The spring rain had poured all night, but now the clouds had parted and the rain cleared. Even as Li Mo set breakfast on the table, he still couldn’t figure out what exactly had happened.
To be honest, he only half-understood what an "inner realm" even was.
"The Ruyi Jingu Bang prevented the collapse of the minor world."
"Moreover, this object is extraordinary—it’s the first time I’ve seen Hammer Treasure hesitate to approach a weapon. Without a doubt, it’s a great treasure..."
"So first, we can rule out Brother Monkey holding a grudge over that 'monkey stealing peaches' incident..."
Li Mo slurped his noodles while lost in thought.
All in all, this might be a good thing for him.
The problem was... Brother Monkey had left in a hurry and hadn’t told him what the benefits were.
He hadn’t even touched upon the concept of an inner realm, leaving him completely in the dark...
Ying Bing noticed that after his breakthrough, he showed no joy. Instead, he kept muttering to himself, likely encountering some bottleneck in his cultivation?But the "Ice Block" teacher quietly tied up her hair and silently ate her noodles, letting him think things through on his own first.
One’s cultivation realm was personal, one’s martial path was personal—you couldn’t just rely on others every time you hit a snag...
"I got it! How could I be so dense..."
Li Mo suddenly wiped his mouth and spoke up.
"Got what?" A faint smile appeared at the corner of Ying Bing’s lips.
He’d figured it out faster than she’d expected.
"Just ask Ice Block! Why am I racking my brains over this? What a waste of brain cells!"
Li Mo was nothing if not open to advice.
"...Ask what?"
"Ice Block, take a look at my treasure first."
"?"
A hint of wariness flickered in Ying Bing’s ice-mirror eyes.
The "Hammer Tyrant" and "Wife-Blessing Battle Soul"—what other "treasure" could he possibly have besides his hammer and her, the Ice Block?
But Li Mo’s eyes brimmed with pure curiosity. If he were talking about Hammer Treasure, he wouldn’t dare meet her gaze right now.
So the Ice Block gave a slight nod.
Before her "Okay" even fully left her lips, Li Mo had already taken her hand. Both of them were now at the Nine Apertures of Observation, so there was no need for Ying Bing to suppress her cultivation.
Truth be told, Li Mo had long wanted to bring Ying Bing into his minor world.
Compared to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, compared to the Qingyuan Sect—this place was truly his world.
And secondly... well...
The whole "Celestial Venerable teaching Little Jiang" act wouldn’t stay hidden from Ice Block forever.
Before, the minor world had been just a seed, too small to show. Later, when it grew, there just hadn’t been the right opportunity.
The minor world’s skies mirrored the outside.
Right now, it was also a scene of gentle winds and clear skies, the sun high above, mountains lush and waters sparkling.
Of course, the only truly real things here were the sun and the moon at night—everything else was just for show.
Standing in the minor world for the first time...
"So it’s this big, just not fully formed yet."
Ying Bing’s eyes reflected the beautiful scenery, a ripple of emotion passing through them.
"Huh?"
Li Mo didn’t see the reaction he’d expected.
A world seed was an incredibly rare thing, yet Ice Block was far calmer than he’d imagined.
"Don’t you have anything to say?"
"Mmm, it’s very pretty."
Ying Bing looked up at him, her gaze faintly amused.
Did Li Mo take her for some kind of fool?
She’d long known he had something like an inner world or pocket dimension inside him—akin to the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm—and that he’d used it to bamboozle the Summoning Demons Sect.
Not to mention, he’d taught Little Jiang swordplay here.
Otherwise, how would Little Jiang know martial arts she’d personally crafted, unique in all the world?
This place was indeed different from the pocket dimensions naturally formed at the Physique-Forge Realm, with its own peculiarities. But in every other aspect, it paled in comparison to the many wondrous vistas she’d cultivated in her past life.
Still, since Li Mo hadn’t brought it up, she hadn’t asked.
Everyone had their little secrets.
"The big treasure?"
"Right there."
Li Mo snapped out of his thoughts, soothing the trembling Hammer Treasure before pointing at the "fire poker" stuck in the ground nearby.
"Yesterday, I defeated a divine will projection, but I almost shattered the minor world. Then he planted this here."
He gave a rough summary of what had happened.
"Divine will projections rarely possess consciousness..."
Ying Bing stopped beside the fire poker, her delicate brows furrowing as she surveyed the surroundings.
Suddenly, she turned and pinched Li Mo’s nose with her slender fingers, asking sternly:
"Just now, were you trying to use your intent soul to bridge the inner and outer worlds, to release this pocket dimension outward?"
"Yeeeah..."
"Idiot."
Ying Bing kept hold of his nose, radiating an aura of cold, sacred authority.
Li Mo felt like a big-headed doll that’d been poked but couldn’t even complain.
"What’s the matter?" Li Mo’s voice was nasally.
"Fusing inner and outer worlds is something only those at the Fifth Realm should attempt."
Seeing the confusion in his eyes, she recalled who his master was and sighed.
"The so-called 'outer realm' is the act of projecting the scenery within your heart into the real world, making it indistinguishable from reality—even capable of influencing heaven and earth."
"The more complex the scenery in your heart, the harder it is to form an inner or outer realm. For example, a single egg is simpler than a living hen."
"Because you must ensure your 'scenery' is real enough that the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths won’t destroy it."
"And you—you actually wanted to manifest an entire world directly. Is this world of yours 'real' enough?"
Li Mo sort of understood.
His minor world’s most real aspect was the moon at night.
Everything else could be written off as special effects.
As a "world," compared to the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, it was like a fleeting bubble—utterly insubstantial.
Ice Block continued cramming knowledge into him:
"Between heaven and earth, there exist countless tides—the power of living beings, primordial energy, all manner of creatures, different 'Daos.' Some can be seen, some heard, some touched, while others remain imperceptible yet undeniably present."
"They are all intricately connected, operating in harmony like precise machinery. If too much is missing, drastic changes occur—like the sun’s extinction we witnessed in the Jade Phoenix Divine Land."
"An inner realm is the process of gradually releasing the scenery of your intent soul, letting it adapt to the laws of heaven and earth, merging with them."
Listening to Ying Bing’s pearls of wisdom, Li Mo seemed to grasp it.
The inner realm was about observing the countless cogs and gears in the vast machine of heaven and earth, then replicating them.
The outer realm was inserting those replicated parts into the machine and running them seamlessly. True geniuses could even make the machine run smoother.
But his minor world wasn’t even half-finished.
To heaven and earth, it was nothing more than a foreign object waiting to be crushed.
Kinda like running a self-correcting program?
"If not for the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the minor world might’ve been gone for real..."
Li Mo broke out in a cold sweat. He’d nearly caused a disaster.
"That existence left this here to tell you: only when you no longer need it to stabilize this place can your pocket dimension interact with the outside world."
Seeing the seriousness in her expression—and the clear relief—Li Mo realized just how foolish his earlier "brilliant" idea had been.
"So what should I do?"
"Make it increasingly refined, closer to reality. Right now, apart from the sun, nothing else counts."
"That’s not quite true."
Li Mo stared at her without blinking.
"......"
Ying Bing’s fingers curled slightly, the ethereal and sacred aura around her visibly wavering.
"I... I should go back now..."
"This place isn’t entirely useless, at least it’s good for watching a movie or something. How about it, Ice Block? Let’s watch a film."
Study session √.
Time for a break!
"What should we watch?"
"The Tyrannical Empress Falls for Me."