14 The Approaching Trial

It had been some time since Itachi had already ventured deep into the forest killing some low level profound beasts along the way. As he was resolutely walking, suddenly, some wild demonic serpents came hurtling towards him.

Itachi merely performed the handsigns of the familiar fire style jutsu as he muttered calmly: " Phoenix Flame Jutsu!!"

After which, intense Phoenix Fire came spiraling down as it danced like a breeze. Whenever these serpents came into contact with the Phoenix Flame, they all perished in an instant. For a moment, burning serpents flew in all directions, and waves of bitter cries resounded continuously. Within a few breaths of time, a dozen or so serpents had already died.

If Jasmine had been awake right now, she would have been shocked to see this strange technique that required handsigns to be executed.

Itachi had been testing the chakra techniques to be used with profound energy. He had found out that he could use them all although using any other element than fire based jutsus was really inefficient. However, once he got the other Heretic Gods seeds to increase his affinity, it would be really useful.

Itachi did even bother to collect the cores of such low-level beasts. Staring at the shady forest ahead, he quickened his steps and rushed into the depths of the Wasteland of Death. After Itachi ventured many kilometers in, scattered or grouped up True Profound Beasts began appearing in his line of sight. The terrain also grew uneven as all sorts of dead trees and low mounds became increasingly dense.

Itachi continued his journey ahead without looking back. His eyes filled with a strange sort of determination.

Obviously, his purpose for coming here at this time was to confront the Dragon God's Trial. The sooner he passed it, the better his gains would be in the long term and it would also create a better foundation for his future going forward. He was at the mid True Profound realm at the moment , it was the perfect level to take on the trial of the Dragon God. However, before confronting the Dragon God's trial he wanted to increase the efficiency of his skills as well as advance in the Great Way of the Buddha's first stage at the very least.

As such Itachi continued to advance into the forest, the deeper he went, the more beasts he encountered. As he neared the fringe of the Spirit Profound Beast's territory, there were already a lot more beasts in sight. At the same time, with each step deeper in, the profound beasts he met grew increasingly high leveled.

With a series of explosions, a dozen wolves were sent flying with a swoop of Itachi's sword. The sturdy fur on their bodies were all ripped apart. Yet, another dozen or so wolves appeared from the surroundings, closing in on him. The strength of each of these wolves were roughly equivalent to a profound practitioner at the First level of the Spirit Profound Realm.

Itachi's eyes blazed with the pinwheel of the Sharingan as his hands formed the signs: " Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly, three more Itachi appeared before the wolves as the wolves growled confusedly. Right now, each of his clone seemed to possess the cultivation at the level of True Profound level one, four small realms below Itachi. After testing a little bit, Itachi had realized the less clones he created the higher leveled they would be. When he had created a single clone it had been one small realm below him at the True profound realm level four.

For two clones , they had been two small realms below him at the True profound realm level Four.

For three clones, they had been four small realms below him at the True profound realm level one.

For four clones, they had been at five small realms below him at peak Nascent profound realm level 10.

….…..Afterwards, as it got to the Nascent profound realm he could easily make more clones without the same exponential power drop.

However, the clones would still be dispelled once they ran out of profound energy and just like a shadow clone he got the clone's memories as well. He had tried to send some of his low-leveled clones in disguises throughout the forest to practise his skills.

Even Itachi had felt a bit amazed when he had first seen Naruto use so many shadow clones. However, then he didn't have as much chakra to be able to use it like Naruto. However, now as long as he kept increasing his profound energy,he might be able to exceed even Naruto in this regard since this was a much high level world then his own and energy was in abundance here unlike chakra.

The 'three' Itachi's suddenly used "Star God's Broken Shadow", and rushed down in defiance of any physical limitations leaving behind a barrage of after images as Phoenix flames came out like arrows and instantly knocked over the nearest wolves.

The original Itachi too rushed into the midst of the wolves like lightning. His body was aflame with phoenix fire and the large sword in his hands became a rising, surging crimson flame dragon. With every fall of his sword, flames shot out in all directions, gradually lighting a large area aflame and quickly melting the defensive armor of each and every wolves…

When Itachi felt too crowded by the wolves he would simply use.

"Heavenly Wolf Slash!"

With this attack of his sword, in a moment, a long gorge appeared from flat ground. Where the gorge passed through, the impact caused the wolves' bodies to split into different sections.

