Chapter 125: The Mystical Realm

"What do you mean by, 'in charge of the chamber'?"

"Oh no, I am not your guard if that's what you thought!" Elder Sanchez shook his head and explained what he meant. "It just means that I'll act as a witness for you entering the chamber in case of any… let's say problems occur." He then extended a document to Claude, and said, "I just need you to sign this, and you'll be good to enter."

Claude read through the documents to make sure that there wasn't anything suspicious in them and then signed the papers and passed it back to Elder Sanchez, who simply nodded his head and turned back around and left.

"Alright then," Claude turned his gaze towards the chamber and exhaled. "Let's do this."

With that, Claude walked to the chamber, slowly opened the door and entered the room.

Although the building looked small from the outside, it was actually pretty spacious on the inside. In fact, it was even slightly bigger than the guest room in Claude's residence. 

However, unlike a normal room, the closed seclusion chamber had almost no furniture or other materials inside of it. It was completely empty except for a few bottles of medicine which were placed near one of the corners. 

Claude reached out and grabbed the medicine bottles and inspected them. There were a few bottles of Agary Root Tonic, which would help with increasing the speed at which the spiritual energy expands inside his body, as well as bottles filled with protein pills.

Claude brought the protein bottle close to his face and read the description on its cover; 'highly concentrated'. This meant that one pill would be enough for a cultivator in the sky realm to last one whole week without eating any food.

Claude then shifted his gaze to the next bottle, which he had heard of before but had never used; the Sazirian mixture, which was supposed to be taken by the cultivator only when he is inside of the closed seclusion chamber.

The consumption of the Sazirian mixture is one of the most integral parts of the closed cultivation training. The Sazirian mixture is a medicinal supplement that is made up of the Avasthitha tree sap, blood of the Blue Eyed Fox, Kalip oil, wild berries as well as a few secret ingredients and was prepared by an alchemist as per the instructions suggested in ancient cultivation texts.

According to the cultivation texts, the Sazirian mixture is a potion that was taken by cultivation warriors of the ancient times to enhance their bodies, spirits and their minds as fast as possible. 

The Sazirian mixture is supposed to help connect the cultivator with the mystical realm; a place that is said to be the realm of otherworldly monsters, and forces them to confront their mind demons, which are the demonic creatures who roam through the mystical realm in search of lost souls to overtake.

After confronting their mind demons, the cultivator is then expected to endure the physical as well as psychological attacks of the mystical creature and defeat it, which will result in the merging of the monster with the soul of the cultivator, essentially giving him a quick boost in rank.

Should the cultivator be defeated by their mind demons, the mind of the cultivator is then consumed by the mystical creature which would result in the person losing his or her mind. And although there are cases where the surviving cultivator did regain their sanity, most of these cultivators never actually recovered from the shock and pain they went through at the hands of the mind demon. This was the reason why not many people used the closed seclusion chamber. It was simply too risky, and most people considered the method to be not worth the gains.

Claude however, thought differently.

"You can leave now, Randall," After making sure that everything was alright, Claude turned around and walked back towards the entrance of the closed seclusion chamber. He shifted his gaze at Randall, and said, "I'll exit out of the chamber in one week, probably the day before the sparring contest begins. Until then, look after the residence for me."

"Very well, young master!" Randall said as he kneeled on one leg in front of Claude and lowered his head. "I wish you good luck on your training."

Claude nodded his head and waved his hands dismissively, and Randall stood up from the ground, bowed his head for a second time before turning around and walking back in the direction where he came from, leaving Claude standing alone in the entrance of the chamber.

Claude waited until Randall's figure completely disappeared from his view and then stepped back and closed the chamber from the inside. 

He crossed his legs and sat down in the middle of the room and immediately began inhaling and exhaling, and continued doing it for a few minutes. After that, Claude reached out to grab the medicine bottles and took them each one by one.

He then placed the bottles back in their original positions and began concentrating on his body as he felt a wave of heat and energy enveloping him from both the outside and the inside.

BZZZ!

All of a sudden, crackling and rattling sounds unceasingly rang out from inside his body, as the surge of terrifying energy began bursting everywhere within his meridians, and even though he was in immense pain, Claude gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, desperately trying to keep his calmness in this helpless situation.

"I did expect the training to be intense, but still, to think I still ended up underestimating the intensity." Claude began silently contemplating in his heart as his eyesight gradually began to grow weaker and weaker because of the effects of the medicine bottles.

Claude watched as the walls surrounding him began morphing into various shapes and colours, and he squinted his eyes in response to the bizarre visuals in front of him.

'Is this the effect of the Sazirian mixture?' Claude realized that the medicinal mixture was messing with his mind and his ability to see, to make him question reality itself.

Claude watched through his warped vision as the walls began wobbling left and right as though they were alive with bright and vibrant colours, immediately capturing Claude's attention.

'No, no.. do not look at the surroundings.' Claude shook his head as he tried to focus on his cultivation. Many cultivators have lost their minds because of this method, and he didn't wish to become just another victim on its list. 

The fact that the walls were moving and they were morphing into materials meant that the medicine was working, and his mind had successfully been transported to the mystical realm. From now on, Claude knew that he had to be careful and not lose his way. The mind demons could try to influence him using their dirty tricks, but he wasn't going to let them do whatever they want.

"Are you sure about that, Sakuto?" A familiar voice interrupted his train of thoughts and Claude's eyes widened with surprise as he swiftly turned his head in the direction where the voice had come from.

As he turned, his surroundings immediately morphed into the inside of a japanese room and a gorgeous woman stood in front of the doorway with a warm smile on her face. She seemed to be older than Claude's current age, but shorter and slender in figure with her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

"Haruka..." Claude whispered softly, only to realize that his voice had changed. Surprised, Claude touched his face and neck, and realized that he was in a different body right now. He looked like he was in his twenties, and he had a completely different, yet familiar face.

He touched his cheeks with his fingertips, his expression filled with dismay as he did so. 

"Honey, what's wrong?" The woman spoke softly as she walked up to Claude, who turned around and met her gaze.

He said nothing, and the woman gently pulled his hand up and placed it on her cheeks, slowly rubbing it up and down as she whispered, "I missed you..."

Swip!

In an instant, Claude pulled back his hand, grabbed the katana that had manifested in mid air and slashed at the woman in front of him.

Slash!

The blade sliced through the woman's neck as though it was butter, and blood began bursting out of the opening, as the woman stared at her husband in disbelief.

"Why..." The woman asked with a painful expression as she leaned on the wall next to her and fell down. 

"Because you're already dead." Claude replied coldly, and all of a sudden, the painful expression on the woman's face was replaced by a hideous grin as the blood stopped flowing from her neck.

"Hahahahahaha!!" The woman began emitting a dark and insidious sounding laughter as her body began morphing into a dark black blob, and Claude watched as the blob evaporated into the atmosphere, leaving him alone in the room.