Puzzler's Space

Puzzle 8: Pain is a phenomenon that exists both within and without the world, but is fundamentally different when outside the confines of the material. Pain in the material is a response to a stimuli that indicates some change (good or ill) taking place against a living thing (and some inanimate things that have been shown to respond to threats of pain, both physical and mental, see: the Tale of the Skittish Kettle of the Great Crane King from Gao-xi Yuan's Greater and Lesser Known Artefacts of Interest). Pain in the immaterial, specifically pain within the Spirit and Divine realms is found to be the basis from which all other emotions are built. The Divine feel pain, but not physically, from any number of causes and thus seek to abolish pain from their realm by shunting it into the Material. In doing so, they also give us sorrow, love, and other emotions. also Conversely, pain in the Spirit is mostly physical but is celebrated as it reminds the dead of when they were alive and of their families, so the Spirit realm shares its pain with the Material and, in doing so, unleashes hatred, suffering, and a multitude of yokai, spirits, and monsters into the world. It can be surmised, based on these findings, that since the primordial realms of the Divine and Spirit (first and third realms to enter existence according to the findings of Ban Xiaoxi) are primarily comprised of pain then the universe is naught but different shades of pain. Pain is the universe and it is through pain that we experience the worlds around us and know both the love and enmity of the Realms Beyond. If true, this provides a path for a mortal to ascend to the Divine if they experience enough emotional pain themselves or for a mortal's soul to return to the Material from the Spirit if they've caused enough physical pain to others within their lifetime. Thus it is possible to explain both phenomenon that could previously only been explained by attributing it to the Divine or the 32 Creational Laws that first formed the 9 Great Realms (which then, themselves, formed the Lesser Realms).

Puzzle 9: There is only one Lesser truth present: Quick is the lightning when it strikes. There is one Greater truth to be taken from the saying and that is: People will seek to blame others for things that are outside of their control, mostly to make themselves feel better about their misfortunes and pain. The major flaws are: having no regrets, for a life without regret is a life not lived; and lightning shall strike regardless, because lightning has a set of conditions that need to be met before it strikes and can be diverted from its course so it may not strike where it originally intended. The truly hazardous part is its entirety, since it is one of the Forbidden Teachings of the Antipathetic Sage of Fouled Time, whose name was lost to the rotted annals of time. It spreads antipathy and apathy to the untrained who read it or hear it spoken.