Roar began to whine as he asked pitifully, "Is master Arthur going to die? I don't want him to die."
Arthur patted him and consoled him, "Don't worry, I won't die. I will survive the third mortal coil and even advance to the fourth."
What he said made Roar relax. He believes whatever Arthur tells him without questioning it, so he didn't question this statement.
But before Roar could sigh in relief, Elder Storm Hawk said to Roar, "If I were you, I would hedge my bets."
"Don't just count on his words. Be like me. Bet on him reaching the seventh transformation of the third mortal coil. If you have a low expectation, it is unlikely that you will be disappointed and lose a lot of money."
Arthur said to Roar, "Ignore her."
Then he said to Elder Storm Hawk, "Can I bet too? I want to bet on me surviving."
Her eyes lit up as she said, "Very good. With your money in the game, you will have more motivation to survive."
She said that as if getting to live wasn't enough motivation for him to try and survive. He couldn't help but laugh in amusement.
He was chuckling as he said, "Sure. I need the extra motivation."
She nodded and said, "Follow me."
Then she turned to leave.
As he watched her go, he swore to himself, "I am going to make all of you counting on my death lose your money."
Then he thought to himself in regret, "If I had known that there was a bet about my survival, I would have designed my foundation to make me a little sickly."
He was only joking about this because he would have prioritized his survival above all else, not trying to look sickly so that he could trick more people into believing that he wouldn't survive.
Tricking people into thinking he won't survive the third mortal coil would earn him more money, but it is not worth it if, in the attempt to do so, he had botched the design of his foundation and didn't survive the process of establishing it.
He was only thinking about taking advantage of the situation. He didn't take the bet seriously.
While he was thinking of this, Elder Storm Hawk took out her identity card and began using it as a compass. She took it out onto her hands and watched as it blinked.
Sometimes the ID card blinked faster or slower. She used this alternating rhythm of the blinks to tell which direction to go to.
She followed the direction that the ID was blinking the fastest. This path was not in a straight line. She was constantly going back and forth following the blinking light.
She even moved around in a circle. The sight was odd, to say the least.
Arthur asked her, "What are you doing?"
She explained to him, "This is the only way to enter the inner sect. A bewildering array and a space-shuffling array have been set throughout the outer sect. The two arrays confuse anyone trying to find the entrance of the inner sect without permission."
"The two arrays are invisible. They are layered on top of everything you see. Only with the ID card leading the way can we find the path to the inner sect."
"We might look like we are going in circles, but that's the effect of the space shuffling array. The space shuffling array scrambles and bends space, while the bewildering array scrambles the senses."
Arthur couldn't believe what she said. He scanned his environment carefully as he said, "You are saying there are two arrays around me constantly working right now? Why can't I see them? Not even my divine sense can perceive them. I find it difficult to believe that there is such a thing."
As an accomplished formation master, he finds it difficult to believe that there are arrays around him whose existence he has been ignorant of and still can't sense now.
To be honest, he suspects that Elder Storm Hawk is messing with him. It won't be a surprise that the people of the inner sect are playing a prank to mess with the new guy.
He finds the option of a prank more plausible than the idea of two powerful arrays and invisible arrays working on him.
Elder Storm Hawk shrugged and said, "It is not surprising that you can't find them. In fact, it is not surprising that you can't find them. That is to be expected since the arrays are meant to hide something and be stealthy about it."
"If you can't find them, then they are doing a good job because there is no way you will be able to crack them and find what they are hiding without permission."
He still didn't believe what she was saying. So he asked skeptically, "But how do they work?"
She thought about her words for a while before she offered an answer. "This is difficult to explain because I don't quite understand it myself. But it all boils down to layers of space or something."
"How do I put this? It is said that beneath this physical space that contains everything you see, there is another space that contains things you can't see."
"This hidden layer of space is where secret realms hide. You need a special method to access the hidden layer of space. In fact, you need special means to perceive the hidden layer of space."
"The two arrays work from the hidden layer of space. It is why they can't be easily sensed."
"I heard that they are at least rank 5 arrays. So they should be on par with teleportation arrays."
"I'm not sure about that estimation, but I do know that teleportation arrays also work with the hidden layer of space. Teleportation arrays transport objects through the hidden layer of space, so they might be truly on par with these two kinds of arrays."
Arthur was astounded after hearing what she said. He asked again just to be sure, "There are two layers of space?"