The Thousand-Year Great Sage’s question sent Yue Yang into genuine contemplation.
What exactly was the secret of life?
Why could humans grow into the most powerful? Why did the ultimate evolution of every war beast take the form of a human body?
Yue Yang understood that taking human form was a war beast’s most perfect state of life, and its strongest — he knew both the process and the outcome. But the secret of that evolution, the reason it went that direction and not another, that he didn’t know. Or to put it differently — why was the human form superior to any other direction of evolution? Perhaps one could say: taking human form meant being able to learn, cultivate, think, and apply wisdom the way a human did. But that only raised the next question: why did humans have the greatest wisdom? Why were humans the fastest at learning, cultivating, and growing?
Who in heaven and earth had created such an immense and complex variety of life?
And all these countless forms of life — why had they been created at all? Was the meaning of their existence in this world simply to “become human”? To then learn and cultivate and grow the way humans did, ultimately stepping into the divine realm and entering that supremely beautiful state spoken of in legend?
Setting those questions aside.
Yue Yang looked back at himself. He could confirm that he hadn’t yet grasped the secret of life — which was why he couldn’t create life the way divine beings could.
But if he thought about it the other way: if he did grasp the secret of life, could he then create life? Would that be equivalent to entering the divine realm?
At that thought.
His heart stirred with sudden intensity.
He desperately wanted to hear what the Thousand-Year Great Sage meant by the secret of life. Even if knowing it didn’t allow him to comprehend his way into the divine realm, it would surely give enormous assistance to his future growth. Vivienne the Empress stood at Sacred Supreme tier — her power was equivalent to what legends described of divine beings, capable of something as extraordinary as creating a world of ice and snow within a black hole space. But she couldn’t create life. The one time she had, it had been together with him, reviving Xiao Wenli. And just from her expression during that process, it was clear the unexpected events during the revival had far exceeded her anticipations — which was exactly how Xiao Wenli had ended up becoming like her daughter.
If he could understand the secret of life and share it with Vivienne, wouldn’t that take her to an even greater height?
The Supreme, the Night Empress, Her Majesty, Fengxian, Wuxia, Qianqian — everyone was at different stages. If they now grasped the secret of life, their cultivation going forward would certainly be twice as effective.
And for himself — if he grasped the secret of life, perhaps Aman, Hong, Jiang Ying, Future, and the Chaos Phantom could all evolve still further.
If there was anything he most urgently needed right now, it was this.
The secret of life.
Yue Yang’s pulse was at a hundred. Looking at the Thousand-Year Great Sage, who had paused and fallen silent, he genuinely wanted to burst in and demand the old man immediately tell him every last secret about life. He’d thought in this direction before, and had searched for answers before, but when his cultivation was at a lower level, he hadn’t known himself well enough to understand what he needed, and hadn’t pursued the inquiry deeply. The countless ancient texts in the Sky Tower also skipped over this line of thinking without touching it.
Perhaps the knowledge transmission from Fourth Sister, the warrior transmissions from the World Tree, the supreme energy inheritance from the core of the ancient rune formation — those parts still hidden from full comprehension within him were speaking to exactly this.
Even the Sword Spirit Imperial Lady’s teachings, the sword path of the Innate Body-Piercing Invisible Sword Qi — those had been answering this question all along, though he’d been too unaware at the time to receive them. Such a precious transmission and sword path, passed over with only partial understanding.
Now, regardless of anything else.
He had to seize this chance at enlightenment.
The secret of life — its true nature — what exactly was it?
Not just Yue Yang outside the window — inside the hall, the reincarnated challengers listening to the lecture all felt the same surge of wanting to know.
“First, what I want to say is this: the Trial Grounds are a place designed to cultivate warriors into the divine realm. In other words, this is a place that produces divine beings — whether it’s the first gate or the tenth, the purpose is the same. Some of you may already know this, so I won’t dwell on it. But there’s another point I want to make — one that many people don’t know — and that is this: the Trial Grounds are also a place for human beings to perceive the secret of life. Each gate reveals something different about life, and this becomes more pronounced the further in you go. The first through third gates are primarily about understanding the challenges life presents when facing various forms of hardship. From the fourth gate, Desire Valley, onward, we begin looking inward — confronting the desires hardest to release, the impulses most difficult to govern. The fifth gate, Beast Valley — beyond the self, we also begin to understand war beasts, and through these loyal creatures closest to us, we attempt to understand the process of a life’s growth. It’s only the surface level, but it’s a good beginning.”
“The sixth gate, Demon Valley — on the surface it appears to be a race war, a battle between two factions, each slaughtering the other in pursuit of victory. In truth, its deeper purpose, beyond further exploration of life’s secret and deeper self-understanding through war beast growth, carries a hidden meaning: the differences and similarities in how life unfolds when different choices are made.”
“Life is not a straight line. Once you make a choice, different consequences follow.”
“Things may improve. Things may worsen.”
“Whatever the outcome, you — the one who chose — must bear the consequences. As an adult, any choice you make deserves thought beforehand, because no matter how small the choice, it will shape your entire life to one degree or another.”
