Runes • Rifles • Reincarnation
140. Artificial World – AKA: Hidden Realm

"I'm very sorry to interrupt this intimate moment… however, I have found the solution," Nano's voice echoed inside Jin Shu's mind.

He flinched at the sudden intrusion, startled. He wanted to immediately ask about the solution—but first, something far more important was still unresolved.

He turned to Tian Li.

“So…?”

She blinked, confused. “So what?”

“Will you accept?” he asked, more gently this time. “Will you become my Dao companion?”

Her eyes widened. “No—hold on! You can’t just spring something like that on me all of a sudden! I’m still not even sure I can accept your feelings, let alone… something like that!”

“Right… right.” He sighed, shoulders slumping. “It doesn’t have to be now. I guess I got ahead of myself…”

“I’ll give you an answer,” she said, her voice softening. “But not right now. First… let’s wait the two days for that Nano of yours to find a way out of here. Okay?”

“Sure. Though—” he gave a small smile “—we might not need to wait. Nano just said it found a way out.”

“Really?!” Her eyes lit up. “Then let’s go!”

“Alright. Give me a minute to focus.”

Jin Shu turned his attention inward.

I screwed up, he groaned internally. It was the kiss, wasn’t it? I knew I shouldn’t have done that!

No, Gold responded calmly. It wasn’t just the kiss. You can’t expect her to give you an answer right away—not when she’s still sorting out her feelings.

Give her time, Shuang added. She’ll come to an answer before too long. Just be patient.

Jin Shu let out a sigh, grounding himself. He pushed aside his spiraling thoughts and refocused on the task at hand.

Alright, Nano. What do I need to do? And how’d you find a solution so quickly?

“Interestingly enough,” Nano said, a hint of robotic humor in its tone, “it was your tumble into the pond that sparked my circuits. I realized—when you fell in—that it isn’t water at all. It’s concentrated water element.”

Wait, I’m confused. Isn’t water element just… water?

“Other way around,” Long Jinshu answered instead, his tone that of a teacher correcting a student. “The water element encompasses all liquid forms. But because water is the most common, stable, and vital form, it became the namesake.”

...What?

“You’ll understand more as your affinity with water deepens.”

So then—what, the fire element is just heat?

“Yes, essentially.”

Huh… Okay. Jin Shu scratched his head mentally. So what does it mean that the pond is made of water element, and not just water?

“Think on it for a bit,” Long Jinshu said. “Understanding it for yourself may help strengthen your connection.”

He frowned slightly and began to mull it over when Tian Li’s voice pulled him back to reality.

“Jin Shu?” she called. “What’s going on? Can we leave yet?”

“Oh, yeah. Just give me a moment. I’m figuring something out.”

“Alright,” she replied, though her tone held an edge of curiosity.

He sank into the mental space within his soul, mulling over the connection to the pond being made from water element and their way off the island. Yet, even after several moments, he couldn’t begin to make sense of it. He finally gave up on reasoning through it and glanced toward his other souls to ask for guidance—only to catch sight of something deeper in his soul.

A pond.

The manifestation of his control over the water element.

Oh… I get it now! It’s the water element's manifestation!

Snapping back to awareness, he spun around, eyes darting over the island's features: a small pond, scattered trees, jagged rocks, the soft whistle of wind in his ears, and the sun overhead. His eyes widened.

“This… this is someone’s mental space?! We’re inside someone’s soul?” he exclaimed.

Tian Li blinked at him, clearly concerned. “What?”

No, you idiot! Gold snorted. How the hell would we be inside of someone’s soul?

It’s an artificial world, Shuang corrected gently.

“Oh…”

“What is it?” Tian Li asked again.

“Sorry. I got confused and thought this island was someone’s soul. But I think… it’s actually an artificial world, constructed using the five major elements.”

“Uh… okay…?” She still looked baffled. “I don’t really get it. But can we leave now?”

“Ah… not yet. I still haven’t figured out how.”

“But I thought you said that creature inside you found a way out?”

“He did,” Jin Shu admitted with a sheepish smile. “I just haven’t heard what the way is… yet.”

She let out a long sigh. “Alright. But please don’t keep me waiting forever.”

“I’ll do it now. Well—just as soon as I know what to do.”

She waved him off and sat back down beside the pond.

Alright, Jin Shu thought. Now that I know this is an artificial world… what does that have to do with how we leave?

“It means there is likely an entrance—and an exit,” Nano replied. “And I believe you’ve already found it.”

I have?

“Yes.”

Where?

“The pond.”

Jin Shu glanced at the still water where Tian Li now soaked her feet again.

It just looks like a regular pond. Or, well, as regular as an artificial one can be.

“True. But what if you applied your technique to it?”

Technique? You mean… Ripple Walking?

“Yes. Try using only the wind element with it.”

