Master stage

As Solarian finished consuming the heart, he licked the blood from his fingers, contemplating, "I should get Volmoran to get me more spirit hearts; these things are quite delicious," he mused.

Then, laying his eyes upon the Solar Lake, he remarked, "Oh, it was quite an easy journey, wasn't it?" His tone dripped with hypocrisy.

He then cracked his fingers and said, "Now, should I start the looting then?"

The Solar Lake radiated light as if it were a sun unto itself, and upon witnessing its splendor, only one word surfaced in Solarian's mind: "Beautiful."

It was so mesmerizingly beautiful that Solarian already had the urge to fill its pristine waters with blood and corpses, or, in simpler terms, to destroy it.

"Okay, let's start the looting then," he declared, his face a mask of cold confidence.

"Volmoran, guard this place for a while until I finish absorbing the solar essence from this lake," he commanded Volmoran while stepping into the lake.

"As you wish, Your Highness," Volmoran replied as he disappeared into thin air.

Solarian then took a deep breath, submerged himself completely in the lake, and began to absorb the solar essence contained within its waters.

Originally, this was just a normal lake, but during the great war that separated the mythic realm from the heavenly mythical realm, it absorbed the solar essence of the solar world god, Evarius.

When Evarius died, his solar essence was absorbed by this lake. Although over time it had lost much of its power, its main function—to reduce the risk of one's heart exploding—remained intact.

What it actually does is allow those attempting to reach the master stage to form a ring around their heart without any complications, facilitating their advancement.

After some hours 

After several hours had passed, evening approached, and the sun began to set, casting a golden hue across the landscape.

Yet, the Solar Lake now glowed with an intensity greater than it had in the morning. This was due to Solarian nearing the master stage; his mythical energy was seeping into the lake, causing the waters to shimmer even more vibrantly.

Inside the lake, Solarian floated in a lotus position, immersed in deep concentration. Then, suddenly, he opened his eyes, and a massive explosion erupted within the lake. Moments later, Solarian emerged from the water.

As he stepped out of the lake, he could feel a ring of mythical energy encircling his heart, and a surge of power unlike anything he had experienced before.

It was clear now that he had attained the Master stage.

The gap between the Adept stage and the Master stage was as vast as that between a human and an ant.

This was because, while an Adept possessed raw destructive power, a Master wielded refined destructive power, capable of harnessing their abilities with precision and control that far surpassed their previous capabilities.

"Congratulations, Your Highness, for reaching the Master stage," Volmoran appeared out of thin air, offering his congratulations to Solarian with a respectful bow.

"Thank you," Solarian replied, his tone as cold and detached as the evening air around them.

Although Volmoran did not take Solarian's coldness to heart, he couldn't help but feel a mix of shock and awe.

Solarian, his young master, had reached the Master stage at the tender age of 17, having begun his cultivation journey at only 10.

To achieve such a feat in merely 7 years was nothing short of astounding.

"Oh, yes, Volmoran, destroy this damned lake. It's too precious to allow anyone else to benefit from it," Solarian commanded as he used his newfound mythical energy to dry his body, his eyes scanning the shimmering waters with a sense of finality.

Despite the Solar Lake's potential to aid many in achieving the Master stage, its utility to an individual was a one-time affair. Now that it had served its purpose for Solarian, it held no value to him.

In his view, if something could no longer be of use to him, then it had no right to exist.

"Okay, Your Highness," Volmoran said, his voice echoing slightly in the quiet of the now-darkening forest.

He extended his hand forward, channeling his dark energy to summon an asteroid from the depths of the cosmos.

With a flick of his wrist, he directed the celestial rock towards the lake, obliterating it in a spectacular display of power and light, leaving nothing but a crater in its wake.

As Solarian started to leave the charred remains of the Solar Forest, illuminated only by the fading light of the setting sun, he stumbled upon the lifeless body of Yei, exactly where they had left her.

Then a thought came into his mind.

"Volmoran, hang this wretch here. Pluck her eyes out and place them in her mouth," he commanded, his voice cold and devoid of any empathy, as he barely glanced at Yei's body, treating it as nothing more than an object for his gruesome display.

Volmoran, with a slight nod, approached Yei's body. His movements were swift and methodical as he executed Solarian's macabre orders.

He lifted her body with an ease, hanging it from a jagged, broken piece of the stone door.

Without hesitation, Volmoran executed the order. after He hung Yei's body from the giant, broken piece of the stone door, then gruesomely plucked out her eyes and placed them in her mouth.

Seeing this, Solarian felt satisfaction in his heart because from the start, Yei was Ye Fan's opportunity in the Solar Forest.

And he also knew that destroying the stone gate would have angered her, causing her to come and try to stop Solarian from entering the forest.

This was exactly what Solarian wanted: to force her to come out herself and die a horrible death as she did. Now, all that's left is for Ye Fan to come and see her like this.

''Oh, how satisfying that would be'' Solarian thought.

While on a flying carriage, a boy and a girl were sitting inside. The boy was Ye Fan, and the girl was Qian Mieli.

Ye Fan was very excited today because he had found a treasure map in the old library of the academy. Although it was Jiang Fang who found the map, but how can the protagonists not be hypocrites. 

Qian Mieli also told him about it and gave him a copy of the map she had made, which angered Jiang Fang. Nonetheless, the location on the map was the Solar Forest.

The Solar Forest was where his only friend, Yei, lived during his childhood when he had lost all his talents.

He used to visit the Solar Forest and made friends with a very beautiful woman there who introduced herself as Yei, and from what he remembered, she was very powerful.

Ye Fan wanted to seek Yei's help to find the treasure and also to get revenge on the boy who had beaten him like a dog a week ago.

From what he knew, that boy's name was Solarian, and he belonged to two of the most powerful factions in the upper world.

Even his master was afraid of him and warned Ye Fan not to even imagine taking revenge on him.

But how could Ye Fan not act recklessly? He wanted to enlist Yei's help to kill that bastard Solarian, and as for the consequences, he didn't care.