My identity token pulsed with an incoming message. Mom's name appeared, and I braced myself before reading.
"Ben, I saw your post about people being allowed to venture into the wilderness. Honey, people are going to get killed out there. Can't you do something to protect them?"
I sighed, fingers hovering over the mental keyboard as I composed a response.
"Mom, the cultivation world is inherently dangerous. I can enforce rules inside the cities to keep people safe there, but I can't babysit everyone who decides to hunt spiritual beasts or gather herbs. They need to learn caution and respect for the dangers."
Her reply came almost instantly.
"But this is your world, isn't it? Can't you just make it safe? Remove the dangerous creatures or at least warn people before they get hurt?"
I stared at the message, realizing the disconnect. Mom didn't have Jihasti's memories. She hadn't seen the cultivation world beyond our safe little corner of the Eastern Region. To her, this was just a magical place I controlled, not a functioning ecosystem with its own natural order.
Neither she nor Dad had ventured far from American City or the Core Palace. They'd never witnessed what actually existed beyond the city boundaries.
An idea formed. Words wouldn't convince them, but seeing might.
I stood from the couch, reaching out through my connection to the world bead. "Mom, Dad, can you come to the meditation chamber? I want to show you something."
Minutes later, they appeared in the doorway. Dad wore his work clothes, grease still on his hands from whatever project he'd been tinkering with. Mom had dirt under her fingernails from the garden.
"What's wrong?" Mom asked, worry creasing her forehead.
"Nothing's wrong. But I think you need to see what the world bead actually contains." I gestured for them to stand beside me. "The Heavenly Dao can hide us and let us observe the entire world. I'm going to give you a tour."
The meditation chamber dissolved around us, replaced by endless blue sky. We hung suspended thousands of feet above the ground, completely invisible and intangible.
Mom grabbed Dad's arm with a small gasp.
"We're safe," I assured them. "Nothing can see or touch us like this. Look down."
Below us stretched the Eastern Region. Six obsidian cities gleamed like black jewels scattered across the landscape, each one identical in design with concentric rings spreading from central monuments. American City, Chinese City, Russian City, African City, Brazilian City, German City—all clustered within roughly ten thousand miles of each other near the region's center.
"That's American City," I pointed. "And over there, Chinese City. The cities are relatively close together, designed as safe zones for new cultivators."
"It's beautiful," Mom breathed.
"Now look at everything else."
The landscape between cities told a different story. Forests stretched for hundreds of miles, but these weren't normal woods. Trees rose like skyscrapers, their trunks wider than houses, branches spreading to create canopies that blocked out the sun. Mountains jutted from the earth at impossible angles, peaks scraping clouds at heights that made Everest look like a foothill.
I willed us closer to one of the forests. The Heavenly Dao carried us down until we hovered just above the canopy.
"Watch," I said quietly.
A massive bear emerged from between the trees, its shoulder standing twenty feet high. Spiritual energy rippled around its body in visible waves, and its eyes glowed with the intelligence of a Beast Warrior realm creature.
Mom's hand flew to her mouth.
The bear paused, sniffing the air, then continued its path through the forest. Each step shook the ground, leaving deep impressions in soil that had been compressed by centuries of spiritual energy saturation.
"That's a relatively weak one," I explained. "Beast Warrior realm, equivalent to someone in Meridian Opening. Now look over there."
A tiger prowled through the undergrowth, its striped coat shimmering with barely contained power. This one radiated the presence of Beast Elite realm—Spirit Awakening equivalent. When it roared, the sound carried physical force that bent nearby trees.
Dad's face had gone pale. "Jesus Christ."
"The Eastern Region only contains beasts up to Beast Captain realm," I continued, moving us deeper into the wilderness. "That's equivalent to Core Formation. They're the weakest spiritual beasts that exist in the entire world bead."
We passed over a clearing where a troop of monkeys played in the branches of a tree that could have housed an apartment building. Each monkey crackled with Beast Soldier realm energy, their movements too fast for normal eyes to follow.
"This is what exists between the cities," I said. "This is what people will face if they venture into the wilderness unprepared. And Mom, this is just the Eastern Region—the safest part of the entire world."
I shifted our perspective, willing the Heavenly Dao to carry us westward. The landscape blurred beneath us as we crossed the hundred thousand miles in seconds, time and space bending to my authority within the world bead.
"This is the Western Region," I said as we slowed.
The difference was immediate and staggering.
Mountains that had seemed massive in the Eastern Region looked like hills compared to these titans. Peaks pierced through cloud layers, their summits vanishing into the stratosphere. Some mountains floated, defying gravity entirely, their bases dripping waterfalls that fell for miles before reaching the ground below.
Forests here grew so dense that sunlight barely penetrated the canopy. Individual trees stood as tall as skyscrapers, their trunks requiring minutes to walk around. Vines thick as highways coiled between branches, and the spiritual energy in the air was so concentrated it appeared as a faint mist.
