The Uncharted Wilderness. South of the Illusory Canyon.
The Empyrean Wonders. The world had thousands of oddities. Spirit Beasts that could stretch for kilometres, a man-made wonder that flew unchecked in the skies, vast fields that changed seasons on a whim… The list went on… However, there were only a few marvels in the world that genuinely stumped researchers and philosophers throughout for thousands of years.
And they were the Empyrean Wonders of the world. Natural phenomena that congregate billions of spirit particles and an ungodly amount of elemental energies. The Celestial River was one such Wonder. It possessed the remnant mana of the Celestial Dragon, a hegemon that ruled over the ancient world. Only those that possessed the Lady of Water’s bloodline were allowed to climb the Empyrean Wonder. Anyone else, be it a Spirit Practitioner or a mighty Spirit Saint would unquestionably fail.
The Eternal Glacier was another Empyrean Wonder that played with the fictions of many writers. Ever since it was first founded over a hundred thousand years ago, the icy beast never melted a single drop. In fact, it had transformed everything within a ten-kilometre radius into a frosty hell with temperatures reaching far below freezing point.
There were always two ends of a spectrum. While the Eternal Glacier froze the world, Mount Caldera brought fire and destruction to the gentle Earth. Existing since the time before humans roamed the Earth, this Empyrean Wonder inspired many works depicting hell. The fiery wrath of the volcano that never ceased to stop was the source of agony for those living around it. Every hundred years, the volcano would unleash the world’s greatest eruption. The ground trembled as darkness and ash spewed all over the world. Over thousands of years, humans had gotten accustomed to the sporadic destruction that Mount Caldera inflicted, and yet, hundreds die from its lava every year.
Only thirteen Empyrean Wonders have been identified and were universally recognised in the global community, and almost all of them possessed extreme features that would kill the average human. Even powerful Spirit Saints weren’t immune to the devastation that an Empyrean Wonder could inflict.
The Tree of Illusions was no different. Located in the world’s most dense mind-element location, the Tree of Illusions had claimed the lives of thousands who sought it out. The Empyrean Wonder’s precise location was utterly unknown. Some even say that the Empyrean Wonder was capable of moving from place to place. The Illusory Canyon where it lived was shrouded in impenetrable mist. Shin’s Domain of Dreams was powerful, but it was in no way comparable to the fog protecting the Tree of Illusions.
Over the years, Spirit Saints and Primordial Beasts alike had attempted to conquer the Tree of Illusions. They all wanted to bring the Empyrean Wonder out for their own benefit. Alas, almost every single try had resulted in failure. As the popular adage goes, ‘You don’t find the Tree of Illusions, the Tree of Illusions finds you.’
Only those that the Tree of Illusion chooses would get to witness its majestic beauty. So, it wasn’t surprising that Ao felt restless when Junius had been lost inside for over three months now.
Before, the Allfather didn’t care if Junius passed or failed the test. Getting seeds of the Soul Tree was a difficult task, no doubt. To succeed, one had to possess an unwavering desire, a certain amount of resistance to the mind-elements and most importantly… tremendous luck. Some Spirit Saints might even fail this task due to how complacent they might get.
Junius was just a Spirit Spectre. Unquestionably, he was a promising talent, but how many ‘geniuses’ had failed throughout the years? The answer was possibly in the millions. The World Serpent knew that. He scoured through the outer layers of the Illusory Canyon, hoping to find as many clues about the young man as he could. Even the decorated Tier 9 Spirit Beast, who was this close to reaching the Primordial Beast realm, was apprehensive about entering the territory of the Empyrean Wonder.
“Where the hell is that brat...” Ao continued to scan the vicinity. Now that Shin had evolved his Sovereign Koi to the Celestial Dragon, Junius’ value in the Allfather’s eyes had morphed as well. Before, if Junius died attempting the trial, the Allfather would just feel a little disappointment for losing a promising talent. Now, Junius was a great chip to play against Shin and couldn’t be lost at any cost. Thus, the World Serpent had to rescue the man, by any means necessary.
“Do I really have to charge into the Illusory Canyon?” Ao frowned and tilted his head. It was the last thing he wanted to do. How many had already lost their lives in the legendary area? Still, the Allfather’s orders were absolute.
Ao glared deep into the unknown mist, ready to cautiously walk in. He even summoned out a few of his serpent lackeys to test the water. However, they were almost always eradicated after slithering a few metres. In the end, Ao had to brave the waters and do it himself.
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Before the World Serpent could take the final step forward, one of his snake scouts returned from the other side of the canyon. It slithered wildly as if in a hurry to escape from a predator. Ao took one step back and listened in on the cry of his servant.
“You found him?!” And it was wise for him to do just that. Ao’s prayers were heard. He didn’t have to travel into the deadly Empyrean Wonder! Once he got the coordinates from the snake, Ao flew straight up and charged at the speed of sound. It didn’t take long for the World Serpent to reach lightly forested land.
Lying alone on a small patch of grass amidst the crazy number of stone-cold rock was a viridian-haired man. Closed eyes and a comfortable expression, Junius was silently sleeping. His legendary-grade sword, the Hofuku was pierced into a nearby boulder. It looked like the man had been hibernating for a long time. Yet, he was sheltered by every single hazard known to the Illusory Canyon.
