Chapter 389 - Love Between the Races

The one who had inadvertently caused all that trouble or, well, his reincarnation at least was wandering through the innermost courtyard of the secret realm. He had stayed next to Jing Yi for the first few days after the boy entered his inner self but there was nothing he could do anyway so he went to explore the secret realm instead.

The more he saw the more impressed he was. Yes, this realm had obviously been created by someone of a lower stage than him but that wasn't surprising. The surprising thing was that the realm still included a lot of things that weren't typical. The two statues he had found in the innermost courtyard had only been the first in a row of things that he had never seen in the human realm before.

There were plants and beasts and things that had obviously been crafted by humans like arrays or decorations. Especially some of the plants and beasts resembled those he had seen in the few days he had spent in the Nine Heavens or the ones he had encountered in the fights against the lesser demons back when he hadn't had ascended yet.

Why were these things here? There were only two possible explanations he could think of. Either this was mere coincidence and the plants and beasts had just diverged more and more from their counterparts in the mortal realm and thus became more similar to the ones in the immortal realms or someone had brought the actual ones from the immortal realms and because they were mixed with those from the mortal realms a kind of crossbreed came about.

Leng Jin Yu thought back to one of the demonic flowers he had seen. It wasn't exactly the same as the ones he had once encountered on the outskirts of the demon realm but it came close. Considering that the second variant was more likely. These were the results of bringing a demonic flower to the mortal realm.

So, was this secret realm the work of a demonic sect? Or that of the demons? But that wouldn't explain the things similar to what could be found in the Nine Heavens.

With these questions in mind, Leng Jin Yu had returned to the palace of the secret realm's master and gone back to the innermost courtyard. He once again examined the two statues. The last time he had merely regarded them as humans but maybe that was wrong. Maybe he had been wrong all along and they were more than that. Demons? Gods? Or … both?

Leng Jin Yu narrowed his eyes. As an ascended deity he wasn't as opinionated regarding interracial relationships as the trueborn gods. So what if the one you fell in love with was human or part of the dragon race? Couldn't you still love that person?

Even he found it a little hard to believe that one of the gods would get together with a demon though. Never mind that trueborn gods didn't think very highly of the demons and that they frowned upon such relationships, if he hadn't misunderstood, then the demons didn't think much of monogamy. Or love, for that matter. He had even heard rumors that demons were unable to fall in love at all and that their relationships were only based on mutual benefits.

The gods already looked down upon the humans for marriages like that. If another immortal race that should know better was to engage in relationships with multiple partners at the same time, wouldn't they detest it even more?

So had these two defied the common beliefs and gotten together despite the scorn of their races or was he just thinking too much and there was another reason for all this? Actually, he felt that the former was quite likely. After all, it would also explain why someone from the immortal races would settle down in the mortal realms or, well, a realm created and anchored in the mortal realms.

They might have been driven out of their homes because of their relationship and then had to settle down somewhere else. Naturally, the mortal realms would be the only place that could work out.

Well, it was a possibility at least. Unfortunately, there just weren't enough clues to really find out what was going on. But something was different about this realm that much was certain. Those things that weren't of human origin, the statue of a man that had more or less the same presence as the God of War … These couldn't be mere coincidences. And most likely it wasn't a coincidence either that the reincarnation of the Son of Heaven had stranded here.

"Nothing happens without a cause. So is it that Heaven wants him to stay here and figure out what this realm is about?" Leng Jin Yu furrowed his brows. It was the only logical explanation he could think of if he didn't want to dismiss this as mere coincidences.

"Jing Yi is still in his inner self. And he probably won't come out soon."

Considering that the Son of Heaven had been at least a thousand years old when he descended for his trial that would still mean that he had to acquire the memories of more than a hundred years even if he had only taken in the spiritual energy of one part of the Fractured Crystal Leaf.

Speaking of that … Leng Jin Yu took out the plant and scrutinized the five leaves. It wouldn't be impossible to find out just how much spiritual energy Jing Yi had taken in. He only needed to probe it a little with his own energy. But … he couldn't risk that any mishap occurred.

There were plants that could only be used once in your lifetime and even though he didn't know if the same was true for the Fractured Crystal Leaf he still felt that it was quite likely. He couldn't risk it. Maybe he'd have the opportunity to find a Fractured Crystal Leaf for himself one day. A complete one, even.

Well, even if he feared making trouble for himself, he still had to make sure. He closed his eyes and carefully probed the energy still stored in the plant. It was … almost everything. Jing Yi had only managed to absorb a sliver of energy before the first memory assaulted him.

Leng Jin Yu gave a relieved sigh. That was good. In that case, there wasn't much he could remember. Maybe it wouldn't even be enough to piece together that he had been a god that ascended for his trial. As long as he didn't remember about that everything was alright.

Well, at least that problem didn't remain any longer. Now, he only had to figure out a way to leave this realm. After all, there was still something waiting for him out there.