Lakes stretched to horizons, their surfaces mirror-smooth and radiating power that made the Eastern Region's spiritual energy feel like a gentle breeze in comparison.
"The beasts closest to the Eastern Region border are all Beast Captain realm minimum," I explained. "That's Core Formation equivalent. Further west, they get stronger."
A wolf pack emerged from the tree line below. Each creature stood fifteen feet at the shoulder, their fur crackling with spiritual lightning. They moved in perfect coordination, their eyes gleaming with predatory intelligence.
"Beast Commander realm," I noted. "Fifth realm of mortal cultivation. Equivalent to human Sacrifice Realm."
Mom's grip on Dad's arm tightened.
We drifted further west. A serpent slithered along the shore of one of the massive lakes, its body thick as a subway tunnel and stretching for hundreds of feet. Scales reflected the sunlight like polished mirrors, and each breath it took stirred waves across the water's surface.
"Beast General," I said. "Sixth realm."
The serpent dove beneath the surface, creating a whirlpool that could have swallowed ships whole.
Higher in the mountains, an eagle circled a floating peak. Its wingspan measured over three hundred feet, and spiritual wind currents visible to the naked eye spiraled around its body. When it screeched, the sound echoed across the entire mountain range.
"Beast Lord realm," I continued. "Seventh realm. Equivalent to Nascent Soul."
Dad's voice came out hoarse. "How far up do they go?"
"In this region? Beast Overlord. Ninth realm of mortal cultivation, same as Law Comprehension for humans." I pointed toward the deepest parts of the Western Region, where the spiritual mist grew so thick it obscured everything. "There are only ten beasts at that level in this entire region. They're territorial, ancient, and powerful enough to level cities with a thought."
A roar echoed from those distant depths, so powerful the sound waves were visible rippling through the air. Mountains trembled. Trees swayed despite no wind touching them. The spiritual energy itself vibrated with the force of that sound.
Mom flinched despite our protective bubble.
A creature that resembled a massive boar crashed through the forest below, its tusks glowing with earth element power. It was hunting something smaller, faster, that darted between the enormous tree trunks.
"The Western Region isn't even the most dangerous part," I said quietly, willing us northward.
The landscape blurred again as we crossed another vast ocean. Water stretched endlessly beneath us, waves the size of tsunamis rolling across its surface in perpetual motion. Occasionally, something massive moved beneath those waves—shadows that dwarfed whales, creatures I had no desire to examine closely.
We crossed the coastline into what I'd designated as the Northern Region.
The mountains here matched the Western Region's impossible scale, peaks vanishing into clouds and beyond. Forests sprawled across continents with trees that could house entire cities in their branches. But something felt different immediately, something wrong in a way that made my skin crawl even through the Heavenly Dao's protection.
"Look at that desert," I pointed.
The sand glowed red, not from sunset but from heat so intense it radiated visible waves into the sky. The air above shimmered and distorted, creating mirages that twisted reality itself.
"That sand is thousands of degrees," I explained. "Hot enough to vaporize steel instantly. But watch."
A lizard scurried across the dunes, its scales reflecting the hellish light. It moved casually, completely unbothered by temperatures that should have reduced it to ash. The creature paused, its tongue flicking out to taste air that would incinerate human lungs.
"Immortal Foundation realm," I said. "First stage of immortality. It lives there like you'd live in your garden."
We drifted further north. The desert gave way abruptly to a tundra that made Antarctica look tropical. Ice formations rose like crystalline skyscrapers, their surfaces so cold they didn't even reflect light properly—the photons themselves seemed to freeze upon contact.
Mom shivered despite our protection. "How cold is it?"
"Far below zero Celsius. So cold that thoughts freeze." I gestured at a valley where the air itself had crystallized into floating geometric shapes. "The laws of reality are different here. Physics doesn't work the same way. This isn't just dangerous—it's fundamentally impossible by Earth's standards."
Something moved through that frozen wasteland. A bear, but not like the one we'd seen in the Eastern Region. This creature stood forty feet tall, its fur shimmering with patterns that hurt to look at directly. Ice formed and shattered around its body with each breath, and the spiritual energy radiating from it felt like pressure against my consciousness even through the Heavenly Dao's filter.
"True Immortal realm," I said. "Second stage of immortality. Cellular immortality—every cell in its body is individually immortal."
"And before you ask," I continued, my voice tight, "I can hide from these things. The Heavenly Dao can shield us, and I can influence them to some degree through my connection to the world bead. But control them?" I shook my head. "No. I'm too weak. These beasts are at realms I can't even comprehend yet. If that phoenix decided to fly south and destroy American City, I could maybe redirect it, convince it to go somewhere else. But stop it?" I laughed bitterly. "Not a chance."
