There is a t.i.tle’, Zax’s voice quivered.
The first thing that popped up from the minimal information he could gather from the second subject was a five words t.i.tle, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with immense excellence as if it was part of a divine existence.
‘Legacy Of The One’s Path. Zax said in trepidation.
He clearly could not calmly handle the bits of the decrypted second subject in his possession. Merely staring at the information floating in his sea of consciousness aroused a sense of obeisance, in a way it was similar to the imposing presence of Supreme Ruler Ariel and that of the expert’s colossal image, which he still unceasingly kept constructing with the pieces of spiritual knowledge.
Currently, Zax has already fully connected sixty percent of the great puzzle of the expert’s image. Regrettably, it was still not enough for him to make up what he sees.
Zax steeled and reprimanded himself. ‘Enough!’ He cried loudly. He was not willing to let couple of remnants disturb him. ‘If I was not qualified for the part of the second subject, the expert wouldn’t have made it so I could read it, like the rest of the information!’
‘Legacy Of The One’s Path’’. He repeated. ‘Mist refinement technique… that is what it is…!’ Despite him forced calmness, Zax still gawked. ‘The mightiest legacy is a mist refinement technique?!’
To be honest, Zax never encountered a legacy. There were none in New Earth that he had heard about from any source, in any form of context and that was due to the secular circ.u.mstance of New Earth and its fairly short existence.
‘A message from the expert!’ Zax discovered and received it.
‘Potential heir, you have unrevealed the name of my greatest fortune, the mist refinement technique, Legacy Of The One’s Path. Because my demise is near, I decided to a.s.sist whoever may inherit the Legacy Of The One’s Path after me. Although, I do hope that you are of mine, potential heir’. The expert opened.
‘Potential heir, listen carefully, my words will not iterate, that I am capable of doing whether dead or a live’.
In other words, Zax understood, the message will vanish from his sea of consciousness on its own, after he will fully realize it.
‘First, I will hand you a confession, Legacy Of The One’s Path is not of my creation and in fact, it is much, much old than any being in the Immortal path. For this reason and more, any Martial cultivator who knows about the particularity of this mist refinement technique is doom to l.u.s.t for it’.
‘The second point I will give you is a superficial knowledge of one of the things making Legacy Of The One’s Path so mysterious. Legacy Of The One’s Path, as its name may suggest, cannot be cultivated, in its true sense, by more than one cultivator. The only way for someone to cultivate it, is if he or she will inherit it from the Core of its previous heir. In this case, it is maybe you and regrettably I’.
Zax could hear the reluctance and depression in the expert’s message.
‘You should be wary, at the case of you turning out to be the next heir. If others will find out while you are weak… you can blame only yourself. As for me, I too was chased for a long time, having to hide my ident.i.ty on multiply occasions. Only when I acquired strength did the burden of those hunting me loose. A prerequisite to survive as a cultivator of Legacy Of The One’s Path until you possess sufficient strength is to avoid revealing the innate signature of the mist refinement technique to those who are familiar with it’. The expert warned solemnly.
‘The third and last point you would be given is a test. Even if you are of mine, inheriting Legacy Of The One’s Path should not be done easily, thus, at the instant of my death I have divided my Core into four parts, four Black Cores of Darkness for four potential heirs. Unless you will collect and absorb to your dantian all four Black Core, Legacy Of The One’s Path cannot be cultivated. Potential heir, if you are aware of this message, your soul must have just broken through the second realm and you had yet to let it experienced the world. When you will leave your sea of consciousness, you will begin to sense the direction in which the other Black Cores are located. Go, s.n.a.t.c.h them from those who might hold them, collect all and absorb, become the sole heir of the mightiest legacy, the unparalleled mist refinement technique, Legacy Of The One’s Path!’
The message was over, its content engraved on Zax soul, but the otherwise it completely disappeared from the foreign energy of information flood the Black Core has sent him.
‘A mist refinement technique…’ Zax sat sluggishly on the Inner Panorama. ‘Can it be? Does this imply that I can really cultivate mist energy!’ A surge of excitement took over.
Till today, Zax only had half a.s.surance that he might be able to unclogged his Qi channels and cultivate mist energy if he body will break through the second realm and his Qi channels become strong enough to withstand the liquefied Qi clogging them.
