Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1011: Ember Pool

The air grew significantly heavier and the scent of sulfur thickened as Zhan Tian and Li Yu walked toward the towering volcano at the center of the trial ground. A grand staircase carved from black volcanic rock led up the side of the burning peak where the main inheritance awaited the younger generation. The path was crowded with ambitious cultivators from various factions but a wide perimeter of empty space naturally formed around the grandfather and grandson duo.Elders and powerful guardians from the top lineages stood near the base of the stairs and they watched the approaching Worldkeeper with wary eyes. They gripped their weapons tightly while cold sweat gathered on their brows. They were terrified that Zhan Tian intended to forcefully claim the sovereign inheritance for his grandson by bullying his way to the summit. Many of the orthodox leaders exchanged nervous glances and communicated mentally to prepare for the worst outcome.

However, everyone present was smart enough to keep their mouths shut. No one dared to voice their concerns or step into the path of the towering brute. They remembered the severed corpse of the Fiend Sovereign commander and decided their pride was not worth their lives.

Li Mei stood a fair distance away with the Li Clan delegation and she watched her cousin approach the volcano with a complicated expression. She commanded her elders to hold their ground and wait to see what the chaotic duo would do before making their own ascent.

Zhan Tian ignored the terrified stares and the political tension filling the valley as he led Li Yu right to the foot of the grand stairs. They did not take a single step up the volcanic rock.

"We are here," Li Yu said while looking up at the imposing mountain. He reached down to his belt and unstoppered the ethereal gourd he had received from Astramentis.

The swirling silver and grey mist spilled out from the opening and cascaded onto the hot stone floor. The mist condensed rapidly until Ignia materialized before them. The fire spirit looked around the burning landscape with wide eyes while the embers of her hair danced in the rising heat. She took a deep breath of the sulfur rich air and a look of recognition crossed her glowing features.

"You were right to bring me here," Ignia whispered as she reached a hand out toward the volcano. "The pull is incredibly strong in this place. It feels like a heartbeat echoing in my chest."

Li Yu smiled and gestured toward the grand staircase where the other cultivators were preparing to climb. "The main inheritance is up there at the summit. Do you feel drawn to the peak?"

Ignia tilted her head and closed her eyes to focus on the sensation. She stood perfectly still for a dozen heartbeats before shaking her head. She turned away from the imposing stairs and pointed her delicate finger toward a quiet and secluded alcove situated near the eastern base of the mountain.

"No," Ignia said softly. "It is not up there. It is this way."

Li Yu and Zhan Tian followed the fire spirit as she drifted away from the gathered crowds. They walked toward the eastern alcove and discovered a small rustic house built from simple polished stones. It looked entirely out of place amidst the hostile volcanic landscape. The house sat behind a shimmering translucent barrier that radiated a gentle but unyielding heat.

Several loose cultivators were already gathered near the structure and they were attempting to bypass the ward. A wandering swordsman struck the barrier with his blade but the weapon simply bounced off without leaving a single scratch. An older scholar tried to unravel the array using intricate hand seals but the barrier flared and pushed him backward into the dirt. No one could touch the house or comprehend the laws protecting it.

The loose cultivators scrambled out of the way the moment they saw Zhan Tian approaching. They abandoned their efforts and fled toward the main stairs to avoid his gaze.

Ignia did not hesitate or slow her pace as she reached the translucent wall. She walked straight forward and her physical form passed through the barrier as easily as walking through an open breeze. The restrictive laws did not reject her or push her away. They instead parted to welcome her home.

The moment Ignia stepped onto the front porch of the rustic house, the ambient energy of the entire valley shifted. A blinding light erupted from the simple wooden door and forced Li Yu to shield his eyes.

The projection of the legacy creator materialized on the porch. It was the same fiery figure that had scolded Zhan Tian at the entrance of the realm. The trial spirit then appeared and looked at Ignia with an expression of overwhelming shock and his glowing form trembled violently. The spirit raised a hand and a spatial distortion quickly swallowed the area. The air twisted and stretched before snapping back into place. Zhan Tian, Li Yu and Ignia vanished from the base of the volcano in the blink of an eye.

The gathered elders and the rival factions stared at the empty alcove in stunned silence. However, a collective sigh of relief washed over the crowd a moment later. They were highly surprised that the three of them had simply disappeared into a hidden space but they were incredibly happy that the Worldkeeper was finally gone. They could now focus on the main trial without the constant fear of his presence.

