Chapter 70: Breaking Through to Intermediate Entry (Part II)

Long before the Age of Darkness, humans believed their brains contained domains, and that dreams each night were unconscious journeys into these domains, where they glimpsed strange and marvelous things. With the advent of the Age of Darkness and the emergence of elemental power, the birth of the first Starcore Warrior proved the existence of the brain domain.

No one could describe exactly what the brain domain looked like; everyone’s experiences shaped the subconscious matter constructed within it. Perhaps it was like an enormous palace, with each visitor scattered throughout its halls, and each breakthrough was an expansion of territory within. When one could finally see the palace in its entirety, perhaps then the true nature of the brain domain would be revealed.

Ye Bai knelt on the ground, the pain in his head gradually easing. It felt as if gentle hands were soothing the agony that pierced his marrow, calming it until he regained control over his body.

A drop of sweat struck the parched, cracked earth, bursting into a dark brown petal and stirring the dust around it. Yet the scant moisture was quickly absorbed, bringing an almost imperceptible hint of rain to the land.

Rain was a rare luxury in the radiation zone. Since the beginning of the Age of Darkness, not a single drop had fallen here. Perhaps even God could not bear to witness the sins of this place and sealed it away. Still, life was tenacious; no matter how harsh the environment, something always survived.

Sweat trickled from Ye Bai’s hairline, gathered at his chin, and fell. Medicine Spirit sensed his internal state stabilizing and finally dared to wipe the sweat from her own face.

In truth, Medicine Spirit hadn’t spent much of her elemental power; what exhausted her was the delicate control required. Ye Bai’s body already contained surplus elemental forces running wild, and to help him untangle them, she had to inject her own elemental power into him.

This wasn’t simply healing—injecting elemental power and monitoring the recovery of damaged organs. Given the chaotic mix of forces in Ye Bai, adding her own only compounded the turmoil.

It was a test of Medicine Spirit’s mastery: she had to find a balance, not overwhelming Ye Bai with too much power, yet ensuring what she infused aided him.

Nearby, the battle continued. Two entry-level mutants proved difficult to eliminate. Little Monk Cao relied on ghostly agility to hold his own.

Cao’s quick thinking allowed him to use the ruined environment to attack the mutants, who were drawn purely by the scent of flesh, eager for the feast before them. At their core, mutants were once humans, but their brains had died, and now they moved by some unknown force. Even as entry-level mutants, their intelligence was rudimentary—no comparison to humanity.

Earlier, Cao had tripped one mutant with the collapsed rubble and severed its arm using his finger guards.

Mutants didn’t rely on arms and legs; only destruction of the brain could truly incapacitate them. Losing a limb merely reduced their offensive capability, but for Cao, it lessened the pressure.

Within the circle of light, Ye Bai sat cross-legged. The stabbing pain in his brain faded into an uncanny clarity, a hint of coolness.

Fire and earth ahead, water and wood behind. Ye Bai tried to control the four elemental powers at the circle’s edge. Once he realized this was the brain domain, he understood these were the manifestations of his internal elemental forces gone berserk. Why so many appeared so suddenly was a mystery. How were Little Monk and Ling’er faring?

Lost in thought, Ye Bai suddenly felt something squeeze out of his brain. Another surge of elemental power descended from the top of the pillar, enveloping him in a cloud of elemental mist and thickening the pillar.

Medicine Spirit continued to sort out the chaos within Ye Bai’s body. The task no longer required the extreme caution of the beginning; she only needed to weave threads of wood elemental power to connect the main channels and scattered forces.

Ye Bai’s brain swelled again. This wasn’t his first breakthrough; he quickly steadied himself and focused on controlling the four elemental pillars at the edge.

Usually, breakthroughs brought four waves of elemental tides. The second had just struck; the first came when his pain was so great he hadn’t noticed. The elemental powers in the brain domain belonged to his body and would eventually return. The first three tides expanded the circle, akin to claiming territory in a palace.

