Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Han Xuhan returned to the Heavenly Hailstorm Mountain peak with much lighter footsteps. It was evident that Xuan Zi knew as much as the Formless Sword Sect did about what dangers occupied the void zone in the spatial folds of the Titanfall Archipelago. Since the man had hinted that the dangers there would instead be beneficial to him, Xuhan was no longer worried about some alien enemy drilling out of the fissures in the dark and falling on his head by pure coincidence.

Several hours had already passed since the sundown, and midnight was just about to envelope them. He was hungry. So when he reached Kong Ye's lavish cottage and caught the scent of spices in oil, his stomach churned and his feet moved like the wind.

Kong Ye, Mu Ran, Xiao Wu, and Yuen Zhou were sitting in a circle around a small, floating fireball. Slices of fish revolved around the fireball in harmony, sizzling under the heat. It seemed that Kong Ye had decided to treat his hardworking disciples with a meal cooked by him personally. Zhanxian, Tun Shi Tian, and Hai Yin Zhe were also present. The older two were helping Kong Ye with the cooking, while little Zhe snuggled up like a dog in Yuen Zhou's lap.

It seemed that their three-member invasion team hadn’t followed Mu Ran's upfront tactic of attacking everything in sight today. None of them sported significant injuries.

Seeing him enter the courtyard, Mu Ran and Xiao Wu jumped to their feet.

"Xuhan! How did our hut get destroyed?"

"Who was it? Which sect? We must pay them frequent visits!"

"Where did you disappear off to?"

"Did you fight with the invaders?"

"Did you get beaten up?"

The litany of aggrieved questions forced Xuhan to provide a lengthy explanation, by the end of which even Kong Ye was listening attentively. All three of them looked quite bewildered by the complexity of the tale, as well as Xuhan's wild hypotheses.

But surprised as they were, a strange look of understanding passed between his three martial siblings several times during his explanation. Han Xuhan didn’t let them get away with it.

"You three know something, don't you?" His suspicious tone immediately elicited a guilty reaction from Mu Ran and Xiao Wu. Yuen Zhou's face was unreadable as ever.

"It's like this, Xuhan," Xiao Wu began to speak hesitantly, "Remember a couple of days ago when I was imprisoned inside a trap set by one of the foreign sects? I didn’t manage to return that night and Brother Ran and Sister Zhou had to return to the sect to rescue me the next day."

Han Xuhan nodded. Of course he remembered. After they had left to rescue Xiao Wu from the Gladiator Guild's trap, he had decided to confront Fang Xie inside Stardust Sect. Later he had discovered that three martial siblings of his were spying on him during his little face-off against Leng Qing. He had been a bit suspicious about Xiao Wu's imprisonment at that time.

"That trap was actually founded on the void zone entrances surrounding all the floating islands inside the Archipelago. Gladiator Guild's island is designed in a manner that tricks you into entering the spatial fissures. All three of us fell into their elaborate illusions and ended up inside the void zones again and again while trying to navigate our way there. I eventually failed to make it back to our rendezvous spot and realizing that I had been trapped, Sister Zhou and Brother Ran returned here to recuperate and plan a rescue. The next day, they discovered how the disciples of Gladiator Guild could walk around the island without suffering like us."

"And you didn’t think it was important to inform everyone in our sect?" Han Xuhan said angrily.

"You caused quite the havoc on Stardust Sect's territory. We were waiting for you to return and explain yourself, but then your mental demon took over... Did we get a chance to have a normal conversation?" Xiao Wu snapped back.

"Sister Zhou basically beat some information out of the opponents she met on her way at that time. It wasn’t concrete enough. We actually went back there today under the guise of a raid and managed to gather a rough idea so far. Apparently, Gladiator Guild has an illusion spell so powerful that it not only tricks its targets, it also convinces the caster that the illusion is real. So what they did is to cast the spell on themselves to generate an artificial blank world around their eyes, where only objects containing qi and spirituality can register as a component of the illusion. And then they let the half-hypnotized disciples move around the island normally. Every time a disciple fell into the void zone through a nearby fissure, they would witness their illusory world being invaded by an entire new world! Think about it, Xuhan! How rich in qi and spirituality must a world be to register itself into an illusion as a qualifying component?!"

