Li Yan thought for a moment and came to a decision, he realized that even if this was a world of cultivation, to him knowledge was more important than power. Power is just a means to an end but knowledge is eternal; rather than discovering knowledge on his own, it will be better to have a mentor as a guide. As a knowledge fanatic, he wouldn’t mind bowing to someone who has greater knowledge than his own.

Li Yan then bowed to the priest and said "It will be my fortune to learn from you". No matter what, he should not let go of the opportunities granted by the elders, moreover the priest hasn't asked anything from him and was willing to impart his knowledge freely.

"Hmm!, You have a free spirit and a strong character, then let this priest guide you toward the way of the sages. From this day forth you shall be my apprentice and it shall be my duty to enlighten you in the way of the truth" said the priest." If you have any questions you may ask now"

Li Yan was delighted, he had been waiting for this opportunity from the beginning, and so he said "Priest, I would like to know more about the vast cosmos".

"Your question is too vast, It will take a long time to explain everything. You can find answers to your question in our library, so how about you ask something simple", said the priest while giving Li Yan an irritated look. 'I give an inch and you want to take the mile, dream on' he thought.

Li Yan was appalled "You were the one who said ask any question, and now you want me to ask something simple. tsk, petty!"

Li Yan: "Then priest, I would like to know about heaven and earth that you mentioned earlier"

“Heaven and Earth” the priest began musing himself. “The sages have described Heaven as the ultimate destination for the children of light, every living being under light falls under this jurisdiction, but only the purest of souls are allowed entry into the sanctums of heaven. As for Earth, it's an archaic term given by the primordial to represent this realm along with other names like Gaia, terra, and others."

"There is a cycle of destruction mandated by heavens. It governs the change in eras and all laws within it. Even the mighty dragons and phoenix era came to an end due to the change. But in the Middle era, everything was changed, Emperor Li Qi went against the mandate of heaven and altered the destiny of entire realms, and from then onwards one theory has been widely circulated"

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"What theory?" Li Yan asked carefully, as this was related to the truth of the earth.

The priest looked deeply at Li Yan for a moment and said " It is said that the Middle era should have been the last era of this realm, our era, the era of origin should not have existed"

Li Yan was confused and said," But it does exist".

"Yes, It exists. So a hypothesis was formed. It points to the origin of the cycle of destruction. If there is destruction, then there is greater destruction. Destruction not only of the eras but of the entire epoch; the ultimate form of destruction, Known as the cycle of great destruction. Even sages, the oldest beings of this epoch have pointed towards that direction." The priest stopped for a second and continued "Some ancient texts and monuments have been recovered from the abyss, they relate to the origin of Earth and Gaia, but no matter how much we search, they do not exist, so we believe that they must be realms from the older epoch, an epoch that has been claimed by the great destruction."

Li Yan was shocked to hear what the priest said. The cycle of destruction was something that was verified in his time; the dragons existed in one era but their era was wiped out by the fall of an apocalyptic meteor, the ice age was another era in which the foundations of races were altered, and the last era in which he lived suffered from great climate change in which 80 percent of the species were wiped out. But if the cycle of great destruction existed, what could end the regime of humans; nuclear warfare or maybe something divine. Even if what the priest said was true, there was no way to verify it.

“Teacher, I want to know about our realms,” Li Yan said, Since the priest has allowed me to ask questions, I shall ask till he doesn't answer anymore.

“There are nine major realms, and 3000 great realms along with countless minor realms. Our realm is known as the Mortal realm. It is one of the nine major realms. The mortal realm is considered the smallest realm among the nine, but it's the center of all the realms and is the only realm in which all nine realms intersect with each other so its importance is much greater than you think.

But unlike the previous era, vast changes have taken place in this era. When Mortal emperor Li Qi raised his banner against the heavens, the flow of time could no longer be stopped, and the era of sages was lost forever.

In that battle, the heaven itself fragmented causing a reign of chaos to fall in all realms, but as things settled down a new era was born, a golden era for cultivators. Primordial cultivators could only cultivate immortal qi, but when mortal emperor Li Qi fragmented the great Dao of heaven, immortal qi was divided into much different qi like mortal qi, blood qi, demonic qi, and many more, enabling a vast majority of mortals to tread the path of cultivation.”

"Then priest, who is Emperor Li Qi", Li Yan asked again.

"That's enough questions for today, if you want to know more then spend some time in the library. Our Library has enough books to last you for a lifetime", said the priest with an irritated look on his face.

Li Yan looked at the priest's face for a moment and realized that he won't be getting any more answers for today, so he bowed toward the priest and turned around to leave.