Awareness grows…not like a sprout rising from the earth,but like a faint light emerging from the darkness of the heart.
On the second night in the City of Wuyin,Li Yuan opened his book once again.
But this time,instead of writing…he listened.
Tap... tap...
The sound of small footsteps yet they did not come from outside.
The steps were inside him.
Suddenly,within Li Yuan's consciousness,a faint shadow appeared
Faceless.Voiceless.
Yet around it,an unfamiliar realm could be seen:formless, skyless, groundless.
It was not the real world.It was not the world of dreams.
It was—
A world unrecorded.A world born of questions.A world emerging from words yet unwritten.A world formed from understanding left incomplete.
Li Yuan sat in the center of that void.He could feel it—a small awareness beginning to condense.As if his own mind was building a world.
"Is this… the world within me?"
There was no ground.But from his breath,something foundational formed.
There was no sky.But from his thoughts,light began to appear.
"If this world is yet unrecorded...""…then I must be the one to write it."
That awareness did not teach.It remained silent.
Yet within that silencewas the echo of all understanding yet to be born.
Li Yuan touched the air around him—and the air turned into a single stone.
He exhaled—and a sky without light came into being.
"I do not yet fully understand the outer world.""But… could I first create the world within me?"
Awareness grew.
And that world,never before recorded in any book,began to form behind Li Yuan's thoughts.
A world…that can only be seenby those who chooseto understandrather than to conquer.
That night,within the quiet room of the inn,beyond the written page,beyond the book,
Li Yuan…had touched the boundarybetween thought and creation.
And the world within himopened its eyes.
In this world,I shall call it:The Realm of Questions.
Li Yuan stood in the center of the boundless space.Around him, there was no shape,only a thin mist that slowly drifted—as if… the world itself was breathing.
"This is different from the Realm of Understanding.""There, when I understood water, water took form.""But here… there is no form, only possibility."
Li Yuan closed his eyes.He took a deep breath.And in that moment—the world expanded with him.
He exhaled.And the thin mist narrowed,pulsing gently…like living lungs.
"This world does not appear because I understand something,""but because… I begin to question."
The Realm of Questions.A dimension within himself—not born from complete understanding,but from doubt,from curiosity,and from the humility to admithe does not yet know everything.
Li Yuan's footsteps echoed in the formless space.And with each step,the mist began to shift color.Some became blue,others a faint red,and some remained white as before.
"Each question I ask creates a path.""Not the answer that forms it, but the will to seek."
This realm breathes.Not through his body,but because his awarenesshas begun to live inside the question.
Suddenly—a faint voice was heard…not from outside,but from deep within himself:
"What makes something worthy of being called understanding?"
Li Yuan turned.No one was there.Yet the voice felt real.
"And… if understanding can shape a world...can a question create life?"
Suddenly, in the distance,a small light appeared,floating within the mist.
The light was not warm,not bright…but it beckoned to be approached.
"I don't know yet," Li Yuan whispered,"But I will find out."
And with steady steps,he walked toward the light moving deeper into the realm that now…had begun to breathe with him.