Under the twinkling stars of the night-sky a faint crisp autumn breeze blew across the scenery rustling the leaves on their stems and gently moving the shrubbery back and forth.

The silence of the still night was suddenly broken by a low rumble, a spectrum of dark rioting colors erupted with a sharp thunder-like clap startling the nesting birds making them flee in panic, leaving behind loose leaves and colorful feathers fluttering down onto an empty grassland overlooking a small lake mirroring the crescent moon's reflection on its surface.

A person dressed in black emerged from the chaotic maelstrom of black energy a split second before it disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared , the person looked around in bafflement. "where is this?" he asked no one in particular as his head panned from side to side scouting out the strange terrain.

After spending ten seconds in bewilderment surveying the surroundings, the person crouched like a tiger that was about to pounce on its prey, then took a quick step forward, the ground exploded under his feet blurring his silhouette, the airflow around his body wobbled and distorted.

Whoosh, with a flash of black, the fabric of space around the person shattered like glass as he stepped into the blackness once again and blinked out of existence as the dark energy disappeared without a trace, leaving tranquility behind once more....

Since stepping into the 8th layer of the xanthian realm Hartley's power had increased four folds, after countless experiments in his inner world he was using a spatial crack for long distance travel in the real world for the first time.

In his inner world he had learned to open the spatial crack by moving forward with all his might, eventually he could do it with one single step forward instead of a running start like before,

This was like colliding with the fabric of space itself and after practicing he could rip open the fabric of space with just a powerful first step.

After opening the crack he would immediately engage his time domain, this would put him in a mesh-like tunnel which writhed with dark colors, everything would be frozen and colorless on the outside and the tunnel would function according to his will.

He would then will the tunnel to go forward in a straight line while he used gravity steps to move forward like a light chasing after the tunnels exit, gravity steps was a movement technique he had invented way back in the Waltham province, it increased straight line speed exponentially and drastically reduced any resistance on his body.

After countless experiments he had found that this movement technique of his own making, which he had abandoned because of its inability to maneuver in tight spaces was perfect for traveling long distances through a spatial crack.

In his blue-tinted inner world he could move a thousand kilometers through the spatial crack before his time domain expired, and continue on for an extra ten seconds without the use of his time domain, because his 5th layer xanthian physique could now endure the atom-ripping pain the the spatial crack exerted on his body.

What he didn't know however was that a spatial crack's inherent attribute would shorten distances in the real world, so tonight when he had used this self-made technique to travel a thousand kilometers through the spatial crack towards the Papine province.

He had actually traveled two thousand kilometers in the real world, the simulations in his inner world hadn't taken this enigma into account, that was a world where he set the parameters and had assumed that by traveling one kilometer in the spatial crack would be equal to traveling one kilometer in the real world.

As a result he had over-shot his intended destination by a thousand kilometers.

Oblivious to this fact Hartley had continued forward not sure what was going on, even though he could see the outside of the mesh-like tunnel, he was moving so fast that the black and white image outside the tunnel whizzed by without him being able to recognize a thing and he didn't want to pop up in a populated area so he had chosen a route through the wilderness. Right now he was somewhere in the Cassia province.....

There was another eruption of dark colors accompanied by low rolling rumbles and a thunderous crack, Hartley stepped out of the dark roiling spatial crack as it vanished, he was in the middle of nowhere, scaring the nocturnal animals half to death as they scampered away in panic.

Hartley was just about to retrace his steps back to the capital and give up on the experiment when a voice sounded from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Hartley why are you floundering around like a fish on dry land, disturbing the animals and creating such a racket in the night?"

Hartley who immediately recognized the voice, bowed from the waist and answered with an embarrassed smile.

"Senior I was experimenting with spatial cracks and lost my bearings, I don't even know where exactly I am."

The laughter of Kang cackled out in the surroundings scaring away even more creatures.

The man then appeared next to Hartley, there was no flashes of light, no thunderous clap in the air, no explosions on the floor, no nothing.... he just appeared as if he had been standing there all along. Hartley had to admire the elder's skill and greeted him with a bow.

The tall and slim white hair man who Hartley considered more of a father than anyone in this world, stood with his arms behind his back, looked Hartley up and down then shook his head and said, "Brute force!..... why are you always trying to peel an orange with a hammer?" shaking his head as if chastising Hartley.

He then asked "How's Qin Li and Zhi Ruo?"

Hartley smiled, "they are alright senior, we're just setting up in the capital, by spring we should be up and running." "Good." The man answered with a bit of pride on his face.

Of course he had heard about Hartley's performance at the banquet and he had been watching and ready to intervene when Hartley destroyed the spatial crack that gave Song Zemin a wicked backlash.

"How long did it take you to reach this far?" Kang asked "about twenty minutes."

Hartley replied, Kang was a little shocked but didn't show it.

"Good lets head back to my place for a cup of tea, we're only five hundred kilometers away from my estate, you can be back in the capital before the first light of dawn,"

It was Hartley's turn to be shocked now, and he did show it on his features, never would he have imagined that he had made it so far out of the capital in twenty minutes and if he wasn't so confused about what was happening, he would have been here far quicker.

Kang reached out and grabbed Hartley's shoulder and they both disappeared....