Chapter 124 - Bridge of Blood
When Yaan entered the bloody vortex in the 3rd Trial Realm back then in order to escape from the Ghu Clan, he was inford by a voice that he had entered the ‘bridge’ between the 3rd and 4th Trial Realms. There was no voice helpfully explaining the situation this ti, but this was clearly also a sort of bridge.
Unlike last ti, Yaan could imdiately see an ‘end’ to this bridge. He could also tell that he had no hope of ever exiting this place if he simply sat down and waited.
In fact, as soon as he entered the vortex, he entered a whole new world. Like in the 3rd trial vortex, bloody fluid filled with vitality and killing intent was present here, but that was where the similarities ended.
Deep red fluid swirled around Yaan’s body, forming a tunnel with a red haze in the centre. Although the bloody fluid was not actually touching him, the red haze alone was enough to make him feel as if his body was being crushed under the strain.
Within seconds, Yaan was breathing heavily. He had tired himself out just entering the vortex in the first place, and now, he was already finding it difficult to endure.
As he forced his eyes open and ignored the pain of the pressure which almost crushed his eyes back into his skull, Yaan stared ahead. All he could see was the continuation of this red tunnel. The end was in sight, but at the sa ti, it seed so far away…
Yaan moved forwards without looking back. It was obvious to him that no matter what, he needed to travel forwards through the tunnel. What lay behind him was irrelevant, and looking back would only waste energy that he did not have to spare.
Step…
Yaan grimaced heavily as the pressure almost doubled after he took a single step. He paused, briefly allowing his body to acclimate to the strain, before resolutely taking another step.
Step, step, step…
With each step, the pressure exuded by the surrounding bloody power bore into his body and threatened to rip him apart. However, after taking five steps, Yaan’s expression changed. He paused briefly, then slowly took another step. Despite the pain increasing as muffled cracking sounds resonated within his body, he showed a joyous expression. With a determined look, he began walking forwards with long, slow, but purposeful strides.
With each step, his body experienced an imnse strain greater than the last. However, during the act of moving forwards, his body actually absorbed a small portion of the murderous red haze in the atmosphere, helping to regenerate the damage which was inflicted to his body! This red haze reminded Yaan of the 3rd trial vortex, where he absorbed the vitality by attempting to walk against the flow.
This ti, the strange red power he absorbed was far more violent. It rampaged ferociously through his body, mind and even his soul! Trying to control this power was completely impossible, all of Yaan’s cultivation abilities were totally useless, they could not help him…
However, he found that so long as he continued moving forwards, the red power did not cause him any harm. Even if he moved slowly, it was fine, so long as he continued to move. The mont he stopped, the flow of the rampant red haze beca chaotic, losing its steady flow throughout his body.
Not only would the red haze not heal him in this situation, making it impossible to continue resisting the pressure within the tunnel, but it actively damaged him. If Yaan stopped for longer than half a second, he had no doubt that the red power within his body would tear him apart from inside out!
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Eventually, Yaan realised that he had taken dozens of steps.
Before he knew it, he had taken hundreds of steps.
A precarious phenona allowed Yaan to reach this point - by continuously moving without stopping for a single instant, the red power that he absorbed from the bloody red haze accumulated without ever declining. Not only did this power, which Yaan still had no control over whatsoever, build up, but the rate of flow within his body beca increasingly hasty.
Whilst this power felt shockingly dangerous, it also balanced out the external pressure which continued to puml down on his body. The pressure was balanced, whilst any damage was healed over as it ford.
Yaan felt like a treasure being tempered, it was as if his entire body was being broken down and rebuilt in a perpetual cycle! It was a terrifying feeling, being forced to continue moving into an unknown abyss, with every step thrusting him deeper and deeper into the all-encompassing danger.
After so many steps, the exit didn’t seem to be getting any closer…
At first, Yaan could stop for half a second and then continue on, but at this point, there was no possible way that he could stop. Ignoring the external pressure of the bloody tunnel, just the red power within his body would go out of control and rip him apart in a storm of chaos if he halted his footsteps for a single mont.
