12 The Phoenix Trial

"Greetings, human. Welcome to the trial grounds. You are the first challenger without the phoenix bloodline in these past thousand years."

"The trial has three stages in total, respectively: First stage: Purgatory Flame Demon; second stage: Arrows of the Phoenix; third stage: Corruption of the Heart's Flame. If you wish to forfeit during the trial, you may shout out at anytime and I'll immediately let you leave the trial grounds. You may die if you forcibly endure the trial…. I wish you success."

Just as the Spirit of the Phoenix's voice faded, the pair of golden eyes slowly disappeared inside the world of pitch black darkness.

The world before Itachi's eyes spun once again. Moments later, the darkness entirely disappeared, and the world around him impressively transformed into a field of deep red.

Due to absorbing the Heretic God's fire seed this was a relaxing area for him to be in, unable to cause him any discomfort.

Itachi walked forwards for a period of time before, in front of him, a huge and terrifying looking lava demon appeared, emanating the aura of an Earth profound realm cultivator!

Itachi's expression was as expressionless as before. However, his eyes morphed into the three tomoe Sharingan before spinning to turn into the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"It's a high-level True Profound fire beast. In this sort of blazing environment, not only can it replenish its vitality and profound strength swiftly, the fire power it unleashes is also comparable to that of the Spirit Profound Realm!" Jasmine's voice carried a tone of warning who had woken up sensing the Phoenix.

The Purgatory Flame Demon gave a loud roar as its eyes locked onto Itachi. It's gigantic mouth hurled out fireballs as it screeched and flew towards him.

Itachi stood where he was, allowing the fireballs to land on him, to test the Fire seed's effects for himself

The fireballs exploded successively as they came into contact with Itachi's body. but it didn't harm Itachi's bod.

Itachi disappeared towards the Purgatory Flame Demon, and appeared in front of it within a split second leaving behind afterimages….

With his Sharingan blazing, he activated "Heretic Soul" and ruthlessly used the Heavenly Wolf slash.

"Heavenly Wolf Slash!!!!!"

As as soon as the sword slash reached before the lava demon, a heavy apparition of a tyrannical blue wolf appeared behind Itachi, the sword strike ruthlessly slammed into the demon's hands, breaking them off before continuing forward towards it's chest.

The heavy strike had changed the entire field of fire to a field of storm and fire as the lava demon's aggrieved cries echoed throughout the hellscape.

The demon tried to hurl fireballs towards Itachi. However, it was only able to hit an afterimage as Itachi had already appeared behind it.

After a split-second the Heavy Sword slashed onto the body of the Purgatory Flame Demon, as Itachi used the Star God Broken Shadow to slash it multiple times while analyzing it's weakness with the Sharingan.

Finally, the demon couldn't take it anymore as it tried to rain fire and meteorites all around itself to catch it's prey.

Without waiting for the demon's body to stabilize, Itachi rushed back towards the rain of fire and meteorites, increasing his speed to the maximum, continually leaving afterimages with Star God's Broken Shadow before finally he could see the weakness of the demon with his Sharingan.

Immediately after, he used the Body Flicker Technique to back away ten places in conjunction with the Star God's Broken Shadow to reappear behind the beast and slash at it's gold mark on it's head with all his power. His body fell straight down as he clutched the Heavy Sword in his hands with his Sharingan blazing, looking straight at the mark on the demon's head, he said in a monotonous voice...

"Falling Moon Sinking Star!!"

BOOM!!

The Heavy Sword suddenly released an intense light as a miserable cry rang out in the hellscape. The sword light hit straight at the mark under the extremely berserking power of the strike.

Itachi gracefully landed onto the ground and while shutting his Heretic Soul Profound Gate as his eyes reverted to the normal pattern. Yet, the Purgatory Flame Demon's body was already frozen in place. A moment later, it suddenly let out an incomparably anguished roar of despair. Its gigantic frame slowly fell forward and crashed onto the floor with an explosively loud sound.

The flames on its body extinguished quickly, until all that was left were a few small embers that revealed its large black body. Itachi kept the Heavy Sword and heaved a sigh.

'It was much easier than Yun Che had it. But that is to be expected. I didn't even get to test any of the other jutsus'

And at this time, the scenery before him suddenly distorted.

