As the void blurred past them, Jin Huang and Shen Wuyou slowly saw themselves entering that dark and shadowy pit. With each breath they took, they felt the temperature dropping by a significant amount.
Staring ahead of him, Shen Wuyou could still see his die falling and rolling.
"You said something about spatial nodes?" Jin Huang asked, sounded slightly worried.
"Yup. In case you haven't realized, this entire quadrant that the Academy is in is contained within a sealed off space. There are artificial laws within it, like space and wind and such. That's how we can still breathe despite being in the void."
"Wow. I'd never even thought of that before... I don't even know what any of that means, actually," Jin Huang admitted.
"Haha, that's right. You don't even fully understand cultivation yet."
With the passage of time, they both got closer and closer to total blackness.
As they were falling into the entrance of the Sacred Realm, another interesting thing was taking place elsewhere.
...
"What do you mean you can't find him!?" The Headmaster shouted into a crystal talisman. From the other end, a flustered voice could be heard.
"I mean I can't find him. None of the Law Enforcement staff or the Deans can find him. It's like he just vanished from the Detention Zone."
Rubbing his eyes, fist balled tight, the Headmaster groaned as he dropped himself down onto the chair in his office. "Alert any staff currently available. Tell them that Number 13 is out again, and to check any and all locations that he's been known to cause trouble at."
"We've already got some people on that, but so far they haven't found him at any of his usual spots." The person on the other end sighed.
"Just look harder. Find him."
"Certainly, Headmaster," the voice responded. "Will you be joining the hunt this time? I'm sure we'll find him a lot faster if you do."
"Hmph. Don't count on it. I've got paperwork."
The headmaster flicked his wrist and the talisman vanished, while one of a number of rings on his fingers glowed briefly. He sat at his desk and prepared to tackle the mountain of paperwork before him, muttering all the while.
"Hei Shisan, that damnable brat. If he didn't receive his stamp by someone on the Board, I'd have never let such horrid stock into my academy again. Hmph! Damn him and his whole family!"
...
By now, the space around Jin Huang and Shen Wuyou was entirely dark. However, as they descended into the pitch black, something in the distance caught their eye.
Shen Wuyou had already noticed it, but Jin Huang was too focused on the scent that currently filled his nose. It came in waves, he realized, ever since they had leapt over the edge. Each wave was stronger than the last, overwhelming his senses until he could think of nothing but eating.
As the current wave came to an end, he caught his breath and heard Shen Wuyou speaking to him.
"If I'm right, we'll be slowing down soon."
Jin Huang nodded, "I hope you are, then."
Not even a minute later, their bodies seemed to pass through an invisible membrane that slowed their descent significantly. Not too far below, they could see a dense fog.
Slowly entering that fog, the world behind them seemed to be cut off, and they entered the bridge to an all-new world. Before they could get to that world, however, they would need to pass through this transitory area.
"Get ready," Shen Wuyou said, "I just saw the dice hit the ground."
"You can see?" Jin Huang asked, amazed.
"I'm a cultivator, remember?" The young man smirked, then righted himself in the air.
"But I'm not!" Jin Huang tried to do the same, but found himself struggling to get his body to assume the right position.
Shen Wuyou landed softly, and Jin Huang slammed into the ground at his reduced speed. Even so, he still felt the impact and cried out.
"Ah, damnit!"
Shen Wuyou walked over to him, wincing at his pain and offering a hand. "You okay, bud?"
Jin Huang took his hand and stood up, rubbing himself all over as he groaned. "I think so, but damn that hurt."
Looking around at the foggy space they were in, Shen Wuyou found his die and went over to it.
"Look," he said as he stopped just before the die. Following, Jin Huang looked down and saw that he had rolled a 6.
"What does that mean?" He asked, still gently massaging himself.
"Whatever it is you're smelling must be something amazing. Something that's meant for you to find, the same as me. There's something down here for me as well. The dice of my life have revealed it."
"The dice of your life, huh? Couldn't those dice have helped me out with a softer landing?"
Shen Wuyou shook his head with a laugh, retrieving his die and looking around.
Just then, another wave of aroma came to Jin Huang and he forgot all of his pain in an instant. Thinking only with his nose, he marched past Shen Wuyou and headed off in almost the same direction that the die had fallen and rolled in before eventually stopping at 6.
"Is it your nose?" Shen Wuyou asked. When Jin Huang didn't respond, he knew that his food-crazy companion was likely being whisked away by the smell yet again. Following, he watched as Jin Huang treaded the fog and eventually arrived at a large stone object with a soft glow about it.
The aroma faded, and Jin Huang regained clarity. "What do you think this is?"
Shen Wuyou shrugged, "My knowledge of the sacred realm only goes so far. If the scent is coming from beyond here, that it must mean that this is the true entrance to the sacred realm."
"Right you are," an amused voice spoke out in the midst of the fog, alerting the two young men. Turning to look behind them, they saw a robed figure step toward him, his arms folded into his long sleeves. He was wearing a senior uniform, meaning he was definitely a student.
His hair was neat, brushed and slick, and his face was well-groomed. It was hard to tell for sure, but both his eyes seemed to be differing colors.
"What are two first-year newbies like yourselves doing down here? Don't you know you aren't allowed into the sacred realm unless accompanied by a teacher?"
Jin Huang gulped and looked at Shen Wuyou. The shorted, thinner young man simply gave his dice a toss up and caught it, looking at the result: 1.
"Well, the truth is that we were guided by things larger than ourselves. Fate, destiny- perhaps even the Dao itself," Shen Wuyou said straight-faced.
Hearing this, the senior student chortled, "That's a good one. I bet the staff would simply eat that excuse up. You two are lucky that I got here first and disabled the communication array, otherwise the Law Enforcement staff would already be on all of our asses."
Feeling relieved to hear that this older student appeared to be a troublemaker too, Jin Huang put a hand over his heart and let out a breath.
Shen Wuyou tilted his head, curious. "So you're trying to break into the sacred realm too? Why?"
The fifth-year student flashed a bright smile, his eyes reflecting the light coming from the stone door- they were definitely two different colors.
"I'm just trying to find something that once belonged to a family member of mine. They lost it in the sacred realm a long time ago."
"Oh," Jin Huang started, "so you have a way in?"
The fifth-year nodded and stepped forward, taking his hand out of his sleeve and revealing a glistening golden card.
"I took this from the Headmaster himself. It's the master key, which can override every other protocol. I heard that right now, the sacred realm is supposed to be sealed to all, but I'm certain the headmaster's key card will get us in."
Stepping forward, the fifth-year placed the card against the stone door and watched as the glow intensified. "Oh, I'm Hei Shisan, by the way. What are your names?"
"Jin Huang," he said while staring at the door.
Shen Wuyou gave his name, a thoughtful look in his eyes as he pondered the name 'Hei Shisan.'
After the glow intensified, it suddenly dimmed yet again. Following a backlash of energy, the golden card was rejected harshly. "What the hell!?"
Hei Shisan took the card up from the ground where it fell after being dispelled by the door, giving them both a puzzled look. "That can't be right. There's no way that the Headmaster's key can't override the seal. Something's very wrong."
Just as Hei Shisan was pondering, and Shen Wuyou seemed to finally recall where he had heard the fifth-year student's name before, Jin Huang caught wind of the scent again, instantly losing himself to it.
He stepped up to the door like a mindless zombie and pressed himself into it, his face buried into the flat, hard surface. As he pressed his body closer and closer into it, evoking weird looks from Hei Shisan, something on his person reacted.
The stone key pedant that was hanging around his neck began to resonate with the door, giving off a glow of its own before floating up and out from under Jin Huang's clothes.