Chapter 41 - Choices

Phoenix: Very good, the trial has three stages in total, respectively:

First stage: Purgatory Flame Demon;

Second stage: Arrows of the Phoenix;

Third stage: Corruption of the Heart's Flame.

If you wish to forfeit during the trial, you may shout out at anytime and I'll immediately let you leave the trial grounds. You may die if you fȯrċɨbŀƴ endure the trial…. I wish you success.

Just as the Spirit of the Phoenix's voice faded, the pair of golden eyes slowly disappeared inside the world of pitch black darkness. Jean's sight spun once again and moments later, the darkness entirely disappeared, and the world around him impressively transformed into a field of deep red.

The ground under his feet appeared to be a deep red color, as if it was paved by terrifying red-hot steel. Disorderly boulders were scattered around and mountains of varying heights were layered one after another.

Even the mountain's surface was crimson, as if it could spew out flames which could reach the heavens at any time. Looking upwards, the sky was also a field of deep red.

Stalks of ember were distributed across every direction on the fire-red colored ground. Some of the embers were only a few inches tall, while some had even shot up for over ten meters in height. On both sides, pools after pools of red-colored lava bubbled like boiling water.

Normally in this natural extreme sauna one would start to burn... But Jean just felt comfortable, thanks to the Fire Seed he swallowed. He looked around while eating random things, but there was no Purgatory Flame Demon or whatever.

When he started to step forward, he stopped in his tracks and looked towards a deep pool of lava at his left. The lava churned violently, rose higher and higher, and grew fiercer by the moment…. Suddenly, the pool overflowed and a large chunk of lava broke loose with a deafening sound.

A gigantic body covered in flames rose high from the lava and landed in front of Jean with an ear-shattering boom.

It was a flame giant whose entire body was on fire. It was a whole 33 meters tall, had a body that was burning entirely in red-hot flames, and had 2 ferocious eyes on either side of its head.

Atop its head, there were also 2 horns of fire that were 10 metres long and a golden mark that seemed to shine from the middle of these horns.

Jean: Jasmine? What level is this "Slightly bigger" lighter?

Jasmine: It's a high-level True Profound fire beast. In this sort of blazing environment, not only can it replenish its vitality and profound strength swiftly, the fire power it unleashes is also comparable to that of the Spirit Profound Realm.

Jean: Hmm… Let's eat it.

Jasmine: Huh?

She saw Jean's mouth getting bigger again, reaching a size she never seen before, the Purgatory Flame Demon stopped moving and started to slowly back away, before his upper body was swallowed. Then the rest fell apart…

Jasmine: ...I heard that the trials from the primordial divine beasts were dangerous, but passing one of them like this…

And at this time, the scenery before them suddenly distorted. In the midst of the distortion, it spun in a blur, and when everything had finally stabilized, the red land, volcanoes and pools of lava disappeared. What replaced it was an expanse of nothingness, a wilderness so flat that there wasn't any uneven land to be seen.

Phoenix: Second stage of the trial: Arrows of the Phoenix.

Suddenly, an extremely loud and clear cry of a phoenix came from the sky. Following this, the originally dark sky abruptly became a blazing red. Prompting Jean to look up, his eyes widened a bit when he saw countless red dots…

Jean: Those ain't stars!

Jean immediately ran away while those dots were getting bigger and followed him, he dodged many of them with the Star God's Broken Shadow, while he swallowed some of them.

3, 7, 15, 32, 70… The groups of those little phoenixes were increasing and some of them actually exploded near Jean. He may be immune to the heat, but he wasn't immune to the force their explosion caused.

Soon, several hundreds of phoenix silhouettes descended from the sky, and the instant they fell, the vast earth erupted with fire, but Jean still had his protective profound aura since he ate some that could possibly hit him.

Jean: Phew... Did it finally end?

The silence meant yes… At this moment, the scene in front of his eyes started to distort to become more and more obscure. Jean was just about to start observing the scenery of the third trial when he realized that everything in front of his eyes had already become pitch-black.

Following this, a pair of golden eyes opened within the pitch-black world. The phoenix spirit's voice resounded within his mind.

Phoenix: That surprised me; you actually possess a special physique that is unafraid of flames, not only that, you have that… Peculiar power... If I am not mistaken, the primordial Evil God's aura resides inside your body.

Jean: Yes.

Phoenix: The Evil God does not align with any of the elements, for he is actually the nemesis of all the elements.

But no one can compare to the Evil God in terms of familiarity and capability in wielding the elements. If you somehow manage to completely inherit the Evil God's powers, then not only fire, even water, wind, thunder, earth, domain, dimension, spirit… would all be subdued by you, and would never be able to bring you harm.

You passed the previous two stages not because you had sufficient strength, but because of your special physique and powers. Although this is cheating, passing is passing; I have no right to deny that.

However, this third trial: Corruption of the Heart's Flame, is a trial of the heart that's unrelated to flames. The advantages of your body are thus nullified, and this third trial is also the hardest trial to pass.

In these countless years, the amount of challengers who have passed the first two trials amount to 329. But the ones who passed the third trial.. only amount to 7 people.

Jean: Well, ain't that a rookie number?

Phoenix: You don't need to be too nervous. The third trial is a trial of the heart. It does not involve fighting, but instead involves the choices within your heart.

If you are firm enough towards the pursuit for power, then even if you possess weak profound power, there is a chance you can easily pass. On the other hand, if you do not possess enough determination, then passing your life in the mundane world can also be an option. After all, power is not everything in life.

Jean: Well… There is something we don't agree on with the last sentence… Whatever, let's start.

Phoenix: I wish your success.

The phoenix spirit's eyes disappeared and the pitch-black world started to distort once more. Jean felt as if his body had been swept up by a storm and started to float within the distorting space.

In a blink of an eye, he was in a white room, and 3 familiar people stood in front of him… They were kids that you could find everywhere, yet, Jean's eyes widened when he saw them, then the Phoenix's voice sounded in the empty world.

Phoenix: Graham Thorpe

Rona Patterson

Julius Booth

Those three kids bullied you during your childhood, causing you to lose your sight at the age of 8

Jean's eyes trembled and his hands instinctively slowly reached his eyes.

Jasmine: Losing sight? Jean, what is going on?

Jasmine's incredulous voice sounded in his mind, snapping him out of his trauma, but he didn't say anything.

Phoenix: Kill them…

Suddenly, in front of Jean, a sword appeared, Jean's eyes turned on the sword, and then back on the kids who looked at him in fright even if they couldn't move.

Jean's sight landed once again in the sword, and stepped forward… He picked the sword.