Upon seeing this, Mo Mo's lips curled up slightly, but he was not in a hurry to collect these sources, because he did not lack them for the time being, and these sources would not run away anytime soon.
The world's corrective power is still very powerful. After checking the historical records, Mo Mo found that although Qin did not perish after only two generations, it only lasted for five or six hundred years (the elixir of immortality that Mo Mo gave to Qin Shi Huang could only add three hundred years to his lifespan, and the more evil energy he had, the shorter his lifespan would be). After Qin, the trajectory of history slowly returned to its original position, but there were still great differences. At least the situation where the descendants of Yan and Huang were ruled and enslaved by barbaric foreign tribes did not happen.
The reason for this is that after Mo Mo and the others left, Qin Shi Huang relied on his superior equipment and logistics to slaughter almost all the surrounding areas of Qin. Therefore, although the rabbit is still a rabbit, it is much fatter and has almost occupied the whole of Asia. Moreover, it is the undisputed number one. Now the rabbit is even preparing to establish an immigration base on Mars.
Although history has been changed in many ways, they adapted quickly. After all, many cutting-edge things are difficult for ordinary people to access. Yi Xiaochuan also broke up with Gao Lan, since he had already married Lü Su.
Mo Mo didn't pay much attention to Yi Xiaochuan's family affairs anymore. After returning to the modern world, Mo Mo gave Yu Shu an identity and then found a beautiful place to build a villa and live with her. At first, Yu Shu was very happy, after all, everything here was very novel to her. However, as time went by, she began to feel bored, especially when she learned that she was an ancient person from more than two thousand years ago.
Gradually, Mo Mo noticed that Yu Shu had become melancholy and would often stare blankly at the sky for half a day. Especially after Mo Mo took her to see the old site of Tu'an, she became increasingly thin, even though she had only been in the modern world for two or three years.
"Are you homesick?" Mo Mo asked softly as he walked up behind the slender woman sitting by the window gazing into the distance.
Perhaps she was lost in her memories, and only when Mo Mo asked her a second time did Yu Shu softly respond with an "Mmm".
“If you miss home, then go back and visit. I know you don’t really like me, nor do you like this bustling world. You prefer that backward but simple home,” Mo Mo said softly, gently stroking Yu Shu’s head.
"Really?" Upon hearing this, Yu Shu stood up with a look of joy, but after looking at Mo Mo, her eyes dimmed instantly, and she sat down again, saying dejectedly, "It's impossible. The box that brought us back is destroyed. I can never go back, I can never go back..." As she spoke, Yu Shu's voice gradually became inaudible.
Seeing Yu Shu's dejected expression, Mo Mo sighed softly, pulled her up from the chair, grabbed her shoulders and made her face him, then said in a serious tone, "Although the box is destroyed, I have never relied on that box to travel through the past and present. It's just that once you go back, you can never come back. Are you really sure about this?"
Upon hearing Mo Mo's words, Yu Shu reached out and stroked Mo Mo's cheek before softly saying, "Mo, thank you for being so good to me, but you don't need to coax me anymore. I know I can't go back, and you should know that I've never liked you. You don't need to feel guilty. If it weren't for you, our Tu'an would probably have perished long ago. That's why, even though I know you only care about my beauty, I'm still willing to be your woman. You don't owe me anything."
Seeing Yu Shu like this, Mo Mo understood that Yu Shu's heart was dead. If Mo Mo hadn't asked Qin Shi Huang to treat Tu An well before taking her away, which made her feel grateful to him, Yu Shu would probably have committed suicide long ago. However, even so, she gradually lost her will to live without any desire to live. And if a person is determined to die, even Mo Mo cannot save her. So he took Yu Shu back to the Qin Dynasty.
After paying her respects to her parents, Yu Shu took a full hour to gradually come to her senses. The first thing she did after coming to her senses was to hug Mo Mo tightly and offer her fragrant lips. Mo Mo did not hold back and quickly stripped her bare, then threw her onto the bed and pounced on her. This time, Mo Mo finally experienced the wild side of the usually gentle and delicate Yu Shu.
After three days of wild and unrestrained passion in the palace, Yu Shu finally came back to life. There was no longer any death in the depths of her eyes. When Qin Shi Huang heard that Mo Mo and his companions had returned after more than two years, he sent an envoy to greet Mo Mo and presented him with ten beautiful women, but Mo Mo refused them.