Itachi had to use this move sparingly since his one-third profound energy was consumed in trying to use it. In just a few dozen breaths, Itachi had and his clones had annihilated the beasts .

Itachi exhaled and dispelled the clones, deciding to rest for a bit. And behind him, a deep gorge and scorched Wolves carcasses were strewn evenly within the three kilometers.

After resting for a bit and recovering his profound energy, Itachi sat on the floor and closed his eyes to meditate upon The Great Way of The Buddha.

Just like that hours passed under the comprehending process, the profound formula that was originally uncertain in his mind clearly revealed itself. And this, also meant that the fundamentals of the "Great Way of the Buddha" was successfully completed. From now on, he could start cultivating without any hindrances. At the same time, his spirit and body became extremely relaxed.

Itachi opened his eyes as he sighed: "Finally, I have crossed the threshold. Now, I can start cultivating in it."

Afterwards, the same cycle kept repeating as four entire weeks gradually passed and Itachi kept testing his profound skills as well as jutsus fighting against the beast along with occasionally meditating upon the Great Way of The Buddha . Countless beasts had died under his sword, within these weeks, under the constant hand-to-hand fighting, Itachi's profound strength grew increasingly stabilized as his comprehension of the Great Way of The Buddha kept steadily increasing. However, it would still take more time to enter the First stage since it's success depended more upon improving his physique rather than comprehension since he already had a lot of comprehension experience from Yun Che's memories.

The purpose of the first stage of the "Great Way of the Buddha" is to absorb the vitality of the world; to allow the world's vitality to fill, refine, and transform the body… Including the flesh, hair, blood, bones, organs, and marrow… Allowing the body to be born anew. Hence, the constant fighting along with the refillment and depletion of chakra and profound energy allowed his physique to constantly improve. A layer of silver light loomed on the surface of Itachi's body. The air around him also started to become agitated, and gusts of the world's pure vitality quietly flowed into Itachi's body.

….…..Another two weeks had passed, amounting to six weeks since Itachi had entered the Wasteland of Death as he kept repeating the same cycle.

Right now, meditating in the midst of hundreds of charred beast corpses, his silent consciousness was awoken by the bizarre change in the vitality fluctuations around himself. He activated his Sharingan, and suddenly discovered that the vital energy of heaven and earth around seemed to be in the process of breathing as it was gently being assimilated into his bones and meridians. He could already see a silver pagoda appearing within his sea of consciousness constantly replenishing itself and his vitalty.

Itachi retracted his focus as he stood up glancing his body noticing the very well defined changes that stepping into the first stage completely had provided him with.

"This vitality feels quite similar to the senjutsu chakra utilizing the nature's energy itself to replenish oneself….." Itachi glanced at the corpes around as he sensed dozens of low level Spirit Profound realm hounds approaching his location: " Time to test the effects of this excursion…."

The hounds swarmed together towards Itachi, who simply raised his heavy sword to jump in the midst as they were cleaved one after another by him. Once the low level ones had been dealt with; another wave of intermediate Spirit Profound Realm hounds appeared circling around Itachi.

Itachi once again jumped to engage in close quarter combat as he replenished his energy using the Great Way of the Buddha. His eyes morphed into the Mangekyo Sharingan as it traced the trajectories and the possible paths of coming attacks, his wrist moved with lightning speed to deliver multiple slashes imbued with the Phoenix fire along with the sky wolf slash to accurately hit the weak spots of the hounds not giving them any chance to fight back.

'Bam!Bam!Bam'

Bright flashes of phoenix fire continuously brightened the otherwise gloomy land as constant cries of hounds reverberated through the entire land, as scorched marks were left in the wake of Itachi's sword.

The amount of time Itachi kept going would have rendered anyone else at the same realm as him completely immobile, but to him, he felt he had just scratched the surface.

Itachi continued to advance deeper attracting the attention of even higher level beasts as he finally started to feel the strain.

Various Spirit Profound realm beasts swarmed over him once again with their overwhelming. Itachi's finally activated the First gate of the Heretic God arts while dodging the maws of a wolf using the Star God's broken shadow as he muttered lightly "Heretic Soul…"

His Profound energy immediately became berserk, increasing by three fold to break into almost early-stage Spirit Profound realm.

Itachi elegantly swung his sword, smashing away all of the beasts that approached him. This sweep was tyrannical; although he was able to sweep away all of the surrounding beasts, a wolf still suddenly came over, as it tried to bite into Itachi's head.