The fourth tide, however, would convert all claimed lands into his own. Ye Bai’s task was to return the four elemental pillars to his body, keeping the expanded circle from shrinking.

First, the fire pillar. Since his entry-level awakening, fire had always been the most abundant and manageable element.

He constructed the fire pillar in his mind, closed his eyes, and willed it to drift toward him, imagining the familiar flow of fire within his body.

Though the four elements stood before him, he could see but not touch them. They were manifestations of energy—a projection, really. He couldn’t simply grab the pillar and drag it in, nor could he stand, overwhelmed by the sheer force in the circle. It was a mirage.

Suddenly, his brain swelled again. The third tide arrived.

Cao’s finger guards sliced across the mutant’s chest. Elemental power ignited at the touch, leaving five gashes that crossed its heart. With a swift “tiger claw” he ripped out the shriveled heart.

Yet the mutant did not die; only destruction of the brain could end it. Its heartless body remained vigorous.

Cao exchanged wounds: the mutant left claw marks on his back, and blood flowed. The radiation in Zone C was far fiercer than in Zone D. The torn flesh changed color, and the blood turned black. To purge the mutant’s toxins and radiation, Cao forced out more blood, washed the wound with water elemental power, and shielded it.

With a thunderous roar, the third tide struck, fiercer than before, thickening the pillars and rapidly expanding the circle.

At that instant, Ye Bai managed to shift the fire pillar closer, seizing the moment.

But the water, wood, and earth pillars remained immovable no matter how hard he tried.

All four pillars had to enter the body at once; if one entered early, it would dominate, especially at higher levels, leaving only that element. The intervals between tides grew shorter; as soon as Ye Bai moved the fire pillar, the fourth tide began to build.

Seeing Ye Bai stable, Medicine Spirit grabbed her sword and ran to help Little Monk slay the mutants.

She thrust her sword at the mutant’s claw, aiming for Cao’s head. The blade struck the claw with a metallic clang, barely piercing the skin before the mutant’s bones stopped it.

Yet Medicine Spirit’s strike gave Cao an opening. He dodged the claw, and with a gleaming burst of golden light, his finger guards entered their fully-empowered state. In a flash, the mutant was decapitated.

The severed head still tried to bite Cao’s leg, but he crushed it underfoot.

The elemental tide began to build. Above Ye Bai’s head, energy swelled, and the pressure peaked.

Though this was Ye Bai’s domain, he was powerless to move anything except his thoughts.

Perhaps the tide caused the elemental forces to fluctuate. Ye Bai, eyes closed, tested each pillar. He found that sometimes three pillars could be moved, sometimes not.

Grasping the rhythm, Ye Bai slowly inched the three pillars towards himself.

The fourth tide differed from the previous ones. The entire circle was saturated with elemental power, which compressed and solidified the space. If Ye Bai could return the pillars to his body before the tide receded, his breakthrough would succeed. If not, the gathered energy would dissipate, returning to the world.

The earth and wood pillars moved easily, nearly matching the fire pillar. But water was stubborn, barely shifting, possibly because it was subdued during his awakening or fire was too dominant.

The tide now hovered above Ye Bai; only a few cycles remained. Ye Bai grew anxious. He couldn’t move the water pillar by sheer force.

Under the tide’s compression, elemental power began to merge into the pillars. Fire, wood, and earth showed signs of re-entering his body, initiating fusion.

But the water pillar, at the periphery, began to crack, unable to withstand the merging force.

Suddenly, Ye Bai remembered that in the Five Elements, earth overcomes water. He drew earth elemental power from the pillar and injected it into water, weakening the water's force.

He had intended merely to stabilize the cracking water pillar, but accidentally triggered a surge. As the tide climaxed, the water pillar finally shifted near him.

Ye Bai’s consciousness filled with blinding white light. When he opened his eyes again, Little Monk Cao stood before him.