Chapter 195: The illusion-(1)

When Lu Ming initially began to light up the lanterns, they just seemed to be sources that could be controlled using fire energy. Since he followed the Keeper's advice, Lu Ming was able to light the lanterns quite easily. The energy expenditure was also on the minimal side because the training of 4 years within the Crimson lord world, improved Lu Ming's fire control capacity to a monstrous extent. One couldn't begin to imagine how efficient he was in power expenditure.

It was not until he lit the 10th lantern up that Lu Ming began to feel awkward. Something didn't seem normal about the set of lanterns. At first, he thought it was the vast difference in energy expenditure while lighting them, but soon enough a strange pattern seems to have presented itself.

"The lanterns seem to be complementing each other as if they were one. I wasn't sure before, but every time I light a new lantern up, the rest of the lantern goes through a series of changes. The amount of Qi expended begin to increase at a horrific rate." The Keeper asked Lu Ming to continue describing his findings.

"The expenditure of the first lantern was the least when I light it up, but as of now the expenditure is somewhat similar to the tenth lantern."

"Are you implying that each lantern is demanding the same amount of energy to remain lit up?"

"I guess. I wouldn't have found this out if I had rushed through the process. The pace of my expenditure managed to enable me to detect this anomaly. Do You have any ideas regarding this phenomenon?"

"Just Keep lighting them up. We will soon find the mystery behind the lanterns once all of them are lit."

Lu Ming continued the supply of energy to one lantern after the other. He soon needed to utilize his acupoints to manage the energy supply. The activity continued until he reached the 15th lantern. Just as he was about to light the 16th lantern up, the gap of energy required became quite massive.

After some efforts, when it finally managed to light up, Long Tao couldn't help but get shocked at the other lanterns. The energy expenditure almost doubled by lighting a single lantern up. Lu Ming began to utilize more of the elemental acupoints to keep this process up.

"We need to come up with a solution. At this rate, I would have to give up on reaching the 19th lantern. The 20th would be an impossible feat, without beats flame."

"If I have to make an assumption, I would say that these lanterns were left here by some powerful entity. They not just test the control of the future disciples, but must also hold some secret of the man who created them. If your luck is good enough, you might be able to top get your hands on some techniques or legacy of some sorts."

"How do I overcome the barrier and successfully light up all the lanterns?"

"You should first extend the energy into all the remaining lanterns and start operating them at the same time. If I am not wrong, the secret behind lighting all twenty must be by doing it at the same time. It would ensure that the minimum amount of energy is utilized to control all the lanterns."

"Once you do get enough energy filled up in each of the lanterns, you should light them up at the same time."

Lu Ming followed the procedure and found that energy could be transmitted to any lantern without following the sequence. Once he connected with all the lanterns, he started to utilize his energy to combust them at the same time.

............................

It was at that moment when Lu Ming felt somewhat awkward. It felt as if his soul was being sucked to another place. When he finally opened his eyes, the sight in front was breath-taking. It was a majestic terrain that was quite similar to the current Pill valley. The only difference was it was more of a wilderness than a civil location.

When Lu Ming started looking here and there, he couldn't find anything except the wilderness. He tried contacting the Keeper but received no response. When he finally started inspecting himself, all he could see was a transparent boy flying above the magical terrain. 

"He tried to interact with the surrounding but to his neigh, he couldn't. Strangely this view seemed like a pre-recorded video playing in front of his eyes. 

"This seems like a memory of the past."

The vents played out in front of him. He soon got to see a single entity coming into the picture. He lifted his hands and utilized a horrible kind of energy to tera-form the whole region into a cleaned-out place. He built a small hut in the middle of the space and began to live his life there. 

The successive pictures showed the man going through the daily chores, practicing martial arts, and most of the time, alchemy. The figure seemed to be a very powerful alchemist as each time a pill was created, Long Tao could see all the surrounding area's energy rushing into the man's medical pot.

The Pill emerging from the pot radiates a glow that surrounds the whole region.

"Just what kind of Pill is that."

The scene continued with the figure practicing alchemy again and again. After watching for some time, Lu Ming realized that there seems to be a hidden procedure followed by the figure. It was as if he was trying to showcase a particular art to Lu Ming. Once Lu Ming followed his steps, he finally found out the secret. It was indeed a Pill refining art. 

.......................

"This art is magical. Just by looking at it, I could see that my efficiency would at least double by just following in the footstep of the figure. He continued to look at the memory and started comprehending the art from it. After a long period, he was finally able to comprehend the art into completion.

The view suddenly changed in front of his eyes. It was during this time that Lu Ming found himself to be quite exhausted. Even though he was just comprehending the memory, he felt drained.

"The illusion seems to be sucking my soul power in return for showcasing the memory. It means the higher my soul power, the longer will I last within this space."

Lu Ming began to concentrate on the next piece of memory.

....................

The same man was using fire to perform a weird set of moves. At first, Long Tao felt that the moves were quite random. There were somewhat similar movements to the fire arts he had learned from the hall master, but he felt that a large part of it was just a strange set of moves.

Long Tao tried to practice the movements shown and all they did was to help him direct the fire energy in a better way. He couldn't find any difference between these setoff moves and what he learned from the Hall master. The Hall master 's art seemed to more complete.

"I must be missing some essential part of this art, he thought."

As Lu Ming continued to practice, he felt his normal fire control improving. IT felt like when he was performing the Dominator's fist. The movement seemed to be enhancing the amount of energy concentrated at a certain location by a huge extent.

"Let me try adjusting my breathing."

When he finally began utilizing his breath in sync. with the movements, something strange started to happen.