A month later, Mo Mo announced that Yu Shu would henceforth be his messenger in the mortal realm, responsible for conveying his decrees and saving lives. After giving Yu Shu some life-saving gadgets and a complete set of medical knowledge to spread, Mo Mo left. Since she had only ever felt gratitude towards him and never any affection, Mo Mo would not force her. If she wanted to protect her country and people, then let her do so. He figured that Qin Shi Huang would not dare to harm Yu Shu and her country, because she had once been his woman.
(End of this chapter)
2/24 17:13:32|51121228
Chapter 660 First Contact
After the matter of Yu Shu was settled, Mo Mo did not return to the modern world of the mythical world. Instead, he traveled through endless chaos to the world barrier. He was prepared to try to see if he could collect the origin of the outside world.
After observing for a while and finding no danger or change, Mo Mo punched open the incomparably solid barrier of the world. The mysterious forces that could have easily injured him were now unable to shake his protective golden light. So he slowly walked out through the crack he had blasted open.
Beyond the world was actually a pitch-black void, but a mysterious energy flowed through this space every moment. Mo Mo sensed it slightly and found that this energy was actually at the same level as the world's origin. However, for some reason, this energy was much more violent and aggressive than the world's origin, so it could not be directly absorbed and refined.
After surveying the surroundings and finding no danger, Mo Mo turned his gaze to the enormous mass of world origin. While it was described as a mass, this was only in relation to the world itself; in reality, it was no smaller than a galaxy and was constantly expanding. It looked like a drop of ink in water, but with the opposite color. Of course, the world would not allow it to dissipate; once it adjusted, it would reabsorb the mass of origin.
Although he didn't sense any danger around him, Mo Mo remained cautious. After all, it's always better to be safe than sorry. This wasn't his familiar territory. Anyone who could come to this world was at least on par with him. Even if he was fearless against anyone of the same level, he still had to ensure that they were on the same level first. Besides, they might not be willing to openly confront him.
It took him quite some time to carefully approach the world's origin. Once there, he randomly chose a spot and began collecting the world's origin. However, less than ten minutes later, a strong sense of crisis suddenly spread throughout his body, and then a powerful force attacked from beneath his feet. After narrowly dodging this unexpected attack, Mo Mo realized that the attack actually came from the enormous world beneath his feet.
“That’s right. Anyone would be angry if they saw someone touching their things in front of them, especially since this thing is its lifeblood. It seems we can’t take it back yet, but we should be able to once the world focuses on repairing itself.” Looking at the world beneath his feet and then at the mass of world origin in front of him, Mo Mo couldn’t understand what was going on. So he used his teleportation ability to travel back to the myriad worlds, took a stroll, and then quietly returned to the modern world of the mythical world.
Two thousand years is neither a long nor a short time. The reason Mo Mo chose two thousand years is because it is the critical moment for the world to repair itself. At this time, he has no time to pay attention to the original power that has been scattered into a large area. Seeing this, Mo Mo once again went out of the world as usual. However, this time he did not break through the world barrier directly, but used his teleportation to directly travel to the outside world.
Having learned from his previous experience, Mo Mo concealed his aura as soon as he came out and chose a slightly distant location to hide within the World Origin before carefully storing it away. To avoid being exposed as much as possible, Mo Mo would move from place to place after each shot. Therefore, although the World Origin looked unchanged from the outside, it actually had several holes inside.
A day later, Mo Mo stopped what he was doing, looking at the dozen or so crystal-clear beads in his hand. He always left room for maneuver. He had collected enough of the world's origin, but just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that the direction of the world's origin flow was a bit wrong. It was not expanding outwards but contracting inwards, and this was only the case in this area. This made Mo Mo's pupils shrink instantly. Something was definitely wrong if things were not normal. He quickly summoned the Immortal Cauldron to protect himself and then cautiously probed in that direction.
A dozen minutes later, Mo Mo saw what had caused the anomaly. There was someone doing the same thing as Mo Mo had just done. He was also collecting the world's origin, and his aura was only slightly weaker than Mo Mo's.
