Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1372: Guidance

(Anyway, since I have nothing else to do, I might as well continue asking for monthly votes. Everyone, check your stock of votes, will you?)

I always thought the sky of the Divine Realm was as normal as it seemed, with drifting clouds and sunshine. I never flew up to the top to see what it actually looked like. As for the reason... it’s like someone else’s home; would you feel comfortable climbing a ladder to your neighbor’s roof to see how many watts their chandelier is? Nobody is that senseless.

"The space structure of the Divine Realm is quite special. In the more remote areas, reality is replaced by illusion powerful enough to erode it, and this becomes more apparent near the borders. The sky you see from the ground is just what it ’needs’ to show. If you don’t truly get close, you won’t imagine what it looks like," Father God said as he took me all the way to the top of the Divine Realm. We moved swiftly and quickly passed through the thick clouds. As we advanced, he explained the unique environment of the Divine Realm through our spiritual connection. "This distortion is partly due to the initial design and partly to the Divine Realm’s own evolution. It’s a world of change, where ’information’ is very unstable. The power of the Gods can easily alter reality, and the Divine Realm is no exception to these changes. Its boundaries constantly shift, originally formless. Now you can witness this peculiar place with your own eyes."

I’ve started to sense the strangeness in the surrounding environment. As we ascended into the high sky, past the moisture-rich clouds, everything around us was still somewhat real. But as we continued, this sense of reality weakened. I began to feel the strong wind intermittently, as if my journey had paused: yet visually, I could confirm we were still heading toward the top of the sky. Unexplained sounds began to emerge around us; though it was clear and sunny, I could hear thunder in the distance, and the sound of rushing water as if it were nearby, and the sound of something swiftly slicing through the air a hundred meters away. Then these sounds gradually faded—not faded away, but seemingly softened, as if someone had turned the volume down. I looked down to see the floating continents of the Divine Realm completely covered by clouds, not a trace visible... no, it shouldn’t be clouds; I remember that when we departed, there weren’t such dense clouds in the sky. These things looked uniform and heavy, like a deliberately arranged mirage that had completely obscured the Divine Realm.

"Look up." Father God suddenly hovered over and patted my shoulder. I followed his hand’s direction and looked up.

I saw countless floating continents, inverted at the top of the sky.

Magnificent, majestic, familiar—it was precisely the Divine Realm continent we had just left!

No, not exactly: although I instantly recognized the familiar terrain in the sky as the Divine Realm, they were filled with a lifeless aura. The green on the Jade continent was lush, but it was a cold green, if I must say...

It was like a lifelike plastic flower basket. No matter how real it looked, it was still plastic.

And they all hung upside down at the top of the sky, as if those continents had an entirely opposite gravity. Based on the direction we came from, these lands were apparently mirror-symmetrically distributed with the ones below in the Divine Realm. Could they be shadows?

"That is the Reverse God Realm; you probably guessed it, they mirror the real Divine Realm like a reflection in a mirror," Father God chuckled, "but this is just one of the potential scenes at the border of the Divine Realm. Sometimes it’s an endless storm, sometimes it looks like the Void, and sometimes it’s vast auroras—I can’t say for sure what it will be, it’s completely random."

"Quite magical," I nodded repeatedly, "You can’t see this at all from below, as if there’s something separating in between." Saying this, I casually summoned a chaotic energy mass and threw it into the sky. This energy mass instantly hit the inverted ground, causing a huge explosion.

"What the... you said those were just mirrors?!" I had assumed the energy arrow would pass through those floating lands like passing through water, but unexpectedly it hit them for real. Watching a massive inverted mushroom cloud gradually spreading across the floating continent, I was dumbfounded, "You’re not going to make me pay for this, are you?"

"Why can’t a mirror be real?" Father God smiled at me, "The line between real and fake is already quite blurry. Everything in the world is information. Things that can be modified inherently lack the meaning to debate their reality."

I suddenly thought of Monina’s enigmatic shadow power, using shadows as weapons, even destroying reality by attacking shadows or even names. She must have mastered this transcendent realm beyond the boundary of real and fake.

I slowly released my power, changing my form. My usual and limited five senses were gradually replaced by the Void Creature’s ultra-senses. The images of things around me no longer entered my mind through sensory organs but resonated as information directly in my spirit. The surreal feeling from the edge of the Divine Realm affecting me finally began to fade. I "looked" at Father God, giving him a look that indicated I was ready.

Father God was taken aback for a moment and kindly reminded me, "...well, you currently have no facial features, so I can’t see what expression you have."

Me: "...Uh, I mean I’m ready—could those two seniors over there move back a bit?"

