Chapter 11: Jane (Part 1)

'Why did I have those thoughts?' Jason mused for the nth time as he was walking along the corridor.

'I had never felt angry about that girl ever since I had left college. But today, it seemed as if I was no longer able to control any of my thoughts. And most importantly, why did those thoughts keep on replaying on my mind again and again?'

As Jason was walking down the corridor, he suddenly realized a very important thing that he had missed out earlier.

'Damn, I have no idea where to look for that old man. Did he expect me to stay in that pool forever? Where am I supposed to search for him in this huge place? What's more, I can't even just ask someone for directions as there is no one around.'

As Jason kept walking forward, he soon realized that he was standing in front of the large door which he had come across before with the old man.

'This must be the living quarters. Let me go in and take a look.'

Jason opened the large door and entered into the living quarters. As he saw the doors on either side of the corridor, he called out.

"Hello, is there anybody out there?"

A few seconds passed, but Jason was bound to be disappointed. The only thing he heard was his own footsteps as he walked along the hall.

"Hello, I am the new disciple of Sect Master Reed. As I am new here, I am unable to find my way around at this place. I would be grateful if someone could guide me to Master Reed." Jason tried again.

Again, there was no response. He shook his head and just as he was about to leave the corridor to try to find someone, he heard an unexpected voice so melodious that he froze in his tracks.

"If you have even an iota of desire to stay alive, it is best that you run away from this place as far as you can as soon as possible."

Jason turned around as he tried to figure out where that voice came from but was unable to do so. It felt as if the voice had come out from thin air all around him, as if it was an apparition had whispered them and vanished immediately after.

"Hello, who is there? Can you show yourself? I am Jason Grace. Why do you say that I need to run away from here? Can you explain it to me in a bit more detail?" Jason asked politely.

Jason waited patiently, but even as a few minutes had passed, there was no response. He started to doubt his ears when he had heard the previous voice.

'Was that really an illusion that I experienced? There is clearly no one here, yet I heard a voice asking me to leave this place. How can this be?'

As Jason kept thinking, he started getting more and more certain that it was not an illusion. 'No, it was definitely a real person speaking to me. The voice was ice cold on the outside, but under that coldness was… concern? That person was concerned about me? Also, it felt as if that person had taken a great risk in warning me, as if in case things went south, she would definitely regret it.'

Suddenly, his 'Pristine Mind' activated once again. His mind went into a state where there were no thoughts other than his desire to find out more about that person who had spoken those words to him.

Slowly, his mind went back into the exact time when he had heard that those words. Initially, the scene that played in his mind felt exactly the same as he had experienced in real-time. He could detect no person and the voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

But as the scene replayed again and again, a strange thing happened. On the fifth replay, the air that was present around Jason suddenly became visible. The air molecules seemed to be very turbulent and violent as if something had purposely messed up with it.

'Hmm, so this is an illusion technique that distorts the air around a person, making it impossible to properly understand what is going on. But how do I break it?' Jason contemplated as he closed his eyes

Suddenly, Jason's eardrums had a layer of white energy on them as soon as he closed his eyes. The energy that covered his eardrums right now was the same energy that was protecting his soul from the Skull Tattoo's invasion, but the quantity was very less. Nevertheless, as soon as the white energy covered Jason's ears, it started acting as a filter. His ears started rejecting vibrations that were not naturally created while speaking and only kept the real voice signals.

Soon, Jason was able to reject all the interfering vibrations and was able to trace the origin of the actual voice. He found that the voice came from behind a door at the end of the corridor.

As Jason was doing his thing, the girl behind the last door was a little confused with Jason's actions. 'That guy just suddenly sat on the floor and is now meditating? But I don't think that bastard Reed has taught him anything yet. He is clearly not cultivating, as his body is not absorbing any Universal Energy. Then just what on earth is he doing?'

Just as she was thinking about what to do next, she saw Jason abruptly stand up. She thought that Jason was about to leave and was about to lie back on her bed when she suddenly froze.

"Miss, I know that you are behind this door. I also know that right now, you were the one who warned me to get away from here as soon as possible. I just want to know why you said those words to me. Won't you speak to me once more?" Jason said as he walked towards the last door in the corridor.

There was no response. It felt as if Jason was speaking to thin air. But Jason was 100% sure that there was someone who was behind this door and had spoken his words. So, even though he heard no response, he continued.

"Miss, I know that you took a great risk when you gave me that warning. If you are unwilling to speak to me once again, I can understand. Even though I do not know if I would be able to escape from him, rest assured I will never let that old man realize that I had ever spoken to you. "

"I sincerely thank you for your warning," said Jason as he turned around to leave.

"Wait" suddenly a voice from behind the door called out to him.