Heaven, Earth, Me Chapter 1628. Truth.

"You’ve arrived, challenger."

The piously praying woman’s voice was sacred and ethereal, echoing in the large hall. At her voice, the eight golden giants with different forms seemed to activate, their eyes focusing on Yasenia and causing tremendous pressure to descend.

Yasenia felt the pressure, and her dragon pride was tickled. With a snort, Yasenia unfurled her own dragon aura.

ROAR!

A deep, resonant dragon cry boomed out together with her aura release, blasting all the pressure around her. Compared to the pressure she felt during the last Dragon Paradise trial, the pressure here was laughable.

The praying woman stiffened. Yasenia’s dragon aura pressed onto her, causing her body to seize up in fear. Turning around, the woman’s trembling eyes met Yasenia’s cold and overbearing golden slit eyes.

"Stop them, or I’ll crush you with my presence. With your feeble aura, you have no right to pressure me."

The pressure in the hall dissipated, and together with it, Yasenia also relaxed her stance. Easing her expression, Yasenia walked forward and asked. "What’s the test? This is the final one, right?"

Her words caused the woman’s eyebrow to tremble. In truth, the trial was reaching her side under the pressure of the eight golden giants. Usually, challengers would find it almost impossible to move under their overbearing pressure.

As she was about to answer, Yasenia asked with sparkling eyes. "Do I need to fight these eight golden figures together?"

"..."

The woman felt her heart jump. These golden giants, resembling the original eight guardians who had long since passed away, were strong. They were a notch below those two Yasenia faced previously.

Those two were, after all, created to test the "saviors of the prophecy." So, their strength was high even among similar Golden Giants. The ones here, used to test people, were naturally somewhat weaker.

Even then, their strength was somewhere between the eighth and ninth level of the Transcendence Realm.

Yasenia could sense their strength, so she was quite eager to fight the figures who sat on their thrones. The praying woman coughed and spoke. "That’s not the case..."

Yasenia interrupted. "I see. So I have to fight them after all."

The woman blinked, her lips twitching. "T-That’s..."

"Quite a good trial." Yasenia interrupted again, her golden dragon eyes glancing at the woman with far more intensity than she planned. "It is a good trial that needs me to fight them... right?"

The woman wanted to cry. "P-Please, miss. Understand that it’s not possible...!"

Even she, a remnant thought who controlled these trials, felt somewhat scared at Yasenia’s hungry gaze. Hearing her words, Yasenia’s excitement died down as she sighed. "What a shame."

Then, she muttered something that almost caused tears to pour down the remnant thought’s eyes.

"If I smash this place, won’t they have no choice but to attack...?"

After Yasenia muttered those words, she felt two hands grab the hem of her short skirt. Looking down, she saw the woman’s face looking up with a pleading look. "P-Please. Control your urges, miss! These are important treasures that can’t be reproduced! If they are destroyed, it will be a disaster!"

A pout appeared on Yasenia’s seductive lips, but she eventually sighed and sat down. Her tail curled around her legs as she asked. "So... what are you? I can sense that you are a remnant thought."

"...You don’t know me?"

The woman blinked, surprised. Yasenia asked back with an innocent look. "Should I know you?"

The woman’s eyelids trembled, and she pointed at one of the golden figures. "D-Do you really not know me?"

Following her finger and looking back, Yasenia nodded. "I see, you are the remnant thought of that figure. Now that I look, you do have some similarities."

As the woman was about to sigh in relief, Yasenia asked again. "So... Who are these figures?"

The remnant thought was thankful. She was thankful that she was a trace of a soul, or she would’ve burst into tears from grievance. "W-Who are you!? Why do you know so little about this world!?"

Yasenia pondered and linked the information she had. "Aha. From your reaction, you should be one of the original guardians who created this Secret Realm. As for the surnames... yours should be Han?"

Han Luan sighed deeply. "You are the first in over a million trials to not recognize me. Where did you even grow up to be so ignorant?"

Yasenia chuckled. "Outside."

"Huh?"

Yasenia smiled. "I come from outside this place. I just arrived not long ago, so I am still a bit ignorant on some matters."

Han Luan blinked, and her face gained a startled look. "The prophecy’s savior...? Are you one of them?"

Yasenia tilted her head. "What prophecy? I just found a map, followed it, and reached this place." She grumbled with a sigh. "Because of some strange creature you’ve sealed in an orange orb, I couldn’t return. It has already been a long time since I saw my child because of it, you know?"

Han Luan frowned. "Child? There shouldn’t be a child..."

Yasenia smiled. "I am not from the prophecy."

"Huh? But you came from the outside?"

"I’ve long broken out of my fated path. So, I stumbled upon this place by coincidence. How about you tell me what all of this is about? I want to help so that I can return."

Han Luan pondered over her words. "So, you are a [Fate Breaker]. That makes sense. The strength you’ve shown is far too strong..."

While those from the prophecy were supposed to pass the trials set up by them, they were not supposed to crush them as Yasenia did. Her other copies had experienced something similar with many other participants. With a thought, her knowledge was shared, and the rest of the copies knew about Yasenia’s group.

