The Seventh Elder's words made Xia Li's hair stand on end for no reason at all. A sense of terror chilled his limbs and sent cold racing up to the crown of his head.He ca from Earth, and for that very reason, he understood more clearly than most what the Seventh Elder's words truly implied.This was a thod of twisting observation itself, weakening the observer effect and gradually pulling out the anchors that fixed information in place, until the information vanished into nothingness...Put in plain language, it ant the death of cognition.He would watch with his own eyes as his existence was distorted and his personality disassembled, becoming a ghost with ever fainter presence. As quantum fluctuations continued, the informational gravity of his being would keep declining, until he could no longer resist the gravity of the true self and was forcibly pulled back into it.What a horrifying Dao art.The Heavenly Dao Computer itself would probably have to burn its calculation core until it smoked just to discover so possible route of solution."You seem to have understood. Good. Many so-called prodigies possess hearts loftier than the heavens and lives thinner than paper. They have never known what reverence ans.""Heaven and earth do not exist because of us, but the order of the world is born because of us. We are born within that order, and we die within that order. So...""Show reverence to the order of the world."The Seventh Elder reached out and slapped Xia Li's shoulder twice, heavily.This was Xia Li's first lesson before entering the Holy Land.Learn reverence.It was not a lesson everyone understood. Even many Holy Sons and Holy Maidens within the Holy Land might not comprehend what reverence truly was."How will the Holy Land treat ?"Xia Li asked his second question.Would the Holy Land use him like a dog?"How you treat the Holy Land determines how the Holy Land treats you. Tell , what do you think is the strongest open sche beneath heaven?""Please enlighten , Elder."Xia Li clasped his hands together in a formal salute."Very simple. Sincerity.""What?"For a mont, Xia Li genuinely thought he had heard wrong.Taiyi Holy Land, which had just coerced him, threatened him, and forced a marriage alliance on him, actually still had the nerve to speak of sincerity?"When your parents brought you into being, did they ask for your consent? Do you love them? Do they love you? Have you ever regretted being born? Have misunderstandings ever arisen between you? Would you forgive them? It is as simple as that."For most people, the very first reward they ever touched in life ca from the sincere love of their parents.So people perhaps had not known that, but that did not change the fact that, for most, it was true.That sincerity alone was enough to erase all doubt over one's own birth.Next ca the instinct to survive.And after that, attachnt to beautiful things."So the Holy Land intends to have be born a second ti?"At this point, Xia Li finally understood the Holy Land's open sche.Taiyi Holy Land would not mistreat him in the slightest. It would give him equal care, or even greater care.And thus prodigies gave their hearts to it."A second birth? Not a bad way to put it. Those words strike directly at the core of it. So then, as a good child of the Holy Land, do your best to satisfy the Holy Land."The Seventh Elder patted Xia Li's shoulder once more. After saying that, he smiled and left.Xia Li watched his retreating figure and thought to himself that a Holy Land truly was a Holy Land.Under this sort of indoctrination, those of the Holy Land would return their hearts to it completely, just as children naturally devoted themselves to their parents.But there were, in this world, children who defied their parents.There were those born bad, who would murder wife and child alike.Would he be one of those innately rotten seeds?Perhaps.Sincerity was indeed a killing move.But it was useless against one who felt no attachnt and no tenderness.Xia Li leaned against the railing of the high platform and admired the surging clouds high in the sky, his thoughts running in many directions until ti slipped away unnoticed.He did not know how long had passed.The sun had set, night had descended, and a full moon ringed by luminous bands now hung in the sky.It was Xia Li's first ti seeing the moon of the Profound World so clearly.The moon here resembled Saturn, circled by beautiful rings. It shone with clean brilliance and bore no visible craters. Xia Li even suspected the moon of the Profound World had an atmosphere.The Profound World...If described using Earth's view of the cosmos, it might better be called the Profound Planet, or the Profound Spirit Planet.Then the moon he was looking at now could be called Profound Moon One.And what then did the star around which the Profound Planet revolved look like? What form did the other planets in this stellar system take?
