Secret Of The Ancient Mountain

No one could see what was going on behind the huge red and black barrier that surrounded Xi Ansel on top of the mountain.

Meanwhile, Xi Ansel was totally unaware about the changes occurring outside. His mind itself was in turmoil. As he had stepped on to the 10,000th stair, his whole body jolted and a massive pressure sucked him inside a large dark black hole.

The next moment Xi Ansel opened his eyes, he could only see darkness, pitch black darkness. He tried to extend his sight using qi but all was in vain as no matter how much he tried, he couldn't find a sliver of light, there was complete darkness, even he himself couldn't see his body. It was as if he was standing in a void completely devoid of any light.

"Brat! I summoned you here! How is it? You like it?", a hard voice devoid of any emotions came from behind Xi Ansel within this pitch black darkness. The voice was calm but it had a majestic yet cold demeanor.

Hearing that voice, Xi Ansel instantly froze, this was the same familiar voice that had ringed inside his mind while climbing. This time, he heard the voice much more clearly and it was coming from behind him. As, Xi Ansel turned around to see the owner of the voice, he was shocked to find out that there was nothing except darkness.

"Haha! You can't see me? Well, of course you can't, that is because my physical body doesn't exist.", the voice this time laughed after seeing Xi Ansel's actions. The laughter was like thunder to Xi Ansel.

Xi Ansel could sense the energy in that laughter. While probing a small bit of that energy Xi Ansel paled.

"This..?"

'This isn't an energy a human could release. No Impossible! Absolutely Impossible! Even at the highest realm of cultivation it's impossible to release this much energy. Just who is he? ' Xi Ansel's brows furrowed he slowly muttered to himself. This was something he couldn't understand, as he was known as the death god in his previous life he had reached the peak of cultivation but even he couldn't exert this much energy and pressure which this shapeless voice was exerting.

At that instant Xi Ansel felt deep reverence towards that mysterious voice and his curiosity further increased. No matter if the person in front of him was an enemy or a friend, Xi Ansel always held respect towards stronger people, this was a quality he developed in the later years of his previous life fighting and slaughtering experts. He slightly bowed towards the direction where the voice was coming from, " May I know, who senior is?"

"Hahaha! Brat you are an interesting one. Well, I'm the one who created this mountain! You can call me your ancestor", the voice was surprised after seeing Xi Ansel unfazed by his aura.

After hearing this Xi Ansel was dumbstruck. ' Were our ancestors really this strong?', questions like these started appearing in his mind.

"I waited every year, for the past hundred thousand years to find someone capable. Alas, when I lost all hope, you appeared! I sensed the power and resolve inside you as you stepped on this mountain. I continuously tested you on every stair and you didn't disappoint me. The pressure you were facing on every stair was double the others were facing but you still brushed it off and continued. When that brat kicked you, I was surprised and for a moment I thought you might not get up. But once again I was astonished. You completely surpassed my expectations", the voice became much softer and excited. That emotionless voice was now transforming into a gentle and caring voice.

Xi Ansel was once again shocked. 'No wonder the pressure on stair 9000 was abnormal, If not for Wu Long , I really wouldn't have climbed up. Now it makes sense.', these thoughts were running wildly inside his brain.

"Ancestor, you are overpraising me", Xi Ansel humbly said. He learnt one important thing from his past life-' Never be cocky and proud of yourself'. Inside that 15 year old's body was a soul of a 40 year old man who once reached the peak of cultivation but naturally no-one here knew it.

"You really are an interesting child. Even after reaching the 10,000th stair that no-one has done in these hundred thousand years and creating a legend. You still are humble....Good! Very Good!", the voice was surprised after hearing Xi Ansel's reply and became much gentler.

"But that might not be enough for you to inherit my legacy", the voice became silent after saying these words.

Silence! Complete Silence!

But then Xi Ansel spoke, " Ancestor, may I know what you are speakin-", before Xi Ansel could complete his sentence the voice intervened, " I have been searching for a successor who will inherit my legacy. For many years, I have waited but never found anyone to even reach the 10,000th stair. Yes, there was one earlier but he directly fainted after stepping on the ten thousandth stair. You on the other hand are the first to reach the final stair and are standing but this isn't enough. I have to test something else!".

After speaking these words, suddenly a ball of light, the size of a palm appeared floating in front of Xi Ansel. The ball of white light was shining brightly, that lit the dark area.

As Xi Ansel saw the ball of shining light that lit up the area, he was appalled because there wasn't anything near him. It was completely empty. There was nothing in the surroundings, it was like he was standing in a deep dark abyss. No-one could see the end or start of it. This void extended as far as the naked eye could see.

