Hua Lin Yu couldn't help but feel intrigued. "Really? But how come they were so similar in the first place?" He could somewhat understand it if it was just the immortal realms that were similar but they were separated from the mortal realm, so how come there was a similarity there as well?
After all, he didn't think that the immortal realms would try to model their own place after how the mortal realm looked. The other way around it would've made sense but there was no way to do that since the mortals couldn't just enter the immortal realms.
"Well, no matter which race it is, they have their roots in the same place."
Hua Lin Yu blinked his eyes, not quite sure if he understood. "What do you mean? Don't the mortals come from the mortal realm and all the immortal races from somewhere in the immortal realms?" Once again, he felt that it didn't make sense.
Bai Mu nodded though. "You aren't wrong. From the very beginning, that is how it was. But have you ever wondered where these races came from? How did they originally come to be?"
Hua Lin Yu stared at him and then slowly shook his head. "No, never." That question hadn't even occurred to him.
Bai Mo Fang smiled faintly, feeling that this reaction was a little cute. Well, the boy in front of him looked quite young. Most likely, he had really never bothered to think about something like this. And if this was his first time in the dragon realm — and thus likely in the immortal realms overall — it wasn't a wonder. After all, how could he have noticed the similarities otherwise? And without knowing anything about the immortal races, it was difficult to question their roots. It was nice to see that he was willing to learn so Bai Mu took some extra care in explaining to him.
"Well, no matter which race it is, they all have the same creator. So I guess he left them with some kind of inspiration in regard to how he imagined their realms to be. And that was what they were then modeled after. But because they all had a different interpretation of what they saw, a few details turned out different, giving the realms their own reaction. Over time, the original inspiration might have been completely lost and the races developed new forms on their own."
"Oh, I see." Hua Lin Yu did indeed feel like he understood better now. This creator should probably be the person that Xin Lan had talked about just the day before. The person that had cursed the dragon race. He would've liked to ask but he felt that it probably wouldn't be to be too good to do that in front of people of the dragon race. He didn't know how others that were suffering from the curse would react to that after all. He'd just go and ask Xin Lan about it later. Instead, he used this moment to ask about some other things. "So, then is it just how the realms look, or does that mean that everything else is also very similar?"
Bai Mu pondered for a moment but finally could only shake his head. "I'm sorry but I'm afraid I don't really know about that. I grew up in the human realm as well and haven't stayed here for too long yet. My knowledge is still superficial." Even this bit of information had only been gathered from what his mother had told him back when he was young. He didn't know anything specific about the dragon race or the dragon realm at all. "Maybe adviser Fu Min and adviser Fu Heng would know more about that?" He turned to look at the two of them but only got a blank look in response.
Fu Min actually felt a little stupid at the moment. This kind of thing … How come somebody from the human realm knew more about it than them? He hadn't even thought about this previously. "Uh … I think An Bai might know more about that. He knows quite a lot actually." He turned to Hua Lin Yu and gave a smile, hoping to distract his attention from the fact that he had no idea. "You see, An Bai is actually a renowned scholar in our dragon realm. In fact, even the gods have heard of him. Even His Highness, the Son of Heaven, asked him questions before. That's how renowned he is!"
Hua Lin Yu blinked his eyes in confusion. "The Son of Heaven? Isn't that … the emperor?" That was what the emperor was called in the human realm at least. Was it the same in the immortal realms?
Fu Min shook his head. "No, he is the Heavenly Emperor's son. It's actually pretty straightforward. I don't know why they would call the human emperor something like that." He shrugged his shoulders and then motioned to the next door. "How about we just show you around the rest of the palace? You can ask questions and we can tell you about the people that we meet along the way. I definitely am the person that knows the most about the people living here!"
Hua Lin Yu smiled happily and nodded. "Alright, let's do that!" He definitely wanted to know more about this place and its people. As for anything else … he could still ask Xin Lan later on.
Thus, the group of three went to stroll through the dragon king's palace, stopping every now and then to talk about one of the places they saw or speak for a while with the people they met.
When Xin Lan woke up later on and couldn't find Hua Lin Yu either in the room, the courtyard, or in the room next door with his brother, he couldn't help but worry. Unfortunately, Hua Lin Yu hadn't thought of leaving him a message and he hadn't given him a transmission stone yet so there was no way to reach him.