In the bright hall, Ziyang stood motionless before a mural, slowly coming back to his senses.
Ziyang murmured, "A dream, an illusion. How did I become a child and nearly experience life and death?"
Hua Dou said, "It was both real and illusory. If you hadn't awakened in that dream, your Divine Soul would truly have died within it."
Ziyang said, "This Human Hall is terrifying."
Guiguzi said, "The Human Hall contains all aspects of the world. Anyone who falls into it cannot escape birth, old age, sickness, and death, and will ultimately have their soul sent to the underworld."
Ziyang asked, "How come nothing happened to you two?"
Hua Dou said, "The instant my Primordial Spirit was drawn inside, I broke free. My Primordial Spirit is a mass of primordial energy, formless and immaterial. The ways of the mortal world can't control me. As for Fellow Daoist Guiguzi, his Primordial Spirit has long been tempered by the immortal path. He saw through all things in the world long ago, so it couldn't affect him at all."
Ziyang said, "If I hadn't used my Primordial Spirit to investigate, would I have avoided being affected?"
Guiguzi shook his head. "The moment you enter this hall, you're affected. You just don't know it."
Ziyang asked, "Are the murals on these walls fake?"
Guiguzi said, "These murals were made using Great Magic Power to imprint the experiences of millions of Vengeful Spirits within them, painting scene after scene. Each one could be said to be a conscious space, entirely formed through the independent evolution of countless souls. Aside from attacking the mind, they also have the benefit of tempering a fellow Daoist's Primordial Spirit."
Ziyang said, "I can feel that my Primordial Spirit has become incredibly refined. If I went through this a