Mystical Journey

Bang!

A soldier fired his gun unintentionally.

The bullet hit the ground below Garen's feet, forming a little hole in the courtyard's wet soil.

Garen pinched the eyeball in his hand. The source of telekinetic abilities, the Omniscient Eye seemed to possess unusual magical powers. It struggled in Garen's hand and tried to escape but was caught in his tight grip.

A Grandmaster of Combat would possess an abnormally tenacious Life Force. There was once a master from Celestial Circle Gate whom Garen met before he became a Grandmaster of Combat but unfortunately forgot his name, and that fellow was able to struggle for a long time before dying even though he had been gravely injured. Currently, Jessian could still move to a certain extent despite his cracked head, but Garen was not surprised at all.

However, this was not important. The incident that truly surprised him was the fact that the gouged out eyeball was consciously struggling and clearly displaying signs of abnormalities.

His thoughts stirred slightly before a shroud of deep blue cold air covered the eyeball in his hand suddenly, before freezing it into an ice bead.

He glanced at his surroundings before fixing his gaze on Xiao Ying who was standing in the middle and stared at him blankly.

"Ying Er…?"

"Move!!" A loud roar could be heard suddenly before all of the surrounding soldiers pulled the triggers on their guns at once.

An exploding noise could be heard from the faraway mortar at once.

Moments later, all of the Ling army soldiers charged forward simultaneously.

Seemingly endless torrents of bullets and cannons were fired at the center of the courtyard frantically, as though the cost of ammunition was a small price to pay for their eradication.

Boom!!

Crashing noises rumbled throughout the center of the courtyard, causing humming noises to echo in everyone's ears while the gunpowder smoke, soil, and rubble flew about everywhere, blinding everyone's vision for a moment.

"Water."

A calm voice could be heard softly within the courtyard.

Suddenly, a gust of cool breeze blew outwards from the center of the courtyard. It was a slightly moist, light breeze that blew around silently like cold winds that brushed past the surface gently.

The Ling Army officer had retreated far away and was now looking on as the remaining Grandmasters of Combat were separated into different batches. One batch rushed over to retrieve Jessian's corpse before retreating, while the other batch had fled off to a distance of more ten meters long ago. Only a few of them were stupid enough to stick around and confront Demoness Lola.

A strange scene appeared at the moment when the breeze blew past.

Whoosh!!

At the same time, the gunshot and explosion noises ceased before all of the soldiers were suddenly covered in deep blue flames. They stood frozen in place but the flames did not burn their bodies. Instead, a crystal clear layer of blue ice began to freeze over, covering them quickly, before forming more than ten blue ice sculptures.

Within the courtyard, almost ten soldiers, including a few Grandmasters of Combat were suddenly set on fire with the blue flames. They resembled blue torches that stood upright next to the walls and on the floor, while the deep blue flames illuminated the surrounding areas and cast them in blue light.

Gulp.

Demoness Lola's little face was now pale. She swallowed while her skin was illuminated in blue light by the flames. She took a look around and felt as if time had stopped for a moment.

Numerous bullets and cannonballs had formed holes of various sizes on the ground below Garen's feet. They were scattered everywhere, yet none had harmed his body.

Bang!!

Suddenly, countless ice sculptures cracked and formed colored crystal shards as they scattered on the ground.

The ice sculptures on the wall fell down and crashed on the ground. The ice sculptures in the courtyard collapsed one by one as well, forming blue ice shards that were tinged with blood.

Unlike regular people, the ten Grandmasters of Combat retained more than half of their bodies after the shards of blue flame ice disappeared. However, none of them showed any signs of life anymore.

Moments later, the only ones who survived within the courtyard were the officer in the yellow military uniform and the group of Southern Sky Gate members which stood in the middle.

Pfoo.

Both of the officer's legs were shaking before he fell on his knees at once. His face was pale and he was unable to speak as his lips could only tremble.

Garen returned his gaze indifferently.

"I'll let you decide what to do with him. Meanwhile, I'll control the military forces in this area."

Nora, Yue Jian, and two other people stood in front of Xiao Ying to shield her, while worried expressions were plastered on their faces.

"May I ask who you might be?" Old Yue Jian stood out and asked quietly.

Garen smiled and outstretched his hand while the blue ice crystals around him melted quickly into flowing blue water that gathered in his palm, before finally turning into a burning deep blue flame.

"Whose disciple are you? Ying Er? Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King? Or Third Senior Brother Joshua?" He asked as he returned his palm. Although he had just done a shocking act, nothing was truly as shocking as the question that had just escaped his mouth.

"You… How do you know Teacher Yoda?" The old fellow stuttered slightly while an emotional look appeared in his eyes as if he had guessed something.

Garen tried to detect it carefully, before smiling strangely suddenly.

"Did you manage to learn some things from Celine and Su Lin?"

"Could it… Could it be that you…?!!" The old fellow took a step forward with an excited look on his face. Other than that person, no one else would know secrets like these!

"My name is Garen." Garen's gaze passed through the crowd and fell on Xiao Ying as he noticed that she was so much like… so much like Ying Er from the past.

It grew silent, but no one dared to stir.

The Southern Sky Gate members could only gulp as everything that they heard was too impossible to believe. They could not comprehend it at all for awhile.

