The Thunder Bull penetrated through the fused spatial folds and immediately I felt as if the world was crashing on top of me. A pressure like no other seemed to wash over us, it was enough to cause the carriage to rattle for a bit.
Waves of saint Qi shot up from the carriage and the sect master covered us and forcefully pushed back the pressure of entering through this tight spatial opening.
Suddenly, my mind seemed to reel as if it was being forced to… sleep.
But, it felt so similar to being dragged into a domain that it only took me a moment to close and open my eyes to get rid of this pulling effect.
My head hurt for a bit, but it seemed to disappear soon after. However, something I didn't expect seemed to have happened.
Looking around, we were no longer in deep space, but apparently, we were now standing on a gigantic platform.
I sent my divine sense outward and seemed to notice a few things.
The entrance to this place was from the spatial folds, and looking behind me I could see the folds in space. Locked together.
The area we were on was like the face of a cliff that didn't seem to have a visible height or length. It was absurdly massive in size.
In front of me was a gate that seemed to be made of bronze. There were symbols on it, Imperial ones, and this could easily mean that the Imperial Clan had something to do with the creation of this gate.
And lastly, everyone but me and the bull seemed knocked out cold.
The Sect Master, Elder Wei, Elder Fu Tian, and even the masked man were all knocked out, unable to move.
Their vital signs were good, and they didn't seem to be in any risk of death or in danger. But they were out cold still.
I jumped out of the carriage to inspect the area around me first and seemed to find a good chance and opportunity to study the bull for now. At least the owner isn't here to bother me.
As I got closer to the bull, it also turned to look at me. Strangely, I could swear I felt surprised by the bull. And I don't know if it was surprised that I was awake, or surprised that I was stupid enough to walk so close to a creature that could annihilate Saint Class space monsters with a simple roar.
"Easy buddy, I don't mean no harm," I said.
The probability of the bull understanding me was close to nil, but it's never bad to be cautious.
I began inspecting the inscriptions around the bull and on the carriage and seemed to realize a few things.
The inscriptions in question are all here for one purpose, and it is to completely lock and seal the soul of this beast into this carriage, never to let it rest, and never to let it go free.
If I were to give a close description, it would be the same as using red hot iron rods and impaling them into the body of a human through every joint, bone, and muscle and expecting him to run and ride.
The pain this creature must be feeling is incomparable.
And sadly I can't lessen it, to do that will mean to tamper with this inscription, and It'll be immediately revealed once the man in the mask wakes up.
"I'm sorry buddy, I wish I could lessen your pain," I sighed as I turned away and headed to the bronze gate.
I took a look at the massive gate and didn't seem to understand how something sealed to this extent can allow the creatures that plagued the Ancient Sect to leave.
The gate had inscriptions all over it, most of them were Imperial Inscription, but there were still others of more…normal, origin mixed in there. So, how did these creatures even leave in the first place?
Perhaps there is another gate, another exit?
Sadly I don't fully understand how this place works so I'll have to wait for the Man in Mask to wake up.
Suddenly I felt the jerking of the man in mask through my divine sense. His Saint Qi signature seemed to grow at a rapid pace, he is going to wake up.
I hurried back to the carriage and sat down in a meditative state.
With my own lack of Qi signature, faking being unconscious is a piece of cake.
So I closed my eyes and waited for the man's actions.
The man in the mask didn't even turn as he groggily stood up from his seated position.
I could hear him turn then a divine sense wave washed over us, then sighed and something metallic seemed to gently hit the wooden surface of the carriage.
The Man in mask slowly walked between us, stood next to me for a moment, then continued his walking until he came down from the carriage.
By now, I could hear him walking forward and away from the carriage, allowing me to take a peak with one eye.
The mask he used to wear was placed on the carriage and he was walking to the gate slowly and confidently.
He pulled something from his sleeves and placed it against the bronze gate, and soon the gate's inscriptions began changing and transforming.
There was actually another layer of inscriptions here. Interesting.
Suddenly, the massive gate that seemed to be the real entrance seemed to fade away and disappear and soon a smaller one popped out from the side.
The masked man then turned and thankfully I was able to close my eye before he took note of me being awake.
He then approached the bull and dragged him by the reins.
The bull moved forward pulling us all into the new entrance instead of the massive one and soon we were in a different location completely. I didn't even need to open my eyes to know that because the temperature seemed to drop to below-freezing points the moment we walked into this new area.
The man in the mask, well currently maskless walked up back to the carriage and took a seated position.
It took close to an hour before the Sect Master woke up, and just as he did, he cursed "Shit, I should have slept for a bit more," he said.
"You're late," the man in the mask spoke in a gruff sounding annoyed tone.
"Hey, you can't really tell me that it isn't worth staying there for a bit more," the sect master smiled.
"It's all fake," he said. "Anyway, are you sure about that kid, he seems to have no life signature, is he really alive?" the man in the mask said, clearly about me.
"Oh, don't worry about him, he has a unique cultivation technique," he said.
"You mean, that he could be awake?" the man in the mask said "And I just didn't notice it?"
'Oh, shit.'
Silent moments went by before the man in mask said, "Like that's a possibility, not if he's just a little Soul Formation disciple, but… it never hurts to do a bit of soul searching, perhaps I'll figure out how he knows about our secrets" he said as I felt his hand slowly approaching me.
"Creedless!!" spoke the sect master
But before the man in the mask's hand could even touch me, a bright formation lit up from my clothes, it was a protective formation I created, it was no way near enough to even dare bother someone above the Ascendant stage of cultivation. But right now, it served a good purpose.
The formation will not physically stop the man in the mask, but it will make him stop.
"Hmm, self-defensive formation, he really is asleep, if he wasn't he'd have physically reacted instead of his formation. Never mind my actions Titan," the man in the mask said as he withdrew his hand.
Soon another couple of hours later both Wei and Elder Fu Tian woke up.
"God damn it, that was terrorizing," spoke Elder Wei. While Elder Fu tian's words were too few to give an accurate description of what he saw when he was knocked out.
"What now?" asked Elder Wei.
"We wait for the sleeping beauty to wake up, we can't proceed with one of us still in that dream world," the man in the mask said.
"It could take him a few days though," Elder Fu Tian said, "It wasn't easy for me to wake up but it was thanks to my own experience and old age that I was able to discern fake and real that I woke up," he said.
"I'm sure that if it is something related to illusions Ling Cao will wake up soon, don't worry about it," the sect master said.
And as if on cue, I slowly began releasing my own Qi signature revealing that I was waking up.
Slowly after opening my eyes, I saw all of the four men watching me carefully.
"How did you manage to wake up so early?" asked the man in the mask, "I've brought Saint Class cultivators here and they took days before they woke up, how is it possible that a weak Soul Formation cultivator is able to wake up so fast?" the Man in Mask said.
"I don't really understand what's going on," I said as groggily as I could, "But, it was fake… and I can discern fake, all of it was fake… because they're dead you see…my parents," I said.
Though all of it was bullshit, the Sect Master can actually vouch for me on this.
"Ah… your father died for the Empire he was a good man," the man in the mask said, though his words sounded benevolent the feeling from them was not.
"Anyway enough with the chit-chat, let's move forward…"
