Chapter 1596 Primal Expanse
After taking a moment to digest the possibility that they had been transported to another world outside the Nine Heavens, Yuan turned to look at the mysterious naked little girl and asked, "Do you mind telling us a little about the Primal Expanse?"
Since the little girl had been answering his questions without any issues, Yuan figured it wouldn"t be an issue to continue asking her questions.
This time, however, she said, "I do mind. It feels like I am being used, and I don"t like it."
"Sorry… that wasn"t my intention. What do you propose, then?" Yuan quickly apologized to her.
"I want you to answer some of my questions now," she proposed.
He nodded, "That seems fair. What do you want to know?"
"Where did you come from? Your presence appeared out of thin air."
"I came from a place called the Nine Heavens. I don"t know how I got here, but I was sucked inside a rift and arrived here before I realized it."
The little girl took a moment to digest this information before asking the next question, "You"re a human, right? Does this Nine Heavens have a lot of humans?"
"Yes to both questions."
"Where is the Nine Heavens?"
"Sorry, but I don"t think I can answer that question—not because I don"t want to. Since I don"t know where we currently are, there"s simply no way for me to pinpoint the Nine Heavens."
The little girl tilted her head in a puzzled manner and said, "But I already told you. We"re at the Enchanted Forest within the Primal Expanse."
"Well, you see…"
Yuan took a moment to think about how he"d go about explaining the situation to her.
"This is actually my first time hearing about a place called the Primal Expanse, and I am not sure if it"s a place somewhere within the Nine Heavens or outside—like another world. That"s why I wanted to know more about the Primal Expanse, so I can figure that out."
"I see." The little girl mumbled.
After a moment of silence, she spoke, "I have never heard of the Nine Heavens, but the Primal Expanse is a world of its own."
"If you traverse beyond the sky and leave this world, you will only enter an empty, endless dark world we call the "Infinite Expanse"."
Yuan then spoke, "If the Primal Expanse is its own world, it"s safe to a.s.sume that it"s separate from the Nine Heavens."
He wondered if it was a situation similar to Earth and the Nine Heavens, where the Primal Expanse used to be part of Divine Heaven before the split happened.
"So… humans are a rarity in this place, huh?"
The little girl then said, "A rarity is an understatement. Humans essentially don"t exist in this world. According to legends, humans would occasionally appear in our world in the past, but it"s been millions of years since we"ve had a human visitor."
"So only magical beasts exist within the Primal Expanse?" Yuan asked.
"Magical beasts? What is that?" The little girl asked.
Yuan raised an eyebrow and explained, "In the Nine Heavens, beasts with spiritual energy that lack intellect and only act upon instincts are called Magical Beasts. Then there are Divine Beasts. They are as intelligent as humans and can even transform into one—like you."
The little girl fell silent again. After a moment of silence, she spoke, "In the Primal Expanse, those who cannot speak and only act upon instincts are called Primals. I am what you call a Predator."
"..."
Yuan found their wording quite weird, but who was he to judge their world?
"Primal and Predators, right? I will remember that."
Yuan fell silent afterward and wore a pondering expression on his face.
After connecting the dots, he was certain that the Primal Expanse and the Nine Heavens were connected in some way. After all, the very rift that transported him to the Primal Expanse appeared after the Endless Beast Den was destroyed.
"It"s very likely the magical beasts that appear out of thin air came from the Primal Expanse. In that case, there must be a way to return to the Nine Heavens."
He also wondered if Xi Meili had chased after him.
"Either way, there"s no method to contact her while I am here. In that case…"
Yuan turned to look at the little girl and said, "I will be right back."
He logged off Cultivation Online the next moment.
When he returned to Earth, both Chu Liuxiang and Meixiu were lying beside him.
He went to see if Meifeng was also in Cultivation Online.
When he couldn"t find Meifeng, he used Divine Sense and immediately located her inside her room with the helmet on.
The others were also inside Cultivation Online.
With no other options, Yuan took out a piece of paper and began writing on it.
Once he was finished, he placed the paper beside the bed and returned to Cultivation Online.
"Where did you go just now? Your presence completely disappeared. How did you do it?"
Yuan was bombarded with questions the moment he returned to Cultivation Online.
"If she"s questioning it, it"s safe to a.s.sume the Celestial Emperor"s curse has no influence here, or her cultivation is simply that strong."
"I"ll answer your questions, but can you put on some clothes first? Even if you aren"t human, it doesn"t feel right when I look at you." After all, the little girl looked even younger than Xiao Hua. He hadn"t mentioned it until now because he wasn"t comfortable enough with her to make such demands, as it could offend her, who wasn"t human.
"Clothes? What is that?" she asked.
Yuan pointed at his own robes and said, "These are clothes—something you wear on your body to cover your skin."
"Oh, those? I don"t have any. And why should I wear them? I don"t want to feel restricted," she quickly rejected.
Yuan sighed inwardly, "I guess I"ll just have to deal with it for now until we part ways."
He didn"t want to seem forceful and offend this little girl who was definitely much stronger than she appeared.
"By the way, if humans don"t exist and you"ve never encountered one, why are you in the form of one?" Yuan asked a question that had been on his mind for some time now.
"It"s a popular thing to do amongst Predators, but I only took this form shortly after your appearance since I figured it would be easier to have a conversation with you," she said.
"Is this why she somewhat resembles Xiao Hua…?" Yuan wondered inwardly.