Chapter 170
The cloud expanded in size, with the center of it getting thinner and eventually opening up a hole just big enough for Jason to see the three suns.
“Hmm, interesting.” Jianmen nodded and said.
“What is it?” Caroline asked, while looking at the magical screen in front of her with a deep frown.
“It’s been a while since I saw this kind of tribulation attack, but then again, it’s also been a while since I saw tribulations bringing up a literal volcano.” Jianmen was also frowning: “If I wasn’t mistaken, Jason’s gonna get really, really confused.”
“Shit, Boss. Don’t ever mention volcanoes again.” Caroline couldn’t help but shiver for a bit - during the last wave of her last tribulation, countless bolts of lightning struck the ground around her protective array, and the next moment, the ground below her exploded, with smoke, beams of burning energy, shockwave and magma shooting from the hole in the ground. It was a powerful and unexpected attack and one for which Caroline was not well prepared. After this tribulation, she had to lay in bed for around two days before she could resume her normal activities, and some of the burn scars on her body were still not fully healed till this day.
Sunlight shone onto Jason through the hole in the cloud, Jason was not aware of how this would turn out, so he readied his protective array to allow him to protect himself if there was a surprise attack.
The inner edge of the hole in the cloud started shifting in color. It was grey as the other parts of the cloud, then as the sunlight shone through, it gradually became lighter and began flickering in blue and orange.
Jason narrowed his eyes - he sensed there was something odd about the ring of light around the hole in the cloud, but he was not able to pinpoint it yet.
From Caroline’s point of view, all they could see was that a beam of sunlight shone on Jason through the hole in the cloud, and Jason was standing with his spear in his hands prepared for attacks that might come his way. But everything remained still for almost a couple of minutes, and nothing changed.
“What’s happening?” Caroline turned to Jianmen and asked.
“Third wave has already started. But the battlefield is not entirely here.” Jianmen nodded, “Look at the space before him.”
When Caroline focused on the screen in front of her, she finally noticed that there was a patch of space right in front of Jason, where something seemed to have twisted the light going through the area - just like the cases with hot air released from a burning fire twisting the path of light and making the scene behind look distorted.
“Is he in a limbo? Is this a tribulation in limbo?” Caroline immediately realized what was happening.
“Partially. And you’ll soon see the difference. The sunlight and the hole in the cloud were just bait to lure him in and to trap him inside - the longer he was able to resist the pull and the faster he could get out, the more he’ll benefit from it. But the longer he stays in the limbo, the more danger he will be in.”
Just this moment, Jason started moving, with the pen-spear in his hands, he started unleashing attacks against his surrounding areas, as if there were invisible enemies around him.
“This is a crossover limbo - where the flow time inside is roughly the same as our world and the elements inside will manifest in our realm. It is one of those more dangerous types. I will teach you how to deal with those. Shortly, but basically it requires you to be well trained in managing your power of mind and will.” Jianmen explained to Caroline: “If you look closely around him you will actually see some shadows he’s attacking and at the same time trying to attack him - these are projections of the beings and elements in the limbo - and his attacks, if they land, would damage those shadows.”
“But what’s the point? In theory, when his mind is in the limbo, his body still remains in our realm, right? If whoever or whatever that is in charge of the limbo attacks him in our realm when he’s defenseless like we were back in the Prime Royals Hotel, he’d have no chance.” Caroline asked: “You know… not that I would want that to happen.”
“Good question.” Jianmen smiled: “I’ll explain this in our upcoming sessions - but to put it simply - most sentient beings don’t have the ability to operate inside limbo and in the realm outside of limbo simultaneously. To achieve this it requires a trick called mind-split - meaning that you’ll need to seamlessly split your consciousness into multiple entities, let them operate on their own and but your one true mind still remain the same.”
“That sounds like … having multiple personalities.”
“The key is that they have the ability to operate on their own, yet they are still one with the other, just temporarily separated.” Jianmen continued: “So in this way, if I want to pull off what you described - I will need to create a limbo, split my mind and trap my enemy’s mind in the limbo, then my other consciousness can attack his defenseless body in the current realm.”
“... or we can stab the body of your enemy for you.”
“Yes, and believe it or not, it is a pretty common trick when lower layer cultivators fight in groups. This would require some protective artifact to prevent one from being dragged into the limbo or help them break away from its trap easier. But this is not a trick the tribulations for a second layer cultivator will employ - otherwise almost no one will survive it. It could appear on tribulations of higher layers though.” Jianmen answered: “And mind-split is no simple trick, it requires years and even decades of cultivation of one’s power of mind and will through visualization and meditation. So sometimes lower level power wielder with a good spectral connections can employ a new trick - with the help of some artifact of course - to create a special limbo, where its flow of time is roughly the same with the flow of time in the external realm, and it has a closer connection to the realm outside of it. This is a bit like illusion magic - these kinds of power wielders will try to trap their opponents ‘half in half out’ inside this limbo, and they can engage their opponents in a similar way. And if they’re able to succeed, they could use their advantage against the opponents disadvantage: if the opponent is skillful at the combat of the mind but is physically weaker, which means this kind of opponents are usually hidden from afar, they can use this trick to try and make time to locate the opponents and physically defeat their foe; if the opponent is bad at combat of the mind, then you can win by focusing more on using the battle of mind, without actually having to leave yourself defenseless in the process.”
“So - it’s like going to a battle and forcing everybody to wear the same kind of vision distorting glasses.” Caroline scratched her lower jaw and said: “Except that YOU are the designer of the glasses and you are more familiar with how it distorts your vision. So it’d be easier for you to win.”
“Kinda, yeah. And looks like Jason’s tribulation is employing a similar tactic, though the form seems reversed - this kind of limbo combat starts from our realm and expands into the limbo; while what Jason is facing right now seemingly starts from the limbo and expands into our realm. Thus those projections”
Jason backflipped two times on the island and unleashed three lightning speed jabs at three shadows in front of him. All three jabs landed on their targets - the vague shadows were sent flying by the impact, and exploded in mid air before they could even touch the ground. But right at the next moment, something hit Jason, creating a puncture wound on his left shoulder, and several deep cuts on his left waist and thighs.