Chapter 814: Distant Light

The picturesque meadow blurred by as John sped forward with great haste. He had entered the trial well after the other participants, and knew he was already behind.

"I don't know what exists inside this land, but if there are opportunities to be had, I'd rather get them myself than let them fall into the hands of others," John said to himself as his feet took him forward towards the distant mountains.

As he sped forward, he remembered the seal given to him during the first Divine Talent trial, and took it out once more from his palace realm.

Buzz!

The seal started to buzz with intense energy, as if it had woken up from a deep slumber and was full of energy.

"Woah," John called out in slight surprise as he tightened his grip on the seal, which nearly raced out of his hand and into the distance. It was as if the seal was being called by something, something that existed...

"In the center of the realm," John mumbled to himself, recalling the hint given to him by the monastery monk. He tightened his hand on the seal as he gazed towards the distant mountains, which stood in the way of whatever the seal wanted to reach.

The seal vanished as John put it back in his palace realm, having confirmed what he wanted to know.

The seal and this land guarded by the Divine Wall were most definitely linked.

His mind thought of other similar events that had happened in the past, such as when he had obtained the ancient dragon reverse scales in the Jade Dragon Empire realm. Those too had wanted to fly out of his hand towards unknown areas, and the scales had eventually revealed themselves to be keys to access wondrous treasures.

"If my guess is right, this seal is something similar, a key of some sorts. If thats the case, then whatever exists at the center of this place might need this key to be accessed," John mused. His words ignited another thought, which caused his eyes to widen in understanding.

"Is that why this realm which has been guarded by the Divine Source Monastery for untold millenia finally opened?" John mumbled to himself, piecing together his thoughts. "This realm had not been opened since before the calamity, but just several years after obtaining this seal, the monastery opens this land to the public? It's too much to be a coincidence!"

As he thought about this, John's anticipation increased for whatever this seal was leading towards. The first Divine Talent trial had been harrowing and beyond dangerous, but by walking through it and surviving, he was able to obtain insights into the Dao of Power, Annihilation, and Destruction, increase the sturdiness of his cultivation foundation, and even fight against the youthful avatar of his mysterious father.

His gains had been immense during that trial, increasing his hopes that this land was something similar.

"There's too many similarities for it not to be related. Let's just hope this realm can be as fruitful for me as the previous Divine Talent trail," John said with a smirk of anticipation as he hastened his speed. His figure became a blur as it carved a path through the field, leaving a trail of ruin behind him.

...

"Hmm? It's getting harder to move forward," Rahze mused to himself as his steps halted, and he came to a stop in the field. He had progressed a great deal towards the mountains, closing over half the distance thus far. "Not physical...but on my dantain? Tch."

It had been a fleeting thought before, but as he got closer to the mountains, the thought became more and more certain. The way towards the mountains was not as simple as it appeared to be.

The others noticed this as well, as moving forward had become more difficult. It wasn't a physical resistance halting their progress forward, but was instead a pressure that pressed on their dantian, making it harder to utilize Qi.

It was as if the bizarre pressure was trying to lock their dantian and prevent it from moving forward through space. The only way to resist this was to utilize Qi to press against the pressure, which was becoming more and more arduous as the cultivators moved forward.

However, each felt this pressure appear at a different time in their journey, as if this pressure did not activate the same for all of them.

"A test? Or a natural energy trying to protect something ahead?" Serilia of the Faerie race mused, her mind racing with possibilities. The other cultivators came up with their own ideas as well, but ideas did not solve the issue.

The only way was forward, and so all continued to move with hastened steps, fighting back against the ever increasing pressure on their dantian. Their speed naturally slowed down as the pressure increased, a frustrating thing to some, while an amusing test to others.

Flash!

A light suddenly flashed in the distance, catching the attention of all the cultivators. It appeared at the very top of the mountains in the far distance before them, and glowed with an ethereal light. It gave off a wondrous aura, like the most heavenly of treasures had just appeared.

The light caused all the cultivators to surge forward with their greatest speed, as if the ethereal light was irresistible.

...

Flash!

"Hmm? What's that?" John said as he noticed a flash in the far distance. It was still nearly a thousand miles away and very faint, but it glowed like the halo of an angel, and gave off a wondrous aura.

"A treasure?" John mused as he stared at it. "Only one way to find out."

Boom!

The ground exploded at his feet as he suddenly shot to the sky and then surged forwards, piercing through the sky like a bullet. His body dantian surged with might as it propelled him forwards, and after several hundred miles, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face as he focused on his essence dantian.

"Hmm? Is my dantian being restricted?" John mumbled to himself, although the feeling was incredibly faint and almost imperceptible. It was as if soft hands were grasping his dantian, holding it with the lightest amount of pressure.

He took note of the feeling and then ignored it, as he surged forward through the sky with incredible speed. As he did so, he noticed that the pressure on his essence dantian did indeed exist, and was increasing as he progressed forward.

"A dantian talent test, huh?" John mused with a confident smile as he recognized the pressure. It was very similar to the other tests in the Divine Trial realm on the Yuan Continent that had focused his dantian, testing it for its talent.

"Not even my mysterious father has a twenty times compressed dantian. So let's just see what this realm can do to stop me," John said to himself with absolute confidence as he increased his speed even further, carving through the sky like a hawk.