章節 165: Return

Calmness prevailed everywhere and the quaking earth steadily came to a rest. Darkness gradually began to swallow the land again.

The sapphire sky that had been a permanent fixture for the last two months, slowly faded to black, leaving a crescent moon decorating the sky high to the east.

The longest day in the history of the pocket dimension had ended abruptly, night was finally returning.

Two hours passed in a flash, it was abnormally silent, not even the ambient chirpings of the insects in the wilderness could be heard.

Strangely, every beast in the pocket dimension seemed to have gone mute, the gentle wind that swept over the trees - rustling the autumnal leaves in its path - was the only sound audible on this night.

***

Hushed murmurings enveloped the lobby of the domed building in the Cambridge camp. Nervous tension was rife among the people taking refuge inside. Uncertainty and dread was evident in the eyes of the frightened families huddled together in the dark.

The chaos of the previous hours was now replaced with agitated silence. Most fearing that the sudden silence and darkness was a precursor to something far worse.

"Seems like it's over," Kang said, his voice cutting through the tense silence on the top floor of the building.

A yellow teardrop-shaped flame flickered atop the candle he had just lit. The lively shadows it produced danced across the cups and utensils scattered on the table.

By this time only three people were left in the oval room.

Seated with her back against the far wall, Zhi Ruo stared up through the broken crystal roof, melancholy in her tired eyes, watching the crescent moon peeking out from behind a cloud formation.

"Where are you Hartley?" she muttered under her breath, thinking of her beloved husband's long absence.

Patriarch Wushang was sat on his cushion in the middle of the room, looking extremely haggard, it was a long two months for him who had hardly rested during this period.

His eyes flicked open from his meditation. "I can no longer sense any threat from the fierce beasts gathering at the edge of the forest, they seem to be dispersing back into the wilderness. The course is clear and things are returning to normal outside."

The patriarch delivered the good news as he breathed a visible sigh of relief, unsure if his nerves could stay on tenterhooks much longer.

He summoned a subordinate and gave instructions for a crew to patrol around the camp, ordering everyone else to get some sleep, many of his men had already succumbed to sleep deprivation, leaving only a few capable of securing the perimeter.

***

In the forest leading to the Cambridge settlement, the stillness of the calm night was suddenly disturbed.

Sparse dots of moonlight penetrated through the trees overhead, outlining a man moving adeptly through the woods.

His blue eyes gleamed in the darkness. Sporting unkempt hair and a scraggly overgrown beard, he donned a wrinkled grey robe, navigating through the dark like a druid or an elf.

The handsome man wouldn't look out of place as the gruff hero in a gun-slinging spaghetti western.

He stopped and inhaled, his bare feet cracking the dried twigs scattered across the ground.

Up ahead the silhouette of the dilapidated Cambridge camp came into his view, it was smeared with the soft light of the moon, the patrolling silhouettes of a few men could be seen carefully moving around the vicinity.

This was Hartley, who had recently been promoted to the 3rd layer of the saint realm.

As he moved forward again with lithe steps, beasts and king-beasts retreated and scurried from his path with what can only be described as submissive respect.

In fact Hartley didn't even have to walk, the pocket dimension was now apart of his inner world, he could practically appear anywhere at will, but after his long stint of meditation on the plateau, he decided to stretch his legs.

Hartley inhaled and admired the scenery. "Time to see Ruo," he said, disappearing with a puff of black sparks.

***

Whoosh!

An intruder blinked into view on the top floor of the domed building, standing right in the middle of the room, his robe fluttering with the residual wind his sudden appearance brought.

Everyone was shocked silly, Kang reflexively got to his feet from the lotus position, sending his prayer cushion flying across the floor. This was the first time anyone had bypassed his spatial defences and snuck up on him without his notice.

He waved his right hand, the space churned and rippled around it, the room rumbled as he prepared a spatial attack...

