Cultivation Through Artifacts

Khal felt as the sealed gate in his left arm opened, unlocking the second Essence Path completely!

BAM!

And just like that, the Sword Auras that assaulted Khal halted and exploded into several particles, leaving Khal's wounded figure finally alone.

"He did it!" Liza exclaimed out loud, feeling happy about Khal as he comprehended the meanings behind the Sword Auras and succeeded in unlocking his second Essence Path.

She even took a step forward to go and check if he had any serious injuries, but just as she did, suddenly another explosion broke forth from Khal's body, surprising not only her but even Jane and the many onlookers also.

"What is happening now?" Liza watched as Khal's lower left arm was suddenly set on blazing fire, which glowed with a beautiful crimson color, but at the same time immense heat too!

Just from where she was standing, which was around 10 meters, she could feel the suffocating heat that was almost unnatural!

"He definitely went insane!" Jane suddenly talked, realizing as Khal attempted to open his Third Essence Path right after he unlocked the second!

"What? But isn't that..." Liza began to ask, but she couldn't even finish her sentence as suddenly the flames around Khal's arm exploded and turned chaotic, consuming his body as a whole!

"KHAL!" Liza now really became frightened, her face even turning as pale as a sheet of paper, and was ready to use her Talent to extinguish the flames around Khal when a shocking sight seemed to arise.

Suddenly, Khal, who was enveloped with chaotic flames that scorched the ground around him, simply sat down into a lotus position and closed his eyes, seemingly meditating and concentrating on calming himself down.

"Huh?" Liza and everyone around turned stupified as this was not what they expected to see. They thought Khal will scream and yell in pain and even attempt to jump into the lake on the side just to stay alive!

Yet, the awaited sight never arrived and Khal was still calmly sitting on the ground, his entire being engulfed with violent flames that radiated immense heat into the surroundings. He sat there almost as if the flames on him and the heat they emitted were non-existent which was confusing and startling at the same time!

However, none of them knew that the reason why Khal seemed so calm was not that he resisted by sheer will bower the flames' destructive traits, but because he didn't feel any scorching heat at all much less pain! In fact, what he was feeling was pleasant warmness, almost as if he was sitting inside a hot spring that replenished his energy and refreshed his body, making him feel like he was reborn once again!

'What a comforting sensation...' thought Khal as he enjoyed the almost heavenly sensations in his body, but soon several pictures emerged in his mind, kicking him back right into a reality.

'What the hell are these? Memories?' Khal suddenly realized that the pictures in his head in truth were his memories from both his past and current life.

The first one was a picture about him standing before a familiar-looking girl, who he could never forget even of God himself erased his memories, while the girl herself was holding a box in both of her hands.

'Haha, isn't that my gift when I confessed to Nancy. If I can recall correctly I gave her a necklace which at first seemed ridiculous, but surprisingly she liked it.' Khal thought as the nostalgic feelings hit him like a train, but soon he frowned and asked, ' But why is this appearing now? Where is the meaning of the Third Path?'

Khal was confused and tried to concentrate on the pleasant feeling around his body, maybe giving him a hint, but not even a second later another picture appeared in his mind, automatically attracting his attention onto it.

'This? Haha, I can clearly remember this restaurant! This is where I brought Nancy on our first date and I successfully forgot to bring my wallet so I had to ask her to pay... Ha... What a downfall was it, I swear I could have buried myself alive at that time.' Khal showed a bittersweet smile and watched as the third picture appeared.

And again, this was also a memory of Nancy, in fact, a memory of their first kiss. And for some reason, when Khal saw the image, he could have sworn he felt the gentle sensation on his lips even though no one was kissing him at the moment.

Shortly, the third picture was replaced by a fourth then a fifth, and this went all the way until number twelve. Each showed a different occasion, but each had one single thing in common; each held the same person, his first and last love, Nancy.

Khal however couldn't help but feel a tightening sensation in his chest, almost as if someone grabbed his heart from inside and began to gradually tighten their grip while his eyes slightly turned wetter even though he looked perfectly calm.

But this tightening sensation didn't last long when suddenly the thirteenth picture appeared, but this time with an entirely different setting. Instead of Nancy, what Khal was able to see was his parents throwing an expensive bracelet he wanted to give Nancy as a gift.

The fourteenth was the sight where his phone was seized from him and destroyed just to prevent him from talking with her.

The fifteenth was a scene where his father wanted to break the bracelet he got from Nancy as a gift but luckily failed as Khal was good enough to protect at least the bracelet if he couldn't do the same for himself.

Similar pictures appeared in his mind, and Khal felt as the tightening sensation in his chest turned slowly relaxed and what replaced it was something... else. 

He can't really understand what this feeling was, but the more he saw the ever-changing pictures in his mind about his parents and Nancy, the sensation inside him only became sharper and stronger, almost like something tried to break onto the surface but couldn't as something was still missing.

'What do I miss? It is already evident that these pictures are the ones that try to make me comprehend something, but what? What exactly should these images that hold two entirely opposite significance mean?' Khal pondered deeply, but alas, he couldn't come up with an idea.