The World Is Only As Big As You Can See

"I appreciate your thoughts," Heian Ciemnosc added, hitting the back of his head with Yun Nitu's forehead. Heian Ciemnosc felt his Team hugging him, too. Then, a loud voice spoke before a tower walked over and suddenly held everyone together before lifting them. "Ah, allow me! Let's get comfy together, aaaaah!"

"Waaah!" - "Ah!" - "Damn, Yun Tang." - "Hehe."

Cara iconically shrieked like a little girl, others exclaimed as Yun Tang's long, bulky arms encompassed everyone, squishing Heian Ciemnosc in the middle, not leaving him room to breathe or feel comfortable, isolated from the rest. Heian Ciemnosc felt many pairs of breasts cushioning against him, but that was the least important, as Yun Tang even shook them all in the air before letting them back down.

Yun Nitu giggled, kissing Heian Ciemnosc’s right cheek as Heian Ciemnosc’s female Team members did the same to his left, and while Clanton attempted to do the same, only to be pulled back by a facepalming Moy, Heian Ciemnosc’s male Team members half-hugged his shoulders.

“Let’s go, we must continue! I know it’s close!” Yun Nitu said. Everyone dispersed and hurried back to their usual positions as the cultivators behind them, at maximum alert and terrified, legs shaking and their hearts palpitating, realized what was going on and felt helpless and glad simultaneously.

Yun Nitu was held one more time by Yun Tang, who did a few spins. They could afford to be contented. After all, the gains they were obtaining were astronomical. They had already received 2 items. These were enough to bring tremendous fortune and opportunities to their Sect. Whatever they could find in that desirable coffin better be at least a few times better than the stick and the string.

The others calmly returned to their spots and waited until Heian Ciemnosc, left alone at the vanguard to lead them all, looked back slightly and nodded. His footsteps resumed, and so were the others as they set the example. The other cultivators didn’t need words to continue.

They continued walking for hours, experiencing a few situations more as Heian Ciemnosc didn’t need to look back before the cultivators knew how to respond. Heian Ciemnosc wouldn’t have to make a move unless it was something he could not anticipate or was above his detection.

As the walking continued, Heian Ciemnosc felt something within him dwell. It was profound, deep, and not hiding but not necessarily out in the open. He pondered on it and became engrossed. It felt similar to learning about a new Step’s Craftsmaking differences and peculiarities. He delved into the notion until a situation was presented, and he had to stop. And, this time, it was in a warning, and everyone behind him understood it.

“What is it?” Yun Nitu asked as she sensed Heian Ciemnosc looked ahead for more reasons than guarding their path. Heian Ciemnosc lifted his head and looked in diagonal directions, his darkest eyes showing wary curiosity before answering her as his head lowered.

“It’s… quite dangerous from hereon,” Heian Ciemnosc paused before immediately resuming, “No talking from a few meters from where I stand. And tell everyone to come closer to each other. Stand together in case something happens. If someone does wrong, kill immediately. Distance won’t matter, not here…”

“... Well, just for your information. The device is starting to glimmer brighter. A heat is also spreading to my palms’ center. I think… we are close, Heian Ciemnosc.” Yun Nitu said, lifting the box in her hands as Heian Ciemnosc looked back at her. She stuck her tongue out and added, “We can finish this and return to the world soon!”

“Mn, hold it a little more,” Heian Ciemnosc said, nodding at her as she did the same in reply and looked ahead again. Taking a deep breath, Heian Ciemnosc resumed his steps as Yun Nitu gave the signals behind her. Yun Tang and Ruo Wei relayed Heian Ciemnosc’s orders, and the hundreds and hundreds of cultivators packed together as they moved close to Heian Ciemnosc.

On the other hand, Yun Nitu lagged slightly farther behind Heian Ciemnosc, letting him walk a distance of over 800 meters before them. Heian Ciemnosc was confident in his nature reading. His cultivation base might not be much, but in this place, it did not matter.

Hours passed, and like this, according to the time world, the night was approaching as they finally welcomed the evening. Just then, as everyone treaded this more dangerous path, albeit they suffered no possible death or ghostly manifestation ever since packing together, Heian Ciemnosc rapidly stepped backwards.

“!” - “!” - “...” The cultivators looked at this and became terrified. Their minds rapidly struggled to be at ease, but it was difficult. Not everyone was as strong-willed as the Yuns or Crimsonbreaking Faction’s Fighter Teams.

Heian Ciemnosc silently retreated until he was standing beside Yun Nitu. His fingers clenched and relaxed numerous times until he stood beside Yun Nitu, a few steps before everyone else. He looked at her to his left, and she looked at him.

