“I belong to one of various types of Mythical Beings, a Void Being. We live in the space between this world, a pocket space created all around the surface of the planet. While it is still in the same world, reality and existence, it is in another dimension or so to speak. There are many kinds of Voids, with many types of characteristics, but all are not fully synced with the world outside. We are now in the 7th Void, named so, because it was the seventh one, which early non Void beings discovered at the infancy of the world. It has a time dilation, approximately four times of what is on the outside world. Hence every day that passes here, equals to four on the outside. There are other Voids that have extremely dense time dilation or contractions, and there are those with hardly any. BUT like I said a little earlier, not all are synced,” Xue Er explained and paused, allowing the information to sink in before continuing.

“The Void, is the key thing that enables spatial travel, but which particular Void in question, is still not something we know of. All we do know of is that time contraction there is SO dense, only a mere fraction of a nanosecond is required to traverse its entirety. This particular void, has an almost infinite entries and exits, a unique occurrence for all Voids that we have discovered, and this is what makes spatial travel almost instant. While I cannot claim to know how those with ‘The power of the Mind’ are able to move spatially through all these entries and exits, researchers and inventors somehow managed to mimic us and created spatial devices. On the other hand, you must have suspected what I used to bring you here is not spatial movement, and you are right,” she looked directly at Xiaoxia, then went on with her narration.

“Firstly, the interference field outside, is caused by the rift connecting to the 7th Void. There are about less than a hundred other known places with interference fields, which suggests rifts to other Voids. But Void gateways come in many sizes, most not even man size, and many are even smaller than a child, therefore even if their general location can be pinpointed based on interference fields, their exact locations are not easy to discover. On the other hand, my people suspects the numbers to be in the thousands. These places are a universal anathema for any persons or devices deploying spatial travel or communications, but that is only true for the outside world. In the Void the interference field is nonexistence, it’s another unexplainable situation, but such occurrences just do not happen. Even though there is no interference, spatial movement and communications cannot be use, as you simply are not able to open an entry to another Void within a Void. Then again, for yet another mysterious reason, the higher cognitive brain function still enables communicating directly via telepathy instead of spatially. There is an automatic switch in the cognitive powers, and it is the reason why I was able to stun you. Also due to this, I was able to transport us here, but like Gu Di mention, it is a special trait unique only to my people,” Xue Er was looking at Gu Di this time.

Her looks turned for the worst, as he seemed to be concentrating on other things in the surrounding, rather than her.

Feeling a little irritated, but not letting it get to her, she continued her pseudo lesson with Xiaoxia. It actually benefited Jay too, since he was similarly new to this whole thing.

“The Void Beings uses astral projection of our Ki, to places we want to go. By forming Ki at the destination, and applying our unique trait, we are able to switch places with where our Ki is. Going into technical terms is not within my expertise, there are people for these explanations amongst the Void Beings. Before you ask, all I can say is you won’t have a chance to meet them. They are recluse and hardly interact even among our people, needless to say someone from another origin,” she paused, summon a small mug in midair and took a sip from it.

“This is also another use of astral projection of Ki, you can not only transport yourself, you can basically summon any item within your limits. Now, after talking for so long, I am more interested in the ability you just manifested, and what Gu Di said earlier about having similar abilities like me. Tell me more about this, and what you have been doing about them these past seven years,” Xue Er concluded.

Xiaoxia nodded, what she have told him, basically answered most of his questions. There were still some he wanted to know more about, but she clearly stated she wasn’t the best to answer them.

Unwillingly setting them aside, he took a moment to decide where to start on his experience with his own abilities, and how the seven years with Gu Di and Jay went.

“I am not a good story teller, and please forgive me, if it may all seem haphazard and chaotic,” he started.

Xue Er nodded, while Gu Di went off to the far end of the room, paying no heed to their conversation. Jay on the other hand, started chewing on another meat jerky, and seemed to be looking forward to Xiaoxia’s part of the conversation.

“About seven years ago, I was in the Academy of the Six Elements, and got involved in saving someone from a group of kidnappers. During my chase on the last and remaining survivor, I was meant to have sustained a fatal attack. The time that event took place has a few memorable moments, but other than those, most of it still remained blurred and vague. At that particular point I almost died, I can recalled seeing myself from a third person’s perspective. How I managed to kill someone vastly more powerful than myself, or why I said those words when I did it, is still something that bugged me over all these years,” he told Xue Er, taking a drink from his canteen, suddenly realizing he was thirsty.

“Jay was there for the incident, and tried to cover up my involvement. It was all for naught, as a certain empire, whose princess I saved, managed to unearth my part in it. Matters got a little more confusing at that time, when Gu Di suddenly appeared a few months later, and insisted that I leave immediately. I was told things about how much danger I am in, and how much harm will befall my parents and people surrounding me, if I were to have stayed.”

