Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 182. Phantasmal Essence!

“Stay put!” Laien roared within his heart as he merged the mighty Phantasmal Essence of Inferno into his Qi and spiritual energy. Yet, not only did the portion which he had released in preparation for his attack refuse to obey him, but the energy that was still inside his body was beginning to go out of control too! His grip upon the internal energy was over twice as strong compared to the energy outside his body, but even then he was having trouble suppressing it! The overbearing Phantasmal Essence appeared to have a mind of its own and despite his best attempts to push it towards the portion of his energy which he intended to actively use, it kept spreading throughout his body. This alone was bad enough, but if he allowed the streams of these unstable energies to reverse completely and invade his Qi Origin and Spiritual Core, he would suffer a tremendous backlash!

True, he had expected the essence of the Profound Mystery of Inferno to be hard to control once he used it with haste. He had some experience controlling it in a slow and steady manner, but he hadn’t imagined that once it went berserk, it wouldn’t merely influence the active parts of his Qi and spiritual energy, but it would also attempt to invade the depths of his body! It truly was akin to a raging Inferno and in this case, it appeared that his own energy turned out to be its fuel. Once it caught on and went wild, it would attempt to devour everything it could lay its hands upon.

This behavior of the Phantasmal Essence was in itself a disaster to Laien, but at the same time, it was a blessing in disguise. Up until the moment he made this gamble, he hadn’t been able to experience a level of stress that would push his mind to the extremes. Yet, now that his internal energy was threatening to go berserk, when a shadow of gruesome death lingered over his head, a barrier of a kind broke into pieces in his mind and he entered a state of pseudo-enlightenment. Thanks to his unyielding will and thanks to his crystal-clear heart, he was able to create a small miracle!

From now on, until his state of pseudo-enlightenment broke or until he achieved his goal and his mind relaxed, what to him would feel like a long time would be a mere second to those around him. This benefit, however, while important to his survival was merely a side-effect of the mysterious state he had found himself in. Unlike at most times, and even unlike the state of true enlightenment he had experienced back in the Anarchic Lands, his mind was extremely light and his senses were sharpened to an unreal degree. At a mere thought he could sense and experience each little part of his body so closely that within his mind, he almost felt as if he was seeing them with his eyes.

“It really is spread all over,” he mused while taking a look at the insides of his body. As of this point, the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno had invaded eighty percent of his internals as was pushing its way towards his Qi Origin in the abdomen and the Spiritual Core in his brain. Even now, when everything had slowed down so considerably, he could see how the strands of the Phantasmal Essence slowly stretched towards those two vital points of his body. “What a weird sensation,” he noticed now that he was able to inspect the process much more closely and at a much slower rate of progression.

“It really does have something akin to its own will,” he noted belatedly. The crimson-haired woman hadn’t told them anything about such dangers, but he understood that this situation should have never taken place to begin with. Even he felt that the degree of insights he and Yin had accumulated into the Profound Mystery of Inferno through their repeated Combined Soul Realm sessions was something that went beyond their limits and certainly, beyond what the crimson-haired woman could have ever predicted. Still, his insights were strongly oriented towards control and he had even made a breakthrough in his Aspect of Tranquility the day before, so he didn’t feel completely helpless in a contest of wills against this Phantasmal Essence. Had he had a month longer to properly consolidate his insights and had he not cultivated the Profound Mystery of Inferno during that time, then he felt he would have been able to somehow keep it under control.

“Eh,” he sighed, or rather, his spiritual avatar did something that was similar to letting out a sigh. “I don’t think this state will last long enough for me to improve my other insights to the necessary degree though. I have to find some other way to control this Phantasmal Essence and then master it before it ends. Else, I will experience a heavy backlash and even if I don’t get crippled because of it, I will be in no state to fight. Those two will kill me,” he judged, but interestingly enough, he was able to keep his calm the entire time. He should have been at least a bit nervous, but perhaps because he had entered the state of pseudo-enlightenment through calm conviction and strong will, his feelings wouldn’t be easily shaken and would remain more or less constant for its entire duration.

“It would be simple if I could borrow just a part of my insights into Inferno, but the essence I extract triggers the Phantasmal Essence and its Phantom immediately appears in my soul sea. It also resonates with the Soul Imprint… is it because of the Soul Imprint that it appears regardless of my will? Well, not like I know how to summon it intentionally anyway, but that’s beside the point. Perhaps the essence of Inferno she had sealed into the Soul Imprint is powerful enough to passively fuel the appearance of Phantasmal Essence, so the moment I draw upon my own borrowed insights, the resonance makes this almost self-aware thing flare up.”

