Talking and Learning

Yaan mentioned some of the things that he had experienced ever since Rui fell into a deep sleep, in the hope that she might be able to clear some matters up for him. In particular, he wanted to better understand this illusion trial.

"So you were taken to the Heavenly Path Sect on the same day that you split away from your past self in this illusion?" Rui asked.

Yaan nodded.

"When and where did you find the stone ring, and what happened?"

Yaan wasn't sure exactly when he had found the stone ring, but he believed that it was around two months into his life in Zong Village.

He described his experiences in Zong Village.

He talked about how he ate the demonic fish, before being saved by Rui who taught him the Fiend Transformation Technique.

He went on to explain that he had lost himself to the fiend's blood-frenzy state after refining too much Slaughter Aura, resulting in him slaughtering many children in the village.

He wanted to see how Rui reacted to all of this, but reading her expression was still too difficult.

"I see…" Rui murmured. "Despite your perfect divergence, everything was the same…the day of meeting me, how the technique was learned, even the numbers that died on that day…"

"Well, not everything." Yaan laughed. "In this illusion, instead of me, it was Jash who met you. Jash became a fiend and carried out those atrocities in his madness, right? Only, he lost his mind during the completion of the transformation. But even if Jash was supposed to take my place, he died in the end…many things must have changed by now, since teacher lost his disciple early on."

This was Yaan's deduction of what must have happened, but Rui slowly shook her head. However, rather than explaining it to him, she just muttered to herself.

"The truth of this illusion is far more fantastical than a perfectly replicated illusory world. This illusion's ability to control the preordained fate of the past, is simply terrifying…"

As she trailed off, Yaan looked up at her questioningly.

However, even now, Rui refused to explain exactly what had happened between Yaan leaving Lightstone Village, and her being brought to him by the blood-crazed Jash.

"This is your trial, complete it yourself."

Yaan's eye twitched when he heard such an irritating answer. He was trying to work these things out for himself by asking her about it, but she was being so uncooperative!

Another few months passed by. At this point, Yaan had recovered almost all of his memories, along with the majority of his sentience and wisdom.

Finally, Yaan prepared to take back the remaining remnants of his mind.

It never became less painful. Each and every time, it felt like he was killing his sanity, inviting endless torture into his very consciousness…

As usual, Yaan found himself within a seemingly endless dark space. However, unlike usual, he took a deep breath, then thrust his head into this space!

This sudden and unexpected action even startled Rui.

Yaan was unaware of this, he was focussed on the remainder of his mind which suddenly rushed towards him in an unexpectedly fast swoop!

Before he could react, a dozen faint white lights rushed into his head. The lights were surrounded by black spatial fabric, shrinking the region and causing a portion of his unconscious mind in the outside world to disintegrate!

All that remained was dragged towards Yaan and sucked into his illusory mind! He didn't understand why this was happening, but at least he didn't need to exert much effort to drag the final portion of his mind towards him.

Rui watched with narrowed eyes. She knew that this final step was extremely dangerous, if he failed here, he would die, and this whole illusion would collapse…

Three seconds…five seconds….seven seconds…

"Ah!" Yaan stumbled backwards, pulling away from the final memory fragment before it could reach him.

He needed to leave a single memory fragment within his unconscious mind in the real world. According to Rui, this memory would act as an anchor between the illusion and the real world.

This remaining fragment wasn't the largest or the smallest memory, but the memory itself was irrelevant, it only needed to act as a connection between his illusory consciousness, and his 'real' unconscious mind.

Yaan also left behind a minuscule portion of his sentience and wisdom in reality. If he didn't do this, then his real mind would collapse and he would die.

Rui watched Yaan silently whilst using her power to examine his rapidly evolving condition. She watched for a few seconds, at which point, she could already foresee the end result.

"Somehow, you'll live. How lucky of you."

"Luck…or fate…?" Yaan muttered after recovering his bearings.

"Luck. Definitely luck. Fate is never so kind…"

The pair picked up their pace as Yaan's awful condition from the past near year started to rapidly recover.

He was still a mortal child, but now, he found that he was able to push his body further, unlocking hidden reserves of strength, speed and stamina.

Rui and Yaan were now closing in on Heavenly Path Mountain. They didn't say it, but they shared the distinct feeling that everything would reach its finale upon their arrival at the mountain. For better or worse, this show would soon end.

Realising that their journey was coming to an end, the two chatted more openly than before. They asked one another questions, but only answered if they felt comfortable doing so. This back and forth went on and on, allowing the pair to gain a better understanding of one another.

More importantly, they were each probing the other, both for their own reasons. Neither of them believed that the other had suddenly undergone a personality change, becoming the friendly and talkative type.

"Wait, you're saying that you also entered a terrifying inheritance that encouraged thousands of people to slaughter one another?" Yaan asked in shock after Rui mentioned this far too casually.

"Mm. It appeared soon after my birth. I wandered in as a mortal child…this was around 1,800 years ago…" She spoke without looking at Yaan.

