"You're becoming more and more despicable."
Alazan let out a cold snort.
Ronan exhaled lightly, gazing at the distant, bright horizon, and shook his head. "As a small figure struggling at the bottom like me, I naturally need more tricks up my sleeve than others. Speaking of which, Alazan."
Ronan suddenly turned serious. "The things you've taught me these past two times have really helped me a lot. I owe you one."
Whether it was the [Soul Simulation Spell] or the [Soul Nail], they were not overly complex and had many limitations, but in certain specific situations, they were exceptionally useful.
Without Alazan, he would have faced numerous constraints and endless troubles after entering the Spirit Lake.
Faced with Ronan's earnestness, Alazan remained unusually indifferent.
"Between us, there's no such thing as owing."
Ronan gave a soft "Hmm."
The more Alazan acted this way, the heavier Ronan's heart felt, as if he were carrying something unspoken.
From initial wariness and caution, Ronan had gradually developed a certain level of trust in Alazan.
It was similar to how he had first gotten to know Banigo.
But whether they could eventually reach the same level of relationship he now had with Banigo remained to be seen.
Ronan realized that he always seemed to get along well with those who had eccentric personalities. Perhaps, without realizing it, he had already become the "oddball" in others' eyes.
"We're getting close to the end of the black line's guidance."
Ronan saw the transparent black line extending infinitely into the void before him, its direction now curving downward, and his eyes flickered slightly.
His luck wasn't too bad; the shrine located through the secret technique wasn't too far from him.
Perhaps the number of shrines still existing in the world wasn't as scarce as he had imagined, but their locations were simply too well-hidden, making them difficult to discover.
Cutting off his connection with Alazan, Ronan chose to keep the secret of [Ascetic Body Forging] as guarded as possible.
The black line continued downward, and Ronan lowered his body, landing gently on a relatively flat patch of ground.
All around were bare, steep mountain peaks, with little vegetation, making the area as desolate as a desert.
Following the guidance of the black line, Ronan quickly arrived at a valley.
The valley was unfathomably deep, with waves of cold air constantly rising from within.
Ronan released his spiritual field, slowly descending along the valley wall from the entrance. Surprisingly, the black line ended not too deep into the valley.
There, nestled in a concave cave, hung the dried corpses of several turtledoves.
Pushing aside the layers of tangled, withered vines at the cave entrance, Ronan covered his nose and mouth, taking a few steps inside.
Soon, a bizarrely shaped black altar came into view.
The cave was shallower than he had expected, and the process of finding the second shrine had been unusually smooth.
Ronan narrowed his eyes, carefully examining the unopened shrine before him under the faint glow of a spell.
Like the shrine he had seen in the Frost Spirit Python's lair, it was shaped like a black stone pillar.
At the top of the pillar was a statue of a young girl, her face slightly tilted upward, her hands raised as if holding something.
Between the delicate fingers of her clasped hands, a faint blue light seeped out.
"Shrines are imitations of divine altars made by ancient wizards."
"The power sealed within shrines comes in many forms."
"I wonder if the power sealed within this shrine is the one I'm looking for."
Ronan took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions.
Then, he reached out and gently pressed his hands against the palms of the girl atop the stone pillar.
With just a few subtle movements, the girl's clasped hands made a "click" sound, opening to the sides like a pair of small wings.
Immediately, a ball of blue light leaped out, resembling waves and flames, instantly illuminating the entire cave in a deep azure.
"Hum—"
Ronan's spiritual power immediately enveloped the energy that had escaped from the shrine, wrapping it layer by layer.
Strands of peculiar energy quickly seeped into his body through his spiritual power. In an instant, Ronan felt his entire body tighten. "Snap!"
The next second, "Crack, crack, crack—"
A series of fine bone and flesh explosions sounded as the blue spiral within Ronan's body activated, and the [Immaculate Body] automatically triggered, naturally entering the state of the [Ancient Mara Body]!
Ronan tore off his deep blue Wizard Robe, covering himself with Ithium, his figure rapidly growing taller.
Like an ocean, surging vitality and blood flowed through his bones, flesh, and blood vessels. With a "Boom!", an invisible shockwave expanded outward, directly collapsing the narrow cave.
Ronan broke through the collapsed rubble with his bare hands, discovering a layer of faint blue transparent film covering his body, incredibly resilient. The black aura of the [Ancient Power] was compressed by this film, forming a flowing black flame like mercury on his skin.
An ancient, primal battle axe appeared in his hand, clearer and more substantial than ever before.
Ronan felt as if all the pores on his body were sealed, the immense power inherited from ancient times with no outlet.
The runes representing the [Ancient Power] grew wildly on his body like vines and flames, also restrained by the faint blue film, unable to break free. They gradually twisted into another pattern, and in an instant, it felt as if countless dragons were colliding within Ronan's body. The secluded valley, shrouded in gray mist, was as calm as a pool of stagnant, rotting water.
Suddenly.
An invisible ripple emanated from within the valley, rapidly expanding and clearing all the miasma and gray fog from the valley in an instant.
Then, silently, a massive, ink-black axe light broke through layer after layer of obstacles, swiftly flying out from the valley floor.
"Boom—"
The originally not-so-wide valley entrance was immediately carved out like a block of butter sliced by a hot knife, leaving a large gap.
