FreeBooksOnline Chapter 397 - 398
Chapter 397 - 398
The sky was still red.
Even hours after the battle, the Great Volcano continued spewing smoke, ash, and small amounts of magma through the cracks spread across its slopes.
The heat remained suffocating, a heat that came not only from the volcano but from the earth itself, as if the entire mountain were feverish.
But now there was silence.
No roars of spiritual techniques colliding.
No clash of weapons echoing through the mountains.
No killing intent filled the surroundings like a poisonous fog.
Only the distant sound of lava slowly flowing down the slopes, a constant sound, like the breathing of a sleeping beast.
Kyrian remained seated on the black stone where he had fallen after the battle.
Eyes closed.
Breathing slow and measured, not the rapid rhythm of exhaustion, but the controlled pattern of someone recovering.
His clothes were still torn and burned in several places, revealing deep cuts that had already partially healed.
The recovery pills had worked far better than he had imagined.
His new body truly was different now.
Before, when he was still a mortal with an Innate Talent, when his meridians did not exist and his body rejected any energy that was not absorbed directly through his eyes, pills had been practically useless.
The medicinal energies simply circulated inside him, incapable of being properly absorbed. His mortal body rejected part of the medicinal essence. The rest dissipated.
But now...
Everything had changed.
His body seemed starved for energy.
The medicinal properties had been absorbed almost completely, accelerating his regeneration to a level Kyrian had never experienced before.
The cuts on his arms, the ones opened by the old man’s spear and the second leader’s axe, had already closed.
The exposed flesh had vanished, replaced by new skin, pink and sensitive.
Even the muscles torn apart by the excessive use of the Aura of Fire had partially recovered.
His body recovered much faster than his Qi.
That was strange. Unusual.
The opposite of what should happen.
Normally, Qi recovered first, and the physical body recovered afterward, nourished by spiritual energy.
With Kyrian, it was the opposite.
His physical body regenerated at an absurd speed, but his cores remained empty.
Maybe it just needs more time.
Kyrian slowly opened his eyes.
The orange pupils still glowed faintly in the reddish darkness of the volcano, not with the intense brilliance from before, when he controlled the magma and the wings of fire, but with a residual glow, like nearly extinguished embers.
He took a deep breath.
His body still hurt, a dull and widespread pain, as though every bone, every muscle, and every tendon had been stretched beyond its limits and was now slowly contracting back into place.
But now it was bearable.
He could walk again, not quickly, but without staggering at every step.
He could move his arms without feeling as though the bones would split apart.
He could breathe without coughing blood.
That was already enough.
However...
There was still something strange.
Kyrian placed a hand over his spine.
And he felt it. Faintly.
The Bone of the Heavens, that pulsating presence that had transformed his body, that had created his meridians, that had connected him to the Heavenly Will, seemed completely drained.
No pulse. No glow.
No absurd sensation of connection with the world around him like before.
His spine now felt merely... normal.
Or at least as close to normal as something like that could possibly feel.
Kyrian frowned slightly.
’Using a power so far above my realm truly isn’t simple.’
’Commanding the surrounding fire Qi... controlling the entire volcano...’
’It makes sense that there would be a price.’
He closed his eyes briefly, analyzing his own condition with meticulous attention.
The Bone of the Heavens did not seem damaged.
The crystalline vertebrae, dark red with golden veins running through them, were still there, perfectly fitted into his spine. There were no cracks, no loose fragments, and no signs that anything had broken.
Only exhaustion.
Like a spiritual weapon completely drained of energy.
Like a reservoir of Qi that had been entirely emptied.
’A few days, maybe weeks...’ Kyrian thought.
That power probably won’t be usable again anytime soon.
Kyrian let out a small sigh.
That confirmed something important.
The absolute power of the Bone of the Heavens, that control over the environment, that connection with the entire volcano, was not something he could use freely.
Not yet.
It was a final trump card.
A card that should only be used when no other choice remained.
Even so...
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
It had been worth it.
He had survived.
More than that.
He had won.
Four Spiritual Awakening experts.
Alone with that power.
Kyrian slowly placed his hands against the stone and stood up.
His legs wavered slightly for a moment, the muscles still trembling, his knees still threatening to buckle, but they soon stabilized.
The ground was hot beneath his boots, but he barely noticed.
Then he began to walk.
Lava still flowed down the slopes, illuminating everything with a reddish glow that danced across the black rocks. Ash drifted through the heated air, rising in slow spirals before being carried away by the wind.
The smell of burning filled the entire region.
Kyrian walked calmly toward the place where the old spear wielder had died.
Or rather...
Toward the place where his ashes had been scattered.
Almost nothing remained there.
Where once there had been a Spiritual Awakening cultivator, a man of flesh and bone with decades of history, now there was only a dark mark upon the volcanic ground.
No bones.
No weapon.
No scraps of clothing.
The fury of the fire Kyrian had summoned, the power of the Bone of the Heavens channeled through his eyes, had consumed everything.
Only dark ashes scattered across the ground.
And a spatial ring.
Kyrian slowly bent down, his knees protesting from the effort, and picked up the object.
The metal was still warm.
He observed the ring for several seconds, turning it between his fingers.
’I really don’t understand how these things are made,’ he thought.
The old man literally melted alive.
The volcanic stone itself turned liquid.
And yet the ring remains intact. It almost seems indestructible.
It was absurd.
But useful.
Kyrian placed the new ring on another finger.
Then he looked around.
The other three leaders had died inside the lava. Their spatial rings probably still existed somewhere, submerged beneath the magma.
Kyrian observed the scarlet rivers flowing down the mountain, some wide, others narrow, all glowing with a heat that distorted the air above them.
"The other rings must be lost in there..." he murmured.
"Maybe I could find them if I could still connect to the magma."
He closed his eyes for a moment.
He tried to feel it.
He tried to reach for that previous connection, that sensation that fire was an extension of his body, that the mountain responded to his will.
Nothing happened.
Not even the slightest response.
His Bone of the Heavens remained silent.
Dead.
Exhausted.
Kyrian opened his eyes again.
"Impossible..."
He let out a small sigh, not of frustration, but acceptance.
"But that’s fine."
"The old man was clearly the strongest. The oldest as well. He certainly possessed the greatest wealth."