Chapter 2420  Impossibility And Illusions

"The Astral Dimension." Lin Mu repeated the new term that he had never read or heard about before.

"It is a very mysterious place that even I don't know much about." Xukong stated. "I've never gone there and I don't think I can even if I want to." He added.

"What? Even you can't go there?" Lin Mu was shocked. "Where is it located in the Void?"

"That's the thing… The Astral Dimension is not within any of the Voids." Xukong answered after a pause. "The Astral Dimension is its own plane of existence where reality is a mere suggestion and the heavenly laws do not exist. It is a place where very few individuals have managed to go and even less manage to return. Knowledge about it is very limited and as such we have no idea what happens there to those that go in." He explained to his best capability.

"Then what about those that returned? You said some do manage to return." Lin Mu asked next.

"The experience for every person is different. Some merely stay there a few moments before returning safely, some get lost forever. A minority stay there a long time but eventually manage to return, forever changed. Most become insane and deranged, while some become solemn." Xukong replied. "It is impossible to tell the true effects of that place."

"If I really went there and managed to return… Would I have those effects too?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

"Thankfully, you seem to be fine." Xukong assured him. "If you were to go insane, you already would have done that." He clarified.

~huu~

Lin Mu took a breath of relief hearing that. But his doubts had not ended yet.

"What did you think happened to me, Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu asked. "I mean you knew that my true soul had left, but you didn't know that it would go to the Astral Dimension. So where did you think it went, or what was it doing?" "I simply thought it was wandering nearby." Xukong answered. "One of the few cases where a True Soul can do this when it turns into a spirit, or rather commonly known as a 'ghost'. This seemed more appropriate to me since there was still a link to your body and your True Soul would return after a period of time." He explained.

"Hmm… But wouldn't that still mean I died?" Lin Mu doubted.

"Well, there are cases when an individual is so injured that their life is hanging by a thread. In these kinds of scenario the True Soul becomes detached from its vessel and can wander around the body for a short period of time. If it manages to return, that individual might live, but if it doesn't, they will truely die.

In worse cases, the True Soul would become contaminated and eventually turn into an actual Ghost. And depending on some conditions it could even transform into a vengeful spirit or many other kinds of ghosts." Xukong explained further.

"Hmm… I see." Lin Mu could understand how Xukong assumed that he was simply in a life threatening situation.

"Though it is still very peculiar. It is one thing being able to detach your True Soul without damaging it, and another to enter the Astral Dimension." Xukong spoke, thinking about it more. "What about the others who've done it safely? How do they do it?" Lin Mu inquired.

"The one's who can do that are usually Soul Cultivators or Great Diviners who can transcend the limits of the universe. In the case of Soul Cultivators, their souls are tough and has its own cultivation, so they have a greater chance of survival.

The Great Diviners who do this, on the other hand, invoke the esoteric powers of Fate, Karma, Destiny and the Very Heavens themselves to eject their True Soul and guide it into the Astral Dimension. But even then, they are not successful all the time. They might only manage to do it once every hundred times or so with great risks." Xukong explained in detail.

Learning all this, Lin Mu now understood just how crazy it all was. "So what I did was a fluke?" Lin Mu wondered.

"Highly likely." Xukong nodded. "Your True Soul didn't fully anchor itself to your body thus it could continue to do the jumps into the Astral Dimension. Or perhaps you could say that it had one foot in your body, and another in the Astral Dimension.

Only when it fully entered your body did you manage to 'awaken' like you have right now." He said with a little doubt.

"Hmm… So all that I saw in there… what exactly was it?" Lin Mu questioned finding it quite intriguing.

"That is hard to tell. Some say that the Astral Dimensions shows all possible realities, while some say that all it shows are fake illusions." Xukong replied. "Such as the one you saw with the armored man. There is no way something like that is possible." He added,

"But I felt each and every Dao profoundly." Lin Mu said in disbelief.

"That's impossible." Xukong denied it right away. "There has been no one who has managed to master that many Daos in the universe." He affirmed.

"But he really did." Lin Mu replied. "I felt my comprehension of Dao's improving quite a lot. And I could identify them too." He added.

"Whatever you saw was simply an illusion and I can tell you why." Xukong knew Lin Mu wouldn't accept it easily so decided to give him the truth behind it.

"And why's that?" Lin Mu listened with full focus.

"When people comprehend a Dao, you can think of them as opening a tiny stream from their origin which you can think of as a sea. When they comprehend another Dao, they open up another stream. And when their comprehension of a Dao improves, the stream also widens, eventually turning into a gushing river." Xukong began his explanation. "The reason why I said it is impossible was the conflict between the streams, or rivers that you might make." 

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