Broader Sky

Above the high clouds... they flew above cities, farms, mountain ranges, and anything below the sky. The old taoist speed was faster than the sound, but Yang Wu didn't feel any discomfort.

"Are you wondering where we are going?" the old taoist asked as he drank from a gourd he had taken from somewhere.

"Yes," Yang Wu nodded.

"First you need to know the place you were to begin with," the old taoist began to explain, "This place is called a Secret Realm, a hidden place exclusive to our Sect, and the only way to enter and exit is through a space portal located in the center of the land."

Yang Wu was surprised, it was the first time since his first life that he heard about so many unknown things in such a short time.

As if reading Yang Wu's doubts without even needing to ask, the old man explained further, "A Secret Realm is an isolated world from the outside. In other words, a closed box or cage.

"It can function as an entire world even without being one, and can contain living beings."

Yang Wu was deeply shocked by this, he never heard of anything like this, and never even imagined it. His expression showed deep shock.

"Hehe, this is only the tip of the 'new world' I said I will show you," the old taoist laughed again and continued to drink, this time in silence.

Yang Wu also took his time to calm his emotions and accept reality. He was once an old monster after all, and even lived more than two lives, so it didn't shake his heart unreasonably.

"Pardon me," Yang Wu gathered the courage to ask, "Can I ask how did you find me?"

The world, even that caged world, was so big, wasn't it just too much of a coincidence for Yang Wu to be found by a wandering 'immortal cultivator?'

"That's an interesting thing!" the old man suddenly slapped his tight, "I didn't mean to seek a disciple for the sect in this place, but was seeking a special Mystic Beast exclusive to this Secret Realm."

"Mystical... Beast?" Yang Wu was even more confused, what did he have to do with a "Mystical Beast?"

Seeing the "young" man's doubts, the old taoist patiently explained, "A mystical beast or mystical creature is a being with great strength, comparable to cultivators.

"And if you haven't got it already, a cultivator is someone like the almighty me!" he laughed again, not missing the chance to drink more from the bottomless gourd.

"Anyway, I was also seeking a beast, but it is simply too sneaky to be caught by my Soul Sense, so I had to use this tool," he showed a silver-colored small mirror to Yang Wu and explained.

"This tool can give directions to beings with innately strong bodily energy, such as any mystical beast," he said and massaged his beard, "But I really didn't expect it would actually lead me to a human."

Yang Wu finally understood things, he was actually worried the old taoist or someone behind him had something to do with his many lives. But he still didn't fully trust him either.

'A Martial Conqueror... or someone with equivalent strength, is far from being capable of giving me extra lives, so the probability of him being behind this is low,' Yang Wh thought in his heart and showed no expression.

"We arrived!" the old man said and controlled the spear to slow down and approach the ground, they arrived at a high mountain with an ice coating.

"Peak Master!" a middle-aged man in white clothing greeted them while flying on a sword, he gave Yang Wu stronger pressure than the old taoist.

'A Martial Grand Master?' Yang Wu wondered, he knew that a stronger pressure sometimes meant less control over one's strength, and the middle-aged man was acting humble in front of the old taoist, which probably meant his status was lower.

"Little Root!" the old taoist grinned and tapped Yang Wu's shoulders "Look at what I found in this forsaken place!"

"Can the Hidden Mystery Tortoise actually transform into human form?" the middle-aged man asked while observing Yang Wu.

"Fool!" the old taoist cursed, "This is no beast! He is a human just like you!"

"Huh?" the middle-aged man looked at Yang Wu with disbelief, "You are a human?"

'Fuck you!' Yang Wu cursed in his heart but showed a warm smile.

"I'm Yang Wu, a small person from below," he showed humility and had no qualms in lowering his head.

"Damn!" the middle-aged man let a curse out, "Are you someone with that kind of constitution?"

"That's right!" the old taoist answered in Yang Wu's place, " He seems to have a Five Elements Mystery Body, but we need to test it more to be certain."

"It explains his overflowing bodily energy!" the middle-aged man nodded, "He feels like a beast rather than a human."

Yang Wu controlled his curses and confined them in his heart, but he sure would remember those things.

"Unfortunately, he has no mystical roots, but I guess that's how things work under the skies," the old man shook his head with regret, "One can't have everything, but he has enough base talent to at least reach the Foundation Establishment Realm by himself, and even the Gold Core Realm if he possess enough luck."

"What a pity," the middle-aged man also felt regret but quickly recovered his bearing, "What do you plan to do with him?"

"Well..." the old taoist looked deeply into Yang Wu's eyes, scaring him a little, " I guess I will accept him as my personal disciple."

"I see..." the middle-aged man nodded, as if it was a normal thing, but then reacted, "Wait, what did you say?"

"Are you deaf?" the old taoist asked back.

"I guess so!" the middle-aged man nodded without a hint of irony in his voice and expression, "For a moment I thought I heard you would accept him as your direct disciple."

The old taoist looked at the man with meaningful eyes and said nothing. After a few seconds, the middle-aged man cursed.

"Fuck! You are really accepting him?"