"Second stage of the trial: Arrows of the Phoenix."

The second trial was to survive a barrage of fire arrows, hot enough to kill any average Spirit Profound realm practitioner and the arrows also had immense kinetic energy. Itachi was completely immune to fire, but the sheer profound energy of the arrows could still cause him serious injuries. However, he was someone who possessed the Sharingan; this was the easiest trial for him.

It was easy to predict the trajectory patterns of the arrows with his Sharingan.

It was very effective and allowed him to evade most of the arrows.

The flames nearby gradually burned out and the second trial had also finally ended. At this moment, the scene in front of his eyes started to distort to become more and more obscure.

Following this, a pair of golden eyes opened within the pitch-black world. The phoenix spirit's voice resounded within his mind.

"That surprised me; you actually possess a special physique that is unafraid of flames. If I am not mistaken, the primordial Heretic God's aura resides inside your body."

"That is correct." Itachi nodded.

"You passed the previous two stages not because you had sufficient strength, but because of your special physique. Although, I believe even without that physique, you would still have done well. However, this third trial: Corruption of the Heart's Flame, is a trial of the heart that's unrelated to flames. The advantages of your body are thus nullified, and this third trial is also the hardest trial to pass. In these countless years, the amount of challengers who have passed the first two trials amount to three hundred twenty-nine. But the ones who passed the third trial.. only amount to seven people."

" " Itachi remained silent since he already knew about it.

Although he passed the first two trials quite easily, he was not so sure about the third one.

This third trial, just what would it show him?

"However, you don't need to be too nervous. The third trial is a trial of the heart. It does not involve fighting, but instead involves the choices within your heart. If you are firm enough towards the pursuit for power, then even if you possess weak profound power, there is a chance you can easily pass. On the other hand, if you do not possess enough determination, then passing your life in the mundane world can also be an option. After all, power is not everything in life."

"You, are you prepared?"

Trial of the heart?

As a man who had the memories of four lives, after experiencing the boundary of life and death so many times, what he should be least afraid of was a test for the heart, right?….He even knew what that test would entail….So, there wasn't any need to be afraid…was there?

Without any hesitation, Itachi immediately nodded: "Let's start."

"As you wish… Good luck"

The world around Itachi began to distort, the scenery changing completely.

A smell of blood wafted into his nose, seemingly out of no where, as the lava purgatory in front of Itachi shifted into... the old home of the Uchiha

It was the scene of a massacre, a scene Itachi himself would never forget, since he was the who had caused it.

Taking a few deep breaths, Itachi stabilized his shocked expression, once more returning to a cold visage, even for someone of his mental fortitude seeing this scene again caused him to feel agitated.

He truly hadn't wanted to do it, but it had been for the best, it simply had to be done.

Itachi looked around the familiar scene, seeing all the dead bodies on the floor, but then he saw lying on the floor, unconscious but very much alive, his brother: Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke slowly slowly came to, sitting up groggily, and when he saw the dead bodies all around him, and then saw Itachi, he was reminded of what he had previously saw, his beloved older brother brutally massacring his parents and everyone else he loved and respected in their Uchiha clan.

Itachi saw these emotions flit across Sasuke's eyes and felt complicated, but once more steeled himself, convinced that this was what had to be done.

"I did all of this for you: Sasuke, I just hope that you can live a life free from my shadow and the shadow of the Uchiha."

While Itachi was happy to have seen Sasuke one more time, even though he knew it was an illusion, he had long ago come to terms with what he had done and did not want to dwell on it anymore.

If he faced the same decision he would make the same choice once more, and not just once but every time he was faced with it. That was the level of determination and will that Itachi had cultivated in himself.

And so, Itachi turned to walk away once more, down the lonely road that he had walked in his previous life.

However, as he did so he heard a voice whispering in his ear. This voice seemed to be so seductive and have such a beautiful tone he felt as if he had to listen to it.

"Kill Sasuke. Kill him. Kill him and everyone else in the Uchiha clan will be brought back to life and be under your sole command, kill him and you'll gain unbelievable power, power you couldn't attain even in your wildest dreams."