All copies began sharing knowledge, and her lips twitched. ’One of my copies was almost killed by a red-eyed woman...’

Han Luan coughed. "T-That red-eyed woman..."

"Hm? Mom?"

"... Never mind."

Han Luan secretly sweated. She was about to say that she was too brutish and overbearing. ’Thankfully, I held back my tongue. I almost insulted the mother in front of the daughter.’

Yasenia chuckled. "Did your other self almost get into trouble? She isn’t someone who likes to play games when they are boring. Just answer her questions honestly, and nothing will happen."

Han Luan sighed and then smiled. "Your lot is truly troublesome. Where did you even gather so many strong individuals? Compared to the rest of the participants, your group is just far too exceptional."

Seeing her relaxed self, Yasenia smiled. "It’s admirable that you retain such an attitude after so long."

"I am a remnant thought. Time doesn’t erode my will. Only a remnant thought that gains spirituality will start to corrupt and erode. For someone like me, I just do my duty and rest. Nothing more, nothing less."

Yasenia hummed. "You have quite a bit of freedom of speech, though."

"Naturally. Beyond my duties, I need a minimum of self-control to handle unexpected situations. Like this one, for example."

Yasenia nodded and leaned back, using her tail as a recliner. "I am Yasenia Dravory. What’s your name?

"Han Luan." She smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Yasenia."

Yasenia chuckled. "You can call me comfortably. You are several times my senior."

"Then, I’ll call you Yasenia. You also do not need much courtesy; call me Han Luan as is."

Looking at the woman, Yasenia smiled and nodded. She glanced at the eight golden figures and asked. "So... how do you do a simultaneous trial? Are there hundreds of golems like them?"

"Not at all. It is a trick created by superimposing spaces. The golems are constantly pouring out pressure, so the copy only needs to control the space. If I allow it..." The pressure once more descended. "But if I cut off the connection..." The pressure disappeared.

"Convenient."

"It needs to be. This trial was meant to last for a long time."

Yasenia finally asked the important question. "So, Han Luan. What’s up with this place? Outside is quite chaotic. Moving sand like waves, corrosive elements in the sand, monsters within the sand, strange daggers that open passages, and mysterious structures floating in that environment."

Han Luan hummed. "So, it has evolved as such. The effects from back then seem to have mixed with Heavenly influence and created a Forbidden Zone in a lower Heavenly Layer."

Yasenia chuckled. "Quite a bit of information in that sentence. What happened back then?"

Han Luan smiled sadly. "Like with most tragedies, greed got the better of some individuals, causing a widespread catastrophe."

She then explained in length.

Back then, their society was the most advanced and powerful in terms of cultivation. Even in their Heavenly Realm, advancing and eventually reaching the Divine Heavens was just a matter of time.

Yasenia deduced from those words that this society was from before the Heavenly Cataclysm. After all, advancement to the Divine Heavens has been prohibited, or at least temporarily blocked.

Han Luan continued, explaining a bit about their society. Yasenia listened, and soon, they reached the moment Yasenia was expecting.

"...Eventually, though, we faced the inevitable threat. A society as strong as ours. The fight between us was ruthless, and as time passed, we ended up on the losing end. So, unresigned, some people reached out to tap powers they couldn’t control."

Yasenia’s face was serious. "Is it the [Abyss]?"

Han Luan was startled. "No. Not at all..." she paused. "Or at least, I would’ve liked to say that."

Yasenia’s expression tensed up. Han Luan explained. "The [Abyss] is the enemy of all life. Therefore, connecting with it is not a wise choice, regardless of how greedy one is. The result of looking into the abyss is only one: becoming part of it. So, instead, some of our top cultivators went to a world corrupted by the [Abyss] and kidnapped one [Abyssal Human]."

Han Luan laughed futilely. "They thought that, if they didn’t connect with the [Abyss], the threat would be manageable."

"Foolish."

Yasenia sighed, and Han Luan smiled. "Indeed. Foolish. The result of the experiments were the creature you saw in one of the trials."

"That screechy thing?"

"Yes. A mix of beast that adapted to Abyssal energy. One of them was successful. Only one. However... this one monster had the ability to reproduce."

Yasenia could imagine the rest easily.

Han Luan explained it briefly. "Their numbers quickly multiplied, their strength became uncontrollable, and the monster born from that Abyssal Human managed to free the Abyssal Human. The result was a fight for survival. Thankfully, we managed to suppress it somewhat. The cost, however, was catastrophic. Our world was condemned and, eventually, broken down. It fell through the Heavenly Layers and shattered."

Yasenia spoke. "But that’s not a reason to isolate this place."

Han Luan nodded. "You are perceptive. That’s good. The thing inside the orb you spoke of is that monster. It was far too strong back then, so we could only seal it away. As for the Abyssal Human, it is still sealed away at the very center of this palace. The guardians are those chosen to guard the seal, constantly weaken it, and eventually, defeat it."

Yasenia sighed and looked up. "The other Forbidden Zones in this world..."

Han Luan smiled apologetically. "It is indeed as you fear."

Yasenia sighed again.