Chapter 157 - "You Know Something."

"Well… Nothing." Fumio points his hand at the talismans, seeing no reaction to his blood.

"…" The couple stare blankly at the talismans.

"Come on. This is getting boring. You've tested all the rune variations you know, and the results are all the same." Red points at the stack of used talismans that have accumulated beside the living room table.

"But… how is this possible?" Havvah asks.

"No. There must be something wrong with the materials." Ahdem refuses to believe as he picks up the used stacks of talismans and goes over them one more time.

"Meh. Whatever." Red shrugs, knowing that despite the couple's words, they are glad of the results.

"So…" He turns to Fumio and gestures a 'give me' hand.

"Sorry." Fumio apologizes to Havvah and Ahdem as he hands the treasure fragments he took from the two, to Red.

"…" The couple can only watch and connect in their heads that there must be some sort of an arrangement between Red and Fumio regarding the treasure fragments.

"Now. The thingy." Red once again gestures Fumio to hand him something.

"Boss… There might still be others that will come here." Fumio argues, hesitant to take out what is in his pocket.

"Will there be really?" Red asks.

"Fine…" Fumio takes out the metallic orb which contains the treasure fragment he was lent and hands it to Red.

"…" The couple get interested at the intricately built and designed trinket.

"T-that… was that what pulled our wood chips here?" Ahdem cannot help but ask, seeing the treasure fragment inside the metallic orb.

"No." Red *crppp* crumples the metallic orb and separates the treasure fragment from it.

*Gasp*

Fumio and the couple are shocked seeing the beautiful thing now destroyed.

"Relax. It's useless anyways." Red is amused by their reactions.

"It's still a nice thing to keep…" Fumio scratches his brows.

"Then I'll let you keep the ones I make in the future." Red shrugs.

"Now…" He then takes out a container from inside his kimono and pours its contents, each being the size of a toddler's finger, to the table.

"Whoa…" The couple is stunned, seeing a total of thirteen treasure fragments now on the table.

"Choose one." Red tells Fumio.

"…haaaaa…" Fumio sighs.

"You said you've been here all along, boss?" He asks Red.

"I did. You're worried about your mental health." Red acknowledges the man's concern.

"Can I take a break from guarding these things?" Fumio asks.

"Hm… Okay." Red nods.

"Okay?" Fumio is surprised at how easy Red agreed.

"Yes. 'Okay'. You've given me five fragments since you started watching over this hill and earned yourself many rewards. What's the point of earning more if you can't consume them?" Red shrugs.

"Thank you." Fumio sighs in relief.

"But!" Red sniggers.

"Of course." Fumio almost rolls his eyes.

"You're not allowed to enter my, you know what… You can only enter the ones that I'm tasking you to protect." Red raises his condition.

"…tsk." Fumio clicks his tongue.

"…well. May I take it back then?" He points at the treasure fragment he just gave up.

"Even if I give it back, can you open it again?" Red mockingly challenges.

"Ugh..." Fumio immediately drops the idea.

He was hoping that even though he gave up his treasure fragment to Red, he can still enter the treasure fragment dimension in Hinohara where he had his hell training with Kotone.

He has redeemed five jade slips from Red so far containing modern medical knowledge, spiritual seal knowledge, herbology and herbal comp knowledge, basic auxiliary spiritual energy techniques, and basic combat spiritual energy techniques.

Each jade slip, he figures, will take decades for a regular person to completely learn if he studies them in the real world. Even with his cultivator brain, he figures that it will still take him a few years each jade slip. He is not willing to spend that much time in the real world.

Another advantage of the pocket dimension is that he can train the combat spiritual energy techniques without regard for collateral damage. 

"So…" Fumio sighs.

"I really have to watch over a new one to continue accessing one of those places." He feels frustrated.

"Are there any alternatives, boss? Something I can pay you with to enter?" He can only ask.

"For now? I can't think of one." Red dismisses the suggestion.

"Okay. May I take it back for now? It might still be attracting one or two. It's gonna disrupt you all if those chips have owners." Fumio reasons.

"I'm willing to pay a knight-rank demon core in exchange for another activation device." He adds.

"This here…" Red picks out one from the small pile of treasure fragments, "…is the first fragment I got, courtesy of you.", and shows it to Fumio, not caring about the others present.

"Let's label this fragment 1." He separates it from the pile.

"This two… let's call it fragment 2 and 3…" He proceeds to separate two more from the pile.

"… are the wild fragments you and Kotone found floating around." He lays them in order left of fragment 1.

"This here, fragment 4, is the one you've been looking after." He picks out the fragment Fumio returned, rolls it to the ink that Ahdem has been using, painting it black.

"…" Fumio and the couple is confused at the actions.

Red does not address their confusion and simply and lays the now painted wood fragment down after fragment 3, standing out among the rest.

"These here… were from Little, Fowler, Tabal, and that Brotherhood scholar. Fragments 5, 6, 7, and 8." He adds it to the lineup, not painting them unlike fragment 4.

"And these remaining, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, were the things ones you've collected while you're here." Red concludes the count.

"What's your point, boss?" Fumio asks. 

Red then levitates all 13 treasure fragments and assembles them slowly one by one with his spirit sense, until a single chunk of wood is floating above the table.

"Now. Where's fragment 4? The one you've been looking after?" Red asks.

"I… It's entirely covered." Fumio does not find the only treasure fragment that is colored black.

"It won't attract more." He gets what Red is saying.

"Exactly. That's why Fragment 1, the first one in our possession, also no longer attracts more chips. It's covered." Red nods.

