Ch.2

The location of the mysterious island was not far from the estate. Ryan arrived at the shore of the lake after one day of continuous flying. The water of the lake was pitch- black in color due to Miasma that shrouded the island in middle of the lake. Ryan could also see large number of skeletons floating on the surface of the lake which gave a very creepy sensation to this place. The lake was around ten or so kilometers in diameter. Ryan found his surrounding too quiet for a forest. He could not even hear the sound of elemental beasts. Ryan activated Asura eyes to scan his surroundings. There was no sign of life around him including inside the lake and on the island. Ryan was not alarmed by this fact on the contrary his curiosity towards the island further increased by a notch. Ryan could already sense the source of the Miasma that existed on the island.

Ryan flew towards the island while Caius sat on his shoulder as he looked at the surroundings with curiosity. It didn’t take them long for them to arrive in the vicinity of the Miasma. Ryan didn’t even bother to test waters before entering the Miasma. He just zoomed into it and after a few seconds he entered the island that was being protected by the Miasma. Since Asura physique gave him immunity towards all kinds of evil attributes, he was least bothered by it as Miasma was of death attribute. It didn’t take long for Ryan to find the source of the Miasma. It was a black pearl. The black pearl was lying in the middle of the crater. The crater was quite similar to the ones that were created by meteors. It was clear to Ryan by now that this black pearl had arrived at Grandura from outer space as it was impossible for a darkness attribute treasure land to birth a death attribute heavenly treasure.

Ryan descended on the edge of the crater as he slowly and steadily approached the black pearl slowly and steadily on foot. He had no intention to take any chance with his life as the object in question had come from outer space. He had heard from his grandfather that objects that come from outer space could be both a life changing opportunity as well a calamity. His grandfather had told him about two of his ancestors from Eternity family clan. Both of them had found an object that had come from outer space. In the case of one of the ancestor, the object discovered by him was a heavenly opportunity. He had discovered a ‘Heavenly dark crystal’. Heavenly darkness Crystal was a heavenly treasure of darkness attribute that was covet by all darkness attribute beings as it was capable of unsealing innate abilities of darkness attribute martial spirits in case of martial artists while it could increase the bloodline purity of darkness attribute beings like elemental beasts, etc.

The other ancestor was not that lucky. The thing he had found was an egg of netherworld worm. Netherworld worms were one of the strongest types of elemental insect. They were not found on Grandura. At that time, this news had caused great uproar on Grandura. Generally, they could only be found on certain Divine worlds that had a lot of death elemental energy. The egg entered into the body of Ryan’s ancestor the moment he touched it. He died a dog death as the egg hatched inside his body soon after. The worm that came out of it started to devour him alive. The head of Grandura branch of Eternity family clan had to execute him to free him of his suffering as there was no way to extract the netherworld worm without killing its host. The netherworld worm also died along with the death of its host as it was still in its nascent stage. If the netherworld worm had grown up then it could have easily become the strongest being on Grandura.

A strong energy fluctuation was released from the black side of Ryan’s soul world the moment Ryan reached near the black pearl. Ryan was astonished as the source of the energy fluctuation was death sword. Ryan had not seen any reaction from it since the last time they met. Ryan immediately halted his steps as he sent his consciousness into his soul world.

The death sword was shining with unholy black light as Ryan appeared in the black side of his soul world. Dargar, Yama and Earl were already looking at the death sword with a lot of curiosity especially Earl as it was his first time seeing any reaction from death sword. He had heard about it from Yama and Dargar before.

“Ryan, can you let me fuse with this black pearl.” Death sword spoke the moment Ryan appeared in the black side of his soul world. Death sword didn’t transform into his humanoid form this time. Ryan was stunned for a second hearing Death swords request.

