The first thing Yan Liqiang did after he had successfully progressed into a Martial Warrior wasn't to celebrate. He waited until all the advancement phenomena around him vanished before he took a deep breath and sat in a lotus position on his bed in the bedroom. He shut his eyes and started watching his inner sight.

Yan Liqiang had waited very long for this day. He had countless questions in his mind which needed clear answers.

Just what exactly was that ever-changing rock in his mind? What was that surreal experience he had before? Also, just what was that so-called Heavenly Realm he saw in his dream and all those outrageous experiences?

Everything would lead to a final answer after he progressed into a Martial Warrior — this was the hunch Yan Liqiang had in his heart.

When Yan Liqiang focused all his thought and attention on his sea of consciousness, the dense fog within his sea of consciousness was suddenly lifted.

As expected, there really were some changes in his sea of consciousness. The ever-changing mysterious rock in Yan Liqiang's psyche before had really vanished, and it was replaced by an entrance.

The entrance was a rhombus-shaped door that radiated with an ever-changing, mysterious, and rainbow-like brilliance. The extremely magnificent entrance seemed to be waiting for Yan Liqiang to walk through it.

After hesitating for only less than a second, Yan Liqiang made a decision. He directed his gaze and attention on that rhombus-shaped door.

According to his 'past' experience, Yan Liqiang thought he would have to concentrate for at least three hours before he could enter through that door. However this time, the speed of him gaining access through the door was unexpectedly shorter by more than a hundred folds.

In just less than two minutes, Yan Liqiang heard a loud rumble before his consciousness and his mind went through that door.

...

"Welcome to the Heavenly Shrine, young man." The moment Yan Liqiang entered, a voice suddenly rang out next to his ears.

By the time Yan Liqiang noticed his surroundings, he couldn't help but let his jaw drop. He couldn't put his shock and amazement into words.

He found himself in an indescribably magnificent and grand shrine. Giant black pillars about a few hundred meters high stretched on as far as his eyes could see around him. On those black giant pillars were specks of lights. Upon careful observation, every speck of starlight was a spinning galaxy. The floor beneath his feet also glowed with the same silvery-white l.u.s.ter. Countless runes were flowing underneath the floor like streams of water.

Between the two giant pillars before him was a round door. The white glow it radiated caused it to appear extremely sacred and holy, akin to an entrance leading to heaven. Behind him was that rhombus-shaped door of this grand shrinewhich radiated with a rainbow-like brilliance. The entrance of the grand shrine was facing this white-glowing door, and he was standing right in between the two doors. There was also a pond in front of him, right in the middle of this grand shrine. A seemingly familiar, gigantic and mysterious rhombus-shaped crystal that was about a few dozen meters tall was floating above the pond. The ever-changing silhouettes of various birds and animals could be seen on the surface of that mysterious rhombus-shaped crystal...

In this magnificent grand shrine, Yan Liqiang was as tiny as an ant.

The one speaking to Yan Liqiang was a strange being that was standing in front of the pond.

The strange being was about three meters in height. Its upper half was that of a human while his lower half was that of a snake. Its upper human half above the torso was clothed, and his hair was silver. He had an old face which seemed to have been weathered through the vicissitudes of life. Every wrinkle on his face seemed to be flowing with unfathomable wisdom and experience.

Yan Liqiang was startled at the sight of that strange being. Fortunately, he was calm enough to stay instead of spinning around and fleeing. That was because he recalled seeing such strange creatures before, but only on paintings and papers. Nuwa and f.u.xi from Chinese legend and mythology looked just like that.

The human-snake-like being took a single glance at Yan Liqiang. The moment their eyes met, a thought automatically emerged in Yan Liqiang's mind — this strange being was omniscient and there was nothing he could hide from him.

"How do you do? I am Yan Liqiang. How should I address you?" After feeling nervous for a few seconds, Yan Liqiang mustered up the courage and opened his mouth to ask him a question.

"You can call me Fu Guang!" Yan Liqiang figured that a smile had appeared on the strange being's face. "I know you have many questions which you've been suppressing for a long time in your head right now. I know about everything you have experienced in the past and the present. Therefore, you can ask me anything. I will try my best to answer them through methods and language you can understand."

"W-Who… are you?" Yan Liqiang initially wanted to ask, 'What are you?' However, he felt that the question was a little weird and rude when he was on the verge of saying it and he didn't know if that would enrage Fu Guang or not. Hence, he changed the 'what' to 'who' in his question.

"I am the spirit of this Heavenly Shrine, a nearly immortal special lifeform without a physical body!"

"Spirit?"

"If I were to translate it into words that you can comprehend, you can treat me as your advisor, butler, or artificial intelligence here. I can answer all the questions you have and also a.s.sist anyone who enters this place to control everything in here. Now that you are the person who has entered this place, I therefore shall a.s.sist you in taking control over the Heavenly Shrine!"

