Acheron had been watching from the side the entire time. Unlike Gopelmu, she didn't have to worry about being attacked by Fu Zhu, so she could focus all her attention on the duel between the two.
The moment Fu Zhu began to appear in different places so abruptly, she had already noticed something was amiss. But her subsequent observations revealed no spatial fluctuations whatsoever. This meant that Fu Zhu was not using teleportation. Combining this with what the scholars of the cosmos theorized about the Path of [Finality], she could only think of one possibility.
The abilities Fu Zhu obtained from the Path of [Finality] were related to time—either pausing it or directly manipulating it.
Fu Zhu dispelled the remaining phantom swords around him, then turned to face Acheron, smiling as he shook his head.
"There's a connection, but the power related to time is just a bonus."
Hearing this, a trace of surprise appeared on Acheron's usually cold face.
"It seems the distance you have walked on the Path of Finality is far greater than what Gopelmu and I imagined. It's no wonder he lost."
Fu Zhu just smiled and didn't comment on her statement. In reality, Acheron wasn't entirely correct. His power didn't come from Finality, but from a force outside of this world.
"Let's go. We need to find Himeko and the others first."
Having dealt with the troublesome Gopelmu, Fu Zhu was in no mood to savor his spoils of war. He just wanted to find Xing, Sparkle, and the others as soon as possible, to confirm just what grand scheme Sparkle had cooked up to lure them all into this Memoria bubble.
However, just as Fu Zhu was about to leave, Acheron stopped him. He looked at her, puzzled, and she pointed towards the original entrance.
"While I'm sure you're eager to find your companions, due to the battle just now, Gopelmu has already reconstructed the entire layout of this hall."
Fu Zhu followed Acheron's finger and saw that the original entrance to the hall had been shattered. Connected to it was not an ordinary corridor, but a patch of chaos. Even the other passageways had been replaced by walls. The two of them were now essentially trapped in a sealed room.
Curious, Fu Zhu walked up to the patch of chaos and reached out, trying to scoop something out of it, but he felt nothing tangible.
Acheron mistook his actions as an attempt to pass through the chaos directly and quickly reached out to stop him. "The structure of a Memoria bubble is highly unstable. If you are not a Memokeeper, entering this chaos will very likely cause you to fall into the primordial sea of Memoria substance that forms the dream world. Although I can slice this Memoria bubble open with a single slash, if I do that, we won't be able to figure out that Fool's objective. The decision is yours."
After explaining the situation, Acheron left the decision to Fu Zhu. She had originally followed Fu Zhu and the others into the bubble hoping to be of some help and to establish a good relationship with the Express crew, so that they might later help her find the whereabouts of the Galaxy Rangers. It was best to let Fu Zhu decide what to do about finding his companions.
Fu Zhu nodded, but didn't make a decision hastily. Instead, he turned and walked to another side where a door should have been, but was now replaced by a wall. He pulled out a pickaxe and, with a single tap, a hole broke open in the wall.
Peering through the large hole, Fu Zhu saw a corridor that had been split into countless small sections. Although these sections were quite far apart, it confirmed his theory.
Gopelmu may have changed the architecture within this Memoria bubble, but he hadn't erased it entirely. This meant that the area where Xing and the others were was like a solitary island, floating somewhere in this chaos.
Seeing this scene, Fu Zhu instantly had a plan. He turned and waved Acheron over. "Come here. I don't think we'll need you to slice this bubble open with a single slash. We can just build a path over to find them."
Acheron walked over with a puzzled expression, peering through the hole in the wall to see the same sight Fu Zhu had. She immediately understood his plan, but at the same time, a question arose in her mind.
"Are you like those Dream Architects from The Family, with the ability to change the structure of the dreamscape?"
"I'm not some Dream Architect, but..." Fu Zhu smiled and raised his right hand, making a "little bit" gesture. "When it comes to construction, I'm a little bit better than them."
Acheron's interest was piqued. She nodded. "Then please, do allow me to see it."
"As you wish."
Fu Zhu swung his pickaxe and knocked down the entire wall, conveniently collecting the blocks unique to this dreamscape into his inventory for a look.
[Memoria Structure Block]
[Currently Convertible: Green Concrete, Yellow Concrete, Brown Concrete...]
Fu Zhu gave it a cursory glance and realized this thing could only be converted into ordinary blocks used for building houses in MC. It was useful, but not very.
He immediately lost the desire to collect more. Instead, he pulled out some Cobblestone blocks from his inventory. He walked to the edge of the shattered corridor, opened his minimap, and zoomed it out to the maximum. Finally, at the edge of the map, he saw the markers for Xing and Himeko. Sparkle and Black Swan were with them as well.
After confirming their direction, Fu Zhu raised his hand and waved it, holding a Cobblestone block. Accompanied by the thump-thump-thump sound of blocks being placed, a one-meter-wide cobblestone path materialized out of thin air. And as Fu Zhu walked forward, this cobblestone path extended continuously towards the far distance.
Acheron watched this scene, a hint of surprise appearing on her face. She walked forward, squatted down in the first half of the cobblestone path, and reached out to touch it. A moment later, the surprise on her face intensified.
"This is... a real, physical substance?"
She could feel that the cobblestone she was touching was a physical substance from the real world. Fu Zhu had actually brought a real-world substance into the dream world and was using it normally.
What surprised Acheron even more was that this cobblestone's structure was remarkably stable. Even after she touched it for a long time, its structure showed no signs of changing. This was a substance that even the power of [Nihility] could not alter.
Walking on the cobblestone path, Fu Zhu glanced back at Acheron, who was squatting on the first half of the path. Seeing her touching the cobblestone, he guessed what was on her mind and casually explained.
"Don't bother guessing. This cobblestone is not affected by Nihility. It can only be destroyed; it cannot undergo any structural changes. In my hometown, there are many kinds of blocks that can remain unchanged within The Void."
Acheron stood up in some surprise and quickly followed Fu Zhu's steps. Standing behind him, she couldn't help but ask, "Has your hometown also been eroded by Nihility?"
"Mm, The Void has always existed where I'm from, but it's been sealed off by Bedrock, unable to affect the normal world."
Bedrock that can seal The Void?
A hint of brilliant color lit up in Acheron's eyes, which had always been devoid of emotional fluctuation.
Perhaps, the thing she had been searching for all this time might just exist in Fu Zhu's hometown!