Even though he was barely lucid the night before, Xiaoxia woke up earlier than expected. Contrary to what he have expected, there was no lethargy or drowsiness and he felt really energetic.

Little did he know, the scrumptious meal they had for dinner the previous evening immediately proved beneficial for him.

“I wonder if the other two are up,” Xiaoxia said to himself, as he got off the bed.

This time the rooms they had at the ‘Gateway to the Heavens’ resort, were individual suites. Although it was not as big as the suite they had near the beach, it was even more luxurious to the point of being ostentatious.

It was not something he was unfamiliar with, since his dorm at the Academy was designed and furnished likewise.

Hopping quickly into the shower, he decided to go look for them after he freshened up.

It didn’t take long, and in matter of minutes he was at Jay’s suite. He ranged the doorbell a few times, but there wasn’t any answer.

Dismissing it on the chance that Jay still had not recovered from his drunken stupor the other night, he left for Gu Di’s instead.

Before he could reach the other suite, a hotel staff caught up with him, and told him Gu Di sent word to meet him at one of the resort’s café.

It did not take long for him to navigate the labyrinth of corridors and hallways to reach his destination. There were many spatial dais that expedited the process, although he did made a few wrong turns.

“Good morning, you are up early,” Gu Di greeted him when he arrived.

“Morning Senior, have you seen Jay?” Xiaoxia greeted in return and asked.

“Oh, he did not return from some matters since last night,” Gu Di replied.

Xiaoxia was rather amazed at this, because Jay was almost out of it last night. The special drink that Gu Di ordered towards the end of their meal, was highly alcoholic and Jay simply loved it.

The name for it is ‘Zi Xian Jiu*’, a type of traditional herbal wine.

(*AN: Purple Immortal wine)

It was brought in a large mason jar, about two feet in height and a feet in diameter. The wine was a clear bright purple color, and what really caught Xiaoxia’s attention, were the things soaking in it.

There looked to be various forms of insects and small creatures at the bottom of the jar. According to Gu Di, all the essence and Ki from these creatures are now absorbed into the wine.

The brew was matured for over two centuries, and is extremely difficult to produce. Without the right amount of balance in the ingredients, it would spoil in less than a day. But if perfected, it could last for centuries.

The wine itself was made from special fruits harvested only within the crater of the volcano, and it had special properties that enabled it to absorb the essence and Ki of those creatures.

Jay had just taken a sip, and acquired a taste for it immediately. In less than a span of an hour, he had consumed over half the jar by himself.

The wine was so sweet, that Xiaoxia had no problems downing his first glass in one go. It was not instantaneous, but about a minute later, he felt a warm sensation overflowing throughout his body.

By his third glass, his head started to feel really light, and at the end of his fourth glass, his eyes were already losing focus.

He could only remember stumbling in a haze like daze back to his suite. On the other hand, he clearly recalled the image of Gu Di literally dragging Jay back to the suites.

“Oh? Is there any problem?” Xiaoxia asked curiously.

The itinerary and schedule, clearly mandated that this was a ‘all play and no work’ week for the three of them. Hence besides Jay being worst for wear, he should not be attending to ‘some matters’.

“Nothing that you should worry, now go have yourself some breakfast before we leave,” Gu Di dismissed the question, while expertly changing the topic.

Xiaoxia knew by now not to ask any further, he learnt over the years there was no point doing so from Gu Di’s tone of voice.

His mind was soon distracted by other matters, as he inspected the spread of the café. To call this a café was actually a huge understatement.

It was easily a giant convention hall, filled with mountains of food all over. There were no less than a hundred of selection of different types of food categories.

As most guest usually sleep in till the late morning, Xiaoxia had easy access to all the choicest dishes. He did not need struggle with others over the selection, like he did the previous days at other breakfast venues.

Breakfast was done in less than half an hour after Xiaoxia stuffed himself crazy, and they left the resort for the mountains.

“I guess Jay won’t be joining us for this,” Gu Di said as he placed his right hand on Xiaoxia’s shoulder.

In a blink, they appeared in a middle of a jungle.

It is so dense, that light was blocked by the crowns of ancient trees. The plant flora and fauna here were unlike anything Xiaoxia have ever seen. They all gave off a uniform yellow bio luminescent, rather unlike the ones at the area they were just at four days ago.

More amazing than just their shapes and sizes, were that all of them were almost transparent, and Xiaoxia could look right through them. Vein-like streams of slightly denser and brighter yellow light, can be seen flowing through all the plants and creatures there.

It seemed to Xiaoxia, that he was in a nirvana for crystal life forms.