"Are you alive?"

"That will depend on your definition of life. The existence of life in different universes, voids, and dimensions may be beyond the limits of your knowledge. The pursuit of different lives also varies greatly — fish desire the ocean, birds desire the sky, and some desire wealth while some desire power. To me, becoming an immortal spirit of this place which can roam freely between the different Heavenly Realms is my most preferred way of living."

"Where do these two doors lead to?" Yan Liqiang pointed to the door in front of him and the grand shrine's entrance behind him.

"The glowing white door in front of you is the entrance to the Heavenly Realm. The entrance behind you is the way for you to return to the real world!"

"I recall… there was a shape-s.h.i.+fting mysterious rock in my sea of consciousness before. Was that seemingly mysterious rock the same meteor that struck me in my previous life?"

"Indeed, that rock was the very same meteor which struck you in your previous life. It is called the Heavenly Stone!"

"The Heavenly Stone…" Yan Liqiang muttered to himself as he repeated the name once. He then looked around the grand shrine. "I remember the last time I entered the Heavenly Stone area, and the place seemed to be slightly different than this grand shrine. What's with that?" Yan Liqiang looked at the gigantic pillars around him. Everything here was the same as some of the scenes he had experienced before while some were different. But the spinning galaxies in those gigantic pillars didn't seem to be completely unfamiliar to him.

"What you see and perceived before is the state exhibited by the Heavenly Stone before it created the Heavenly Realm. The primordial, primary state is the perception of your consciousness under special circ.u.mstances. And right now, everything you see here is the ultimate state exhibited by the Heavenly Stone after the creation of the Heavenly Realm! You can take it as everything you saw and perceived before as an unfinished construction site, while everything you see now is what the site looks like after it has been constructed."

"Has the Heavenly Stone vanished?" Yan Liqiang recalled a dream he had before. In his dream, the Heavenly Stone created the Heavenly Realm, and then vanished from his sea of consciousness, leaving only an entrance for him.

Fu Guang smiled and pointed at the gigantic rhombus-shaped crystal which was floating in the void within the grand shrine. "This is the Heavenly Stone's true form. It didn't vanish; it only turned into an alternative form. It is the core to both Heavenly Realm and the Heavenly Shrine of which it has created!"

Yan Liqiang's eyebrows were knitted together. "This Heavenly Realm you speak of, is it the world that I experienced in the Divine Sword Sect inside the other body I reincarnated into?"

"Yes!"

"Then is everything real or fake in that Heavenly Realm?" Yan Liqiang asked heavily.

"The Heavenly Realm is a world born from the Heavenly Stone because of you. From this perspective, you can say that it is fake. However, from a life experience perspective, it is real. Everything inside the Heavenly Realm is no different than the real world. Not only that, you only get one chance in the Heavenly Realm. If you die in there, then you will never be able to go in there again!"

Yan Liqiang thought for a moment, then nodded. "I understand now. You are telling me that I can treat the Heavenly Realm as a real-life simulation game which can only be played once. If I die in the game, I will never be able to restart and replay the same game?"

"That is correct!"

Yan Liqiang laughed loudly. "Not bad, not bad at all! As the saying goes, 'three days of foresight will lead to prosperity of a lifetime'. G.o.d has actually given me a chance. Just having knowledge of future major events that will happen in the world in the Heavenly Realm is enough for me. I wonder, how does the time between these two worlds harmonize with each other? I can't possibly appear in two worlds at the same time."

"When you are in a world, the other world is completely frozen in time. If you are in the Heavenly Shrine, both worlds are completely frozen in time. From today onwards, the time between both worlds will start synchronizing with each other. The largest difference between both worlds is seven days at most. If you live a day in the real world, then you will also need to live a day in the Heavenly Realm. Regardless of any circ.u.mstances, if you don't enter the Heavenly Realm for more than seven days in total in the real world, or if you don't return to the real world for more than seven days in total in the Heavenly Realm, then it will result in your death in the Heavenly Realm."

When Yan Liqiang heard that explanation, he was instantly speechless. He digested the information for a moment. Then he took a look at this magnificent Heavenly Shrine and the floating Heavenly Stone. He licked his lips and asked another question. "Do you think there is anything else I should know about the Heavenly Shrine and the Heavenly Stone?"

"That is a very smart question!" Fu Guang gave Yan Liqiang a look of admiration. "Creating the Heavenly Realm is only one of the two functions of the Heavenly Stone. In fact, the Heavenly Stone has another greater use. This is also the reason behind the existence of the Heavenly Shrine!"

"What is that?"

"To create life and command reincarnation!"

These six words which came out from Fu Guang's mouth resonated loudly across the Heavenly Shrine...