Xiaoxia took a long pause, while thinking of what to add next. The other two remained silent, as they waited for him to continue.

“Where Gu Di took me during that time, is still not somewhere I know of, neither did Jay Shishu have information of where it was. Basically in less than a couple of weeks when I first departed the academy, my training started. I was only given some advice from Jay, on how to handle the various possible species of wild beasts in that area. To say during those times I never harbored the thoughts of running away, or just simply giving up, would be a lie,” he said, while admitting his intentions.

“As time passed, Gu Di would check on me every now and then, and somewhere in the 4th month, he told me to change the style of cultivation. It seems effective, and I eventually applied it during my trips training in the wilderness. It took some time to master what I was taught, but after some trying times, I managed to achieved this new method. Gradually by the third year, we have moved on to areas with a denser population of wild beasts. It is by a mistake on my part that I accidentally and finally unlock the abilities I showed during the incident at the Academy.”

He paused again, looking at Xue Er, who seemed lost in thoughts, but she indicated for him to carry on.

“What happened was an honest mistake, I did not realize what I was doing, and Jay Shishu did not give me any warning about this. I almost died,” Xiaoxia looked a Jay, who was grinning at him apologetically.

Not harping on the past, since it wasn’t entirely Jay’s fault, he continued the story, “It was during the middle of the third year with Gu Di and Jay, that I was training near a lake, and saw some large schools of fish. Seeing no harm in trying to catch them, I dove in to grab a few. The scent and aroma of these fishes were really good, and I cooked them slowly over an open fire along the shoreline. Unfortunately, this was a lethal combination. It was only after I managed to survive my near death experience, that Jay informed me of the particularities of the beasts in that area. A certain pack, loves the scent of fishes, and another were attracted to open flames. But that is not all, even worse things were to come.”

He took another drink from his canteen before proceeding.

“I knew I was in a very dangerous situation, when the first pack of wild beast arrived. These were the ones attracted to the scent of the fishes, and they were all lined up behind the tree line that was about twenty feet from the shore. Judging them not a threat, since most beast avoided open fires, I turned my back to the lake and faced them, while positioned behind the flames. This was the first of many chain of unfortunate events and judgment errors, that led to the penultimate disaster. There were flying creatures that were attracted to the open fire, and already in the sky above me. I did not notice them, as they hardly made any sound,” he shook his head, thinking back on how he did not even exercise the necessary caution at that time.

“Almost at the last instant, I avoided a strike from what I now know as a Stone Roc. The first one hit the ground with thunderous impact, and re-launched itself into the sky, just before another two of these giants dived towards me. I mean, these are humongous birds, and their wingspans were definitely more than thirty feet!” he exclaimed, getting a little excited narrating this part, and his throat became exceedingly dry.

Taking another quick gulp from his canteen, he quickly picked up where he left off.

“Seeing the Stone Rocs attacking me, the pack of wild beasts joined the fray, and I was surrounded on land by them, and from the sky by the Rocs. Soon the dozen or so Rocs, and the two dozen or so that formed the pack of wild beast, who Jay informed me later are dire wolves, attacked each other. I thought this gave me the opportunity to escape, and dived into the lake, thinking to hide underwater and swim away to safety. This was a very bad mistake, the blood dripping from the Rocs and the dire wolves, got into the lake as they tussled over me at the shoreline, and attracted a pride of Lion fish. They may make one of the best tasting dishes, but alive they are no pushover. One of the lion fish managed to close its jaws onto my left leg, and in the attempt to get out of the water, I did not notice a Roc who dove and grabbed onto my right shoulder with its talons. While the Roc tried to drag me out of the water, another Lion fish clamped down on my right lower leg, these two eight feet fish, weighed me down to the extent the Roc was only able to half drag me onto the shore. Not to be outdone by those two types of beasts, two dire wolves grabbed me on each arm the instant I got dragged onto the shore, and all three beasts types almost tore me into pieces,” Xiaoxia shuddered, when he recalled that experience.

“Anyway, what I think finally activated the ability, was when another Roc dove down on the pileup, and ripped my throat out. I mean I still do not know how I am alive, I felt its beak tear out my throat, and I couldn’t even scream. The next instant, golden light was beaming everywhere, killing the six creatures who were on me at the spot, then I teleported around finishing the remaining who were in sight. It did not even take more than a minute to kill all those creatures, and when the golden light finally subsided, there was not a single wound on me,” he concluded that part of the story.

