Chapter 101 Balance

The third law was destruction. The fourth, radiance.

One by one, Xuan tackled the challenges thrown at him by the Corridors of Time. For the third, he used a special, more pressured variant of Combustion to explode the boulder from within. For the fourth, he was forced to rekindle the four totems in the room at the exact same time, which had left the room in complete darkness.

And now… it was time for the fifth.

The fifth layer of the Law of Fire. To the people of this mortal world, that was the extent they knew up until. It was the stage of transformation, and low level cultivators saw it as the peak of Laws.

But Xuan… he knew better.

As someone who'd traveled across the very limits of what this world had to offer, Xuan was well aware of the fact that all Laws were not just limited to five layers. In reality, there were nine layers in total—and the first transformation was just the beginning; the first level of transformation.

Now—he didn't even need to know to see that this place went beyond just five layers. To reach those levels, however, he'd first need to be able to comprehend the fifth. The roman numeral above the door changed from IV to V, and all of a sudden, the floor was set ablaze.

"Wha—!?"

Even Xuan was caught off-guard at this sudden turn of events, but it was already too late. The fire caught onto his robes and he began burning. The flames climbed up his body like a virus, and within seconds, his clothes had been incinerated.

"Tch…"

Despite that, Xuan did not cry out in pain. It stung, of course, but it wasn't enough to kill him. And so, he would not panic. This was just a mild annoyance at best—but a hindrance all the same.

That is, if he looked at it from only the obvious point of view. He was much more experienced than that, however, and immediately noticed the color of the flames that scorched the floor—they weren't just your average fire.

'… Heh, I get it. Thankfully, I have the Divine Dragon Body, which is resistant to heat… otherwise, I wouldn't be able to pass this trial and have to move onto the next room.'

This fire was golden—a brilliant flame that blinded those who laid eyes upon it, and scorched the very essence of cultivators. This was a special type of fire—a fire known as Golden Flames.

Since Xuan already had some level of contact with fire techniques before this, he was able to comprehend the Law of Fire quite easily. Since passing the first level, he'd began to develop the ability to use fire freely without the use of a technique, but now came the real challenge.

Would he be able to withstand these golden flames?

It wasn't just a matter of being able to survive in them while being burned. Xuan could handle that just fine, thanks to the power of his Divine Dragon scales. But could he comprehend the power that lies within these embers? That was the true test. If not, he would be forced to move on regardless, but if so, he'd be able to continue cultivating the higher layers of the Law of Fire…

'… In my previous life, I had no talent. I climbed every inch to the apex of cultivation with my own bloodstained fingers, through hard work and sacrifice. But in this life, things are different. I was granted heaven-blessed luck, and now possess the strongest special physique there is. But now… it's time for the real test. A measure of talent.'

When it came to the studying of Laws, there were no shortcuts. It was either you had the talent, or you didn't. Cultivators always had a higher aptitude to certain types of Laws depending on who you were, and since certain Laws clashed with one another, it was impossible to master more than three Laws—normally, anyway. Most people could only master one, and by 'master', that meant reaching the Ninth Layer of comprehension in it—something that required years upon years of time and endurance.

But Xuan was not part of the 'majority'. Just one Law would not be enough for him. He wanted more—and the special abilities of the Chaos Devouring Body would be precisely what he needed to accomplish that.

Calming his mind, he let the golden fire engulf him.

*****

- Meanwhile, On Fu Mei's side… -

As soon as the demon princess crossed over from the gate, she found himself in an odd place. It was a void of broken fragments of stairwells drifting across the cosmos, and up ahead was a pathway leading up to a door.

"Eh…? I just passed through a door… now another one?"

With a sigh, she flashed across the air without thinking about it too much, and phased through the door. The next thing she knew, she was inside what seemed to be a temple—a temple strangely divided into two halves. One of light, one of dark. It was split perfectly down the middle, with the left side having windows that let bright light pour in and the other having none. It was like day and night, yin and yang, cause and effect.

"Huh… what's this…?"

At the end of the room was yet another door, presumably leading to the next 'level'. However, Fu Mei wasn't stupid. Immediately, she could tell that this place wasn't normal—at the very least, the energy signatures here were incredibly dense and strong. However, other than that, there was a… strange feeling overtaking Fu Mei. It was like the left half of her body, bathed in the light, was extremely hot, while the right side was terrifyingly cold.

She shuddered. It was an unpleasant feeling, that was for sure. However, she soon discovered that if she stepped into the darkness, she would freeze over. Conversely, if she stepped into the light, she would burn. Not only that, the deeper she went—in other words, the closer she got to the door across from her—the stronger these effects.

But rather than being discouraged, Fu Mei smiled sinisterly, and licked her lips.

"Heheh… I see how it is. Balance, huh? Fine by me."