The voice seemed to multiply becoming two, then four, then eight, multiplying at an unbelievable rate, with every single voice whispering the same thing.

Itachi's eyes shrank, as the pressure generated from the voices seemed to weigh down on his very soul, commanding him to obey.

Fearing he would do something to his younger brother he would regret, even though it was merely an illusion, Itachi, with a trembling arm as if he was fighting against an invisible pressure, raised his hand, before plunging straight into his chest, crushing his heart.

Letting out a smile at his younger brother Itachi collapsed to the ground, fading into unconsciousness, even as the illusion collapsed around him.

"Goodbye once more, Sasuke, until we meet again."

Leaving these words to the Sasuke from the illusion, Itachi passed out. However, he swore to himself that he if he could, he would try to gain the power the power to understand the mystery of his transmigration to this world from his own, and see if his brother had finally found the peace that he had always hoped for him to gain….That was his selfish wish…..He just wished to see for once whether Sasuke was truly happy or not.

The phoenix spirit had observed all of this and was shocked by the intense determination and will that Itachi had shown.

"Truly an outstanding performance, his care for his brother is so deep that he wasn't willing to compromise that for power." The Phoenix Spirit murmured. The problem occurred when the phoenix spirit was trying to read Itachi's memories to create a trial, it hadn't been able to completely read his memories as if some powerful soul force was preserving it….There could only be just one artifact that could accomplish that…..The Supreme Heavenly Profound Treasure of Soul and the most mysterious of all the treasures: The Mirror Of Samsara. No one actually knew much about the treasure, even in the era of True Gods.

So, it had decided to let Itachi's heart demons make a trial based on Itachi's memories on it's own. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be more than effective.

The scenery shifted once more, as the phoenix waited for Itachi to awake.

Itachi slowly came to, awakening to find himself in a vast black void, with those large golden eyes hanging in the air in front of him.

"You passed perfectly. While a thirst for power is important, even more so to the phoenix is a kind heart and soul. The phoenix would never permit someone evil to inherit it's power. Whatever you saw in the final trial would be different to what everyone else saw, as it is based off of your own memories, even more so in this trial since I wasn't actually able to interfere in your trial. However, the requisite for passing is to not sacrifice everything for power. The Phoenix is a noble creature and it wouldn't give its power to someone who isn't pure of heart."

Itachi stayed unmoving as the phoenix spirit explained this to him, seemingly unmoved by having completed the trials of the Phoenix and passing perfectly.

"I looked through your memories and I saw your life and your alternate life on the so called Azure Cloud continent, but most of your memories were not accessable. We both know the reason why. You've clearly experienced a lot, gain a lot of fortune gaining two of the Seven profound heavenly treasures."

At this moment Itachi didn't show any sign of change in his feelings, however, internally he thought, 'So, this Phoenix Spirit couldn't see my memories pertaining to the Yun Che who brought me here along with my origin world. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but clearly, the Mirror Of Samsara is much more powerful than this so-called Phoenix spirit as it completely hid any and all memories related to it. Interesting…'

As Itachi pondered this, the Phoenix spirit moved onto the rewards of the trial.

"You will be granted three gifts from the Phoenix: Phoenix blood, Divine Phoenix Pills and you will have the chance to study the [World Ode of the Phoenix - Fragment]."

"Right now, I shall bestow upon you the Phoenix bloodline."

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 Itachi's eyebrows to then sink in afterwards.

"The previously challengers only received a single drop of the Phoenix blood after they passed but you house two Heavenly Profound Treasures, hold the Heretic God's strength, along with those unusual eyes and have perfectly passed the third trial. I have to make an exception and grant you five drops of the Phoenix's blood. You are already equipped with the Divine Seed of the Heretic 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. Now close your eyes and let these five drops of the Phoenix's blood seep into your veins."

After the five drops of the Phoenix's blood entered his veins, it was as if there were five clusters of frantically burning flames..

But to Itachi, the feeling that this sort of burn brought him only felt like five warm currents that sprung from his body. Itachi calmly closed his eyes and suppressed the explosive behavior of the five drops of Phoenix blood with his profound energy. While letting the blood go in all directions, he allowed it to fuse into his bloodstream bit by bit. After a dozen or so times circulating through his body, the five drops of Phoenix blood finally disappeared into Itachi's veins.

