Chapter 7 - Ark of the Majesty

"Ha, Ha," Tian Longmeng was out of breath after about two hours of continuous training. Because of the weird spurge of power that he received, Tian Longmeng felt as if he would go on forever. He probably could, if he did not try to punch and kick at faster and stronger rates that he had never tried in his life.

Tian Longmeng sprawled himself on the ground and decide that it was time to grab some rest. He rolled over to the strange ship artefact and held it in his hands once more, staring at the odd lines engraved within the structure. He eventually fell asleep with the ship artefact still in his hands.

Suddenly, Tian Longmeng found himself surrounded by a gaseous void. It was devoid of stars or anything remotely stellar, it was just a black emptiness with streaks of hues sprinkled about.

"What? Where am I?" Longmeng floated about in sheer confusion. One moment he was lying flat on the cave floor, holding on to the strange ship artefact. Next moment, he was stranded in this empty abyss.

"Damn! Please don't tell me that I somehow rolled into a forbidden zone and died or something." Tian Longmeng was heavily distressed, considering that he could not feel his physical body in this void at all, It looks like it is just the soul of him that is present here.

If this was the case, and Tian Longmeng really died then he was extremely indignant. This was too early of a death! Especially since Tian Longmeng had aspirations to one day reach the epitome of the martial path and change the course of the heavens.

Tian Longmeng was adrift for about 3 incense sticks worth of time, wondering about his fate until the void began to show some rapid changes. A multitude of pillars began constructing and erecting themselves out of the void and were set in alignment as if it was the pillar of a great palace to be built. These pillars were about him, marble in colour but diamond-like in lustre.

Afterwards, a floor seemingly made of gold, tiled itself out of the void from underneath Tian Longmeng. It firmly affixed itself onto the pillars as if this was the natural course of things. Tian Longmeng was barely floating above the floor so he took the initiative to stare at the self-appearing, gold floor.

Upon closer inspection, Tian Longmeng realized that the floor was not just simple gold. There was a mysticism lying underneath the plating, like a nebula inside a translucent egg. This left Tian Longmeng enthralled as he inched closer and closer to observe the starry mysteries underneath the floor. Quite the intimate experience.

"Bam!" A bit too intimate.

"Awouch!" Tian Longmeng face contorted as he held his forehead with his right hand. It seemed like the laws of gravity finally arrive, albeit at the most time possible.

He lifted his head and scanned the hall. It was now finished and exuded a powerful, regal ambience. It was decked in adornments and banners alongside the walls and hanging off the ceiling. There was also a massive chandelier hanging in the center of the room, up by the elevated, dome-like ceiling in the center. It was a room that would make the Jade Emperor feel unqualified.

However, the most fascinating thing in the hall was actually the massive, liquefied globe that floated in the center. It displayed multitudes of mountains and plenteous oceans and seas. It even had monuments and buildings as if there was civilization in the world. The only difference between the projection and an actual world was that this was devoid of any life.

"The Ark of the Majesty, this world that is." An unknown voice commented from behind Tian Longmeng. Tian Longmeng quickly jumped around to see a robust, old man standing just about 10 feet from him.

"What do you mean? Who are you?" Tian Longmeng flustered as he tried to gain initiative of this sudden, awkward situation where he was caught defenceless.

The robust, old man looked at Tian Longmeng acting panicky and smiled before clearing his throat. "This entire realm is called the Ark of the Majesty and the globe you are seeing there is just a small representation of the planetary universe in real-time."

"Planetary Universe?"

Tian Longmeng was blown away with the words of the robust, old man. Planetary Universe did not imply that the universe was the size of a planet because the representation of the liquid would not be a globe. Then that only meant that the planet was the size of a universe!

A planet the size of a universe!

That in itself was freakish. What makes it worse is that by looking at the globe Tian Longmeng could clearly see monuments, mountains, seas as if it was a normal planet. Wouldn't that mean that these monuments were the size of planets, and the mountains and seas are comparable to galaxies?

The thought of such a dreadful thing suffocated Tian Longmeng. The old man chuckled a bit before continuing, "Truth be told, all of this is actually inside of a regular looking, little ship; but that ship is by no means ordinary at all."

"What? I'm inside that strange ship artefact?" Tian Longmeng was being constantly knocked senseless by these mind-shocking revelations. The old man seemed to take delight in seeing this little 7-year-old split his mind open.

The old man continued, "You know, you being here while still being alive means that you have met the requirements of being the Master of the Ark."

Tian Longmeng was once again shocked. "What! Master of the Ark?!"