“It’s probably like that,” Laien murmured and revealed a weak smile. “But even knowing that, it’s not like it’s helpful at this stage. It’s a great piece I can use for my second gamble, but I have to survive this one first,” he thought somewhat helplessly. The pseudo-enlightenment state he had managed to force himself into was great, but it was right to call it a ‘pseudo-enlightenment’ in contrast to the ‘true enlightenment’ since he was yet to realize the correct way to go forward. Unless he figured out what was the right thing to do, his benefits from this small miracle would be negligible.

“Okay,” he concentrated again and took a deep breath, then slowly let the air out. “The Phantasmal Essence appears to possess its own will, but it’s not like it’s a living being capable of thought. From what I’ve just gone through, I can tell almost for sure that it simply follows its own nature. Since it was derived from Inferno, it wants to spread everywhere and ‘burn’ everything. When I was pulling onto it slow enough, I could still use my other insights to contain this will, but once I pulled onto it without a period of preparation, it failed to contain it. I don’t think I will be able to use my insights to suppress it, especially now that it took over more than eighty percent of my body,” he pondered, for the time being ignoring the fact that the Phantasmal Essence was spreading this entire time. At this rate, it was likely that even before his pseudo-enlightenment ended naturally, the backlash would kick in and force him back into his normal state of mind, thus most likely ending his life.

“I could try to dam it,” he considered briefly. If he created a sturdy barrier out of the combined essences of all his other insights, then he might be able to halt the progress of the Phantasmal Essence. The issue here was that even if he indeed accomplished this much, it would merely extend his time limit and it would do nothing to solve the bigger problem at hand. He wasn’t willing to waste his focus on such half-measures, but at the same time, thanks to this train of thought an idea came to him. He did, after all, have quite some insights into the Profound Mystery of Inferno and thus he understood how it worked and what was necessary to gain insights into it. Thus, he had a fairly clear idea what the tendencies of the berserk-like Phantasmal Essence of Inferno were like.

“First I have to force it out of my body,” he thought, a smile unknowingly appearing on his face. “But to do that in a straightforward way is impossible. However, since this Phantasmal Essence has a simple will of its own, then how about using it to my advantage? I’m not strong enough to fight it directly, but I can try to guide it to act in a way that’s beneficial to me. Hm, now that I’ve thought about it, fighting against a Phantasmal Essence or trying to control it forcefully appears to be a flawed way of using one’s own powers on the fundamental level. If I succeed in making it ‘agree’ to do what I want, then the power I will be able to extract from it will be incomparable to when I was forcing it to do as I wanted,” he half-assumed and half-realized. He had a good gut feeling that he had found the right answer, but the only way to confirm it was to try putting his idea into practice.

“It would be easier if I hadn’t screwed up already, but it should still be manageable,” he mused and decisively called upon the essence of all the other insights of his. Immediately, the already stirred interior of his soul sea became all the more chaotic once the six omnicolored orbs of essence of the Aspects shone with radiant light and released strands of their essence. The most powerful two, Tranquility and Wrath, provided for half of the entire stirring omnicolored essence. Then, Awareness, Humility, and Compassion with their complete foundations formed the majority of the remaining half while the half-complete Aspect of Love provided but a few, though mysteriously pure strands of essence. All those hundreds of omnicolored strands were separate at first, but thanks to the partially-complete fusion of the omnicolored orbs themselves, those hundreds of strands didn’t resist one another and soon enough, they merged into what now looked like a river of omnicolored light.

At the same time, near the center of Laien’s soul realm, six golden runes of the Principle of Energy formed. Once they took shape, they became even brighter, almost as if they were burning. This caused a large amount of golden dust to appear in their vicinity, which in turn condensed into a golden cloud which followed after the river of omnicolored light. As these two types of insights came into contact, the golden cloud merged with the omnicolored river, causing a layer of clear golden radiance to surround the flowing river.

Then, as this river approached the edge of the soul realm and was about to enter the Spiritual Core surrounding it, Laien’s thoughts stirred as a flash of insight appeared in his mind.

Just as he was about to add the essence of the four Profound Mysteries of Water to the river, he sensed that a similarity, which he hadn’t been able to discover before, existed between the essences of his insights into the water-element Profound Mysteries and the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno. He was well aware that it was a crazy idea, that by all means, he shouldn’t be trying to take on two nigh-impossible tasks at the same time, but his instincts were telling him that now was the best opportunity he would ever have! If he didn’t seize this fleeting moment, if he turned away like a coward, then he might never again obtain such a great chance! And, he had a feeling that if he acted against his own feelings and desires at such a crucial moment, then a heart-demon would emerge in the depths of his consciousness and make it impossible for him to enter a state of enlightenment ever again.

But, of course, he didn’t even consider backing down. He had roused his Phantasmal Essence of Inferno with the full intent of staking his life on the line and no doubts existed in his heart, so the heart-demon seed which briefly emerged in his soul the moment he became aware of the possibility was obliterated into nothingness almost instantly. Since the fate itself was presenting him with such a great opportunity, then he would be a fool not to take it just because of some silly fears!