“If you are not yet prepared — if you cannot bear the worst possible consequence — then when you encounter a significant choice in the future, I advise you to stop and think it through.”
“Life does not offer the chance to start over.”
“A wrong choice requires enormous cost to repair the damage it causes, and some choices are irreversible forever.”
“Whether for your own sake or for those who love you, be clear about your choices. Never waver, and never put your hope in others — hold your own life in your own hands, make your own decisions. Those who can truly command their own fate, who can apply conscious intention to the various choices of their own lives — those are the truly strong. You may now be beginning to understand that truly comprehending the secret of life starts with mastering your own life first.”
“If you cannot even master your own fate, how will you come to understand the true secret of life?”
“For the first six gates — I don’t know how you passed them. But what I can tell you now is this: every challenge is actually a growth opportunity; every difficult problem is actually a chance to improve. The same will be true going forward. If you seize these opportunities, what you gain cannot be purchased with any wealth in the world. If you miss them, the loss will be difficult to repair.”
“This is not a senior’s lecture. This is the honest advice of someone who has failed.”
“Children, listen — if you can face each difficulty with open eyes, you’ll find that life is not actually so difficult, and that life is far more wonderful than you imagined. Your gains, your growth, your achievements will all exceed what you can currently picture. Of course, I know that doing this is extraordinarily difficult. It is precisely because it is difficult that it is precious — that is what true cultivation and advancement actually mean.”
The Thousand-Year Great Sage’s words fell on Yue Yang like a torrent of enlightenment, his entire spirit lifting and brightening.
Countless things that had been difficult to fully understand — inherited mysteries, long-standing puzzles — bloomed open in an instant.
They settled into his mind.
Yue Yang felt himself filled by an ocean of knowledge, as though the true meaning of life were suddenly within his grasp.
True — he hadn’t yet fully grasped the secret of life. But every sentence, every principle the Thousand-Year Great Sage had spoken, Yue Yang had genuinely received and taken in.
If he hadn’t been standing outside a window listening, Yue Yang would have let out a long shout to release the feeling — the frustration of something long pent-up, now broken through in a single moment. Yue Yang hadn’t known the true meaning behind the Trial Grounds before, but gate by gate, he’d naturally done what the Thousand-Year Great Sage had just described, reached the standards those trials had demanded, and earned the ancient inherited rewards that came with that — which was why he’d become the lucky one others envied so deeply. In truth it wasn’t luck. It was merit. Under the Trial Grounds’ hidden requirements, Yue Yang was the truly qualified challenger.
“Honored Great Sage — what is the meaning of the seventh gate, Human Valley?” Someone couldn’t wait any longer and raised their hand to ask.
This was what everyone wanted to know.
And with the answer, life in Human Valley could proceed with immeasurably greater understanding.
The Thousand-Year Great Sage was quiet for a long moment, appearing to consider whether to share it. Everyone listening, including Yue Yang at the window, practically held their breath — all hoping for enlightenment rather than refusal.
“I’m sure all of you desperately want to know, thinking that finding the answer will help you pass. Haha — here I can tell you with some regret: even if you know the answer, it won’t help you at all. If anything, you may become more confused, because all of you are reincarnated challengers living inside Human Valley.” The Thousand-Year Great Sage smiled, but he didn’t conceal the answer. He gestured for the rustling, eager crowd to settle before continuing: “The seventh gate, Human Valley — what its trial means is simply this: it asks you to observe yourselves. To be more specific — through your daily life, and through the various tests you encounter within Human Valley, this is a place that interrogates the nature of your inner being. If you can understand what ‘the human heart’ is, and what being truly ‘human’ means, then you have passed. As I said before, humans are the most fragile — and also the most full of potential. The reason reincarnating as a ‘human’ is the most difficult option here is precisely because you need to use the human identity to awaken your human heart. Whatever race you belong to — demon or angel, elf or gnome — if you can discover this in a place like Human Valley, where there is no combat power and no outside force to rely on, living a life close to that of an ordinary person, then that is the greatest achievement, and the ultimate purpose of this gate’s trial.”
“Why can’t force be used in Human Valley? Because once you possess power — whether you are human or any other race — power overwhelms everything else in life, making it impossible to understand the true human heart, or to grasp what it truly means to be ‘human.’ Children, being human is the most difficult thing there is. If you can understand this, that understanding is where progress begins.”
“There is no point in telling you the answer, because every person has a different life. How you become your truest self — that is what matters most.”
“Hold your fate in your own hands. Seize your opportunities. You can live brilliantly.”
“Go and truly live your lives. This precious experience is something the ancient deities gave to all races as a gift — what you make of it is entirely up to you.”
Standing outside the window, Yue Yang’s blood was running hot.
He couldn’t help it. He let out a shout of “Magnificent!”
By any honest measure, this was the lecture he had listened to most carefully in his entire existence, in this life or any other. What he’d heard today would illuminate his entire life going forward.
(End of Chapter)