100 The Mystic Star Chamber

Yun pulled her hand back quickly, but was astonished to see that even for so short a time the space beyond that portal had already created ice crystals out of the moisture on her hand. She wasn't sure what could cause this level of cold, but she knew it was extremely dangerous to the current her. After experimenting with another few walls and finding that some of them also went to milder environments that looked like places she'd never seen, Yun decided to return to the main hall and get Wuying.

There didn't seem to be any other way to exit this space, so she knew her best and only choice would be to figure out which one of these doors would lead them back to the Cradle, or somewhere near it. She knew from the maps she'd seen that their world, Lynhias, was massive, easily at least 100,000 kilometers wide, but she didn't know much about the existences on the main continent. She was still extremely young and had yet to even venture most of the Cradle, no less leaving it to go tens of thousands of kilometers across the sea to the continent.

Walking carefully so as not to accidentally veer off the starry path, Yun returned to the main chamber. Looking to the side she could see Long Wuying was down to his last bit of energy from the final core, so she waited patiently for him while she circulated her own technique to absorb some of the Heavenly Qi. Always cultivating, Yun took every chance she could to absorb some extra energy and grow. The only thing about this that she was worried over was that some people had claimed cultivating too early could harm your future physical growth, leaving you looking like a child for centuries as your advancing cultivation continuously pushed back the clock, extending your life.

Finally, after a few incense sticks of time, Wuying opened his eyes with great satisfaction. His body felt like it was brimming with energy, and his Neidan's space was so full of this Entropy Qi that he had absorbed that you wouldn't even be able to detect his core within it. The energy had become so dense that it was like a thick soup or fog obscuring his cultivation base. He was extremely excited by this, as it meant he could layer extra energy into his Neidan and gain a huge leap in his energy quality and quantity!

As he was stretching his limbs after spending so long in one place he heard Yun calling out to him, but looking around he didn't see her. As he heard her voice again he had a strange feeling when his eyes passed over a certain space, like something was moving but he couldn't quite catch it, and the distorted echo of Yun's voice left him curious enough to find out what it was.

Step after step he walked straight towards where Yun had been waving at him, but he couldn't see a thing. Yun, however, thought that she had successfully gotten his attention and was now waiting patiently for him to arrive.

Closer and closer he got, so close he was nearly running into a wall, before finally he encountered something that barred his path. As he kept blindly walking forwards he nearly walked right over Yun, so she reached out a hand and pushed him back slightly. To him this was some strange invisible force, but something felt off about it.

Thinking about it for a moment, Wuying decided to lash out with a punch using his gauntlets. Yun, ever the fast one to respond, saw it coming in time to block it by grabbing his fist and stopping him. "Wuying, this Yun is right here. Can you not see?"

Wuying felt that strange sensation of distance again, but this time he had a physical contact to help him integrate with this space. After nearly half an incense stick of time he finally managed to see a blurry image of Yun in front of him, and he rejoiced.

"Yun, is that you? What's going on with this space?"

"Wuying, you remember this Yun telling you that space is distorted here right? There's some strange distortion array around this particular door, and it lead's somewhere that may be able to get us home!"

Wuying was certainly happy to hear this, as he wasn't sure how they were going to get home in the first place. He quickly followed Yun through the secret passage and out across the star path to the chamber she had dubbed the Mystic Star Chamber. She quickly explained to him that every flat surface within this space seemed to hold a portal to a single place.

She also told him she was fairly sure some of these places were definitely not a part of Lynhias.

They quickly split up and began to check each door, trying to figure out if any of them would lead them back to their own world, where they could finish their mission and continue to grow before exploring something that might be extremely dangerous like another world.

After what felt like hours they had checked over thirty of the portals each and had yet to find one that appeared to be even remotely related to their own planet. Yun was beginning to worry that this room didn't contain a path home for them, and that the only path home was back out through the strange spatial distortion that brought her in before it blocked her path.