Wisps of fog drifted through the room, and in that hazy veil came the faint whistling of wind.
Strands of mist unfurled and dissipated. Wherever that drifting fog brushed against the stone floor or the walls, it left behind razor-sharp gouges—as though each strand were a blade carving through solid rock.
Suddenly, the mist froze in place, then snapped backward all at once, as if violently sucked into a single point. In the next heartbeat, every last trace vanished, revealing Locke standing there with his sword drawn.
His face looked a shade pale, but in his eyes flickered seventy percent delight and thirty percent regret.
The delight came from his incredible luck: in the midst of his sword dance, he had slipped into a state of enlightenment. His understanding of the Profound Mysteries of Illusionary fog and Ice edge had soared by an entire level.
And not just that. He'd nearly caught the precise connection between the Illusionary fog Mysteries and the Ice's Razor-Edge Mysteries.
As for the regret… it stemmed from the same reason. Entering that state of oneness between body and world consumed soul force at a terrifying pace. After burning through more than half of his soul force, Locke had been forced out of his epiphany prematurely.
By his estimation, if he'd lasted only a little longer… he might have fully comprehended the Illusionary Fog Mysteries right then and there.
And perhaps the fusion between the Fog's Illusion and the Ice's Razor-Edge would have begun.
Dispersing the fog-formed sword in his hand, Locke didn't waste a single breath. He immediately sat cross-legged on the cultivation chamber floor and sank into meditation to restore his depleted soul force.
At the same time, he revisited every fragment of insight he had just gained—especially that elusive point of resonance between the Illusionary Fog and the Ice's Razor-Edge.
For Locke, comprehending individual Profound Mysteries had never been difficult.
And he had never believed his future achievements would fall short of Highgod.
After all, once he eventually stepped foot in a divine plane or the Higher Plane, he would be able to use his mastery over souls to strip away the insights of other water-aligned Saints, using them as reference to advance his own understanding of the water-element laws.
A Highgod? That was merely Locke's minimum.
But he had no intention of stopping at being a normal Highgod.
To truly grow strong, fusing different Profound Mysteries was an absolute requirement.
And at present, he still couldn't guarantee his soul abilities were strong enough to rip fused insights from the soul of a god-level expert.
So if he could comprehend law-fusion on his own, he needed to do so.
Only the strength he gained through his own understanding could carry him step by step to the summit.
Otherwise, once Locke himself completed fusing five kinds of Profound Mysteries, how could he possibly strip the fused grand insights from someone who already possessed a perfected soul?
A perfected will could sever that path entirely.
The next day, after his soul force fully recovered, Locke put all his focus into locating the fusion point between the Illusionary Fog Mysteries and the Ice's Razor-Edge Mysteries.
Although yesterday's enlightenment hadn't pushed the fusion to begin, it had pointed him in the right direction.
Following that direction, it didn't take him much time or effort to finally grasp the exact point of resonance between the two sets of mysteries.
And then came the true challenge—the fusion of laws…
Compared to comprehending individual Profound Mysteries, fusing them was exponentially harder.
Fortunately, with this first attempt at merging the Mist and Ice attributes, Locke had gained something invaluable: experience.
He was no longer groping in the dark. With a clear path ahead, it was a true breakthrough—from zero to one.
On this particular day, Locke was deep in cultivation when a familiar sensation washed over him—a feeling of being watched.
His eyes snapped open. He glanced at Cole, who was sprawled on the ground, drooling in his sleep, and his expression shifted.
"Ah!"
Cole shrieked. The boy jerked upright clutching his neck, eyes wide, darting around him in terror.
When he finally spotted Locke, his expression turned hazy for a second—then he shivered violently.
Clearly, Cole had woken entirely from whatever nightmare he'd been trapped in.
Locke lifted his hand. A massive palm formed of fog materialized, seized Cole, and hauled him forward. With a single kick to the back of Cole's knees, Locke forced the boy into a kneeling position.
"Lord Locke of Locke Territory," Cole stammered, bowing low, "pays respects to His Majesty Celes."
"Heh… amusing."
Only seconds after waking up, Cole had been forced to kneel by his older brother, still completely lost. But the moment he heard that name from Locke's lips, he went ghost-white, trembling uncontrollably in Locke's grasp.
"Your Majesty Celes, thank you for your warning," Locke said calmly. "I have already expelled everyone in Locke Territory with ties to the Radiant Temple…"
"As for my foolish younger brother, I beg Your Majesty's leniency. He was merely young, ignorant, and deceived."
"I guarantee that for the rest of his life, he will never leave this estate. And he will forget everything related to the Radiant Temple."
"If anything like last time ever occurs again in Locke Territory, I will personally execute him immediately, to give Your Majesty a satisfactory answer."
Cole's whole body shook—but he didn't dare utter a word.
"Locke, your guarantee is one I trust."
"And in any case, I did not come here today to discuss that matter."
"Then may I ask what Your Majesty requires of me?"
"No requirement. I'm only here to tell you something. What you decide to do with that information is your own affair."
"Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."
"Heh…"
A soft chuckle sounded by Cole's ear. A few seconds later, Celes' voice echoed again.
"Locke, the Radiant Temple just performed a sacrificial rite."
"This time, the newly born Saint they gained… is a viscount who defected from your territory."
"That newly ascended Saint of the Radiant Temple appears to have chosen the Frost-Snow Empire as his target of conquest."
"And because the Frost-Snow Empire has no newly ascended Saints, and in the next three years no one is guaranteed to break through… they will be unable to resist the Radiant Temple's invasion."
"So this war—I do not want it to start. Do you understand?"
Locke pressed his lips together.
He hadn't expected that among the three who fled Locke Territory, one actually succeeded in offering a sacrifice… and ascended to the Sanctuary level.
He glanced at Cole and let out a quiet sigh.
For a typical ninth-rank expert, if they found a soul that pure, they wouldn't hesitate to rush to the Radiant Temple to complete the sacrificial ritual.
(End of Chapter)
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