Li Yu blinked away the lingering disorientation of the spatial shift and took in his new surroundings. They were no longer standing in the harsh and burning wasteland of the trial ground. They had been transported to a serene and lush courtyard filled with blooming flame lotuses and flowing streams of warm water. It was a beautiful sanctuary hidden away from the rest of the realm.

The trial spirit stood in the center of the courtyard and stared at Ignia. He seemed to forget that Zhan Tian and Li Yu were even standing there.

"How is this possible?" The trial spirit asked with a trembling voice as he reached a hand out toward the young fire spirit. "The ancient legends must be true after all. You actually grew from the soil."

Ignia looked at the old man with a tilted head and a confused expression. "Who are you? Why does this place feel so familiar to my heart?"

The trial spirit lowered his hand and let out a heavy sigh filled with thousands of years of longing and sorrow. He turned to face Li Yu and Zhan Tian while his fiery robes flickered in the quiet breeze.

"The creator of this legacy planted a rare fruit in a secluded cave far away from the main trial," the spirit explained with a solemn tone. "Inside the seed of that fruit, he placed a partial fragment of the soul belonging to the woman he loved. It was all that was left of her soul when he finally reached her side during the battle. He also placed a partial fragment of his own soul into the seed alongside hers to bind their fates together."

This text was taken from NovelFire. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Li Yu listened intently and looked at Ignia. The pieces of her origin were finally falling into place.

"It has been twenty thousand years since he planted that seed," the spirit continued as he paced across the courtyard. "The seed absorbed the ambient energy of the realm and eventually grew. At some point in history, it sprouted and became a sentient fire spirit. I had no idea she existed until today."

"How could you not know?" Zhan Tian asked while resting the butt of his glaive against the stone tiles. "You govern this entire realm and control the arrays. You see everything that happens within these borders."

"I am tied to the opening cycle of the legacy," the spirit countered defensively. "I sleep in between the trial ground openings to conserve my residual energy. I only wake every five thousand years when the gates are unseal. And the moment I woke up this time, you smashed through my barrier and sent thousands of greedy cultivators flooding into my domain. I had to manage the influx of people and rewrite the laws of the realm to prevent you from ruining everything. I did not have the time to scan the remote cave for a newly born spirit."

The trial spirit turned his attention back to Ignia and offered a gentle smile. "The creator wanted the two of them to be together in some way even after death. You are the living embodiment of their combined souls and their enduring bond."

Ignia looked down at her hands and the crackling embers of her hair shifted into a brighter shade of orange. She did not possess the memories of the creator or the woman he loved but the heavy burden of her existence was lifted. She finally understood her origin and the reason for the relentless pull in her chest.

"What happened to the creator?" Li Yu asked quietly. He felt a respect for a man who would go to such lengths to preserve the soul of his beloved.

The trial spirit frowned and shook his head. "I cannot tell you that. The final fate of the creator is a secret meant only for the one who conquers the main trial and inherits the core legacy. Even though you brought her here, I am bound by the laws of my creation. I cannot reveal the end of his story."

"That is fair," Li Yu nodded in understanding. He did not want to force the spirit to break his own oaths.

"However, I must thank you," the trial spirit said while bowing deeply toward Li Yu and Zhan Tian. "You brought the most important piece of the creator's heart back to her rightful home. That is a deed worthy of a grand reward."

The spirit waved his hand over a stone table sitting in the corner of the courtyard. A collection of glowing spiritual fruits and bundled rare herbs appeared on the surface. They radiated a potent fire energy and carried the distinct scent of ancient medicine.

"Please accept these fruits and herbs as a token of my gratitude," the spirit offered warmly. "They will aid in your cultivation and help purify your internal meridians and body."

Li Yu smiled and stepped forward to accept the generous gift. He was more than happy with the outcome of their scenic walk. He had helped a lost spirit find her home, learned a bit more about history and gained some valuable resources in the process. He reached his hand out to take the herbs but a heavy arm blocked his path.

Zhan Tian stepped in front of his grandson and glared at the trial spirit with a look of disappointment.

