Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 51: Chapter 51 — The Pond

Chapter 51 — The Spirit Pond

Victor had been traveling for nearly three days when he finally began to slow down.

The forest had changed little during that time. Endless trees stretched in every direction, their enormous roots twisting across the ground like the remains of something ancient buried beneath the earth. Thick vegetation covered nearly everything, and the deeper Victor traveled through the boundary region surrounding the more dangerous parts of the forest, the more isolated the world seemed to become.

He slowed from a run to a steady trot, his breathing controlled as he glanced around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

According to the map and his calculations, he should have been close.

Based on how far he had traveled and the amount of time that had passed, he should have reached the location marked on it soon.

The pond.

Victor began walking carefully through the trees, his attention returning fully to his surroundings.

After several minutes, he entered a clearing.

Then he stopped.

Something strange stood ahead of him.

At first, Victor couldn’t quite understand what he was looking at.

Tall plants resembling bamboo grew densely together, their stalks rising several feet into the air. But intertwined among them were flowering vines covered in roses, twisting around the bamboo-like stalks and spreading throughout the strange formation.

Victor frowned.

He had never seen anything like it.

More importantly, he couldn’t remember seeing anything similar in the Library.

The thought immediately caught his attention.

Victor approached slowly.

The strange plants formed something resembling a wall. From where he stood, he could see them stretching outward before curving around the surrounding area. He couldn’t see how far they continued, but it was clear that the formation surrounded something.

Victor found a narrow opening between the stalks and carefully pushed himself through.

The plants pressed against his clothes as he squeezed between them. For a moment, his vision was filled entirely with green stalks and twisting vines.

Then he stepped through the other side.

Victor stopped.

For several seconds, he simply stood there.

Before him was a pond.

A massive one.

The water was an impossibly clear shade of blue, so transparent that Victor could see directly to the bottom. There were no fish moving beneath the surface. No monsters. No strange shadows hidden in the depths.

Nothing.

In the center of the pond rested a large rock rising above the water.

Everything was silent.

Victor slowly stepped forward.

Then he felt it.

Energy.

The pond itself was radiating spiritual energy.

Victor couldn’t immediately describe what he was sensing, but his body reacted before his mind fully understood it. The air around the pond felt different. Richer somehow. Every breath seemed to carry something his body instinctively wanted to absorb.

Victor’s eyes widened slightly.

Then he remembered.

He had read about this.

A Spirit Pond.

The knowledge surfaced in his memory.

Spirit Ponds were rare locations where spiritual energy naturally gathered over long periods of time. The concentration could eventually become so great that it affected the water itself, transforming an ordinary body of water into something saturated with pure spiritual energy.

It was almost like a natural medicinal bath.

Victor stared silently at the clear blue water.

Then something else began bothering him.

Everything he had encountered since entering the forest had been consumed by time.

The forest itself was wild and overgrown. Ancient ruins had been swallowed by vegetation. The cellar he had discovered earlier had been damaged and destroyed by countless years of neglect.

Time had touched everything.

But this pond...

It looked maintained.

Victor slowly looked around.

The edges of the pond were surprisingly clear. Nothing grew wildly around the water. There were no massive weeds consuming the shoreline or trees growing over the area.

Even the strange wall of bamboo and flowering vines surrounding the pond almost looked intentional.

As though it had been protecting this place.

He slowly approached the water.

The closer he came, the more clearly he could feel the spiritual energy affecting him. His body seemed to relax. His meridians felt strangely comfortable, almost as though they were responding to something they had desperately needed.

Victor’s expression changed.

He immediately focused inward.

His consciousness entered his Inner World.

There, he looked toward his Core.

For a moment, he didn’t understand what he was seeing.

Then his eyes widened.

The fracture.

It was healing.

Slowly.

Almost imperceptibly.

But there was no doubt.

The moment Victor entered the area surrounding the pond, the dense spiritual energy had begun nourishing his damaged Core. The change was incredibly slow, but it was happening.

A wave of excitement passed through him.

Victor studied the fracture carefully.

If he remained here...

If he cultivated beside the pond every day...

Eventually, the fracture could completely heal.

Victor opened his eyes.

For several seconds, he simply stared at the water.

Hope was a strange feeling.

Ever since his Core had been damaged, the fracture had remained in the back of his mind. No matter how much progress he made, no matter how quickly the Black Phoenix Flame allowed him to cultivate, there was always the possibility that the damage would eventually limit him.

Now, for the first time, Victor could see a path toward fixing it.

A real one.

He walked closer to the edge of the pond and slowly sat down.

The spiritual energy surrounding him became clearer the moment he settled into position.

It was everywhere.

In the air.

In the water.

Around him.

Victor took a slow breath.

Then the bird flew down beside him and landed near the edge of the pond.

Victor glanced toward it.

The small creature had apparently decided that if Victor was staying, it was staying too.

Victor gave a quiet laugh.

Then he looked back toward the water.

A Spirit Pond.

Victor slowly closed his eyes.

His breathing became steady.

World Energy began moving through his body.

Inside his Dantian, the Black Phoenix Flame flickered.

Then the spiritual energy surrounding the pond began responding.

Slowly, Victor entered cultivation.

The dense energy entered his body, flowing through his meridians as the Black Flame began refining it. The familiar process continued, but this time the energy was different.

Richer.

Purer.

The Black Flame absorbed it eagerly.

Victor remained still beside the clear blue water as the forest around him fell silent.

And somewhere deep within his body, the fracture in his Core continued its slow, almost invisible recovery.

For the first time since it had been damaged, Victor finally felt as though it might truly heal.