I helplessly turned to look at the Kuwayin couple. They were the only two who came along. Everyone else was waiting below obediently. I can understand the desire to watch the action (after all, Bingdisi is the type who never misses out on a good show), but having those two around just to see me get trained by Father God is a massive mental pressure.

I’m fully aware that sparring with Father God is essentially one-sided training: I know my own strength quite well. The title of one of the three major Void fighters is just borrowed fame from my racial talent, and the position of being one of only three in my entire race. I have no doubt that the harmless-looking guy opposite me could, in the time it takes to eat a bowl of instant noodles, blast any creature besides King Huron into the Void—including the so-called third-ranked Chen Someone. Under such circumstances, having Bingdisi’s unprincipled parents watching is just too much pressure...

"Don’t worry, we’ll move back once you start fighting, ensuring we don’t interfere with the sparring," Uncle Kuwayin said as he somehow produced two packets of sunflower seeds, handing one to Bingdisi’s mom, "Here, this is the human world specialty our daughter brought back last time..."

"Later, I’ll pretend to dodge," Father God leaned over and whispered, "just attack them hard, don’t hold back."

Me: "..."

A sudden and powerful shockwave spread out. Using the shockwave’s power, Father God and I distanced ourselves, while the Kuwayin couple, who were waiting nearby to watch, disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Hmm, high alertness," once I steadied myself from the shockwave, Father God’s voice entered my mind, "and you instantly separated yourself from your physical form, avoiding the most intense moment of the shockwave. You’ve basically mastered your body in this form."

"Thanks for the compliment—when you approached, I sensed something was off; you smiled too insincerely." In my mind’s eye, I winced and tried to keep my voice steady. I managed to react just now, but it wasn’t that easy. I didn’t even know why a shockwave appeared out of nowhere: it wasn’t an explosion, nor did I see Father God take any action. In just a moment when he got close, my instincts felt something was wrong, and before I realized, my body had already taken emergency measures. What exactly was that shockwave?

It didn’t resemble air... hmm, an ordinary shockwave shouldn’t make me feel a sense of crisis.

"It’s your turn." Father God’s voice casually reminded me not to daze off. I shook my head, locking onto the figure standing several hundred meters away, seemingly defenseless. I then summoned a dense web of Void Rifts around me. These destructive fissures wove together into a massive spherical shape, whistling sharply in the thin air, and I, along with this sphere, charged towards the opposite side like a cannonball.

For my whole life, I probably couldn’t come up with a cool, suave skill. This move was jokingly called "Rage of the Bowling Ball" by Lin Xue...

"Oh, apart from Wang Ba Fist, you’ve come up with many tricks in this form," Bingdisi’s voice casually sounded without a hint of tension from being in the eye of the storm. "But don’t you think it’s a bit silly to launch yourself as a cannonball?"

I didn’t have time to bicker with this female hooligan, so I mentally blocked her taunts. In the blink of an eye, the several hundred meters closed, and the sphere of Void Rifts slammed solidly into Father God. The control over all the rifts was released, and this time, a true massive impact occurred: Void forces surged into the Order World, destroying every inch of space within the affected range. Everything in sight began to warp, deform, and disintegrate, with the darkness gradually eroding the top of the Divine Realm. Yet within this shattered space storm, Father God’s figure remained unmoved: he somehow completely isolated the damage from space tearing.

Of course, this was within my expectations. If such a straightforward attack could work, Father God wouldn’t have lived this long for nothing. However, I couldn’t see any skill or power he used, simply disregarding the damage. It’s perplexing: a completely unknowable opponent makes even being a sparring partner difficult!

"Just treat me like a wooden stake, just go ahead and hit," Father God stood calmly amidst the chaotic space rift, with that slightly dazed smile still on his face. "I’m not very good at instructing people, but I’m very resistant to hits."

Me: "...Here’s my Void Dragon Ascending Fist!"

Bingdisi sighed, "Damn it, after closing the distance, it really just boils down to the Wang Ba Fist."

I had already expanded the Void Domain, but it seemed useless against Father God, so I simply launched a Rising Dragon Fist. This wasn’t just a simple punch; I worked hard to condense the Void’s corrosive power into the attack, the black shadow like a small tornado accompanied the punch. If it encountered ordinary material, it would instantly be reduced to fundamental data elements.

But it had no effect, Father God blocked it with his arm, and the deliberately condensed void torrent just vanished.

Still couldn’t see what special power or skill the other party used, completely clueless about what happened.

I distanced myself a little, really trying out all the attack skills I currently mastered one by one, just like hitting a wooden stake. Father God, as he said, didn’t dodge or evade, fully accepted them. I can’t say these attacks were useless; I could confirm my attacks were a threat to Father God, because his expression was serious, and when he blocked or used "some kind of invisible force" to offset the attacks, he showed signs of strain. I’m sure if we really went all out, even if the opponent is Father God, he’d get injured; after all, we were on the same level within the Void Ladder, and the Void Creature’s ’Damage Reduction’ talent was ineffective between us.