When Mo Mo discovered that person, that person also discovered Mo Mo. The moment he noticed Mo Mo, he stopped collecting the world's origin and looked at Mo Mo with a wary expression, especially focusing on the immortal cauldron above Mo Mo's head.
The burly man sized up Mo Mo for a while before speaking, "Fellow Daoist, you're too late. I've been waiting here since before I was able to collect the source, and it's been over a thousand years now. According to the rules, it belongs to me. I hope you'll leave quickly."
"You're saying the origin of this world is yours?" Mo Mo suddenly felt a mix of amusement and disbelief, but he also keenly sensed a lot of information in the man's words.
First, there must be many powerful beings beyond the myriad realms, and they have already established corresponding rules. Second, the origin of the world must be an indispensable or relatively valuable thing beyond the myriad realms, otherwise this person would not have waited here for more than a thousand years and so eagerly declared his ownership. However, Mo Mo does not yet know how precious this thing is or how useful it is.
Hearing Mo Mo's words, the man frowned and said somewhat displeasedly, "Naturally, it's mine. According to the rules of the Seven Cities of Myriad Realms, whoever discovers and begins collecting the unclaimed world origin first, no one else can take it even if they see it. Only with the consent of the first discoverer can they take it and exchange four layers of it with the first discoverer."
"In that case, it seems you've overstepped your bounds, because this thing is something I painstakingly created, meaning it belongs to me," Mo Mo grinned upon hearing this.
Upon hearing Mo Mo's words, the man's displeasure deepened, and he said impatiently, "Fellow Daoist, please don't be unreasonable. I am a member of the Light and Shadow Squad of Time City. If there's nothing else, please leave quickly. I still need to collect the Origin."
"I'm not trying to argue with you. I really did create this thing. For that, when this world was still in ancient times, I gave them a complete set of metal smelting technology and became emperor for several years." Seeing that the man was really getting impatient, Mo Moyi put away his smile and said seriously.
Upon hearing Mo Mo's words, the man's pupils contracted, and he asked with some doubt, "Is this your first time outside this world? Did you travel from another world to this one?"
Mo Mo nodded in agreement.
"Oh, I see. Fellow Daoist, you should have said so earlier! I thought this thing was unclaimed. Since it belongs to you, I'll leave now. By the way, Fellow Daoist, you don't know much about the outside world, do you? Judging from your appearance, you must be cultivating on your own. Why don't you come to my Time City and join my team? Our leader specializes in the Great Dao of Time, which gives him a great advantage in collecting Origin." Seeing Mo Mo nod, the man immediately started trying to get closer to him. Mo Mo, seeing that he didn't seem to have any ill intentions, nodded in agreement. He was quite interested in the Time City that the man mentioned.
(End of this chapter)
2/24 23:17:41|51135513
Chapter 661 A Power Above All Realms
From this person, Mo Mo learned that beyond the myriad realms, there were seven great imperial cities: Time City, Chaos City, Desolate Heaven City, Heavenly God City, Myriad Realms City, Myriad Paths City, and Dark City. These seven imperial cities were roughly equal in strength. Except for Dark City, which was composed of purely evil cultivators, the other cities, except for Myriad Realms City, which was a mixed bag, were all based on cultivation systems. Time City, on the other hand, leaned towards the law system.
In fact, Time City is quite far from here. Mo Mo and the others traveled for nearly ten years in the Boundary Sea outside the myriad worlds before arriving at the first teleportation world. According to Zhang Zheng (the other person's name), these teleportation arrays were left behind a long time ago, and the legendary great power who set them up has already crossed the boundary passage to another higher-level world.
Speaking of this, we must mention the Boundary-Breaking Passage. According to Zhang Zheng, the seven imperial cities outside the myriad realms were actually built around this Boundary-Breaking Passage. This passage is the only way to reach that higher-level world. Anyone can try to enter it, but without the strength of a peak Immortal Emperor, almost everyone who enters will perish. Even if they are lucky enough to survive, most will only have a remnant soul left and will eventually have to reincarnate and start over. However, according to Zhang Zheng, only a few of those who reincarnate and start over can regain the Immortal Emperor realm; the vast majority of the others simply sink into oblivion.
After six teleportations, Mo Mo finally saw a colossal city radiating endless light that illuminated the surrounding Boundary Sea. It was indeed a colossal city, so large that it was larger than a typical small world. Rather than calling it a city, it was more accurate to say that it was a world that resembled a city.
