C129-1: Stacked Dimensions

"The walls are actually layered? Wow!" Han Xuhan's exclamation came naturally. It was a sight to behold indeed. The crystalline walls completely wrapped around the entire inner structure from all four directions. The furthest wall at the periphery was pretty much a boundary determiner, barely three meters in height.
It sported window-sized holes all over, behind which lay double-barrelled instruments that closely resembled cannons. In each of these weapons, one barrel was pointed outside through the hole in the peripheral wall while the other barrel pointed at the sky, aiming between the ten-meter gap between the two outermost walls.

The second wall was slightly thicker than the first, hosting enough space on its top to let the giant instruments on it operate freely.

These instruments resembled sharp blender blades, spinning lazily on what felt like a special type of qi. These walls also sported windows behind which metal beehives hummed in a deep tone.

"These are called Dragonhearts," explained Shangguang Ce. "They roast you."

"Oooh! Very informative!" Han Xuhan nodded vigorously. "Can I note these things down?"

"Feel free to," Shangguang Ce gave the permission with a smile honest enough to rival Xuhan's own.

Han Xuhan pulled out an empty page from his pockets. He had gotten used to carrying a few around for no particular reason. Some of the pages included his shorthand notes on his cultivation techniques, in English.

Taking out his favourite magical quill, Xuhan proceeded to note down the details of his observations openly.

The defence of the Sunrider Sect is riddled with weaknesses.

His first sentence was a very bold statement. From the corner of his eye, Xuhan noticed his first acquaintance in this place, Hong Wei, creeping up behind him to peek at his 'notes'.

The walls all have big holes in them, allowing anyone to get past them as they please. The walls are also very low. From the peripheral wall to the inner wall, each one rises in height by a very small margin compared to the previous wall. So it will be easy to infiltrate the sect by jumping on top of each wall like a frog. This sect has basically surrounded itself with stairs! Hahaha!


The second paragraph on his note was no less shocking, and Hong Wei's reaction to it made that apparent.

"This-this can't be-you cannot be serious!" She gasped in disbelief.

"And you can't be a girl. Was brother Ce really not mocking your manhood by calling you sister?" Han Xuhan said doubtfully, his eyes moving up and down her body with a disdainful look.

Hong Wei glared at Shangguang Ce and said through gritted teeth, "martial brother, why are we allowing this guy to strut around our sect again?"

"I'm bored, that's why. We're here to compete against other sects. What's the harm in getting to know a peer or two?"

Han Xuhan threw Hong Wei a dirty grin while his thoughts raced. He didn't believe Shangguang Ce's answer to Hong Wei's indignant question for a single second. This guy gave him the impression of a slippery eel despite his honest appearance, much like Xuhan himself. He had to be planning something unpleasant inside. Problem was that Han Xuhan wasn't quite in a position to protect himself from Shangguang Ce's plans.

The stability of his current situation lay in how much of an idiot he could act like, which was surprisingly easy for some reason. The ease with which he could hold up the act was almost. . .insulting.
These guys were probably under the impression that he was a cannon fodder from the Crimson Snow sect, let loose by the elders to test the waters.

"And did I mention that the walls are semi-transparent?" Shangguang Ce suddenly said, pointing at the wall behind him. Han Xuhan turned around and saw a magnificent sight.

A layer of blue colour separated him from the outside world, just like the view behind tinted glass. The thick, crystal wall showed behind it the vast flatland where he had originally landed on. Past that floated grey clouds at a tempting distance. Han Xuhan could vaguely see the sea in the horizon. It was as if he hadn't fallen from the floating island of Crimson Snow sect at all. Had there been a landmark in the sea, it would've been easier to tell how far his fall had moved him. But there was none, neither was there a shadow of Crimson Snow Sect above in the sky.


It did not take a genius to realise that he hadn't fallen straight downward. His fall must have been interrupted by the spatial cracks. Luo Yi had showed how her pet, Meatball had disappeared from their sight upon entering a spatial crack. Since she had been the one to orchestrate the entire display, she was likely to have intentionally thrown him to a spatial crack that led to this sect.

A rough picture of this intriguing region called the Titanfall Archipelago took form inside Han Xuhan's mind as he idly folded a corner of the page in his hand.

The space here was much like that folded corner. Three-dimensional regions had been stacked together into one area, and the spatial cracks acted like pinholes among the stacks, leading to various sects that had appeared in each fold. The only exception was that whereas a stack of paper was three-dimensional, a stack of three-dimensional space should logically be a four-dimensional construct. So, simply falling down the 'pinholes' wouldn't lead him to the sea, nor would flying up lead to the sky, outside the folded space.

This was a maze made of walls he couldn't see, nor touch. The basic rules of navigation through mazes wouldn't work here.

Han Xuhan suddenly felt trapped.