Rui felt conflicted and uncertain about this matter. But if she was confused, then Yaan was simply stunned senseless right now!

His heart began beating wildly as he realised the implications of what she was saying.

"The North Ghu Inheritance Site was also found around 1,800 years ago! They…are they the same-"

"It was definitely not the same inheritance as the one you described, but they are far too similar." Rui shook her head. "In this inheritance, demonic cultivation techniques were also handed out…including the Fiend Transformation Technique, which was favoured above all other cultivation practises. But unlike your inheritance, the place that I explored encouraged the cultivation of Innate Qi, not the body."

Rui almost seemed to be reminiscing as she spoke. It reminded Yaan that this woman before him was actually extremely old. At the very least, she had lived for 1,800 years, but he had the feeling that it was probably much longer than just that…

As Yaan found himself lost in thought, they walked past a fairly large travelling caravan of mortal merchants. Yaan didn't notice the problem, but Rui's eyes were kept trained to the left. After walking past everyone without receiving any form of acknowledgement, she sighed lightly, before turning to Yaan with a complex look that she hid away before he could see it.

"Why me…?" She murmured too herself.

"Huh, what was that?" Yaan blinked and looked up, snapping back to reality finally. Learning that Rui had encountered something so similar to him early in life left him feeling dazed…and wondering if she was actually telling the truth. After all, it sounded a bit too coincidental, right?

"Nothing important. I was just wondering how you were planning to complete this trial, and how you will be graded." She quickly distracted Yaan from the strange phenomena that she had noticed, ever since the pair of them met within the illusion world.

"Complete the trial?" Yaan pondered her words, but ended up slowly shaking his head. "I never cared about the trial itself, I just wanted to use it to become a Psyche Power cultivator."

Rui became silent and again fell into thought. To break the silence, Yaan felt the need to satisfy his curiosity.

"What's this 'grading' you mentioned? How do you know that I'll be graded in the first place?"

After regaining his memories, Yaan knew that he would be graded on his performance in the illusion trial, but he wanted to know how Rui was able to ascertain this.

"Because 'grading' is a universal system. The same system is used everywhere worth mentioning throughout the world. An inheritance like that definitely grades everything, I'm sure you've noticed it…from lowest to highest, the grades of quality are - entry, low, mid, high, top, peak, pinnacle, perfect, apex."

"Mm, I've seen many pills labelled like that. Most of my pills were assessed as Top Grade and a fair few as Peak Grade." Yaan nodded.

"As expected, it's an impressive place…" Rui murmured, then looked at Yaan and went on.

"These same grades are used for countless things, including ranking your performance in a trial. 'Entry Grade' is the lowest, bordering on failing. For most people taking a trial suitable for their level of strength, they'll score 'Low Grade', 'Mid Grade' or 'High Grade'."

"I see…" Yaan nodded slowly. "Then I guess they'll judge my performance based on how I escape the illusion? Wait, maybe it's judged according to how quickly I manage to escape?! If that's the case, I've definitely failed."

"It will be a combination of factors for all grades from Entry through to Top. As for Peak, Pinnacle, Perfect and Apex…these are basically unattainable unless the participant achieves success with the most crazy, absurd, and impressive method imaginable. In a trial like this, if you're aiming for Peak Grade, the time taken will be irrelevant."

"Peak Grade?" Yaan shook his head seriously. "If I'm going to do this, then I want Apex Grade! I remember the old trial spirit mentioning that I need to 'complete the trial perfectly' for the best chance of successfully stepping onto the psyche path. I guess he was referring to this 'Perfect Grade', but since 'Apex' is above this, then my chances should become even better."

"Whilst that's true, just think about the naming sense rationally…" Rui explained slowly. "Apex is a grade beyond perfect. Essentially, it is 'practically unattainable'. You would need to do something beyond that which is considered a perfect completion of the trial. Do you really believe that you're so amazing? Don't forget that you were dragged up to the 9th level by force, you didn't reach it yourself…you are currently participating in a trial intended for people much stronger than you."

"Haha." Yaan chuckled. "But this is a trial relating to the mind, and I have brought almost my entire mind into the illusion. This should give me an advantage, right?"

After saying this, Yaan continued to sift through his memories. He had finally regained all of his memories, but processing everything was taking him some time. When he finally recalled a certain detail that Rui had asked him about previously, he decided to go ahead and tell her.

"I remember now, I entered this world via the True-False Illusion Formation." Yaan nodded as he recalled the name of the formation.

Rui suddenly stopped walking. It was only after Yaan looked back questioningly, that she elegantly drifted forwards with her soul, landing by his side without saying a word.

She remained silent, so Yaan did likewise.

'True-False Illusion Formation…' Rui had never heard of this formation before, but based on the name, she was able to estimate, very roughly, it's immense power.

The name of this trial made her finally join together some connections in her head, letting her gain a deeper understanding of this illusory world.

'Since it's like this, I have enough confidence that my plan should be possible. I just need to keep directing him towards that solution…'

Rui glanced down at Yaan, remaining silent as they walked close together, side by side, towards Heavenly Path Mountain.