13 Chapter 13 Soul space

Yunchen looked around at everything inside that room. Trying to figure out how to get them inside his consciousness, he approached the table and looked at the books.

"Alright. All I have to do is get them inside my consciousness. Easy, no trouble at all if I knew what that was or where it could be found! Consciousness, consciousness what is that? Could it be related to my mind or soul? I've heard religious people mention it, but it was in different context. Something like not doing something against someone's consciousness. But that might be something else. I don't think that consciousness could store all these books inside."

He tried all sort of poses, trying to get the books to enter his consciousness.

"Get inside the consciousness." He raised both hands to the sky, but nothing happened.

He waved his hands through the air with a mysterious air on his face.

"Allez-up inside the consciousness." Still no effect.

He jumped up and down screaming for the books to get inside his consciousness, but they remained where they were, without any sign they were going to move by themselves. In frustration he kicked the table, scattering everything on it on the floor.

"Damn what a fool I could be. I don't even know what consciousness is and I want to move something there. How can I get something to a place I haven't heard before? Well, let's begin with the basics. If I have to go somewhere I don't know the direction of, I would have to ask for guidance. So if I'm asking for guidance, I need someone to answer my questions. But nobody else is here but me. And the books. The books! Damn, all that stupid mumbo jumbo and maybe what I need to know is in one of them. I guess it's time for me to read."

Yunchen sat on the floor, grabbing the book closest to him. He began reading it. It was not about consciousness, so he put it aside after about half an hour. He took another, perusing it. It was about how one should train his body. Interesting, but not what he was looking for, so he put it aside too. The next was about the soul cultivation and he read for a couple of minutes before he was rewarded. It had a chapter about consciousness. He kept reading, trying to imprint every word in his mind. Finally he put it aside and closed his eyes to ponder on what he read.

"Alright, so that is what consciousness is. Why the hell didn't you just say so from the beginning? Why all that turning around when you could just say it in a straight line? In order to get from A to B, you have to do this! Much better than all this waste of words and time."

He closed his eyes and concentrated on looking inside himself. At first his vision was surrounded by blackness, with nothing else to be seen. He kept putting pressure on that blackness. At first, nothing happened, as if he was hitting a stone wall, but as he kept pouring all his will, he felt the darkness starting to vibrate and turn fuzzy in a point. He intensified his efforts in that area, until finally he saw a tear the size of a needle hole forming there. He had to stop at that moment as an excruciating pain shot through his head. He took a few breaths to calm his pain and then began putting pressure once again in order to enlarge that tiny white space. Perspiration started appearing on his face and body, yet he ignored it, as he ignored the increasing pain inside his head. He felt the tension around that tiny space starting to give as it started to grow wider by the moment.

He lost the concept of time as he focused entirely on his inner world represented by the white space that was growing under his pressure. From what he learned, the bigger it was, the higher storage he would get and a better comprehensive ability he could rely on.

But he eventually had to stop, as it wouldn't grow any further, no matter how hard he pressed, ignoring his pain. From what he read, the maximum size for a peak Venerable was the size of a clenched fist. He was starting to approach that, as currently it reached the size of a peach.

He let out a sigh of relief while he wiped his face with the back of his hand. It was finally done. He got his consciousness. Though he didn't like that name. So for himself, he was going to call it soul space. Not consciousness, because that would mean he would somehow be controlled by it. Instead, he was the one controlling it, so he would call it however he wanted.

He stopped to rest for a while. Then, he started by trying to get the books inside his soul space. At first, it was slow, as he was still mumbling trying to figure out how things work. But soon, it was enough for him to think of it and the book he was looking at would disappear in front of his eyes and reappear inside his space. When he succeeded in doing that, he tried to bring it back out. It took several tries and errors before the book he was thinking about would show up in front of him. He started smiling at his small achievement. Then, he started gathering everything inside his soul space. After he finished, a bang was heard and the house started crumbling around him. He felt himself being pulled away and then the sensation of falling which made his stomach float and his lungs scream for air. Finally he stopped falling so abruptly that his body shook and he opened his eyes screaming. For a moment he was so lost that he failed to hear another scream of fear sounding beside him,followed by a heavy thump. He finally registered the changes and recognized the place he was in. It was his old room at his grandparents house. He also finally realized that he was not alone hearing the moans from beside his bed.

He looked confused at the girl fallen on the floor beside a fallen chair. She was clutching at her heart with a hand while the other was massaging the back of her head with a grimace of pain and panic mixed together.

Seeing her there at first he furrowed his brows, but seeing her face made him smile,unable to control himself.

"Taotao, what are you doing here? Where is my grandma? If I'm here, it means she is nearby."

She stood slowly, still clutching at her heart and turned the chair back on it's feet and sat down before sighing.

"You know, you could just wake up like any other normal human being and not scare me half to death with your screaming in my ears. I was watching over you for almost a week now with no sign of you waking up all this time. As I was a bit tired, I closed my eyes for a moment. And that's when you woke up. And your grandma should be here any moment now. She asked me to let her know the moment you were awake. I guess with the ruckus both of us created, she's already on her way."

At that exact moment both of them heard the hurried tack-tack of the cane on the paved path leading to the door. A few moments later, the old lady entered the room. Looking at Yunchen who was leaning his back against one of the bed posts, she let out a sigh of relief as she approached the bed as fast as she could.

"Chen'er, you're finally awake. What took you so long to come back from your soul journey? Usually it takes only a day get the inheritance. But you were gone for almost a week. I started to get worried. Good thing this little girl was here, otherwise I couldn't have been able to endure. She was always by your side all this time."

Yunchen nodded his head smiling while changing his focus between the two of them. He looked at the entrance, where he saw a couple of faces peering inside. He turned sober once again while turning his eyes to his grandma, seeing as she took a chair and sat beside the bed.

"Does anyone else came to see me beside the two of you?"

She leaned forward, starting to frown.

"You mean your parents? Unfortunately no, because then I would have the pleasure of throwing them out faster than they could realize. I have Old Hai at my side after all."

She started smiling. He couldn't help himself from smiling.

"Yes, I know grandma. Your old servant is a basic Saint. I know nobody in this household would be stupid enough to cross you."

She giggled.

"That's right, my boy. And don't you forget that. You know you should have come to me before it went as far as it already did. Remember next time to look for me or your grandpa first."

He nodded sheepishly.

"Sorry grandma, but it was too fast. Before I knew it it already happened."

"Well, as long as it doesn't happen again. Now, tell us what did you encounter?"