Before he was about to explain how far he have went exploring the skill, he heard a muffled laughter from Jay’s direction.

“This isn’t funny Shishu!” Xiaoxia voiced out, a little hurt.

“I am really sorry, I do not know whether I should laugh or cry, I have never ever heard of anything close to what happened to you. I mean come on, how the heck can someone be as unlucky as you and at the same time be so lucky?” Jay couldn’t stop grinning, while forcing down an outburst of laughter.

“Don’t mind him, please continue with your experience,” Xue Er told him.

When Xiaoxia turned to acknowledge, he noticed that she was trying desperately to hide a grin.

Rolling his eyes to the heavens, Xiaoxia gritted his teeth, sometimes he really couldn’t understand adults, on more than one occasion he discovered they seemed to find perverse happiness and joy in other’s suffering.

“I did not mention this to Gu Di or Jay, as I felt it could have been a one off thing, but this did not turn out to be the case. On occasions, while training at a later date and another place, I will notice a golden hue appearing whenever I was in a threatening situation. After about three months of such occurrences, I suspected that it was something that I perhaps could control. Since early on, at MeisterSchloss, Menon who is one of the elders there, indicated that it could be related to my unique meridian, which is situated near my heart meridian, I meditated by delving only at that area. It took me 23 months to finally progress to the point where I can produce a tiny beam of golden energy, and teleport a few feet. It is not even close to what you saw today, and the teleportation is in short useless. I do not even know why today’s demonstration of what I learned, was so explosive. I was going to tell Gu Di and Jay eventually after our one week break, but it seemed better to do so earlier,” he finally concluded.

(AN: According to the compendium on Time and Date, 1 year is 20 cycles of the moon, each cycle represents 1 month, each month is 20-26 days.)

Xue Er did not respond immediately, after he completed his story. She was taking a while to digest the information and spoke up after a few minutes.

“Gu Di, I accept him. As for Jay, I will do as according to what the clan wishes,” she said, while looking at Gu Di.

His timing is immaculate, and he was already listening in to the conversation, just as she made her decision. Earlier, he was not even interested in it, as he was going through the new stuff Xue Er have collected over the three thousand years in his absence.

“So I guess this is what the trip here is about, to train here?” Xiaoxia interrupted Gu Di, just as he was about to respond to Xue Er.

“You won’t be training here, not after you almost destroyed the Chaos Barrier. Which reminds me, do not ever do that again, or everything here will be eaten up by the primal energies of the world. That barrier is a natural existence which each respective Void zones have. By damaging or destroying one, it will spell doom for that particular Void area. You cannot even begin to imagine what it means,” Xue Er answered.

“With regards to the training thing, she is right, you will not be actually training in that sense. What you are going to do is not the same as the past seven years, it will be more to develop your mind,” Gu Di confirmed, and continued, “As for the Chaos Barrier, no one knows how it comes about, nor is there any scientific or paranormal explanation for it. In the meantime, the remaining 3 nights will be spent relaxing here. The Ki is too amazing to just waste our time doing anything else, than soaking in it!”

“This is true, it is definitely the reason why the amplification of your ability became so pronounced. Oh and it may be a few days too late, but congratulations on entering the Unknown Realm,” Jay added and congratulate him.

“How did you know?” Xiaoxia asked.

“You can use that particular Ki weapon right? Well if you can, it means you are already there,” Jay replied.

“Oh now that Jay mentioned it, I forgot to tell you this, but also by successfully unlocking the 2 major meridians in the brain, you have already entered the unknown realm,” Gu Di further informed him in an absent minded way.

“As usual, this idiot doesn’t say anything till it’s already happened or long since overdue,” Xue Er lambasted him, and added, “and it is not 3 nights, it is 12 nights. Time here is dilated by four times, and my question is why only such a short period?”

“That because our knight in shining armor here, have been charmed by four girls who convinced him to take part in the ‘Sole Plate World Cup’. He will return once that is over, and start his internship here,” Gu Di replied.

“That barbaric tournament? My God! Is it still in existence? I thought it would have long died off with the plunging popularity of the sole plate!” Xue Er exclaimed.

“That is old news, it almost did. Sole plate is hardly used anywhere now except a few nostalgic cities in the world, and the tournament only survived because of mass media and advertisement. Just how long are you out of touch with the world?” Gu Di informed her and asked.

“Since you left me with the kids and disappeared for 3,000 years,” Xue Er retorted.

Jay and Xiaoxia’s eye bulged out immediately upon hearing that. Both shared a look, while staring at the decrepit, absent minded and totally lack of responsibility Gu Di. In their minds, they were thinking the exact same thing.

“Gu Di, a father? Oh my God, how is that even possible!”