Chapter – 95 - It Might Be A Space Time Duplicating Dimension

Yaoutei glanced at the wan and pale face as he entered the chamber and sat down opposite the young man. The man looked cold and gloomy, and a depressed aura spread out all around him. Yaoutei was feeling perplexed.

It had been very long since he had seen his disciple this downhearted, but he couldn't figure out what might be the reason behind it. He coughed lightly to announce his presence. Mayaroubo glanced up with a bleak countenance, then bowed to acknowledge his Master. But the gloominess did not disperse.

"I heard you are still searching for the little girl? You have sent so many followers of the Abyss out to search for her. Are you not afraid of coming into the other's notice? She is just a commoner. Do not forget your responsibilities, your duties. You cannot let go of yourself for a commoner."

The gloominess thickened, and an icy chill crept into the layering of air in the room.

"When I took up this position, you had promised that you would not interfere with my personal life and choices. I have not used any of the Abyss followers. They are all my personal men. That they help the Abyss on all aspects, was a decision I made, to ease the work load of the Abyss. However, I still have the right to order my men to go on personal missions set down by me."

Yaoutei paused, his old, wrinkled fingers rubbing against his chin as he contemplated. He knew this boy very well. He was neither vain nor headstrong. Whenever he did something, there would be detailed planning behind it. He could even wait for years before going for the lethal strike.

But now he could feel his scattered aura. All this for only a commoner?....Somehow he couldn't believe it. But....if not then what?

"Who is the girl? Why are you acting like a young boy in love for the first time? Surely you can't be in love with her! She is way too small.....the age gap between you both is much too large! And....I thought you already have your Spiritual Mate. You haven't searched for her in so many long years. Why are you running after this little girl instead of searching for your mate?"

The icy gloominess dispersed a bit as Mayaroubo looked up at Yaoutei. The latter was shocked to see the tiny sparkles in his otherwise cold eyes.

"It is her. Anna....it is her soul. I felt it the first day when I met her in the caves of the Underground Abyss. I do not know why she is different now. Or why she does not seem to have any memories of us. But the soul is hers."

Yaoutei sat up, a look of bewilderment passing his eyes. He knew the girl Mayaroubo was talking about. The girl he had met almost 200 years ago.....the girl who had somehow entered into his Soul Space all on her own. She had kept coming and going as she pleased, and he had slowly lost his soul to her.

And then, one fine day, she stopped coming. He knew not who she was, where she had come from, how she had managed to tear her way into his space. Nor why she suddenly stopped coming.

Two hundred years had gone by, like water under a bridge. So much had happened. So much lost, so much gained, so many new and old responsibilities now lay upon him.

Yaoutei had watched the once innocent and mischievous and always smiling boy turning cold and detached. Nothing seemed capable of affecting him anymore. And though he had mourned the loss of the naïveté' of the little boy who once followed him everywhere, this cold personality was what was needed for the Master of the Underworld Abyss.

And now...once more he saw the flickering of unsteady emotions in the man.....a man who had hidden all his feeling and emotions.....a man who wanted to connect back with the love he thought he had lost. Yaoutei sighed. He didn't know if this was good or bad. There were too many suspicious points surrounding that girl. He didn't know if he should intervene, or sit back and watch his disciple solve his own problems and doubts.

"It has already been six months since the girl disappeared. There is no news yet of any appearance of the Dimensional Pocket. Even if it is a high level Pocket, it couldn't possibly last for six months. Till when are you going to keep searching?"

Mayaroubo was silent for a long while. The gloominess which had dispersed a bit, seemed to huddle back together and the icy chill intensified. He was lost in thought, pondering upon something as Yaoutei waited for his response.

"Master.....have you ever heard of a Space Time Duplicating Dimensional?"

Yaoutei sat up once again, this time the shock more apparent in his eyes. A Duplicating Dimension was a very ancient technique, and only cultivators with extremely high level of cultivation were able to create this clone of a real dimension. And more than a few cultivators were needed to create one.

But this was a space manipulation technique lost in the pages of history. Some of the very old records mentioned such lost techniques, through which people of today's generation knew about it. Many researchers had worked hard, trying to create this unique paradigm of the highest level of space manipulation. However, all had ended in failure. One wondered how developed were the lost civilizations which could create such heaven defying methods.

"How can a Space Time Duplicating Dimension exist in today's world? It is supposedly a myth. And even if it not a myth, no one knows how to create such a dimension anymore."

".....I too would not have believed it. But whilst searching for Anna, my people have come across many strange factors. Over just the past five hundred years, a lot of cultivators have disappeared into such dimensional pockets in different parts of the lands. Strangely, none of these pockets opened up again to throw out the people and creatures out of its inner space, as is normal for a Dimensional Pocket. Where are those people then? They may have disappeared a few at a time, but totaled over a few hundred years.....they actually number in some thousands. Which is astonishing."

