Chapter 109: Reunion
“In a single flower, there is a world; in a single leaf, there is also a world. These are all metaphysical sayings, not entirely accurate. Do we really think we can be inside a flower or a leaf? What we call flowers and leaves are actually artifacts refined by our ancestors with great divine powers, serving as gates to spatial fragments.”
Tang Thirty-Six said, “The larger and more stable a spatial fragment is, the harder it is to open a gate. It requires true great divine power to successfully refine an artifact. Only when we reach that stage can we say this is a small world, with its own master.”
Chen Changsheng thought this was indeed the case; the logic was easy to understand. Xuan Yuan Po had grown up in a wild mountain tribe and lacked knowledge in this area, nor did he have any relevant background. Listening to their conversation, he was very confused and scratched his head as he asked, “This place is so vast, how can it be called a small world?”
Tang Thirty-Six didn’t speak, because he too was actually stunned by the world before him, though he didn’t show it. Compared to this beautiful world, the small world in the Wen Shui residence didn’t even count as a thatched hut; they were completely different concepts.
Chen Changsheng asked, “This small world is so vast. I wonder whose it is.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at him as if he were an idiot and said, “Of course it’s His Holiness the Pope’s.”
Chen Changsheng came to his senses. Across the entire continent, the number of people with the divine power to control such a small world could be counted on one hand. Since this was the Li Palace, who else could it be?
“The opening of a small world is at the whim of its owner.”
Tang Thirty-Six looked at the celestial cranes in the sky and said with emotion, “For Her Highness Luo Luo to live here, it couldn’t be safer.”
If the Demon race still wanted to assassinate Luo Luo now, they would first need to kill His Holiness the Pope before they could enter this palace.
This was an impossible event, so Luo Luo was absolutely safe.
Chen Changsheng understood that Luo Luo living here was the most secure and prudent choice. But thinking that this was the Pope’s world, and that her ability to leave depended on another’s whim, made him somewhat uncomfortable. He felt this was no different from imprisonment.
Yet, recalling the assassination attempt at the National Academy that night months ago, he said nothing.
Entering that majestic and magnificent palace, climbing the stairs higher and higher, the view from their sight grew farther and farther. However, even after reaching the twentieth floor, they still couldn’t see the boundary of this world. Chen Changsheng was deeply awed, thinking that His Holiness the Pope was indeed one of the strongest on the continent.
More than ten other palaces loomed faintly in the distance.
Chen Changsheng looked at those palaces and vaguely sensed something was off. He walked over to Jin Yu Lu and quietly asked a couple of questions. Only then did he learn that many priests with illustrious merits and many powerful cultivators from the National Church were cultivating within His Holiness the Pope’s Green Leaf World.
He voiced his concern: “If the Demon race wants to harm Her Highness, it’s true they can’t break this world directly… but what if, among the National Church priests and cultivators who already lived in this world, there were Demon spies? How do we guard against that?”
“Which Demon spy could fool His Holiness the Pope’s discerning eye? Even that old villain Black Robe wouldn’t dare.”
The priest leading the way heard Chen Changsheng’s words and said solemnly.
Chen Changsheng said no more.
Soon, the group finally reached the topmost floor of the palace. On the flat, deck-like roof was a small courtyard. Inside and outside the courtyard walls, some bamboo was planted, looking lush and pleasing to the eye.
Knowing that Luo Luo lived in such a place made Chen Changsheng feel slightly better.
Jin Yu Lu escorted the three youths to the courtyard gate and stopped there. He looked at Chen Changsheng with a smile and said, “What that priest said probably can’t ease your worries. I only want to tell you this: I cannot take a single step into this small courtyard. So, are you still worried?”
Chen Changsheng knew that small worlds had what was called a “bearing capacity,” especially those very small spatial fragments. If a person entering the space possessed true essence exceeding a certain threshold, the spatial fragment would shatter, turning both the person and the space into nothingness.
But this courtyard was clearly within His Holiness the Pope’s Green Leaf World.
Why couldn’t Jin Yu Lu enter?
And if that were the case, wouldn’t it be even easier for the Demon race to assassinate Luo Luo? They could just send a disposable assassin?
Jin Yu Lu said, “Some worlds have too high a threshold, some have too low an eaves, some have too narrow a door.”
Chen Changsheng understood, because he recalled a concept from the Void Theory.
For some small worlds, if too much true essence entered, they would annihilate—this was the “eaves too low.”
For some small worlds, one couldn’t enter without reaching a certain cultivation level—this was the “threshold too high.”
For some small worlds, one couldn’t enter if they exceeded a certain cultivation level—this was the “door too narrow.”
For some small worlds, there were many rooms.
Space was always the most elusive thing, and the laws governing it were always the most complex and mysterious.
His Holiness the Pope’s Green Leaf World was clearly a world with “low eaves.” However, because the world was so vast, even with low eaves, it was enough to accommodate strong cultivators like Jin Yu Lu. But the places they had walked through earlier were only the courtyards.
And this courtyard on the rooftop was the true room of the Green Leaf World. The eaves of this bedchamber were even lower, so Jin Yu Lu couldn’t enter.
“Only those below the Penetrating Obscurity realm can enter,” Jin Yu Lu finally explained.
At this point, Chen Changsheng was completely at ease. As Luo Luo’s teacher, he was very confident that no one below the Penetrating Obscurity realm could threaten her.
Chen Changsheng and the other two entered the courtyard. They skirted two clumps of green bamboo and, before the bowing maidservants could rise, they saw Luo Luo.
Luo Luo was by the window, earnestly writing something with a brush and paper. Occasionally, she would furrow her slender brows or bite the end of the brush, looking very cute.