Jin Shu blinked, but nodded. He stepped to the pond’s edge, and Tian Li looked up at him in confusion. He didn’t respond, too focused on what Nano had asked.

Carefully, he channeled wind element across the pond’s surface, letting it form razor-sharp blades. They sliced gently into the water, spiraling inward until they formed a swirling whirlpool.

Is that… right?

“Possibly,” Nano said, less confidently. “Try leaping in.”

Skeptical, but out of better options, Jin Shu sighed. Then he turned and gently scooped Tian Li into a princess-carry.

“Ah! What are you doing?” she asked, frowning.

“We have to go through that whirlpool.”

“And it’ll take us back?”

He shrugged. “Maybe?”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he didn’t give her the chance. With a running step, he leapt into the whirlpool.

“Ahh!” she yelped as they plunged forward.

They landed in the center—without so much as a splash.

Jin Shu and Tian Li tumbled out of a blue, shimmering portal and crashed unceremoniously onto the arena floor where they’d been dueling earlier. They landed in a heap—Jin Shu face-first on the cold stone, Tian Li sprawled across his back. Her chest pressed firmly against the back of his neck, soft and warm in contrast to the hard, unyielding floor squishing his face.

He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out how she’d gone from cradled in his arms to lying on top of him in the span of a single blink.

“Tian Li,” he groaned into the floor. “Could you get off my back?”

She shifted slightly but didn’t move away.

“You forgot to activate your transformation technique,” she whispered into his ear. “Do it now, before anyone sees your real face.”

“Oh.” 

Right. He’d completely blanked after leaving the island and forgotten he’d reverted to his true form.

With a flash of silver light, his features morphed—his face softened, height shortened by an inch, hair turned silkier, throat tightened, and chest expanded. The transformation wasn’t perfect—his technique only mimicked, not truly changed—but it was enough.

He could have gone further with the disguise, but… after everything on the island, he didn’t feel like hiding any more than necessary.

Just as he turned his head to ask Tian Li again to get off, a shadow fell over him. A curtain of black hair draped down, blocking the moonlight—and then soft lips met his.

He froze.

She kissed him—gentle, brief, unexpected. And then it was over.

“Hmm… Li Xue was right. Not much difference,” she murmured as she pulled back. “Softer, maybe.”

“If you two are done flirting, would you mind standing up?” came the dulcet but exasperated voice of Chen Ai Yun nearby.

“No, no, I was enjoying the show,” chimed in Sun Mei’er’s higher, more cheerful voice. “If you’re going to keep that up, I can offer a few tips. Girl-to-girl.”

“No!” Jin Shu shouted, leaping to his feet and nearly sending Tian Li tumbling.

“I wasn’t— We weren’t— I’m not going to be doing that!”

Sun Mei’er raised an eyebrow.

He panicked. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I mean, two girls can absolutely do that, it’s just that we’re not— I—uh—yeah.”

His mother chuckled, shaking her head. “I wasn’t mad, Shu’er. You just startled me yelling like that.”

“…Oh.” Embarrassed, he scratched at the back of his neck and looked around.

The arena was dim under the moonlight—likely midnight, judging by the sky. Aside from Chen Ai Yun and Sun Mei’er, the stands were completely empty.

“Um… where is everyone?”

“After you two vanished and night fell, we postponed the rest of the tournament until tomorrow,” Chen Ai Yun said, her gaze flickering between concern and faint reproach.

“Sorry… my technique kind of went haywire.”

A tired voice piped up behind him. “How did you do it?”

Jin Shu turned and blinked. Feng Lian was lying across a nest of silk bedding on the arena floor, disheveled as ever. Her tangled hair framed her face, and the dark rings around her eyes made her look like a panda who had seen too much and slept too little.

“How did I do what?” he asked.

“Open a portal to a hidden realm.”

“A what?”

“Don’t play dumb. I felt the energy when you opened it—it was unmistakable.”

“I’m not playing… I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” He blinked, genuinely confused.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “The place you went. Describe it.”

“Uh… small floating island, black void all around, a pond, some trees, grassy field with constant wind, and a sun in the sky.”

“All artificially created using the major elements?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“How big was it? And were there other elements—metal, ice, something rarer?”

“Maybe a hundred by two hundred meters? And no, just the main five.”

“Hm. Just a minor realm, then.” She waved her hand, her bedding vanishing into thin air as she disappeared without another word.

“…What was that about?” Jin Shu asked.

“Hidden realms are exceedingly rare,” Chen Ai Yun explained. “Especially those crafted with more than the five major elements. The one you found is small and relatively mundane, but still a valuable discovery. It likely won’t serve for anything beyond retreat or meditation, but it’s a hidden realm nonetheless.”

“I see…” he replied, though truthfully, he still didn’t quite understand what they’d stumbled into.

“Anyway,” Sun Mei’er said, stretching and yawning, “let’s head back. Come along, you two lovebirds.”

Jin Shu groaned softly.