Chapter 350 Divination and Enlightenmen
3 HOURS LATER
MOUNTAIN OF ENLIGHTENMENT, JADE SEA PREFECTURE
"Bro, are you sure that your sister will be here?" A scrawny, black-haired boy asked as he placed his hands on his knees.
This boy"s face was covered with sweat, with his chest heaving up and down as he continuously breathed in and out deeply.
His limbs were slightly trembling too, as if they were having a hard time supporting themselves right now.
To anyone looking at this boy, they will think that he just did a strenuous activity with his exhausted appearance.
In front of this scrawny boy, a blond stocky teen, who was also out of this breath, let out a sigh as he crossed his arms.
This blond teen then gave the scrawny boy a withering look, as if he was questioning the scrawny boy"s sanity.
"Don"t doubt me like that. I am sure that my sister will be here." The blond teen said, as his face that was full of blisters started to jiggle. "You know that I am an expert in Divination. For me to know where my sister is just easy for me!"
"Hmph, you say that you are an expert in Divination, yet it still took you several months to "predict" that your sister will be here. To me that doesn"t look like it"s at the expert level." The scrawny boy replied as he let out a snort.
"You-" Before the blond teen could answer, the scrawny boy glared at him as he continued talking.
"And from what I can remember, didn"t you also have some other leads on where your sister could be? But what happened to all those leads? All of them turned out to be duds right?" As the scrawny boy said these words, he just continued on shaking his head. "Hmph, since you have already failed on those places, what makes you think that this place won"t be just another dead-end?"
"I-I am sure that my Divination this time is right!" The blond teen replied with desperation in his tone. "I know deep inside my heart that this place is the one where I will see my sister!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let"s see if your "heart" is indeed right…" The scrawny boy replied as he shook his head.
"Ian, why are you always this doubtful of my skill?" The blond teen, who now noticed the scrawny boy"s lack of interest, growled out as he faced him. "I helped you out before with my divination, didn"t I? I even saved your life at that time!"
"My problem in the past and your sister"s disappearance are two different things, Marcus." The scrawny boy, whose name has turned out to be Ian, muttered as he averted his eyes away from the blond teen. "When you helped me out before, your cultivation, skills, and Time are all at their best. That is the reason why you were able to easily help me before. But now? Your Time has almost dwindled to nothing, while your cultivation and skills had started to regress too… In this kind of situation, do you still think that you have the chance to save your sister?"
"You!" At this point, the blond teen, who was called by Ian as Marcus, grabbed Ian"s shoulders as he pressed his face near to his.
Marcus" breath, which smelled like cigarettes and alcohol, wafted all over Ian"s face, which made Ian wince.
"Ian, if you only joined me here to make me feel like a failure, then I think you should already go back." Marcus said as he tightened his grip on Ian"s shoulder. "Go on, leave me alone here. I don"t need loudmouths like you squawking on my ears the whole day!"
"…"
Instead of looking hurt from Marcus" words, Ian, who was still under Marcus" grip, only let out a wry smile as he glared at him.
"Hmph, the only reason that I joined you here was because I was worried for your safety." Ian replied testily as his gaze at Marcus started to intensify. "But from the looks of it, it seems like you are not even interested in my aid anymore."
"Hmph, your aid? Please, my divination does not even require any of your a.s.sistance!" At this point, Marcus looked like he was about to explode, but he had managed to hold it in as he spat out this reply to Ian. "I just allowed you to join me since I don"t like travelling alone!"
"Is that so? Well in that case, I shall agree to your request!" Ian said as he forcefully tore off Marcus" grip on his shoulders.
"Hiss…"
If it was before, Marcus, who had a higher cultivation that Ian, should have been unaffected by Ian"s attempt to move his hands.
But months of neglect and vices had rendered Marcus" body weak, which allowed the usually docile Ian to successfully pry his hands off him.
"Heh, you are lucky that I put up with you for the last 3 months, Marcus." Ian slowly said as he pushed Marcus off him. "If it were not for your help to me before, I would have never joined you here! h.e.l.l, I was already tempted to leave you 30 days after I joined you! It was only my debt to you that forced me to stay until today!"
"Stop saying those useless words. I just told you to leave, so leave now!" Even if Ian had overwhelmed Marcus in terms of power, Marcus seemed to not mind it as his glare at Ian did not even waver at all. "I don"t need hearing your complaints and boasts here anymore!"
"Hmph, I wish you luck finding your sister then." Ian said with finality as he started walking down the mountain, leaving Marcus who was now wheezing in anger. "But I doubt that you will find your sister here! After all, luck has abandoned you ever since your sister left you!"
