Chapter 2280: Inner World

Zi Ying's progress in refining Boundless City was rapidly increasing. According to her estimate, the refinement should be completed within three days.

Lu Ye had actually been worried that Xiaoyue might suddenly return from the inner realm. To counter this, he dispatched all his avatars far from their current location, ready to instantly relocate Zi Ying to safety if anything went wrong. Fortunately, this worry did not materialize.

At this moment, Lu Ye was chatting with Zi Ying. He had already helped her refine her physical body once and was just waiting for her to complete the refinement of Boundless City before proceeding with the refinement of her soul.

Their conversation suddenly stopped. Lu Ye abruptly turned his head, looking towards the location of the insect nest.

"What's wrong?" Zi Ying's expression changed. Although You Die was stationed at the insect nest, along with her two direct lineage insectoids, Chen Gushan and He Linglong were also there. This made Zi Ying anxious, and Lu Ye's reaction made her think an enemy was attacking.

"It's not an enemy, it's just..." Lu Ye's expression was bewildered. "You Die has vanished!"

"You Die vanished? How?"

Inside the insect nest, Lu Ye's Talent Tree avatar, who had been hidden in the shadows, now emerged. Yayi and Kuzhi stared wide-eyed at the empty space before them. Chen Gushan and He Linglong, who were recuperating, also walked over from their respective positions. Five figures stood in a row, their expressions unreadable.

"Where's You Die?" Chen Gushan turned to the avatar. Where did such a large You Die go? She was just here a moment ago, but somehow she had simply vanished without a trace. No one saw her leave.

Only the avatar had witnessed the strangeness of the entire scene. Because when this bizarre event occurred, the main body sensed it through the life-link, allowing the avatar to immediately focus its attention. It could be said that Lu Ye had personally watched You Die's massive physical body gradually become ethereal, then transparent, and finally vanish.

This scene felt familiar! Just over a month ago, Xiaoyue had vanished in the same way—silently and without a trace.

The avatar didn't know where You Die had gone. But from the main body's feedback, You Die was still here, yet incredibly far away from him. This immense distance made the life-link almost imperceptible!

When You Die's anomaly occurred, Lu Ye's main body sensed that his connection with her was rapidly weakening, as if she had instantly traveled to an extremely distant place. She was here... yet she wasn't here... This was utterly bizarre and inexplicable.

Just as everyone was perplexed, You Die's figure strangely reappeared, as if time were reversing from her disappearance. Her form went from blurry and ethereal to gradually solidifying. Even stranger, as her figure rematerialized, threads of swimming Dao Fish suddenly appeared around her. These Dao Fish seemed to be stirred by her body, dissipating as Dao power, making the Dao power within the insect nest slightly richer.

"Hoo..." A long sigh escaped You Die, like someone surfacing from drowning. Her massive body trembled uncontrollably due to an inexplicable emotion.

"You Die!" Lu Ye called out. He urgently wanted to know what You Die had done and where she had been.

"Brother Ye!" You Die's voice rang out as her alluring, charming soul body emerged from her physical form. Her eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration, as if she had made an incredible discovery. All eyes turned to her. Yayi and Kuzhi were full of concern and worry, while Lu Ye's avatar, Chen Gushan, and He Linglong looked puzzled.

"What happened just now?" the avatar asked.

"Just now..." You Die recalled, like a child who had found a new toy, "I don't actually know what happened. I just suddenly entered a very strange state during my cultivation. It felt like I was constantly sinking downwards, and then when I opened my eyes, everything around me had changed, and all of you were gone!"

"Sinking downwards?" The avatar frowned. This wasn't an ocean or a lake; where could she sink? "What did you see?"

"Nothing special, it was just like the void outside, except the Dao power in that place was much, much denser than here!"

Her words made Lu Ye think of the Dao Fish that had suddenly appeared earlier. He had seen Dao Fish twice before: once, not long after leaving Qing Palace, when he encountered Lady Qingyu and others, and another time within Panlan, where he received a wondrous Star Abyss blessing. During that peculiar cultivation, he gained a significant amount of Dao power. He had always been curious about where Dao Fish came from, as they appeared without warning but were not living beings; they were concentrations of Dao power.

Now You Die was saying that the place she had just visited had much denser Dao power than their current location. Could it be that the place You Die went was where Dao Fish originated?

"Brother Ye, I suspect that place might be..."

At the core of Boundless City, the main body was simultaneously sharing You Die's information with Zi Ying. After listening, Zi Ying's expression became solemn. She slowly said, "Brother Ye, the place You Die went might be the inner realm!"

"The inner realm?" Lu Ye raised an eyebrow.

