Mara’s screech erupted in response, a bone-chilling, guttural sound that resonated through the room.

GRRAAAARR!

The gourds, which had been swaying in the tree, were suddenly thrown into disarray. They fell to the ground with a series of sharp, clattering sounds.

CLATTER-CLANG!

Some shattered upon impact, releasing a burst of ethereal light and a faint, sparkling mist that briefly illuminated the chamber before dissipating.

Mara slowly started to melt, the viscous, dark substance dripping and pooling onto the ground. The air around them grew thick with a pungent, acrid smell. Ling Xuan only stared, his eyes cold and unyielding.

GRRAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!

Mara's roar echoed through the cavern, a sound that reverberated off the walls and sent shivers down the spine. The creature, now a grotesque amalgamation of molten flesh and dark energy, lunged at Ling Xuan, trying to engulf him in its melted form. Ling Xuan stepped back, his movements precise and calculated, evading the grasp of the liquid horror.

SIZZLE!

A part of Mara flicked onto Ling Xuan, landing on his hand and burning it slightly. The sharp scent of seared flesh mingled with the oppressive air. Ling Xuan grimaced but remained composed.

“Not now, mate,” he muttered, his voice a steely whisper. His gaze never wavered, piercing through the writhing mass that was once Mara.

Suddenly, the melted puddle began to compress and condense. The air grew heavy as a powerful suction force emanated from the center of the puddle, pulling in everything around it. Debris and dust swirled in a chaotic dance, drawn toward the condensing form.

“Come on!” Ling Xuan thought, his eyes narrowing with determination. The mass continued to shrink, spiralling inward with increasing intensity. Finally, with a final, resounding pop, the substance condensed into a small, unassuming object—a gourd.

“Amrita,” Ling Xuan mumbled, recognizing the artefact instantly. As he picked up the gourd, a torrent of memories flooded his mind, overwhelming him with their intensity. Images, sounds, and emotions cascaded through his consciousness, a maelstrom of the past and the forgotten.

“AAAAHHHHH!” Ling Xuan clutched his head, the pain searing through his skull. The memories played out like a relentless storm, each one more vivid than the last. He could see faces, hear voices.

But then, as suddenly as it had begun, the onslaught ceased. Ling Xuan let go of his head and stared blankly ahead, the last echoes of the memories fading into the recesses of his mind.

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“So that’s what happened, eh?” he murmured.

The garden fell silent, the echoes of Mara's roar and the condensing energy dissipating into an eerie calm. Ling Xuan stood there, the gourd in his hand.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Ling Xuan stood at the periphery of the lake and looked at the setting sun, he sighed deeply, the weight of recent revelations heavy on his mind.

“Xu Lingyao, you truly were an Alchemist,” he murmured, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and sorrow.

When Ling Xuan had touched the gourd, an enormous amount of information had surged into his brain. The sheer volume and intensity of the memories threatened to overwhelm him, to transform him. However, the Library, his cheat ability, had instantly contained those memories, filtering them down to pure information devoid of any emotion. These were the memories of Xu Lingyao.

During her time on the island she had discovered a certain garden teeming with an abundant array of rare and powerful herbs, each more valuable than the last. Yet, to her dismay, she found that these mystical herbs were bound to the garden, unable to be taken beyond its borders. This forced her to set up a temporary alchemical lab on the island itself.

It was here that she had created a nameless elixir, only referred to as The Myth Elixir. This elixir granted abilities that could allow one to be almost a mythical being but, as if in retribution for its creation, it also chained her to a finite span of life, drastically shortening her longevity.

Panic-stricken by her impending mortality, Xu Lingyao had scrambled to concoct another elixir, one that promised eternal life—Amrita. Yet, in her haste and desperation, she made a fatal mistake. While Amrita did grant eternity, it was rife with impurities. The ungodly amounts of contaminants reacted with the substance meant to bestow immortality, warping its effects into something monstrous.

In a moment of desperation, she offered the Maitreya The Myth Elixir. The Maitreya, sensing the power within the elixir, took it and used its potent properties to regenerate a new head. As the Maitreya regained its form, it saw the plight of Xu Lingyao and made a decision.

With a swift and decisive act, the Maitreya split Xu Lingyao into two beings. One was her original mortal form, free from the impurities of the Amrita. The other was Mara in whose veins the corrupted elixir flowed.

Afterwards, the then weak Mara was sealed by Xu Lingyao in a labyrinth crafted with the Temple’s help. This collaboration resulted in both the labyrinth and the legends of Mara. Although Xu Lingyao believed she had done these actions of her own volition, the truth was far more strange—The Maitreya had manipulated her into creating the labyrinth and sealing Mara.

“Yet why did The Maitreya do that?” Ling Xuan asked himself, but there was no answer. The gourd he held in his hands was not one containing Amrita but poison of the deadliest kind that would transmogrify him into another Mara.

“Then why did Feng Mui say to drink from the gourd?” Ling Xuan wondered, confusion knitting his brows. The instructions given to him by Feng Mui now seemed like a cruel riddle.

Ling Xuan could only sigh and turn back when he heard a rustle behind him and quickly turned back. His eyes widened as he saw the man clothed in black robes in front of him.

“Greetings again, my Junior,” Xia Longwei smiled.

“Greetings once again, Senior,” Ling Xuan smiled wryly.

“It’s been quite a while.”

“Indeed.”

The sun slowly set as the two greeted each other.