Chapter 42 - Eye for Eye, Tooth for Tooth

Jean looked at the sword and put a finger on the blade, then he saw his blood flowing down. His eyes turned back at the kids and narrowed, then he walked towards them.

Rosa: SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!

The only girl of the group screamed while the other two were unable to release a sound when Jean instantly appeared in front of them and grabbed the first child by his neck.

He raised the child who was trying to grasp air with his mouth, and raised his sword.

Jean: …

*Slash*

Blood spurted out… The child became blind, in the next moment, the same thing happened with the other two. the kids' closed eyes were bleeding, as if they were crying blood. Then, Jean let fall his sword in the ground.

After a moment of silence, he heard the kids scream in pain while holding their bloody eyes. After a minute of inactivity from Jean's side, the kids disappeared and another man appeared… It was his uncle.

Phoenix: Dennell Sanford

The member of your own family, your uncle, abused of you since you were small, forced to make his work without anyone knowing, until, at the age of 11, he got annoyed from your voice and cut off your tongue.

Jean's eyes turned cold as ice when he gazed at Sanford, Jasmine's eyes meanwhile widened, his uncle cut off his tongue?! Her father wanted to use her as a sacrifice, but at least he treated her as best as he could anyways...

Like before, a sword appeared in front of him, however, Jean decided to ignore the sword and immediately grabbed Sanford's throat, forcing him to open his mouth. Then he grabbed his tongue and ripped it off bȧrė handed, letting blood flow out from his mouth.

Jean quickly created a medical pill with some herbs and forced him to eat it, before the blood stopped flowing out, leaving Sanford alive and without a tongue.

After 1 minute of inactivity from Jean, Sanford disappeared, and a group of young people were in front of him, looking at him with surprise.

Phoenix: Katelin Pilgrim

Kate Atterberry

Richmal Fiddler

Cydney Black

Fulk Dickson

Jules Elwyn

Jeffery Garret

When you were 12 years old, those… Thugs… Crossed path with you, and they made fun of your problems. However, they were angry when you decided to ignore them, and one of them was cruel enough to make you deaf for the rest of your life while everyone laughed at you.

Jasmine didn't understand what was going on, what was the Phoenix talking about? Jean already told her about his adoptive family and said that he had no uncle, he didn't seem to lie, so he may have hid something, which was normal after she thought about his Schrifts…

In front of Jean, a sword appeared, but jean didn't even wait for the sword to touch the ground when he grabbed its handle and used Star God's Broken Shadow to disappear and reappear behind them after their ears flew away.

All of them let out a blood-curdling scream while they covered their ears and crouched down in pain.

Phoenix: Caiden Davids

This man was your teacher when you had 15 years, in a certain day, he was stressed due to being left from his wife, and after seeing you, who was mostly ignored from everyone, he decided to let out his stress and hit you in the nose, breaking it to a point of no return.

Jasmine: 'Even his teacher…'

Obviously she didn't knew about school, so she thought that this man was a teacher for Jean like she should be for him or like the medical saint that he talked about.

Jean just reared back his fist and punched the man before he could even notice him right in the face, obviously he didn't want to kill him so he held back and broke only his nose and a bit of his skull.

He let out strange mȯȧns in pain, and after 1 minute of inactivity, he was swapped with another fat and stinky man.

Phoenix: Wilfred Cooper

At the age of 17, you were crossing the road, but this man, who was dru-*POW*

Jean didn't even let the Phoenix finish when he grabbed the man's head from behind and drove a knee attack on his spine, breaking it and causing him paralysis. Jean just left him in the ground and said in the void.

The scene before his eyes distorted and disappeared as the world once again returned to darkness. Jean opened his eyes. To the front of his view, there were those two giant, golden eyes.

Jean: I lost… I guess I was too confident…

Phoenix: ...You clearly knew what you should do, which was not doing anything to them, yet, you didn't killed them either, you just punished them.

Is your ambition for power just that high?

