"Uh... what does that mean? Do I need to comprehend some great dao?"
"It's not about comprehending a great dao. It's about witnessing all the suffering and wickedness in the world, understanding the reasons behind worldly pain, and only after achieving great enlightenment can one open the passage to the ghost realm and travel there.
Ferrymen possess certain authority within the Sea of Suffering, such as entering the universe to guide souls and being able to see people's entire lives.
These ferrymen are actually souls lingering in the Sea of Suffering.
For example, after you die, your soul will be accepted by a ferryman, and then you will watch other people's lives together. If you comprehend it, you will go to the ghost realm. If the ferryman comprehends it, the ferryman will go.
Then you take over the small boat and become a new ferryman, until you achieve enlightenment and go to the ghost realm.
If, by the time your soul's lifespan is extinguished, you haven't achieved enlightenment, you will sink into the Sea of Suffering, lose your sentience, and become one of the countless malevolent spirits.
In the Sea of Suffering, the dangers are not only memetics but also the endless tide of malevolent spirits.
Those malevolent spirits are the souls of people who have died over endless ages and in countless universes, sinking into the Sea of Suffering."
Wan Lei and Xiao Yu had never heard of such rules in the Sea of Suffering before. In an instant, Wan Lei felt that if he died, his soul would likely go directly to the ghost realm.
After all, he had seen too much worldly suffering.
"There are also many malevolent spirits in the ghost realm. When people's lifespans are extinguished and their souls enter the ghost realm, if their souls' lifespans are gone again, they will degenerate into malevolent spirits. The ghost realm is plagued by tides of malevolent spirits every year."
"Then the people in the ghost realm probably wouldn't be able to bring themselves to kill the malevolent spirit tides, since after they die, they'll become those things too."
Wan Lei sighed.
"Forget it, they kill them without hesitation. The malevolent spirit tides can tear people and souls apart. To save their lives, who wouldn't act decisively?
Therefore, the armies of the ghost realm are much more ferocious than human armies."
After explaining, the Squirrel suddenly smiled.
"Remember, over fifty thousand years ago, Xia Dayu and I encountered Wan Qingyi, who had just ascended to the immortal realm, in Southern Xinjiang while trying to find Xia Xiaoyu's soul in the ghost realm. We helped Wan Qingyi alter his spiritual energy, and in return, Wan Qingyi helped us come to the Sea of Suffering."
Wan Lei was a little surprised to learn that his ancestor and the Golden Immortal Venerable had met in such a way.
"After arriving in the Sea of Suffering, because we were alive, no ferryman guided us, so we kept searching for an exit on the Sea of Suffering. Guess who we met?"
"Who?"
The four little ones were all intrigued.
"Wan Yi, Han Xiaofeng, Han Xiaoyu."
"My dad?"
"Ah? Our mom and dad?"
Wan Qianxin and Han Xiaoyun exclaimed in unison. Although they were familiar with their parents' rise to power, they had never heard their parents talk about how they met.
"That's right. At that time, the three of them had just died. No, She Yu died first, and then ferried Han Xiaoyu. She went to the ghost realm herself. Han Xiaofeng committed suicide after avenging Han Xiaoyu.
Han Xiaoyu ferried Han Xiaofeng, and then coincidentally picked up Wan Yi, who had just died. They knew each other when they were alive, which is why the three of them ended up on the same small boat."
"So the Immortal Venerables had all died once before they started cultivating."
Wan Lei mused.
"Exactly. Otherwise, how could they cultivate in that spiritless realm called Earth, which is the hometown of those four?
When we met them, they were being attacked by a tide of malevolent spirits. Xia Dayu stepped in and resolved the tide.
Han Xiaoyu used her ferryman's authority to grant Xia Dayu the ability to view lives. That malevolent spirit Xia Dayu was holding is now the Elder Huiyu monk of the Five Elements Hall."
"Little monk's story is so moving~~"
Bao Bao shouted.
"Indeed, when I was young, I heard my parents tell the stories of Huiyu and Fairy Minghua, and I cried from being moved. Especially when Huiyu angrily questioned the Buddha, asking why he saved him but not her. Later, the little monk came to the Sea of Suffering alone to find Fairy Minghua's soul, but eventually sank into it."
Are the stories of your Five Elements Hall elders so exciting? Do you have a book? I want to read it.
Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu were captivated by the story.
"Then what happened? Did you go to the ghost realm to find my mother's soul afterwards?"
Xia Yubing quickly asked.
"For twenty years in the Sea of Suffering, I taught the three of them to cultivate. It wasn't until Xia Dayu gained enlightenment and opened the passage to the ghost realm that we all entered. Not long after, we found She Yu.
However, in our two trips to the ghost realm, we couldn't find the souls of Xia Xiaoyu, Wang Xiaoyu, and Bao Bao's father. The first time we exited the ghost realm, we were chased out by Wang Xiaohang, one of the Three Great Ghost Hands."
Wan Lei had heard of it. Wang Xiaohang was the second-generation Ghost Emperor, the one who left behind the Ghost Immortal Secret Realm and conversed with him.
The encounters of the Six Immortals back then were truly incredible.
The group bypassed the two souls who were currently contemplating lives and flew rapidly towards the north. After flying for a full half a day, they finally saw an island.
There were islands in the Sea of Suffering, but they were mostly fragments of floating planets, as most planets had already collapsed after the universe died.
"Stop."
The Squirrel shouted, his expression becoming solemn.
Wan Lei and the others looked ahead. They saw no traces of civilization on that island. However, strangely, there were many people on the shore. These people were all strange and varied in appearance.
Some had pale skin, some were heavily injured with missing limbs, and some even had hair like seaweed.
Although they were humanoid, they showed no signs of life.
Instead, they were engaged in various bizarre and illogical behaviors.
"Weiyang Tribe?"
Wan Qianxin glanced at the Squirrel for confirmation and then asked, "Are the Weiyang Tribe the ones who trade black and white foils with those criminal organizations? What do they need this stuff for?"
"Bao Bao wants to fight ten Weiyang tribesmen~~"
Beneath Bao Bao's sweet appearance lay a heart that was always bragging... no, violent.
"Wait, tell me what the Weiyang Tribe is first."
This was another race name Wan Lei had never heard of.
"The Weiyang Tribe is an indigenous race living in the Sea of Suffering, surviving precariously between positive and negative planes.
They can't even be considered alive, but no matter what it is, it cannot escape the law of survival. They can devour memetics and malevolent spirits to sustain their consumption."
"Devour memetics? You can eat that stuff?"
Wan Lei was quite shocked.
"Yes, because they themselves are memetics, memetics born from chaotic planes that have no intelligence. After arriving in the Sea of Suffering, through miraculous evolution, a very small portion of them gain intelligence and band together to survive. These are the Weiyang Tribe.
They cannot cultivate, but they are individually powerful, because every Weiyang tribe member is a memetic entity, and thus possesses memetic abilities. From the moment they gain intelligence, their strength is already predetermined."