Seeing the corner of the paper lifted by the wind, Chen Changsheng knew she was writing cultivation notes as he had instructed before. Because the paper was still the kind he had found in the deepest cabinet of the library, each sheet bearing the seal of the National Academy.
Seeing this scene, his heart warmed slightly.
Luo Luo was just about to put the brush in her mouth when she suddenly sensed something. She turned to look, and the brush stopped at her lips.
“Ah!”
She cried out, threw the brush aside, and charged toward Chen Changsheng. Her white dress trailed a blur, fast as lightning, the air rumbling with a shocking momentum!
Tang Thirty-Six snapped back to reality, his face changing color. He quickly shoved Xuan Yuan Po aside and dodged away, leaving only Chen Changsheng in the open.
In the blink of an eye, Luo Luo had rushed from the window to in front of Chen Changsheng. Only then did she remember that if she didn’t slow down, her teacher might become the first innocent victim in history to die from a hug. Her small face instantly turned pale.
“Ah!”
Another cry, but this time it was a sharp shout of exertion.
The little girl stomped one foot on the ground. With a muffled *pa* sound, cracks like a spiderweb spread across the hard floor. A terrifying force radiated in all directions, making the entire palace seem to tremble, kicking up a great cloud of dust.
In the dimness, faint sounds of priests’ panicked inquiries could be heard from outside the courtyard.
Then came silence.
The dust gradually settled, and the room returned to clarity, though the green bamboo by the wall was a bit dirtier.
Chen Changsheng and Luo Luo stood facing each other.
Today, she wore a brimless hat with fine braids. Because she had run too fast, the braids had come undone, and her black hair lay like wild grass beneath the hat. Her face was flushed red from overexerting her true essence, making her look especially cute.
A long time passed.
“Greetings, Teacher.”
She performed the disciple’s salute properly, without missing a single detail.
She was still as small as when she was at the National Academy.
Chen Changsheng reached out and ruffled her head.
Luo Luo let out a silly laugh, stood on tiptoe, and rubbed the top of her head against his palm.
Chen Changsheng wiped the dust off her face.
Luo Luo giggled twice, stepped forward into his embrace, and rubbed her little face against his chest, back and forth. In no time, it was clean.
Xuan Yuan Po was used to such scenes. Though he still wasn’t accustomed to them, he knew he should stay silent.
Tang Thirty-Six had never seen this before. His mouth gaped wide, extremely wide.
His admiration for Chen Changsheng was now like the surging Luo River, or the endless Tan Stream.
Then he began to worry for Chen Changsheng—what would happen in the future?
Outside the threshold of the small courtyard, Lady Li’s expression was somewhat grim.
From the moment Luo Luo had thrown herself into Chen Changsheng’s arms, her hand gripping the courtyard gate had been trembling.
Jin Yu Lu just smiled and said nothing.
Lady Li walked toward the railing and gestured for him to follow.
Jin Yu Lu glanced at the courtyard gate, where the fingerprints were very clear and deep.
This was His Holiness the Pope’s Green Leaf World, and the palace’s material was exceptionally hard. For her to leave such deep fingerprints meant her emotions had been on the verge of eruption.
“We finally managed to take Her Highness away from him. Why did you bring him back again?”
Lady Li looked at him with worry and said, “Really, this absolutely cannot continue like this.”
Jin Yu Lu smiled and said, “It’s fine. They’re all good children.”
This was the rooftop, already deep in the clouds.
At the deepest part of the courtyard was Luo Luo’s room. Beside the door stood a few green seedlings, though it was hard to tell what kind of trees they were. Outside the window, clouds drifted by.
Luo Luo sat by the window, looking at the paper before her. The ink had dried, but it was clearly fresh, likely written overnight. Thinking of how kind her teacher was to her, she occasionally lost focus, not even seeing clearly what was written on the paper.
“Concentrate.”
Chen Changsheng was still the same as before. He and Luo Luo were close in age, and he was a youth himself, so he naturally didn’t put on airs of an elder or care too much about the dignity of a teacher. But when it came to cultivation and learning, he was always meticulous, sometimes even strict.
Thinking back, this was their first meeting since the night of the Green Vine Banquet.
He now knew that Luo Luo was the sole daughter of the White Emperor, but his attitude toward her remained unchanged.
Luo Luo liked her teacher this way. She hummed in acknowledgment and began to read seriously.
After an unknown amount of time, she finished reading the text on the paper. She looked up at Chen Changsheng, ready to receive his instruction.
“In the library, I found over four hundred examples of cultivators failing to break through to the Penetrating Obscurity realm. Of those, three hundred and thirty-two died, body and soul extinguished. The rest either went mad and eventually committed suicide, or were completely paralyzed, suffering worse than death. The risk is enormous. I can’t really help you directly, but I’ve done my best to summarize and organize the experiences of those before us. We may not know how to successfully break through, but we can at least avoid the mistakes our predecessors made. According to my statistics, the reasons for failure can be roughly divided into three categories and ninety-seven types…”
Chen Changsheng walked over to her, pointing at the words on the paper, and explained earnestly. Luo Luo listened attentively, nodding from time to time. The daylight was pale, white clouds drifted quietly outside the window, and green plants swayed gently by the door, as if they had returned to the National Academy.
(Called after-sales service; they said it would take three to five working days. I was speechless. Tonight, I’ll go to a classmate’s house to borrow a computer. If that doesn’t work, I might really have to buy a new computer, just to get through these days away from home. But no matter what, I’ll handle it. Everyone, rest assured. Also, I really like this chapter because it’s a reunion with Luo Luo. Those details are what I consider beautiful.)