A scarlet fire started to erupt from his body as the entire battlefield turned into a bright red field.

"Star Scorching Demon Lotus!!"

These beasts that surrounded him were all drawn into the Star Scorching Demon Lotus. Under the hot flames that were mixed with the flames of a phoenix, all of the beasts quickly turned into ash.

The current Itachi, was just like a god of death as he rushed to reap lives. Wherever he rushed to, large piles of carcasses would be left behind. The skies were filled with piercing sounds. Itachi's body could finally feel the exhaustion.

Fixing his gaze on the few high levels beasts still left, Itachie's gaze turned even colder as his Mangekyo Sharingan started spinning furiously to see through all of their weaks points .

On the surface of his body, a ring of fire began to rise and burn. Suddenly, his eyes flashed, and the flames on his body all rushed towards his sword.

" Phoenix Break!"

In the blaze of inferno, a dozen beasts were sent exploding into the sky as their bodies smashed into ashes.

Flames danced madly upon the surface of the heavy sword's blade as it transformed into an enormous steel phoenix. Continuing his excursion, the phoenix flames burst out around him, as a pair of resplendent illusory phoenix wings sprouted from his back.

"Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing!!"

"Sky Wolf Slash!"

….The battle seemed to rage on forever as Itachi tried to utilize most of his skills to the extreme; trying to break past his limits....

…....

Soon, the sky had turned dark as countless stars glittered like pearls in the incomparably vast sky, the sounds of fighting had already died down as the occasional howls of beasts could be heard within the forest.

At this time, a youth dressed in seemingly filthy clothes yet with an incomparable temperament and a resolute expression seemed to be meditating as the countless wounds upon his almost naked upper body healed continuously taking in the vast energy of heaven and earth.

Itachi controlled his breathing to concentrate on cultivating the Silver Pagoda until it had become entirely optimized, only then did he use a water style jutsu to rid himself of all the filth and change into a fresh set of clothes.

Then, Itachi seemingly sat below a simple tree, igniting fire to cook some meat for himself. As he was eating quietly making future plans, his gaze somewhat unfocused, a gust of wind blew as two seemingly heavenly beauties appeared before him possessing the same ice-cold indifference yet an almost irresistible charm with their divinely mature figure.

Chu Yuechan who had appeared first waited quietly as Itachi seemingly stood up as Chu Yueli also waited behind her sister.

Itachi calmly stood up as his hands flashed with some handsigns as he muttered: "Earth Style: Mud Wall! "

Three smalls mounds of earth appeared from the ground forming a kind of bench as Itachi walked to the isolated one before taking a seat before offering to the Chu sisters by saying: "Greetings, Fifth Fairy Chu and First Fairy Chu. Please be seated."

Chu Yueli face twitched at this junior's nonchalance at showing the ability to use different elements. However, she had become somewhat immune to it now. Although, they didn't have as much contact in these six weeks apart from the occasional few times, she had still witnessed his efficiency with using Fire element based Phoenix Flames, and now he seemed to able to use earth element as well. She simply shrugged her shoulders in her mind as she took the offered seat with her ingrained cold indifference.

Chu Yuechan also sat down with an elegant posture as her bluish white robes swayed gently in the wind slightly revealing her white, milky skin. Her radiant eyes stared at Itachi, her ability to be shocked by this junior had become almost divine as compared to her sister after Itachi's actions that day. Moreover, she had even been just a bit impressed by his mental fortitude over the past few weeks of constant battles. She finally brought herself back as she caught Itachi staring straight at her eyes with the same indifference that she often saw reflected in her own eyes. Her lustruous lips gently parted as she asked : "How long are you going to keep training here? I need to send word to my lady for a request to arrange a meeting with you as I had promised."

Chu Yuechan hadn't been able to give him anything in return for curing her poison nor has she been able to give him much of a protection for the last few weeks for the Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins. She felt that if she didn't resolve this debt soon, it would make her Frozen Heart unstable.

Itachi's mesmerizing eyes glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as he said in a knowing tone: "No need to hurry, First Fairy Chu. Since even if you send word right now, I won't be able to leave from here until my task is finished. So, we might as well wait for now. As for your real reason for wanting to send word, don't worry. Tomorrow morning, we must leave for the depths of the Wasteland of Death. Then, as long as you can take me to a certain spot in the inner region using the Profound Floating Technique, your debt will be repaid."

