Mystical Journey

"No, not exactly in there. If it wasn't by accident, no one would have thought to enter from that passage." Andrela smiled mysteriously and led the way into the cave. Garen hurriedly followed along.

Soon after he had advanced into the cave for some distance, he stopped. He no longer moved after standing beside a spring.

"It's here. I'll lead the way, you follow."

Once he finished speaking, he jumped straight into the spring.

Water soon splashed around the spring with a width longer than a meter.

Garen was confused but he also jumped into the spring.

The moment he entered the spring, something soft and warm covered his whole body as though soaking in a hot spring.

Strangely, the temperature of the spring was not high, only about the temperature of the sea.

Bubbles floated up. Through the cloudy blue water, Garen saw that Andrela was waving a bright green glow stick at him at the bottom.

He hurriedly swam like a fish in order to keep up. After training for so long at the sea, water became a second nature to him. He swam at a moderate pace behind Andrela.

The two of them had already swum in the spring longer than ten minutes yet they were still heading further down. The surroundings of the spring were dark and it was still extending as though there was no bottom.

Finally, the tunnel in front of them made a horizontal turn and no longer went deeper.

After a while, another passage that turned upwards appeared.

The whole spring was a U-shaped passage, just like the shape of the island.

Following the passage upwards, the two of them could not help but swim faster.

Huala!

Inside a small dark cavern, two heads emerged out of an oval spring at a corner.

With a loud splash, two dark figures leaped out of the water and landed firmly by the side of the spring.

Garen snapped his fingers and a freezing white mist circled around both their cloaks and soon dissipated.

All the moisture in their cloaks became ice and with a gentle shake, all the ice fell off on the ground.

The water on both of them had dried instantly.

"This is already out of the scope of Secret Techniques." Andrela sighed.

Garen smiled without replying and only silently scanned the cavern.

"This is the place where the Mother Stream ran through, the only point where Mother Stream can be seen" Andrela sighed, "You definitely cannot imagine what Mother Stream looks like."

"In this cavern?" Garen was piqued by curiosity. What did the legendary Mother Stream look like in reality? He could not guess.

"Follow me."

Andrela walked ahead, away from the spring towards one of the cavern's stone wall.

Garen only noticed when he came near, the stone wall was, in fact, a hole that got blocked. The stone piece that blocked the hole was too similar to the surrounding with no apparent flaws. If no one checked properly, there was no way to know that there was a hole here.

He also noticed that on the ground at the left side of the stone piece laid a pile of white bones. It did not seem to belong to humans. It was more like lizards' bones put together but there was no rotten smell that drifted out.

"I lived here for five years. Previously, creatures similar to lizards lived in the spring but it was all eaten by me." Andrela shrugged and placed all ten of his fingers on the stone piece and pulled outwards.

With the rumbling sound of rolling stone, the stone piece moved out of the way and a hole with the height of a person was immediately revealed.

Andrela did not go in. He only stood by the entrance quietly peering inside, his eyes showing a trace of obsession.

A green light from inside the hole was also reflected on it.

Garen could not help but hold his breath, similarly stunned by the amazing scene inside the hole.

A large cavern was connected to this hole on the other side.

Inside was a stream running from left to right with no sound whatsoever. No matter it was the sound of water, the flow of air or creatures swimming inside it, there was none.

It was a stream dozens of meters wide.

It was no normal stream water but some sort of glowing green fluid. It gushed out from a gray vortex on the left and rushed into a gray vortex on the right.

The light from the stream glowed, dyeing both of them green.

The hole they were at was located high up in the large cavern, just like one of the many holes of a beehive.

"This is the Mother Stream…" Andrela muttered.

"How are you so sure?" Garen finally snapped out of it. He could see such a spectacle in the Secret Technique World, but even if he had been through all sorts of thing, he still felt that it was incredible.

"It's that I'm sure…once you get closer you will understand." Andrela smiled bitterly.

Slightly puzzled, Garen went inside the cavern.

Only a step, a gentle and warm aura covered him and expelled gently.

"This is …aura!!??" He looked at Andrela, startled.

