Pei Ye didn't know where he was.
It had been a long time since he had felt "himself" so thoroughly belonging to "himself".
All the pressure and assimilation were gone, as if a layer of raw, peeled skin was stripped from the soul: weak, painful, yet so incredibly liberating.
Around him was a vast expanse of silence.
He didn't know how long he had been drifting in this realm, but when consciousness awakened once more, he saw a majestic vista resembling that of the gods.
It struck a familiar chord in him.
Still, there was the deep and boundless abyss, the scales of sky intermittently visible, the Cang Mountain with its long whiskers, and the boundless white mist among the purple bamboo.
This was his Heart Spirit Realm, already ravaged to near extinction by the Edict Map.
However, in the center of the Purple Bamboo Forest, where the tendrils from the Nine Heavens hung low, a Bright Pearl was firmly embedded.