Death sword seeing Ryan’s stunned expression started explaining him about the entire matter in detail, “This black pearl is quite similar to Heavenly death pearl in many ways but different at the same time. This is my first time seeing it and I also have no information regarding it abilities and uses. If I fuse with this black pearl then there is a chance that all my abilities will become many times stronger than before and I might even gain a new ability, like it happened in the case when the Heavenly death pearl fused with me. Earlier, the undead space was not capable of having absolute domination over undead creatures being reared inside it. If I had the same abilities as now then my former master wouldn’t have died that year. He could have raised a powerful and loyal army of undead creatures to support him during the battle for Heavenly death pearl. The black pearl if I am not wrong is a heavenly treasure on the same level as Heavenly death pearl. It will be difficult for you to use it without attracting attention of other. If I am successful in fusing with it then there is a chance that I might partially recover from my current state.”

Ryan couldn’t help but nodded his head upon hearing Death swords argument. Yama, Dargar and Earl were no different. They themselves had seen the utility of undead rearing space.

“So, how can I help you in fusing with it?” Ryan asked in excited manner. If the abilities of death sword could upgrade then it was best thing that could happen to him before his departure to Heaven sundering family clan. This would be Ryan’s first time trying to fuse something with his life weapon. All martial artists that possessed life weapons would fuse numerous heavenly treasures with their life weapons so that their weapons could gain new abilities. The abilities that life weapons possessed depended completely on the heavenly treasures that their users had fused with them. It was not always that a life weapon gained ability after absorbing a Heavenly treasure. In reality, the chances of that happening were quite low but Ryan was ok with it after hearing out Death sword. Since there was a slight chance to upgrade the abilities of death sword, so Ryan didn’t mind sacrificing the black pearl. The other reason being the trouble that he might call upon himself and his family members if the news regarding this black pearl spreads. There would be endless trouble. Just the mere thought about the consequence gave him shivers.

“Just touch the black pearl with the blade part of my body. I would then absorb and fuse with it.” Death sword said but Ryan could sense excitement in his voice. Ryan took out death sword with his soul world and did as death sword had told him.

The black pearl was absorbed into the blade of death sword after Ryan touched it. The runes on the death sword started to shine with blinding unholy black light as death sword started fusing with the black pearl. The blade of the sword was covered in dense Miasma. This Miasma didn’t spread out but swirled around the blade of death sword. A smile crept on Ryan’s face after seeing this. He tried to contact with death sword but got no reply. Ryan could tell that he must have entered a deep sleep state. He sent the death sword back to the black side of his soul world.

He decided to wait patiently for good news from death sword. In the meantime, he decided to test the evolved version of nightmare gas. He had decided to find himself a few guiniea pigs for testing it. Ryan could see that the miasma had started to thin with the disappearance of the black pearl from the island. He knew that this would definitely attract the attention of all the beings that lived near this part of forest of darkness. Ryan quickly left the island along with Caius.

Ryan didn’t have to wait for long before he came across a guiniea pig. It was a three eyed shadow panther with a cultivation level of late mortal beast lord realm. Three eyed shadow panther was darkness attribute elemental beast. This was an ancient beast. The most peculiar thing about this ancient beast was its third eye in the middle of its forehead. The three eyed shadow panther in front of Ryan was around three meters in length and had mid-grade bloodline purity. The specialty of this elemental beast lied in its stealth based innate abilities. If not for Ryan’s Asuras eyes and powerful senses then he would have definitely missed the three eyed shadow panther even if it was sitting in front of him. It could move around without getting detected by its enemies. This elemental beast was every assassin’s first preference for a soul beast as this elemental beast could make their work many times easier but finding one was not easy due to their stealth based innate abilities. The innate abilities of these elemental beasts were mostly ineffective on beings with higher cultivation level or possessed special senses like Ryan.

The three eyed shadow panther was current eating a darkness attribute elemental beast. Ryan could not recognize the unlucky elemental beast as most of its body was already devoured by the three eyed shadow panther. Ryan couldn’t help but commend the innate abilities of Three eyed shadow panther as he walked nearer to the Three eyed shadow panther. The three eyed shadow panther was not at all alarmed by the appearance of Ryan. It was clear that it had detected Ryan’s presence long back and still didn’t flee meant that it was not at all scared of Ryan.

