Dad pushed off the wall, color returning to his face as curiosity replaced shock. "Okay, tell us. Is it like those cultivation novels where you reach Void Tribulation and then ascend to a higher plane of existence where immortals are everywhere?"
"No Dad, everyone lives in this same universe." I settled onto a cushion across from Mom, organizing my thoughts. "You know how our scientists predict that our universe is expanding faster than light, so the horizon of the universe that we can see is only a small portion of what there may actually be?"
"Yeah, I've watched a few documentaries about that." Dad joined us on the floor, legs crossed. "Observable universe versus actual universe."
"Well that's not far from the truth. The place where cultivators live is just so far from our location we can't see them. Our Earth is so far on the edges of the universe that barely any spiritual energy reaches this place. It also means that if any cultivators travel all the way here, they would run out of spiritual energy quickly and be stranded."
Mom straightened, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. "So we're just... isolated?"
"Basically, the closer to the center of the universe you get, the higher the density of spiritual energy. However, the density is not uniform, even close to the center there are pockets of high and pockets of low density areas fit for all kinds of people at all cultivation levels."
I gestured toward the palace windows, where the protected landscape stretched beyond.
"Think of it like altitude on Earth. Some places are at sea level, some are on mountaintops. Cultivators live where the spiritual energy matches their needs. Mortals stick to the sparse areas, immortals gather where the energy is thick. But it's all the same physical universe, just spread across distances so vast that light hasn't had time to reach us from there."
Dad frowned, processing. "What about this world bead? Did it come from the central area of the universe? Now that it's all the way here in the backwater town of Earth, would it soon run out of spiritual energy and dry up?"
"You don't have to worry about that Dad, the Chaos World Bead is an innate treasure born from the chaos, so it's different. The spiritual energy here is actually created by the world bead itself, not absorbed elsewhere."
I pulled the bead's presence forward in my mind, feeling its connection to my core.
"It's self-sustaining. The world generates its own energy cycle, independent of the surrounding universe. That's what makes it so valuable—it's a completely autonomous ecosystem. I could take it anywhere, even into the void between galaxies, and it would keep functioning perfectly."
"So it won't fade?" Mom asked, hope creeping into her voice. "All those people moving through the portals, they'll be safe?"
"The world bead will exist for millions of years at minimum, probably longer." I smiled at her concern. "In fact, as it grows and more people cultivate here, the energy density will actually increase. The Heavenly Dao manages the balance, ensuring everything stays stable."
Dad ran a hand through his hair. "This is a lot to take in."
"I know." I leaned back against the cushion. "But you needed to understand the scale of what we're dealing with. Those immortal beasts out there? They're nothing compared to what exists in the central regions of the universe. And humanity will eventually reach those places, once enough people advance their cultivation."
"How much do you actually know about life in the center areas of the universe?" Dad leaned forward, engineer's mind already cataloging possibilities.
"Quite a bit, actually. A lot of this information I put the basics of in the All Paths Library. Only some of it I keep on the higher levels for higher level cultivators to see eventually." I stretched my legs out in front of me. "But I suppose it should be fine if I just told you the basics."
Mom shifted closer, attention fixed on me with that same intensity she'd used when I was a kid trying to explain a complicated school project.
"Besides cultivators, everyone uses technology just as much for everyday life. It's a lot like our Earth with the entire world connected via the internet. Cities have skyscrapers, people use computers, watch entertainment on screens, order food delivery." I paused, watching their expressions. "The difference is that cultivation and technology developed together instead of separately. They complement each other."
"So they didn't abandon science?" Dad's eyes lit up with genuine interest.
"Not at all. In fact, the virtual space is a very common technology there. Everyone is connected throughout vast regions, not just individual cities or planets." I gestured at the space around us. "What I created here is actually pretty primitive compared to what exists in the central regions. There, you can access virtual spaces from anywhere, with full sensory immersion that makes it indistinguishable from reality."
Mom tilted her head. "How do they travel between planets? Even with cultivation, the distances must be enormous."
"Spaceships can travel faster than light and even warp through space folds to quickly travel between planets and entire galaxies." I grinned at Dad's expression. "Your aerospace engineering would look like stone tools compared to what they've built. Ships powered by formation arrays, hulls inscribed with spatial compression techniques, navigation systems that read dimensional currents."
"That's..." Dad trailed off, shaking his head. "That's incredible."
"It gets stranger." I stood, pacing toward the window. "What we on Earth might consider impossible physics—waterfalls flowing upwards, mountains floating in the sky, cities built on clouds—are possible toward the center. As spiritual energy becomes denser and immortals comprehend the laws of the universe, those same laws can behave differently in different places."
Mom followed my gaze out the window, processing.
"Remember when I showed you the ice tundra in my world bead that's colder than absolute zero?" I turned back to them. "Things like that are common in the cultivation world. There are forests where time flows backward, oceans that exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously, planets where gravity points in seven different directions at once."
"How does anyone function in those conditions?" Dad stood, moving beside me at the window.
"You adapt. Just like you learn to hold your breath underwater, or avoid a car on the street." I shrugged. "The scale is just higher but all the same. A cultivator who reaches those regions has already spent decades or centuries training their perception and reaction speed. What seems impossible to us is natural to them."
