Realms In The Firmament

…

‘Now… I need to cultivate… I have to improve myself to an upper grade.’ Ye Xiao clearly knew what he should do.

The Nine Death Trials was the obstruction of the way out from the Land of Wrecked Dreams to the outside world. It wouldn’t be easy to go through all the nine trials.

The entire world spent a great deal of resources to keep the Land of Wrecked Land out of the real world. All they wanted was to let these men without dreams live and die in peace. They had to make sure nothing went wrong.

When somebody chose to enter the Land of Wrecked Dreams, he automatically took the protection from the East Sky. As one had received the protection from the East Sky, it would be improper to go out and stir up some disturbance in the world again… It just wouldn’t be easy!

The fatty frankly told Ye Xiao that all those who wanted to go out for their dreams again died in the Nine Death Trials. No exception.

“You can have a dream in this world.”

“You can chase after it, and fight for it.”

“When you feel powerless and hopeless, when you decide to give up, you have an opportunity to live the rest of your life in peace. All you need to do is to enter the Land of Wrecked Dreams. In the Land of Wrecked Dreams, you will find the peace you need for the rest of your meaningless life.

“You have lost your dream, so you should humbly live a normal life and stop thinking too much about the outside world.”

“It is a virtue to always know where your place is.”

…

Things in this steamed buns shop were all done. Ye Xiao made sure that there was nothing else he could learn from the fat shopkeeper anymore, so he gave the smallest piece of the Star Trace Iron he had to the shopkeeper as a gift. The fat shopkeeper got his face entirely turned red and almost passed out.

He wasn’t frightened or something, but was just too shocked with joy!

He had his own story.

The fat shopkeeper had been working hard for a lifetime, but it wouldn’t be enough to earn even one purple spirit coin.

However, ten thousand purple spirit coins were not enough to buy a tiny piece of Star Trace Iron!

Star Trace Iron was some priceless special metal in the world!

For the cultivators in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, it had to be extremely lucky to own a piece of Star Trace Iron, and it was not just about money.

People thought so because the Star Trace Iron was special and rare. One-tenth of the small piece of the Star Trace Iron that Ye Xiao gave the fat shopkeeper was enough to make a normal weapon into a divine weapon!

To enhance weapons was the most normal thing the Star Trace Iron could do!

What made the Star Trace Iron so valuable was that a tiny piece of the Star Trace Iron that was made into the weapon could turn the weapon into a material with memory. No matter how badly the weapon got damaged, all it needed was time to recover. It didn’t need to be reforged and it would become new again!

Its power would not be decreased at all! It was amazing!

That was why the Star Trace Iron was so important and valuable. One tiny piece of the Star Trace Iron could lead to a massacre in the world because people would fight for it.

The fat shopkeeper never expected that he could get such a great treasure as a return because all he had done was merely offering Ye Xiao some food and told him some common knowledge in this world. The fat man was so touched and his eyes were filled with warm tears. That was why he respected Ye Xiao so much afterward.

As a return to Ye Xiao’s generousness, the fat shopkeeper offered Ye Xiao a room in his home. Clothes, food, and drinks—the fat shopkeeper gave Ye Xiao everything he needed.

Ten days after, Ye Xiao decided to go for the Nine Death Trials. The fat shopkeeper kindly dissuaded Ye Xiao from the terrible trials, but Ye Xiao didn’t listen.

He had made up his mind to try to get through the trials in the Land of Wrecked Dreams!

“Fatty, you were once an experienced cultivator in the martial world. You know how a precious stone can land its innocent possessor in jail. The Star Trace Iron will not be well used in this place. If you have a child someday, and you don’t want him to stay in the Land of Wrecked Dreams, tell him to come to find me with that Star Trace Iron!”

“My name is Ye Xiao. You better remember it!

“I will only recognize that Star Trace Iron, not the person who had it!”

Ye Xiao said to the shopkeeper, and suddenly his eyes shined sharply as if he was challenging the entire world with his sword. “I promise! My name, Ye Xiao, will be famous in the Human Realm Upon Heavens! I am sure!”

“Young master, take care!” The fat shopkeeper nodded and said, “If I have a boy or a girl, I will tell him or her to find you. Only the Star Trace Iron proves my child. I won’t forget!”

Ye Xiao solemnly nodded.

Before Ye Xiao said anything, the fat shopkeeper gave him a cloth bag and pushed it into his hands. “Young master, here are one hundred white spirit coins in it. As you know, I am not a capable man. I am weak in cultivation, and I am not a successful businessman either… Here. One hundred white spirit coins are all I have.

“Please accept it. In fact, these coins don’t mean a lot to me in this Land of Wrecked Dreams. Don’t look down upon me, please. I have lived my part in the martial world before. I am not ignorant.”

“One more thing. I asked my wife to make two buckets of steamed buns… Take them. I know you have a spatial tool, so just put the buns into it. Whenever you are hungry, just eat some. It’s steaming hot yet.”

“Take care, Young Master.”

“You too, my friend.”

