Mystical Journey

A warm, gentle breeze blew past suddenly, and it felt as pleasant as a mother’s soft touch.

An ear-piercing cry could be heard throughout the sky immediately. It was a bird’s cry!

A terrifying shroud of whirlpool-like air currents gathered on the ground below the giant. It resembled a huge mouth that was waiting to swallow the giant’s arm.

Chirp!!!

The clear sound of a bird’s cry rang out suddenly.

“It’s back!!! That move!” AG’s eyes flashed while he glared at the abnormal changes in the sky.

“Waterbird Fist’s Profound, Soar of the Evil Phoenix!!” Nasira had also remembered this frightening move from long ago. She was terrified of reliving that previous experience ever again. In fact, anyone who had seen this move would never dare to forget its terrifying strength.

At this moment, two wings abruptly flapped open from the gigantic air currents before the shadow of a gigantic flying bird flew upwards from the ground. It flew slowly at first but sped up quickly before swooping towards the forehead of the giant.

The shadow of the giant bird was almost as large as the giant itself.

However, a strange phenomenon appeared.

When the three-headed and six-limbed giant saw the shadow of the gigantic bird, an apparent look of fright appeared on its face suddenly. The giant took a few steps backward quickly in an attempt to dodge the attack but to no avail.

His gigantic arms stopped attacking at once before he lowered all three of his heads simultaneously while pitiful and fearful expressions appeared on all three of its faces.

“Phoe…!!!” this was the first time that a sound other than ‘ah’ had escaped the giant’s lips.

“Phoe…!!! Phoe!! Phoe!!!” all three heads made the same noise loudly simultaneously.

The gigantic flying bird approached the giant’s head suddenly. However, it flew away moments later and perched somewhere where its beak was less than one meter away from the giant’s head and did not come any closer.

Boom!!!

The terrifying air currents dispersed suddenly before Garen landed on the ground in front of the giant gently.

“Phoe!!!” the giant raised his arms up high and pressed his three heads against the ground while kneeling there in a subdued manner.

‘I think that he’s mistaken you for his previous master,’ whispered Black Sethe beside Garen’s ear.

The giant’s heads where like humongous objects when they were directly in front of Garen. They formed black shadows that almost covered him.

At this moment, one of the giant’s smiling faces turned around and faced Garen. It opened its mouth and stuck its black tongue out to expose the exquisite, luxurious blood-colored throne that was embedded on the tip of its tongue.

Garen hesitated for a moment and looked at the giant before his instincts told him that he had no ill intentions.

He walked over immediately and sat on the chair slowly.

Kachak!

A cracking noise could be heard before one of the mechanisms on the chair was triggered suddenly.

The giant retracted his tongue and brought the chair back into his mouth.

Under the moonlight, Garen was instantly dragged into the giant’s oral cavity from the outside world. However, it was not a regular oral cavity. Within the darkness, the seat seemed as if it was being pushed by an unknown force before it slid downwards. The path that he had entered now seemed like an elevator that was going downwards.

His surroundings were filled with dots of blue light that twinkled like stars.

‘I’m afraid that this is a large war weapon that possesses free will but can also be controlled by you,’ said Black Sethe in a slightly grave tone beside Garen’s ear. ‘There aren’t any traces of Void Creatures at all… How strange… To think that such a terrifying and advanced civilization would exist here!’

“You’ve never seen something like this either?” asked Garen quietly.

‘No,’ answered Black Sethe surely, ‘this civilization is extremely powerful and prosperous. The glittering lights on the walls are actually energy matrices that can absorb various kinds of energy from the outside world such as light energy, wind energy, and even thermal energy. It really is a frightening skill… It’s easy for us to use a single form of energy, but to arrange and fuse so many energy matrices together while using skills that I cannot even comprehend is truly the work of an extremely advanced and developed civilization!!’

Garen had never heard Black Sethe speak in an astonished tone before. Black Sethe was one of the Ancient Endorian Demon Kings of the past. Therefore, as a strong individual who was standing within this civilization, his opinion would naturally be of value. His tone had always been terrifyingly arrogant, but now he was subdued by this three-headed, six-limbed giant.

“After hearing you speak like this, I have some expectations now,” a sliver of a smile appeared on Garen’s face. He did not hope to return empty-handed after coming to this underground palace.

‘I hope your expectations will be met,’ Black Sethe was somewhat looking forward to it as well.

The seat took Garen on a downward ride continuously before a gentle golden light appeared in front of him out of the blue.

The golden light came closer and grew brighter.

Whoosh!

The seat entered the golden light suddenly before embedding itself into another mechanism and stopping immediately after a clicking sound was heard from the slide below it.

Garen’s eyes adjusted themselves to the blinding golden light slowly. Soon, he could clearly see the scenery in the golden light.

This place was an average-sized golden circular house.

His seat was supported in mid-air by a pillar and was coincidentally positioned in the center of the entire house.

His surroundings were filled with various mystical golden symbols that were inscribed on the wall. They twinkled and constantly reflected golden light while the faint smell of sandalwood wafted through the air, and the sound of quiet chanting echoed through the surroundings.

‘The symbols around you are written in Sanskrit. Since I can read them, do you need me to translate for you?’ Black Sethe’s tone was somewhat pressing.

“No need.” Garen had already become a master in linguistics long ago and had learned Sanskrit when he was ten years old.

His eyes scanned the words around him.

