Chapter 126: Heart Demon
Xu Min narrowed his eyes as he heard the words spoken by the soul of the Blood Pagoda. He had come all this way for the sake of the trial. He was not going to give up practical the moment he just stepped in not even if this trial would be near impossible for him.
This trial dealt with everything about hate, and Xu Min was filled with hate. It was a type of hate that consumed him and other people. Nonetheless, he would try. Deep within his heart, he also heaved a heavy sigh of relief. He knew that even if he failed Cao Cao and Ye Ling taking over his revenge.
"I wish to take the test," Xu Min said determinedly. His eyes shone, and his back was straight.
"Kudos to you kid for going all the way." the voice said slightly surprised.
"I have, to be honest with you. I do not think you will be able to survive this trial. Then using your reward for reaching the seventh star will be wasted."
"Because of this, I won't give you the treasure before you finish the last trial. I swear it will not have any effect on your performance if you consume it or not."
Xu Min pouted slightly. He had hoped to feel stronger already; he could not help but mumble "stingy," but he said nothing else and quickly came to terms with the soul's conditions.
"There is no use to waste more time. Let us start the final trial!" Xu Min ordered. He sat down on the floor refusing to move before it started.
"Do not blame me later when you join me; I hate internal strife," the amalgamation laughed with a voice that slowly vanished in the distance. Xu Min became engulfed in sweat as he felt intense pain wreck his body.
The pain felt as if someone was cutting out his heart in his chest. He felt that knives were being stabbed into his body and leaving gaping wounds as if he was being smashed by massive stones.
All this pain was intense; so intense in fact Xu Min could hardly breathe, but he persevered through the pain. He tried clearing his mind and grit his teeth. His body trembled, sweat started to stream down his face, soaking his clothes and revealing just how difficult his current condition was.
Suddenly the pain changed in nature. It was no longer physical but going into the emotional pain of his soul. His soul was corroding, chipped away at small bits and the pain he experienced was many times more painful than what he had experienced before when his body was undergoing torture. Nevertheless, Xu Min did not panic.
He felt that it was impossible to fight this power which was eating up his soul. He also concluded that even though the pain he felt was so intense, it was, nonetheless, not real. It was a test of some sort to see how he would react when he was put in a situation he could not fight.
On the contrary to the soul’s response, if his soul was truly eaten up, he could not become a part of the amalgamation. Thus Xu Min reached the conclusion that it was but a trick of some kind and kept calm.
The moment this conclusion appeared in Xu Min's mind the pain of his soul being ripped apart stopped. He descended into an ethereal state where he was neither awake nor asleep.
His mind was sucking in energy from the surrounding areas at the most rapid speed possible, solidifying the foundation of his seventh-star rank.
Energy poured into the body of Xu Min. As soon as he had managed to acquire the foundations of the seventh star solidified he thought he had already gained quite a lot, but his body just kept absorbing more and more energy as his rank kept climbing. Soon he had reached the middle rank of the seventh star, but even still his body kept absorbing energy at a rapid rate.
Xu Min was very well aware that this insane speed of energy absorption was only possible because he had the assistance of the Blood Pagoda.
"Don't be complacent," the voice of the amalgamation spoke out once more, "You might have passed through the first part of the trial, but the first part is the easy part. I have yet to see anyone fail it. Everyone who has reached this stage has managed to pass the first part of the trial. Whereas only a handful have succeeded the second part of the trial."
Although the amalgamation said these words to make him less confident in himself, the words caused a completely different feeling within Xu Min.
He was feeling competitive but also relieved. So far a handful of all the geniuses who had reached this step had managed to succeed in the final trial meaning that it was not impossible. If Xu Min gave it his all, he might stand a chance too.
Laughter rung through the walls in the Blood Pavilion as the amalgamation saw the change in Xu Min's personality. The spirit’s voice sounded out, "since you are so set on becoming the next champion of the Blood Pagoda, please do not hesitate to let me tell you about the trial you will experience once your body stops absorbing this energy of the heavens and the earth!"
"The trial is quite simple. Every single expert of a certain level will have to go through it. Though most experts do not have to experience it before they become Immortals!"
"This trial is to face your heart demon!"