Dad nodded slowly, the concept settling into place with his methodical thinking.
Mom stepped closer to the window, studying the distant mountains that marked the edge of the Core Region. "What about the scale of the cultivation world itself? I noticed that the continents in your world bead can easily contain multiple Earths inside it, and that's only one continent. Is the world bead special or is that common?"
"It's common, Mom." I joined her at the window, pointing toward the horizon. "The closer you get to the center of the universe, the bigger planets and stars are in general. What would collapse into a black hole here isn't enough to collapse into one toward the center. Everything scales up in size. This includes beasts that rely on raw strength as they grow—they just keep getting bigger and bigger."
"How big are we talking?" Dad moved to my other side.
"Remember that Grand Unity Immortal beast I showed you? The one that looked like a dragon crossed with a mountain range?" I let that image sink in. "That was around five miles long. In the central regions, immortal beasts can grow to the size of continents. Some Beast Emperors are literally mistaken for landmasses because they move so slowly and their bodies span thousands of miles."
Mom's hand went to her throat. "That's terrifying."
"For us humans and many of the beasts that have taken human form, we actually stay small like now." I gestured at myself, then at them. "Mastering the laws of the universe basically replaces the need for brute physical strength for us. A human immortal at my height can destroy a beast a thousand times larger because we're not fighting with muscles—we're fighting with reality itself."
"So size doesn't matter at higher levels?" Dad's engineer brain latched onto the efficiency of it.
"Not for law cultivators." I walked back toward the cushions, settling down again. "That's why you see immortals in human form everywhere in the cultivation world. It's practical. We can live in cities, use technology, interact normally. Meanwhile, a beast that chose to keep growing ends up sleeping for centuries at a time because moving requires so much energy."
Mom rejoined us on the floor, some of the fear leaving her expression. "That makes sense. Quality over quantity."
"Exactly." I smiled at her phrasing. "A Golden Immortal who's mastered spatial laws can fold space around themselves, making distance meaningless. They don't need to be planet-sized to affect a planet-sized area. They just need to understand how space works and impose their will on it."
Dad leaned back against a cushion, staring at the ceiling. "Every answer you give raises ten more questions."
"Welcome to cultivation." I grinned. "That feeling never really goes away."
"You asked me before if the world bead came from the center of the universe." I met Dad's gaze directly. "The answer is no. It came from outside our universe. From the chaos. The Chaos World Bead is an innate treasure born from the Chaos itself—that's why it's so special and rare."
Dad straightened, his expression sharpening with new questions.
"And no Dad, before you ask, I don't know what's in the chaos." I held up a hand. "But I can speculate. Just because outside our universe is the chaos, it stands to reason there might be other universes out there."
"Other universes?" Mom whispered, the concept clearly stretching her imagination.
"Maybe. All I know is that only the Gods can leave our universe into the chaos, but not for very long." I traced patterns on the cushion beneath me. "As far as I know, they've never found another universe. Either there are none out there, or they're just too far away for even a God to reach."
Dad opened his mouth, then closed it, processing.
Mom tilted her head, studying my face with that perceptive teacher's gaze that had caught me in countless childhood fibs. "How exactly do you know all this information? Until now, I thought the world bead knew all this because it came from there, but now it sounds like the world bead didn't even come from there, so how do you know?"
I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. Some truth was necessary, but not all of it.
"The world bead is only here because in the chaos where it was born and still growing, it was picked up by a God from our universe who was traveling through the chaos." I watched their faces as I spoke. "All the beasts in this space are here because that God placed them inside while he was refining it."
"Refining it?" Dad leaned forward.
"Trying to make it his own, basically." I shifted on the cushion. "However, while that God was refining the world bead, other Gods caught wind of it and there was a huge fight that obliterated many galaxies in the center of the universe. The God self-destructed his body—only his soul remained. The self-destruction tore a hole in space and the bead flowed through it all the way to Earth."
Mom's hand found Dad's, gripping tight.
"The Heavenly Dao of this world bead was actually hiding the fact that it had gained wisdom." I let that sink in for a moment. "And as a soul, the God was too weak to go against the world bead, so his soul was destroyed and all his memories were absorbed by it."
"Jesus," Dad breathed.
"Unfortunately the world bead is not strong enough right now to escape this universe and return to the chaos." I spread my hands. "And I just happen to come across it where it landed on this planet. To get stronger, the world bead decided to recognize me as the master, so there you have it. Since I am the master, I have access to all the knowledge the world bead absorbed from the God."
The meditation chamber fell silent except for the distant sound of wind through the palace corridors.
Mom finally spoke, her voice quiet. "So you have the knowledge of a God in your head?"
"A lot of it, but most of it is sealed from me because I'm too weak to comprehend them. This God has millions of years of memories and experience. He's also comprehended many laws of the universe that are just too far beyond my understanding. If I were to access these memories, my mind would probably shatter, so the Heavenly Dao of the world bead keeps them sealed so I can't see them."
I met their worried gazes with a reassuring smile.
"But everything else I have access to—if you want ordinary timelines and information about the cultivation world, I can see all that. But if you want to understand the exact technology for a quantum warp drive... a lot of the higher technologies have more to do with an understanding of the fundamental laws rather than just putting parts A and B together."