The box device seemed to glow as a mist surrounded everyone, making the path ahead impossible from sight. Heian Ciemnosc and Yun Nitu exchanged a glance, and they looked ahead at the same time as if noticing something. With the worst sensation, as if their neck had turned into metal only and lacked oil maintenance, they felt their heads and necks forced to turn and twist as they stared ahead.

Step… step… step…

Footsteps sounded from afar. Everyone here was an experienced cultivator, even if not at the level of a wars veteran cultivator. They could tell these sounds came from around a thousand meters before them. Yet, they could not describe its origins or who walked towards them.

As the footsteps closed in, the box glowed more intensely, but its light was drowned in the mist, appearing to increase its density only around the box. Yun Nitu’s eyes suddenly showed something strange as Heian Ciemnosc saw them widen when she looked ahead. Her realization seemingly came from the device box and as if she remembered some instructions, perhaps given to her by her master, just in case.

Trickle… “!” Heian Ciemnosc was astounded, and he looked at Yun Nitu with alarm as she suddenly but the right corner of her mouth from within. A flowery-smelling, momentaneously glowing blood peeked outside her skin and dropped on the tip of her tongue. Heian Ciemnosc was ready to act at any moment, lifting his left hand as his darkest eyes’ sclera darkened. But before he executed an Art technique from his innate Divine Art, he stopped and waited for Yun Nitu to complete whatever she was planning.

Yun Nitu looked at Heian Ciemnosc with sweat dripping from her right temple as she guided her drop of blood essence to her left wrist, facing skywards. The droplet moved on her skin, directed to her palm and middle finger as it slid through its yolk as Yun Nitu gestured it towards the box.

The droplet finally fell on it, becoming a painting, spreading everywhere like tint in the water. It could be seen from outside the box, floating everywhere as if trying to form connections around the box’s corners and edge sides.

Step, step. The footsteps became more notorious. Heian Ciemnosc dropped his left hand and looked ahead, gazing into the mist as a figure showed. It was seemingly a male body with ragged clothes, bloated legs, feet, and a moribund, ghostly appearance.

Wounds filled with filth all around his body, its head tilted to the right as if it had no vertebral column, and its neck elongated until 2 times the size one of its height should have. Its legs looked baggy with those clothes whose putrid smell should’ve assaulted Heian Ciemnosc’s nose but didn’t.

It walked towards them, towards the center where everyone else stood. Heian Ciemnosc watched as the thing suddenly stopped, looking in their direction. Its face was blackened, with only its left eye visible and its mouth wide open, seemingly without a jaw. Its neck, torso, and arms were also blackened, with putrid wounds expelling infected liquid.

Step, step, step, step, step, step…! The thing suddenly ‘rushed’ forward. Its speed increased, and it dragged its feet, hidden by the baggy pants, forcing its way to reach them. Heian Ciemnosc frowned as he looked at the thing, but he didn’t move away as Yun Nitu didn’t even intend to stare at him.

“...” Yun Nitu’s sweat decreased, and just as the thing reached about 5 meters before them, with Heian Ciemnosc’s dark tail forming at his lower rear, his left hand slowly reaching Yun Nitu’s right forearm, it stopped.

Step… … … … … traaaaaalllck! Cla cla cla!

The thing looked at them, seemingly focused on Yun Nitu and the box, but not altogether. Heian Ciemnosc felt the device box had done something after it was bathed with Yun Nitu’s blood essence, but neither he nor she could tell what it did.

Suddenly, its body crumbled. When its eye looked ahead, the cultivators felt their scalps tingle like never before. Which many felt their shoulders grabbed from behind as if to comfort them. But despite being packed together, one of their untold rules was no touching during an event. They shivered and nearly squealed in terror but somehow held it.

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The ghost’s body crumbled as if something deep inside it clicked. It made every tiny portion of its body collapse. Disjointed and without a structure to hold itself, the thing fell to the floor, but instead of littering on the platform, it seemingly went past it. The noise of its body crashing into the ground was loud, but it only left behind its clothes as the rest disappeared.

The image was abrupt, but it wasn’t as terrifying as the cultivators made it out to be. When the thing fell, a notion penetrated the cultivators’ bodies, as if an awful tragedy nearly happened to them, and they didn’t even know how they avoided it.

The clothes that were left behind started sinking slowly. Inch by inch, it disappeared similarly as the thing did, only slower. When only a few portions of the fabric remained, a slender and lithe hand reached from below to drag the rest of the clothes down the invisible hole. For as after the clothes disappeared, the platform was as spotless as it had been before the mist.

“... We can talk now,” Heian Ciemnosc said. He didn’t need to raise his voice when everyone was so packed together, and their surroundings were deadly quiet. The mist swiftly dissipated, letting everyone see how the platform returned to normal. But before they could feel calm, they noticed a change ahead of them. At the same time, the device box in Yun Nitu’s hands glowed even brighter!