“Junius, Junius?” The World Serpent first tapped the man’s shoulder, before viciously shaking it to check if the man was still alive.
“Hmmm...” It took Junius a good five minutes to wake from his slumber. His crystal-clear eyes gingerly opened up, and the fatigue in his body was slowly drained out. “Senior Ao?” The man said, still drowsy as hell.
Heaving a sigh of relief, the World Serpent questioned, “Junius! What happened?” He had many questions to ask, but the most pressing one was to figure out how Junius escaped the power of the Tree of Illusions.
“What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what do I mean?”
One was hysterical, the other delirious. It made sense that they failed to communicate. It was only after the World Serpent sent a cold jet stream flying into Junius’ face, that the man finally came to his senses. Junius watched the surroundings with deadpan interest. He had seen this environment thousands of times before, and nothing present was foreign to him. Except for the blue-haired man, that is.
“Ah… Right… How long was I asleep?” Junius asked, his face lacking the slightest bit of concern.
“How the hell would I know?!” Ao hollered. “Tell me, how did you escape the Illusory Canyon? Did you succeed in your task?”
“Ah, the seeds, right?” Junius thought about it for a while before reaching into his pocket. His fingers shuffled back and forth before finally, two brown acorn-like objects were claimed. They lacked the majesty of the Soul Tree. However, when the World Serpent gazed into its stem, he could feel himself being drawn in as his mind got muddied.
“Those are the seeds of the Soul Tree, alright...” Ao marvelled. He pushed away the drowsiness that overtook his subconsciousness and closed the fist of the young man. “So you succeeded… Why didn’t you return straight away? You know that it has been close to three months since you’d left. We’d started accepting that the worst had happened.”
“I...” Junius didn’t know what to say. Three months may have passed, but to the young man, it only felt like a few weeks. In the end, he decided to recount his entire story. “I entered the Illusory Canyon and was lost immediately… I wandered and wandered… However, I just couldn’t find an exit. After what feels like a week, when all hope seemed lost, I began to hear a voice.” Junius’ voice was as calm as can be as if he were reading off a script that wasn’t part of his life.
“With nothing to lose, I followed it. There were hundreds of vines, and the mist was so thick that I couldn’t see my hands if I stretched them out. Still, for some reason, I believed in that voice and continued on…” Junius thought back to the time where he needed to find a path forward. There was nothing for him to rely on but that mysterious voice.
“I followed and followed… In the end, I reached a vast meadow that stretched for kilometres! There weren’t any rocks in sight, and the canyon just vanished before me. It really was a mystical sight...” Junius sighed. “Still, the voice continued to call out to me… And so I followed. I followed until… I saw a white weeping, willow tree.”
“A white weeping willow tree?! The Tree of Illusions!!!” Ao cried. Many claimed they saw the Tree of Illusions. Some in the form of an everlasting burning tree, some in the form of a coniferous pine tree that rained down snow… Though accounts varied, researchers believed that all the forms were one that the Empyrean Wonder would take. The Tree of Illusions was a master of fooling the naked eye after all. Nevertheless, there was one form that stood out from the rest… And that was the shape of a white weeping willow tree.
“The Tree of Illusions gave you permission to witness it? That’s… impressive!” The number of people that had seen the Tree of Illusions was in the low hundreds. And that was after hundreds of thousands of years. For Junius to be baptised by its mana… It was a privilege.
“Yeah,” Junius shrugged off the achievement like it was nothing. For some reason, after he awoke from his slumber, the man seemed much more… indifferent. “I completed the Allfather’s mission, may I return?” The viridian-haired man asked Ao.
“Haha, definitely! In fact, I’m here to escort you back!” The World Serpent chortled. “Ah, I do have some news about your younger brother though! Are you interested to hear it?” Like a miserly merchant, the blue-haired man inched closer and attempted to intrigue the emotionless Junius.
Alas, the man couldn’t be fazed. Junius looked up at the smiling face of the World Serpent and replied, “Not interested.”
“Huh?” Ao dropped his jaw at Junius’ answer. “Ara? I’d thought that you were head over heels over your brother?” Typically, the young man would pull on the Ao’s robes just to hear if Shin was doing okay. Yet, at this moment, Junius hardly cared.
“Shin doesn’t want to join our side, and I doubt he’ll ever forgive me for killing Ariel… So what’s the point?” Junius shook his head. “In the end, I belong to the Allfather, and he works with the Alliance. We were a family before, but now… We’re just enemies that would fight till the bitter end. I can’t keep troubling my current family due to my obsession with Shin.”
“Enlightened?” Ao joked. “Have you gained enlightenment in the Tree of Illusions.”
“Hmmm, who knows?” Both of Junius’ shoulders rose close enough to touch his cheeks. “Right now, there’s only one thing that’s important to me...”
The young man grabbed onto the hilt of the Hofuku with his right hand and ripped it out with one giant swing. His Obsidian Water Blade that had been corrupted by the Allfather’s mana appeared in his left, and the world trembled as his spiritual pressure was unleashed. It was nowhere near the Allfather’s mana, but it was sufficient to choke the living lights out of any mortal.
“The Spirit Lord realm...”
Junius had advanced once again. Not to be outdone by Shin, the Blade of Death was now at Rank 50. A feat that was rare for someone his age. Turns out… His mission to the Illusory Canyon had yielded more results than some mere seeds.
“I live… to serve the Allfather...”