Mystical Journey

The years continued to pass, and the alliance was now handled by the Garen’s descendant, Xiao Ying. After taking out the Secret Techniques polished by Garen, this young genius Grandmaster of Combat successfully received the support of all the alliance members. Using the carrot and stick approach, members of the alliance grew in numbers and the prospect of development became better.

With the suggestion and support from part of the members, a large organization known as the Combat Association was built. It covered eighty to ninety percent of the world, and possessed the power to assess Grandmaster of Combat candidates, and the certificate that they handed out received worldwide recognition. Even the series of a martial artists’ rank certificates became the qualifications of what employers seek in employing talent.

Xiao Ying became the first President of the Association. Her personal combat skills, under Garen’s tutelage, further improved, and was now only slightly inferior to Andrela. In addition to her charisma, she also had a group of loyal martial artists by her back, cementing her foothold in the combat world.

Garen and Andrela slowly faded away from the view of the world. At the beginning, there were still some Grandmasters of Combat from the previous generation who remembered their legends. Later, talented new generations emerged and powerful martial artists became famous, the both of them then gradually hid themselves behind the scenes.

In the past, when people mentioned a Grandmaster of Combat, the first thing that came to mind would be Garen and Andrela, and only then would Xiao Ying’s name came up. Now, Xiao Ying’s name would emerge first, only then would both their names be mentioned by some old generations.

These years, both Garen and Andrela were hiding their identities, and relied on Xiao Ying’s huge backings to collect things like antiques and treasures from all over the world.

This way, the Potential points that Garen gathered, numbered in the hundreds. This was already the limit, and Andrela on the other hand secretly gathered a few articles that emitted strong telekinetic waves in preparation of entering the Mother Stream.

The both of them stepped onto all kinds of ancient ruins and mysterious lands. Especially after Xiao Ying’s position stabilized, they let go completely and went around searching for various information and treasures.

Over time, Andrela’s condition started to decline. He finally made up his mind, it was time to enter the Mother Stream.

During these years, Garen basically had no more lingerings left.

After all, Xiao Ying was no baby. With the gradual rise in her position and power, she became increasingly infatuated with the power she held. Different from the pure and lovely Ying Er, Garen no longer saw any trace of Ying Er in her.

This world no longer hold anything worthy of his affection. Of the old friends that he knew, only Andrela remained.

Now, he also chose to enter Mother Stream, betting on this one last chance.

Garen decided that he would accompany him. If there was one person in this world that had the highest probability of surviving the Mother Stream, that person could only be him. No one knew better than him, that terrifying danger and crisis of travelling through space and time was something that was unimaginable by normal people.

******************

After nearly ten years had past, inside the underground cave, standing beside the hole looking over the Mother Stream.

Garen and Andrela had done all the preparations they could.

"You don’t need to take the risk with me." Andrela turn to look at Garen.

"I don’t have any regrets left. Besides, with my previous experience, we might be able to increase our chances for survival." Garen smiled and replied. "Furthermore, haven’t we made it clear; the two rings are pointing at different directions? When we go in, we will go our separate ways. Then, we’ll only have ourselves to depend on."

At this point in life, these two only had one last thing left to pursue.

Dreams.

Garen did not know what Andrela’s dream was, but somehow he was reminded of Cayduran, and Totem World’s Hellgate. Dreams were their only motivation and goal.

Now, he felt that he was quite similar to them.

There was no affection for the world, the only hope they had was moving forward, and maybe one day they might be able to achieve their dreams.

Food and wine, women and power, everything was now at their fingertips. ‘The grass was always greener on the other side’, perhaps this phrase was the most apt for them now.

In his heart, Garen mocked himself.

He looked at Andrela in front of him.

There were more than ten pairs of bracelets on his arms, all of them were various relics from mysterious ruins with unknown functions. He drew his face with tattoos from Ancient Ender civilization, wore a shirt made of 5-coloured feathers, and his trousers in silver and in his hand was a skull cane.

What made him even more speechless was that on all of his fingers and toes were full of different kinds of rings, his nose had two rings and he punched a hole on his chin and hung a chain of either bird or pheasant bones…

"This is what I found in all the records, the strongest form from Ancient Ender. Are you sure you don’t want to make the same preparations?" Andrela looked at Garen.

