"The Dark Realm is void, and nothing with physical form can exist here, even the concept of existence itself does not belong to the Dark Realm."
"And your appearance broke this rule, creating a flaw in the Dark Realm that allows certain entities existing between reality and illusion to reside here."
"To be exact, it is because of my existence that those existential life forms were able to find this place and create the lamp that brought you in."
Therefore, there are no distinctions of size, height, distance, brightness, or darkness in the Dark Realm.
Li Zheng’s activities here are limited, not because the Dark Realm limits him, but his own existence affects the range within the Dark Realm.
The Dark Realm does not confine him; he confines himself, which is why he cannot go far.
"So, what exactly are the entities between reality and illusion?" The Illusory Being paced back and forth in front of Li Zheng, "I have been contemplating that question for a long, long ti... until one day, a figure full of Blood Qi entered, and I found a word from his mind to describe it."
"Translated into your language, it’s called Spiritual Power."
"Later I started wondering, if your beings from the Physical Realm can conceive the concept of Spiritual Power, then... can I?"
"Since then, I’ve been researching Spiritual Power, attempting to actively create so existence between reality and illusion in the Dark Realm."
"Initially, I thought I failed."
"Until later... another being with even denser Blood Qi ca in with a lamp and broke the Dark Realm’s rules, I realized I had succeeded!"
"What proves this is those things..." The Illusory Being pointed a finger upwards, "Nodes!"
Li Zheng looked in the direction and saw a dense cluster of starlights.
These starlights, though densely packed, were dim and unable to illuminate the Dark Realm.
"The existence of the Nodes is like mine, real within the illusion but not truly real." The Illusory Being moved a finger to bring a starlight closer.
What was originally a grain-sized starlight approached rapidly above their heads under his pull.
From grain to egg, from egg to basketball, from basketball to hot air balloon.
Ultimately, an enormous star unfolded in Li Zheng’s vision, vast and boundless, pressing overhead with a sense of oppressiveness.
It was as if he had watched a docuntary, gazing at Earth from space and realizing the insignificance of oneself.
The starlight was not smooth or round; Li Zheng could even see the crater-like surface, much like the lunar craters.
Presumably, the creator of it had no particular talent in art.
Eventually, with a fierce tug from the Illusory Being, the "star" passed through them and vanished beneath, turning back into a grain-sized point.
When Li Zheng ca to his senses, he realized he had unknowingly turned around, and the starlights that were once overhead were now all beneath his feet, like a lake of stars.
And he and the Illusory Being stood suspended above that lake of stars.
"These Nodes are actually a form of Spiritual Power manifestation I researched; I don’t know when they first appeared in the Dark Realm."
"Only when a second life entered the Dark Realm and broke the rules of the Dark Realm did they manifest."
"Perhaps... even if I create existential life forms like here, as long as the Dark Realm’s rules are restored, they will fall silent."
"Unless I can create reality in the Dark Realm."
But that is impossible, creating such semi-real, semi-virtual entities relied on borrowing Physical Realm rules, like exploiting a loophole in the rules—caught a Bug, so to speak.
If he were to create "reality" in the world, it would not be exploiting a Bug but directly playing "hacking," and with such Ability, why wouldn’t he use it on himself to violently break the Dark Realm’s rules and break through to the Physical Realm?
Li Zheng stared steadily at the charming bald guy who looked as handso as himself, reading an emotion from his face nad "loneliness."
As the only life form existing in the Dark Realm, not knowing how long he had lived, forever within the concept of "nothingness," without the consciousness of ti.
Until one day, a lifeform very similar to him appeared in the Dark Realm, and he thought he finally had a companion.
But he discovered that those lifeforms reacted with extre terror upon seeing him, even attacking him.
He had tried to "keep" so, hoping these beings would stay with him forever.
Though it resembled more of an "imprisonnt," he did not care about the ans, only wanting more beings to accompany him.
Unfortunately, they were different from him and, after a while, beca increasingly weaker and eventually dissipated into nothingness.
Later, he no longer forced it, if a similar life mistakenly entered here and was kind, he would let them out; if they bore malice, he would imprison them as punishnt.
Until that particular figure appeared...
That was a very special being, clearly real but comprehended an Ability similar to void.
By a lucky accident, it entered the Dark Realm.
It was very friendly; after getting to know the Illusory Being, they quickly beca friends.
The Illusory Being found it pleasant and released the virtual-real entity he had captured earlier to it, facilitating it to frequently co back to communicate with him via this entity as a springboard.
Subsequently, it did not disappoint the Illusory Being, forming a pet with the captured Abyssal Walking; through Abyssal Walking’s more stable virtual-real characteristics, it often entered the Dark Realm to chit-chat with the Illusory Being.
It would narrate many happenings from the Physical Realm to the Illusory Being, who back then was not as loquacious as now but a quiet listener.
Over ti, the Illusory Being beca accustod to such a life.
Whenever it left, the Illusory Being would anticipate in the "nothingness," waiting for it to return.
The Illusory Being felt that although he still couldn’t exit the Dark Realm, those short-lived monts were the most beautiful mories of his life.
Beautiful enough, that recalling them now, like they just happened monts ago, despite not knowing how much ti has passed.
Until that last ti, it said it was leaving to fulfill its mission.
However, before leaving, it borrowed the hands of the Illusory Being to create several components together.
It said that with these things, more people would co in to accompany the Illusory Being and chat with him.
And those people would be called "Lamp Holders."
But the reality was, the components had issues, and all lives carrying lamps subsequently ca with Blood Qi, very violent.
The Illusory Being did not like such beings, hence never bothered to engage with them.
It was also through the consciousness of those presences that the Illusory Being figured out what Blood Qi implied.
From then on, he decided that unless a Lamp Holder ca without Blood Qi, he would not et them.
"So... you can read others’ consciousness yet still need people to chat with you?" Li Zheng rolled his eyes after listening to the talkative Illusory Being’s narrative.
At that mont, the Illusory Being felt awkward.
He knew that so lifeforms placed great importance on the contents within their consciousness and would beco very angry when peered into, but reminiscing so deeply, he forgot to hide this aspect.
"Actually, I can only read so unguarded information... okay, judging by your expression, you seem unconvinced." The Illusory Being looked a bit embarrassed, like after losing his best friend, suddenly encountering another potential friend candidate, and at this ti on the verge of losing them.
He feared loneliness; he really feared loneliness.
Only after having one, does one understand how precious friends’ companionship is.
Li Zheng was the second being after the first Lamp Holder, across countless ages, with the potential to befriend him.
If he missed out on Li Zheng, waiting for the next opportunity, the Illusory Being really didn’t know how long he would have to wait.
"If you don’t mind, could you wait a mont? Let think of an excuse to convince you." The Illusory Being paced up and down, chin in hand.
This was Li Zheng’s subconscious action during solitary contemplation, and the Illusory Being had even mimicked that...
Li Zheng felt helpless, but seeing the Illusory Being as also a pitiful soul, he found an excuse for him:
"How about this, you should know I like making deals, why not take the fact that you glimpsed my mory as collateral for a trade with ?"
"Sure!" The Illusory Being, thrilled, unintentionally glimpsed into Li Zheng’s consciousness once more, exclaiming excitedly, "Deal!"
"???"
Li Zheng froze montarily, then spit out a word as he grasped the situation.
"Damn!!"
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