Chapter 18: Rock Garden

When old man Cien heard what Teo said he almost choked on his saliva

"I said you can only bring one thing inside. ONE"

"But this is one thing" Teo replied

Teo knew that there were more than one item in the bag, but the bag instead is one item.

This was the loophole Teo wanted to take advantage of. If his plan was to have a higher chance of succeeding he needed old man Cien to approve of this loophole. He was hoping that the old man Cien wouldn't cancel their agreement but it he could not be sure, the old man is after all very petty. But on the bright side, he keeps his word on promises and bet results. Since he already agreed to let Teo bring in one thing inside, technically, it should be okay.

Cien knew what Teo was doing. It wasn't a big problem, but he it would leave a bad aftertaste in his mouth if he allows Teo to do this.

"Nope. One thing only. You can bring in the bag, but empty it first"

'What would I need an empty bag for?' Teo wanted to say, but held back

"But I just wanted to bring this bag in, just the way it is. It shouldn't matter if the bag is full or not right?" Teo was trying really hard to convince Cien

"Okay fine, I guess I'll just ask you to bring this whole mountain inside" Teo subtly threatened.

If Teo wanted to bring a whole mountain into the inner world, would Cien ask him to empty the mountain first?

Cien was irritated. He knew what Teo meant. If he did ask him to bring a whole mountain in, and even if Teo did empty the mountain. A mountain in the middle of his oasis, was like a piece of shit on his bed.

-SIGH- 'When did this kid become so crafty' Cien thought to himself. He had no choice but to allow Teo to take advantage of this loophole. Since he already agreed before to one thing, he couldn't bring himself to cancel the whole deal

"FINE. place the back near the array on your chest"

Teo lifted the bag towards the left side of his chest, over the green tattoo shaped turtle shell. Certain lines within the shell's tattoo started to glow a soft green light. The light moved along the lines and before Teo knew it the bag had already vanished. Teo also found his consciousness to be fading as well and he quickly sat down on the bed and collapsed as his consciousness completely faded.

Teo found himself inside the world within the shell and picked up the bag on the ground nearby.

Old man Cien was staring at the smiling Teo 'This brat, I better start being more careful when making deals with him.'

Seeing old man Cien vexedly staring at him without saying anything, Teo gave an apologetic smile on his face and bowed. He was thankful that Cien allowed it.

"Just you wait, when its my turn to cash in that favor, I'm sure you'll remember this moment" old man Cien threaten but he slightly quite pleased.

It reminded him of himself in his past. He used a similar trick to win a bet with an old acquaintance. 'This boy as some potential, maybe he'll turn out into a fine man' thought as he rubbed his chin in thought

'But I can't let myself be rolled over by him, I'll teach him a few lessons in the future'

Old man Cien then regained his focus and said "follow me"

Without any explanation, he started walking around the pagoda.

Teo quickly followed, but was slightly worried 'Could it be he is really angry?'

When they reached at the back of the pagoda, Teo saw a beautiful rock garden. It had rocks and sand carefully and beautifully placed. The sand had rows of grooves which made it looked like untouched snow. The grooves itself was shaped into patterns similar of that mentioned in the array book.

A stone path laid along the rock garden, in the middle of it was a stone entrance. The entrance was connected to a stone staircase leading down underground.

Teo followed along the stone path and old man suddenly said "When you come here, you are not allowed to step anywhere else but this stone path"

He didn't want Teo to ruin his precious rock garden that he designed for a very long time. Unlike normal arrays, this rock garden had an array written into the sand, but was not permanently placed, so anyone stepping on it could ruin it.

When Teo saw down the stone entrance, he saw nothing but darkness.

Cien continued to lead him down.

As Cien stepped down the stairs, the originally unseen inscriptions that were carved into the walls slowly lit up.

'What is this place?' Teo thought to himself.

Even though he had been in this inner world for a long time. He did not explore any part of it. He just stayed in the benches near the pond and read the array book.

After walking down a long while, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Teo saw a room that was dimly light by the inscriptions on the walls. The room was very large, even larger than 3 combined rooms of the Emerald Pavilion. The ceiling was also very high, it was quite a sight to be hold.

Old man Cien handed Teo the array book and said "You are not allowed to make any arrays outside this room."

He didn't want Teo to ruin the beautiful landscape outside with his failed array attempts. He also didn't want to be disturbed by any loud noises that the array may cause. The room's inscriptions reinforced the strength of the walls so it could not be easily damaged and being so deep underground, no noise should be able to reach him on his hammock.

After that old man Cien went back up and left.

Teo looked at the book in his hand. He was considered on starting to figure out how to draw the array he needed for revenge but decided to hold it of.

He took out a void stone within the bag, sat down in the lotus position and closed his eyes.

In the darkness like before he concentrated into blocking out all distractions. His concentration speed as a little faster than last, and quickly blocked his heart beat

Not even a minute Teo could already hear a few faint sounds coming near his hand. The stone that he held had attracted the faint sounds and started to gather around his hand.

As it gathered more and more, Teo could faintly feel something moving. A pulse very slight pulse the could be mistaken as blood flow or even his own pulse. If he did not initially blocked them out he would have not felt it.

The feeling was very minute, as he tried distinguishing what it was. A very tiny vortex was contracting space and then a faint -papop- sound was created and immediately that same vortex started to expand the previous contracted space. It was the oscillation of the void. A mysterious event that occurred within the elemental energy level that was so small that it was difficult to feel. This oscillation was the void pulse!

As the void elements gathered around the void stone, many faint sounds could be heard. He could tell that these sounds was the distinct sound of the void pulse, but he needed to feel the void pulse itself. Trying to understand something he could not see with only listening to the faint sounds was very difficult, but at least now he can distinguish this sound. If one were did not know what sound to look for one could not even detect it.

Within the stone a stronger pulse suddenly sounded

-PAPOP-

His attention went from the surrounding sounds to the center of the stone. He could feel the faint expansion of space

-PAPOP-

As he was concentrating into the stone the direction that the space was moving slightly changed and the space was contracting.

It happened so fast that a normal person would not notice such difference, but with the dense world Qi, a change in space was noticeable

His perception instantly changed!

Within the surrounding darkness, there was a vague sense of a ball like aura that he could feel covering his hand.

He could feel it! He could feel the void element aura! it had a distinct oscillating pulse!