Chapter 325 - 325: Darkness

"Once I master it, I would be able to use my Qi for many more things. I can even use it as a Shield and that would work as well as a Gold Grade Sword since I'm in Earth Realm," Long Chen muttered.

With a pleased look on his face, Long Chen began reading the next page of the skill book. It described how one should improve his control of Qi. The next page talked about how the flow of Qi inside the body should be like.

It also talked about making various weapons and maintaining them outside without losing control of them.

Long Chen could already imagine himself using a bow made of Qi, and firing an arrow made of Qi. He could also see himself using a scythe, a blade, a sword, and a shield.

The skill was so useful in real-life battles. The only downside was that the weapon created by the Qi would be one realm lower than his actual cultivation. That might be bad if his opponent had a higher grade artifact.

Long Chen flew during the day and camped during the night since he also needed to give his Sun Destroying Condor a rest.

He continued his journey again in the early morning.

The same process continued for 4 days before he reached a long mountain range.

He could see more than 10 mountains in that place. The top of the mountains was covered in snow, while the lower parts of the mountains had greenery that made them look weird yet beautiful to look at.

Long Chen didn't want anyone to disturb him during his comprehension, thus he chose a mountain that was at the center since not many people would be able to come here without their flying beasts. This place was much safer.

He didn't land on the peak of the Mountain since it was cold, nor did he land at the foot of the mountain, he landed somewhere in between.

He was sure that there must be some caves in the mountain, but he had no time to find them. He just decided to make one of his own.

Long Chen brought his King's sword out of his storage ring and started using the strikes from the 7 forms of Saint Sword.

After half an hour of effort, he had managed to make a 400-meter long cave. He also covered the opening of the cave with stones and locked himself inside so that others could not enter.

After closing the opening, it was dark in the cave, but Long Chen didn't have a problem in navigating it.

He went to the deepest portion of the cave and sat there.

"Everything's ready now. Time to take the jump. I just hope that I will be able to succeed before I die of poison," Long Chen muttered as he took a deep breath.

He brought the Orb of Law of Darkness out of his storage ring.

As soon as the Orb of darkness came out, the cave turned even darker. The impossible darkness again appeared and shrouded everything in its embrace.

Long Chen couldn't even see the orb. In reality, he had never once seen the Orb of darkness, since every time the Orb was outside, he saw nothing but darkness everywhere.

Since he couldn't see anything, he just closed his eyes and placed the Law Orb in front of him.

He followed the process and sat in a meditative position in front of the Law Orb and placed his hand on the orb.

Long Chen waited like that for over 10 minutes, but nothing happened. He couldn't help but frown as he wondered if something was wrong.

"Xun? Why isn't it working?" he asked as he couldn't wait anymore.

"Xun?" Long Chen repeated as he didn't get any answer the first time.

He waited for 5 minutes for her reply, but he didn't get any.

"Is something wrong?" he frowned as he stood up. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear anything.

He decided to place the Orb back in his storage ring, but the orb wasn't there.

"What the heck?" he cursed as he started looking around, but he didn't find it.

He noticed something even more shocking. It was the fact that no matter how long he went in search of the Orb, he never got near the wall.

In fact, he wasn't even sure if the wall was there anymore. He walked in a straight direction just to test his assumption. He walked straight for 20 minutes, but he faced no obstruction.

"I guess my assumption is right. I'm in the trial of darkness. I need to comprehend it, only then can I leave," he muttered.

"How do I comprehend it though? It's different from the trial of the Illusion Orb and more similar to the Space Orb trial. I was left in empty space there and now I'm left in pure darkness," he muttered.

"Sigh, can't say I wasn't expecting similarities. They're both supreme laws after all," He said as he sat down on the ground.

He just sat there and watched the darkness.

"I only have 7 days, can I really comprehend it?" he couldn't focus for even a single second as he wondered about the passing time. 

The time limit was affecting his focus. He wanted to speed up his comprehension and that worry was becoming his biggest obstruction.

Just like that, a day passed, and he wasn't able to do anything but worry. Only 6 days were left and his useless thoughts only increased.

Ultimately he couldn't take it anymore and just lay on the ground as he looked towards the sky, but there was no sky, just darkness.

Another day passed and he just blankly stared at the darkness.

"The darkness is so painful. It's so empty. It's tormenting. I never knew it could be so frightening," Long Chen muttered to himself.

After all this time, he was so engrossed in the darkness that he had realized the true pain of darkness. It was just his second day in this dark place and he understood the torment of darkness.

"Looks like you are not that stupid," a voice came from nearby.

"What is it? Is anyone nearby?" Long Chen asked as he stood up.

He asked again and again, but he didn't hear the voice again, instead, he found space had changed around him.

He found himself in a different place.

There was still darkness, but he could see a few stars taking form amidst the darkness. After a moment, the stars lost their shine and they died. Everything that remained was darkness. Many things came into existence, but darkness truly never left. It was always there.

"Light can die. Life can die. Worlds can die. But darkness is truly immortal," Long Chen muttered as he saw the process of creation and destruction again and again.

He had already forgotten how much time he had spent in this dark world. In fact. he was so engrossed in the darkness, that he had completely forgotten his original motivation. All he wanted was to truly understand the boundless mysteries of darkness.

Long Chen found himself in a different place once more. It was as if he was inside a small village. It was night time, but he was able to see everything.

He stood in front of two young boys, but apparently, they couldn't see him. Both of them looked like they were 20-21 years old.

One of the two boys had tears in his eyes.

"Why are you crying?" one of the guys asked the other.

"I can't come to the brothel with you," the boy replied.

"Why? You don't have the money? Just steal some from your father if you don't have it!" his friend responded.

"I was trying to steal some money off my father, but he caught me. He beat me up over a few gold coins. I hate him!" the boy said.