"Every person has a demon in their heart. The more anger and hate they carry the stronger this demon is. Facing this heart demon is deadly. One mistake and your path of cultivation will be shattered; one mistake and even your soul will not be left unscathed."
"A heart demon is the final way to temper your soul and allow for your body to take the final transformation. As soon as you have faced your heart demon, your soul will be the same level as the souls of an Immortal. You will face no bottlenecks in your future cultivation. All you will need to become an Immortal is to gather enough energy of the essence of the heavens and the earth, and you will succeed."
"Unfortunately nothing is ever that simple." the blood pagoda snickered while it continued to speak, "You have a heart filled with darkness, a heart filled with the stench of blood. You have killed more people than I can count; everything has been done in the name of vengeance. Your heart demon is strong! So strong that even I cannot imagine just how terrible this trial will be for you."
Xu Min considered all that was told to him. However, he held his head held high, and his brows calm and confident. "I will face this heart demon with my strength! If it is not enough, then I can only blame myself for being weak!" Xu Min said decisively with a voice filled with determination. He knew that in this world strength was absolute. Although he was not the biggest genius around when he did not have his sword to depend on. Moreover, he was not the strongest expert in the trials of the Blood Pagoda's history; he was without a doubt the calmest and most collected one.
Xu Min had an ability that the others did not have. Because of his urge to win the fight against the Zhong family, he was very calm and decisive. As long as he saw a slim chance of success, he would rush towards this ray of light and not let anything stop him.
Although the Amalgamation was certain that Xu Min would not succeed this endeavor, Xu Min still did not give up. He did not become filled with fear even after hearing he would soon face his heart demon.
To be honest, when one looked at Xu Min's face, all they saw was anticipation. One had to fight the heart demon at some point in life. Even though most fought it at the same time as they were about to reach the Immortal rank, some would face their heart demon earlier, and this was of great benefit to them.
The sooner one faced their heart demon the more time for improvement one had; the stronger one would become.
Even Immortals had different ranks amongst themselves. The ones who had undergone the heart demon trial before they became Immortals had a longer time for their souls to mature. In the long run, this was easier for them to reach the peak of the Immortal rank.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Min steeled himself. A space around him twisted and churned as he was moved to a specific place in the Blood Pagoda, a place where everything was dark at first. Slowly his eyes got used to the darkness. He found that a small red hue appeared as time went by.
As time went by Xu Min waited for his heart, which had been clenched tight in worry, to slowly settle down. He could observe the surrounding areas with a calm heart and mind.
The red hue turned to a red light. Soon Xu Min saw a small red gem appearing in front of him. This red gem was at first the shape of a small gem. As time went on Xu Min noticed that it was not that the room became brighter because of the red gem, but the red gem was absorbing all the darkness from within the room.
This darkness started to be molded into the figure of a small child. In front of Xu Min was the child of the young master looking the same as the day when Xu Min had escaped the Zhong family compound.
Xu Min's eyes blazed with killing intent. His energy erupted from his body. One with the world, wind domain, radiant jade shower, the sword. All the tricks that Xu Min had up his sleeve were being displayed. The power he released was so outstanding that even an eight-star warrior would feel his heart clench and his life flash in front of his eyes.
Although this much power appeared, the face of the young man, who had killed his sister remained unfazed throughout the entire process. Moving a single hand,he managed to defend against the swordlight. He easily dispelled the wind blades, and even the thousands of jade shards from the radiant jade shower were nothing.
Smiling wickedly, the child just stood there, ready to face any onslaught that Xu Min brought down upon him, but anything he did was useless.
The more Xu Min tried, the more exhausted he became, both physically and mentally. Even so, there was no way for him to even wound the clothes of this young man.
After having rained down attack after attack on top of this young child, Xu Min finally regained consciousness. So far he had acted solely on the anger which had exploded the moment he had seen the child, but after getting thoroughly defeated, Xu Min understood that something was not right.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes he noticed that the child started frowning. Something was not right, but as to what it was, Xu Min did not know.
"This is my heart demon," he said to himself, "The demon within my heart is the young master of the Zhong family. He caused me to feel this agony. However, at the same time, this situation shaped me into who I am today."
"I need to find a way to defeat this heart demon; it cannot be impossible!" Xu Min was filled with determination. His body started blazing with a golden sheen.