After hearing Liu Zixuan's words, the Spirit Institute elder smiled with deep meaning and said, "I believe this trip into the Compassion Map will give you a pleasant surprise."
"I just hope it's not a scare!" Liu Zixuan grinned.
The Spirit Institute elder did not say much more. Instead, he brought his hands together slowly in a prayer gesture, softly chanting a few Buddha names. At once, a beam of golden light burst out from the Compassion Map, wrapping Liu Zixuan and the Spirit Institute elder within. In an instant, the two vanished from where they had stood.
It was as if he had just had a dream. When Liu Zixuan opened his eyes again, the scenery around him had completely changed.
He was now standing inside a palace wreathed in auspicious clouds, seemingly no different from the Heaven of legend. Faintly, he could see households like those by small bridges and flowing water all around, and on the banks there were white‑haired old men fishing.
Whether from their speech or their actions, everything was suffused with a sense of ease and contentment.
Just as Liu Zixuan was wondering where the Spirit Institute elder had gone, an old man appeared before him, his features somewhat similar to those of the elder.
The old man smiled and said, "Young man, what do you think of this place?"
"Very good, very pleasant and carefree," Liu Zixuan replied with a smile.
"Indeed. Here, time flows very slowly, and everyone lives an extremely fulfilling life. Then, do you wish to stay here?" The old man looked at Liu Zixuan with benevolence, as if there were a kind of Magic Power influencing Liu Zixuan's mind.
It made him nod subconsciously. "Of course I do!"
"But if you wish to obtain this beauty, you must pay a certain price as well," the old man said with a smile.
"Naturally. There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world!"
"Give me your soul, and I can let you enjoy this ease for all eternity." As he spoke, the old man suddenly raised his hand and seized Liu Zixuan's shoulder. The expression on his face was no longer that earlier trace of ease, but a grim ferocity that stirred fear in the heart.
Liu Zixuan snapped out of his daze. "Impossible!"
"You were just saying there's no free lunch. How is it that you're regretting it now?" the old man questioned.
"Without a soul, you would be no different from a walking corpse. What meaning would there be in living then?" The old man gave a slight wave of his hand. The crowd that had been moving about came to a halt, then slowly turned their heads to look toward Liu Zixuan.
When he clearly saw their faces and expressions, Liu Zixuan's expression suddenly changed.
Behind the seemingly peaceful and pleasant façade, every person's face was blank and dull, their eyes empty—nothing more than shells from which the soul had been stripped!
From deep within his subconscious, a breath of clarity welled up, bringing Liu Zixuan back to his senses. He tore himself free from the old man's withered hand. "No, I don't want this kind of life!"
"If you don't want Heaven, then go down to Hell!"
The old man's ferocious face showed a flicker of anger. With a heavy cold snort, the surrounding scenery began to change rapidly.
Like something out of a painting, in an instant Liu Zixuan found himself surrounded by a field strewn with corpses, rivers of blood flowing everywhere.
He watched giant beasts at the side tearing at human corpses, watched humans slaughtering each other in fierce combat, and saw on every face those treacherous, scheming, ferocious expressions. It made Liu Zixuan feel utterly ill at ease.
"Do you find this place terrifying?" It was still an old man, still somewhat similar in appearance to the Spirit Institute elder, except that this old man wore a bright scarlet robe, like some great demon.
Liu Zixuan nodded. "Very terrifying!"
"Look a little more closely." The old man gave a strange smile and stood beside Liu Zixuan. "You only saw the beasts tearing those people apart, but you did not see how those people destroyed the beasts' homes for their own selfish gain and ate their offspring."
"You saw many bullying the few, but you did not see how it was originally the few who killed their opponents' wives and children, driving that group of honest folk to rise in revolt and slaughter them!"
"You saw only the surface treachery and trickery, but you did not see the efforts they had put in behind the scenes in striving for their respective foundations."
Each sentence was like a needle, pricking at Liu Zixuan's heart.
Yes, Hell was terrifying, but what he had seen was indeed just the surface. If one came to know the truth behind it all, would it still be so terrifying? Perhaps it would merely be visually shocking, something one was not yet accustomed to.
With that thought, Liu Zixuan suddenly understood. The so‑called "a single thought to Heaven, a single thought to Hell" seemed to mean that Heaven did not simply refer to what was beautiful, and Hell did not necessarily refer to what was ugly.
Just like what he had just experienced, was Heaven truly good? On the surface it looked peaceful and pleasant, everything so perfect and harmonious. But what of the reality?
One after another, souls were stripped away, and every day they lived like corpses, repeating the same life over and over.
As for Hell, though it made one's heart race and eyes avert, it was filled with genuine emotion, with a true texture of life. At the very least, once you understood the truth, you would no longer hate Hell so much.
"What is called greed is a fierce desire to possess beautiful things, and if one cannot obtain them, one feels unwilling to accept it. Wrath, on the other hand, is precisely the opposite of greed: toward things one does not like, it gives rise to a hatred several times stronger. Perhaps those things were not bad to begin with, but you have no reason to hate them so much—just like how you previously hated Hell and loved Heaven, and now instead love Hell and hate Heaven."
Just as Liu Zixuan was lost in thought, that old man disappeared, and everything around him vanished as well. The Spirit Institute elder appeared again by his side.
And they were once more back atop the steps.
Liu Zixuan pinched his forehead. "I truly have been taught a lesson!"
"A single Compassion Map did not affect your emotions or your mind too much. This is enough to show that your state of mind is very mature." The Spirit Institute elder removed the Compassion Map. "Brother Zixuan, are you now willing to let me have this Compassion Map?"
"I can, but you must agree to a request of mine!"
"I know what you wish to say."
The Spirit Institute elder smiled. "You are a Star Sea Martial Artist, and a large part of this ruin belongs to the Star Sea. You wish to guard the treasures here, and I know well that you have no intention of monopolizing them."
"I do not know about the other Sects, but as for the Spirit Institute, you may be somewhat at ease. We came here only to seek treasures related to our Sect—such as this Compassion Map and so on. Of course, I cannot guarantee that there are no people in the Spirit Institute harboring impure thoughts."
"And if there are, and I happen to run into them?" Liu Zixuan asked with meaningful emphasis.
"You may deal with everything in your own way. I sincerely hope to become friends with you and with the Star Sea Martial Realm." As he spoke, the Spirit Institute elder drew from his robe something like a piece of cloth and handed it to Liu Zixuan. "This is a map of the ruins in the Southwest corner. I have no further use for it, so I'll give it to you."
Liu Zixuan accepted the map. It happened to be the neighboring section to the one in his hands, and it was genuine.
He froze for a moment, then looked up. Before he could speak, the Spirit Institute elder smiled and said, "My name is Kongling. We will have the chance to meet again."