Is That A Wisp?

They weren't the only ones in a similar situation. Many cultivators and demon beasts ended up in this area after passing through some of the ruins' buildings. The doors that sent them here didn't show it at first. When they looked at the other side of the exits, they could see the same Soren Ruins as always. Only after crossing it did their world change into what they were seeing right now.

Here, you couldn't spread both your Divine Sense or Mental Energy. On top of that, you couldn't fly either. But above all...

"Hey, my cultivation!"

As soon as Liriu's voice resounded, everyone had a foreboding feeling. They immediately checked their own cultivation and noticed that it was being suppressed at high speeds. Divinity Realm, Semi-Divinity, Divine View, Divine Path, Void Breaking, Soul Forging, Divine Soul, and eventually, the Core Formation Realm.

Only at the Core Formation Realm did everyone's cultivation stabilize. 

Liriu then looked at Heavin. After all, Heavin used a puppet controlled through Spiritual and Mental Energy. In theory, his Phoenix Puppet shouldn't have been affected that much. Heavin understood what Liriu was thinking, so he confirmed through a Mental Energy Message.

'My puppet wasn't affected. However, I mainly use Mental Energy to control it. I think I can display a level of power around the Divine Soul Realm late stage.

Liriu nodded. That was already much better than him and the others.

'My cultivation is also locked at the Core Formation Realm. If I take my Dracophoenix Body into account, I could probably fight at the Divine Soul Realm or maybe at the early Soul Forging Realm stage.'

One really couldn't deny the strength of a Dracophoenix.

Heavin then looked at Fura and asked.

'You said that your mental energy was fused with your Spiritual Energy. That's how you can use your cultivation in the next Realm of the Soul Cultivation Technique. If I'm not wrong, you should be able to display quite a strong fighting power, no?'

Fura wasn't surprised that Heavin noticed that. After all, she knew just how much more experienced with Mental Energy he was.

'Hehe! Indeed. I cannot use my Divinity Realm power, but I can definitely display the strength of a Void Breaking Realm cultivator if I go all out. You do know what that means, right?'

Fura then looked deeply at Heavin and his Spatial Collar.

However, Heavin simply shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

'That's good. We will be safer with you around.'

Fura was taken aback by that. 

'No, that means I'm stronger than you, idiot! If I wanted to, I could take my Black Orb back.'

Liriu and Heavin didn't seem that concerned, though.

'Nope. If we thought you would do such a thing, we wouldn't have let you come with us, to begin with.'

Heavin then looked in the distance.

"Now then, what should we do?"

Liriu pondered for a bit before saying.

"Let's try to understand the flow of Spiritual Energy in this place. If we find the origin of energy, we might discover what this place is about."

"That's a good idea."

Fura didn't know what to do. Where the hell did her confidence come from all of a sudden? However, she was considered a friend of the Suffrot Religion's Holy Seer. That alone spoke a lot of her character.

"Hmph! You two are lucky that I know how to repay favors."

Heavin and Liriu just smiled but didn't answer.

The other group that came with them looked in their direction after that. Their leader then came forward and introduced himself.

"My name is Jio Gi. As much as the situation that brought us together was terrible, we really didn't do it on purpose. You should have seen that we simply had no other direction to flee once we bumped into you. In any case, I hope we won't get into a conflict now that we are here."

Surprisingly, Heavin and Liriu nodded as if they didn't mind.

"That's fine."

Fine? Aren't you going to complain? Demand compensation and things like that? First of all, why don't you look angry at all? In fact, even Fura was puzzled. That was not how cultivators and demon beasts usually acted, especially since they were definitely more powerful than this bunch in this new environment. Considering that their Mental Energy gave them a substantial advantage, it wouldn't have been strange if Heavin and Liriu killed that group in a fit of rage.

"In any case, you guys are on your own. Fura, let's go."

"Eh? Uh... alright..."

Liriu and Heavin left straight away, not even bothering to ask anything else from those people. Of course, Fura couldn't help but ask them with a Mental Energy Message.

