This Is Not My Road

After a minute of blinding brilliance, the light started to fade to a more bearable level. And as Han Sen looked its way, a demonic voice began to boom from within the glow.

Within the light, Han Sen saw the faint outline of a strong man. He was sitting and speaking.

The demonic voice was surreal to hear. It was of a language Han Sen could not recognize, and although that meant he should not have been able to understand what was spoken, he somehow could.

When this light appeared, the attentiveness of all the creatures stiffened. They turned to look at the luminance keenly. They were all like well-disciplined and obedient students at school, and while the scene was a serious one, the sight was not without a measurement of grin-bearing silliness.

Dragon King was in too much shock to speak, and he looked absolutely mortified. Seeing spirits of the dead come to attack would not warrant such fright, Han Sen believed.

He wished to ask what was happening, but Han Sen refrained from doing so. He imagined the consequences could be dire, if he dared disturb the creatures now.

Han Sen then chose to try and satiate his curiosity himself. He perked his ears and tried to listen to what the demonic voice was saying.

The six super creatures, and all the other creatures present, were in a trance-like state as they listened.

The language was a strange one. When Han Sen tried to analyze the form of the words deeply, he could not understand a thing. But when he listened to it lightly, as if it were background music, he could understand it clearly. Every word and its meaning were as clear as a bell.

Han Sen looked towards the light and kept on listening. He was surprised by his own attentiveness.

As he heard the words spoken, he felt a new strength course through his body. If the powers in his veins were like the babbling brooks of a mountainside, they were now comparable to roaring rapids.

Han Sen's energy combined with this power, becoming one.

Boom!

The Dongxuan Sutra suddenly opened a new gene lock, much to his utter shock.

And that power resided there without lessening. It marched towards the next gene lock.

Han Sen felt two different powers overwhelm him. The light itself was one aspect of this, and it made him feel grossly incandescent. It glowed around him, but it did not enter his body.

The other power came from the demonic language. This penetrated him deeply, and it was like a Qi Gong that drew the exterior power—which was borne on the light—inside.

This strange strength combined with the strength that already resided within Han Sen, and the might of both forces were swift to break down another gene lock.

Han Sen had no clue who was inside that light, who could impart so much power with the glow and a few words, but he was immeasurably thankful. He had oh-so-easily improved his Dongxuan Sutra by a large amount.

Han Sen turned to look at all the other creatures behind him and noticed they too were wrapped in the same glow that caressed him. The creatures behind him were also having their gene locks opened.

With that holy light around them, heaven knew how many gene locks they were opening.

There was no need for more geno fruits or geno flesh, and there was no need for practice, either. Basking in that warming glow and hearing the words spoken was enough to knock down gene locks with ease.

But Han Sen felt something wrong or amiss with this. While the light had been able to open his gene locks, it wasn't in a manner he wished for them to be unlocked.

More and more of that power penetrated Han Sen, and it began to overwhelm his own strength. He was helpless, feeling the demonic influence usurp his own inner-power.

"This isn't right!" Han Sen wanted to stop the power from penetrating him and disconnect himself from it.

But Han Sen could not stop it, and it was within him, dictating his own energy flow.

Katcha!

Another gene lock was opened, and the power was incredibly strong.

Han Sen could feel the power getting stronger and stronger, and while he could still feel the gene locks breaking, he wasn't happy.

Han Sen wasn't the smartest man alive, but at least he was honest. He wasn't one to deny help, but he wanted to command his ascension and progression of power. What was happening right now did not sit right with him.

And it wasn't just that. It was how this demonic power penetrated him without permission that offended him the most. It had come inside and replaced his own power, making his own little more than an add-on. He was not entirely himself.

The power from that light was taking over, and there was nothing he could do to prevent its intrusion.

It was like he had been forced to learn a mathematical equation or formula, and the demonic language in his head taught him how. It was a way to become stronger, and it had indeed worked.

But if he did not learn the core of the formula, his mind would be trapped.

Han Sen no idea how he had become so much stronger in such a short amount of time, but it had happened, whether he liked it or not.

But he still felt it was wrong, and that he would be worse-off by improving his power this way. He had not commanded this ascension and neither had he learned the inner-workings of every gene lock. He mastered his own skills and perfected each step of his progression; that was how he always did things. This could put him in danger.

He was walking along a path someone else had told him to go on, without knowing where he was going and for what purpose.

With the promise of an increase in strength, many would gladly oblige and follow the path.

But Han Sen was different, if not a little stubborn. He wanted to learn the workings of the world himself, and he wanted to understand the core of his strength through his own means. He liked to command his being and his purpose, not have someone else guide and hold his hand.

"This is not what I wanted." Han Sen cast Blood-Pulse Sutra, and with the Dongxuan Sutra, tried to fight back against the power.