Chu Yuechan's bewitching face turned into a frown at being seen through by Itachi as she said tried to say in an unconcerned tone of voice: "Although, your strength has increased considerably within these few months. It is still too dangerous to venture that deep into this place. You should come back after increasing your strength."

Chu Yueli immediately followed up with her advice after all her 'Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins' seemed to be on line.

" Yes, junior Itachi, you should probably stay here or wait before going deeper into the inner region. "

Itachi merely shrugged as he said lightly: " I am grateful for your advice, Fairies but I have to go regardless. That is why, I will grant Fairy Chu with the 'Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins' right now. With this, even if I die, I would have still kept my promise."

"T-that's good. B-but still…"Chu Yueli's hesitated as her body quivered slightly as she heard about the veins. However, the next part of his words brought a seemingly uncomfortable feeling in her icy heart as she didn't reply instead waiting for her sister to answer.

Chu Yuechan's expression also turned surprised as her snowy veil bellowed in the winds, slightly revealing her holy visage to the world. However, it wasn't his words that surprised her but the tone that accompanied his voice; almost as if his death didn't seem to matter that much to him. Her evaluation of him so far had been of a cold, indifferent youngster who seemed to always keep his promises as well as speak only when needed, mostly maintaining the usual calm without any of the lesser desires that the junior men who looked at her often had. Sometimes, she even had to wonder if Itachi also cultivated the Frozen heart arts. But, now, this side was something new to her, one that seemed to be unafraid of death in an almost embracing sort of way, quiet unlike a youngster who shouldn't be so ready to face death.

Chu Yuechan finally replied after a moment of thought: " You don't seem to be too afraid of death.…."

Chu Yuechan didn't understand whether she was asking him or simply making a conclusion yet she waited for his reply as she didn't notice Chu Yueli's gaze towards her turn strange at her question which immediately turned normal; instead focusing on Itachi's answer.

Itachi's voice lost some of it's usual indifference as he said in a melancholic tone of voice: " Death is not scary to me. Life is. To live means to struggle in a perpetual cycle. The Frozen Cloud Arts allow you to freeze your heart in a way so that you can suppress your emotions. I don't have that luxury, it it easy to suppress our emotions to not feel them yet harder to leave them be and not let them consume you whole. Even, right now, my eyes can see through the hint of worry reflected in your eyes for my well being, going beyond mere benefits. I can also see the both of you trying to suppress it. That is the true reason for me choosing the Frozen Cloud Asgard for cooperation. I saw the same earnestness reflected in the eyes of Xia Qingyue after I gave her the profound veins. Even though people term as your sect's fairies as cold and indifferent , most of the members I have met till now are even less indifferent than I. So, don't worry and just leave once we arrive at the inner region."

The Chu sisters had turned speechless at Itachi's words about him being even more indifferent than them. However, they couldn't find any fault in his words.

Finally, Chu Yuechan sighed as she agreed: "Very well, we will leave you at the designated spot and then come back to wait at the outer region for your signal."

Itachi nodded as he stood up: "Thank you, Fairy Chu. Now, let's continue with the opening of the Fifth Fairy's entrances."

With that, Chu Yuechan who had already explained the process in detail to Chu Yueli waited as she saw Itachi follow the exact same procedure to open her Chu Yueli's profound entrances.

Chu Yueli stood in front of Itachi with her snowy attire; revealing her backside… Unlike Chu Yuechan, her heart was filled more with less doubt and more expectation.

Itachi seemingly touched Chu Yueli clothed back for ten minutes in front of Chu Yuechan while casually opening each and every one of her profound entrances. Once Itachi opened the last profound entrance, producing another one with Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins, Chu Yueli was already too excited to move.

Chu Yueli had immediately left to meditate with her sister after the opening while Chu Yuechan followed her.

Itachi too slept since he was going to leave tomorrow morning and he had to rest for the night. Jasmine had already been sleeping for the last six weeks and Itachi didn't wish to disturb her sleep.

….Suddenly, the Mirror of Samsara that had been hanging at one end of Jasmine's bed in the Sky Poison Pearl which had been entirely silent after the day it had first awakened for a brief moment to rejuvenate Jasmine's soul finally flashed for a brief moment as it turned dark, completely going unnoticed by Jasmine herself as well as Itachi who had been peacefully sleeping....