John found himself standing in front of the same majestic palace from when he touched the mysterious sphere.
"What? Why am I here again?" shouted John in confusion. Once more, he found himself in this completely foreign place.
After staring at the majestic palace for some time, John started walking forward. He found himself on the familiar illuminated pathway from before. After entering the palace, he saw the same majestic statues as last time, lining the pathway as far as the eye could see.
Following the pathway for several miles, John eventually came to the same massive door as last time. Unlike last time however, the door was already opened, as if inviting him inside. John walked past the door and into the massive room. The room was the same as before, with massive white pillars dotting the interior of the grand hall. Thousands of feet in front of him, John once again saw the massive gate with the nine chains hugging it.
After walking for some time, John once again arrived at the solid white gate. The same translucent orb hung high in the sky in front of the gate, the nine blood drops revolving inside of it.
Taking a deep breath, John once again walked below the translucent orb, at which point he found himself unable to move like last time. At the same time, a single drop from the translucent orb started to descend. As soon as it left the protection of the translucent orb, John's eyes widened in horror.
Last time, the blood drop had an aura of pure holiness. This time however, the holiness was accompanied by an aura so sinister that John stopped breathing for a few moments.
As the blood drop slowly lowered in front of him, John struggled with all his might to escape. He was willing to absorb another drop like last time, but the sinister aura of this blood drop was something John did not want anything to do with.
Despite his struggles, John was unable to move as he watched the drop once again fuse into his body. A wave of pain so intense that it eclipsed the last time washed over him. John could only compare this pain to when he had touched the mysterious sphere. He felt as if the blood was doing everything it could to destroy his body from within. Death felt as if it was encroaching on him.
Just as John was unable to endure it any longer, the portion of blood that radiated the holy aura activated within him, fighting against the sinister blood. After a brief battle inside his body, John felt everything return to normal. Fatigue washed over John as he once again collapsed into unconsciousness.
The cave once again appeared in front of John as he slowly opened his eyes. After sitting up slowly, John took a few seconds to recollect what had happened to him.
"I ended up in that palace again. Why did that happen?" thought John.
"The last thing I remember doing was scanning my dantian, at which point I suddenly felt myself being drawn into that space again."
John remembered that when he sent his divine sense to his dantian, he had suddenly found himself in that strange place. Thinking of that, John hesitantly sent his divine sense back towards his dantian to see if it would happen again. After slowly prodding his divine sense towards his dantian, John shouted out in shock.
"What the fuck is this?"
Upon slowly sending his divine sense towards his dantian, John was shocked to find that his dantian was not the only thing occupying the space. Right next to his mist dantian sat the mysterious sphere. The two objects slowly revolved around each other in an endless dance.
"What is this? Why is that sphere by my dantian?" John couldn't make sense of the situation. When he had touched the sphere back in his house, he had immediately dropped it. Not once did he take it, let alone bring it into his body. More so, he had never heard of anything else existing in the dantian space besides the dantian itself.
"How is this possible? Is my divine sense playing tricks on me?" thought John as he studied the scene before him. No matter how he thought about it, John could not make sense of what was happening. After tentatively scanning the dantian space with his divine sense, John decided to investigate more thoroughly and sent his divine sense directly into the sphere, trying to understand what it was.
"AGAIN?" John shouted furiously as he once again found himself in the void, standing in front of the majestic white palace.
"Is this palace related to that sphere?" John thought about the situation before him, but the only thing he could conclude was that the sphere and this palace were somehow related. After thinking over the situation for quite some time, John tried sending out his divine sense into the void.
As soon as he did, John found himself back in the cave, his position the exact same as before.
"What? What is going on?" shouted John as he furiously wracked his brain trying to think of what was going on. After thinking for some time, John once again sent his divine sense into the sphere, and once more found himself in front of the palace.
"The palace and the sphere are definitely linked. I don't know how it's possible, but I think this palace is inside the sphere, almost like a giant storage ring. Although I've never heard of a storage ring like this" thought John.
"Maybe my conscience or soul is inside of this space, while my true body is still in the real world. Maybe I should explore this palace. It might hold some clues as to what this place is."
John started walking down the illuminated pathway, eventually heading inside the palace. After striding inside, John once again found himself on the pathway with statues lining both sides as far as the eyes could see.
"I'm not going that way anymore" said John as he stepped off the illuminated pathway and entered one of the side halls. The side hall stretched into the distance, with massive doors lining both sides of the walls every few hundred yards. Walking up to one of the doors, John tried to open it, but was unable to do so. Walking to the next one, John tried that door as well but was unable to budge it as well.
"None of these doors are opening" thought John as he continued to try all the doors in the hall. After walking for miles and miles and trying hundreds of doors, John was frustrated that not a single one had opened. Returning to the original pathway, John walked to one of the other side halls and tried all those doors.
The same as before, John was unable to open any of them.
"Is the only way forward really towards that dreadful place?" thought John as he once again returned to the illuminated pathway. After hesitating for quite some time, John followed the pathway and eventually found himself in the massive room.
"Well, although it hurts like hell, I haven't actually died yet from that blood, so it can't be all bad." thought John as he looked towards the translucent orb in the distance. After quite some time, John walked forward and eventually found himself beneath the translucent orb once again.
"Huh?"
Although John had walked below the orb like before, he was not bound like last time. As for the blood, no drops left the orb. They continued to revolve around each other in an endless dance.
"What's going on? Why are no blood drops coming this time?" thought John as he stared above him at the translucent orb. No matter how long he waited, no blood came towards him. After standing there for quite some time, John decided to look around the rest of the massive hall since nothing was happening.
As John looked around the rest of the hall, he found a large door a thousand feet to the side of the massive gate. Although the door was only a few dozen feet tall, it was still quite large.
After walking up to the door, John placed his hand on it, at which point it started parting before him. As soon as the door opened, John felt as if he had been plunged into hell. An aura similar to the blood drop radiated out of the door, but it was dozens of times stronger and more sinister.
John could hardly breath as he stared into the room in front of him. After several seconds of being frozen in pure fear, John finally came to his senses and hastily retreated, running away from the door. Only then was John able to slowly calm down.
"What the hell? What is inside there? That aura is like I'm literally in hell, and I was only standing outside of the room" thought John while breathing heavily. John had never thought that something so evil and sinister could exist in this world.
After composing himself, John turned to leave. As he was walking away however, a nagging feeling urged him to turn around.
"Why? Why do I want to turn around? What is wrong with me?" shouted John as he came to a halt. No matter how much he wanted to be away from that room, for some reason, he felt as if he was meant to go inside.
"Haaaa, what is actually wrong with me" shouted John out loud as he turned around and started walking back towards the door. No matter how he tried to rationalize it, this action of his made no sense.
"This might be the dumbest thing I've ever done. And Ive done a lot of dumb things" thought John as he once again arrived at the open door.
After standing there for over an hour, John finally steeled his nerves and stepped inside the room.