Itachi opened his eyes and a fire-red flame mark flashed between his brows.

"Good, it seems you've successfully fused with the five drops of Phoenix blood, at first I was only to grant you three but it was good that I gave you five instead. I've already sensed the change within your veins. Now, I'll give this Divine Phoenix Pill and the fragment of the [World Ode of the Phoenix] to you."

The golden eyes flashed again and two spots of light descended from the skies. What fell in front of Itachi.. was a white colored jade bottle and a broken piece of white jade.

Knowing what it wanted Itachi to observe, he picked up the Divine Phoenix Pill and the broken piece of jade. After pressing a hand against the jade, information quickly transmitted into his brain with a touch of his profound energy.

......

[World Ode of the Phoenix] Fifth Stage…

[World Ode of the Phoenix] Sixth Stage…

......

"Why are there only the fifth and sixth stages are here? What about the first four?" Itachi asked, knowing the reason.

The Phoenix Spirit explained the tale of how it lost the first four fragments to the other Phoenix Spirit, the story was same as in Yun Che's memories.

Itachi listened attentively without interrupting it.

With it's explanation finished, the huge pair of golden pupils slowly faded away.

Holding onto the jade which contained the fragments of the [World Ode of the Phoenix], Itachi simply decided to practise the four fragments from Yun Che's memories and the rest from the jade before leaving the trial grounds.

Itachi sat on the floor and took the Divine Phoenix Pellet out of the jade bottle. The Divine Phoenix Pellet's entire color was as red as blood and scorching hot. Itachi adjusted his breathing, placed the pill at the entrance of his mouth, and swallowed it in one gulp.

Suddenly, the profound energy in his veins violently swept across his body like stormy water....

An hour later, Itachi opened his eyes. Over ten percent of the Divine Phoenix Pellet had been refined in his body. His profound strength had originally been situated at the peak of the Nascent Profound Realm's tenth level. In order to stabilize the explosive surge of profound energy from the Heretic God's Fire Seed, he had been suppressing his profound power's breakthrough. However, under the effect of the Divine Phoenix Pellet, in only an hour, he had completely broken through the bottleneck now, and safely entered the first level of the True Profound Realm.

For three days Itachi sat there, unmoving, finally, on the 4th day Itachi's eyes opened, and he stood up.

Fifth level of the True Profound Realm!

Itachi inhaled deeply before unleashing a punch. An intense force was encapsulated within this punch, with even the void somewhat being disturbed merely by the physical force of Itachi's punch.

"My physical strength should be at around 100,000 kg right now. Aside from that I now feel even more blessed with the power of fire, specifically the Phoenix's flames, as if any flame related to the Phoenix is now at my fingertips… Not even two months have passed since I arrived in this world and I have gained this much strength."

Even for Itachi this was a major gain which caused him to feel satisfied, but even then he remained as cold and impassive as before, a calm and quiet satisfaction at having completed his goal.

Looking at the jade slip containing the World ode of the Phoenix hanging in the void, Itachi waved his hand and read the fifth and sixth stage through once, before attempting to see the first four stages through Yun Che's memories so that he could complete it.

And unsurprisingly, with absolute ease, Itachi perfectly executed all six of them in just a single day!

"Empyrean Dance of the Phoenix Wing, Star Scorching Demon Lotus, along with the first four stages of the World Ode of the Phoenix. I truly have made some large gains from this journey along with two extra drops of Phoenix blood."

Even after all these gains, Itachi merely smiled lightly, however this was enough to show how satisfied he was with his journey.

Despite still being at the 5th level of the True Profound realm, Itachi would now be able to easily defeat those at the Spirit Profound realm without using any of his Mangekyo Sharingan abilities, merely relying on his physical body and the power of the Heretic God he had inherited, and using his visual prowess he was sure he could fight even Earth Profound Realm cultivators.

"This is really unbelievable, you were actually able to forcefully comprehend the Phoenix Flame Techniques beginning stages just from the fifth and sixth stages of the [World Ode of the Phoenix] by utilizing your profound strength's extremely strong affinity to fire! Human, you astonish me."

