were going to sever, so I hid there beforehand and concealed my aura."
"And so, after the severing was complete, I found myself inside the Profound Realm!"
"Thinking about it, I was privy to the inside story. Many members of the Human Race who originally lived in the region that became the Profound Realm probably have no idea they were disconnected from the Great World. Plus, if the three Human Kings didn’t publicize it, it’s only natural that the current Human Race is unaware of the Profound Realm’s connection to the Great World."
Hua Chengyu’s narrative gave Lu Changfeng a sense of sudden enlightenment.
He also formed an initial guess about the identity of the Giant Elephant Woman from underground. ’She... could she be one of the three Human Kings who severed the Profound Realm during the Ancient Times?’
"So you’ve been hiding under Qin City all these years?" Lu Changfeng asked, a little curious.