Jean: No one has the right to tell me what I should do, this is the type of power I want, to do whatever I want. So what if you want me to kill them? I already have the Fire Seed of the Evil God and my Schrift "H" can create fire, even if not as strong as that of the Phoenix at the moment.

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, I mostly follow these words, they took away one of my senses and I will take away theirs, the Xiao Sect wanted to take away my everything, I will take away their everything.

Phoenix: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth… Wise words. Now, it's time for you to receive the rewards for successfully passing through the trial grounds.

Jean: Alright, I'll leav- Wait what?

Phoenix: Congratulations, human who bears the Evil God's strength and powers that greatly surpass the natural laws of the entire universe. Within these countless years, you are the eighth practitioner who has chosen to give up your strength rather than reap life from your most hated people.

You have earned the right to inherit the Phoenix's gift.

Jean: Uhhhh…

Phoenix: What I had said before about how only those with an appropriate amount of ambition towards achieving strength can pass the third stage of the trial, was a deliberate hint in the wrong direction.

The phoenix is a righteous creature and the trials it had left behind is a gift to the Profound Sky Continent. But the phoenix is never willing to have his strength to be inherited by those who are evil and heartless.

The third trial is constructed through the practitioner's most important memories from in the depths of their soul, even if you were blind, your soul wasn't. Prior to the trial, I would give a hint that only through a strong dėsɨrė for power would one pass the trial.

Right, those illusions originated from your own memory, and were not replicated from other sources. It is exactly the same as the real person, item or event and they'll have to face it as if everything was real.

I already saw your memories and from those, you would be able to pass, but I was curious about what would you do if you had a chance to get revenge from the people of you previous life, if you had killed them straight away, I would of course not give you the power.

I thought about showing you a pleasant memory, but I realized that you already understood the hidden meaning of the trial, so I decided to change the trial a bit, just punishing them means that you still have principles that you follow, instead of a person that would do anything for power.

If such a person were to receive great strength, it would only be for their own self-growth, and not to protect others. This would go against the Phoenix's original intention in leaving behind this trial ground.

Of the seven people who had previously passed the third test, some of them faced their own wives, some faced their masters, their benefactors, parents and even their kids. Unlike you; they were clear that it was an illusion, but didn't understand the hidden meaning of the trial at the start...

Phoenix: Of course. You will be granted three gifts from the Phoenix: Phoenix blood, Divine Phoenix Pills and you will have the chance to study the fragment of the World Ode of the Phoenix. Right now, I shall bestow upon you the Phoenix's Veins.

The phoenix spirit's golden eyes flashed, and caused the dark world to turn golden for an instant. Abruptly, a spot of golden light came from the illusionary space. It shot precisely in between Jean's eyebrows to then sink in afterwards.

Phoenix: I saw what you are capable of, modifying your body with "Compulsory", but a reward is a reward, so I will give you 1 drop of the Phoenix Blood, you can do whatever you want with that drop afterwards, it isn't mine anymore at that time.

You are already equipped with the Divine Seed of the Evil God, and will not be harmed by any sort of fire. Therefore, the Phoenix's ability to withstand fire will be of no use to you.

But after it has fused into your veins, it will allow you to master fire attribute profound arts and yield twice the results in half the time.

The fire attribute profound skills that you could employ would be more powerful than ever! Especially the Phoenix Fire Skill, which will allow you to wield power that's three times stronger than what a normal person's veins can.

Now close your eyes and let these three drops of the Phoenix's blood seep into your veins. Amongst the previous seven challengers, the shortest time a person took for the entire process was three days, but I believe it would not take more than half a quarter of an hour in your case.

A small drop of blood entered Jean's veins, and when it entered, it seemed as if there was a cluster of franticly burning flames that was spreading through all of his veins in a split second, and soon it disappeared in his veins.

Jean opened his eyes and a fire-red flame mark flashed between his brows. The size and shape of the mark was the same as that of the Phoenix clan outside, but its color was much more vivid.