"Okay…" Havvah interrupts.

"So, this is what happens? Fragments that perfectly fit each other, they attract each other?" She asks.

"Yes." Red nods.

"But…" Ahdem is about to argue, but he catches himself.

Red however knows their concern using his spirit sense.

"Ah. You must have more of these wood chips, maybe some of them are just like ours, perfectly fitting each other. And yet, they do not have the attracting force, do they?" He asks.

"I…" Ahdem and Havvah wish they never spoke about the treasure fragments.

"I'm not going to take them from you two. Worry not." Red waves off their concerned.

"Yet… you took them." Havvah utters.

"You see, that's the price of admission." Red smirks.

"Admission to what?" Ahdem asks.

Red disassembles the large chunk of the treasure into their original small fragments and separates Fragment 4.

"This." Red realigns the lines of insight in the fragment and *vvmmm* a portal materializes beside the group.

"Whoa…" Havvah and Ahdem almost jump away from the table in shock. They then look at the treasure fragment, and at the portal, then back at the treasure fragment, immediately finding the connection.

"May I go in?" Fumio asks.

"You must have left some stuff in there." Red nods.

With that, Fumio's figure disappears into the portal, stunning Havvah and Ahdem.

"Wanna take a look inside?" Red asks, taking away the couple's eyes off the portal.

"We don't know what's in there." Havvah says in caution.

"I'll go take a look." Ahdem says however.

"Ahdem, you…" Havvah wants to admonish her husband but she notices the look on Ahdem's face.

"Fine…" She can only allow the man.

She knows that if Ahdem is wearing the face he is currently wearing, she will have to physical fight him to stop him from satisfying his curiosity.

"I'll go with you." She adds.

She has seen Fumio's confidence in entering the portal, which tells her that the other side of it might not be that dangerous.

"Okay. I'll go in first." Ahdem disappears to the other side, and Havvah shortly follows.

Soon, the group is now inside the treasure fragment dimension.

"…" Ahdem and Havvah are rooted to the ground, staring ahead blankly at the stone ground and the empty blue sky.

They cannot believe that the other side of the portal would look so dull.

*clank*

*clang*

Their attention is taken away by a small commotion to their right. They look to the direction and see Fumio gathering all sorts of glass equipment.

"You're working hard." Red nods in approval, figuring that Fumio is now working on the fairly advanced Paralyzing Powder based on the most recently used equipment.

"Thank you, boss." Fumio feels proud.

"Let me help you put these away." With just a will, Red stores all of Fumio's equipment to his storage ring.

"Excuse me." Ahdem calls out to the cultivators.

"Are we really inside the wood chip?" He asks.

"Yes." Fumio confirms.

"Havvah…" Red calls out to the woman who seems to be lost in her thought.

"Y-yes?" Havvah is taken out from her daze.

"Is there something wrong?" Red asks.

"No." Havvah shakes her head.

"…" Ahdem notices that Havvah is lying, but he stays quiet.

"You know something." Red says in certainty.

"Out with it. Exchange of knowledge." He urges.

"I'm not trying to keep a secret. I'm just not sure." Havvah shakes her head.

"Not sure about what?" Ahdem asks.

"Aside from it obviously empty, don't you feel that this place is… lifeless?" Havvah asks.

"… Yes." Ahdem notices it.

"Doesn't that remind you of what Zograthan and Saraqael once talked about in passing?" Havvah asks.

"They said many things." Ahdem raises his brows.

" 'The Veil'." Havvah says.

"I need more than that." Ahdem's memory is not jogged.

"A place that once connected Heaven and Hell to our world. Saraqael specifically used the word 'bridge'. I thought she was speaking figuratively, but seeing this place, it might be possible that she was speaking literally." Havvah recounts.

"… The veil… The veil…" Ahdem's eyes glint in recognition.

"I remember. 'A place so lifeless, so plain, that even I who likes order, find too dull…'" He recalls the archangel's words.

"That's it." Havvah nods.

"Hmmm…" Red hums in ponder.

"And what happened to 'the veil'?" He asks.

" 'Destroyed by the creator.' Zograthan's own words. By creator, I'm assuming he was referring to Father." Havvah recalls.

"And why did god destroy it?" Red asks.

" 'Angels and Demons, all of us, were cast back to Heaven and Hell after our battles razed the wider realm.'" Havvah recounts the Prince of Hell's words again.

" 'And so the creator destroyed the veil, confining the demons in Hell, and angels in Heaven, never to return to the wider realm.' That's according to Saraqael. Is that right, my love?" Ahdem asks Havvah.

"That's right." Havvah confirms.

"Some effort by god. The angels and demons still found a way to our world." Fumio scoffs.

The next moment, he almost steps back, intimidated by Havvah and Ahdem glaring at him.

"A-anyways." He clears his throat.

"Miss Havvah. Are you telling me that the wood fragments, which we all obviously know probably came from a tree, contained 'The veil'?

"And that god didn't totally destroy that tree, only breaking it apart into these wood fragments?" Fumio asks Havvah.

"I wasn't saying that but…" Havvah is stunned by Fumio's conclusion.

However, "… If each wood fragment contains a place like this inside them, then… your theory is worth exploring.", she finds that Fumio's theory is the only theory about the origin of the treasure fragments.

"I've just connected what boss once said in passing, to your story." Fumio shrugs.

"…" Ahdem and Havvah look at Red curiously.

"How do you know more about this than us?" Ahdem asks suspiciously.