536 Abyss 2 (2/2)

The Three Territories had formed a temporary alliance, cooperating as one major force. The other domains were thriving prosperously, becoming the largest, ideal, living stronghold outside Ender and the Ultimate Protection area.

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A pale blue light twinkled at the bottom of the pitch-black sea, faintly illuminating the surrounding waters beneath the deep sea.

Within the bottomless ocean abyss, a cluster of gigantic, hundred meter tall icicles were erected in the large marine trench. The sharp icicles stood upright like an array of long transparent spears that were faintly stained black.

In the middle of everything, within a sharp large icicle that was over ten meters thick, was the source of the twinkling pale blue light.

In front of the icicles was a stretch of icy ground.

As it was situated in the opening between two marine trenches, gallons of seawater had frozen into ice because of the extremely low temperatures, while the bottoms of the marine trenches were completely filled with ice, forming a gigantic ice mountain that filled the marine trenches at the bottom of the abyss.

The ice mountain was translucent and slightly black, and behind the pale blue light in the center, situated within a large icicle, was a slender golden-haired man that had been frozen within the ice. The man was unmoving, while both of his eyes were slightly shut as if he were in deep sleep. However, it also seemed as if his gaze was fixated on something in front of him.

Meanwhile, a handsome man with a head full of long white hair sat cross-legged on the icy floor in front of the icicle. He wore a long white robe with a silver-black belt tied around his waist while a long white sword lay flat on his knees.

”How does it feel to break through?” An empty-sounding male voice reverberated throughout the layer of ice, as if he were speaking in a large hall, carrying echoes that sounded unconventionally graceful.

Ivycius grasped the hilt of the sword on his knees gently, shaking his head slightly.

”If I hadn’t guarded you here personally and observed the effects and changes of your Secret Techniques towards your surroundings, I would not have entered Form 5 so quickly. The originally estimated time, is still insufficient.”

”Only a high-leveled prodigy like yourself would be able to see patterns from the traces of these Secret Technique changes,” said Garen casually from within the icicle.

Ivycius declined to comment. During this time, after he married Skyharp, he had spent all of his time guarding this underwater abyss while the professionals of Black Swamp Palace and Seven Night Tower built a simple underwater residence here.

But before they could add the finishing touches to the place, the construction workers were forced to retreat, being unable to withstand the frightening cold air that Garen released increasingly every day.

Ivycius, Skyharp, and Garen managed to connect with each other on a deeper level through their interactions during this time.

Ivycius was a person who abided to his own principles closely. He chose to stay behind and guard Garen, and did not give up on him despite the ending of the Dragon Demon’s bindings. He did not think of the Demon Dragon’s bindings as any form of restriction at all.

In reality, Garen had never imposed any forceful commands on him, allowing both of them to have a normal friendly relationship with each other. For both of them, the presence or absence of the Dragon Demon’s bindings made no difference.

”There have been signs of activity in the Heart of Life again, while Ender is entering the finals. How is your situation here?” asked Ivycius in a low voice.

”Still considerably smooth.” Garen did not explain it in detail.

Both of them fell into silence. Within the period of a day, silence was their most commonly used mode of connection, as both of them preferred to enter their own worlds.

Garen suppressed his thoughts, before placing them back within his Living Secret Techniques.

Two of his Secret Techniques had mostly fused already, while the Black Water True Technique had reached its final scattering phase. The forced tearing of two of his main Living Secret Techniques caused his will and fusion powers to be absorbed as nutrients, leaving nothing but the last bits of his Nine-Life Talent.

As the Nine-Life Talent was the core strength of the Nine-Headed Hydra, the fact that the extremely delayed speeds were able to support it for such a long time was already a very rare occurrence. But at this point, they were unable to evade the complete decomposition forever.

Meanwhile, the two Living Secret Technique seeds within his body had absorbed many nutrients from the outside after a long period of time, allowing them to reach extremely desirable states.

After a long period of bodily operation fusions, Garen’s body had fully adapted to the Living Secret Technique’s powerful activities. As the fusion between the two Secret Techniques deepened, the transformations within Garen’s body became more integrated as well, lessening the conflicts.

”Soon… Soon… Only a little while longer before I get to the essence of the mysteries of the Living Secret Technique…”

As of now, he had yet to truly receive the Legacy of the Living Secret Technique. One of the reasons was due to the conflict between both of his Secret Techniques. The most troublesome part was that the true Secret Technique practice message would only be transmitted after he had finished the transformation completely.

The Living Secret Techniques would be able to exceed their limits after coming to fruition, allowing him to achieve peak levels. This was the general consensus among strong, peak individuals.

The fusion of two Secret Techniques would not necessarily bring positive changes. However, they were not too undesirable from his current perspective. Although he had lost many parts that conflicted with one another, the seedlings that were preserved continued to possess the presence of extremely terrifying air ripples.

Once he received the Legacy, the presence of the Black Water True Technique and the large quantities of Living Secret Techniques that he had accumulated recently would definitely allow Garen to achieve a higher level within a short span of time. After all, he had already obtained an extremely high Secret Technique state.