Ye Xiao didn’t refuse those things. He just put them into the Boundless Space without hesitation, and then turned around to leave the town.

The fat shopkeeper kept watching him off for a long time with a pair of profound eyes.

The shopkeeper’s wife walked close to him slowly, looking at Ye Xiao’s back, and said, “Do you think he can make it?”

“Yes! I am sure he can!” The fat shopkeeper seemed to be sure.

“Did he… What he said… Is it real? The Star Trace Iron is something great. I know. However, for people like us, living in the Land of Wrecked Dreams, it is not certainly more valuable than the white spirit coin. Do you really think it is worth giving him all you have?”

“Yes, I do. Why not? You and me, we are people without dreams. Well, our child is not!”

“Oh? So… You really want our child to find him? Wasn’t it just a nice word? I thought you were just saying it for being polite!”

“I meant every word I said! Of course, I do!”

The fat shopkeeper took a deep breath and said, “The Star Trace Iron doesn’t mean much for people in this place, but not everybody in this world can be this generous! He just gave me a piece of Star Trace Iron!”

“Well…”

“What? What we should do is to have a baby as soon as we can! We must work harder on it! Do you understand?”

Then he laughed loudly and held his wife’s waist with one arm. The wife was flirtatiously grumbling, and then the couple had entered their room.

…

“Is it you? Do you want to go for the Nine Death Trials?”

A man in golden armor, who seemed to be an officer, stared at Ye Xiao with no facial expression.

“Yes, I do.”

“What is your name?”

“Ye Xiao!

“Age?”

“Nineteen.”

“What? Nineteen? Are you just nineteen years old?” The officer in golden armor exclaimed. There was finally an expression on his face.

In the Human Realm Upon Heavens, many people knew how to stay young. It was easy to even stay looking like a child by cultivating some special martial arts.

However, cultivators who appeared too much younger or older than they truly were must be extremely powerful or utterly weak in cultivation. People with strange looks were always weird cultivators with weird techniques. They could be powerful with their weird techniques, but also could be weak. All they had were their special appearance!

Ye Xiao had a pretty face. A young man like Ye Xiao in the Land of Wrecked Dreams was most likely a pretty boy who was weak and did fraud for life. That was why the officer in golden armor wouldn’t show respect to Ye Xiao!

However, it was a totally different situation now since the officer knew that Ye Xiao was just a nineteen years old boy. After all, it was reasonable that a nineteen years old man looked pretty. It didn’t mean he was weak, and it didn’t mean he did fraud for life!

“I am nineteen!”

The officer in golden armor was surprised, so he asked, “You are nineteen years old… How did you end up here in the Land of Wrecked Dreams? Did you experience anything too miserable to live on for? How did you lose all your dreams before nineteen years old?”

“It was such a weird thing that such a young man would lose dreams for life.”

“For people in the Human Realm Upon Heavens, a nineteen years old young man was not much older than a baby. In fact, he was just a kid in this world. How could a man who had just started his life already lose his hope for the rest of his life? How could a man this young escape the reality and hide in this place?”

“Do you think I wanted to come here? I was thrown down here! I was set up…” Ye Xiao helplessly explained.

“Bone age test!” The officer didn’t seem to believe Ye Xiao. He just didn’t buy the reason.

‘You were thrown to the Land of Wrecked Dreams from the sky?’

‘Well, if you told me that you have an older heart, and your mind is over your age, I may believe you. If you told me that you have given up life already because you have seen through everything, I may believe you. How can you expect me to believe that you were thrown down to this place from the sky? It can’t be more absurd! Why don’t you make up a more unbelievable story?’

‘Do you know how powerful one has to be to throw somebody down from upon the clouds? Will it kill you if you don’t lie?’

When the bone age test was done, the result astounded the officer in golden armor.

‘He is nineteen!’

‘He didn’t lie!’

However, the officer still didn’t believe Ye Xiao was thrown down from beyond the clouds.

After all, it was difficult to believe it!

However, there was no way to prove it anyway, so the officer went on for the next step!

“Identity certificate.”

“Well… I don’t have it…”

“You don’t have it?”

The officer stared at Ye Xiao and said, “How come you don’t even have an identity certificate?”

Ye Xiao was helpless, and he said, “I… Well… If I tell you that I am new to this world, that I have just ascended from the lower realm… would you believe me?”

“Bullsh*t! Cut your f*cking brag, will you? Why don’t you tell me that you just saved an entire realm from a calamity, so you are enhanced by a great power?”

The officer stared at Ye Xiao and said it while shouting, “You are nineteen years old! That already makes you a genius! Now you want me to believe that you ascended from the lower realm as a nineteen years old boy? You little bastard! Lie to me again, fool me around one more time, and I will cut you in slices! I would love to know how it feels to kill a genius! Do you think I dare or not?”

