To Cripple One's Own Students

Once they were all within the stairway, the stone slid over it and sealed it shut. Before they could revel in the darkness for long enough to adjust, a tiny snake materialized, emitting light. It slithered around Logean Wuji's arm, then coiled itself up in his palm.

After that, he started walking down. They all followed behind him, varying levels of excitement and worry. Ji Tianshan kept glancing at the light-emitting snake as her eyes widened in realization; this could not escape Logean Wuji's perception.

"What is it, Tianshan?"

Being suddenly brought out of her daze caused her to yelp and grab her brother's hand, surprising him as well. "Ah? Well, it's probably just another stupid story..."

"It's fine. Ask."

"Well, Sir Wuji-"

"From now on, call me Master or Teacher. In case you did not realize, you all are now students of mine."

"Mm! Well, the thing is... I wanted to know if that snake is the same one that was said to be long enough to wrap around the entire realm."

Logean Wuji seemed pleasantly surprised to hear this; it was an actual accurate story. "Yes indeed, it is- though this is a minor manifestation."

Saying this, he moved his arm over in her direction. The glowing serpent coiled in his hand raised its head and looked over at Ji Tianshan with an intelligent gaze, then nodded slowly.

"He doesn't quite like his name; you can call him Jormy-Worm. He prefers that one for... sentimental reasons..."

The snake appeared a wee bit offended by this, but it soon calmed itself and placed its head back onto its coiled body. Though the eyes did not close, Ji Tianshan could tell that the snake was no longer interested in her. She decided to continue probing since this was the only story she had gotten right so far.

"Is it true that Jormy-Worm was once attacked by a drunkard with a hammer?"

At the mere mention of that 'drunkard' the snake's body twitched.

"It is."

"Is it also true that the drunkard in question rose to power with his hammer because he once had the opportunity to observe Sir- Master- hammering a nail?"

Logean Wuji opened his mouth but was almost unable to respond. "I- W- You see- That is true but, the story is a lot more complicated than that, Tianshan."

Even so, Ji Tianshan was completely satisfied with his answer. She hummed a happy tune and skipped down the stairs, content with life and her existence.

Ye Zhiyuan had been surreptitiously moving over to Pixie. Once she was close enough, she decided to strike up a conversation. Eying the heather strands that seemed to glide as she walked, Ye Zhiyuan decided to ask, "Is that your natural hair color?"

Pixie, who was not expecting the question, was a bit flustered before she could respond.

"It is. I used to dye it, but I decided to just... be myself."

Ye Zhiyuan smiled, "Well good. It complements your eyes. Oh- I'm Ye Zhiyuan."

Ye Zhiyuan extended her hand with a warm, inviting smile. She was doing her best to be friendly and, frankly, it worked. Pixie took her hand and gave it a feeble shake, but Ye Zhiyuan took over and gave a few firm shakes that seemed to wake up the nerves in Pixie's.

"I'm Pixie Prunes, but just Pixie is fine."

"Ah, Zhiyuan is fine as well- if you want."

The two shared a smile, their conversation evoking a secret chuckle from Logean Wuji. He had to admit to himself that, though he could not help eavesdropping, it was nice to be able to spectate wholesome moments like this. He felt like he was in his own world watching reality TV.

Soon, they had arrived at a wall. On it was an emblem carved into the rock; a dazzling array of multi-colored jewels and paints brought it to life. Looking closely, it became harder and harder to tell exactly what it was that the emblem was depicting.

"Master, is this the entrance?" Ye Zuliao stepped forward, licking his lips unconsciously.

It was as if he could taste a wide variety of energies that had eluded him all his life, thus his greed induced a temporary insanity. He went over to the emblem and started to lay his hands all over it, poking and prodding the jewels and even trying to scrape the paint.

"Zuliao!" Ye Zhiyuan rushed forward to grab him by the ear and drag him back, twisting it harshly. He cried out in pain as Pixie covered her mouth, giggling. Logean Wuji shook his head, then he went toward the wall.

"This is the entrance, but it is also one of the guardians put in place by my father long ago. Its name is Huihui, and it is a Dimension-Sealing Rune."

"Dimension-Sealing? So there's an entire dimension sealed inside of a mountain?"

Seeming skeptical, Ling Jian'er folded her arms and tilted her head, giving the rune a closer look. Cyrus saw her attitude and frowned, scoffing as he mocked her posture. "Ah yes, the Whirlwind Monkey is also the Ever-Wise Sage."

Ji Tianshan giggled and chimed in, "Heh! With a face like hers though, I'd say this monkey is more of a Miss Simian-"

"That's quite enough," Logean Wuji cut in and ended their little bout.

He stood before the emblem, staring at it deeply and intently. "Huihui, you can open up now." The emblem began glowing after his words, a warmth permeating the area as its energy begun to flow.

"Young Master. So you are finally fulfilling your mother's dream?"

A voice came from the rune itself, surprising the lot of them. Logean Wuji flashed a smile that was not a smile, his eyes subconsciously looking for a sun that was no longer in sight. He shook his head and, with it, shook away the rising emotions.

"Something like that. Now open."

