"Not at all," Shen Yuan says airily. "I was born in a world that had used similar technology for decades, and people still created and studied paintings all the time. They simply served a different purpose, that's all."
Oh, but Lan Xichen is apparently from one of the less, uh, 'cosmic' xianxia settings, or hasn't come to grips yet with those aspects of reality. Shen Yuan's grin takes a turn for the chagrined. "Forgive me, I fear I've gotten ahead of myself. You must of course be familiar with the concept of the heavens and hell, how they lie without yet remain connected to the mortal world?" At Lan Xichen's nod, he continues, "Now picture all three realms as if they were written descriptions a single piece of paper, somewhere in the middle of an entire stack of papers on which are written descriptions of other mortal realms, other heavens and hells. The ones that are close together will be similar, sometimes differing in only a single character, but the ones that are far apart may be very different indeed. Each piece of paper may be considered a 'dimension;' it's a way of viewing reality in its entirety as though seen from the outside. Things that have to do with multiple dimensions -- such as a library containing books originating from multiple realities, or this city populated by people from very different worlds -- are considered 'interdimensional.' Does that makes sense?"
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Oh, but Lan Xichen is apparently from one of the less, uh, 'cosmic' xianxia settings, or hasn't come to grips yet with those aspects of reality. Shen Yuan's grin takes a turn for the chagrined. "Forgive me, I fear I've gotten ahead of myself. You must of course be familiar with the concept of the heavens and hell, how they lie without yet remain connected to the mortal world?" At Lan Xichen's nod, he continues, "Now picture all three realms as if they were written descriptions a single piece of paper, somewhere in the middle of an entire stack of papers on which are written descriptions of other mortal realms, other heavens and hells. The ones that are close together will be similar, sometimes differing in only a single character, but the ones that are far apart may be very different indeed. Each piece of paper may be considered a 'dimension;' it's a way of viewing reality in its entirety as though seen from the outside. Things that have to do with multiple dimensions -- such as a library containing books originating from multiple realities, or this city populated by people from very different worlds -- are considered 'interdimensional.' Does that makes sense?"