But the key issue was, couldn’t tell at all how he defended! Using his hand to block? Bracingly withstood it? An invisible shield nearby? Father God didn’t use any move that could be called a "skill" from start to finish, he just blocked it like an ordinary person facing a ball thrown at him, never using special power, completely impenetrable, completely no idea what he actually...

Was • doing!

"How are you defending exactly?" I finally couldn’t hold back, stopped the frantic bombardment against Father God, letting the surrounding space heal a bit automatically, and asked full of confusion.

"I’ve realized, it seems you have a misunderstanding about your own power," Father God also gently sighed, even though there’s a difference in strength, attacks from Void Creatures can’t be greatly immune like ordinary attacks, so he had struggled earlier too. "You seem too focused on so-called skills or ’moves’."

"No moves?" I shook my hand, suddenly got spirited, "Are you saying there’s triumph without moves? Moves are within the heart, intentions follow the mind? Act according to fate, naturally with the Tao? Oh, wow, this ambiguous but awesome stuff is actually useful?"

Father God was stunned by my words, it took a while before he responded: "Well, you seem to have a high understanding, but that’s not what I meant. I’m saying as long as you can win, why bother about ’the process’?"

I’m fortunate I’m a complete poker face now, as long as my body doesn’t shiver, no matter how awkward it is, it looks particularly calm.

"Then what are you exactly doing?"

Father God thought for a moment: "Oh, it’s not easy to explain, let me first ask you a question: What is the essence of Void Power?"

"The essence of Void?" I didn’t expect the topic to reach such heights, "Well... the origin of everything? Information’s source sea? A place where everything known and unknown blends together?"

"No need to complicate it, the essence of the Void is just ’essence.’ You can call it whatever because it’s everything, it’s ’essence’ itself. Your power—it’s not power, but something more fundamental, so-called moves, skills, powers are meaningless, Void Creatures don’t need these," Father God gestured at the upside-down continent in the sky. "For example, if you wanted to split the continent, what would you do?"

I somewhat understood, looked up at the sky: "Just split the continent? Use energy shock, for higher-level, used space rift, if you don’t limit the power, you could use Void Blade..."

Father God shook his head, simply raised his hand to point at the far high heavens’ continent, casually said, "Separate."

The continent in the air silently split into two, with no warning, no process, no sound, no visual effects, felt no energy or spatial fluctuations, from Father God, I didn’t sense the slightest bit of "change," just like an ordinary person raising their hand. I first thought of the divine "word follows the law" power, but then I dismissed this guess: even with "word follows the law," it should be possible to detect fluctuating ’waves,’ concept changes, law changes, power surges, information flow changes, all these should be detectable things. Normally, when Bingdisi casually says "Let there be light," I could feel the "distorted" change in the real world, but Father God’s action left no traces at all.

Reality didn’t twist, nor did the continent undergo any transformation process, it’s just Father God said "Separate," and reality immediately switched to the state of the continent being divided.

"Splitting a continent or splitting a world are essentially not different, and you should be able to do both," Father God then looked over here, "But you’re fixated on having to use some ’skill’ or ’method,’ why be restricted? The Void is the origin of everything, thus the ’split continent’ or anything else you can or can’t imagine, is just a part of the Void. Why do you need to rely on troublesome processes to achieve what you already mastered? Mortals use a knife to cut things, but if you’re a knife, or you’re ’cutting’ itself, why do you need to find a knife?"

I still somewhat understood, but this time I seemed to faintly grasp some thread.

Just like with previous guidance, Father God once again helped this newbie move a big step forward, and this time, this step is bigger than any previous time. I don’t know how long it’ll take to fully digest this knowledge.

"I spent hundreds of years initially figuring it out on my own, and then hundreds more to learn how to do it," Father God smiled at me, "So you don’t need to rush, just remember one thing: No need for process, no extra actions are needed. If you want a result, you are the result, just aim for that goal and work towards it. As for now... you’ve rested enough, continue."

I reckon that’s true, so I temporarily set aside the unclear thoughts, rallied my spirits again, letting the Void’s power permeate my whole body, turning them into weapons, into attacks, into damage. No longer entangled with how to simulate moves and skills with Void power—not degrading the already supreme Void to so-called "moves," then gathering all my strength...

Father God noticed this small change and slightly nodded.

"Here’s my Void Dragon Ascending Fist!"

Bingdisi finally couldn’t hold back her frustration: "Damn it, how is it still this move!"

The intense impact and the sweeping storm across the divine realm’s sky drowned out the female hooligan’s shout...(to be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation or monthly votes at Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please read at m.qidian.com.)