"There are three conditions that must be fulfilled in order to inherit my legacy-

Condition 1- One should have the resolve to become stronger.

Condition 2- One should not completely rely on virtuous or demonic path.

Condition 3- One should be fearless but also be afraid of death.

If you are incapable of fulfilling even one condition then you can't succeed. If you feel you can fulfill all the conditions then put your right hand on this ball of light, think carefully, if you can't succeed then your head will burst in to a million pieces." the ancestor's voice came to a halt after explaining everything, a hint of sadness could be felt in the atmosphere. The voice was waiting for a reply from Xi Ansel but it already knew that Xi Ansel wouldn't agree as it was impossible for someone to complete the three conditions and no-one would want to die a pointless death. Even accomplished experts will have difficulty fulfilling these conditions much less a 15 year old boy.

"No worries if you can't do it! I really felt refreshed talking to someone after so ma-", before the voice could continue, it heard something that made it shiver.

"I'll do it!", Xi Ansel said without thinking a second time. For him the most important thing was to get stronger and protect the thing for which he came back and any opportunity which he got, he won't miss it.

"What?", the voice was given an extreme shock.

But before it could continue, Xi Ansel had already touched the bright ball of light.

Boom!

Before the flabbergasted gaze of Xi Ansel, the light ball turned yellow and a small tornado formed inside the ball, spinning at an extremely fast rate. The small greyish tornado was increasing in size as well as the ball of light was also becoming bigger and bigger.

"This child....succeeded?", the voice was stunned after seeing the sight in front of him.

Only now did the voice realize that Xi Ansel had already successfully fulfilled the three conditions needed for the inheritance.

Condition 1 which stated that, 'One should have the resolve to become stronger' naturally, this was the first and foremost priority of Xi Ansel after returning to the past. Thus, Condition 1 was fulfilled.

Condition 2 stated that, 'One should not completely rely on virtuous or demonic path', for Xi Ansel who was known as the death god in his previous life, he never completely relied on the virtuous beliefs nor did he completely exclude the demonic principles. He made his own rules and did whatever he could to fulfill his revenge. In this life also Xi Ansel beliefs didn't falter a bit, he would use any technique weather it be virtuous or demonic to become stronger. Thus, Condition 2 was also fulfilled.

Condition 3 stated that,' One should be fearless but also be afraid of death', this condition was the most difficult to fulfill because a person may either be timid or be completely fearless even not afraid of death but the condition here stated that one should be fearless but also be afraid of death, which made it more difficult to fulfill. Even Xi Ansel wasn't aware how he fulfilled this condition. The reason was because Xi Ansel in his previous life was fearless, so fearless that death and he were the most beautiful couple, wherever he went death and chaos would follow, so how could he be afraid of his best partner. But after returning to the past in this second life, he had something he had to protect and for that even if he was fearless, he had a bit of fear for death. He couldn't die before meeting her. He couldn't die before making all his enemies suffer. Thus, subconsciously Xi Ansel even fulfilled the final condition.

The ball of light was continuously growing and the tornado was increasing in size. After the ball of light was 2 meter in diameter and the greyish tornado in the middle of it was 1 meter tall, the ball of light suddenly stopped growing. The tornado slowly stopped rotating and as it stopped one could see a shining greyish sword with a black hilt.

Buzz!

The sword that was revealed instantly released its mighty aura and the pressure near Xi Ansel exploded. The one meter sword was brimming with a majestic look and the black hilt had some strange characters written on it.

Xi Ansel felt a call to instantly grab the sword. His eyes shining at the sight of this majestic sword.

Seeing that expression of his the voice laughed, " Haha! Child, go take it! You have earned it!".

Without thinking much about formalities, the excited Xi Ansel put his right hand inside the ball of light and grabbed the majestic sword by its hilt. Instantly, a power smashed into his hand and his body was jolted away but he didn't leave the sword from his hand and hence both him and the sword were pulled out of the ball of light. The ball of light immediately shattered and the shining fragments were flying all around in the air lighting up small parts in the void.

Xi Ansel got up and lifted the sword, the first thing that came into his mind was.

Heavy!

According to Xi Ansel this sword was around 50kgs and its tip was extremely sharp. This sword gave an ancient aura, which he had never felt in his previous life. While he was probing the sword his eyes fell on the strange characters written on the black hilt of the sword.

Ancient Characters!

He didn't understand ancient language and turned towards the mysterious voice.

"Ancestor, What is written here?", Xi Ansel with a curious look pointed towards the black hilt of the majestic sword in his hand.

" It's the name of my sword...TOTAL ANNIHILATOR", the solemn voice spoke.