"...." Han Xuhan massaged his own temples helplessly. How many surprises did a person need to experience to be plain tired of such gobsmacking revelations? He must have crossed that limit quite some time ago.

"But how do they remember that? You're saying that the memory wiping we all go through in the void zone is somehow countered by their illusion spell?"

"Yes," Xiao Wu nodded. "The illusion itself can obviously create an artificial set of memories, whereas the memory wiping caused by the unknown mechanism in the void zone is targeted toward our real memory! Once the disciples return from the void zone, the artificial memory of the illusory world can be extracted and shown around!"

"....That is insane. Who even thinks up methods like that?" Han Xuhan no longer had any words to express his awe. Suddenly he noticed odd looks being thrown his way. Even Kong Ye had a complex smile on his face.

"What?" he said in confusion.

"Nothing," Xiao Wu replied. "Anyway, this method also has its limitations. Even though the artificial memories can show them what's happening inside the void zone, they haven’t learned much about the mysterious world there. Everyone who enters the void zone appears outside a massive dome. The size, substance and color of the dome vary from illusion to illusion, but it never shows any opening for one to enter through. The armor parts everyone comes out with are just scraps littering the periphery of the dome. A small number of illusions contained scenes of armored gargoyle soldiers guarding that area and attacking whoever entered. But these gargoyles were pretty weak and got demolished quickly. They suspect that the armor parts collected so far are the remains of gargoyles defeated by others before their entry."

Dots after dots were connected in Xuhan's mind, forming a whole picture. A whole new world hiding in between the spatial folds they were constantly traversing...Not only was it fascinating, it also made him experience again what it felt like to be treated as a speck of dust under the infinitely vast ripple of reality.

From thereon, their discussion became less concerned with facts and more about theories. What this new world signified, what the gargoyle soldiers could be, why this Archipelago held such secrets, and how they could replicate the performance of Gladiator Guild; the volume of information they needed to acquire and analyze was monstrous.

Kong Ye listened without providing any input. Even when they asked about his opinions, he would just smile and focus on cooking. It was evident that he knew a lot more than them, but was bound by the rules from revealing anything.

"I agree with this Liu Yue guy. The injuries we've seen so far are very minor compared to a real duel. If any disciple of our sect is frightened by the notion of entering the void zones now, they should just stop cultivating altogether. How can someone so timid achieve anything in life? They'll bring more shame to our sect than any legitimate defeat! Come, let's arm ourselves with as many armor-parts as possible and jump into the fissures after dinner!"

Mu Ran's passionate remark was met by Han Xuhan and Xiao Wu's withering faces. Even Yuen Zhou didn't look very eager about the idea. Noticing the lack of enthusiasm, Mu Ran quickly shifted the topic.

"This Suyan Chongqing sounds like an interesting opponent. Xuhan, is she good-looking? Does this cold, fair maiden-"

"She had dark skin, brother Ran. So uh..." Han Xuhan trailed off, observing how Mu Ran's glowing face turned sour.

"...Well, does she at least have a good figure? I–"

This time Mu Ran was interrupted by two loud, pointed coughs from Yuen Zhou and Kong Ye. Mu Ran glared at them both without restraint.

"Can't a man ask about the qualifications of a woman he's interested in? I am the most eligible bachelor–"

"Her figure is included in the list of qualifications?" Yuen Zhou said, interrupting his tirade. It was clear that she didn’t want to fuel the flames, but she could just not help arguing.

"That's the most important one on the list!" Mu Ran said, equally incensed. Kong Ye merely sighed and went back to cooking, knowing no arguments would convince Mu Ran otherwise.