Mom's face had gone white. "Then why bring humans here at all? Ben, if these things exist—"
"The world bead wants to grow," I said, cutting her off. "And I grow with it. These beasts are powerful, yes, but they're still just beasts. Smart, dangerous, but lacking human intelligence, creativity, innovation." I gestured at the phoenix below. "By bringing humans here, I'm fundamentally raising the level of the entire world. Human cultivators will push boundaries these creatures never could. The world bead needs that. I need that."
"Besides, the Eastern Region is safe," I interjected. "The cities are protected. The wilderness between them only contains beasts up to Core Formation equivalent. That's dangerous, yes, but manageable for cultivators who train properly. The Western Region, Northern Region—humans won't reach those places for years, maybe decades. By then, hopefully some of them will be strong enough to survive."
I willed us further north, past frozen wastelands and mountains that scraped the edge of space itself. The landscape shifted beneath us, growing stranger with each passing mile. Rivers flowed upward. Forests grew sideways from cliff faces. Reality itself seemed to bend around concentrations of spiritual energy so dense they warped the physical world.
"This is where the Northern Region transitions into the Core Region," I explained as we crossed an invisible boundary.
The change was immediate. The spiritual energy in the air thickened until it became visible, swirling currents of power that moved like living things. Mountains floated without any support, entire ecosystems suspended in mid-air by nothing but concentrated spiritual pressure. Waterfalls fell upward. Lightning struck from clear skies, drawn by the sheer density of energy saturating everything.
A bird soared past us, its feathers radiating light that could have lit a city. Each wingbeat created ripples in space itself, distorting the air around it like heat waves. But this wasn't heat—it was power, raw and overwhelming.
"Golden Immortal realm," I said quietly. "Third stage of immortality. That bird has an entire pocket dimension inside its body where it stores power."
The bird cried out, and the sound carried fragments of comprehended laws—fire, wind, light all woven together in a tapestry of meaning that made my head ache just hearing it.
We drifted deeper into the Core Region. A massive stag grazed in a meadow where the grass itself glowed with spiritual luminescence. Antlers branched from its head like crystalline trees, each point containing what looked like a miniature star. The creature stood easily fifty feet tall, its presence so overwhelming that lesser beasts gave it a berth of miles.
"Grand Unity Immortal," I noted. "Fourth realm. It's comprehended at least two different laws and integrated them into its body."
The stag raised its head, looking directly at where we hovered despite the Heavenly Dao's concealment. Its eyes held depths that suggested intelligence far beyond animal cunning. After a long moment, it returned to grazing, apparently deciding we weren't worth investigating.
Dad stared at the creatures with something approaching horror. "How many of these things are there?"
"Only dozens," I admitted. "The world bead is too small to house many immortal beasts. And all of them have no way to grow stronger in this limited space. They're stuck at their current realms until the world bead expands significantly."
We passed over a lake where something massive swam beneath crystalline waters. A turtle, I realized, its shell containing what looked like an entire mountain range complete with forests and rivers. It moved with ponderous grace, each movement creating currents that could capsize ships.
The landscape shifted again as we approached the absolute center of the Core Region. Spiritual energy reached concentrations that made everything we'd seen before look sparse by comparison. The air itself glowed, thick with power that would overwhelm any mortal cultivator instantly.
Then we crossed another invisible boundary, and the energy density dropped dramatically.
My Core Palace rose from the green plain below, its impossible architecture spreading across several acres. Gardens flourished where pathways rose and fell in gentle waves. The observatory dome crowned one tower, currently closed like a flower at night. Balconies jutted at angles that shouldn't support themselves, and staircases spiraled up exterior walls with perfect precision.
"And we're back at the palace. This place is protected," I explained. "It's the literal core of the world bead, the heart of everything. Not even those immortal beasts can enter here. The Heavenly Dao shields it absolutely."
"Wait," Mom said, confusion replacing the horror on his face. "Why is the spiritual energy so low here? Isn't this supposed to be the core of the entire world?"
We descended toward the palace, passing through the protective formations I'd established.
"The energy density is diverted on purpose," I explained as we landed in the main courtyard. "Because of me and you, Mom. It's not good to have spiritual energy too dense—it's like the difference between watering a plant and drowning it. The world bead intentionally redirects the energy outward and only leaves a slightly concentrated amount here so we can actually breathe and cultivate safely."
Our feet touched polished stone, and the Heavenly Dao's protective bubble dissolved. The spiritual energy here felt rich compared to Earth, invigorating even, but nothing like the overwhelming pressure that saturated the rest of the Core Region.
Mom took a shaky breath, her hand still gripping Dad's arm.
Mom sank onto a meditation cushion, her legs unable to support her weight. Dad leaned against the wall, face pale.
"You see," I said quietly, "if humanity is going to explore the universe, if they eventually reach the cultivation world beyond Earth, they need to understand that existence is dangerous. Not just my world—outside the world bead exists an even more vast reality that far surpasses what I have here. This?" I gestured around us. "This is just a tiny pocket dimension, a protected nursery compared to what's out there."