"What are you trying to drive at boy? Don't give in lunacy! This idea is crazy. The ancient methods are mostly lost. No one can replicate such techniques."

Mayaroubo paused, but then continued as if he had not heard a word.

"What if it was not created by the people of today? Why are there no records of the past civilizations? So many countries existed according to the olden records, yet not much remains in terms of their research, writings, techniques, tools or inventions. What if...what if some of the older civilizations, who knew the techniques, actually, successfully created such a dimension, and stored away their heritage and people to live through the crisis of that time? What if.....what if the dimensional pocket she rashly entered, was not a dimensional pocket at all.....but a Duplicating Dimension?"

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The Visionless Path was actually a deep cleft between two ginormous mountain cliffs. The mountains were so tall, that she could not see the peaks which had penetrated through the dark clouds hanging in the sky. Beibei and her team stood at the start of the cleft, looking at the path.....which literally disappeared in the dense gray mist, rolling outwards, just a few meters ahead of them.

This mist not only blocked sight, but also completely cut off all other senses of a cultivator. A person was basically defenseless once he entered this path. Moreover, even if you tied up your team members to you using ropes or normal spells, they would all be dissolved by the mist, and one would find themselves completely cut off from all others.

The mist also devoured all other elemental powers, so using their own powers to fight against the beasts and other dangers of this region was a big hassle.

This place was home to a whole different world of mutated beasts. The beasts who could thrive in such a place, were mostly dark attribute beasts. They mostly did not have other elemental powers, but were specialised in essence control, soul control, illusions, poisons, spiritual-Qi sucking, etc.

Of course, for a place which had existed for thousands and thousands of years, it had been entirely tried and tested by the various research branches of the main sect. And they had all kinds of abnormal methods to guarantee the safe passage of the people sent here on missions.

Kunwa and Nanate looked at the various bottles of pills and elixirs in their hands, then glanced speechlessly at each other. They couldn't bring themselves to glance at Beibei, who had so forcefully shoved these bottles into their hands.

Having the hands of the highest authority of the sect on her head, there was no place she could not simply waltz into, no recipes, scrolls and techniques she could not lay her hand upon. And thus she had accumulated a horde of old methods and recipes for potions, pills, elixirs, arrays, spells, and a lot of other things.

Moreover, she kept on experimenting with the different resources found in the surrounding desert, and came up with many failed and successful recipes of her own. They had no say when she decided that she wanted to try out her recipes. Like right now! They could only grit their teeth and swallow the pills, and hope to the high heavens that they would be able to come out alive from this experience!

Kunwa almost balked on the pungent pill, but somehow forced it down with a large swig of water. Then he blinked his already teary eyes, waiting for the pill to take effect.

"Where are we going to start our search?"

Nanate spoke up. His face was ashen, not much better than Kunwa's. But he still tried to maintain his composure.

"Hmmm.....we'll try to seek out the Totram Settlement first. It should be somewhere up in these cliffs. They are basically a tribe now, but they used to be the vanguards of the Stryae many thousands of years ago. Though they got forcefully separated when the hidden families disappeared, they have the most understanding of the Stryae Family amongst all the people existing today. Perhaps we can glean something from them."

By now the pills had started taking effect. Both Nanate and Kunwa frowned at the sudden onset of a strange pain in their eyes.

"Don't rub your eyes. The potions will be changing your pupils, so you can see through all the illusion of the mist. Just bear with the pain for a bit. It will pass soon."

Beibei too had her tiny face all scrunched up even as she tried to speak calmly. The pain was like a large hammer banging on her optic nerves. Unfortunately, there was no other way but to grit through the pain, for if she touched her eyes, it would tamper with the effect of the pill.

After what seemed like a century, the pain gradually subsided, and the trio heaved a breath of relief. As their eyes flickered open, even Beibei was startled at the changes in their eye sight. They looked at each other in shock and a bit of fear, unable to comprehend that such weird medicines could actually be produced, and they even worked!

Their pupils had fragmented into a number of smaller black pupils, and now the black dots floated about in the whites of their eyes. At first they could see everything at the same time, yet unable to control the movement of their pupils, which made their sense of vision entirely unfocussed and blurry.

The group had to stop and stay at the entrance of the path for a long time, trying to learn how to control the movement of their eyes in a whole new way. Only when all of them were certain that they could see everything they wanted, focus on things at varying distances and fully control their different pupils separately, did Beibei give the signal. The beasts were not given the medicine, so they had to be kept close to their body. All five of them secretly took a deep breath, and finally stepped forth into the mist, making their way through Visionless Path.