The jade that recorded the [World Ode of the Phoenix] slowly vanished in Itachi's hand, and the Phoenix Spirit's voice sounded again: "Your time in this trial ground is reaching its end, and it's time for me to send you out. However, before I do so, I should perhaps give you a special present."

Inside the pitch-black world, a golden light suddenly came flying and touched Itachi on his forehead. Instantly, the scarlet phoenix imprint on his forehead appeared.. but the color had turned into a pure golden color from the previous scarlet color.

"This is…" Feeling the phoenix's imprint of his forehead change color,Itachi subconsciously touched his forehead knowing full well what it was, he still had to ask.

"This is a special power that I can only use once in my lifetime, but I never thought the day where I used it would actually come. However,bestowing this power upon you is more than suitable. As to what kind of power this is, when the time of you using it comes, you will naturally know."

"Now then, let me send you out… Now go."

As the Phoenix Spirit's voice faded, the pair of huge golden eyes disappeared within the darkness, and the space in front of Itachi's eyes immediately distorted...

….......…..

Immediately after coming out of the trial, Itachi had first decided to get rid of the curse placed by the Phoenix spirit.

While Itachi was walking to the clansmen Jasmine's voice rang in his head.

Jasmine spoke to him from within the Sky Poison Pearl, "Congratulations. You now have another divine legacy. Though I am curious, who was that boy in the third trial? You have told me your general life story but I don't remember any such person or even such a strange place?"

Itachi smiled in melancholy: "I will tell you my entire life story and all my secrets, as long as you do the same."

Jasmine snorted: "Humph. Don't get cocky,... "

"Chief Baichuan, I have a good news for you." Itachi came to meet Feng Baichuan.

"What is it, young master?"

"I can lift the seal that has been restricting you from increasing your cultivation."

Feng Baichuan got shocked after hearing this.

Knowing what he wanted to ask, Itachi chuckled and nodded, "Don't worry clan leader, I will keep my end of the deal. First of all, call all the members of your clan here. I will remove the curse."

Then, he lit a fire in his hand and instinctively burned off the Phoenix imprint curse marks on the foreheads of all the clan members. Their cultivation had been unsealed, they could now cultivate beyond the Elementary Profound realm.

The clan members were overjoyed at this pleasant surprise. They enthusiastically requested Itachi to take part in a banquet to celebrate this.

Itachi declined and left deciding to inform the Chu sisters of his arrival.

…........................

In an inconspicuous yet simple hut with two stone beds, two heavenly figures surrounded by hazy mist sat meditating deeply. Both of the ladies wore simple bluish-white robes yet their figures seemed extremely graceful with their milky white skin being displayed occasionally through the mist.

Suddenly, Chu Yuechan's pearl eyes opened as she sensed Itachi's presence outside the hut. Her lustrous lips showed a somewhat strange expression as a thin veil appeared around her face covering her devastating beauty; she gracefully stood with her hair billowing behind her, walking outside the hut.

Chu Yueli sensing her sister's disturbance merely followed her.

As Chu Yuechan came outside to confirm her suspicions, she was once again incomparably shocked. She still hadn't gotten over her shock of Itachi's rise to the peak of Nascent Profound realm in just a single month and now, in less than another month, he was already at the fifth level of the True Profound realm...

Chu Yueli's lustrous lips slightly quivered as she raised her pale hands pointing at Itachi exposing her milky white hands beneath her white robes: "Y-you…..What are you…..How could you reach the True Profound realm in just a week. This is unheard of….."

Recognizing her extreme reaction, Chu Yueli immediately calmed her heart's state repeatedly circulating the frozen heart arts to stabilize her state.

Unknown to Chu Yueli, although, Chu Yuechan's outward reaction wasn't as extreme as her. However, inwardly Chu Yuechan was trying to do the same too.

Itachi calmy glanced at them both since he had already expected it. Yun che's speed of cultivation had kept shocking the people around him while Itachi's speed was even faster than him by many times although not without reason since he had the advantage of precongnition hence, their reactions were well within his expectations. Looking at the veiled Chu Yuechan, he could see although she didn't outwardly seem to be as affected as her sister, Itachi could still see the slight frown upon her beautiful visage beyond her veil as well the directed gaze of interest at him that seemed to be unknown, even to herself.

