Chapter 696 - Eternity (1/2)

”Welcome, my junior! You've worked hard!” Spirit Immortal Dream laughed as she welcomed Shin into the white-coloured World.

”Spirit Immortal… Dream?”

”Ah, they do add titles after one ascends right? That's a bummer.” The gorgeous woman frowned, not really thrilled about the title that Shin addressed her with. ”Looks like no one got the clues that I'd left behind! Are the people back home that dense? I'd thought that at least Akumu would get it!”

The woman continued on at her pace, not caring about Shin's apparent shock. ”Hey, what's your name? I've been stuck here for quite a long time, so I've been longing for human company! Tell me everything about your life! What happened to you from birth and how you ascended! Quick, tell me everything!”

”Wait, wait, wait! Hold on for just one second!” Shin took a few moments to recollect himself. ”If you're Spirit Immortal Dream… Does that mean that I'm in the Immortal Realm?”

”Ah… you really don't know anything, do you?” Spirit Immortal Dream frowned. ”Well no, you're not in the Immortal Realm.”

”What do you mean?” Shin was dumbfounded. Breaking through to Rank 100, that was the way to attain Immortality. It was common knowledge for any cultivator. In fact, it was one of the main reasons why cultivators advanced their Ranks in the first place, to come closer to Rank 100 and hopefully become one of the select few to enter the Immortal Realm. Shin had done that, so why wasn't he in the Immortal Realm?

Spirit Immortal Dream sighed: ”Hah… The Immortal Realm doesn't exist.”

”Huh?”

”Immortality doesn't exist!” Spirit Immortal Dream dropped the bombshell upon Shin's lap. ”This white space… It's a place between the Mortal Realm and the World Spirit.”

”W-What?”

The Immortal Realm didn't exist? Doesn't that run counter to everything the World had been told? What about Yggdrasil, the well of souls that housed all of the dead? The twenty-one Spirit Immortals that ascended before Shin? What about those guys? Was everything about the Immortal Realm just… a lie?

”What about the Mystery of the Dream?! The final words that you left us before you ascended? Dexsoit Teninost? Wasn't that your clue on how to get to the Immortal Realm?!”

”Ah, Dexsoit Teinost? That's just simple wordplay! See?” Spirit Immortal Dream stuck her finger out and wrong the words that Shin muttered out with light. The letters stuck in the air for a while before Spirit Immortal Dream swiped at them, restructuring them into a new sentence altogether. And that sentence was...

”It does not exist?”

”Yeap! It does not exist!” Spirit Immortal Dream replied.

”...” Shin was rendered absolutely speechless. The Mystery of the Dream, the World's greatest unsolved mystery… was actually just a scrambling of a sentence?

Seeing Shin's confusion, Spirit Immortal Dream decided to bring his thoughts back on track: ”Let me ask you a question, Junior. What do you think Immortality is?”

”Immortality is...” Shin turned tongue-tied at the question. Humanity had imagined Immortals as beings that broke free from their fleshy bodies, living a life of eternity drinking wine while spreading the virtuous words of Immortals. However, Shin himself had never thought about what Immortality was really like.

”Let me help you out there,” Spirit Immortal Dream chuckled. ”The literal definition of Immortality is… to cease to be mortal.”

”Huh?”

”Junior. In our texts, Immortals are beings that live free of time and age itself. They will never die, never hunger, never reproduce and simply… exist till the end of time. They would wander the Immortal Realm, having epic adventures slaying Demons and Gods. They would drink the finest of wines while being served by a million servants. It really was a fantasy, humanity's thoughts about how eternity would look like.” Spirit Immortal Dream couldn't help but smile.

”However, one day, at the peak of my research into the Immortal Realm… I began to ponder. Does Immortality really exist in the way that we all thought it would? Is Immortality really all that beautiful and is the Immortal Realm really worth chasing?”

”...” Shin silently listened to Spirit Immortal Dream's thoughts.