The terrifying axe light, entwined with countless black lightning, continued to rise, but a figure was even faster.
In just a few flashes, it appeared above the axe light, then spread its arms, actively meeting the upward-slashing axe light.
"Swish—" The terrifying axe light collided head-on with the figure. Compared to the massive, overwhelming axe light, the black-haired figure was as insignificant as a tiny ant.
Yet, as the axe light touched the faint blue transparent film in front of the figure, the terrifying power was eerily and rapidly dissipated.
Ring after ring of black ripples spread out, and finally, the two forces canceled each other out, and all movement ceased.
Ronan stood quietly in the air, feeling the shrine's power within him that had not yet completely dissipated.
"It does have a certain effect on my [Immaculate Body], compressing the power of the [Ancient Runes] and strengthening the [Ancient Mara Body], which indirectly enhances my combat power in this state."
"But there is no sign of a breakthrough in [Ascetic Body Forging]. This is not what I'm looking for."
Ronan pondered for a moment, "The power sealed within this shrine should primarily have a defensive effect."
Despite the thin layer of pale blue light membrane appearing unremarkable, its defensive capabilities were astonishingly formidable. It could effortlessly block Ronan's full-force strike of advanced [Ancient Power] head-on.
No spellcasting was required, and it consumed nothing from him. The only drawback was its short duration.
The power of the shrine lingered in Ronan's body for less than five minutes before naturally dissipating.
Even if Ronan didn't use this power during those five minutes, it would automatically vanish once the time was up.
"It can only be used as a trump card at critical moments or as a one-time consumable item."
With a flip of his hand, Ronan produced a black sphere. A tiny crack on its surface emitted a faint blue light.
This was the remaining portion of the shrine's power he had preserved using a secret method recorded in his notes, enough for him to use once more.
"Well, it's not a complete loss."
Ronan exhaled lightly and exited the state of [Ancient Mara Body].
The fact that the shrine's power could affect the [Immaculate Body] further solidified his conjecture—the key material for breaking through to the next level of [Ascetic Body Forging] was the shrine's power.
He just hadn't found the correct shrine's power yet.
"Perhaps the shrine that triggered the evolution and ancestral reversion of the Cold Spirit Python's bloodline contains the power I need."
Ronan speculated in his heart.
Putting on the Wizard Robe of the Deep Lake Sect, Ronan released his restrictions on Alazan, intending to subtly probe for more knowledge about the shrine's power.
Unexpectedly, before Ronan could even broach the topic of the shrine's power with Alazan, Alazan's tone suddenly changed, and he spoke urgently, "Damien, look to your right, southwest direction!"
"Huh?!"
Ronan was slightly startled and followed Alazan's guidance.
He saw a cluster of bare, jagged rocky peaks. Scanning with his spiritual sense, he found nothing particularly unusual.
"Do you see something shaped like a semicircle?"
Alazan continued.
Ronan's gaze shifted, quickly locking onto a spot, and he nodded.
"Yes."
The semicircular object Alazan mentioned was two black stone peaks.
Both had been eroded by wind and sand into curved arcs at their tops, and they happened to be quite symmetrical. From a specific angle, they resembled a hollow semicircle.
"Go over there."
Alazan whispered, "Remember, don't use any spiritual sense or spells to shield yourself. Pass through the center of that ring naturally."
Ronan's eyes flickered, but he said nothing.
He simply followed Alazan's instructions. As he flew close to the semicircular position of the stone peaks, he withdrew the push of his spiritual sense, allowing his body to naturally descend and pass through the center of the semicircle.
Everything seemed quite ordinary.
However, just as Ronan's body barely passed through the center of the semi-circular ring, a strange spatial fluctuation suddenly emerged.
Ronan's pupils contracted slightly, and before he could even feel shocked, the next second he inexplicably entered a mysterious space.
"A spatial entrance?!"
Ronan's feet landed steadily, as if he had stepped on something, making some crisp cracking sounds.
But he didn't have time to care about that, instead, he immediately turned to Alazan in his mind for answers.
"How can there be a spatial entrance here? Why can't my spiritual power detect it?"
"A normal spatial entrance is like tearing a piece of paper apart from both sides, but this spatial entrance is more complex. It's like tearing a piece of paper apart and then overlapping it together.
From the outside, it still looks like a complete piece of paper, but in reality, there is a torn opening between the layers of paper."
Alazan calmly explained to Ronan: "This kind of spatial entrance is not only hidden, but even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power or Spell can cause the entrance to shift, making it extremely difficult to detect... This method isn't particularly hard to achieve, but the wizard who created this space is brilliant because—all of this was naturally formed using the terrain and environment."
"Kid, you're lucky.
Usually, only when a wizard wants to actively send something out, leaving it for later generations, would they use this kind of folded space technique."
"Look around carefully.
See what kind of good things this generous creator of the spatial secret realm has left for you."
Alazan's calm voice made Ronan's breathing quicken.
He tried to calm his surging emotions and began to carefully examine the surroundings.
He was now standing in a place similar to a cliff, with the ground densely covered in bird skeletons.
Some were already decayed, while others were in the process of rotting, likely unfortunate birds that had accidentally entered this hidden space, unable to get out, and eventually starved or died of thirst here.