Luna blinked and gasped when she realized that she was now back in the siege tower. Out of instinct alone, her dark eyes quickly searched around to make sure she hadn’t been pulled into another space.

  ‘Thank gods.’

  A weak sigh left her lungs when she relaxed a bit after she caught sight of Len and the rest of the cohort. Everything seemed to be back to normal so suddenly.

  ‘My head hurts.’ She winced at the hammering pain in her head that came shortly after she started remembering her conversation with the deity. This pain appeared to be an after-effect of stepping into the 'Domain of Nothing’ as Oblivion had renamed it.

  She cursed to herself as she let the pain go on for a short while as her memory got updated.

  That bastard had pushed her out of the space once the golden tree fully faded and the image of space started shifting into an ominous darkness. And before Luna could make sense of what was going on, the deity smiled and pushed her out to save her from the consuming darkness.

  However, much as she appreciated that last-minute save, Luna couldn’t help but hiss at the fact that he had left her with a line of questions she didn’t feel like answering.

  Questions like…where the hell is the eternal flame exactly. Sure it was in the divine realm but how exactly was she supposed to get there as a mortal?

  How does she even cultivate qi? Where does she begin commanding life essence? What choice did he have to give her?

  And most importantly…

  Who were Everlight’s other followers? And can what happened be revered in anyway?

  There was more but…

  ‘That bastard left me on a cliffhanger.’

  “Luna!”

  Len’s voice snapped her out of her dark thoughts. Her eyelids fluttered before she gazed over her shoulder and gave everyone a confused look as if she didn’t the situation.

  “Hmm..?” she lifted her eyebrow.

  “You have been quiet for three whole minutes. Are you okay? Is it the pain?” Len asked with concern in her eyes. Her eyes traveled to where the head was moments ago and it was gone like the rest of the devil’s body which crumbled to black dust.

  “What pain? I don’t feel anything.”

  Everyone fell silent upon Luna’s claim. But when her mind snapped back, the cold expression she was wearing quickly faded and her face turned bright red when she noticed the unnatural looks they were all giving her.

  “Oh…no…the sword wound is fine. I just lost train of thought.” Her eyes traveled to the gold-eyed ascender who had just returned with Darkness. “So, what are we going to do about the teleportation circle? Umm…Gail?”

  “We’re going to rest for the night and figure out what to do about the circle tomorrow. We can also decide on who’s going to the next floor tomorrow,” Len’s serious tone cut in before Gail could speak.

  Automatically, everyone agreed to her suggestion. After a long day of constant fighting, it seemed everyone here had finally reached their limits.

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  Outside the tower, the remaining soldiers were gathering the bodies of their comrades to prepare a burial while the healers were running up and down to save those who they could.

  All those men and women were either sworn members of House Feng or soldiers of the government who simply wanted to delay the end of humanity.

  Nevertheless, it was better to focus on the positive side of things. Especially now that Luna had learned a small bit of the truth…

  And so, for now, she could say that the battle of the Siege Tower had ended with House Feng’s victory.

  The first floor of the Blood Tower had been conquered.

  ***

  The red sun has finally set and the crimson moon now hang in the dark sky. The remaining men and women had finished gathering the bodies of their fallen comrades and had set them aflame to avoid having them eaten by the giant serpent or other cursed creatures that were attracted by the strong smell of blood.

  And because the undead king and the devil were dead, the strange powers keeping Verge a monster-free city were fading away. Soon, Cursed Creatures were going to be roaming the fallen city of Verge.

  After paying her respects to her fallen comrades, Luna was now gazing at the expanse of the red desert. She smiled wistfully after she recalled the small life she was just building herself not so long ago. For a brief moment, she thought about her students in the real world.

  Were they worried that she was gone for so long? Or were they celebrating the fact that they didn’t have someone so skilled as herself to remind them of how lacking they were?

  ‘Maybe that was too specific.’

  Tonight, she was somehow in a good mood. One of the reasons was that she had finally avenged her fallen comrades by conquering the first floor of this dungeon. The second reason was because she had discovered that was indeed another way of ascending.