”Immortal… Immortal… When you really think about it… To become Immortal is to cease one's mortality. What makes us mortal? To hunger is mortal, to love is mortal, to l.u.s.t is mortal, to rest is mortal, to greed is mortal, to anger is mortal, to fear is mortal. If we became Immortal… won't all those things cease as well?”

”...”

”Because we hunger, we go out and procure food. Because we love and l.u.s.t, we procreate to build our future generations. Because we anger, we become stronger to protect ourselves. Because we fear, we continue to live on adapting to things that could harm us… All of these are evolutionary traits wired into all mortals. From cells to humans. From ants to whales… All mortals are adapted to survive, and should we rid ourselves of that mortality...”

Spirit Immortal Dream formed a miniature human with her mana. Mana filled it up at a rapid pace, and the human began glowing with vibrant intensity. However, the human body behaved just like a balloon. When the power flowing in was too much to bear… the body just… popped.

”This is...”

”The true nature of Spirit Immortals.” Spirit Immortal Dream said with a sigh. ”When a cultivator reaches Rank 100, they do not open the Gate to the Immortal Realm… They turn into pure energy that feeds the World Spirit and nourishes it for future generations. Why do you think that each time a Spirit Immortal ascends, a wave of elements surges through the continent?”

”The Immortal Realm is fake? Spirit Immortals aren't living in a realm above ours? They don't live eternal lives?”

”No, they do live eternal lives… Just not in the sense that you or I imagined it.” Spirit Immortal Dream pointed her finger downwards, gesturing for Shin to follow its direction. And sure enough…

”That's!” Shin couldn't control his excitement. He saw a burning tree, one that mirrored his exact imagination of how Yggdrasil looked like. It was the well of souls that Shin had dreamed for so long about. It was the reason why he chased Immortality in the first place. To reach the Immortal Realm and resurrect Ariel and all those that he loved!

”What do you see?” Spirit Immortal Dream asked.

”Yggdrasil! Does it really exist? Can I resurrect the ones that I've lost?”

Spirit Immortal Dream paused for a moment, not knowing whether to break the news to Shin or not. However, she quickly decided on the former. ”No… That's not Yggdrasil. It's not a well of souls, and neither is it a mystical entity that grants all wishes.”

”It's not Yggdrasil?” Shin's excitement melted away like ice on a blisteringly hot summer's day. ”What is it?”

”It's the World Spirit. The power that holds our planet together and the place where all Spirit Immortals reside.” Spirit Immortal Dream looked frustrated as she watched the World Spirit morph yet again into a shape that bewitches those that came near to it. ”I told you earlier on, this is the place between the Mortal Realm and the World Spirit. In a bid to escape my fate of becoming like the rest of the Spirit Immortals, I used up all of my spiritual energy and essence to create this space, hoping to prevent the next Spirit Immortal from suffering the eternal fate.”

”Suffering the eternal fate?”

”Junior… Immortality doesn't happen in the books that we've been taught. Once you rid yourself of your mortality, you'll cease to hunger because you'll have no reason to eat. You'll cease to love and l.u.s.t because you'll have no reason to procreate. Since nothing can kill you, you need not be mindful of anything. Even trees adapt so that they can grow, but since Immortals can never grow… they won't have any reason to do anything. And without any reason… Immortals simply become… mindless energy.”

Spirit Immortal Dream's reasoning struck Shin like a lightning bolt. It made total sense when one put it that way. The World lived on a cycle. Life and death. Birth and grave. Scholars had theorised many a time that to become Immortal, was to truly break the cycle. However, as it turned out… Immortals simply became fodder for the World to build newer and better lifeforms.

”In a sense, Spirit Immortals do lead eternal lives. As energy that lives within the World Spirit, as long as the World Spirit that doesn't cease to exist, the Immortals that fed their life essence and mana to the World Spirit would continue to live on. As mindless energy, of course.”