“Come forth!” he beseeched, causing the water-element spiritual energy to stir wildly in his Spiritual Core. If the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno had a will because the insights it was derived from were simply too powerful, if his own water-element Profound Mysteries were yet incapable of awakening their Phantasmal Essences because they were too shallow, then he would make up for it on his own! Unlike with the borrowed Profound Mystery of Inferno, he was extremely familiar with the Mysteries of the Elemental Law of Water since he had understood, comprehended and improved all of them on his own! Even the spark of insight into one of them given him by the Ancient Tome was merely that, a spark! It could be said with full confidence that all his knowledge of the water element came from his own talent and hard work! He knew what the nature of those Mysteries was, so given that he also had dual Absolute Water cultivation bases to support himself, he refused to believe that he would be unable to awaken the will of those four water-element Profound Mysteries of his!

“Tranquil Sea!” he called, causing the entire spiritual energy in his Spiritual Core to suddenly calm down and gather together. Under his guidance, his spiritual energy gathered tighter and formed countless rivers and lakes, which then joined and transformed into a grand sea-like river which surrounded the entirety of his soul realm. Furthermore, once the spiritual energy started taking this form, it seemed as if something that had been slumbering within it started to awaken. Within a moment, he no longer needed to propel the process with his own effort and the sea-like river started looking all the more realistic, calm waves appearing atop it and its color changing to beautiful azure-blue. For a second, even he was dazed by the tranquil beauty before him, but he smiled soon afterward. He was right to have tried since this fleeting flash of insight was entirely correct!

“Storm!” he shouted joyously. This time, he was already familiar with the process, so the changes and the newly found will appeared in no time at all. The originally peaceful river-like sea seemed as it had been hit by an invisible force as just about one-third of it went absolutely crazy. The chaotic waves started rolling about the surface of many areas of the river-like sea, even its depths stirring once again to a certain degree. The storms then started moving, sometimes clashing with each other and forming even bigger and rougher phenomena, sometimes dying out slowly. Sometimes, new storms would appear from within calm areas of the river-like sea, too, thus maintaining the balance between the two seemingly opposite wills of the Profound Mysteries.

“Shifting Currents!” Laien called out. Even though he was only in the form of his spiritual avatar, he could swear that he felt his heart throbbing wildly. The sequence of the Profound Mysteries he was calling forth was by no means an accident and now, once he added Storm to the Tranquil Sea, it only required the smallest of pushes on his part to awaken the will of the Shifting Currents. With its addition, the inner depths of the river-like sea came to life and started moving about at their own pace and in their own ways. On the calm sea they added to the tranquil mystery of the waves, while on the stormy sea they caused the water to rampage about even stronger than before.

“Mist!” Finally, Laien raised his hands and called forth the last of the four water-element Profound Mysteries he had insights into. At first, he encountered strong resistance, which almost caused the entire forming Phantasmal Essence to shatter, but he quickly realized what he was doing wrong. Thus, he forcefully ripped some spiritual energy out of the binds of the previous three Profound Mysteries and allowed Mist to take control over it. This brought the balance back and in the blink of an eye, filled the empty areas of his Spiritual Core with milky-white mist. Even the surface of the river-like sea, be it the calm or the stormy one, was covered by the white mist. This caused the already mesmerizingly beautiful and real-like scenery to become very mysterious, but at the same time, Laien had a feeling that resonance of a kind was established between those four wills.

He soon sensed that the entire landscape within his Spiritual Core not only became even more realistic, but it changed the structure of his Spiritual Core itself and became permanent! The four newly born wills joined into one stable whole and they attached themselves to his Spiritual Core! This would undoubtedly allow him to call upon the Phantasmal Essence of those four Profound Mysteries with ease and whenever he wished! This kind of a great fortune, he had no words to describe how overjoyed he was to have encountered it!

“Now, come in!” Deciding to ride the wave while his mind was still in the highly-excited state, he poured the golden omnicolored river into his Spiritual Core. The moment it left his soul realm and entered the Spiritual Core, the river shook briefly, as if overwhelmed by the intensity of the Phantasmal World created by the four Phantasmal Essences of water. However, because at the root both the river and the Phantasmal World possessed the same origin of creation, they joined and reinforced each other instead of clashing. As the river of insights flowed outside, it no longer merely resembled a river, but it transformed into a huge, azure river-like entity with a wave at its head.

However, this wave which seemed to be trying to advance forth by devouring everything in its path was different from the spiritual energy shaped by the Phantasmal World that was around it. It had an ancient, powerful feeling to it and was even more real thanks to the power of Aspects that was infused into it and similarly to its previous state, it carried a soft, golden glow thanks to the Principle of Energy. As Laien allowed himself a moment to marvel at the beauty of his creation, he had a feeling that the sheer power of this wave of insights was twice as strong as his insights used to be.