"Using boundaries as cities, and cities as boundaries, what a grand scheme!" Mo Mo couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at the colossal city radiating endless light and power.
“Of course, this was created by the Time Lord with endless effort and countless years of work. And most importantly, the Time Lord is a peak Sovereign Realm expert, which is the peak Immortal Emperor level in the system you cultivate. However, we usually call them Sovereign Realm experts or World Sovereigns (Immortal Emperor experts can control a great world).” Zhang Zheng explained to Mo Mo with a smile.
Mo Mo nodded upon hearing this and said, "Dominator Realm? That's quite fitting, but powerful beings like the Time Dominator are too far removed from us. Let's go into the city first. By the way, what are the rules of Time City?"
"Actually, there aren't many strict rules, but there's one thing you must remember: fighting and killing are strictly prohibited within Time City and its surrounding world. Violators will face consequences ranging from confiscation of half or all of their possessions to death. Also, rent will be charged for living in Time City. Once you're in the city, someone will explain the details to you. Let's go into the city first." Zhang Zheng said, taking the lead and flying towards the boundless city gate. Mo Mo smiled and followed.
After passing through the massive city gate, what Mo Mo saw was somewhat different from what he had imagined. Behind the city gate was neither a bustling street nor a field filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, but a vast and boundless space. In this space, people of all ages, some young and beautiful, others handsome and dashing, were shuttling back and forth between various teleportation arrays.
Perhaps anticipating Mo Mo's question, Zhang Zheng smiled and said after entering the city, "Although Time City is called a city, it is incredibly vast, even larger than some worlds. In addition, spatial power is not allowed to be used to move freely here, so teleportation arrays are very necessary, especially for those who have not reached the Dominator Realm. After all, a city cannot only have people like us in the Dominator Realm; that would be too boring."
Mo Mo nodded knowingly at the crowd of people coming and going. The reason why most of them were handsome men and beautiful women was simple: most of them were staff members responsible for greeting the crowd. After Zhang Zheng took Mo Mo to the registration office of Time City, he said goodbye and left. He had to return to their team's base to tally up their spoils. This was their team's custom: after going out, they would hand over their spoils and then distribute them according to their contributions.
The person who registered Mo Mo was a pure and innocent girl of seventeen or eighteen. This girl was really only seventeen or eighteen years old, and her appearance was not fixed at this age. However, although this girl was only seventeen or eighteen years old, her cultivation was not bad. She was already at the Golden Immortal level. When she learned that Mo Mo was actually a powerful expert in the Sovereign Realm, she was somewhat surprised but did not panic. It can be seen that this was not the first time she had encountered such a situation. From this, it can be inferred that there must be quite a few powerful experts in the Sovereign Realm in Time City.
After registering some basic information, Mo Mo exchanged a World Origin the size of his little finger for 100 million top-grade spirit stones. When he came out of the registration office with a token smaller than his palm, he only had less than 30 million top-grade spirit stones left. Of the more than 70 million spirit stones that were missing, 20 million were the entry fee, 10 million were the information fee, and the rest were all used to exchange for the token in his hand.
This is something similar to a modern ID card. Only by possessing it can one walk in Time City. With it, one can also freely choose any unclaimed land in Time City to build one's own cave dwelling. Naturally, the price to pay is greater if one wants a better place. As for those cave dwellings built by the Time Lord himself, they cannot be solved with spirit stones. They require the origin of the world.
After wandering around Time City for more than a month, Mo Mo discovered that Time City was actually similar to an ordinary world, except that the spiritual energy was relatively richer. The reason why powerful Immortal Emperors (Dominators) like Mo Mo gathered in these seven imperial cities was simply because these seven imperial cities were the closest places to the boundary-breaking passage. Of course, the teleportation arrays connecting various parts of the boundary sea were also an important reason.
After learning all this, Mo Mo went to the Hall of Time to exchange for a lot of cultivation insights and information about the seven imperial cities and the Boundary Sea. After fully digesting it, he prepared to leave. He had already learned what he could, and the rest were not easy to learn. So he planned to visit the remaining five imperial cities. He did not plan to go to the Dark City, because with the merit and strength he possessed, he would definitely be devoured without leaving a trace.
