The Tale Never Ends

For the third time, we plunged into the darkness and Lin Feng’s voice came, asking how should we go. I stood there, unmoving and thinking, until I finally decided. “Whatever direction would hardly matter now. We can take any direction and the result will be just the same.” And before I waited for any response, I began walking aimlessly.

Before long, we saw once again the door lighted by two lanterns again, exactly the same as before.

But this time, I took out my cell. The time was three in the morning. We have been walking in the dark for more than two hours.

With a deep breath, I pushed the door and it swung open, revealing the same scene outside: the cold air, the dim street lamp and the creepy and quiet road outside. But I did not stow away my cell. In fact, I had been paying attention to the time when I walked through the door. Indeed! Just when we were outside, the door swung on its hinges on its own quietly and the time showing on my cell phone began to dial backward quickly! By the time the door fully clicked shut, the time on my phone had returned to half-past midnight again.

This must be it, the crux of whatever this is we’re stuck in. The moment when we passed through the door! If there was one thing I finally became certain of, it was that everything around us was a facade! An illusory facade meant to keep us lulled and distracted! Because no one, not even demigods, could alter time! Even Father, for all his might and omnipotence, could only travel through time but not manipulate the flow of Time of the real world! This would be against the fundamental laws of nature. Hence, I became absolutely certain, that we were not in the real world, where the manipulation of real time is impossible. We were now inside an artificial pocket dimension where its time-flow could be controlled!

The look on my face gave Lin Feng the impression that I have noticed something. “Have you realized something, Shiyan?” he asked anxiously.

I tried explaining to him what I found, although he could not fully understand me. “What do you mean by controlling time-flow and passing through time?” “The former refers to the manipulation of actual time itself. The time of the real world around us. Passing through time would be simpler. It’s like how Master Six can pass through time freely. Both are essentially different; the latter is just a matter of bewitching a person or an object. But controlling time flow is the manipulation of the actual time around us. The actual time of the world! Do you think anyone is capable of this? No one!”

“I see!” Lin Feng finally got it, slapping his forehead in dawning comprehension. “So, the villa and everything around us is part of an artificial construct?” “Seems like it. We were wrong in thinking that we have walked out of the house when, in truth, we had not walked out at all ever since we first walked through the front door. We exited the real world and entered this artificial pocket dimension after knocking and walking through Unit 104’s front door and we’re still trapped inside now.”

Lin Feng threw a look at the door which just clicked shut. “Wait, now that you’ve mentioned it…” He went up to the door and banged on it.

Just the same as before, Cao Xuedong appeared on the second time Lin Feng banged on the door. Ignoring him outright, Lin Feng growled, “Cut the crap. Lead us in now.” Cao Xuedong was visibly confused. But he offered no protest. He turned and said, “Come on in then.” After that, he disappeared once more.

But Lin Feng did not walk inside. He thrust a finger at the door suddenly. “Wait, Shiyan! The door opens to the inside. Was it the same just now?” I froze and felt goosebumps all over me! He’s right! The door opened outward when we came out just now! But whenever we entered the house, Cao Xuedong would pull it inward!

I rubbed my chin, mumbling ponderously, “So the door is the conduit to two different spaces. The pocket dimension inside and the real world outside. Or, they are different doors, although they look the same.” Lin Feng leaned on the doorframe, resting while he allowed me to think.

Wait. So everything changes whenever we pass through the door… The door…

Then it came to me. Door… If there is something in Chinese topographical magecraft that involves door, that could only be it… Bamen Dunjia!

Bamen Dunjia, a name that is not unfamiliar to Chinese fiction that dabbles in sorcery and magic, was one of the many disciplines of learning of the Qimen Dunjia. As its name suggests, the magical bounded field creates a separate dimension that has eight entries or gates: Xiu (the Gate of Repose), Shang (the Gate of Pain), Sheng (the Gate of Fortune), Du (the Gate of Obscurity), Jing (the Gate of Mirth), Si (the Gate of Death), Jing (the Gate of Apprehension), and Kai (the Gate of Heraldry).

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Stone Sentinel Maze, Lin Feng,” I muttered and my companion scratched his head, wearing a bewildered look. “That Stone Sentinel Maze from the Three Kingdoms era?” “Yep, the very same which was thought up by the famous Zhuge Liang himself. I’m now quite sure that we’re are in something similar.”