“Heian Ciemnosc, husband, I see another gate.” Sara suddenly spoke to him in his mind. Heian Ciemnosc sent his consciousness into his inner being and spoke right away. “More treasure? Or do you mean the palace in front of us?”

“... both,” Sara contested. She rested on her stomach, floating in the endless, pure darkness. She stood up with a sigh before elaborating as she frowned and expressed her worries, “I couldn’t see it before, but now that we’re close enough, and after the mist, I can sense it. However, I nearly missed it. It looked so ordinary and unimportant… it’s that gate leading to the palace you speak of.”

“... What can you tell me?” Heian Ciemnosc also frowned. He asked her as he stopped everyone from walking over, including Yun Nitu, who seemed the most vivid after the palace became visible out of nowhere. Sara didn’t dawdle and nodded before continuing.

“I can’t say if it’s safe, but unlike the other gates, this one is much… more. I can’t explain it well. You’re the expert. However, since it could hide from my senses before, it can only be dangerous. Be careful, hubby.” Sara’s voice finished with an energized but lovely demeanor.

“I see… Should anyone enter?” Heian Ciemnosc asked. His frown relaxed. Sara shook her head and started hopping up and down with her hands behind her back. Heian Ciemnosc listened attentively. “Anyone can, but… I think you’re expected. I’m no longer hidden, even within you. I don’t know how, but they now know.”

“?” Heian Ciemnosc frowned again. He couldn’t get a rest of this. Sara tilted her head sideways nonstop as she flew in circles in his endless, pure darkness. Her voice was light but still full of vigor. “You should enter alone first. I have the feeling they’re waiting for you for a reason. And that reason is also how I was discovered. It’s strange… As if we’re trying to infiltrate an enemy’s territory, but the enemy let us play after we messed up.”

“... I get it,” Heian Ciemnosc said, preparing to leave his inner being. Just then, Sara firmly hugged his waist from behind and looked at him with stern, slightly furious eyes. “It might be too dangerous. So… consider not doing anything, ‘kay? I know you, but don’t force yourself.”

“Oh, I’ll listen to you,” Heian Ciemnosc twisted his neck and said, looking straight into the softly spinning crosses in her eyes. Only then did she feel secure enough to let him decide by himself. In the Semi-Space, Heian Ciemnosc walked 5 steps ahead of everyone else and stayed quiet.

“Heian Ciemnosc!!” Yun Nitu excitedly shouted, walking to stand beside him. When she reached his side, she noticed his somber expression and her lifted eyebrows dropped, but she was still excited. “Something wrong?”

Heian Ciemnosc was pensive. He considered his options. The most opportunistic and reasonable course of action would be to leave it be. The Phosphorescent Flower Sect wouldn’t have attained the unknown treasure they desired, but they would have learned how to proceed.

Sometimes, failure was natural. In this case, the Phosphorescent Flower Sect could grow its power for the future and try again when they found the Semi-Space again. They would be better prepared and might not even need the help of others other than Heian Ciemnosc and want to create new connections or solidify the existing alliances with their peers.

However… There was something itching on Heian Ciemnosc’s nerves since he met the Ghost of Land. And it only increased when he met the Ghost of Travel. Something he didn’t want to pass by, and more so because he didn’t know when he would have the chance to experience it again. Heian Ciemnosc’s desires surmounted to go in there and get something for himself… Answers!

“I’ll go inside first,” Heian Ciemnosc quietly spoke. “After I return, all of you might enter… I think. We can take the coffin and leave then. But before that, don’t let anyone come closer. Use my people. Ruo Wei will aid you. Nobody, absolutely, nobody can get near that gate. I might be unsure of the risks… but I won’t back down now. Stay here and keep everyone at bay.”

“Heian Ciemnosc…” Yun Nitu’s eyes widened slightly, their contents decreasing in volume as he departed without saying anything else to his Team, which he trusted a lot in order to not tell them his plans…

“Sister Nitu?” Ruo Wei walked forth with Yun Tang and Loma behind her. Yun Nitu turned around and looked at them before erasing her worried countenance by slightly lowering her head before shaking those thoughts off. “Your Team Leader is exploring first… like before, I suppose.”

“Ah… I see,” Ruo Wei replied, frowning slightly. She nodded and engaged with Yun Nitu to discuss a few things while Yun Tang looked at Heian Ciemnosc’s back. Something indiscernible flashed across his eyes as he blew air from his nostrils.

… Heian Ciemnosc walked for 3,000 meters before he arrived near the gate. When he stopped a few meters before it, he looked upwards and saw the rest of the palace. At times, Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes narrowed. He could swear he saw clouds and imagined a sky floating above the palace’s top, but it was all replaced the next instant. Only goldish smog was present.

