Old Man - 133

After an unknown amount of time passed, Jack opened his eyes. He felt like he had just woken up from a nap as he stood up with a groggy look on his face.

The look was quickly wiped away as he looked at the unknown surroundings. He had never seen such a place throughout his entire life.

The walls were white and there was a red carpet leading down a hall to an unknown location.

Jack held his head as he tried to remember how he had gotten there. Eventually, a look of realization came to his face.

He remembered trying to climb the stairs to enter the floating palace, but attacking it after he started to struggle. He then remembered the lightning dragon attacking him and him attacking it. That was the last thing he remembered before he ended up in this place.

Jack spent another ten minutes trying to remember, before he gave up and started to look around the room. Based on its color scheme, Jack felt like he must be inside the floating palace.

As for how he entered, he came to the conclusion that the attack must have knocked him into it.

Since the room he was in was completely empty, Jack started to venture down the hall in front of him after grabbing the trident next to him. He kept walking for what seemed to be a fourth of a mile before he reached a golden door.

He pushed against it, but it didn't budge. He tried to pull it, assuming that it opened the other way, but it remained still.

Getting frustrated, Jack was about to attack the door and try to force it open, but he remembered the lightning dragon and calmed down.

He eventually ran out of ideas and walked up to the door to knock.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Jack knocked three times, not expecting anything.

"Come in." A voice said from behind the door, making Jack flinch in surprise.

As the words were said, a crack appeared in the doors and Jack pushed forward on them. As he pushed forward, a blinding white light seeped through the crack, causing jack to cover his eyes.

When he removed his hand and looked up, he was in a completely different place. A trail led forward, surrounded by trees. Jack was absolutely confused at what had just happened. Shaking his head, he stopped thinking and walked forward.

Zhou Fan watched from far away, sitting on a rock in front of a waterfall. He had done everything he could to make himself seem mysterious, including dressing up as a wise old man. He had long gray hair that piled up below him and a beard that reached his crossed legs.

What he had done to Jack was a new idea he wanted to try out. Ever since he had invented space rings, he started to wonder what else he could do with the power of space. While Jack was climbing the stairs, he had been experimenting with creating a separate space within the floating palace.

Clearly, he had some success. The entire square area, that was about a mile from one end to the other, was a completely separate space. Zhou Fan was glad he had broken into the 8th level of lesser Dao creation, or he would have never been able to sustain such a space.

Even now, he was struggling with all his might to keep it up. At the current rate, he would only last 2 hours before his Qi was gone.

Thankfully, Jack was coming towards him pretty fast.

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After walking past a collection of trees, Jack saw a waterfall in front of him. The mountain it came off of was pretty small compared to the Zhou Worlds mountains, but it was the tallest thing Jack had ever seen.

Slightly in front of the bottom of the waterfall, an old man sat on a flat rock.

"Welcome. Take a seat in front of me child." The old man said to Jack. Although hesitant at first, Jack made up his mind and walked towards the old man. After floating above the water and landing on the rock, Jack imitated the way the man in front of him was sitting.

"Are you the one that brought me here?" Jack asked.

"Yes." The old man said. "I am also the one that saved your life."

"What?" Jack responded. He had no idea what the old man was talking about.

"You don't remember?" The old man said while raising an eyebrow. "Here."

The old man pointed to his left, and Jack turned his head to see a holographic screen. He watched himself climb up the stairs easily, before struggling at the 900th and the 950th.

He then watched himself attack the floating palace, before a lightning dragon appeared. He watched on as he and the lightning dragon collided. That was where his memory ended, but the video kept playing.

Jack saw the shockwave hit him and the skin fly off his body. He then watched himself fall forward and slowly crawl towards the golden door, before touching it and disappearing. He then looked at the old man silently.

"I'm the owner of the floating palace, and the one who let you in and healed you." He said.

Jack was silent for a while before he spoke. "Thank you sir."

It was a weird experience seeing yourself in such a state, and Jack was still shocked by it.

"No need to thank me. I only let you in because of your talent. Since you did reach the top despite me lowering the difficulty, I'll give you a reward." The old man said.

Jack looked up at him and waited for him to continue.

"Pick a number between one and ten. Depending on the number you choose, I'll teach you a martial art."

"One" Jack said.

"I had a feeling you would pick that." The old man said before he pointed a finger at Jack's head.

Before Jack understood what he was doing, a video started playing in his head.