There was no information regarding the existence of the legendary White Cloud Gate Master except in portraits and photos. He had disappeared for sixty years and after he had been hit by the nuclear bomb, everyone assumed that he died. Suddenly, this person had appeared and said that he was Garen. It was normal that no one would accept these as facts so easily.

But other than Garen, no one else would be able to freeze almost ten soldiers within a few moments while more than ten Grandmasters of Combat stood in front of him like helpless babies.

A master of this caliber had no need to trick them.

"After my battle with Cayduran, some strange troublesome incidents occurred. In short, it was a lucky coincidence that I did not die, but unfortunately, I could not return either, until now," said Garen nostalgically as he recalled the previous fight.

He realized that he was looking past the crowd and straight at Xiao Ying suddenly.

"Has Ying Er died?"

Xiao Ying lowered her head and bit her lip but did not answer.

Garen was speechless for a moment. His quest for unlimited power caused him to unknowingly involve the existence and emotions of the people around him. Time raced by and he lost everything that he once possessed. Even if he desired to return, he knew that he had lost his chance.

**************

At East Continent's Southern Sky Gate, First Heavenly General Garen had appeared and killed fourteen first rate Grandmasters of Combat including Jessian, allowing the three provinces that were controlled by the Ling Army to fall into the hands of Southern Sky Gate.

This news traveled far and wide like a hurricane and spread throughout the entire East Continent quickly through the radios. It travelled across the ocean at the same time, and when the masters of Stonecliff Continent, Fivestar Continent, and Azure Continent received this news simultaneously, they could hardly believe it, and chose to send representatives to East Continent to verify the information, while some of the Grandmasters of Combat made the trip there personally.

The governments of the Three Great Countries made plans in secret. Although they were no movements on the surface, they had actually dispatched large groups of spies that traveled towards East Continent with members of Immortal Palace and Behemoth secretly.

The news regarding Young Divine Master's death in battle hit them like an earthquake. Other than Immortal Palace, Weisman Empire, Celestial Circle Gate, and Crimson Sand Sword Gate were also shocked by the news.

The entire Combat World fell into a state of shock, but the first ones to react were Celestial Circle Gate strongest Sword King Andrela.

Meanwhile, after Garen had integrated the army forces of the current three provinces, he gathered the members of White Cloud Gate and Southern Sky Gate. As Immortal Palace's public opinion throughout the years stated that Southern Sky Gate had become a group that gathered Demon Warriors, when Garen came into being, his original title of First Heavenly General was changed into Demon God-General.

After getting to know Xiao Ying, Garen waited in the provincial capital quietly for the arrival of Andrela and King of Nightmares. At the same time, he was also waiting for the invasion of Immortal Palace's Divine Master.

**************

Night breeze blew past the top of a tall dark red tower.

Garen stood on the top of the tower and looked down at the night view of the entire provincial capital from afar.

Throughout the black ground, countless pale yellow lights illuminated the area like glittering stars. Some of them were lit up while others were extinguished, making them resembled a long river of light that flowed continuously.

Garen leaned against the sloped tower top while his black and gold-trimmed cloak bunched up around his body as the wind tousled it.

Xiao Ying knelt beside him and poured him a glass of alcohol in a little white porcelain cup slowly. After they got to know each other that day, Xiao Ying allowed herself to strip off her heavy responsibilities so that she could return to being a lively young girl again.

Garen thought of Ying Er whenever he saw her, allowing him to treat her with the same care. Meanwhile, the little girl warmed up to him as well, partially due to his youthful appearance that made it difficult for her to treat him as an elder.

Therefore, a strange relationship formed between them, as if they were both individuals with the same ranking.

"Gate Master, what are you thinking of? Is it something to do with Grandmother?" Xiao Ying put the wine pot down and glanced at Garen's side profile. The silver glow from the moonlight reflected across his face, making him look like the Moon God.

"I think of her a lot when I look at you." Garen raised the wine cup and sipped from it slowly while a strange feeling filled his heart. "Both of you are really too similar…"

"Are we?" Ying Er smiled. "Xiao Ying had heard Grandmother mention Big Bro Gate Master before as well."

She combed through her hair after it had been blown messily by the wind, and paused.

"‘It felt like a dream. I blinked and realized that my own big brother had transformed into an unimaginably strong person.' Those were Grandmother's exact words."

"To be honest, perhaps I was selfish in the end. I was only concerned about making myself stronger, but I forgot that I would be causing changes throughout the lives of the people around me and that these changes were not necessarily good ones," said Garen softly while he turned the wine cup in his hand and glanced at Xiao Ying guiltily. If Ying Er had remained as a normal person from the beginning to the end, perhaps her life would be happier. The burdens that Xiao Ying was forced to bear, would perhaps lessen as well.

"Grandmother Ying Er never blamed you," Xiao Ying replied with a smile. "I never blamed you either. Everyone has their own decision-making rights, and even normal people are allowed to grasp their own lives. I want to thank you for the changes that you caused in the beginning because they gave me the right to make my own choices."

"You're still so young…" Garen's gaze softened.

"We have a phrase here in the East Continent that goes: ‘Intelligence comes first, regardless of age'," said Xiao Ying frankly.

She hesitated for a few moments.

"Xiao Ying has a strange question to ask, but I don't know if… I already know that this question is impolite."

"Ask away. However, I can't promise that I'll answer it," Garen winked with a smile.

Xiao Ying waited for a moment before raising her head and meeting Garen's eyes.

"Gate Master, can you… live forever without aging?"