The night skies were still as water, and the moon was full and bright.

The old woman seemed kindly and benevolent, and her eyes were bright and spirited. When she looked at Gu Cangning, her gaze was doting with a trace of reverence.

Gu Cangning turned to look at her and asked, “Granny, within the Great Zhou’s borders, have any ‘paradises’ survived the Prohibition of Ancient Darkness?”

The old woman shook her head. “The Great Zhou is a tiny little backwater, with only a few passages to other worlds scattered throughout its territory. However, thirty thousand years ago, it was home to an extremely powerful Buddhist orthodoxy.”

“Which Buddhist orthodoxy?”

“The Prajna Meditation Garden,” said the old woman without even pausing to think. “Thirty thousand years ago, the Great Zhou, Wei, Qin, and about a dozen other nations were part of the Azure Continent’s Southwestern Frontier. Numerous factions of yao and ghost cultivators, as well as shamans, were dispersed throughout its territory.

“It was the Prajna Meditation Garden’s presence that kept them under control. Strictly speaking, the Prajna Meditation Garden was the top orthodoxy of the Southwestern Frontier, as well as a first-rate...