More than ten Giants suddenly felt touched. Their giant bodies shivered slightly. Dazzling divine light radiated from their big diamond-like eyes.
The Giant Oldie gazed at Shi Yan with hot eyes, not blinking even once. His lips shivered. At this moment, he couldn't utter a word.
As Fei Lan, Leona, Carthew, and Jester came from the Raging Flame Star Area, they didn't know what was going on. They were doubtful, and they didn't know what to do in this situation.
"Our ancestral land! It's our ancestral land!"
"Tribal Oldie, it's our ancestral land!"
"Oh my God! We met someone from the ancestral land!"
After a moment of silence, the Giant fighters burst out noisily like thunder which echoed around the grand mountain.
The Giant Oldie looked so touched. Divine light sparkled in his eyes while he eyed Shi Yan. His shriveled God Body shimmered, rippling a fierce vital energy wave.
Shi Yan couldn't hold himself. He was also shocked, looking at the others disbelievingly. "You guys... Are you from the Grace Mainland just like me?"
"No, not really." The Giant Oldie finally pulled himself together after a long moment. He gave a miserable smile. "We weren't born in the ancestral land. We don't have that luck. We were born in this life star. However, our ancestors came from the Grace Mainland just like you."
Shi Yan was astounded.
"My ancestors are all gone now. Our previous generations couldn't endure it all the way until now. We are the latest generation. However, we know our ancestral land is the Grace Mainland," the Giant Oldie sobbed for a while. "We would have never imagined that we would meet someone from our ancestral land after many thousands of years. It's a miracle."
More than ten Giant fighters were also stirred up. They asked Shi Yan how their ancestral land was.
Shi Yan wore a gloomy visage. He sighed and then explained with a forced smile. "The Grace Mainland has come to the final phase of its energy cycle. It's no longer a suitable place for warriors to cultivate and live. I departed from there with a hope to find a new place for my family and friends."
The Giants were startled as they listened to him. They instinctively looked at the Oldie.
"Even if it's a higher-level life star, it can't resist corrosion with time. A life star with many warriors would have its energy consumed massively. Our ancestral land has been through so many years of consumption. It has produced countless experts. It's natural for it to be exhausted one day." The old man expressed that they had no alternative, explaining to Shi Yan. "According to the journal of our ancestors, earth and heaven energy in the ancestral land was extremely abundant. There were so many experts. It was the dream place for every warrior. Of course, our ancestors had been gone for so many years. But still, many people would dream about the ancestral land as the most peaceful harbor for their soul... It's a dreamy hope though..."
Shi Yan nodded, "I understand."
Shi Yan assumed that the Giant Clan members in this life star didn't have comfortable lives. Creatures with intellect always have the same thought. When they were troubled in life, they would always find an ideal place to entrust their hope.
To this Giant Tribe, the Grace Mainland, their ancestral land, used to be an extremely prosperous place. It was where they entrusted their spirit, and they hoped to get back there one day...
However, what Shi Yan told them had forcefully crushed their longing thoughts into powder. They now knew that their ancestral land wasn't a suitable place for them to live.
It was a brutal fact.
"Does our ancestral land still have a lineage of the Giant Clan?" The old man was silent for a while before he asked. He shivered as if he was anxious to hear bad news.
Warriors of the Giant Tribe also looked at him with longing eyes.
Shi Yan was surprised. He shook his head, not daring to look at them in the eyes. "No. We haven't seen your clansmen since a long, long time ago. They might be... all gone."
Many Giants looked like they had just gotten punched in the gut. They paled, clutching their chests silently as if they were experiencing the most terrible pain.
Shi Yan didn't know how to console them. Seeing the bitter, sorrowful eyes and whining of the Giants, he became emotional.
This race had been exiled for tens of thousands of years to a strange life star. They seemed to be carrying a lot of burdens. The sea was now a mulberry plantation, and the Giants here didn't live comfortable lives. They seemed to be struggling a lot.
In their hearts, they had always fantasized about their ancestral land, the luxurious and promising land. They had hoped in vain that their precursor or their clansmen have survived.
However, Shi Yan had cruelly cut off their last hope, turning their hope into despair.
"You said that you've met a member of the Giant Clan." The Giant Oldie looked at him hopefully.
"Yes, but he was just a skeleton. He had passed away a long, long time ago," Shi Yan beamed a forced smile.
"Where is he?"
"In a strange space. I saw the traces of battles between many giant beasts. That Giant didn't have a high realm. He was a gold giant at the King God Realm... he was much thinner than you guys."
Shi Yan was a little afraid. He had taken the Golden Marrow of that Giant to refine his bones and harvest a lot of good things.
His deed could be considered disrespect to the dead, so he was anxious and restless.
"A strange space?" The Giant Oldie was surprised, asking more carefully. "What kind of space is that?"
"A space that is connected to your ancestral land. I got there through a space slit. It isn't a big place. Argh, it's hard to describe. In short, that place doesn't have any living beings. No foliage. I could see only a gray sky and many skeletons of beasts. And... one Giant of yours." It has been so long so Shi Yan tried to remember what had impressed him that time. His words weren't ordered well.