Huihui flashed a myriad of colors then faded into the wall. Soon there was no trace of the Dimension-Sealing Rune, then the wall began to shine. The light grew brighter and brighter until it filled the winding stairwell; the others were forced to shield their eyes, but Ye Zuliao simply shut his eyes tight and opened his mouth. Surprisingly, some of the light was actually sucked into his mouth and flowed down into his stomach.

"Good luck, Young Master. I know it isn't easy being a teacher." The wall tremored, then burst open. Streams of dim light blew outward like debris, tethered to the wall to create the image of an overflowing amount of spatial energy. A portal into the sealed dimension was created.

"Come." Logean Wuji stepped in and his students followed.

....

The sealed dimension was, unlike most dimensions, a single universe housed within multiple layers of concentrated primal chaos. Though they were not exactly Primal Chaos Walls, they were infinitely more efficient than primal chaos zones. A Greater Immortal could easily shatter the primal chaos zone of their realm or world, then go on off to worlds afar. However, they would not be able to do this to the primal chaos zone of a regular universe.

This dimension's layers of protection were beyond even that.

Within the circumference of the protective 'walls,' the universe seemed to birth several massive limbs. Looking at it from far away, it almost resembled an extremely massive bacteria cell floating in space, except it housed one single structure instead of a mess of organelles. That structure was a massive and misshapen planet, much larger than the Qin Realm and even the Graikos Realm. In fact, it was large enough to house several thousand such realms and still have some space left over.

From above, this planet seemed to be a conjunction of numerous other realms meshed into one. There were volcanic regions existing all throughout a large tundra, ominous seas floating about in the clouds, hideous creatures in flowery fields and humungous trees growing out of even larger cracks in the earth.

In the space of the universe, nine streams of light were rushing toward a single point on the planet. These were Logean Wuji and his students, travelling toward the planet at the speed of light. Even still, it took them almost half an hour to reach the spatial energy surrounding the planet. When they did, Logean Wuji waved his hand and brought them all to a stop.

"This is it."

"This?" Ling Jian'er was the first to belittle the sight before her. It was only until her eyes wandered around that she was able to gleam just how monumentally ginormous this planet was and her ridicule quickly went away.

"It's breathtaking..." Pixie's eyes scoured the world like a ravenous, lustful pervert. With gluttonous curiosity in her gaze, she sought to fill her mind's stomach with the image before her. Ye Zhiyuan smiled, agreeing with Pixie.

"It really is a beautiful sight, Master."

Zhou Hua nodded, her eyes burning fiercely.

Logean Wuji looked over all of them and, after giving them enough time to take it all in, he spoke again.

"You are looking at the United Realm. It was created by my mother, the Empress of the Thirteenth Void, Xuyue Zailiang, for the purpose of extreme training."

Hearing the words 'extreme training,' his students all had their own reactions. Some of them looked scared, worried; others were excited and eager.

"Bi Xue wanted to know about your tutelage; here is the answer."

"As my students, you will all be required to become enlightened of the Grand Dao. You must attain the deepest possible understanding of your souls and the daoist forces linked to them."

"You may not know this, but cultivation in and of itself is a flawed concept. The idea of bringing the mundane towards a state of divinity is counterproductive. Only something truly divine can birth divinity, and only through divinity can the mundane evolve into anything more."

To this, Ling Jian'er and Cyrus were the most bothered.

"But Master," Cyrus said, "isn't it possible to fight against heaven with your talent and latent potential?"

"Or with an unwavering will," Ling Jian'er added.

"Talent, latent potential and willpower mean nothing before the insurmountable truth of existence which is the Grand Dao. Its inner workings are the essence of anything that exists, but not anything that exists is able to gleam its inner workings. That will be the first step on your paths."

They all nodded, not quite understanding everything but getting the overall gist of the situation.

Pixie sighed inwardly, knowing to herself that she would have to give it her all even though cultivation was never what she wanted. Logean Wuji smiled when he saw her disappointment.

'Just you wait and see, Miss Prunes.'

"So, Master, how do we do that?" Ji Haogui stepped up to ask a question, then everyone else's ears perked up to hear the answer.

"For now, there's nothing you can do. The first step is something that your teacher needs to help you with, and only after that can you truly begin. You see, your souls are already started down a path that they are not necessarily destined for. You were not allowed to explore every option available to you; you were not able to choose the best materials for your growth."

Logean Wuji then waved his arm and caused a gentle force to bring his students closer.

"So... Master... What is it that you have to do?" Ye Zhiyuan brushed aside her hair and averted her gaze from Logean Wuji a number of times. It was clear she was still a bit shy.

"Nothing too major or out of the way..." While his words were still falling, Logean Wuji's body appeared to stretch out an split, creating an uncountable number of flashing afterimages. In a flash, eight Logean Wuji's had appeared before each student.

Those Logean Wuji's all extended a single finger, penetrating the chest of the student in front of them before returning to the original position. Logean Wuji appeared to not have moved to them, but they all felt something weird the second he was finished.

"I simply needed to cripple all your cultivation."

Nine collective explosions rang out from their dantians before they could even react, then each of them lost consciousness as their energy was forcible dispersed.