'How come you let them go that easily?'

Heavin looked at Fura and replied.

'Because they apologized.'

Fura didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

'Are you for real? If it was another group with the same advantage in strength that we have, those guys there would probably be dead already.'

Liriu then shrugged his shoulders as he said.

'Yep. That probably would have been the case.'

'Then, why didn't you do anything?'

Heavin and Liriu smiled before saying.

'Wisp contamination.'

Seeing Fura's lost expression, Heavin and Liriu laughed out loud. Krune was just like that. For him, an apology was more than enough to resolve most of these situations. This belief of his ended up contaminating those around him quite badly. Since it was obvious that the previous group didn't do that on purpose, an apology was more than enough for Heavin and Liriu. First of all, they wouldn't even start a fight even if they weren't sorry.

In the end, Fura shook her head and decided to ignore it.

The other group also looked as Heavin, Liriu, and Fura left in the distance. At first, they thought that they might join forces to explore this place. However, Heavin's group didn't seem to be in the mood to do such a thing, so they could only ignore it and go on their own.

After that group disappeared, Heavin looked at the skies before opening and flapping his wings. Within seconds, his body detached from the group and flew.

"You can fly?"

"Of course! I'm a Phoenix Puppet, after all. Usually, I use my Mental and Spiritual Energy to keep myself afloat. However, such a thing is not possible in this place. Naturally, I can only go back to the basics like any other bird. Look around. There are a few birds here and there that can normally fly. If they can do it, then why can't I?"

Hearing that explanation, Liriu also opened his wings and flapped them. Sure enough, it wasn't long before he began to fly high in the skies as well.

"Hey, you two! I don't have wings, okay? Are you really going to leave me walking down here?"

Liriu laughed and immediately came down. He then changed the size of his Dracophoenix Body so that it wouldn't matter much for him to carry someone else.

"Come up!"

Fura nodded and immediately jumped on Liriu's back. After that, he took flight once more and caught up to Heavin in the skies.

"Can you fly out of the planet? It would be better if we can at least see what kind of environment there is outside."

Heavin and Liriu nodded as they immediately flew even higher. However, the higher they went, the less air there was. If one wanted to fly like a bird, an atmosphere is necessary. Otherwise, flapping their wings would have no use if there wasn't air under it. Naturally, their ascension became slower and slower. Still, it was just enough to at least see beyond the blue skies.

"There is indeed a sun. It's not an illusion."

Liriu nodded.

"Yes. However, look around. There are no other stars."

Fura agreed with Liriu.

"I'm pretty sure that this is a Dimensional Realm separated from the outside."

However, Heavin narrowed his eyes after hearing that.

"Is this really a dimensional realm?"

Liriu and Fura looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Heavin then explained.

"Although our laws are restricted here because of our cultivation, it doesn't mean we can't feel it, right? Pay attention to the Spatial Laws around. Dimensional Realms are usually easy to identify due to the way the Spatial Laws work to keep this dimensional realm whole. However, I can't feel anything indicating that this place is a Dimensional Realm."

Liriu and Fura immediately concentrated, and sure enough, they also couldn't see any difference from the outside space.

"If there are no stars, then we have been teleported really, really far away. Probably outside the Universe."

"I don't think so. The reason we can't see any other stars might, in fact, be the same reason why we couldn't see this sun before."

Liriu and Fura's interests were piqued.

"How so?"

"It means that something is blocking any source of light from going in or out. Or, to be more specific, a certain fused elemental black energy."

Immediately, Liriu and Fura recalled the barrier outside the Core Region. That thing was mainly made out of the fused five elements and laws. Because of that, it was impossible to see what was on the other side. If this sun and planet were being surrounded by it, then it made sense that they couldn't see the light of any other stars. It would also explain why this was not a Dimensional Realm.

"Let's go down. There isn't enough air for us to detach from the planet's gravity. Even if we could, making our way to the black energy barrier without being able to use spatial laws would take a ridiculous amount of time."

And with that, Heavin's group once again entered the planet's atmosphere.