Itachi simply answered Chu Yueli inquiry: "Fairy Chu, that's rather simple: I passed the phoenix trial. One of the rewards was a cultivation divine pellet. I haven't digested it completely yet it's effects seem to be quite good."

Chu Yueli was speechless. This man always seemed to have a valid reason for everything absurd he did, from his godly master's pill to increase cultivation to the phoenix trial's reward.

Chu Yuechan finally said as her sister seemed to be speechless: "That's good for you. You have almost caught up to the geniuses of your generation. I must admit, even though you use excuses to describe your unusual increase in strength but while in the thousand beast forest I have noticed your battle acumen seems to be even better than your profound strength"

Itachi glanced knowingly at her sudden praise since Chu Yuechan's nature was quite similar to his own, never speaking more than needed; meaning she meant it. He simply said : "Thank you, Fairy Chu. You seem to be evaluating me to see whether I am qualified to cooperate with the sect or not. Or why would the sect sent the First Fairy of the Frozen Cloud Asgard to guard a mere youngster?"

Chu Yuechan glanced at Itachi with a surprised expression before her face turned the same indifference: "Indeed, you are right. My lady sent me here to confirm Chu Yueli's claims and evaluate you for myself. Now, I can say with certainty that you can do what you claim to."

Chu Yueli didn't seem surprised as she already knew about it.

Itachi looked at Chu Yuechan as he said expressionlessly: "To be completely honest with you. I knew it would be difficult for the Frozen Cloud Asgard Mistress to accept a deal with a mere cripple and a man even with the conclusive proof of Xia Qingyue's state. However, the enticement of Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins would be too much to give up on but even as noble as the mistress could be, she probably wouldn't accept such a truth before seeing it for herself or at least her most trusted disciple. I didn't need to bring you here to protect myself, not for this trial anyways. That's why as soon as I knew who you were I immediately asked for the protection period to start. It was merely to show you that I do possess the qualifications to cooperate with your sect and not just because of godly medical abilities. Observing Qingyue's state I know the Frozen Cloud Asgard disdains to have any contact with men but unfortunately for you all I am a man. So, all I ask is now that you are sure of my claims, can you arrange for a meeting with the Asgard Mistress at a place of her choice."

Chu Yuechan seemed completely caught offguard by the youngster before her. Her glistening eyes stared at him as she said: "You are right, the Frozen Cloud Asgard disdains contact with men. If you had directly asked me on our first meeting to arrange a meeting with the Mistress, I would have doubted your intentions. However, even as a man, your abilities especially the Heavenly God's Spiritual Veins awakening method is too good to pass up. As such I have no choice but to agree. Although, I need to ask, why do you want to meet her."

Itachi answered with a mysterious smile: "Well, it's to talk about the prevention of a certain calamity. You can tell her that as well. She might agree immediately. Anyways, since the protection period is still going on and I need to consolidate my realm. Let's wait for a while before you sent word.

Chu Yueli who had been quietly listening from the sidelines interrupted: "What calamity?"

Chu Yuechan directed her gaze at Itachi as her eyes suddenly narrowed: "Very well."

Chu Yueli seemed to look confusedly at her sister but since her sister had agreed she could only shut up.

Itachi said simply: "We can leave tomorrow morning then, I will take my leave now."

With that he left the two sisters behind, to find the black demon mercenary group which he had promised to deal with. It didn't take him long to arrive at his destination. He could see the settlement of the mercenary group from a distance and knew exactly what he must do.

He executed his newly learnt technique, 'Star Scorching Demon Lotus', and jumped into the settlement. His entire body was covered in phoenix flames, and as he struck the ground in the middle of the settlement, waves of phoenix fire were launched all around him, burning everything to ashes in a 60 metre radius.

All the people of the Black Demon mercenary group were burnt to cinders, erasing them from the surface of the planet.

Itachi stood up and looked around, to find that he had succeeded and eliminated the entire despicable mercenary group with a single move, his cultivation was too high compared to Yun Che. Later, he returned to the Feng clan to sleep for the night.

The next morning, Itachi together with the Chu sisters left the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range and set out towards the Wasteland of Death, his next destination and trial for which he may truly need the Chu sisters protection.