Chapter 32: Abyss

As promised, Goldy only peeked inside my thoughts on rare occasions. Damn, I never thought that he would follow through on his promise like this. Anyway, Qi circulation… Well, I would like to believe that I mastered it, he~he… Hell, yea! I ain't kidding. Goldy's gonna say the same if you ask him. Although, our opinions differ on whether it was my personal skill or his skill teaching that allowed me to learn at this excellent pace. I did argue that I was the reason before him, but who are we kidding? I wouldn't have even dreamed about it if it wasn't for him.

Anyhow, with me learning how to circulate my inner Qi, the main requirement for learning the Dragon's rage was done. Although Goldy wanted me to learn poses and the walking style of dragons or some shite first, however, my eagerness to learn the actual skill itself took over me. Seeing my stubbornness, even the mighty dragon gave way for it, and we were up and about in learning the Dragon's rage.

"So, up until now, while you were circulating your Qi, you controlled it with your will externally. However, while sculpting the dragon, you have to take care of it internally." Goldy explained.

"I see. What does that mean?" I asked.

"Well, you know the spiritual realm, right? You gotta enter the spiritual realm, where you will see a huge stone. It'll be your Qi core. And then, you have to manually carve a dragon on it. " He spoke.

"Hmm, got it! How am I supposed to get there?" I asked.

"Close your eyes. I'll guide you there for this one time. If you enter the spiritual realm at least once, you don't have to worry about finding the way ever again; you'll get there naturally. It's just the first time which causes a problem for people." Goldy replied.

"Ha… What will I ever do without you!" I sighed.

"You'll die sometime soon from the poisoning from the curse." He nonchalantly replied.

"Ah… I nearly forgot about the curse. Thank you for reminding me. I'll have to find out the truth about that someday… But first…" I spoke as I closed my eyes. However, when I did so, I felt nothing. It was pitch black. I felt as if Goldy played some joke at me. However, I kinda trusted him, so I continued closing my eyes. However, at some point, I really got annoyed and was about to open my eyes and spew some words at him, when I felt his hands behind my back. And then suddenly, my consciousness gained form. I'm not kidding! One moment, I was seeing pitch darkness when I closed my eyes and I could clearly feel Goldy's hands on my back. The next moment, I saw a person floating in the pitch darkness. Before I could comprehend what was going on, I was surrounded by the darkness. Initially, I didn't feel any difference when my consciousness shifted into the body in darkness. I noticed it when I could clearly see my hands and legs. I mean, how can I see those when it's just my mind floating around in the darkness, right?

When I was trying to make sense of the stuff happening, I was suddenly sucked into some sort of wormhole. The inside of this wormhole was so colorful that for a split second, it felt as if I was hallucinating under the influence of drugs. Not that I know how that feels, but I've seen movies describe the phenomenon they undergo, and it's awfully similar to what I was seeing right then. I was feeling slightly dizzy because of these colors and the swirling motion I had while going through the wormhole. However, I stopped myself from falling unconscious because something was telling me that if I do, I might be in grave danger. I don't who said it to me… My bet was on Goldy. However, the voice was too deep for it to be his. Anyhow, I decided to trust this strange voice and tried my best not to just flat out give up. In a few more seconds, I could see the end of the wormhole. Just a few more seconds and I would've escaped this hole. However, when I tried looking at the end of the path, I lost. It was too bright that I thought that it might end up blinding me. To protect my eyes, I accidentally closed it shut. Without realizing I ended up unconscious. That was stupid of me.

"Open your eyes!" I heard a voice calling me out. I knew this voice though… It was Goldy. Upon hearing a familiar voice after a few minutes, rather than spring up, I decided to lay back and take a breather.

"I know you can hear me. Just open your damn eyes, or you'll end up floating in the abyss." Goldy spoke in a harsh tone.

Abyss? What the hell is he talking about? To check it out, I opened my eyes and found myself floating peacefully in a place which looked like it was the universe. It had specks of shiny stuff too, resembling the stars. It was beautiful. However, it was concerning. I was literally floating in this place and if that continues, my consciousness might end up stuck here and Hua's body might end up in a coma… Wait, is that what happened to the real Hua then? Did she accidentally find the wormhole to the spiritual realm and got stuck in the abyss?

"No, she didn't. She's dead. Her soul isn't in the abyss or the spiritual realm." Goldy said, however I couldn't see him anywhere. Makes sense. I guess he's speaking telepathically.

"Hmm, I see… But what if I got stuck here? Will another soul enter my body because the Gods want the story to progress?" I asked him as loudly as I could. Since there was no one in the abyss, I didn't have to hold back while speaking like I do in the public.

"Maybe, who knows? If you're curious about that, you can get yourself stuck in the abyss, and I'll notify you about the stuff happening in here." He replied.

"No, not really. I just wanna get out." I bluntly replied. He talks as if he has an idea on how to get someone stuck in the abyss, so I couldn't really imagine his lines as some sort of joke.

"Cool, you gotta get yourself out of the place and get yourself in the spiritual realm then. And remember to keep your eyes open from the next time or at least don't get knocked out just by closing your eyes." He spoke with a mocking tone. How dare you! It's not like I knew Hua's consciousness is this frail!

"Hey, don't go blaming Hua for this. Unlike your body, the consciousness is yours and not hers. So, if you got knocked out, it's all on you." He replied. See? It's moments like these that I don't want him to peek into my monologues… Whatever, it's not like I can stop him anyway. But, why do I feel like I just wasted one chapter worth of monologue on it a few days ago?

"Ha… So, how am I supposed to get to the spiritual realm?" I asked. That's when I noticed something. My conscience just went unconscious, didn't it? How is that even possible? Ah, Goldy… Don't answer that. I don't wanna know; I just wanted to sound smart. Just give the answer for the question that I asked verbally.

I could hear Goldy sigh… Probably because of what I said right now. Poor lad, I feel you too in your misery. Sorry for being so annoying.

"So, you're currently floating aimlessly, right?" He asked, to which I thought of nodding my head.

But I thought otherwise because there's a chance of him not realizing my action. "Yea!" I replied.

"Good. Look around. You'll see two doors." He spoke.

Hah! What is he even saying? Doors in this place? Wouldn't that look weird… well, he wasn't wrong. I saw two doors on my opposite sides and contrary to my expectation, it didn't look that weird. It looked like the door of one telephone booth that a certain alien used to ride on in one famous television series. So, rather than viewing it as weird, it was kinda nostalgic.

"I see the door. What now?" I asked.

"Swim to the door which looks like it's in the middle of the abyss." He replied.

"Ah, the one with the gold luster, eh? Wait, swim? I don't know how to swim! How am I supposed to do that?" I asked in panic. From childhood, I hated swimming. So, I was seriously concerned.

"Are you an idiot? This is not water. If it was like that, wouldn't you have drowned by now. Just try your best to get to that door. Don't think about swimming. It was my mistake that I used that term." Goldy sighed.

"Ah, you're right. Wait a minute then." I spoke and then continued to drag my body to the door in the middle using some weird actions. I didn't worry though. There's nobody watching me, after all. Anyway, after a few minutes of hardcore "swimming", I finally reached the door. Spiritual realm, here I come!