How was he still alive?!

She chuckled at his surprised expression and explained it to him: "The corruption, the thing you fought, is a peculiar existence by itself. Unique in a way. As it gains sentience, it becomes able to assimilate with a host and make use of it as a basis for its body, to contain its 'mass'. But the thing is that he can only have a single host at a time. The only way to switch being to use the former host to absorb another through corrupting its existence. That's what it did with you"

"And I stopped him?"

"No. It succeeded in absorbing your body and made you its host. Didn't you wonder why you can't feel your right arm and you lost sight in your eye? Corruption has taken over those parts. It's there right now. And it is the reason you are alive. It's healing you"

"What? Why would it...?"

Jin realized why at that moment and frowned.

She laughed as she said: "You probably guessed right. It made you its host through corrupting your body but failed to corrupt your soul and took heavy damage from its attempt. Right now, the both of you are stuck in a peculiar stalemate. The corruption can't leave you as there aren't any other hosts available. It can't take me after all and the barrier will stop him from leaving anywhere. At the same time, it can't corrupt your soul at the moment. And you, well, you are stuck with this threat ready to devour you at any time"

Jin understood his situation. It was the one thing responsible for trying to kill him that was keeping it alive. What a twisted and ironic situation. He laughed at it. Then, he glanced at the stone and asked: "What about you then?"

She smiled mysteriously and stated: "You wonder why I invested my years into you considering your state"

He added: "Not just that. Even if I had been in a better state, it doesn't make sense. Why pick a champion? Our survival isn't guaranteed. It would be better to use it during the other time you mentioned"

She smiled sweetly as she said: "I am glad. Even now, you can make rational guesses. And you're right. It is, in a way, stupid to do so. Picking a champion is the same as giving up on one's years since none will survive"

Jin's remaining eye seemed to enlarge as he wondered if he heard her right. He asked to make sure: "All?"

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She nodded.

Jin was tongue-tied. He believed one of them would survive through this trial after winning. Wasn't that what they said? Wasn't that supposed to be the truth?

She told him: "Ah, guess you're one of those unaware of it, uh. Well, there are few contestants telling the truth to their champions after all. Not those serious about it at least. Who would fight if they knew even winning would bring them to death, right?"

"What do you mean?"

She spoke: "One will win. But what happens after that? How do you think the treasure is being granted? Let me tell you. You need the fresh core of a trial winner to open the gates of the array in which the treasure is placed. Most of the time, the winning champions are killed as living as mortals isn't much better than death"

This was something Jin had a hard time believing. He knew she wouldn't lie. She had no reasons to. But such a truth could only bring despair to whoever heard it at such a time. He laughed with a sad tone to it and whispered: "Did he have no plan to let us live?"

He didn't mind dying in a fight. A warrior had to be prepared to such an outcome. One who takes the sword to kill should be prepared to be killed by one. However, dying after winning solely to open a treasure vault? So that someone else earned all the glory and a future? It was indeed despair-inducing. He couldn't come to terms with the fact that Hae-Hyuk sent them to die like that.

But Sarina didn't have any reasons to stop speaking: "I'm sure it comes as a shock. And that's why you should grab onto this opportunity I am giving you"

He looked at her with a blank eye as he stated: "Isn't my fate to die regardless?"

She snickered: "Do you think I would waste my years on someone that is certain to die? There are ways to survive this. But all this comes after you first manage to win against this corruption that's still ready to eat your soul. As I said, we don't have time. Let's go into your soul sea first"

He still had many questions but she didn't let him ask. In a second, a strange force surrounded him and he closed his eyes. He awoke back in his soul sea with a physical body. After he looked up from his hands, he saw her. The statue. But she was no longer a statue. She was beautiful young woman. Bright blue eyes, deep green hair reaching her mid-section and tied in a ponytail. She had the perfect shape and perfect visage. Even her robe was fresh to the view, being a vibrant green with rays of blue.

She looked ethereal.

Even compared to other female cultivators, she was...No, they couldn't compare. She was in a league of her own. Even far beyond Sophia or Isla. She exuded a noble charm incredible enough to mesmerize Jin. He felt intoxicated by her mere presence.

She looked around and nodded to herself before stating: "Good kid, you really surprise me here. Didn't think you would have made so many of those. You must have worked incredibly hard on mastering the shape of will. Good, good, good"

Jin didn't feel awkward to be spoken to like a kid by a woman that looked twenty. Instead, probably because of her beauty, something that hadn't happened in decades happened.

He blushed and turned his sight away from her. And she grinned as she noticed it. The young males were always the same regardless of generations.