"Careful with your words!" the old tapist's eyes narrowed and a sudden strong wind knocked the man off his sword.

"I'm sorry!!" he shouted but was carried far away by the wind.

"Don't mind him," the old taoist said and drank more from the gourd, "Do you want a bit of my wine?"

"No," Yang Wu shook his head, "Thanks for your offer."

The old taoist looked at him with deep eyes and said, "Even though I know you aren't living your first life?"

"I actually felt a bit thirsty!" Yang Wu's reaction was fast and he quickly gulped a mouthful of the wine in the gourd, it was just common wine, but he felt the need to calm his emotions.

"Kekekkeke!" the old taoist laughed, "But don't be afraid, I truly have no ill intentions."

Yang Wu hesitated for a moment but still asked, "Does Master know why I'm living another life?"

The old tapist laughed even harder than before, coughing in the process, "You are funny! But yes! I think I understood your situation!"

Yang Wu's grasp on the gourd tightened and he waited for the explanation.

"Seeing you have no memories from your past life, I'm sure you are someone who reached the same Realm as me but ultimately failed to break through to the next Realm," the old taoist tone was full of melancholy as he explained his belief.

'Wait... no memories?' Yang Wu suddenly got a question mark on his mind, but he didn't correct the taoist's mistake.

"In this world, there are those things called Realms, they are divisions of power between us, immortal cultivators," the old taoist explained further, "And as long as someone reaches the Nascent Soul Realm, he has the opportunity to live again even if his body is destroyed!"

"Is Master at the Nascent Soul Realm?" Yang Wu asked, but he never truly accepted the old taoist as his Master.

"No!" the old talist shook his head, "I'm a step behind!"

"A Half-Step Nascent Soul?" Yang Wu unconsciously muttered and then noticed his mistake.

The old man looked at him profoundly and muttered, "It seems the traces of your past life are still kicking somewhere in your soul, perhaps one day you will regain your memories, perhaps..."

Yang Wu cursed himself in his heart. It was just that he suddenly remembered that in his first life, there were stages between Martial Realms, they were called half-step this or that.

"But how does Master know I have a past life?" Yang Wu asked with a puzzling voice.

"Hehe," the old man pointed to the moon in the sky, it was full and bright, outshining any star.

"..." Yang Wu's thought was that the old taoist noticed his intent when he was practicing in the woods.

"The only way to reach the Half-Step Nascent Soul Realm is to..." the old taoist explained, "Develop a concept! And in this Realm, one has a very small chance of living again after death, although not as smoothly as someone fully in the Nascent Soul Ream."

'Concept...?' Yang Wu quickly noticed it was the way people called intent in that world.

"By developing a concept, one is bound to reach the Nascent Soul Realm!" the old man massaged his beard with a smile, "They only need enough resources and time!"

Yang Wu's eyes got gloomy for a split of second, he suddenly remembered the reason he couldn't go past the Martial Sage Realm in his first life, lack of resources. He developed his intent and had the qualifications to advance to the next Realm, but he lacked enough energy to break through.

The old Taoist noticed his gloom and muttered, "It seems your remnant emotions are rather strong, huh?"

"Is this a problem?" Yang Wu asked after taking a deep breath, he was worried he would be ostracized.

"On the contrary!" the old taoist's eyes widened, "The more you remember, the better! I can't wait to see the faces of my peers when my disciple surpasses theirs!"

Yang Wu closed his eyes and held a strange expression back, he began to understand this old taoist was truly as eccentric as he showed.

"I won't explain everything to you now," the old taoist changed the topic, "It's quite late by now, but let's exchange proper greetings, my given name is Yu Jing."

"Disciple is named... Yang Wu," he hesitated for a little while before deciding to use his true name, the name he received from his parents in his first life.

"Yang for?" Yu Jing asked with sudden interest.

"Yang for Yang, my parents were illiterate," Yang Wu shook his head, "Wu is the same."

"Were they still alive?" Yu Jing asked, "Do you want to see them before leaving?"

"..." Yang Wu didn't answer immediately and thought about the unknown whereabouts of Yin Kong, "I hope our fates will cross again, in the future." But he knew Yin Kong and Wu Chen were probably dead.

"That's fine," Yu Jing patted on his shoulder, "I just hope you won't keep any regrets."

"..." Yang Wu stayed silent, not showing his true feelings.

"Tsk," Yu Jing clicked his tongue and pointed with his fingers, Something like a web began to appear in Yang Wu's field of vision, it covered the whole sky.

"That's the Transportation Formation, I just activated it," Yu Jing explained, "I know you have many questions and don't even know what a 'Formation' is, but let's first go back to the sect. We have yet to establish an official master-disciple relationship."

Yang Wu had complicated feelings in his heart, but if he needed to climb that branch to go to a broader world, he wouldn't hesitate.

"The Sect I'm part of is called 'Broad Sky Sect,'" Yu Jing said with a smile as the world around them began to blur, "I guess it's really fated with you, kekekeke."

Yang Wu couldn't help but smile as well, his heart began to beat a little faster.

He looked at the blurring world around him and thought of the many memories he built there, 'Two lives... No.

'It was one life and a half.'