"You are too cheap, old ghost," Zhan Tian declared with a loud scoff. "We brought over someone who is incredibly important to your creator. We solved a mystery that spans twenty thousand years and you think you can hand us a few glowing fruits and send us on our way? We are not beggars and we are not leaving with just scraps. That simply cannot do."

The trial spirit bristled with indignation and his fiery robes flared brightly. "Scraps? Those are extremely rare and high grade spiritual fruits! They take two thousand years to ripen and they contain the essence of fire! Loose cultivators would slaughter each other for a single bite of that harvest!"

"My grandson is not a loose cultivator," Zhan Tian shot back while crossing his thick arms. "He is the blood of the Zhan Clan. He needs real resources to grow strong. I want something that can help to further temper his physical body. He is quite weak right now and needs a proper foundation."

The trial spirit stared at the Worldkeeper as if the man had lost his mind. However, he turned his glowing eyes toward Li Yu and actively scanned the young man's cultivation base for the first time. The spirit's fiery jaw dropped open in disbelief.

"Are you blind?!" The spirit sputtered while pointing a shaking finger at Li Yu. "The boy is in the Paragon realm in both body and Qi! His foundation is thicker than a mountain and his internal meridians are flowing like raging rivers! What in the Dao are you talking about? He is not weak!"

"He is practically skin and bones," Zhan Tian insisted stubbornly while ignoring the factual evidence presented to him. "He cannot even pull a little stick out of the dirt back home. A stiff breeze could knock him over. I demand a proper tempering resource or I will start breaking the decorative pillars in this courtyard."

The trial spirit looked at the heavy glaive resting on Zhan Tian's shoulder and then looked at the pristine stone pillars holding up the pavilion. He remembered how easily the brute had shattered the entrance barrier not long ago. The spirit was a residual projection and he was extremely wary of engaging in a physical confrontation with this brute.

"Fine," the spirit groaned while rubbing his face in defeat. "You are an unreasonable tyrant. Follow me."

The trial spirit turned and walked toward the back of the courtyard. Zhan Tian flashed a victorious grin at his grandson and motioned for Li Yu to follow. They walked through a dense thicket of flame bamboo and emerged near the edge of a deep natural crater.

The crater was filled to the brim with a thick glowing liquid that looked exactly like molten lava. The intense heat radiating from the surface was enough to singe the edges of Li Yu's robes. The liquid bubbled and popped while releasing plumes of rich spiritual energy into the air.

"This is the Primordial Ember Pool," the trial spirit explained with a begrudging tone. "It is a supreme tempering pool designed for a cultivator's body to be reborn and crafted anew. It burns away all mortal impurities and reinforces the bones with fire laws. It was meant as one of the grand rewards for the warrior who eventually inherits the main legacy. Their body would undergo rebirth so they can more easily handle the teachings."

"If it is part of the grand prize, why are you giving it to us?" Li Yu asked.

"Because there has been no successor at all. Not a single one over these twenty thousand years," the spirit sighed heavily. "The pool gathers energy from the core of the realm and slowly fills over time. Without anyone to drain it, the energy has built up a massive surplus. There is plenty of liquid in that crater for four people. The future successor will still have enough to temper their body when they finally conquer the peak."

The spirit turned and pointed a stern finger directly at Zhan Tian. "Li Yu can use the pool to temper his foundation. But you cannot touch it. You are far beyond the limits of this realm and your presence in that liquid would drain it dry. Is that point very clear?"

"I understand, stop complaining like an old man, you old ghost," Zhan Tian agreed with a wide smile.

Li Yu stepped closer to the edge of the crater to examine the bubbling lava. "How long should I sit in the liquid? Do I need to circulate a specific technique to absorb the heat?"

Before the trial spirit could answer the questions, Zhan Tian stepped up behind his grandson. He placed a massive hand flat against Li Yu's back and shoved him forward with tremendous force.

Li Yu let out a startled yell as he tumbled over the rocky ledge. He fell through the burning air and crashed face first into the bubbling lava of the Primordial Ember Pool. The thick glowing liquid splashed over the edges of the crater and swallowed him whole.

Zhan Tian dusted his hands off and laughed loudly as he watched his grandson sink beneath the surface. He wanted to make sure the boy was inside the pool before the frustrated trial spirit could change his mind and take the words back. The Worldkeeper found a comfortable rock near the edge of the crater and sat down to wait for the results of the fiery crucible.