“Roar” The three eyed shadow panther gave out an ear piercing roar at Ryan as it disappeared from its spot and appeared next to Ryan. The three eyed shadow panther didn’t waste any time and swiped its right paw which was covered in black aura as it mercilessly attacked Ryan’s neck with its full might. It sharp claws could easily cleave any late mortal lord realm martial artist with ease. The three eyed shadow panther had no reason to fear Ryan as it sensed a cultivation level of early mortal elite realm from him. In his eyes, Ryan was merely courting death by coming in his territory. The three eyed shadow panther biggest mistake was underestimating his opponent due to which he didn’t even use its powerful innate abilities while attacking Ryan.

Ryan sneered seeing the actions of three eyed shadow panther. If the three eyed shadow panther had used its innate abilities then Ryan would have definitely faced some problems in facing this elemental beast as the three eyed shadow panther was known for its bizarre innate abilities which increased its stealth and agility capabilities. The three eyed shadow panther loss was already sealed the moment it underestimated Ryan.

Ryan caught the incoming paw of three eyed shadow panther with his right hand with extreme ease. The three eyed shadow panther was alarmed with the sudden change in the situation. The three eyed shadow panther could already tell that Ryan was not a pushover as he could feel powerful force from his grip that was crushing its right paw.

“Roar” The three eyed shadow panther roared in anger as its entire body was covered in black aura. The next moment the three eyed shadow panther tried to bite Ryan. The teeth inside the mouth of three eyed shadow panther had turned black was they were infused with darkness attribute elemental energy which increased its might many folds. Ryan left hand quickly held the neck of the three eyed shadow panther in order to stop it from biting him. Ryan could easily crush the neck of this three eyed shadow panther and kill it instantly but he had no intention to do so as he decided to capture this three eyed shadow panther for Blake. He was certain that Blake would definitely be able to form equal contracts with this three eyed shadow panther.

The next moment Ryan’s entire body was green colored. This green colored aura transformed into a green serpent which was about three meters in length and its body was as thick as a thigh of adult human. This was none other than Dargar. The size of Dargar had increased many folds since Ryan had advanced his poison attribute soul core to early mortal lord realm.

Dargar didn’t waste time and spat out a colorless and odorless gas. This was nightmare gas. The gas was like a ghost completely undetectable. Even the three eyed shadow panther was not able to detect it. The three eyed shadow panthers were known for their powerful senses. This colorless gas quickly invaded the body of the three eyed shadow panther without it knowing. The next moment Ryan felt the resistance from the three eyed shadow panther decrease drastically. It had reduced to exactly half of what it was before. A smile crept on Ryan’s face. This fact clearly showed that the nightmare gas had evolved successfully and gained a new ability. The evolved nightmare gas had the ability to partially seal the soul cores and elemental cores of its victims which in turn reduced their strength by half. Ryan was already satisfied with the result as he from the start had very less expectation for any of his poisons to gain the ability of Tears of angel poison. He would have been happy as long as Dargar’s toxicity increased.

“Roar” The three eyed shadow panther issued a roar as he tried to flee from Ryan’s clutches. It looked at Ryan with fearful expression. Ryan could tell that the actually ability of nightmare gas had kicked in and the three eyed shadow panther was hallucinating. In the eyes of three eyed shadow panther the current Ryan was no different from a terrifying demon.

Ryan signaled Dargar to dispel the nightmare gas from the body of three eyed shadow panther. Dargar knew of Ryan’s intentions. So, he immediately dispelled the nightmare gas from the body of the three eyed shadow panther as prolonged exposure to it was not good for the mind as well as soul of the three eyed shadow panther. The three eyed shadow panther fell lifelessly on the ground soon after. Ryan quickly checked its condition and sighed with relief when he found out that it had only fainted. Caius which had been quietly watching the entire episode while hiding within Ryan’s hair also came out to check out the fainted three eyed shadow panther. Ryan could tell from Caius’s action that it was his first time seeing a three eyed shadow panther. Ryan kept the three eyed shadow panther in a beast pouch once Caius was done with it. Ryan and Caius then headed towards the estate. Ryan just hoped that Blake and Cris were already out of their closed door session.