  She had decided to call this method celestial cultivation simply because the deity claimed that this was how they got stronger before becoming what he was.

  Discovering this made her excited to be honest. Though the downside of all of this was that she barely knew how to absorb or manipulate her own qi or that around her. All living things had qi in them. But unlike divine energy that could be manipulated once the first soul gate opens, life essence didn’t react like that.

  ‘I need to learn more.’

  Just like in those martial arts-based games she played all the time, Luna realized that she needed a master to help out with this.

  She was already sensitive to qi. But where was she going to find someone that isn’t dead or a deity that was capable of killing her in the blink of an eye?

  “Is manipulating qi even possible for humans? These things are only in comics and games…” she asked herself.

  She groaned. ‘It feels like I’m way in over my head. And I can’t admit to Mira that she might have been right.’

  A crazy idea crossed her mind and Luna reached out her hand and tried to manipulate the energy in her body. She put out her hand and closed her eyes to try her luck for once.

  With them closed, Luna started to sense the Qi around. She squeezed them as she tried to manipulate the energy in her body to do something else other than sensing.

  But, to her disappointment, nothing happened for ten whole minutes. There was no response from the qi inside her our around her.

  Oblivion said that all beings with life are capable of ascending. If she can’t use zenshi to open the door, Luna needs to break it down and step onto a similar path.

  Was even the path of zenshi the true path?

  ‘My head hurts…’

  She scowled and turned away from the desert view. Upon turning, she was startled when she noticed Snow’s presence. He standing and the entrance leading to the roof with a hot cup of tea in his hand. Like her, he looked tired and derepressed under the moonlight.

  “What are you doing out here?” he approached her and handed over the metallic cup of hot tea.

  Luna accepted the warm beverage and smiled weakly. “Nothing much. I was trying to see if qi can be manipulated like zenshi.”

  Snow wasn’t at the least surprised. Maybe he was too tired to react.“Really and where did you get such a wacky idea? Did Oblivion say something to you?”

  Luna shook her head and sipped some of the tea. It was best to keep the truth about their world hidden until she found some real evidence. What difference would it make if she told him that there is something called the Eternal Flame and it's the reason why the world is like this?

  That would only bring more chaos.

  Also, she couldn’t sidetrack the fact that the deity was put in this place because he was going mad. Not everything he said was believable.

  At least that’s what she thought.

  “I just thought that if zenshi is divine energy and can be manipulated. What of Qi?" Luna faced her cousin. "A more ancient energy that was there before zenshi. Don’t you think the humans of the old world knew something we don’t?”

  Snow was quick to respond. “Well…for starters, all knowledge about Qi was destroyed thousands of years ago. All we know about it is what was saved and made it to the New Word. Members of my clan are historians and all we managed to collect is that Qi... it’s beyond us, you know? It’s life itself—order and balance. Stuff we mortals can’t really grasp.”

  He turned to the red desert and continued after a short pause.

  “If we could use qi, we would be immortals. No..deities. If you are to ask me, qi is the root of all sorcery. If we, mortals, had taken the path of qi. I believe we could’ve ascended beyond even Fourth Soul Gate.”

  Luna almost spit out her tea. ‘Beyond the fourth gate. Is that even possible?’

  Currently, sorcery was the pinnacle of what humans were capable of. To shift nature to your will with your aura and feel one with the world was something looked at as incredible. What could be better than that?

  Unlike most enchanters, sorcerers didn’t even need runes to create enchantments with their aura. For example, both hers and Len’s swords were made by forged by forge—masters, and the enchantments were created by sorcerers who shared their auras to grant them special powers.

  The uniqueness of their forged weapons was why Len’s sword could affect nature and even turn into a fog along with her.

  And why Luna’s black katana could cut through almost everything.

  As she thought deeply, Snow continued.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t think qi is something we need since Black Ether consumes life essence. That’s why this path is the better one.”

  “Its the path that ensures our survival in this fucked up world.”