"Do you remember I mentioned before that I had some clues about the inner realm? It's just that I hadn't had time to confirm many things." Lu Ye nodded. Indeed, Zi Ying had said that before their trip to Boundless City.

"You Die said that during her cultivation, she suddenly entered a strange state and then felt herself sinking downwards. I've experienced that sensation once myself, but I didn't let it continue; I stopped it in time. Even so, I felt that the destination of that sinking seemed to be another dimension, so I suspect that dimension is the inner realm!"

Lu Ye looked dazed, stunned for a moment before saying, "So, the inner realm isn't a place you can only enter through a specific passage?" Or perhaps there are passages, but one's cultivation level isn't high enough to perceive them.

"You Die can enter the inner realm, and Harmonization experts like Xiaoyue are active there. This suggests that You Die might have already touched the threshold of Harmonization." Zi Ying said, feeling a sense of urgency. Although there was no overt competition between her and You Die, whoever achieved Harmonization first would undoubtedly gain greater influence, so she didn't want You Die to get ahead of her.

"Brother Ye, once the core of Boundless City is refined, I'll need your assistance to send it into Panlan, and then I'll entrust you with the tempering of my soul body." Once her soul body was tempered, she would also begin her path to Harmonization.

"Of course, no problem." Lu Ye nodded, feeling a little restless. He could only glimpse a few details about the inner realm from You Die's description, but You Die hadn't been in the inner realm for long and didn't know much about it. Lu Ye also wanted to enter the inner realm and see for himself. Leaving aside other things, the Dao Fish alone were attractive enough. If he could cultivate in the inner realm, the efficiency of acquiring Dao power would undoubtedly increase significantly. And it wasn't just him; all the Integration experts in the insect nest felt the same way.

Over the next few days, Zi Ying continued to refine the core of Boundless City, but within the insect nest, Yayi, Kuzhi, Chen Gushan, and He Linglong were all attempting to enter the inner realm. Although the two elders, Chen and He, no longer had hope of achieving Harmonization, and their lifespans were limited, with such an unknown as the inner realm before them, they still wanted to explore it and see its mysteries.

With You Die's guidance, they actually succeeded in entering the inner realm! Furthermore, the two of them and You Die appeared in the same location within the inner realm without being separated, but the scenery inside the inner realm was completely different from the outer realm. In the outer realm, they were inside a barren planet, which was You Die's new insect nest. But upon entering the inner realm, they appeared in a void, with a blazing sun even nearby. When they returned from the inner realm, they would still reappear in the exact spot where they had vanished.

Yayi and Kuzhi had no clue. And neither did Lu Ye. While several peak Integration experts could smoothly enter the inner realm, Lu Ye and the two direct lineage insectoids couldn't even get close, even with You Die's thorough and unreserved guidance. Lu Ye understood. This was likely related to their cultivation realm. Only when one's cultivation realm reached a certain level was one qualified to enter the inner realm; if the cultivation realm was insufficient, entry was impossible. Yayi and Kuzhi were only at the fifth or sixth stage of Integration, and while Lu Ye's strength was not weak, his realm was merely at the Nascent Dao stage!

This situation was quite frustrating. It now appeared that peak Integration experts could enter the inner realm, but those at the fifth or sixth stage of Integration could not. The precise threshold within this range remained unclear. Furthermore, what puzzled Lu Ye was that there were no Dao Fish in the inner realm.

He had initially thought that the inner realm would be teeming with swimming Dao Fish, making it easy to refine and acquire Dao power. However, through You Die and the others' descriptions, he learned that while the Dao power in the inner realm was indeed extremely dense, there were no Dao Fish whatsoever. Yet, every time You Die and the two elders, Chen and He, returned from the inner realm, Dao Fish did appear around them, which they themselves had witnessed.

After much thought, Lu Ye concluded that only one explanation made sense for this phenomenon: every time they returned from the inner realm, they brought back a portion of the inner realm's Dao power. This Dao power was so dense that it would condense in the outer realm and manifest as Dao Fish. It was like water vapor condensing into dew on blades of grass on a summer morning.

From this perspective, the Dao Pool he had encountered when he met Lady Qingyu and others might have been a weak point connecting the inner and outer realms. This would explain why, at specific times, the inner realm's Dao power would flow into the outer realm, leading to the appearance of Dao Fish.

There were certainly more Dao Pools than just that one in the Star Abyss. With his current insufficient cultivation realm, he definitely couldn't enter the inner realm on his own. But what if he used a Dao Pool? Could he enter the inner realm through such a weak point?

Of course, Lu Ye was only considering it; he wasn't necessarily going to verify this idea. For acquiring Dao power, Panlan would always be his first choice. There was no rush to enter the inner realm; when his cultivation realm was sufficient in the future, he would naturally be able to enter and witness its mysterious splendor.