Episode 364

This time, the group had learned their lesson. They knew that white light wouldn’t strike them for no reason. Regardless of whether they thought the white light was trying to restrict them or there was some other reason, it definitely had something to do with the fact that they had flown earlier on.

“That white light was a real nasty one! After it hit me, I was no longer able to use my Spirit Power,” grumbled Oscar. He thought that he could use his own shadow on the ground to catch himself when he landed, but that totally didn’t happen. He couldn’t use his Spirit Power at all when the white light hit him and crashed landed on a rocky patch. If his body hadn’t gone through extra strengthening on the first floor, this crash might have injured him very severely.

“I feel like that white light is a warning of sorts. Thankfully we’re all okay, otherwise it’d be such a waste if we lost a member because of something like that,” remarked Durand as well. He was still concerned about that white light.

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Natasha apologized.

Su Jin shook his head and said, “It’s not your fault. Anybody in the same situation would have thought of doing the same thing. Now that we know such methods don’t work, we’ll better just stick to walking.”

The group took almost two days to finally arrive at the peak. The heat wave from the spewing lava was enough to turn all of them into human jerky, and the actual lava inside the volcano was even worse.

“What do we do now?” asked Oscar. They had reached the peak, but what were they supposed to do next?

“Go in, of course. Those who went through the test were spewed out from the inside of the volcano, so we don’t have a choice,” said Su Jin in a matter-of-fact voice.

“We have to go in, that’s pretty obvious. But how? Just jump in? Not even Shen Wu would be able to protect us from this much heat, right?” said Durand as he frowned.

Shen Wu was frowning too as he gave a direct answer, “No, I can’t. The lava keeps coming up from the bottom of the volcano and the temperature just keeps rising. I can’t handle this. My Spirit Power has a limit, but this volcano… doesn’t seem to have one.”

Su Jin used his psychokinesis to scan the volcano, and he found a path in no time. It was a spiral passageway along the face of the volcano, and they could get to the bottom if they followed this path.

“This way!” Su Jin called out to them, then walked in first. The heat hit them immediately as they walked in, and even though they were able to withstand the heat, Shen Wu still made use of his Spirit Power to make the temperature more bearable.

“It’s better for just one person to expend some energy than for the heat to sap the energy out of every person here,” said Shen Wu.

They nodded in agreement. Tiring themselves out from the heat along this path was a foolish decision, especially since they had someone who could control temperature with them. This was a tough Challenge, so they had to keep their bodies in their best condition at all times so that they could handle any emergency situations that came their way.

Walking downward was much easier than climbing, but they did not move too quickly because they had to be wary of dangers that might appear any moment. Su Jin was not stingy with his psychokinesis, so his job wasn’t any easier than Shen Wu’s. The scene before them shocked them greatly. The lava in the volcano would spray upward from time to time, but it would never land inside the spiral pathway they were on. It was as if there was a giant, transparent wall around them to keep the lava out. If not for that, the lava spraying would have posed a terrible threat to them.

“These…” Halfway down, their path was blocked by a pile of bones. These bones didn’t look like they had been burned, since any flesh left on them was still fresh. It looked more like the flesh had been eaten by something.

Just when they were still puzzled by this, Su Jin suddenly turned to look toward the lava. The lava shook, and a fiery fox leaped out and landed in front of them.

Both sides stared at one another for a while. Nobody in the group dared to look down on this fiery fox, even though it looked very cute. This creature was definitely something that could gobble you up and leave no traces behind.

The fiery fox suddenly smiled strangely at them. The flames around its body engulfed it, and the team immediately got ready for a fight. But the fox didn’t attack them. The flames only engulfed the fox for a while before disappearing completely. An elegant man in red now stood before them, except that he had a pair of fox ears.

“Welcome, pioneers of the new cycle. You will be tested in this place, and those who pass will have the chance to become a god. Just the chance. But don’t worry, even if you don’t become a god here, you will still have the chance to do so after you return to your own worlds. But… if you don’t pass the test, you will definitely die. So, now, I will give you an opportunity to make a choice. If you’re not confident, you may return right now,” the man with fox ears said to the five of them.

The team exchanged glances. None of them wanted to return. They had come this far precisely because they wanted to become a god. The chance to become one was right before them. There was no way anyone was giving up at this juncture.

“Are you sure none of you want to back out?” the man asked again. All five of them shook their heads to show that they weren’t going to back out.

The man smiled faintly, then clapped his hands as he said, “Very good, very good! I nearly panicked just now, because if you chose to back out, then… those fellows behind you are proof of what would have happened to you.” He pointed to the bones on the ground.

Everyone raised an eyebrow. This was one nasty character. But they believed what he said. Every creature in this building was scarier than the last. If a fox said he could kill them, he was definitely able to.

“Alright now, come with me!” The man waved an arm, and a path appeared in the middle of the lava.

“Wait!” Su Jin piped up suddenly.

The man paused, then turned to grin at Su Jin before saying, “What is it? You want to back out now? I don’t mind letting you do that!”

“No,” Su Jin shook his head, then said quietly, “you said something about us being from the new cycle. What… what is this new cycle?”

The man was surprised by the question, but he smiled and said, “This universe was originally a dot, and I call it the first beginning – it’s the first, and also the beginning! Centuries and generations cannot escape it, and each era is like a cycle, each millennia is like a cycle. What has passed is the old cycle, so what is to come will be the new cycle.”

“A millennia is like a cycle, the old cycle has passed and a new cycle emerges… elder gods, current gods, new gods… is that the answer?” Su Jin’s eye twitched, and the seal around the psychokinesis in his consciousness suddenly shattered. It wasn’t because he had undone the seal himself, but it was because he had figured out what was going on with Hell’s Handbook. Or at least he understood it at a surface level, like finding the thread that could unravel a ball of yarn. It was just a matter of time before he figured everything else out.

Once the seal was broken, the silver glow in Su Jin’s eyes became too bright for anyone to look directly at him. It slowly dimmed a few moments later because he was able to control this amount of psychokinesis without issue now. The Handbook would not throw him out anymore.

“Oh? I’ve not seen someone gain enlightenment at such a time.” The man stared at Su Jin curiously, but he quickly noticed something amiss. His eyes widened as he said, “Wait a minute. This amount of psychokinesis… what’s going on with you? Someone with this much can’t possibly exist!”

Su Jin did not explain himself. The amount of psychokinesis he had now was truly astonishing, but it was from the training and refinement in the long river of time he went through. Some might think that Su Jin was just lucky, but that period of time had not been easy for him at all. The grief, pain, helplessness, joy, and bliss he went through were very real. He had earned every bit of the psychokinesis he had now, so he didn’t think he merely got lucky.

“Aren’t we supposed to be heading down that way? Let’s go then,” said Su Jin as he ignored the surprised man.

The man was still really astonished, but he nodded in response and turned to walk down the path. Su Jin and the rest followed behind him.

Once they walked past the lava, they came to a giant cave. Compared to the volcano that was spewing lava everywhere, this seemed like a completely different place. It was cool and refreshing. Nobody would think this place was actually in the heart of a volcano.

“Alright everyone! Let me introduce myself! They call me the… God of Sins!” said the man with a grin as he pointed to himself.