.
As if by magic, Ethan''s body materialized in his sea of consciousness.
Once the transfer wasplete, he opened his eyes and looked around.
The sea of consciousness was empty and deste, and as before, he could only see an infinite expanse of a surface simr to a mirror of water.
Raising his gaze, he saw that the majestic luminous cauldron was still suspended high above.
Seeing it, Ethan felt a sort of connection to it.
He still didn''t know much about it, nor how to use it, but he knew who to ask.
He hade to this ce to rify this matter and see if this object could help him in some way in his cultivation.
At that moment, while lost in his thoughts, staring at the cauldron, the voice of the being that lived beneath the mirror of water echoed in the area.
"Human, you have returned sooner than I expected," it said, clearly not expecting to see him so soon.
It had perceived how cautious Ethan still was, so the creature was sure it would take some time before he decided to visit this ce again.
Hearing the voice, Ethan lowered his head to look towards the mirror of water, preparing to be startled once more.
However, unlikest time, he did not see the giant eye of the creature; in fact, he did not see it at all.
He sighed in relief, thinking it would take some time to get used to this guest in his head.
"Well, didn''t I say I would return after handling some matters? Here I am," he said confidently, hoping it hadn''t noticed his fear of it.
"I understand," said the creature, and then it fell silent.
Silence reigned once again, and Ethan felt the pressure of it.
He tried to start a conversation, after all, he hade to learn more about this rather peculiar situation.
"I didn''t have a chance to properly introduce myself before. I am Ethan, and I am a disciple of the Phoenix Sect," he said.
"Phoenix Sect? Do you mean the Primordial Phoenix Sect?" it asked, with a voice that was somewhat surprised but also doubtful.
''Primordial?'' thought Ethan, trying to remember if he had ever heard this term associated with his sect''s name. He hadn''t.
"No, just the Phoenix Sect," he replied.
The creature didn''t respond for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "
Can you tell me which ne we are currently in?"
"ne? What is that? We are currently in the Phoenix Realm, in the Long Empire," he said, a bit confused.
"You don''t know about the nes existence, this exins everything. So, we are in the mortal ne," it said as if it had understood something.
"Mortal ne?" Ethan became even more confused.
The more he interacted with this being, the more it seemed they were speaking differentnguages.
He wasn''t sure what it meant by itsst words.
The creature, noticing Ethan''s confusion, sighed and exined:
"You see, there are two nes of existence, one mortal and one celestial.
Ie from thetter, and there everyone knows about the existence of a lower ne.
So, either you have lived under a rock all this time, or you are from the mortal ne," it said in a calm voice as if instructing a baboon.
For some reason, Ethan felt mocked, but he quickly brushed off this feeling and focused on what the creature had just said.
''So, there is a ce called the celestial ne, huh'' thought Ethan.
Normally, people would be shocked by this revtion and think that whoever said it was imagining things, but for Ethan, it was a bit different.
He was quite familiar with these types of worlds, thanks to his knowledge of novels from his previous world.
In fact, Ethan was starting to think that those who had written these novels might havee from other worlds because, ording to him, it wasn''t possible that they had perfectly nailed plots that apparently seemed real in other worlds.
The creature, seeing that Ethan didn''t seem too surprised, couldn''t help but think:
''Maybe we are not really in the mortal ne? No, it''s not possible.
Hardly anyone of his age would still be at this level of cultivation if they were in the celestial ne.''
It decided to introduce itself: "I am Bai Yu, a dragon from the celestial dragon race."
''Bai Yu? So, it''s a she. And to think I have been addressing her informally all this time. But wait, she said she''s a dragon?!''
Although Ethan had already prepared himself for anything, seeing how big Bai Yu was, hearing that she was a dragon was still surprising.
It''s not that he had never heard of dragons.
In fact, ording to what he had heard, the royal family of the Long Empire actually had a dragon, which was the mount of the current emperor of the empire.
He didn''t know what kind of dragons celestial dragons were, but he could make an assumption about it.
''Most likely, they are a race from the celestial realm,'' he thought, then addressed Bai Yu.
"You said you were trapped in the amphora and couldn''t free yourself. Why were you trapped?" he asked.
This was one of the questions that had been buzzing in his head since that morning.
If a being like her, who was almost certainly extremely powerful, ended up being sealed in this artifact, then something was wrong.
Maybe she was a criminal who was imprisoned in this ce, or maybe an enemy decided to lock her up because she was too dangerous.
There were too many possibilities, and Ethan didn''t want to overlook anything that could endanger his life.
Bai Yu did not immediately respond to the question.
She had already sensed Ethan''s distrust from the beginning and could understand why he was so cautious towards her.
Although she didn''t want to recall those painful memories, she knew that if she wanted any chance of being freed in the future, she had to rely on this human.
She let out a slight sigh and then spoke.
"You see, hundreds of years ago, when I was still wandering the celestial realm, I met a woman.
Her name was Yīng Huā, and she was the previous owner of the Amphora of the Seven Sages."
------------------------------
FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:
Here is today''s chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
As usual, don''t hesitate to express yourselves below about whether you are enjoying the novel or not, and please point out any errors you find in the chapter.
Thank you.
See you tomorrow.