Sage was pretty sure this wasn’t just a normal Hidden Domain. It was far more likely that was just a cover up for this being a completely different planet. He hadn’t heard anything in the Cultivator world about traveling among the stars, space or the skies. Perhaps this was a secret kept from lower ranking people while independent spaces or dimensions like Hidden Domains were a common thing left behind by powerful cultivators. Just a larger and more powerful version of a space bag, instead of the idea that there was countless other planets and an infinitely large amount of space out there.

The two of them had already visited every one of the seals within the ‘Hidden Domain’ and Rocky had already finished her duties before that so there was nothing else keeping them here. Sage asked where the exit was and Rocky pointed out a direction. It was quite close to where they had arrived from. At the time he had fallen out of the sky and was quite annoyed with both the Peak Master and Rocky for not informing him of the danger.

“Why wasn’t I warned about falling from the sky when we got here?”

Rocky humphed and was quiet for a few seconds before answering with that gravelly voice, “Peak Master knew that I would have saved you.”

No other explanation came afterwards. It was quite frustrating to work with someone who treated words like gold. It was probably because of her voice, but it was still annoying, or at least it was for Sage that wished to get to the truth behind everything. Resigning himself to making guesses, the Lance Beetle carried them down to the ground and into a large cave entrance that Rocky pointed out. It was actually large enough for the Beetle to fly into while carrying them and not even getting close to the walls. Such a large cave had been just around a corner from him when he arrived, but he had no idea because he wasn’t allowed to explore and just had to follow Rocky around. Oh well, no sense in worrying about it. Who knows if I’ll even be allowed to return here ever again.

Landing, Sage stored the Beetle and they walked up to a large stone platform. Sage looked down and noticed a huge array formation. It was at least a thousand feet in diameter and densely packed with array symbols. Before he could start to study it, Rocky walked over to a pedestal near the edge of the array and placed her hand on it. An orb beneath her hand lit up before she actually spoke, “I’ve contacted the Peak Master. The array to take us back will activate in one day.”

The day passed quickly, Sage studied the huge array, copying it down into a memory sphere and onto scrolls as a backup. Just to break up the study time he even tried to have a few more conversations with Rocky, but those didn’t really go anywhere. Sage just treated it as practice. If there was a day where he could befriend this gruff lady, then he was sure he could befriend anyone.

True to her word, around twenty four hours later, the array lit up. Thinking about the time, Sage thought it was strange that the days were the same length in this new world as back on Earth. Unless there was some strange celestial phenomenon at work, it was most likely just a coincidence. The stood to the outside of the array as all the symbols lit up one by one. In a few minutes the whole array flickered to life. In the center of the array a thin line appeared, slowly widening as it tore through space. Soon enough a door sized portal opened and Sage could see Peak Master Zhen standing there waiting like it was just an open door into another room. Rocky beckoned him along and without any further ado, the two of them stepped over the high ‘doorsill’ of the portal and into the room where the Peak Master waited.

Sage took a look around, not recognizing the room they were in. It was like a huge roman temple with high ceilings and huge fluted stone columns everywhere. Everything looked to be made of some sort of white marble, but upon closer inspection he noticed tiny array symbols carved into every the depressions of the columns and around the edges of the stone tiles on the floor. They were exquisitely detailed and very small, so they must have been set up by a true master. Looking down they were wall standing on another array formation which looked remarkably similar to the one they were on in the Hidden Domain, but this one was less than a tenth of the size. The disc it was carved into was a hundred feet wide, but the actual array symbols were only carved into the outer ten feet of the disc, leaving the center completely open and unobstructed. The many layers of huge symbols had been compacted down to a hundredth of the size. Such control of power completely amazed Sage. Now that, is skill.

The Peak Master took Rocky to the side and the air around them shimmered. Sage sensed some sort of force around them and he could no longer hear anything they were saying. At this point he wished he had learned how to read lips as he could see the two moving their mouths, but couldn’t hear anything. He almost reached out with his spirit sense to try and eavesdrop, but he controlled himself. He was going to become a loyal minion after all. A few minutes later the bubble of energy disappeared before the Peak Master walked over to him and it came back up again.

“Tell me everything that happened. Don’t leave anything out.”

Sage felt a wave of energy wash over him. The Peak Master’s eyes seemed to bore into him as he spoke. It was like she could see through him. With such pressure, Sage stuttered a few words before he got control of himself and made the decision to leave nothing out. Obviously, he didn’t mention his own prior secrets, but he didn’t hide anything that happened within the Hidden Domain. He didn’t specify how much of the materials he took, only that he took samples. There was no need to mention how large his storage ring truly was. Eventually, he finished relating the whole story of what they encountered and his parts in it.

After he was finished he took out the pair of Memory Spheres, holding them out to the Peak Master. One held everything he learned from the Seals, while the other had all their experiences from the time the seal was undone until they left the area again afterwards. He was quite glad he hadn’t made any copies of them before now as he was pretty sure the Peak Master was using some sort of lie detecting ability.

“Very good. You’ve done well, Lang Sheng. Speak nothing of what happened here or in the Hidden Domain to anyone else. We’ll talk about rewards later, you can also bring along any discoveries you make with your research samples.”

Sage nodded his head, happy to have the whole ordeal over with. When the Peak Master mentioned research he smiled and nodded again, bowing to the Peak Master and happily heading in the direction she pointed. Like he figured, they must have plenty of the materials from that place stored up somewhere. If he could find some new uses for them he was sure to get rewarded. Heading off across the huge hall, Sage found a doorway and stepped through. He found himself in a long hallway, dozens of doors lined either side and they were all locked. The door at the end of the hall was wide open and so he took that route. Past the open door was a long empty tunnel. After a few minutes of walking, Sage climbed a set of stairs and passed through a door and found himself within a hallway. Walking around a bit he noticed people wandering about and recognized that he was within the Main Hall in Holy Flame City. Walking outside he took in a breath of fresh air and then slowly let it out again.

Ahh, finally free again. So nice to have a blue sky to look up at once more.

Sage made his way home, passing through the gate of the outer wall before walking up and opening the door to his house. Stepping over the sill, he stopped in his tracks when he heard a voice.

“Finally! You’re back!”