Thousands of steps on…
Yaan’s Psyche Power was depleted and the ongoing strain made it impossible to replenish. Luckily, it seed that this tunnel and the bloody powers within did not cause any damage to his Sea of Consciousness itself, only draining away his Psyche Power as it ford. Because of this, Yaan was barely able to cling onto consciousness, though his thought process and reflexes felt heavily subdued now that his Psyche Power and psyche avatar were not available for use.
His Vital Energy and Astral Power were also depleted to the point of being unusable. Usually, in this sort of depleted state, a cultivator would lose consciousness. Perhaps it was thanks to Yaan’s sturdy body that he was able to remain awake…
However, his body was also in a poor state. He was like a man made from blood and tendons; his skin was torn to shreds the mont it ford, his muscles leaked blood continually as they were eroded and recovered, whilst his bones were ground away and rebuilt ti and ti again.
Existing in this state could be defined by a single word - unbearable.
Cultivators tended to possess a strong will, but in truth, much of this was thanks to their cultivation and the various energies that they could utilise to help them resist adversity and hardship.
Pain could be overco, numbed and reduced, by cycling energy of any sort. Possessing a strong body gave Yaan an innate resistance to these sorts of things to, but that was under the condition that his vitality was maintained, and not reduced to a pathetic state like it was right now. Even Psyche Power cultivators rely used their Psyche Power to strengthen their will, and to act as a boundary between adversity and themselves.
When every aspect of a cultivator’s power was removed, what were they left with, really? When all of their physical and ntal energy was drained, when their body was exhausted and destroyed, when their soul was subdued and almost crippled, how could they go on?
Yaan’s gaze, which was originally determined and resolute, was now dull, almost lifeless. He started with motivated thoughts of overcoming this trial, but now, his mind was blank. He did not even have the energy to think, aside from the occasional stray thought that entered his mind every now and then.
‘How long has it been…?’
‘It hurts…’
‘Why am I still moving…?’
‘Right…because I have no other choice…’
‘There is no other way…I can only go forwards…there is no other choice…’
‘If I stop, it’s all over…’
‘But why do I even care…?’
‘What if this pain never ends…?’
‘It feels like it will never end…’
‘Perhaps if I die, I can finally rest…’
‘So why…am I still going on…?’
As ti passed by, the frequency of these thoughts beca less and less.
Hundreds of steps, thousands, tens of thousands…how many steps had it been? How long had he been moving for? Just why was he doing this…why did he go on?
What drove him exactly?
In Yaan’s current state, these were rely passing thoughts that eventually faded away as his exhaustion spread beyond his body, his cultivation, his mind and his soul, reaching sowhere much deeper.
He was so tired…
This feeling reminded Yaan of two recent occasions. The first was in the 7th pagoda trial, after he defeated the copies of himself using that unknown power. The second was in the 9th pagoda’s 2nd hall, when he resisted the murderous dominance of that red-haired entity…
It was an exhaustion that encompassed the heart, driving so deep that it was simply impossible to resist. And yet, because he had experienced this sort of exhaustion twice before, Yaan was able to hold on for a short while after this feeling enveloped him.
But…he could only go so far. As he drove himself to the extent of his limit to endure, Yaan tripped and stumbled. Imdiately, he felt the ferocious red power tearing through his body, threatening to obliterate him.
BANG BANG BANG!
His bones, organs and muscles began detonating, filling Yaan with such intense pain and shock that for the briefest of monts, his eyes reopened. In this mont, unwillingness covered his face. He forced himself to look forwards through a bloody gaze, as he lifted his leg up one final ti.
BANG!
His leg detonated, turning into a bloody ss of a stump before he could finish taking the step.
Yaan sighed bitterly as he fell down.
In his mind, he had definitely failed. He did not even possess the energy to lant over his own impending death.
The mont Yaan finally lost consciousness, the red tunnel vanished and the red hazy power within his body was rapidly extracted out. A beam of all-coloured light descended on his body, preventing his rapidly approaching death and allowing him to cling to life for a mont. Yaan did not wake back up, but as this light shone down upon him, his body continued to recover until it returned to peak condition. Even all of his energies recovered, but not only that, they all seed to have been tempered and improved to an astonishing degree!
With that, Yaan unconsciously fell into the 5th Trial Realm.
Reviews
All reviews (0)