"That is not a space. It's an 'Extent.' Yeah, an 'Ethereal Extent,' or else, it should have had some floras..." said the Giant Oldie.
Extent? Ethereal Extent?
Shi Yan didn't understand, looking at him with misty eyes.
Fei Lan had kept silent for a long time, and now her eyes suddenly sparkled. She shivered slightly, looking at the Giant Oldie.
The old man looked at Fei Lan. "Your precursor here has reached the Ethereal God Realm. She perhaps has also reached the threshold of the Extent. I wonder if she has established one."
Fei Lan pondered for a while then nodded. "I'm just a beginner. My Extent is just a space of air. I have much more to do before I can form it completely."
Shi Yan, Leona and the experts of the Raging Flame Star Area were dumbstruck, looking at Fei Lan, waiting for her explanation.
"The Ethereal God Realm warriors have a four-tiered soul altar. You guys know this from that God Clan man," Fei Lan frowned, talking slowly, "The four tiers include the Sea of Consciousness, power Upanishad, the Ethereal Soul, and the Ethereal Extent. The Ethereal Extent is formed the moment the warrior is breaking through. It's just an immense block of air at the beginning. Growing along with the refined realm and breakthrough, it can be formed gradually. I've just entered the Ethereal God Realm, not a long time ago. I haven't established it successfully."
Shi Yan's group was stunned, their faces baffled.
"What is the Ethereal Extent?" Shi Yan's eyes twinkled.
"It's magic that can't be explained." Fei Lan said dreamily. "The Ethereal Extent is generated by the Sea of Consciousness, power Upanishad, and the God Soul. It's a piece of land and sky. Although the Ethereal Extent is ethereal, it's the most miraculous thing that nothing could compare to. In your Ethereal Extent, you can fabricate everything, and you will be the only God of your extent..."
As she had just recently entered the Ethereal God Realm, her understanding of this new realm was limited. Her words weren't clear enough. While speaking, she suddenly remembered that some people here could have higher realms than hers in this place. Fei Lan stopped, asking modestly. "I think people here have a better understanding of the Ethereal Extent. I shouldn't shame myself."
She looked at the old man with great hope in her eyes.
In this era, she was the only Ethereal God Realm expert of the Raging Flame Star Area until now. Her understanding of the Ethereal Extent was limited. And she hadn't successfully condensed the Ethereal Extent. She really wanted to know more from the Giant.
"You're correct. It's hard to describe the Ethereal Extent. Only the master could touch it to feel the mysteries. To people cultivating different natural powers Upanishad, the complexities of each God Soul and each individual Ethereal Extent are also different." The Giant Oldie smiled. "In simple words, the Ethereal Extent is a new, unique world inside the warrior's soul altar. It's real to you, but it's just a fantasy to other people..."
What he said wasn't any clearer than what Fei Lan had told them.
Although people were perplexed, Fei Lan seemed to understand something. Her murky eyes brightened as she bent her body and said honestly, "I'm enlightened."
The old man shook his head as he smiled, "Saying more words isn't better than showing it."
He hadn't finished his words, yet the sky above his head silently emitted an extremely marvelous energy fluctuation. A magical world was slowly revealed above their heads accordingly to the giant's thoughts.
Subtle energy movements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth was visible. The old man laughed slightly. Within ten miles, the area above their heads slowly turned into rivers, mountain ranges, and more natural land features. Grand, beautiful palaces emerged as if someone was building them at light speed.
In just a blink, bejeweled jade palaces emerged magnificently.
Everybody gawked, looking at the sky with their jaws dropped.
The old man's smile didn't cease as he continued to change this place with his will. The river then extended everywhere. The mountain ranges slowly pressed down. An intimidating subduing power ran directly into people's soul.
A large group of palaces lowered grumblingly. The mountain flank around them shattered, sending large chunks of rock everywhere. The palaces' foundations were pressed broken. Rock and dust were everywhere. It didn't look imaginary at all; it all felt so real.
"The warriors take in the earth and heaven energy for their cultivation. Everything in this world is also made of earth and heaven energy. In my Ethereal Extent, I can generate anything, and I can change them as I please. I just need to use earth and heaven energy." The old man said calmly. "But the Ethereal Extent is just an imaginary world. It's real in my eyes, and it's real in your eyes too. It's because your realm isn't high enough. If you can reach my realm, you will find that my Ethereal Extent is just an ethereal creation. Your Ethereal Extent is the real one. If I die, my Ethereal Extent won't exist anymore. It will vanish into Nature and leave no trace. Thus, my Ethereal Extent is just a fantasy world..."
His words were profound and mysterious. Everybody was listening to him attentively, but they couldn't figure out the deep meanings behind his words. Only Fei Lan nodded slowly, her eyes bright. She seemed to have a big harvest this time.
Although they didn't completely understand his idea, they were shocked to see how unpredictably magical the Ethereal God Realm was.