He shook his head.

Garen looked at his getup, speechless.

"Alright then, if you got into trouble, don’t blame me for not warning you." Andrela shrugged, looking at the hole that still had the same repulsive force and settled down his mind. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Garen simply wore a white suit, in his right hand was the double-headed bird ring, his golden hair smoothly flowing down. There were no more preparations to be done.

In fact, what he relied on was the hundreds of Potential point he had absorbed.

This thing was the source that could heal his injuries.

The cavern rippled with bright green light dancing across its surfaces.

Andrela was the first to go in.

Suddenly, he trembled, obviously meeting with that huge force of resistance.

This time was different from last time. He was prepared and took out a black key, only to toss it forward.

Dang.

When the metal key hit the stone wall, that sound rang out.

The sound continued ringing, and strangely, that huge repulsion force soon weakened.

"Quick!"

Andrela rushed to the key, picked it up and toss it once more forward.

Garen followed him and heard the sound again. The repulsion force weakened again.

This key was something they dug out from a ruin in Azure Continent. According to Garen, this key contained a strange power, and when they tested it, surprisingly it could weakened the repulsion force emitted by Mother Stream.

Using the key, the both of them jumped through the hole and landed on the edge of the Mother Stream.

The key keep ringing. Again and again, the repulsion force from the Mother Stream was diverted, forming a cavity around them. However, the force inside the key was also fading rapidly. The closer they were to the Mother Stream, the ringing became shorter.

"Quick! The key can’t hold on any longer!" Andrela rushed.

Garen also knew how the situation was deteriorating, nodded towards Andrela. The key was then thrown violently, one last time, at the ground in front of them.

Dang!!!

In this last ringing, the key was riddled with cracks all over its body.

Garen calmly jumped towards the Mother Stream. On his right side, Andrela did the same.

Splash!

Both jumped into the green torrent at nearly the same time. Before they could even see the bubbles, they were instantly overwhelmed by the green stream and disappeared.

In the instant Garen jumped into the Mother Stream, Garen was unusually calm. His soul did not felt any danger, but his body was weakening rapidly.

He looked around with his eyes wide open. His sight was filled with endless green, as though he had submerged in the green stream. Obviously, he had only jumped into the stream, but he could not see the surface above. It was as though he was at the bottom of the sea.

As though he was in a green space instead of a stream.

Andrela was to his right, not far away. His whole body was stiff, but his eyes showed his pain and struggle.

The various decorations on his body were disappearing fast. The same thing was happening to his body, just like corrosion caused by acid, dissolving and becoming a part of Mother Stream.

Andrela seemed to have seen Garen. He looked at him, his eyes showing no regrets other than his unwillingness.

Garen helplessly looked at his old friend dissolve in the Mother Stream. A pale blue soul appeared, then melted into the stream without a trace.

Facing the mysterious mighty Mother Stream, a Star Ring king among swordsmen like Andrela, who stood at the peak of Grandmaster of Combat, only endured a little longer than the common small fry.

Garen felt no sadness. Witnessing death over and over again, the him now was no longer the person who had just experienced reincarnation.

His body now was still considered intact, only that the Potential points he amassed were descending like a rocket. Soon, it would be his body.

The Living Secret Technique was holding back the decomposition effect from Mother Stream. Perhaps the Living Secret Technique and the Mother Stream had some similarities, and the decomposition power on him was not as severe. However, with this kind of consumption, in at most ten minutes, his body would disintegrate like Andrela.

Time was ticking.

Garen felt as though the ring was connected to a string, taking his body along the flow of the Mother Stream towards an unknown destination.

The Potential points were exhausted to nothing. The rest would depend on the Living Secret Technique.

The secret technique was strong, but in the face of the decomposition of Mother Stream, it was nothing.

Garen’s fingers and toes were the first to disintegrate. An extreme pain soon travelled through his nerves to signal his brain. He was indifferent to it, but without the protection from secret technique, the most vulnerable part of his body, the eyes and eardrums soon disintegrated.

His sight was plunged into total darkness, and his hearing was no longer able to function. Even the nerves on his skin could only feel endless pain.