Suiboku and Sansui reached the skies above the Magyan region in only a few days. Considering that it had taken Sansui more than half a year to travel from Arcana to here previously, their speed was nothing short of astounding. But of course—this time, they had moved like the wind itself.
“Now then... It should be around here.”
Suiboku stopped the wind and released the technique that maintained the cloud, which subsequently disintegrated into pieces and scattered. He could have let it fall as rain, but there was no particular reason to do so. Slipping through their cloud platform, the two of them descended slowly toward the ground.
It granted them a bird’s-eye view of the land—far easier to read than any map—and from that vantage point, Sansui felt something off. In the land around Magyan, there was no terrain or formations that could possibly hide anyone.
“Master. Has the terrain changed since the last time you visited the Hidden Realm of Cel?”
“Hmm? Why do you ask that?”
“I simply...cannot see where a hidden land could possibly be obscured.”
“There’s no way you— Ah. I see. You do not know.”
At first, Suiboku had tilted his head, wondering what nonsense his disciple was saying. But he understood immediately afterward and clapped his hands.
“The Hidden Realm of Cel—or rather, any ‘hidden realm’—is concealed underground by Voidspace Arts.”
Voidspace Arts were a type of Immortal technique completely unfamiliar to Sansui. Since his master had never taught it, of course he wouldn’t know.
“Just as the Immortal Art that lightens or increases one’s weight has the higher form Inner Body Techniques that can affect untouched objects, the spatial-movement art Flash Step also has a higher form: Voidspace Arts, which distorts space itself.”
“What kind of technique is it?”
“A technique that isolates entire worlds. Think of this world as a stretchable cloth. If you place a weight on the cloth, it sags, yes? Now imagine pushing that weight in even further—and then tying off that sunken portion with a cord. That tied-off pocket becomes a world entirely separate from the mundane realm.”
Naturally, using Voidspace Arts didn’t literally drive land into the ground; it was only a metaphor. Sansui still had only a vague grasp of the concept, but he nodded earnestly as he listened.
“To create a place worthy of being called a hidden realm, one must spend decades gradually depressing that ‘cloth.’ If you rush the process, the cloth will tear.”
“What happens if it tears?”
“The cloth itself mends immediately. However, anything that was on the cloth will—at best—be shredded beyond recognition.”
“At best?”
“At worst, it won’t remain in this world at all. Outside the cloth lies a realm where none of the rules from atop the cloth apply. In fact...I am not even sure one should call it a ‘realm.’ It is, first and foremost, outside the world.”
Suiboku spoke as someone who had clearly experienced it, recalling it with a faint nostalgia. But since that reminiscence had little to do with the matter at hand, he quickly returned to the main topic.
“In any case, a hidden realm is a place cut off from the world by Voidspace Arts. Unless the entrance is found, one can never enter. And the location of that entrance can be shifted at will by the practitioner. It is truly a hidden realm—ordinary people will never find it.”
A land lifted by Earth Manipulation Arts could be hard to reach even if its location was roughly known. But a realm tucked away into a pocket of the world’s “cloth”—no one could even know where the entrance was, let alone arrive there.
“With my lack of skill, I cannot sense anything. How did you find it, Master?”
“I have mastered Voidspace Arts as well, so I notice when I approach an entrance. This time, you told me it was ‘somewhere around here,’ so after drawing near, I simply searched the surroundings. When I came here with Eckesachs, however, we spent several decades searching before we found it.”
When Suiboku said “near,” he likely meant “within visible range from above the skies.” To an ordinary sense, that range was absurdly vast. Even so, Suiboku—who could search such a scope while traveling freely through the sky—had still once needed decades. A normal person, even with thousands helping over hundreds of years, would never manage it. Unless, by an unbelievable stroke of luck, they happened to catch a resident of the hidden realm venturing outside.
So if I ever need to rely on the Great Tengu, I’d have to begin with searching for decades? And that’s assuming I master Voidspace Arts. As I am now, it would take me hundreds of years and still be impossible...
Growing pale at just how difficult it was to depend on others, Sansui once again realized the immense distance between himself and his master. Truly, he was nothing more than a strong but inexperienced novice.
“Now then... It should be around here.”
In a barren wilderness devoid of large trees, there stood an oddly conspicuous pile of massive rocks. There was a hole just big enough for a single person to pass through, but no one would ever believe that a hidden village lay beyond it. It was a fitting disguise, despite looking a little out of place; landscapes like this existed in the world by the thousands—tens of thousands, even.
Still, there was something about it that was unmistakably strange.
“Indeed... There are many footprints here.”
Upon close inspection, one could see an unnaturally large number of tracks: evidence that many people had passed through this path leading to the hole.
“So there is. If traffic in and out is heavy, one cannot possibly hide the place perfectly. Therefore, the entrance’s location must be changed from time to time.”
It would be difficult for a person to deliberately find the place, but someone passing by and discovering it by chance was entirely possible.
The Consecrated Maidens were captured not that long ago, yet they still haven’t moved the entrance...
The camouflage technique itself was impressive, but their lax sense of security was astonishing. Perhaps, since they could change it at any time, they felt no need to do so urgently.
Well... If they had changed it, I’d be the one in trouble.
Sansui let his thoughts wander for a moment but decided not to worry too much about it.
“Let us enter. And I’ll say this beforehand—do not be discourteous.”
“Yes, Master.”
Following the well-trodden path, Suiboku and Sansui slipped into the gap between the rocks. Ordinarily, such an opening would lead immediately to a dead end. Yet this one extended deeper. It was narrow—just enough for one adult to squeeze through—and the footing was nothing but uneven stone. A child running through it would surely fall; it was a poorly maintained path.
Incredible...
Only after entering did Sansui realize the path’s true peculiarity. The sensation of the Flash Step technique—Voidspace—permeated the passage. Though he stepped forward only once, it felt as though he had advanced dozens of paces. A normal person would never notice the supernatural distortion, but as a practitioner of the Art, Sansui could not help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer difference in skill.