The air there was pure and clean, like spring water for a parched man.
Spiritual energy filled the air and the old beggar inhaled deeply as he greedily sucked in the air.
Then, his face blossomed like a budding chrysanthemum, his complexion radiant.
He was laughing joyously.
For the first time, he greeted Chu Yu respectfully, "Thank you, Chu Yu!".
"No need for the formalities senior, I'm not used to it, call me boy," Chu Yu refused hastily.
Without paying any attention to him, the old beggar said, "I want to visit your Floating city, to see what it's really like there.".
"Senior… have you never seen the looks of a cultivation dimension?"
The old beggar widened his eyes, "Are you mocking me?".
"No way…" Chu Yu was fighting his chuckles.
The old beggar looked miffed.
Xu Xiao Xian and Lin Shi were giggling amongst themselves.
Everyone present was quick-witted.
If the old beggar was the Emperor of the mortal realm, it meant that he wouldn't be in touch with the cultivation sector.
The earth had been in a semi-sealed state.
Most of the practitioners would have gone into hiding.
They could guess that the old beggar had limited understanding of the cultivation world when he was still alive.
He must have chanced upon cultivations only after he died. But credits to him, he must possess true talent and forte to be able to advance to his level in a couple of years.
All in all, it wouldn't be an underestimation to assume that his knowledge was limited to the underworld and hell.
He shouldn't know much about the mortal realm at all.
Even after using the coverage of the divine sense, there are still wonders out there he must experience for himself.
Chu Yu brought him back to the Floating city as his guest.
The old beggar's arrival didn't draw a large crowd.
His identity was still unknown to most people.
Soon, Chu Yu had invited Ming Hui, Song Qing, and Yue Yin to introduce them to the old beggar.
They greeted him politely after learning about his background.
Ming Hui whispered quietly, "The foundation of the Legendary Emperor Star is really unpredictable, who knew there was a channel connecting us to the ghosts…".
He spoke to the old beggar, "My friend, has there been any other spirits who took the path that you embarked on?".
The old beggar shook his head, "I escaped from hell to enter the Ghost Realm, chancing upon this passageway afterward. I found it based on pure luck when I was wandering about aimlessly. I used to think that my cultivation was impressive, reality showed me otherwise…".
He was a little embarrassed to continue.
"The spirits in the Ghost Realm were too powerful! Motherf*ckers…" he was getting animated as he continued his story as profanities spewed from his mouth.
Everyone listening to him was astonished, they never really had any experiences with the ghost realm before. To them, the ghost realm was still shrouded in mystery and it remained as the land of the unknown.
They were engrossed in his narration.
"Even an ant was terrifying; hey you know what, I once met thumb sized ant and went forward to taunt it…"
"That didn't end well I tell you, it was a close shave for me. He chased me for several miles before letting me be."
"I've also met spirits that could overwhelm me by their auras alone! I was halfway through my afternoon nap then!"
The old beggar was chuckling happily as he recounted his adventures.
"So, the spirits in the Ghost realm are comparable to those in the Immortal Realm?" Xu Xiao Xian questioned.
"I don't know what the spirits in the Immortal Realm are like, I've only been to the Ghost Realm. They were powerful I'm telling you, beyond saints and all that."
"Is it really chilly down there?" Xu Xiao Xian asked.
The old beggar shook his head, "Depends on where you're at, some places are freezing, some places are alright. In fact, there are some places where it isn't so different from the mortal realm.".
"So, the hungry ghost and hell tracks aren't really related to the ghosts?" Yue Yin queried.
He nodded his head, "Strictly speaking, the hell, hungry ghost and animal areas are the three main prisons in the ghost realm!".
"I am not too familiar with ghosts myself, although I've been there, I didn't see much. The main cities were too cold for me to explore! Neither have I made any connections with anyone down there."
"The realm was too huge! I was going about a small region of a much bigger blueprint. I'm afraid there's no way one could explore its entirety in their lifetime."
With a serious expression, he concluded, "It was a vast, boundless world!".
"And the spirits in the spirit realm, they absolutely hated those who escaped from the prisons. If they saw one, they would most definitely hunt them."
"While I was in hell, I heard about the collapse of the three realms. Even the six stages of reincarnation had been altered, hence providing an opportunity to escape from the prisons. Some of the more powerful ones had caused significant troubles down there after escaping from hell. So, what I'm getting at is that… we're not welcomed in the underworld."
He continued with a weak smile, "I was prepared to head back to hell after wandering about for a while. I mean, after all, I was the Ghost King in there! No one dared to cross my path and I get to pass the reincarnation cycle.".
His listeners gave a forced smile.
They were mostly speechless.
Would he rather go back to hell than wander around freely in the Ghost Realm?
Ming Hui popped a question, "Have you heard what the Ghost Realm was like before the collapse of the three realms?".
"There were ins and outs of hell!" the old beggar replied confidently.
"When the three realms were operating normally, the realms were connected to each other. After redeeming all their sins in hell, a punished spirit would be thrown into the cycle of reincarnation again. It was the law of the universe."
"After the collapse of the three realms, the passageways malfunctioned and the six-stage reincarnation cycle was compromised!"
"To be honest, it didn't matter much to the spirits in there anyway, most of the spirits in there weren't decent people at all. Usually, they show no repent while they're in there and spend the rest of their days rotting in the prisons."
"It was pretty catastrophic to the animals, however… The fantastic beasts of the Immortal realm eventually ended up in the animal arena in the ghost realm. The collapse of the three realms took away their only ticket out of there. There were plenty of displeasure and disgruntled animals stuck in the arena, they have rotated around to hell and the hungry ghost arenas."
This fresh piece of information had left a lot of them speechless.
What the hell was that?
Internal rotation?
All that the old beggar offered was insightful and eye-opening for them.
They needed a reminder of this forgotten place.
The ghost realm was as formidable as the Immortal realm.
Many of them had forgotten about this place as they looked for the way up into the heavens.
From the old beggar's description, the Ghost realm sounded like it accumulated a great deal of energy and powers.
It seemed even more powerful than the Immortal realm, which had been greatly damaged from that great episode.
Thankfully they had never meddled with the mortal realm before.
It was a vast dimension down there.
Countless times larger than the mortal realm.
Chu Yu had been skeptical about the potential of the place.
He thought that the mortal realm was big enough as it is.
Their universe was billions of light years wide in diameter.
You need a billion of years to fly from one end to the other, at top speed that is.
A billion years!
Who could live for so long?
So, what was it like in the Immortal and ghost realm?