In the vast, boundless darkness, no matter where one stood or how one looked, all one could see were over a thousand fist-sized stars floating far away.
Coiled within that starry expanse, bearing those thousands of stars upon its back, was an ancient and colossal turtle.
"The turtle bears the starry sky, and its name is Qian Shi. The Dao comes forth from within it, unceasing since antiquity"... This was the Heavenly Origin Emperor Realm! The Heavenly Origin Emperor Realm had never been a single spatial plane. Among the thousands of stars upon the turtle's back, every scene was different.
Some displayed beautiful landscapes, where cultivators devoted themselves to arduous practice. Some were magnificent palaces, where a dozen elderly men debated matters. Others were lakes steeped in mist, where old and young alike practiced swordsmanship and boxing...
The stars shifted. Different planes would occasionally border one another, giving rise to different collisions.
The movement of the planes was not altered by the will of the stars' masters, nor by that of the old turtle. Rather, it moved according to the evolution of all people, events, and things within the stars, changing alongside fate, will, and more.
At this moment, one of those thousand-odd stars displayed a miserable scene.
"Ah—"
Jinren was still howling.
The massive flood of memories was like water bursting through a dam. From the instant the embankment gave way, there had been no possibility of it stopping.
He had struggled. He had resisted. Yet none of it had worked.
The little boy on the turtle's back had plainly lost all desire to communicate. All that remained was torment and revenge.
"I'm helping you."
He still smiled pleasantly, though his methods were those of a demon.
Whenever the person beneath him managed to endure one wave of assault,