“Okay, from here on we need to trek twelve leagues to our destination,” Gu Di’s informed him, as he lead the way.

“Can’t you just transfer us there?” Xiaoxia asked.

He didn’t see the reason why they had to travel by feet. His initial amazement of the surroundings, was quickly overcame by irritation and despair.

Due to the unique nature of the crater’s weather system, the land thrived with many varieties of insects. Thus the entire jungle was filled with a typical species of blood sucking insects, that left noticeable welts on his exposed skin.

“This is very special area, found only in a very few parts of the known world. Spatial movement is impossible here, and this is as close I can get without being interfered in the process,” Gu Di replied.

“If that happens, you will never know where you end up. For all I know, we can even end up in the bowels of this world and burn to death. Only spatial communications is barely usable, but that won’t be the case as we go further in,” he added.

Xiaoxia nodded, he had just obtained ‘The Power of the Mind’ about four days ago. Unfortunately, because of the effort and Ki it took, he have not used it since that day.

In the last seven years, due to his curiosity on Gu Di’s ability to use spatial movement, he have looked up and studied a little more of it from the vast resources of Wuming’s library. Therefore he knew what Gu Di was saying.

Spatial movement is limited to the size of an individual’s Ki reservoir, as well as the higher cognitive function of the brain. If a person does not have sufficient Ki, he will not be able to teleport himself very far.

At the same time, if he is distracted or the higher cognitive function is interfered in some way, the results may be disastrous. Being teleported to an unknown place is one, and the other could be destruction of the body at the cellular level.

The same goes for spatial communications, the more Ki a person have, the further he could communicate.

While the effects of interference are not as disastrous as using spatial movement, it could still stun or numb the mind. This could incapacitate a person at the worst possible moment, especially during a heated battle.

While thinking about these, Xiaoxia gritted his teeth and continued trudging.

For almost three hours, they only travelled a little over 5 leagues, due to the dense foliage. Xiaoxia had no idea where they were, and only Gu Di seemed to be aware of it.

Suddenly a piercing thought shot through his mind, “Stop! And prepare your defense!”

Without even needing to ask why, he instantly brought up his defenses. At the same time, a dark cloaked figure lumbered into view.

It was Jay, and from the silhouette, Xiaoxia could see that his left arm is gone.

“We have been followed, ten of them, all unknown realms. I managed to kill three, before getting away,” Jay gasped, as he fell on the ground.

“How many with abilities?” Gu Di asked, as he calmly remove many items from his quantum pouch.

“At least 2 that I know of, I could only sense the remaining seven vaguely. I couldn’t confirm, as I was ambushed from behind. They have some cloaking devices, and I was totally unaware of them till I got hit,” Jay grimaced in reply.

“This is going to be really troublesome. Here take this, it should stop the pain and allow you to fight. Did you get your arm back?” Gu Di passed a vial to Jay, while asking.

“Yeah, there is no way I am leaving a piece of me behind,” Jay answered with a ironic grin.

“How did they know we on this island? And how is there so many unknown realms gathered in one place?” Xiaoxia had too many questions to ask at this time.

Seeing Jay seriously injured was one thing, having an entire arm chopped off was another.

“It is not time for questions, we need to be on alert,” Jay chided him.

Gu Di said nothing. He was now attending to the stump where Jay’s left arm was, and within a matter of seconds, the wound was cauterized.

As the pain gradually faded, Jay’s complexion turned for the better, and eventually took about another few minutes for it to return to normal. He was extremely pale when they first saw him.

Xiaoxia did not need to ask how Jay found them, as even spatial movement left a certain signature behind. Only someone as trained as Jay, knew where and what to looked for.

It was akin to the inborn tracking sense of some creatures, and it made Xiaoxia curious again. In the past he had always wanted to ask about this, but there was simply no opportunities to do so, and currently it wasn't the right time.

Xiaoxia switch his focus and began scanning his surroundings, afraid that the enemy would appear any time.

Gu Di was currently engrossed with other issues and not thinking about these.

“How long?” Gu Di asked.

“Just by their competency alone at getting to me, it could be anytime,” Jay informed him.

“Then I guess we need to make a detour,” Gu Di shrugged, apparently still not overwhelmed by the situation.

Xiaoxia was not in the same mood, he was still in shock at what happened to Jay, and did not share the same calm countenance of Gu Di.

“So this is the matter he was busy with,” Xiaoxia stated, realizing this is what contributed to Jay’s absence earlier at the resort.

The other two did not answer, but just nodded. Soon strange contraptions began to appear one after another from their quantum pouches, and many were placed back. Finally, both Gu Di and Jay had an item each in their hands.