A liquefied Qi or mist energy is the sign that a mist cultivator reached the second realm. Then again, the fitness level of a newbie Core Master is only at level C, the equivalent level to a Core Breaker, much below that of Zax’s fitness level!
Zax could only a.s.sume now that the reason his body and Qi channels still cannot endure his liquefied Qi is because it is at a whole another level than that of a regular mist cultivator, even, probably, one who cultivates the best mist refinement technique in New Earth.
‘There are four Black Cores!’ He recalled instantly the day he found the Black Core.
That day in the Essence Cave he was led, together with a Brown Digger, by an invisible power of attraction.
‘Must have been the part of me related to the expert… It should also be why I lost myself during the Earth’s Cores search…’ Zax realized correctly.
Since the uniqueness of his soul, the expert’s clone found him as a potential heir and led him to find the Essence Cave the Black Cores were hidden in.
When Zax got to the rock where his Black Core was at, beside an additional Black Core, there were already two cavities.
‘Master has the second Black Core, but two should have been taken before I got the Essence Cave!’
Zax hurriedly left his sea of consciousness and sprung on his feet.
“If the other two Black Cores have potential heirs like me, then they might already know where I-”
TUMP!
An obscure pulse echoed in Zax’s dantian and sea of consciousness.
TUMP!
A second pule sounded and a sudden attraction emerged with it.
TUMP!
“These… are the directions where the other three Black Cores are at!” Zax immediately tried to concentrate on the pulses and get an accurate position, and as he found out, it was easier said than done.
“This is the direction to Grandmaster’s cave”. The simplest one to follow was the closest Black Core that Kartius kept, but apart from getting the feeling that it is close and where to find it; Zax did not get much from its pulse.
“The other two…” Zax concentrated. Turning around. “Mmm… It’s deep in Valgarel”. He opened his eyes, frowning. “About where the core of Valgarel is at”.
The third Black Core posed a problem for Zax. He never was at the core of Valgarel. It was the territory of His Valor Ozeyn’s Red Rose Beaks tribe and humans were not allowed there.
“What I should do?” Zax mused. “There is only that…” His frown turned grimmer.
The only way to be exempted from having to obey a rule is becoming stronger than the one who made it!
That being said, His Valor Ozeyn is the strongest beast in Valgarel and one of the two strongest experts in New Earth.
“Breaking through the second realm of bodily cultivation will not be enough to go against him…” Zax clenched his fists.
Giving up was out of the question for Zax, and as such, as his temperament grew fiercer to attain the complete Legacy Of The One’s Path, a spark of comprehension dawned on him.
“The potential heir cannot be His Valor Ozeyn! Without collecting the entire legacy, it’s impossible to cultivate mist energy and His Valor Ozeyn is a Mist User! No! There are two option, either the other potential heir is someone who resides in the territory of the Red Rose Beaks tribe and is yet to meet the conditions for receiving the expert’s message, or the Black Core is simply carried on someone or being kept at some place and not being used like Master’s”.
Zax a.s.sessed the condition of the Black Core by considering that up till now no one came looking for the Black Core in his dantian and to what situations this prospect can lead.
“The last Black Core…” Zax closed his eyes for the last time and concentrated.
Slowly but steadily his chin perked up and his eyes opened to meet the ceiling of the cavern.
“Ercas Mir!”
The fourth Black Core somehow as found its way to the territory of the five powers!
“Collecting the legacy as just became more troublesome than I could imagine…” Zax whispered, no longer having the strength to plot how to get the third and fourth Black Cores.
Frankly, he knew too little about Ercas Mir and the dealings of the five powers that scheming for the Black Core was worth, at the moment.
Zax heaved a deep sigh.
At the very least he could make the same a.s.sertion regarding the condition of the fourth Black Core with one additional option.
If it has a potential heir that can sense the other three Black Cores, it could be that he or she did not come searching for them because the pathway to New Earth is guarded by the five powers and whoever it may be they do not have the means to sneakily go past the five powers’ guards – which in retrospect also mean that he or she is not tied or under the protection of the five powers.
“If that is the case, I can make up the way to find and get hold of the fourth Black Core after I’ll leave New Earth. As for the third one, I should consult Master and Grandmaster”.
Zax decided.
He moved to the rock blocking the entrance to the cavern, moved it with no effort, and left, ending his long session of training.