Across from Kang, the lethargy disappeared from the old Patriarch's eyes. He sprung up like a yellow striped leopard in its prime, overturning the wooden table in the process, cups, utensils and bowls went flying.

The commotion sent the single candle that provided light in the room rolling across the floor, its flame extinguished, leaving only the rays of the crescent moon peeking in through the cracked roof overhead.

Zhi Ruo was a touch slower than the saints in her reaction, she got to her feet, her pair of glistening silver knives appearing in her hands and ready to defend.

She was about to move then stopped, as if frozen to the spot like an ice sculpture, the familiarity of the intruder dressed in grey made her not attack immediately.

"It's me, why's everyone so jumpy?" Hartley's voice cut through the tense atmosphere, jolting to a stop the actions of the two saints who were about to attack.

Hartley stood valiantly, greeting the occupants of the room with a disarming smile before any unforeseen accidents could occur.

Kang heard the familiar voice and was shocked, his senses still couldn't perceive the person standing in front of him. He recognized that the intruder was Hartley in a somewhat dishevelled state, clearly standing right there, but he was still invisible to Kang's well honed perception of space.

"Hartley?" Patriarch Wushang was incredulous, still in his attack stance as if stuck.

He too could not sense the person stood in the middle of the room bathed in moonlight. It was like the person was just a spectre.

Hartley cupped his fist to both men, flashing a wide smile. "Yes it's me elders."

"Hartley!"

Zhi Ruo screamed his name, her knives disappearing from her grasp. Dress swaying elegantly around her body, she rushed across the room into the embrace of her husband, her brown eyes moist as she nervously checked his body for injuries.

"I'm back Ruo," Hartley said, tenderly kissing the top of her crimson head.

"Obviously you've succeeded." Kang said, still bewildered, his spatial ripples disappeared, returning the room to calmness.

Hartley's smile grew brighter, "Yes, but it was only by luck." He replied humbly with a slight bow.

Kang smiled proudly back at Hartley, returning to his usual jovial demeanor.

"Outstanding," he said patting the imaginary dust from his robe.

A happy reunion was soon celebrated with tea, milk and wine. Hartley went on to inform them of what happened in the last ten years, of course leaving out some details.

Hartley was shocked to find out the indirect impact his experience had on the camp, a couple old buildings in the area were now reduced to piles of rubble.

Hartley was taken aback. He turned to patriarch Wushang and said, "I've troubled you too much this time patriarch."

"Nonsense," the patriarch replied as he waved his hand nonchalantly , "nobody died."

"Where's everyone then?" Hartley asked.

"Most in the camp are finally resting," Zhi Ruo chimed in, "Commander Genk and Qin Li are out on their own adventure, increasing their strength and gaining experience," Zhi Ruo who was on the verge of her own breakthrough into saint realm informed him.

Hartley could now exit the pocket dimension at anytime from anywhere, but he decided to await the return of Commander Genk and Qin Li to the Cambridge camp and not cut short their adventure.

Everyone residing in the camp slowly fell back into their daily routines, noticing that the beasts no longer ventured anywhere near the camp, a strange and baffling phenomenon to most.

It would take another year before the duo returned.

***

As the sun peaked over the horizon on a bright spring morning, two bedraggled figures came into view of the camp. The two men, though dirty from their adventures, moved with calm confidence over the terrain.

Just as they were within sight of the guards patrolling, the void opened and Hartley appeared from a burst of black sparks.

"You two took your sweet time didn't you," he chided the duo who greeted him with excited smile.

They both came forward to greet him warmly, Hartley stopped them with a raised hand.

"I hope your journey have been fruitful, but we are late, we have to get back before anything happens. Let's debrief when we get back to the western hills."

Both men nodded with serious expressions plastered across their faces.

Soon the group were gathered at the top floor of the dome building. Hurried goodbyes were exchanged with the group, the patriarch and Li Na.

Whoosh!

With a flash everyone found themselves back at the destroyed caverns in the barren lands.