Void Mother

There was a small cave down the White Ash River in the Verdant Forest, but it was not regarded as a secret; even residents from the surrounding area were aware of this underwater tunnel.

However, this tunnel had another submerged passage close to the entrance, and if one continued diving down enough, he would find another cave, but this time the cave was enormous. The cave walls had weird patterns on them, as if something gently scraped away at them.

The cave captivated Edwards; it was so large that a city could fit within, and most importantly, purple energy filled every nook and crevice of this cave. Edwards began to take long breaths as he gathered a massive amount of energy.

Seth, who was by his side, was inspecting a small purple pound in the cave's center. He could finally take what was deep inside there. He approached the pound with caution, feeling uneasy since something that could release so much energy wasn't something that happened casually.

Water began to gather over Seth's hands as he raised them. With awe, he examined the purple inside the water. - "What a pure Qi, simply this pound is a treasure in and of itself. I have no idea what's at the bottom of it." Seth took a groud out of his spatial ring and began to pour the water in it.

Soon, the lake became drier, and the bottom became exposed, revealing a bizarre crust formed of amber-like material. After collecting the water, Seth jumped to the lake's bottom and touched the amber layer.

He attempted to infuse his QI into the crust, but nothing happened. He grimaced as the amber-like substance swallowed all of his Qi. -"What kind of beast is lying down here?" Seth punched the crust with all his might as he attempted to open it again.

Seth's hit barely caused the amber to shake, and he grimaced since he hadn't expected the material to be that powerful. He punched twice more and noticed that it had no effect, so he pulled out his spear.

Red mist collected on the spear's head as it fell on crust. The attack had such a large impact that the hole where the lake was grew a few meters. Seth saw a small dent on the amber as the dust settled.

-" Oh? What a perplexing substance." Seth grinned as he clutched the small chipped piece of crust in his hand. "If I can break this without too much damage, this amber will be another wonderful treasure." Seth was already planning to make defensive artifacts out of the amber; after all, finding a material that could withstand his onslaught so easily was extremely rare.

Seth raised his weapon once more, but this time the crimson mist gathered around him rather than just his spear. Seth's body had transformed once the mist had dissipated; his lower body was now in the shape of a horse, and three pairs of wings fluttered about on his back.

With a respectful glance, Edward studied Seth's transformation; this was the power of someone at the pinnacle of this continent. Seth had infused the vital essence of a Apostole of Decay in its body, just as Brent, his apprentice, had done.

The Apostole of Decay were demonic or humanoid lifeforms corrupted by Nih, the Queen of Decay. Nih was said to be an old demonic beast who attained godhood millennia ago.

While Nih had already ascended, vestiges of her power remained, including a marsh where the majority of the Apostole of Decay were discovered during this age. This marsh was close to the main mountain of Heigong and the Troll tribes.

Conflicts between Heigong and trolls arose partly as a result of the Heigong's incessant hunting of trolls, and partly as a result of cultivators like Brent and Seth who imbued themselves with the energy of Apostoles of Decay. The trolls' hatred for Nih ran deep, as the trolls' Great Deity Sirgox had a long feud with Nih in the ancient age.

Seth and his group were the ones who cultivated the essence of the Apostoles the most, as even the weakest ones were too dangerous for average cultivators to hunt down. Only Seth could successfully hunt them in the Heigong, which helped his group rise in power as he continuously rewarded his followers with Apostoles essences.

If Seth had offered the essence of one Apostole to Edwards a few months earlier, he would have immediately accepted and followed Seth's command; nevertheless, Edward found something more fascinating to him in the purple Qi.

Since receiving the purple-tainted blood crystal, Edwards has been having odd visions of a huge eye. At first, he was scared and assumed the eye was the primal Consciousness of the purple Qi, but as time went, he felt closer to the Eye, even hearing it whisper from time to time. Edwards had a weird relationship with the eye; he was so intrigued by its power that he began to worship it.

Edward was watching Seth strike the Amber crust with all his power when he had a sudden vision. The purple eye stared as blood dropped upon the amber crust in the vision. After the blood had completely covered the surface, the crust began to quiver and fractured.

After waking up from his vision, Edwards proceeded gently towards the water. -"This is pointless; even if you're at the pinnacle of Saintly Stage, you won't be able to shatter this."

Seth, who was entirely concentrated in opening the crust, was shocked by Edward's unexpected speech. He grimaced when he observed Edward's eyes have a purple tint to them. -"Do you have a method to open it?" Since consuming the tainted blood crystal, Seth has seen certain changes in Edward.

The former status of Edward was known to almost all of the Heigong higher-ups, and Seth used his isolation to test how dangerous the Primal Conciousness was. Seth knew that if Edward, who was on the point of losing control, could withstand it, he could provide blood crystal imbued with purple to Heigong cultivators in lower realms.

Seth moved away from the water as Edward approached; he didn't know what to anticipate, so he raised his guards against him. He stood there watching as Edward entered the lake and motioned for Paul, who was waiting far away with the rest of Edward's disciples.

Seth examined Paul with curiosity; he didn't question why Edward had brought him along, Paul used to be constant threat to Seth and his group; yet, now with one look he knew Paul wasn't a threat anymore just by looking at his hollow eyes.

When Paul reached the lake, he kneeled and bowed his head towards Edward, who in turn grinned as he slashed his neck open. This shocked Edwards disciples, they didnt expect that Paul would so willingly give his life up.

As the Paul blood covered the crust Seth clenched his first, he had foreboding that something really bad would happen. -" What are you doing? How did you find this method?"

Edward still grinned as he looked towards Seth. -" This Bringer of Chaos is in a dormant state, something wrong must have happend in his attempt of crossing the realm boundary." Edward voice sounded etheral as his eyes shone with purple light. " For its awakening we must nurture his coccon with blood. It's a pity that Paul is just at the Immortal Soul Stage, so he wont be at his full strenght." As Edward spoke he looked at Seth neck with greed.

Seth sighed as he confimed his suspicions, something was really wrong Edward, yet, what made him worry the most was learning that the monster inside the coccon was still alive.

He knew that this chance existed, yet, finally confirming it was quite the blow to his plans. Seth prepared to escape the cave as the amber coccon started to shatter. He gave Edward one last look and flew toward the escape rescusing Edward disciples while escaping.