Outside of Dark City, all the other cities in the seven imperial cities are connected by teleportation arrays. Mo Mo went to Desolate Heaven City first because, according to the information Mo Mo learned, Desolate Heaven City was likely founded by the Desolate Heaven Emperor, Shi Hao. In other words, Ye Fan and the others were likely also in Desolate Heaven City.
The reality was slightly different from what Mo Mo had imagined. Shi Hao and Ye Fan were indeed in Desolate Sky City, but the origin of Desolate Sky City was somewhat different from what Mo Mo had thought, because Desolate Sky City was not built by them, but rather transformed by them.
After reuniting with Ye Fan, Mo Mo learned that their world had been invaded by another great world. Although the process was thrilling, the final result was gratifying. They joined forces to counterattack and destroyed that world. With the help of that world's power, Shi Hao was the first to break through to the peak of the Immortal Emperor and then integrated the power of that broken world with them to establish the Desolate Heaven City.
(End of this chapter)
2/25 18:08:05|51181707
Chapter 662 A Brief Reunion
Inside a pavilion in the City Lord's Mansion of Desolate Sky City, two figures stood side by side, and in front of them, a huge hole emitting a mysterious light was silently opening.
Although the cave entrance was unusually large and emitted a mysterious light, what was surprising was that neither sight nor divine sense could explore its mysteries. Moreover, looking at it for a long time would give one the feeling of wanting to immerse oneself in it.
"So? What are your thoughts after seeing this interdimensional passage?" After a long while, one of the men suddenly spoke up.
“I’ll die if I go in. You have a 70% chance of dying if you go in, and a 30% chance of coming back as a remnant of your soul.” The other man finally came to his senses after hearing this and replied with a sigh.
"Your strength has indeed improved considerably in the tens of thousands of years since we last met. You're almost catching up to me now. Your abilities are truly exceptional, especially for those at the Immortal Emperor level and above. If you had come 20,000 or 30,000 years earlier, we would definitely have gone with you to harvest the world's origin. But now we don't need to. With the Desolate Heaven City, we don't need that. So, Xiao Mo, you'll have to go on your own from now on. We'll cultivate here and wait for you, waiting for you to venture into this boundary-breaking passage together." After the man finished speaking, he waved his right hand, and the huge opening instantly disappeared. It turned out that this was just a real-time image.
"It's been tens of thousands of years. If you haven't made any progress, how can you live up to your unique abilities? But Ye Fan, are you really not planning to come with me to harvest some world origins?" The two people were Mo Mo and Ye Fan.
"No, I don't lack that. Besides, we care more about this boundary-breaking passage than the origin of the world. It is a huge guarantee in itself. However, it doesn't seem to be of much use to you, because you can freely travel through the myriad worlds and experience their differences, unlike us who can only rely on this boundary-breaking passage to comprehend them." Ye Fan said calmly, still looking straight ahead.
Mo Mo nodded upon hearing this, took out a small bag from his pocket, tossed it to Ye Fan, and said with a smile, "Since that's the case, I won't insist. By the way, these are gifts for my sister-in-law and the others. Don't refuse them; they're just some small things of little value. I'll be going now; I can't keep you waiting too long. Oh, and remember to give them my regards. I won't be able to say goodbye to everyone individually. Take care."
"Take care of yourself!"
There was no heart-wrenching farewell, nor any scene of tears and embraces. The two simply wished each other well and parted ways. After leaving Desolate Heaven City, Mo Mo traveled along the teleportation arrays of various cities. In Myriad Paths City, he encountered Lao Tzu, Confucius, and other sages he had long admired. To repay the karmic debt from the Fusang Divine Tree, nearly half of the herbs in Mo Mo's herb garden were missing. Later, in Myriad Realms City, Mo Mo encountered many protagonists from various worlds, including many famous figures such as Tang San from Tang Jia San Shao's novels and Luo Feng from Tomato's novels. In Chaos City, Mo Mo met the renowned Xiao Yan, Mu Chen, and Lin Dong. Without exception, these individuals were all late-stage Immortal Emperors or even close to their peak. Mo Mo's encounters with them could be considered both accidental and inevitable. In the end, Mo Mo distributed most of the remaining world origins he had given to Ye Fan to them, because both Mo Mo and they had a premonition that they would inevitably cross paths in some way sooner or later.