“Here, take this,” Gu Di passed the one in his left hand to Xiaoxia.

“This is a specialized Ki weapon, it is not like the ones you usually see. They do not rely on Ki crystals, but on your own Ki. With your competency at Ki manipulation, it will not be a problem for you to operate it. Just flow your Ki into the weapon, and the rest is as simple as using it,” he advised.

“Isn’t this a legendary item?” Xiaoxia stated more than asked.

He have learnt sufficiently on this topic, from his lessons with Sem at the Academy of the Six Elements.

Legendary items were the epitome of all artifacts, they were rare to the point of being priceless. But what him more impressed was the following sentence by Gu Di.

“No, they are simply beyond that. What we have here are ancient artifacts made by some of the top artisans in Wuming, and each is crafted to the specific traits of an individual. The one I passed to you, is most attuned to your traits. I am afraid other than that, there is nothing else you can use.”

While he said that, he motioned for Jay to pass his left arm to him. The arm was wrapped crudely in some fabric and was soaked in blood.

Gu Di took out an item which looked like a large container, and placed the decapitated arm into it. Then he returned it to Jay, before preparing to lead them again.

“What is that for?” Xiaoxia asked, just as they were above to move off.

“This?” Jay asked in return, indicating to the now containerized arm.

“Yes, what is that for?” Xiaoxia repeated.

“Oh, I am going to get it fixed back again. This is a stasis container, and it should stop the rotting process before it is done,” Jay answered, and placed it into his quantum bag.

“We can go more into details later, now we need to move and get out of here. It’s best not to stay in one place for too long,” Gu Di interrupted their conversation and chided them, his voice now had a hint of urgency.

The other two nodded sheepishly, immediately remembering the situation they were in and realizing their complacency.

They continued in what seemed like the same direction for an hour, before Gu Di again raised his hand.

“Sigh, I guess we need to battle,” he stopped and suddenly said.

“RAT TAT TAT TAT TAT!”

Out of nowhere, loud bangs could be heard, as various projectiles the eyes can barely follow, hit the ground before them.

There was an unmistakable ominous sensation emitted from the embedded projectiles in the ground. They were all made from void crystals.

“You are totally surrounded! Surrender or die!” demanded a lone figure, who stood on the lower braches of an ancient tree.

“Hah! An ambush? You should have just attacked when you had the chance, and tell me one reason why we should!” Jay retorted.

At this, other figures began to appear, surrounding the trio. While this happened, Gu Di move closely to Xiaoxia and whispered very softly,

“Whatever happens, do not use any spatial movements or communication, the interference field in this area here is a hundred folds more intense than before. Defend yourself the best you can, do not save your Ki, and don’t worry you won’t die that easily.”

He went on a few more sentence, quickly disseminating the necessary information, especially on how to use the Ki weapon. Then as quickly as he spoke, he fell silent.

“Yes senior,” Xiaoxia whispered back, he knew the gravity of the situation immediately.

The fact that Gu Di had not communicated via spatial communications, was clear indication the area had a very intense interference field. Even if Xiaoxia did not know how to use or efficiently apply them, there was a chance it could just activate out of desperation.

With regards to the last part, the situation simply did allow for reserving Ki, it was a life or death situation. This was further emphasized by the use of weapons, which unlike hand to hand combat had a higher chance to deal a killing blow.

The only thing he did not understand, was what Gu Di meant by he won’t die that easily. Unfortunately, now was not the time to think about it, and he placed his trust in him.

Keeping these words in mind, he shifted into a defensive stance and gathered his Ki. All his nerves were tingling, as adrenaline pumped into his veins from the sheer intensity of the situation.

He would not use the Ki weapon till the last minute, as it was still hidden in his hands. It would be an element of surprise, as Gu Di has instructed.

It has been a really long time since he last fought a real person, and while he was frightened, he was also eager for some action. It was a paradox of emotions.

The enemies were all in the unknown realm, but they did not seemed to have the matching oppressiveness Gu Di was currently exuding from his body.

Among all present, Gu Di’s aura was the most overwhelming, but it did not seem to bother the seven assailants.

Jay’s aura was only slightly less intimidating, and it surpassed what Xiaoxia felt way back in the past when they first met.

There was a moment of calm as the two groups observed each other, with neither making a move. The silence was deafening, as each waited for the opportune moment to strike.

Even as Xiaoxia was planning the most probable course of action, Gu Di vanished from his spot, and somehow appeared at three places, right behind the enemies.

Not a split second passed, and Jay did likewise. The battle has begun.