23 The Journal

"Someone once lived here before?"

The sighting of the cabin produced a low hum as he entered the space. The rustic scenery produced by the fluorescent light from the moss and the underground stream nearby allowed quick access to water for drinking and to help the plants. A small bamboo shoot was used to transfer water using a measuring rod that would come everyday to keep the plants in top conditions even without the sunlight. The cabin laid far behind with no lights, the aged wood made it look like a hermit who lives in the mountains vibe as he continued on.

The wood was bruised and pale as it was aged and the door was left intact with multiple layers of dust caked the door.

He examined the plants in front of the cabin, with the one closest to himself. It was a strange flower, with two leaves that were blue with a red trimming of crimson red. The flower itself had no opposing nature at all and even released a fragrance similar of that of maple and driftwood.

Colored in pale white was the bud with multiple jagged petals, it was a true oddity.

"What are these?"

In fear of touching any poisonous items, he left it and continued his path through the other flowers.

The next had a distinct cold bloody aura that would sent shivers down his spine. The actual flower was shaped as a heart, and he could feel it pulsate along with the aura.

Three of them were the most noticeable and the last was just a vase filled with green liquid.

A small sound of a mechanism clicked and water began pouring down the bamboo shoots, but soon after touching the liquid in the urn, it became viscous.

Botany knowledge isn't very superb compared to other subjects that they have advanced in the Soul Realm. Many consequences can be taken without doing certain methods and procedures to treat and cure the plants of any side effects of consumption. most plants would still give strong affects that they would die to the surplus of power and hidden effects.

Though the distinct plants were interesting, what came first was definitely the cabin.

He brandished his sword from the cheap sheath made from simple dry leather from a cow animal in the Soul Realm. The moss' light reflect the purple hue once more as he walked towards the cabin.

He arrived with the doors, seeing even more details when he looked from afar, strong bolded hieroglyphs appeared to him. Unknown to its meaning, he gritted his teeth and braced himself.

He opened the door quickly and jumped back. the creak of the door showed that it was not maintained for several years.

The door opened fully but no sound could be heard or any jump scare to be afraid of.

He released the stress and came inside. A welcoming feeling arrived with a simple stone interior. A small shelf carved out of the rock was present on the left and a work bench filled with numerous equipment was spread throughout. But aside from that, the not-so simple thing was that a skeleton was sat near the work bench, clearly clenching an object of some sort.

Multiple glass vile were numbered throughout and once he began inspecting the skeletal remains, he found the object to be a book.

'Sorry, I will definitely return the book along your remains when i properly bury you.'

If he ever wanted to know anything about this strange mini world in the center of a mountain, it would definitely be contained here.

The words on the book appeared to be a cryptic language. Feeling relieved and disappointed, he was about to return the book but a strong energy entered his body from the book, unable to release his hands. The letters of the book began merging and changing as he looked further. The power behind the journal by the dead man couldn't be explained by modern thoughts, not even translating chips could change words to any language at the spot.

After a few minutes, he was able to feel his body, becoming quite cramped up at the moment. The words were fully translated and he began reading the first and only paragraph on the first page.

"Hello human, if you're reading this, I must be dead. A tradition of my sect is always to pass on our knowledge to the young when we go to sleep eternally. Alas, I have not, so I hope my words of knowledge will go through"

He flipped through the next page and continued on.

"I am a humble cultivator belonging to the Ascended Spirit Realm of the Devil Sect. Our realm was called the True Immortal Myriad Realm and are split in three. The Righteous Sect, The Mountain Temple, and last but not least, my Devil Sect. Do not get me wrong, our Devil Sect is in no way evil, just that our pursuit of strength and ideology was different."

"Though I am merely an Ascended Spirit Realm, my only focus in the sect was to become a Apothecary Master, and I've became a genius of the apothecary sub-sect of the Devil Sect. Me any my peers were researching divine ingredients before we found the Ascension Root. The only divine ingredient in the entire realm. I researched every possibility, using simulations to practice, and I was finally able to find one in just ten years. And that was, reincarnation, the use of the root could alleviate the soul of the mortal flesh and come in contact with a way stronger realm where divine ingredients are all around and many ingredients as well."

"I am one who used it for myself to ascend to the new realm, to which I've been transported, the Ascension Root gave me the proper vessel to pass through, a vessel of merely flesh and bone. To which I was fine with, If I could train in the new realm, I would definitely be able to achieve much higher powers. But I was wrong."

"The vessel's body was too weak to cultivate my Devil Sect's cultivation technique to which would rattle my bones and churn my insides. My first attempt and I was now handicapped beyond natural recovery. I had to use my apothecary knowledge to somehow survive but the string of misfortunes hitting me continued on."

"There was no necessary metals to use for my refining pot. And just like that, I lived in a mortal's flesh and survived using any tactics disdainful to man, but since you're reading this, you must know I've failed."

The journal continued and read on his journey from his realm and how he was praised for his achievements. But a huge disparity in the journal was his times in the Soul Realm and his time in his home realm. He had a huge hatred and desperate entries of his times living here.

"On the shelf nearby is all the books I managed to remember from my time, one should be the Devil's Cultivation Method and the rest should just be my apothecary knowledge. Though if I could ask you to do me a favor and bury my remains, the moment you opened the book, I've sent the remaining power of my cultivation foundation Qi for you to read my book. My body will be turned to ashes and the book will as well."

"...this is my final entry, I hope my words were useful to nurture the young, and hope for the prosperity of the Devil Sect in this realm. Happy Travels. From your dead pal.

Fan Tong."

The moment he reached the last page, the book released heat and burned alongside the corpse.

"I will properly bury your ashes..."

He felt he gained new insight from the readings and a new power from the release of the energy.

The feeling of the aura disappeared and he was finally able to relax his body from the powerful force.

But that relaxation soon stressed itself and he began sprinting out.

"Later!"

"The aura that came out of the cave is now gone! I have to head back, the cobra might come back!"

The Qi from his remains masked the aura of his corpse to appear as a strong monster, now that it was gone, the territorial protection a monster's territory gave was all gone.

He used his soul energy to rush back, which would usually need a day of rest to reach full capacity once more. But the soul energy consumption seemed to be way less and it was recovering at rapid rate compared to a normal warrior.

He did not fret over the small detail, which wasn't really small, but the urgency of the situation was strong.

Everything in his mind was blurred, but his sole focus and intent was fully being focused on was saving his senior friends.

Using his Lightweight technique, he moved as quick as possible.