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If one were to travel between stars, how many light-years lay between the Profound World and Earth?If one could see Earth from here, would one be seeing scenes from Earth's long-ago past?Suddenly...Xia Li felt warmth on the back of his hand.He lowered his head and looked to the side, only to discover that Lingying had co to stand beside him.Lingying was resting her hand lightly on the back of his and giving him a gentle smile. In contrast to the cold expression she had worn during the day, she seed to have regained emotion under the night sky."Are you also interested in what lies beyond the heavens?""Moderately interested..."Xia Li nodded. As one of humanity, whether the humanity of five hundred years ago or that of the present day, curiosity toward the cosmos was almost instinctive."Is that so? I too am interested in all things beyond the heavens. The legends say that all immortals and gods ca from outside the sky, and that we are their descendants. But if that is true, then why did the immortals and gods attack us?""I don't know."There was too little information. Xia Li could not even manage a real guess. All he knew was that immortal civilization truly had attacked the Profound World.Lingying fell silent for a mont, then lifted her hand and pointed toward the stars above."That is Dawnfall Star. It appears before and after the turning of day into night, much like the moon. That is Seven-Cry Star. Once every seven years it draws a little closer to us. That is Pole-Sun Star, the herald of the great sun, attendant forever at its side...""That is Fire-Walker Two. At the start of every sumr, it forms the Great Sumr Triangle with Fire-Walker One and Fire-Walker Four. That is Soaring Dragon Hai, which becos especially prominent in early autumn...""That is Sky-Impact Elephant. Beside it there once existed Sky-Impact Glory. Two thousand years ago, the light of Sky-Impact Glory once illuminated the whole night sky, but afterward it vanished from the heavens. Tell , why would Sky-Impact Glory disappear? Can stars die as well?"Lingying explained the stars of the night sky to Xia Li, and in doing so she made him realize that the Profound World also possessed its own study of celestial phenona.But among this vast canopy of stars, which one of them was the star called the Sun?"Stars naturally age as well. Like a dying flash of returning brilliance, before they grow old and go dark, they erupt with the fiercest light of all. By the ti we see that light, the star itself has already long since died. That radiance is only its lingering afterglow."That was Xia Li's explanation, spoken without much concern for whether Lingying could fully understand it."So what people call star-glory is not a star shifting through the sky, but an ancient star reaching the end of its road?"After saying that, Lingying drew a deep breath without thinking.It was a claim she had never heard before, and yet for so reason she felt Xia Li was not speaking nonsense.Perhaps Xia Li understood the starry heavens beyond more deeply than those great powers who had truly ventured outside the sky.Then she pointed to another bright star."That is Lingying Star, the source of my dao title. It is my favorite star. Recently it has been growing ever brighter. It is no longer a faint glimr. I believe a star-glory is near, or perhaps has already occurred.""I wonder whether it or I will remain longer in this world..."Lingying looked at the night sky with utter seriousness, the stars reflected in her cool silver eyes. A few strands of hair had co loose under the evening wind, so she lifted a hand and tucked them gently behind her ear.Then, because Xia Li happened to be watching her, she tilted her head slightly and gave him a small smile."In worldly legend, Lingying Star is said to be a star of bewildernt. It is said that only the bewildered can find it.""In the past its radiance was dim. People with clear goals probably did not have the leisure to stare at the night sky long enough to notice it. Now its radiance has grown splendid. Does that an everyone is bewildered? Or that this is simply an age of bewildernt?""Then if it goes dark, will people finally walk out of that bewildernt altogether?""If that is so, would you still like Lingying?"She was asking whether Xia Li liked that star which represented bewildernt.Xia Li had no answer.Would he like Lingying?If he did, then would that not an he would remain lost forever? After all, it was the Star of Bewildernt."I... I don't know."Xia Li felt confused."Then whether you like it or not, while it still hangs in the night sky, look at it a few more tis. After all, it is a star that might vanish at any mont."After saying that, Lingying softly humd a quiet, peaceful tune and left.Xia Li remained behind, carefully studying the night sky of this alien world.[Heaven Chip, record the night sky.][Recording complete. Stored in database.]
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