Li Yuan floated in a paradoxical silence.
Around him, the dark ocean looked the same as before. There was no light. There was no sound in the physical sense. But in his consciousness, the world had completely changed.
The water spoke.
Not with words or sounds, but with meaning that touched the soul directly. Every water molecule was a letter written by the places it had been. Every current was a sentence in a language that had existed since the world first had an ocean.
"I come from a glacier that was frozen for thousands of years," the water on his left whispered. "I hold the memory of pure silence, of time moving so slowly it was almost still."
"I come from the rain that falls in the rainforest," said another body of water. "I carry the scent of wet earth, the sound of birds that have never seen a human, and the warmth of sunlight filtered through a million leaves."
"I come from a spring in the mountains," greeted the water flowing in a different pattern. "I was just born from the belly of the earth, pure and untouched by anything but rock and time."
Li Yuan was stunned. In the Ganjing realm, he had only felt the water as a calming presence. But in this Wenjing realm, every drop of water was a living library that held stories from all corners of the world.
"I come from a tear," a softer voice whispered. "I was born from the eye of a mother who lost her child in war. I carry a pain that cannot be expressed in words."
"And I come from laughter," a lighter voice chimed in. "I am the sweat from the brow of a child running to catch a butterfly in a meadow. I carry pure, unburdened joy."
Li Yuan felt his eyes welling up—or the equivalent of that in a body of consciousness. In this language of water, he found something he never expected.
The emotional history of the world.
Every human experience involving water—from a baby's first drink to a dying person's last tear—was all stored in the collective memory of the water. All flowed in the great, never-ending current of life.
"You hear us now," said a voice that felt older than the others. "You have entered the Listening Realm. But are you ready for what you will hear?"
Li Yuan did not answer with words. He let his consciousness open completely, ready to receive whatever the water wanted to tell him.
And the stories came like a flood.
He heard about rivers that dried up due to human greed. About seas filled with the blood of endless wars. About lakes that became mass graves when a plague struck.
But he also heard about water that gave life to barren grasslands. About rain that saved crops from drought. About rivers that became paths for people to find new homes.
Each story carried an emotion so intense that Li Yuan felt his body of consciousness tremble. Not from being unable to bear it, but from a profound resonance with the experiences being told.
"This is too much," he whispered unconsciously.
"No," replied the voice that felt familiar—the voice of the water surrounding him right here and now. "This is not too much. This is the reality that has been hidden from you all this time."
"When you only felt water, you only knew one aspect of our existence. But when you listen to water, you begin to understand that we are witnesses to all life in this world."
"Every drop of water that has touched a living thing carries a story from that touch. We are the living memory of the world."
Li Yuan began to understand. Water was not just a physical element. Water was a medium for storing universal experience. Every time someone cried, sweated, or even just drank, they left an emotional trace in the water they touched.
And now, in the Wenjing realm, Li Yuan could access that boundless emotional library.
"Show me," he said in an almost inaudible voice. "Show me about those who are gone."
The water around him moved in a new pattern. And in that movement, Li Yuan began to hear the stories he missed the most.
"We were Anna's tears when she first lost her first husband, before meeting Thomas. We carried a pain so deep she thought she could never love again."
"We were Thomas's sweat as he worked hard to build a home for his family. We carried the perseverance and love that was manifested in every drop of sweat."
"We were the water that Marcus drank when he was sick with a fever, and Elena who nursed him patiently. We carried a wife's worry and a husband's resilience that strengthened each other."
"And we... we were Lila's tears when she had a bad dream about a monster. We carried the fear of a child who was still so small, and also the warmth of a comforting hug."
Li Yuan felt something warm flowing in his soul. Not tears—because a body of consciousness does not produce tears—but the spiritual equivalent of tears. Gratitude so profound that it was almost painful.
They were not lost. Not really. As long as there was water in this world, their emotional traces would continue to exist. Their love, their laughter, even their fear and sadness—all became part of the great tapestry of life woven by water.
"But that is not the only thing you can do with this listening ability," said the voice of the water closest to him. "You can also communicate."
"Communicate?"
"Water is everywhere. Inside the body of every living thing. In every river, lake, and sea. If you can hear us, then you can also speak through us."
"Speak to whom?"
"To anyone who has water within them. Which means... almost all living things."
Li Yuan fell silent, trying to understand the implications of what the water had just told him.
If he could communicate through water, and water was inside every living thing...
"I can speak to those who are still alive?"
"If they are calm enough to listen. If their hearts are open. If they are not too filled with the noise of the outside world."
Li Yuan thought about the possibility. Communicating with living people through the water in their bodies. Not as a voice heard by the ear, but as a feeling or intuition that arises in their hearts.
"How?"
"In the same way you hear us now. Open your heart. Let your intention flow through the water. And trust that the message will reach those who need to hear it."
Li Yuan closed his eyes and thought of someone. Who was still alive in the world above, who might need peace or comfort?
The face of a child appeared in his mind. A child he might never have met, but who might currently be afraid in the darkness, seeking a hug from a parent who might not be there.
Li Yuan let a feeling of warmth and protection flow from his soul into the water around him.
"Tell the child who is afraid somewhere," he whispered to the water. "Tell him he is not alone. That there is someone who cares for him, even if he doesn't know who."
The water around him moved in a gentle pattern, carrying the message through the invisible connection that linked all the water in the world.
And somewhere, Li Yuan hoped, a small child suddenly felt an unexplainable warmth in their chest. A feeling that they were loved and protected, even in the terrifying darkness.
"This," Li Yuan whispered with profound awe, "is the true gift of the Wenjing realm."
Not the ability to hear stories from the past, although that was incredible. But the ability to connect with life as it was happening right now. To become part of a network of compassion that connects all living things through life's most basic element.
Water.
"Now you understand," the voices of the water said in a beautiful harmony. "Why we exist. Why we flow. Why we are never truly lost."
"We exist to connect. To carry messages. To store memories and pass on love from one life to another."
"And now, you are a part of that network. You are one of us."
Li Yuan felt a fundamental change in how he understood himself. He was no longer someone who had Water Understanding. He was someone who had become a part of the infinite community of water—a community that included every drop of water that had ever existed since this world was created.
In the absolute darkness of the sea, Li Yuan smiled with a peace he had never felt before.
The Wenjing realm was not just about listening. The Wenjing realm was about realizing that no one is truly alone in this world. That every living thing is connected through the basic elements of life.
And that love, like water, is never truly lost. It only changes form and continues to flow from one place to another, bringing warmth and comfort to those who need it.
"Thank you," he whispered to the water around him. "Thank you for teaching me how to listen."
"Thank you," the water replied in a beautiful harmony, "for learning to become a part of us."
In that paradoxical silence—silent from sound but full of conversation—Li Yuan began to prepare for the next step in his never-ending journey.
Water Understanding had fully entered the Wenjing realm. But there were still sixteen other understandings waiting to be transformed.
And who knew what they would teach him about the universe's hidden languages?