"That's right." Andrela nodded. "Aura is a product of Spirit. In the Ancient Ender civilization, it was also called Power of Life. In the legend, Mother Stream flows out from an unknown void into another unknown void. It contains infinite Power of Life. This is why even if this stream is not the Mother Stream, it is at least a branch of it. There is no other explanation which I could find from the records."

Garen suddenly thought of something and adjusted his vision.

Closing his eyes and opening it once again, the glowing green stream in front of him disappear. There was nothing in this large cavern except a vague flow of gentle air. He totally hid all the aura in his body, using the eyes of ordinary people to observe.

Sure enough, the whole Mother Stream was unable to be seen. The location where the Mother Stream situated was originally a dried up river with nothing inside it and both sides were blocked.

"I see, the Mother Stream in the legend can only be seen by the chosen ones. No wonder it was explained like that." Garen nodded. Releasing his aura, the green light filled his vision again.

"You also discovered it." Andrela nodded. "I have examined it from various perspectives and basically confirmed that this is the Mother Stream."

Garen did not reply and went silent.

"What are you planning to do?"

Andrela smiled bitterly.

"I don't have any plans. I can't even get near it, what else can I plan?"

"You lived here for five years, there should at least be some results."

"This is natural." Andrela nodded, "I looked up all the information on Mother Stream. Whether it be myth legends or folk tales, none was spared. Pieced together, I had a thought."

He leaned against the wall and explained while gazing at the Mother Stream.

"Mother Stream, also known as Stream of Life was said to contain a secret. Rumors had it that ancient warlocks nearing their death walked into the embrace of Mother Stream. There must be some meaning to it."

He took out a silver ring carved with a double-headed bird.

"I found out that all the warlocks who entered the Mother Stream would wear an accessory made of silver stone. I don't know the reason."

"This is a ring made of the silver stone?" Garen also took out the double-headed ring he got from Divine Master.

"Yes. I don't know who got their hands on this material and made double-headed rings out of it. These might be the last two accessories made from silver stone in this world." Andrela regretfully said.

"I guess that when the warlocks lost all hope, they gambled everything they have to have the one last chance."

"What chance?"

"The chance to reach a higher level."

Andrela said in low voice.

"The legend of warlocks ended with a legendary expedition. For unknown reasons, they went to war with powerful invaders from another world. Finally, both sides suffered great losses. Various gods fell. I found out that whenever great warlocks suffered grievous injuries, someone would put them into the Mother Stream to have their injuries healed. Then, they would enter into battles again."

He paused for a while.

"Later, the enemies found out about it. They used some sort of means to stop the healing abilities of the Mother Stream. Maybe this is the original way the Mother Stream should be. It was a Pyrrhic victory. Not long after, both sides disappear from history."

"Your speculations are very detailed but this is all built on the fact that all the myth and legends are true." Garen nodded.

"I tried to eliminate any interference to the best extent, sorting out all the data and compiling them. This final result should not have too many distortions." Andrela shook his head.

"Mother Stream…" Garen looked at the running stream emitting green light, feeling out of this world. This feeling of standing before and looking at something that should only exist in legends, normal people would not be able to imagine it.

Imagine looking at the Egyptian pyramids from Earth. That kind of heavy feeling from looking at history enshrouds your mind and leave nothing else in your head.

"There must be a great secret hidden inside there. The warlocks have lifespans approaching thousand years and godlike powers. What is there on the level above them? There can only be immortality!" Andrela said seriously, then a bitter smile surfaced. "But I can't even get close to it."

He turned to look at Garen.

"What I can't do, maybe you can. Your strength already reached a level out of my imagination." His eyes contain hope and anticipation.

Garen looked at Mother Stream, uncertainty in his eyes.

Suddenly, he took a large step.

Pa!

His boots stepped firmly on the ground inside the cavern. A huge force slammed on his body intending to expel him.

This force was vast as the sea. Even the strength of Garen's Living Secret Technique barely held on.

His body was covered in freezing white mist and was about to retaliate.

Suddenly, his view passed through the Attribute Pane and his body stopped.

In the Attribute Pane, he saw an unexpected change.