"You! How dare you badmouth Elise that way!" If Marcus was able to contain his rage before, now he was unable to take it after Ian has started to badmouth his sister. "Elise would have never abandoned me that easily!"
"Are you sure about that?" Ian, who was already several steps away from Marcus, said as he stopped in his tracks. He stopped walking as he turned his head back at Marcus. "If Elise did not abandon you, then why is she still not here? Why are you still not seeing her?"
"Like what I told you before, I have always seen a monster in my divination for Elise! That just means that she is currently in danger because of that monster!" Marcus roared out as his eyes began to turn red. "The reason that she cannot go back to me is because of that d.a.m.ned monster! That thing was the reason that Elise is still missing right now!"
"Well, I hope you can see that monster and your sister in this place." After saying these words, Ian continued his descent down the mountain, this time with quicker steps.
It took Ian no time at all to further distance himself away from Marcus, who seemed to be uninterested on calling Ian back.
"Hmph, once I find my sister, I will tell her about your conduct here!" Once he had seen that Ian was already halfway down the mountain, Marcus only let out a sneer as he crossed his arms. "Elise will surely be p.i.s.sed with the way that you treated me here. Hehehe… Ian, you should be prepared to be beaten up by her later!"
After thinking of these words, Marcus began to tremble as his mood plummeted again.
"Elise, where the h.e.l.l are you right now?" Marcus thought to himself as he hugged his body. His body continued trembling as the image of his divination continued to flash in his mind.
"Why am I always seeing a monster when I Divine your location? Is that monster… the one who will eventually kill you?"
As he thought of the "monster" that he had been seeing in his divination, Marcus s.h.i.+vers increased as he started to feel disgusted.
"That monster… that is the worst creature that I have seen ever in my life… Even worse than the mutated cultivators who failed on their quest to change their bodies… How could something like that exist in this world?"
As he recalled the "monster"s" grotesque appearance, the fear on Marcus" eyes increased, although he immediately clamped it down as he gritted his teeth.
"So what if that monster is the worst? As long as it has designs on Elise, I will do my best to defeat it, even at the expense of my life!"
Marcus then steeled his body as he clenched his fist.
He looked all around him as he prepared his body for the incoming fight with this "monster".
"My other divinations might have failed, but I am sure that this divination here is the right one!" Marcus muttered as he pulled out a series of paper talismans from his pocket. "After all, this divination has turned out to be the same for the last 7 days! If that"s not accurate, then I don"t know which divination will be!"
And with that, the confidence in Marcus" heart started to increase until it became a warm feeling that managed to repress the fear and uncertainty in his heart.
"Monster! Show yourself to me right now! I am waiting for you!" Marcus shouted as he brandished his paper talismans around him. "If you want to make it difficult for me to get Elise, then I shall entertain your twisted desires! But you should remember that it will be me who will be victorious in the end!"
Only silence answered Marcus, who gritted his teeth as he continued shouting.
"What"s the matter? Are you scared? Come out and face me, monster!"
No matter which way one looked at it, it was obvious that Marcus was taunting the monster right now.
As for why, it was obvious that he was doing this to see the monster.
After all, his divination has tied the monster and Elise together. This means that once he sees the monster, Marcus could also possibly see his sister.
Now, all that he has to do was wait and wait until the monster brings itself in front of him. Once the monster arrives, Marcus was sure that he can start his moves to save his sister!
So even if there was n.o.body around him, Marcus continued to shout his taunts, in hopes of luring the monster as early as possible.
Marcus also started to get creative, as he made sure that each new taunts that he said will get more and more dirtier. After all, a dirty taunt surely is the best way to lure in a monstrous being.
But before Marcus" taunts could reach the level of "unsuitable for kids", a sudden change forced him to stop.
"Rumble…"
Marcus, whose body has already stabilized, started to sway again as the ground under him started to shake.
No, it was not only the ground under him that was shaking.
It was the whole mountain that was actually shaking!
Yes, the Mountain of Enlightenment, which was considered to be the former Holy Land of all the Cultivators, was now shaking intensely, as if something was about to come out of it!
"What the h.e.l.l is this? Why is the whole mountain shaking?" Marcus thought to himself as he did his best to keep his body stable. "Is this a natural event? No, something like this should not happen here in the Mountain of Enlightenment!"
Marcus could have continued thinking of possible theories on the reason for the mountain"s movements, but that thinking was immediately cut-off as his vision was covered by an intense bright light.
"!!!" Marcus tried to struggle against this light, but it was in vain as his mind collapsed under its exposure.
The white that he saw was replaced by darkness, as his consciousness was also taken down along with his mind.
"Elise…"
This was the last thought that Marcus had as his body slumped down like a rag on the ground.