“If I was capable of freely controlling this river-like wave, my power would skyrocket. However, I can only create one of those river-like waves at a time. I already feel that it’s pushing the limits of my soul. If I were to try and do more, I would end up damaging my spiritual sea. A pity.”

Despite mulling over such a thing, a smile didn’t disappear from Laien’s face. Once he grew strong enough, he would naturally become capable of using this fusion of insights at their full strength at all times. For the time being, he was more than satisfied with this river-like wave. If he were to actually employ it into his magic, then killing an elite martial master of the third rank would be a simplicity! An elite martial master of the fourth rank would only be a small threat while an elite martial master of the fifth rank, like either of those two who were now trying to kill him, would be fully killable!

If he had more leeway, he would have attempted the same process within his Qi Origin, but he didn’t even think about doing it at the same time as he was using his spiritual energy. The burden on his soul would instantly cause it to collapse if he were to try doing both at once and admittedly, despite possessing an Absolute Water Martial Realm, his martial talent wasn’t at the level of his spiritual one. He had already gained a thorough understanding of what he was capable of doing, so there would be no harm if he left the attempts of changing the nature of his Qi Origin for later.

For the time being, the pressing matter was for him to take care of the still rampaging Phantasmal Essence of Inferno! To be fair, he could forcefully bring it under control with the river-like wave of insights he had created, but that would defeat the point of this entire lucky chance. He had gambled with his life in order to obtain it, so he was determined to make the most of it! Moreover, now that he had established a connection with the wills of four Phantasmal Essences of his own, he felt confident in taking a far more straightforward path to subdue the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno.

“You want to burn everything, don’t you?” he called out, sending his awareness through the sun-like mass of Phantasmal Essence of Inferno within his soul and towards the Soul Imprint of the crimson-haired woman. “If you burn me, you will wither out too! You don’t want to burn out either, do you? I’ll give you many more things to burn instead! All you need to do is to follow the path!” he declared in booming, absolutely-confident voice. Within his own soul realm, he was the King! No matter how powerful the will of the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno was, since it had been made to be an integral part of him, he was its master! It might be unruly, but if he guided it right, it would listen!

Having said all of that, he sent out five surges of energy out of his Spiritual Core and directly infused them with small portions of the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno. At other times, his limit would probably be three at once, but considering how much remnant energy was going wild in his body, he felt that five was an adequate amount for the opportunity. As such, one of the surges of spiritual energy followed the river-like wave, two of them headed through the sides of his torso and towards the palms of his hands, while the last two went through the center of his chest and towards his feet.

He was confident, but he still held his breath in anticipation once the five surges of energy entered his body. Luckily, it seemed that he was right. The simple intent his words carried was able to communicate with the half-integrated will of the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno and now, the strands that were all over his body separated from his internal energy and joined the five surges instead. The four of them turned out pure, filled to the brim with only the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno. As for the fifth one, it managed to integrate itself into the river-like wave and caused its overall power to rise even further, and as a result making even Laien swallow subconsciously.

Just like he had predicted, using the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno without suppressing it forcefully was much more efficient compared to his old method. On their own, those four pure streaks of spiritual energy already carried power only slightly lower than the river-like wave before the addition of the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno. What was quite frightening, however, was the power this river-like wave carried at this very moment, having merged all of the insights of his into one.

“If I caught a martial master of the sixth rank off-guard with a spell enhanced by this energy, I might be able to straight-up kill him with one attack.”

Laien smiled at the thought. While somewhat regrettable, he would need to grow some before he could use the ultimate form of the river-like wave of insights as he wished. Still, he should be fully capable of bringing it forth with a few seconds of light concentration or a second of full concentration. That, however, was only thanks to the Phantasmal World forming within his Spiritual Core. Had it not been for it, the time required to create a similar river-like wave of insights would likely quintuple. With such a long time of preparation, its usefulness would heavily decrease.

“On the other hand, once I’m able to freely control the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno, creating this wave will be simplicity in itself.”

With all of that said and done, Laien could feel the mysterious state he was in quickly fading. Apparently, he had used up all of the time he had and he would no longer have a chance to try and improve the basics of his other insights. However, he wasn’t dissatisfied with his harvest in the slightest. Not only had he found a way to easily control the Phantasmal Essence of Inferno, but he had also awakened four more Phantasmal Essences and even created a Phantasmal World!

As the flow of time returned to normal, his gaze focused once more and it laid straight on the two wary martial masters of the fifth rank before him. The originally unruly Qi and spiritual energy in the air around him was immediately brought under control by him, while the four pure streaks of spiritual energy and one river-like wave of insights rose to the surface of his body. Suddenly, those two men who had given him so much trouble before no longer seemed nearly as scary.