Chapter 211: New Way 3

Green smoke and a nasty smell glided through the air. The dark sky and the cliff before her signalled Lia that she was back. Just on a cliff like this, Lia was pushed by Min, etched the hateful faces of her wrongdoer into her very blood.

Yet here Lia stood again. Looking down at the abyss filled with 10 000s of corpses, hovering above it and then with one step, Lia willingly jumped down. In order to come here, Lia has sacrificed herself. Offered herself up as a sacrifice to the abyss just like how Min did with her.

Just like how the Immortal King and Ghost King offered themselves as a sacrifice to save this crooked world. Just like the million corpses that were from the war at the very beginning of the Immortal world.

And just like in the past, Lia would climb out of this hell. Lia landed at the bottom of the abyss. Even from above, she knew this wasn't the place Min dropped her off. The abyss was endless. After all, this place was a spatial distortion. It existed everywhere and nowhere in the real world.

That was why it could be entered and exited anywhere. This abyss was attached to nowhere. It was created by heavens with and for the Immortal King.

The statue of Min wasn't here but Lia could feel it was still working. This endless abyss Lia has explored for 10 000 years and knew very well.

She was aware of her current location and knew how far and long she had to go to get to the state. Lia also knew she couldn't stay here for too long, even if real time flowed differently, it was easy to get caught up and Lia might not be able to return to the time she came from.

That was why she hurried across the abyss. Every place looked the same as back then, the rocky mountains confining this path, the neverending amounts of corpses and the misleading turns.

Lia's legs were hurting badly. She ran and ran through the endlessly long abyss. It took her a month to get to the place where the statue was. One month here was less than a day in the world, even less than an hour. It was dreading on the mind, but Lia strengthened herself by constantly reminding herself that there were people waiting for her.

From far, Lia watched the vicious statue exuding its green light. There were long no corpses left for the light to disintegrate. In this lonely and empty place, only Min's hateful statue stood, where once Lia was amongst many corpses, over and over again killed and revived.

However this time Lia wasn't afraid of the light of the statue anymore. She has realised that since she got the Immortal King's power, Min's power was also part of hers and thus could be absorbed.

As Lia walked towards the statue, the green light burned on her skin. But compared to before, it was a calming feeling. Instead letting it ravage her skin, Lia took in the green light and guided it to her lifeforce surrounded by her power.

With each step she took towards the statue, her whole body glowed in green. It was a disgusting colour but Lia's lips curved seeing the state's light getting weaker. Finally, Lia was close enough to put her hand on the hard and strong surface. All her power and lifeforce the statue absorbed from her, she would take it back.

It took another whole month for Lia to devour all the power stored inside his hellbringer. It was amazing to see how much the statue ate of her.

If Min was able to get his hands on this power, it was no wonder he could get the golden power. Lia sneered. She felt the new power well up inside of her.

She held her hand out but her lifeforce leaked out as always. Her old exorcist powers were lost forever.

The light within the statue completely died out and Lia felt the urge to break it into tiny pieces. She never wanted to see it again and never wanted it to exist anymore, however, she calmed herself. Destroying the statue was not in her plan.

She finally turned around and left this place. The next destination, however, was still inside the abyss. Lia wanted to visit the tombs again. On her way there Lia leaked her lifeforce and let it enter all the corpses she came across.

Not long after, an army of corpses followed her. Hearing the unified footsteps behind her, seeing the lined up corpses following her like soldiers, Lia smiled satisfied.

It seemed like there were no restrictions on her power anymore. She could use her lifeforce and command as many corpses as she wanted.

The only thing she had to be careful about was the amount of lifeforce she poured out. She wanted to avoid her lifeforce running out like in the plaza.

For that, she needed to learn to balance the output and the regeneration of her lifeforce. Maybe that process could be sped up. Maybe Yano had a way.

For another month, Lia picked up the corpses and hurried towards the tombs to pay them a visit and figure something out.

***

Meanwhile, Yano visited his father's studies as Zero was downstairs playing on the mortal console Yano was able to bring back to the Immortal World previously.

"You still haven't cleaned up," Yano looked around his father's messy study and sighed. He could never let Lia see the chaos here. Yano felt that Lia was already having a bad impression of him because of his father.

This troublemaker, just when Yano managed to earn some hard-to-get-by brownie points…

"It looks pretty good to me. Maybe you didn't inherit my keen eyes after all," Oldie sat in his chair. He looked like a boss but his words were nonsense, "This is intentional messy order. I know where everything is and that's all that matters."

Yano sat at the desk and stared at the loose paper and random books lying around. Most of the paper was covered in coffee or tea stains.

"Yeah sure, intentional," Yano mocked his father.

"What does my precious son want from me?"

"You called me here!"

"Ah that's right, I forgot," Oldei laughed before asking, "Where's my daughter-in-law?"

"Not here," Yano briefly answered but was reminded of having to watch Lia disappear. For the abyss to open up, they had to go to an open-spaced place.

The landscape surrounding them was perfect. In an area far away from the mansion, Yano told Lia what he knew of the abyss. The rest was filled by Lia's memory. Yano still flinched and clenched his eyes as he saw Lia cutting herself along the arms. The deep, red colour of her blood was something he never wanted to see.

To enter the abyss a sacrifice was needed. Then Yano saw Lia disappearing, entering that dark and hopeless prison.

That was when Yano was reminded of his greatest fear. If Yano was to lose Lia, his only purpose he desperately sought out, what would happen to him? Would he become a lifeless doll?

Yano also realised this fear became true for Lia and she had to more than once witness and bear the burden of losing someone.

"So she isn't here huh," Oldie's words brought Ysno back.

"Why are you asking?" Yano saw his father being unusually serious and knew it wasn't a good thing.

"I'm going to be honest. I know what you feel for Lia and I'm actually surprised you do and I also know you want to help but I'm against it. I don't want you to help her," Oldie laid out his feelings straight.

Yano stared at his father with wide eyes. Out of all people, he never thought that his father would take this stance.

"Why?" was all that Yano could ask.

"You should know the fate of the Immortal King and what will happen to the Immortal King's companions. Did you see the broadcast? I've seen it. It was heartbreaking. It pains me to see what happened to the other hidden families and I feel bad for Lia. Everyone knows what happened to the K family…" it was rare for Oldie to talk seriously for so long.

But this was an important matter, Oldie didn't want anything to happen to Yano. He knew it was selfish and unfair for Lia who lost everything and had to sacrifice even more, and Oldie knew he couldn't force his son, but if there was the least bit of chance stopping him then-

"That's precisely why I'll help Lia no matter the price," Yano was also serious and glared at his father.

Both sides were clear on their stances. His father wanted him to give up on Lia, Yano however would never abandon her.

"I've promised her and I won't back down. Also, if I lose her, I won't forgive anyone in this world."

A bold statement, the signal that Yano might also head down Lia's path. Oldie was reminded of the past. He also did the same promise, "If she loses you-"

"That will never happen."

"You're unbelievably stubborn. It's annoying. Did you forget? Back then Lia chose Min over you," Oldie brought out his last card that didn't do much damage. On the contrary, it fueled Yano.

Yano laughed unfazed, "Dad, it was your fault the first meeting didn't go as planned. If you didn't fool around and messed up, Lia would've fallen for me at first sight than for that stupid idiot of a Ghost King."

"Ah, I really can't change your mind," Oldie sighed again and then smiled, "I've told you of my opinion. Go and do what you want. If you deem this as the right path… then walk to the end, son."