Chapter 19: Twisted Space.
Yao Jun slowly made his way through the Cloud Wilderness. Including the time he had spent traveling with Yao Min and the others, he had already spent two weeks traveling deeper and deeper into the Cloud Wilderness. Despite spending so much time traveling deeper and deeper, he was still only considered to be at the very edge of the Cloud Wilderness.
The strongest Demonic beast he had met so far was hadn't even reached the 1st level. The only reason they had stumbled upon the Mist Eagle so close to the edge of the Cloud Wilderness was because it had been injured during the most recent Surge and sought a safe place to recover.
Yao Jun spent some more time familiarizing himself with the Mental Energy, experimenting on the Demonic Beasts they encountered. After experimenting for a few days he found that as long as the enemy was weaker than him, he could instantly make them lose all fighting capability.
If they were at his level of strength, he would have to spend more energy while simultaneously looking for weak spots in their mind to exploit. If the enemy was stronger than him, he could at best make them see some small illusions that would distract them, completely enthralling them would be impossible.
Next to Yao Jun were Little Thunder and Little Gray. After being absorbed by his Garden of Eden, all of Little Gray's injuries ended up recovering after about half a day. They had eaten a few Demonic beasts each these last few days, but there were no large changes in their appearance or strength.
The most noteworthy change was on Little Thunder and on Yao Jun's gate. Little Thunder had gotten a tiny black growth on both sides of his head, it seemed like he would grow two black horns if he kept growing.
The previously amethyst light shining in the nine indents on his gate had grown murkier, turning from a purple light, to a purple-grayish light. He had also ended up lighting up more of the lights, reaching the 8th level, almost the 9th.
Yao Jun spent the days traversing and hunting in the Cloud Wilderness, plucking any special herbs that he came across. During the nights, he made a small camp and entered the Garden of Eden. He found that after he had absorbed the Mist Eagle, the Garden of Eden had grown slightly, reaching seven kilometers in all direction. A small chain of mountains had sprouted in one of the corners of his Garden of Eden, so it had changed from being just a forest.
Yao Jun theorized that this change most likely occurred because the Mist Eagle could not live it's entire life in a forest. He wasn't sure if his theory was true, but he figured that he would find out next time he absorbed a new Demonic beast. He decided that the next Demonic beast he absorbs would have to be a Demonic beast with one of the five elements.
Absorbing a Demonic beast with a different element would give him access to more options during a fight, if he only had his control over lightning, it would quickly get countered by the other elements that could solidify themselves. His newfound Mental Energy remedied some of this weakness, but Yao Jun also wanted to find a proper solution. After all, if his enemy was stronger than him, his Mental Energy would do next to nothing.
Yao Jun also found that if he found herbs and natural treasures, he could bring them with him into the Garden of Eden and plant them. After absorbing the Mist Eagle, the Garden of Eden started to contain small amounts of Raw Qi. Planting the herbs would slowly gather more and more Raw Qi, slowly turning his Garden of Eden into a garden of both herbs and monsters.
He had experimented with cultivating in the Garden of Eden during the nights. He could cultivate in the Garden of Eden, but there was less Raw Qi in the Garden of Eden than there was in the Cloud Wilderness, so it ended up being less effective.
Yao Jun was slightly confused as to why he could bring herbs into the Garden of Eden, even going as far as being able to cultivate while in it. He spent some time thinking about it and came up with two theories that he thought sounded most reasonable.
The first theory was that it was not just an incarnation of himself that entered the Garden of Eden, but instead his entire body. The only way he would be able to prove this theory was if he got someone to keep watch over him while he entered the Garden of Eden. If his body did not disappear from where he sat, it meant that it was just an incarnation that entered the Garden of Eden.
The second theory was that the Garden of Eden was in fact a real location that the gate either lead to or created. To prove this theory would end up being a lot harder than proving the first theory, as Yao Jun wasn't even sure where to begin with proving this one. Yao Jun decided to set aside proving the theories for now, the only ones he could trust to watch over his body were his parents, but since he was unsure when he would end up returning to Golden Moon, it was pointless to think about it now.
Yao Jun was seated on the back of Little Thunder while Little Gray was flying a bit above them. Little Gray's main responsibility was to scout ahead and find Demonic beasts, while also using it's illusions to confuse them during fights. Yao Jun and Little Thunder would be the ones fighting the Demonic beasts. Yao Jun was slightly disappointed when he found out that Little Gray had been weakened after being absorbed by the Garden of Eden. When he absorbed it, it was at the 4th level of the 1st grade, but after being absorbed, it had fallen to being at the 8th level of the 0th grade, just like Yao Jun and Little Thunder.
They were travelling at a high speed right now, Little Thunder running at full speed. The sun was getting closer to the horizon as the night was approaching, but Yao Jun did not give the order to stop the pursuit. They were currently pursuing a Shade Monkey, a monkey type Demonic beast with jet black fur. The Shade Monkey was a darkness type Demonic beast that they had been pursuing for the entire day.
It had reached the 9th level, so it was slightly stronger than Yao Jun and Little Gray, so their illusions were not enough to stop it, all they could do was chase it until it ran out of stamina and could run no more. If they ended up not being able to catch it before nightfall, it would be impossible to catch it. Since it was a darkness type Demonic beast, the night was it's domain, so it would be able to completely vanish.
The Shade Monkey had already been wounded by Yao Jun when they ambushed it during the morning, so Yao Jun had several times already sighed in awe at it's persistence. It had managed to flee from them the entire day despite being wounded and bleeding. Such persistence and tenaciousness was truly admirable.
Little Gray gave a low screech, informing Yao Jun of the terrain ahead. Yao Jun may have gotten the eyesight of the Mist Eagle, but he was stuck on the ground, so there was a limit to how much he could see. Little Gray on the other hand was capable of flight, allowing it to see the terrain much more clearly.
Yao Jun's mouth curved up into a smile when he got the information from Little Gray. Up ahead was a hole in the ground that was concealed by several thick trees. The hole was not too deep, looking like it was a small crater, only around ten meters across and a few meters deep. But it was deep enough to stop the Shade Monkey for a short while. That short while would be enough for Yao Jun and the others to catch up to it.
Just as Yao Jun thought, once the Shade Monkey got past the trees, it was too preoccupied with Yao Jun to notice the crater, falling directly into it with a surprised howl. Yao Jun and the others were right behind it and immediately charged after it into the crater.
Yao Jun was shocked to see that the crater was completely empty, no sign of the Shade Monkey. Before he managed to look around to see if he had simply missed it, he felt the space around him congeal. Little Thunder and Little Gray gave shocked exclaims when they felt the space thicken and twist. Yao Jun's expression on the other hand was grim.
With a quick thought, he returned Little Gray and Little Thunder to the Garden of Eden. The twisting of space around him quickly worsened as Yao Jun braced himself. He knew what this was, it was a so called natural Spatial node. A natural Spatial node was much like a Spatial Array, except that a Spatial node moved around at random. One day it could appear in Golden Moon and lead to Golden Cloud, the next day it could appear in Flying Fish Town and lead to a completely different province.
Trapped by the congealed space, Yao Jun could only lament his own bad luck and hope that the Spatial Node didn't connect to the deeper parts of the Cloud Wilderness. With these thoughts in mind, Yao Jun's figure started blurring, before quickly disappearing from the spot.