"You can think of it as a 'cognitive calamity,'" Yun Huang said.
"It has no shape or form, no name or body. It does not attach itself to flesh and blood-or, rather, to anything tangible. It dwells within what living beings know, see, and think. Anyone who sees it leaves a door for it in their sea of consciousness. Anyone who thinks of it is effectively calling to it from behind that door. If someone tries to analyze it, define it, or give it a name, it follows that understanding and invades their divine soul, little by little."
A fine chill crept over the back of Yun Qing's neck as he listened. To think such a thing existed in this world.
"So every cultivator who knows about this has already been 'corrupted'?"
No wonder.
No wonder neither Yun Huang nor the clan elders had breathed a word of it before he inherited the Divine List's fortune.
"Then, what about us discussing it now?" Yun Qing's voice was dry as he looked at Yun Huang.
"Now?" Yun Huang snorted, seemingly rather disdainful of Yun Qing's lingering fright.
"Your Divine List fortune is stable now, and I just used radiant sun divine flame to burn away the remaining corruption markers for you. The Heavenly Origin World was once the foremost of the Three Thousand Great Worlds, after all. Even though it has now fractured, as long as you do not actively call to it, it cannot force its way past the Heavenly Origin Continent's suppression to sense you."
"As for what it actually is..." Yun Huang paused, his gaze piercing through the cave heaven's vaulted sky.
Yun Qing pricked up his ears.
"I. Am. Not. Telling. You." The familiar, wicked smile curled at Yun Huang's lips as he enunciated each word.
Yun