Small World

It felt like stepping out of a room filled with stale, stagnant air and suddenly finding oneself in a forest at dawn.

Setis opened her eyes, looked at Hui, and couldn't help but ask:

“Why is there such a stark difference?”

Hui shot her a testy look.

“Because compared to this place, your world is practically a barren wasteland.”

Setis froze.

“A barren wasteland?”

“Its spiritual qi is practically non-existent.”

Hui spoke bluntly.

“What you felt just now—the thing that made your whole body comfortable and your breathing smooth—is spiritual qi. But since you haven't crossed the threshold yet, you can't truly absorb it; you can only faintly sense its presence.”

She raised two of her tails and pointed at their surroundings.

“But it's also thanks to the abundant spiritual qi here that you were able to touch the threshold so quickly. Once you truly cross the threshold and cultivate for a while, you can go back outside and compare. Then you'll realize just how foul and stagnant the air out there really is.”

Setis frowned slightly. She had never felt there was anything wrong with the air outside before.

At most, some streets in the Outer City had poor hygiene and smelled of garbage, but the noble district and the academy were clean enough.

She looked at the spiritual spring sea before her, then raised her head to look at the pale golden sky, the doubts in her heart multiplying.

“Is this place not actually somewhere in our world?”

Hui shook her head in disgust, as if she had just heard something utterly intolerable.

“Of course not, and it couldn't possibly be.”

Setis was taken aback. Hui raised a paw, pointing first to the sky, then to the distant sea.

“Just look around. This place and your world are on completely different levels.”

Her tone was casual, but it left Setis completely bewildered.

“What do you mean?”

Hui glanced at her, considering how to explain it in terms she could understand.

“This is that fellow Li Yuan's small world.”

“A small world?”

“Yes.”

Hui nodded, sighing as she continued to explain.

“This is the only place where you can cultivate. There's too little spiritual qi in your world. Even with the Demon Emperor Body, you wouldn't be able to truly set foot on the path of cultivation even if you spent thousands of years there.”

For a moment, Setis didn't know what to say. Although she understood every individual word, when they were put together... she couldn't seem to wrap her head around it.

She looked down at the grass beneath her feet, then at the boundless spiritual spring sea in the distance. Aside from making her feel comfortable, it didn't seem all that different from their own world, did it?

But all of this... was his small world? A world belonging solely to one person... It sounded incredibly surreal.

Ultimately, Setis couldn't help but press further:

“What does 'small world' mean? Is it the same as the world we live in?”

Hui seemed to have expected her to ask, and her reply was swift.

“Once a cultivator reaches a certain realm, they can open up a space of their own. At first, it might only be a tiny area to store some things or plant some flowers and herbs. But as their cultivation rises, the small world will gradually improve, eventually forming a world with a completely independent ecosystem.”

She thought about it and added:

“You can think of it as an independently existing world. There might be living creatures here, or there might not—it entirely depends on what the master of this world wants.”

Setis's breath hitched, her eyes turning slightly vacant as she murmured:

“An independently existing world...”

Then, she suddenly looked at Hui, her voice trembling slightly as she asked:

“Could it be... that this world was truly created by Li Yuan?”

Hui nodded with absolute certainty.

“Yes, didn't I say so earlier? This is his small world.”

This fact made her feel lightheaded for a moment. She had originally thought she knew enough about Li Yuan's secrets... but now it seemed she was still far from it.

Just how many more secrets does he have that I don't know about? Thinking this, Setis's previously excited mood suddenly dampened quite a bit.

Hui, however, didn't notice Setis's sudden dejection and simply continued on her own:

“In Kyushu, there are quite a few cultivators who can create small worlds, but small worlds also have different tiers. Most people's small worlds are very small, with limited spiritual qi inside, making them completely unsuitable for cultivation. At most, they can only be used as a portable cave dwelling.”

Saying this, she looked toward the boundless spiritual spring sea in the distance, her tone carrying a hint of complexity.

“But to have one as vast as his, and to even be able to gather a spiritual spring into a vast ocean with such dense spiritual qi... he is the only one throughout history.”

Setis followed her gaze—the sea stretched all the way to the horizon, seemingly without end.

Hui snorted softly. Her tone was full of disdain, but her words said the exact opposite.

“Looking at the entire history of Kyushu, this guy is one of a kind.”

She paused, then added in a rather disgusted tone:

“He's practically a freak.”

Setis, however, could no longer register the teasing remark. She stared blankly at this world, her mind in utter chaos.

In her original worldview, the only entity capable of doing such a thing was the Creator God.

Yet now, someone was telling her that the cheerful, amiable, and “ordinary” tea shop owner was capable of creating such a seemingly infinite and perfect world.

This was not a divine miracle from legends, but a fact about Li Yuan that, despite being absurd, was undeniably real.

Setis had always known that Li Yuan was special.

But only at this moment did she truly begin to realize that this specialness was far more distant than she had ever imagined.

So distant that she didn't even know what words to use to describe it.

Setis remained silent for a long time. Finally, she let out a long sigh, looking at Hui with a complex expression as she asked in a low voice:

“So... who exactly is Li Yuan?”

Hui rolled her eyes at her but didn't answer immediately. After she had said so much... had this little girl still failed to grasp the situation?

The sea breeze blew past, the white fox's tails swaying gently. Accompanied by a soft sigh, she spoke slowly:

“You can ask him that question yourself in the future. Now that you've set foot on the path of cultivation, there's no need to keep these things a secret from you anymore.”

Having said that, she lay back down, her tone returning to its usual laziness.

“But before that, you must first learn how to draw spiritual qi into your body as soon as possible.”

She raised a paw and gave Setis a gentle tap on the forehead.

“Don't daydream. Keep up with your breathing exercises.”

Setis rubbed her slightly aching forehead, took a deep breath, and forced herself to snap out of her shock.

She closed her eyes once more and began to practice using the previous method.

But this time, with the change in her state of mind, a subtle difference appeared in her state of cultivation.

The spiritual qi that had been elusive and difficult to capture just now had become much clearer, even though she still couldn't perform steps like “drawing qi into her body” yet.

Still, her perception had improved tremendously; even without actively trying to feel it, she could sense the presence of spiritual qi with every breath she took.

Upon entering this state, she felt everything around her begin to slow down.

Her breathing, her heartbeat... even her perception of time was slowing.

Before she knew it, four hours had passed.

For the first time, Setis entered the most basic state of “meditative concentration” for beginners.

Hui half-squinted, glancing at Setis who had finally managed to enter this state, and shook her head in slight disappointment.

“Her comprehension can only be considered passing. Crossing the threshold in three months... seems like it's going to be difficult.”