After spending nearly a thousand years in these six imperial cities, Mo Mo finally returned to the mortal world. By then, almost a year had passed in the mortal world, and many people had gradually begun to forget Mo Mo's existence. However, this was for the best. After returning to his villa in the mortal world's capital city and leaving a message, Mo Mo went back to his hometown in the countryside. He had experienced what he needed to experience and done what he needed to do. It was time for him to continue his journey without any worries. Perhaps many years later, someone would accidentally remember that they had a classmate named Mo Mo.
After staying at home for two days, Mo Mo continued his journey. This time, his goal was clear: to understand the differences between each world and harvest as much world essence as possible, because he didn't have much world essence left.
Mo Mo's method for harvesting the world's origin is simple. After entering a world, he first destroys all of its plot and then moves on to the next world to continue his previous observations. Usually, after five or six worlds, he stops and waits until the world's origin is ready to be harvested before collecting it one by one. Of course, because the distribution of these worlds may be somewhat chaotic, there are occasional instances where others get to the world's origin first. However, this is of no concern to Mo Mo, because it is far too easy for him to obtain.
After frantically collecting the world essence of more than a dozen worlds, Mo Mo finally stopped. This essence was enough for him to cultivate to the late stage of Immortal Emperor. Therefore, when he arrived in this new world, he did not rush to destroy the world's plot. Instead, he created an identity for himself, found a beautiful place with clear waters and lush mountains, and settled down to live a leisurely life. He wanted to properly digest what he had gained during this period.
Mo Mo didn't know how long he had been in this world, but judging from the fact that the tree in front of his door, which was originally only as tall as a person, had grown into a towering tree hundreds of meters tall, it must have been quite a long time.
After stepping out the door, Mo Mo stretched gently in front of the sun, which was already setting but still warm, and said, "The weather is pretty good today. It looks perfect for fishing!" As he spoke, Mo Mo turned around and walked back into the wooden house, which was full of the atmosphere of time. A moment later, he came out wearing a straw hat and carrying a fish basket and fishing rod.
After Mo Mo left the wooden house with his fishing rod, the concealment array on the roof of the house gradually dissipated. While Mo Mo was leisurely fishing by the river, a bright-eyed and innocent girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old followed a man of about thirty years old straight towards the wooden house from outside the forest. Judging from their expressions and the content of their conversation, the two should be master and disciple. They came here to hunt soul beasts and obtain soul rings.
Mo Mo was unaware that someone was heading towards his hut. He was currently thinking about how to cook the fish he had caught. As the sky turned a deep red, Mo Mo's fish basket was filled with three plump fish. Looking at the several fat crabs leisurely crawling under the rocks, Mo Mo put away his fishing rod, took off his shoes, rolled up his trousers, and went down into the water. A few minutes later, his fish basket contained several more fat river crabs the size of his palm. With crabs and fish, shrimp were naturally indispensable, so his fish basket now contained more than a dozen river shrimp the size of his thumb.
Satisfied with the full fish basket, Mo Mo finally walked ashore, put on his shoes, and carried his bountiful harvest toward the wooden house. Along the way, he picked any edible mushrooms and wild vegetables he encountered. When he returned to the wooden house with his full harvest, he noticed that wisps of smoke were rising from the house.
Looking at the wisp of smoke, Mo Mo said in surprise, "Oh, we have guests. I didn't expect that I would have guests on the very first day after I removed the concealment array. It seems that my wooden house is quite popular."
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 663 If you stand by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet.
"Isn't it a pleasure to have friends coming from afar? I wonder where the guests come from and where they are going?" Mo Mo's voice arrived before they even returned to the wooden house, and as soon as Mo Mo finished speaking, a bright-eyed and white-toothed girl walked out from inside the door.
Upon seeing Mo Mo, the girl exclaimed softly, "This wooden house actually has an owner? We thought it was built by hunters who came to hunt soul beasts."
“Bi Dong has already told you to read more books. Hunters only come to hunt soul beasts for ten days or half a month at most, how could they possibly build such an exquisite wooden house? But young man, I don’t think this wooden house is yours, do I?” At this moment, a handsome man in his thirties with a dignified expression walked out of the wooden house.
"Oh? How do you know?" Mo Mo smiled slightly upon hearing this.