Ch-35:Universe Treasure

After sleeping peacefully like a baby while keeping his head in Hexine's lap, Raon woke up feeling refreshed, and his bottleneck vanished.

He felt that he could reach the next cultivation realm as well as increase his sword intent and break past the barrier to the realm that eluded him.

That feeling was worse than reaching a proper bottleneck, as it gave you a teaser of its power, yet it vanished just as you were about to dabble in it.

Raon was surprised that his thoughts of the past events were blank as he tried to concentrate and recall what happened to him.

He was aware that he went through a strange encounter, due to which his bottlenecks faded, yet he couldn't put his finger on what exactly transpired.

Just as he was about to give up after failing to recall anything even after concentrating for 30 minutes, he felt a chill down his spine.

His entire body trembled as he felt that he heard a peal of gentle, playful laughter from some female as a warm, relaxing scent wafted to his nostrils.

Suddenly, he was assaulted with a severe headache as his memories of the past events flashed through his mind like a breeze.

He couldn't comprehend or understand anything from them, as he was unable to piece them together.

"Rest because you carry secrets beyond your ability" Hexine muttered as she touched Raon's forehead gently and sent a stream of her energy.

She noticed that Raon's eyes had turned to her, and he tried to stay awake but failed to do so before falling unconscious as she smiled gently.

"That's all I could do for you, my child. I fulfilled my promise to you, dear ..." said Hexine as her voice drifted and her form evaporated into dust particles.

Yet, a sound was heard in the room as a spherical orb dropped to the ground before bouncing off Raon's hand as he clenched it despite his unconscious state.

======

Raon found himself in a weird place that seemed unreal to him.

He was surrounded by a red, glistening liquid that was wafting blistering heat that he could feel, yet it didn't cause him any harm.

He felt the ground beneath him to be flowing, yet it emanated a frigid ice wave that also didn't cause him any harm.

Despite the heat and cold, liquid and solid, he could see and do everything normally, like he was still inside his room.

Hexine took form in front of him as the temperature dropped to two extremes as if celebrating her arrival.

Raon felt extreme cold and extreme heat at the same time, but this wasn't the end, as he felt serenity and chaos in his emotions as well.

He couldn't comprehend what he was feeling but was aware that it had to do with the woman in front of him, and she was the reason for everything that was currently happening to him.

"Oho!? Aren't you a resolute one? Normally, one would question me or go into a frenzy and finally break down after realizing they couldn't do anything" said Hexine with a genuine tone of surprise.

"Does it matter?" Raon questioned her back.

"No, it doesn't. You're right that if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it, and since I said I carry no ill intentions, I have my reason to bring you here" said Hexine, agreeing with Raon's thoughts that she could read.

"Oh, you need not worry. No one besides me knows anything that you heard or saw" added Hexine to calm down Raon's worries.

She was well aware of every thought and everything that Raon had gone through in his entire life that he had never told anyone.

"Now, back to the question you asked me. My name is Hexine or Hexan or Hexcuran or Hexa or Mother or Origin or whatever you want to call me. Though I'd prefer if you choose Hexine" she added the last sentence after a bit of pause on reading Raon's thoughts.

'Why does she have so many names? Just say one damn it!' was what Raon had thought.

"So, Hexine right? Why did you kidnap? Yes, why did you kidnap me?" asked Raon seriously.

All his serious words and thoughts did was elicit her laughter as she wiped a fake tear from her eye before finally stopping.

"Hah... Sorry, it was just too funny, 'kidnap? Yes, kidnap' Hahahahaha..."

"Ahem... Now back to the reason I 'kidnapped' you, which is inside you." She still joked about 'kidnap' yet her tone turned serious all of a sudden at the end of her statement.

'Inside me?' Raon thought.

"Yes, inside you. You left this world for some time, and when you returned, you had an extra part inside you."

"I read your memories, and if I am not wrong, it is something that will absolutely get you killed if its existence is revealed."

"Before that, though, let me correct some misconjectures that you carry. The world that you live in is frankly called a planet by those Upper Realm cultivators."

"The ruins you went to were on an uninhabited planet inside our cluster. A cluster is, well, a group of solar systems."

"A solar system is the planets revolving around the sun, including other heavenly bodies? I guess that's the most basic way I can tell you."

"You won't understand even if I explain it entirely, so don't think too much and just listen."

"I am the planetary spirit of the planet you live on, which is known as the Hexacuran world by you cultivators."

"Understand this: a planetary spirit is very rare, to the point that even the upper realm cultivators would go out of their way to get me."

"We planetary spirits are formed from the consciousness of our planet that it gains after billions of years of roaming in the void."

"Our birth conditions are even more stringent than those of a cultivator ascending to the upper realm, making us way more rare than anything you can compare to."

"And what you have inside you is even rarer than me; if I am extremely rare, then what you have can only be called one of a kind throughout even the upper realm."

"Yeah... Now you see the implications of your treasure's knowledge getting out."

"For both of our sakes, I will remove all of these memories from my soul and seal them in yours."

"Now listen carefully and- Oops, it looks like time is up."

"Mark my words, what you have inside you is a Universe Treasure, born once and once only."

"It is..."

======

Just as she said the last statement, the world Raon was in collapsed and faded.

Her voice faded as Raon returned to the room without realizing what had just transpired as if he had lost his memories.

Just when he gained consciousness and regained clarity, he realized that he was clenching onto a weird spherical orb in his hand.

As soon as he focused on it, a striking headache assaulted him as if his brain were being etched or engraved onto or burned or fried.

"Ahh...What...?" He squealed out as he fell to the ground in immense pain for a mere five seconds, as he seemed to have never experienced it.