Ye Xiao was awkwardly speechless. ‘Damn it. You are damn right I saved a world. I saved a whole world from a calamity, but I am not sure if I have that great power on me or not…’

‘This is exactly the awkward situation people say about how a scholar having a debate against a simple-minded soldier. I just can’t explain it clearly.’ As Ye Xiao looked at the officer in golden armor, he clearly knew that the officer was a lot more powerful than him. After a second thought, he decided to use the same story that he made up to fool the fat shopkeeper, so he said in a deep voice, “My family is a great family in seclusion. I came to this place only because of some family business… Come on… I haven’t been out before. It is my first time to leave my clan, and my families threw me to this place to strengthen my will… I personally don’t want this at all…”

“A great family in seclusion? Your name is Ye Xiao, so you are from the Ye Clan?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, I have never heard of Ye Clan…” The officer humphed and said, “I see. You are trying to sound important to me. Cut the bullsh*t now. I have no time to play your stupid game. Now, do you really want to go for the Nine Death Trials? Fine. Go over there. You can go by yourself! Get through the nine trials, then leave on the other side and get rid of the restraint of the Land of Wrecked Dreams…”

The officer pointed a direction.

“What if I fail?”

Ye Xiao asked.

Ye Xiao knew that he would definitely die if he failed to pass the trials. However, as the former Xiao Monarch, the Young Lord Xiao, he had enough experience and wisdom to know that there was always something he could learn in some unusual way, so he asked it all the same!

“If you fail? Well, you will leave!” The officer in golden armor said.

He was entirely speechless now.

The officer actually gave such an unbearable answer, which Ye Xiao did not expect!

Of course, he would leave, whether he passed the trials or not…

If he passed, he will leave the Land of Wrecked Dreams. If he failed, he will leave the living world…

The officer in golden armor kept staring at Ye Xiao when Ye Xiao left for the trials. He didn’t stop watching Ye Xiao until he disappeared at the entrance of the trials.

The officer had watched him for a really long time.

“Chief, this young man talked a lot. I feel that he was telling the truth. What do you think?”

“It is not just your feeling. He did tell us the truth.” The officer in golden armor bitterly smiled and said, “I sneered on purpose, and I was a little annoyed at first. This young man must be thrown to the Land of Wrecked Dreams by some great figure. The look in his eyes… This man is not a man without hope… I don’t think he can fake that look in his eyes.”

“Well, should we…”

“No need.”

“He will go through the Nine Death Trials on his own.”

The officer in golden armor shook his whiskers and blandly said, “A man should go alone on his own path of life.”

“If he survives, it is his fate that guides him to live.”

“If he dies there, it is his destiny that leads him to death.”

“We have no rights to interfere, and we don’t need to.”

“That’s it.”

The officer in golden armor spoke with a voice that was loud and deep like thunderclaps. It sounded unarguable!

In front of Ye Xiao, there was a gate.

In fact, it was more like a hole in the dark than a gate.

That was the entrance of the Nine Death Trials.

The officer kept watching Ye Xiao until he disappeared at the entrance.

…

After about one hour, the officer was still lost in thoughts outside the entrance of the Nine Death Trials.

‘Is there a Ye Clan that is in seclusion?’

‘The Ye Clan? Ye Xiao?’

The officer was still thinking about it. ‘A man got thrown down from beyond the clouds? Somebody threw him down? Somebody left him in this place, the Land of Wrecked Dreams? What a coincidence!’

‘He said he was set up. Was he?’

‘If he was, whoever set him up must be incredibly powerful… Even the Sky Net wasn’t triggered? This must be something important!’

The officer couldn’t think it through. Personally, he believed that Ye Xiao was telling the truth. However, considering how abnormal what Ye Xiao said was, he couldn’t believe what Ye Xiao said. That was why he was confused.

The vice-captain, who stood beside the officer in golden armor, suddenly got enlightened, and said, “I remember! There is a Ye Clan among all the family clans in seclusion.”

“Is there? Is there really?” The officer turned around and stared at the vice-captain.

“Yes. Well, it is not exactly a family clan. In fact, there is a great mighty figure whose name is Ye.” The vice-captain seemed to be respectful, and said, “Chief, do you remember the story? About a hundred thousand years ago, there was a mighty figure rising up in the world. The man united and conquered the broad land among the four skies and challenged the overlord of the Glaze Sky…”

“What?” The officer in golden armor seemed to be frightened.

That story circulated widely among high-level cultivators in the world. How could the officer in golden armor didn’t know about it?

“That man… He fought against the overlord of the Glaze Sky for three full days and got defeated in the end. As a result of his failure in the fight, he made a vow that within a hundred thousand years after that fight, people from his family clan would never show up in the Human Realm Upon Heavens!”

The vice-captain said in a low voice, “There are books about this story. The name of that great mighty figure is Ye. His full name is Ye Hongchen!”

“Ye Hongchen!”

The officer’s face turned green.

“That’s right. Ye Hongchen. His family clan must be the Ye Clan. What else can it be?”

“That is him… most likely…”

The vice-captain looked pretty serious, and he said, “If the books are right, the one hundred thousand years have already passed now.”

“People of the Ye Clan returns to the Human Realm Upon Heavens… Isn’t it… Isn’t it quite a possible thing to happen? It is very possible to happen, isn’t it?”

…