“Huh?! What the hell?!” Lin Feng yelped. “The Bamen Dunjia. It is a topological enchantment that manipulates the metaphysics of the ground we stand on, similar to Zhu Mei’s Windchaser technique. But the Bamen Dunjia is fixed while Zhu Mei’s Windchaser can be handled and maneuvered freely. Users of the Bamen Dunjia will be able to enchant a certain area to completely jumble up the metaphysical properties of the area, including the flow of time within that domain, severing the pocket dimension from the real world. Every gate or entry of the Bamen Dunjia is a dimension of its own that is why we have been trapped in an endless loop! Father once told me that there is no escaping this enchantment once we’ve entered it, save by the will of the caster of this spell. We will be trapped here, going from door to door and not finding the right one. As of now, I daresay that we’ve only passed through one real door. The entry that led us into this enchanted domain. The Gate of Heraldry.”

“Oh, God…” Lin Feng gasped, “That would mean the size of these pocket dimensions are vast and immense?!” “Not really. The natural laws of this domain we’re standing in is now effectively ordered in a way that we are hoodwinked into thinking so. For all we know, it could be the very same pocket dimension we’ve been walking into after passing every door. That would mean that we have not even left the house. We could be just walking in tiny circles just inside the entrance of the house!”

“But surely there’s an exit among all eight gates of the Bamen Dunjia? How else did we come in just now?” “Among the eight entries of the Bamen Dunjia, the Gate of Fortune is usually the exit while the Gate of Heraldry is oft-times the entrance into the enchanted pocket dimension of the Bamen Dunjia. No doubt Cao Xuedong will try to prevent us from finding the exit and that is why we have the darkness here. It is to prevent us from discerning our directions, forcing us to wander around aimlessly like blind mice and enter any door that we come upon. We will never find the Gate of Fortune this way. More so, since I am not particularly competent in the magic of metaphysics and cosmology, otherwise I would have long realized what we have got ourselves into!”

Looking completely distraught, Lin Feng complained, “What can we do now? Surely you don’t mean to say that we’re trapped here for good! There must be ways to escape.” “There are. But it’s very difficult. Impossible even.” “What way?” “It’s easy,” but I quickly sighed and said, “We have to look for the weakness of this magical domain. The chink of the enchantment that holds this bounded field together. Destroy it, and we’ll be able to get out.” Lin Feng slapped his thigh and said, “Then what are we waiting for?! Let’s find it!”

I chuckled weakly. “It’s never that easy. If I’m right, Cao Xuedong himself is the weakness of this enchanted domain. He has as good as exemplified this point from the very moment we stepped into the house and after leading us in, he quickly disappeared. The vector that my wolves have been leading us showed that wherever he is now, he had escaped via a door just opposite just now. But that door is not the Gate of Fortune. That is not the way out. This shows that he is the weakness of this enchanted domain, the center core of this magical bounded field, for only he is able to travel freely here.”

Lin Feng scratched his hair. “But what about defeating him when we meet him? He shows himself every time we knock on the door.” “Nope. I don’t think that’s the real Cao Xuedong. Just an illusion or a doppelganger. The first time was the only time we encountered the real Cao Xuedong and he could now be watching us from the shadows, hidden away elsewhere.”

And my explanations seemed to effectively puncture what hopes Lin Feng had for escaping.

“Then what can we do?! Are we to be trapped here for eternity?!” He grumbled grumpily and sat down on the steps below the door. But I knew not what to say. I could find no ideas myself.

My hand absentmindedly reached for my cell phone. Bamen Dunjia, I brooded quietly, A dangerous and formidable enchantment. In fact, this could be the truest demonstration of the strength of this enchantment since the Three Kingdoms, one that dwarfed even Zhuge Liang’s rendition. Everything is trapped inside here: directions, vectors, and even Time. Not even our voices would reach outside to the real world.

Just then, my phone vibrated and rang. I looked at the screen. It was a spam message. A loan services advertisement. With a despondent sigh, I tapped on the “Delete Message” button.

Then it came to me. Wait a minute. This domain ensnares people, confounds directions, and alters the time. But not cell phone signals!