The sea of over a thousand characters was only talking about one incident.

An existence called the Holy Phoenix created the Buddha Mother and gave her life and consciousness. However, only the Buddha Mother remained after they were defeated during a great war with enemies from the outside.

Most of these symbols were extolling the supreme power of the Holy Phoenix and its radiant love. There was no other information besides that.

‘Really…’ Black Sethe did not know what to say either. ‘Within the time and space of the universe, countless brilliant and powerful civilizations emerge and disappear like resplendent nightblooms that fade after dawn. No one knows the true meaning of eternity…’

Meanwhile, Garen sat on the seat quietly.

He did not know why he could feel a strange type of Qi lingering around him.

“Even if we transformed ourselves into existences that were as hard as diamonds, we would still disappear and be worn away by time and space…” he spoke softly before standing up suddenly. He stood in front of the seat and looked around at the golden symbols in his surroundings.

He carved the shapes of the symbols into his memory continuously. Strangely enough, these symbols turned into golden threads that organized themselves into brand new characters in his mind.

This was related to the true intentions of his Secret Technique, the Waterbird Fist. The general ideas and awareness of the original symbols would be echoed within these brand new words.

He simply closed his eyes, released his mind and searched to realize their true meaning.

The golden words formed golden lotus flowers in his mind that were constantly rotating and floating around.

“Holy Phoenix Scriptures…”

Once he had scanned the entire text of golden words, Garen opened his eyes and exhaled hurriedly.

“This is a practicing technique that is completely different from Secret Techniques. I can’t learn them because the other person’s body structure was unlike my own, but I can learn from its true intentions. This powerful awareness and direction resemble Nadia’s Ominous Space Path. I can also learn of other practicing techniques from the other existences in the Void that existed during other unknown times.”

A plan formed in his mind quickly.

These golden symbols had recorded the legendary Holy Phoenix Scriptures that the Holy Phoenix had practiced previously.

These scriptures would lead him on the path of absolute tyranny!

Heaven and earth would be ruled by him alone! No one could surpass him! No one would be on par with him! It would be otherwise impossible for him to achieve absolute rule, even with the Void Nine-Headed Dragon’s Will in his soul.

Garen could vaguely feel that this civilization was related to the Buddhist teachings on Earth. Otherwise, the unexpected air that surrounded these familiar words would not exist in this world.

‘Do you wish to tread on this path?’ Black Sethe’s voice echoed over. ‘The path of tyranny, I mean. Nadia chose this path but lost in the end while her army was obliterated. You will encounter worse perils if you continue on this path. You cannot afford any failures if you chose this road and you must ensure that your soul and intentions are completely pure. You must remain true to yourself and disregard the rest!’

“Deep in my heart, I know that everything will be fine!” Garen recited the first passage of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures. “What are the side effects of practicing the Holy Phoenix Scriptures?”

‘According to my assumptions, these Holy Phoenix Scriptures are more potent than Nadia’s Ominous Space Path and the Nine-Headed Dragon King’s Will. It is simply a practice that should not exist in this world. If you want to tread on this path, you must be prepared to face many enemies. You must only exist in your own physical body and cannot be contained by the Earth or even the universe. Existing only in your own physical body challenges you not to subvert the rules. As you are unable to latch on to others that are stronger than yourself, those existences will naturally become your enemies. All of these are unavoidable obstacles.’

He paused for a moment. ‘It’s like a river with choppy waters. Everyone else will follow the flow of the water and go downwards while practitioners like ourselves go upwards in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, these Holy Phoenix Scriptures are more insane as they require one to charge towards the origin of the river instantly and occupy its deepest source which is above all other existences.’

“This is clearly impossible,” said Garen while shaking his head.

‘Yes, but since this will is too strong, the existence of this civilization will continue to be utterly terrifying even if no one is able to achieve it,’ said Black Sethe surely. ‘Although it is unsuitable to be practiced by you, if you’re able to fuse its true intentions and add them to your Fist Techniques, you will reach brand new heights. Perhaps it will not be impossible for you to form a Soul Seed either.’

Soul Seed.

Garen’s mind began to heat up. He’d collected the mask to suppress Nadia and compiled the Demonic Book to form a Soul Seed. However, a new road had opened up in front of him.

‘The Demonic Book will not conflict with this. You can merge and grasp the will of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures completely before fusing them with the Demonic Book to form a stronger and better Soul Seed. I assume that once you have fully grasped the Holy Phoenix’s will, fused and recorded it in the Demonic Book, you will probably be able to form a second Soul Seed that will be worthy of a true battle with Nadia’s past thirty lives!’ it seemed as though Black Sethe was wholeheartedly praising these scriptures.

“The most important thing is that we won’t go if I’m unable to grasp the Holy Phoenix Scriptures,” Garen shook his head slightly while a forced smile appeared on his face.

‘It’s good that you understand that. The dimensions of the movements and operating methods of this war weapon are probably stored in the Holy Phoenix’s true intentions. The only thing that you must be careful about is that these true intentions may affect your will and soul. Therefore, you must fuse it into a Soul Seed in the end or it will limit your future progress. All of this is due to the fact that this is not your path, but someone else’s comprehension.’

“Understood,” Garen nodded.

He sat on the seat again and placed both of his palms flat on the armrests. He closed his eyes before the countless lotus flowers flew around in his heart like the snowflakes that danced around gently during winter.