“I won’t be able to see you from hereon. Be careful~!” Heian Ciemnosc heard Sara whisper some words to him, still carrying tremendous energy behind her low volume. He smugly grinned and lowered his head over his left shoulder before nodding. He sensed Sara become more at ease as she returned to their bed and covered herself in the bedsheets.

‘Siiigh…’ Heian Ciemnosc lightly let out his thoughts as he looked up at the palace again before gradually lowering his chin. His pale left palm landed on the gate’s steel, or at least a material similar to metal. The moment his hand connected with it, Heian Ciemnosc felt like he was in between 2 worlds. One was the platform he stood on, and the other was the other side of the gate. The doorstep was the rift between the 2 as he felt his senses distort and lean.

Heian Ciemnosc had prepared himself, and he had gone through similar experiences as this one. He maintained his foothold as he peeked into the other side, but all he saw was… fog… not mist or smug… just fog. It clouded his darkest eyes, and for once, he couldn’t see on broad light illuminating everything below the sky.

Step… Heian Ciemnosc bravely moved his left leg. But he immediately felt his whole body float, slightly pulled into the other side. He didn’t resist it and lifted his right foot to advance further. Heian Ciemnosc’s body went into the gate, and despite his body seemingly moving upwards as the gate slightly opened to ajar, he couldn’t be seen by the others after he went through the 3 meters tall gate.

“...” The cultivators watched as Heian Ciemnosc disappeared, exactly just that, and the ajar gate closed smoothly as if someone gently pushed it. Nobody had something to say despite the safety their Team Leader assured them. Besides, their safety wasn’t in danger whenever he left, as if… he carried all the burden of encountering the terrors they dared not think of. Those who were the most fearful were harassed more than 2 times by ghosts, after all.

But even then, the community that spontaneously grew during these 3 weeks within the cultivators was admirable. For example, the gal whose organization’s emblem is from a Fire element-focused one was one of the known faces to protect the others, even the scaredy cats.

***

“...” Heian Ciemnosc opened his darkest eyes. Just now, he felt his floating body relax as the nonexistent gravity made him feel safer and closer to what he knew as the world he was birthed into. He didn’t even remember closing his eyes, but here he was, opening them to a blurry sight as his arms were held up by his floating angle while the soles of his feet landed on gray dirt.

“...” Heian Ciemnosc made an effort to not even think, but the place he was ‘transported’ to remind him of the Ghost of Land. Everything around them was obscure gray, desolate, lifeless, and as if… it had been unfortunately abandoned.

He looked around, left and right, and even glanced at the sky, only to see a strange image. Like folds from black skin or hide, they formed peculiar triangles slightly arching downwards, forming the sky as it was known in this place. Heian Ciemnosc frowned, but his eyes and head instinctively went low, as if a call or by command, and landed on a figure sitting on a cleanly cut log before a bonfire.

Step… step, step… Heian Ciemnosc silently stared before walking forwards. The figure was incredibly tall and had an extensively long face, nearly a rectangle head. It was… a female, what is worth. She had white hair, although it was only 3 strands atop her head in the center. One strand projected forth, the other to the right, and the last erected upwards.

She wore some clothing, although she seemed naked, but her body was completely hidden. When Heian Ciemnosc walked to the log she sat on, he looked at her a little more, and just when he was about to step over to sit somewhere on the same seat, she turned her head.

“Tis’ Ghost of Longing Nature…” The Ghost of Longing Nature said, causing Heian Ciemnosc a slight frown as he tilted his head a little to the back and rightwards. She returned to face ahead, her ugly countenance away from staring at Heian Ciemnosc.

She had long eyes, strangely so. Her pupils were black, but the rest was gray, even her sclera. Her eyelashes were only a few, but each strand was thick and long as she looked ahead. A mouth so wrinkled it didn’t matter if she had teeth. She wouldn’t be able to speak without obstruction. All in all, she looked like an old woman.

Tap, tap. The old woman tapped a spot several feet to her left. This was when Heian Ciemnosc noticed her arms were as thin as one’s bones but seemed boneless nonetheless. Heian Ciemnosc was a little startled, already feeling his nerves being pulled and his hair standing on their ends.

He did as indicated and walked over until he found the spot she signaled him to sit on. Heian Ciemnosc took a light breath and sat on it as the old woman blankly and lifelessly stared with fully widened eyes. Her left arm returned to rest on her lap as her back humped. She wore a strange floral dress covering her body from the neck to her heels.

Her height was more immense than a Titan, at least without hiding their authentic, colossal bodies. Heian Ciemnosc sat not more than a meter beside her, but when he looked up, her face seemed overly huge from how close she was despite being at least 4 times Heian Ciemnosc’s height.

…